The Dormition of St. Anna, Mother of the Theotokos (July 25)

Contemporary Icon of Dormition of St. Anne 

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Today, the Western Orthodox Church commemorates the Dormition of St. Anna, the grandmother of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. St. Anna hailed from the tribe of Levi, the daughter of Mathan the priest and his wife, Maria. Mathan, serving as a priest during the reign of Cleopatra and before Herod the Great, had three daughters: Maria, Sobe, and Anna.

Maria married in Bethlehem and became the mother of Salome the midwife. Sobe also married in Bethlehem and gave birth to Elizabeth. Anna, marrying in Galilee, gave birth to Mary, the Theotokos. Thus, Salome, Elizabeth, and Mary the Theotokos were first cousins, daughters of three sisters.

St. Anna, having given birth to Mary, who would bear the Savior of the world, dedicated her daughter to the Temple as a pure and holy offering. St. Anna's life was marked by fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. She passed peacefully to the Lord after a life of devotion.

Tradition tells us that St. Anna lived for sixty-nine years, and her husband, Joachim, for eighty. Joachim predeceased Anna by two years. By the age of eleven, the Theotokos was orphaned of both her parents and continued her life in the Temple.

St. Anna is invoked for the conception of children and for assistance in difficult childbirth. Her feast is celebrated in the West as a significant reminder of her role in the holy lineage. During Emperor Justinian's reign (527-565), a church in Constantinople was built in her honor. Emperor Justinian II (685-695; 705-711) later restored this church, following an apparition of St. Anna to his pregnant wife. It was during this period that her relics and veil were translated to Constantinople.

COLLECT 

O Almighty God, who in thy divine providence didst call Anna to be the mother of the blessed Virgin Mary and grandmother of our Lord Jesus Christ: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may honor her memory and imitate her piety and faith, through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.