Anna the Prophetess

Saint Anna the Prophetess was an elderly woman of the tribe of Asher who met the infant Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem and spoke of Him to all who were waiting for redemption. Only the holy Evangelist Luke writes about her, in three verses. The Church remembers her on 3 February, the day after the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, together with Saint Symeon the God-⁠Receiver.

What the Gospel says

The Gospel of Luke (2:36-38) says that Anna was a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. Her name means "grace" (in Hebrew, Hannah). She had lived with her husband seven years from her marriage, and then remained a widow. The Greek can be understood in two ways: either she had been a widow for eighty-⁠four years, or she was eighty-⁠four years old. Orthodox tradition usually calls her an eighty-⁠four-⁠year-⁠old widow.

Luke adds that she did not leave the Temple, but served God night and day with fasting and prayer. The Church calls her a prophetess because of her steadfast faith and her pure life.

The Meeting of the Lord

On the fortieth day after the Nativity, the Mother of God and Righteous Joseph brought the Child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord according to the Law. There the old man Symeon took Him into his arms. At that very hour Anna came up, gave thanks to God, and spoke about the Child to all who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38).

The Church sees in Symeon and Anna the last prophets of the Old Covenant, in whom Israel met the Messiah. For this reason she appears beside Symeon in the icon of the Meeting of the Lord.

Veneration

The Gospel says nothing of her death, and tradition preserves no other certain details. The feast of the Meeting is kept on 2 February by the Menaion calendar, and the synaxis of Symeon and Anna on 3 February. Churches on the old calendar keep it on 16 February by the civil calendar. Russian books also remember her on 10 September.