Today, February 3, the faithful celebrate the memory of two protagonists of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which was celebrated yesterday, Elder Symeon and Anna the Prophetess.
Symeon lived in Jerusalem. He was righteous, devout, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who had shown him that he would not die until he beheld Christ the Lord. This good message animated him while living in expectation of the Messiah.
Elder Symeon held Christ in his arms, thanked God, and then blessed both Joseph and Mary.
Righteous Anna was also in the temple, and for her spiritual struggles and the purity of her life, the Holy Spirit gave her the gift of prophecy.
At the age of 84, she was deemed worthy to meet, along with Righteous Symeon, the Divine Infant at the temple. At the meeting, Anna approached, bowed to Christ, and after thanking and praising God, proclaimed that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, had come, prophesying that “this infant is the Lord who fixed the earth and the heaven. This is the Christ the prophets spoke of.”
Source: Church of Cyprus