Icon of the Presentation (Meeting) of Our Lord

 

Icon of The Presentation (Meeting) of Our Lord

This Icon of the Presentation (Meeting) of Our Lord , is found on the Iconostas of our church, in the row of great feasts.

Presentation Icon

About the icon

This Holy Icon shows that the meeting takes place inside the Temple and in front of the altar. The Theotokos stands to the left and is holding out her hands in a gesture of offering. The hands of the Theotokos is covered by her cloak or as it is known, the maphorion. She has just handed her Son to Simeon.

Christ is shown as a child, but He is not in swaddling clothes. He is clothed in a small dress and his legs are bare. Jesus appears to be giving a blessing. Simeon holds Jesus with both hands which are covered. This shows the reverence Simeon had for the Messiah. Simeon is bare headed and there is nothing to show that he is a priest. Some biblical scholars say that Simeon was probably a priest of the Temple or a Doctor of the Law.

Joseph is behind the Theotokos. He is carrying the two turtle doves for the sacrifice. Anna the Prophetess is also standing behind the Theotokos and is pointing to the Christ child and holding a scroll.

The words Simeon spoke when he saw the Christ Child are known as “St. Simeon’s Prayer.”  This prayer is sung daily at the evening Vespers services of the Orthodox Church.

About the feast

Forty days after Jesus Christ’s birth, the Theotokos and her betrothed, Joseph, brought her Son to the Temple to make the customary offering for purification; a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. There, the prophetess Anna and the aged Simeon met them. St. Simeon, one of the translators of the Septuagint, sensed the fulfillment of Isaiah’s puzzling prophecies of a virginal birth (Isaiah 7:14), and received the young pre-eternal God Incarnate just as he was promised he would before his death. Then St. Simeon praised God and said, “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, O Master.”
In the Orthodox Church, both baby boys and baby girls are taken to the Church on the fortieth day after their birth. This is done in remembrance of the Theotokos and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the Temple.
The Feast day is Commemorated on February 2.