7 August — The Dormition of the Righteous Anna, Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos
“Having lived righteously and devoutly, all-praised one, you have now fallen asleep in the Lord, rejoicing with the righteous who are from all ages; and we have come together to honour you in faith.”
(Troparion of the Canon for the Dormition of Saint Anna the Righteous, Ode 1)
Saint Righteous Anna stands in our Church as a miracle of faith and patience, a striking example of trust in God and His divine care. For fifty years, she saw no answer to her strong prayers. Through the scorn and harsh words of those around her, she held fast to hope, never gave up her prayers, and placed herself and her husband entirely in God's hands.
The Lord does not choose the mighty and the wise, but those who give themselves to Him without reserve. To these souls, He grants wisdom and strength. He bestows all things, and works the miracle we witness in the life of Saint Anna the Righteous.
Saint Anna with the Mother of God. Icon. Serbia (?), 14th century, Museum of the Treasury of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra
Her wonderful humility, long-suffering and abiding hope the Lord crowned by granting her a Daughter who became a comfort not only to her aged parents, but also opened the way to salvation for humanity. She was the ladder from earth to heaven, the very thing for which her mother and father had so earnestly prayed.
The holy lives of Joachim and Anna stayed hidden from those around them. Their neighbours and kin did not see their worth. They passed from this world without showing the riches they had gathered. Today, however, the Church remembers them in every service as God’s devoted servants, for the wealth they gained was revealed to the world many years later.
Saint Anna worked no miracles. She bore no martyrdom or great ascetic trials. Her sorrows were of a different kind—the sort that any woman building a family might know: the ache of childless solitude, the quiet, patient longing for motherhood, carried even into old age. Through her patience and hope, Anna found her reward in this life. Her waiting was rewarded with the delight of a child and became the promise of unending joy in God.
The Caressing of the Infant Mary, fresco from Dionysiou Monastery, Athos, 16th century
The love between Joachim and Anna, for God and for one another, went beyond the common bonds of the Old Testament. It surpassed the law, custom, and the accepted way of things, and so produced a wonderful fruit that will last for all time. Indeed, Venerable Paisius of Mount Athos once reflected that Christ might have come to earth sooner, had a couple as pure and good as Saints Joachim and Anna appeared among us before their time.
The saints prayed for a child as their earthly days grew long. Yet, when the baby no longer needed her mother's milk, they did not keep the dear child for their own ease. Instead, they hurried to thank God and honour their vow. They gave their only, much-loved daughter to serve the Creator in the Holy of Holies at the Jerusalem Temple. They did this gladly, for their love for God was greater than all else.
After a life of many trials, their love and faith had grown so strong that they seemed already to live beyond this world. Joachim, at the age of eighty, was the first to pass into eternity. The good Anna lived out her remaining days near the Temple, close to the Most Holy Virgin Mary. The blessed repose of Saint Anna—which the Church marks on 7 August—came when her Daughter was still young. By then, the holy mother was seventy-nine. By tradition, Righteous Anna reposed before the Annunciation, and so came to see the full glory of her Daughter in the life to come.
Side Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anna in Gethsemane, in the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
Tradition records that Saint Anna bought two small parcels of land in Jerusalem; one lay near the Gethsemane Gate, the other in the Valley of Josaphat. The righteous pair found their final rest on one of these plots, near where their Daughter would later be entombed in Gethsemane’s Garden. This spot lies on the edge of Josaphat’s Valley beneath the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem. The Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos now stands there, housing a chapel dedicated to the holy parents down the stairs to the right. Within the chapel are two altars: one against the eastern wall for Saint Joachim, and another against the northern wall for Saint Anna. By tradition, the saints lie buried below them.
Great things close by often go unseen. We see true greatness from afar, and the honour given to saints comes after their passing from this life. The Orthodox Church glorified the parents of the Most Holy Theotokos, and from the sixth century, churches dedicated to the good Joachim and Anna began to appear across the land.
Basilica of Saint Anna in Jerusalem, 12th century
Devotion to the God-bearing parents Joachim and Anna spread widely through the Russian lands. In the 1360s, Metropolitan Alexius established the Conception Convent on the site of an older church of the same name, and it remains there to this day. One of Moscow’s oldest churches, the Church of the Conception of Anna ‘in the Corner’ on the Moskvoretskaya Embankment, dates from the fifteenth century.
Church of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Righteous Anna, Moscow
Parish churches in honour of the good Saint Anna also rise all across Belarus. From Lyubishitsy and Yalovo to Sloboda and Zagorye, and in many other towns and villages, people pray to the God-wise and blessed Anna, daughter of Matthan the priest of the tribe of Levi and the line of Aaron, mother of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Cathedral in Stolbtsy bears her name—Saint Righteous Anna.
Cathedral of Saint Righteous Anna in Stolbtsy
In the Church of Saint Anna in Stary Kornin, Poland, the feast of her Dormition is a time of great reverence. The Vigil gives way to an Akathist to Saints Righteous Joachim and Anna. On the feast day itself, 7 August, two Divine Liturgies take place, and the celebration closes with a procession bearing the shroud.
Patronal Feast in Stary Kornin, Poland
Devotion to Saint Righteous Anna extends to Mount Athos. The Skete of Saint Anna took root there at the close of the tenth century—the eldest of all Athonite sketes. After years of ruin at the hands of sea robbers, Patriarch Dionysius of Constantinople restored it in the seventeenth century. He had obtained the saint’s left foot, a holy relic, from Christians in Asia Minor. Later, in 1680, a cathedral was built within the skete to honour her Dormition, and from that time on, it has carried her name. The skete is known for its strict rule and the deep struggles of its monks.
Incorrupt Left Foot of Saint Righteous Anna in the Skete of Saint Anna on Mount Athos
The skete is under the care of the Great Lavra. From here came many new martyrs who suffered for Christ during the time of Turkish rule. The skete’s main treasure remains the foot of Righteous Anna. Pilgrims also come here to pray before a wonder-working icon of the Mother of the Heavenly Queen. Saint Anna shows particular kindness when speaking for childless couples and sick children.
Wonder-working Icon of Saint Righteous Anna in the Skete
The right foot of Saint Righteous Anna rests in the Kutlumush Monastery, and her left hand at Stavronikita. More recently, on 26 October 2008, a relic journeyed from Athos to the city of Dnepropetrovsk. It was received by the temple complex of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, where it found its place in a reliquary within the lower chapel of the cathedral dedicated to Joachim and Anna. In 2011, another relic of Saint Righteous Anna went to Valaam Monastery.
On the day we remember Saint Anna, any of us can turn to her and ask for help— that she may give us strength when hard times come, our patience wears away and hope grows thin.
Let the example of her life encourage us, so that we might perceive, grasp, and carry out the sacred will of God. O Righteous Saint Anna, you who brought forth the Virgin Mother of God, we ask you, through your pleas to your own immaculate Daughter, to aid our own birth into everlasting life.
“You carried within you the one who would give life, Pure Mother of God, wise Anna. For this, you have now been taken up to the heavenly dwelling, where those who rejoice find their home. There, you dwell in glory, always blessed, and you pray for those who honour you with love and ask to be cleansed from their sins.”
(Troparion of Saint Righteous Anna, Tone 4)
Compiled by the team of obitel-minsk.ru
Photographs from the internet
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