Everything about Simeon The Righteous totally explained
Simeon the Righteous (also
Simeon the Elder,
Simeon Senex,
Simeon the God-Receiver, or
Holy Simeon) is the "just and devout" man of
Jerusalem who, according to, met the
Virgin Mary,
Joseph, and
Jesus as they entered the
Temple to fulfill the
requirements of the Law of Moses on the fortieth day from Jesus' birth. On taking Jesus into his arms he uttered the prayer
Nunc dimittis which is still used
liturgically in many Christian churches, and gave a prophecy alluding to the
crucifixion. This meeting is commemorated on
February 2 as
Candlemas or more formally, the
Presentation of the Lord, the
Meeting of the Lord, or the
Purification of the Virgin.
According to a tradition in the
Eastern Orthodox Church, Simeon had been one of the seventy-two translators of the
Septuagint (
LXX). As he hesitated over the translation of
Isaiah 7:14 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive...", and wondered how this was possible, or even that it might be a
copyist's error, an
angel appeared to him and told him that the prophecy was correct as it was written, and that he wouldn't die until he'd seen its fulfillment with the
Christ born of a
Virgin. This would make him well over two hundred years old at the time of the meeting described in Luke, and therefore miraculously longeval.
He is venerated as a
saint in the
Eastern Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox, and
Roman Catholic traditions. His
feast day is
February 3.
Festal observances
The events in the life of Saint Simeon the Righteous are observed on both
2 February and
3 February. The observances of the first day center around memorializing the act of Mary undergoing an act of ritual purification, and presenting Jesus, her child, to the Temple, a
feast day known as the
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Since this day focuses more on Jesus and Mary, the observation on February 3 is specific to St. Simeon, who was allowed to die after seeing the
Christ (or
Messiah) born of a virgin. In Christian tradition, the day of a saint's death is often celebrated as his feast day.
Under
Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for three and thirty days "in the blood of her purification", which makes a total of 40 days. The Christian
Feast of the Purification therefore corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to
Jewish law (see ), should have attended a ceremony of ritual purification. The
Gospel of Luke relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus's presentation in the Jerusalem temple, and this explains the formal names given to the festival.
In the
liturgy of
Evening prayer in the
Anglican communion, tens of millions of Anglicans recite the
Nunc dimittis - or sing it in
Evensong in the canticle known as
the Song of Simeon - almost every single evening. It is also used in the
Roman Catholic Compline and Orthodox
Vespers. The
Nunc dimittis has been set to music by many notable composers, such as
Rachmaninoff (
All-Night Vigil).
The feast on
2 February is often referred to as
Candlemas, as in honor of the ritual purification of the Virgin Mary,
candles (of
beeswax) which will be used for the entire year are brought into a church and blessed. In the
Roman Catholic Church, the Presentation is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the
Rosary. In the
Church of England, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is a
Principal Feast. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church, it's one of the twelve
Great Feasts.
February 2
This feast day has a number of different names:
February 3
Simeon the Righteous is commemorated in his own right on
3 February. In the
Anglican Communion, Simeon isn't venerated with a festal observance, and
3 February is set aside to recognize
Anskar (801–865), a missionary,
Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and first Bishop in Sweden, 864.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Simeon is commemorated with
Anna the Prophetess on February 3 on the
Feast of the Holy and Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess.
February 15
As mentioned above, the Orthodox Church celebrates St. Simeon on the day after the Feast of the Presentation, that's to say, February 3. However, for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar, February 3 falls on February 15 of the modern
Gregorian Calendar.
While both the Orthodox Church in the East and Western Christianity agree on the setting of the date of Candlemas on the 40th day after Christmas (in accordance with the
Mosaic Law), the difference in the dates for Christmas—
25 December in the West and
7 January in the East—results over a theological dispute related to the adoption of the
Gregorian calendar over the older
Julian Calendar. The Gregorian calendar was developed after the
Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches in 1054. As a result, many Orthodox Christians celebrate St. Simeon's
feast day on
15 February.
The
Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Nativity of Christ on
6 January, and so their celebration of the Presentation, which they call
The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple is on February 14.
Further Information
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