On 4 December a solemn Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple was celebrated in our church.
The Liturgy was celebrated by the rector of Saint Alexius Cathedral, Priest Igor Babakov.
The Entry into the Temple of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is one of the Twelve Great Feasts and is celebrated during the Nativity Fast.
The feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple takes us back to the very first years of the Virgin Mary's life, when her righteous parents Joachim and Anna brought their three-year-old daughter to Jerusalem so that her whole life might be bound up with the Temple and the service of God.
This great feast reminds every Christian of the importance of the church in the work of saving one's soul, and of the need for a Christian upbringing of children. The whole life of an Orthodox Christian, from birth to death, is closely bound up with the temple of God.
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" — today we hear the words once spoken by the Most Holy Theotokos. Today the whole Orthodox world glorifies the Queen of Heaven, remembering an event from her earthly life — when she entered the Temple of Jerusalem.
We also glorify the merciful Lord for His love for the human race, for sending us the Most Holy Theotokos, the Queen of heaven and earth, the Consoler, who covers with her omophorion every suffering soul in need of help.
At the end of the service Fr. Igor warmly congratulated the parishioners on the feast and wished them the prayerful protection of the Mother of God.
After the Liturgy a litiya was served and an akathist was read.
