Forty days after the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, on February 2nd, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple. This feast recalls the moment when Righteous Simeon received the Infant Jesus with unspeakable joy in his arms, thanking the Heavenly Father by the following prayer: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).” The Righteous Simeon lived in Jerusalem, being advanced in age, and a man with a holy life. The Tradition of the Church notes that he was one of the translators of the Old Testament into Greek language, and that he received a heavenly promise that he would not taste death until the Saviour of the world would come.
In his homily, delivered in St Gregory the Illuminator Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, noted that we, the Christians of today, are privileged because we can receive our Lord Jesus Christ in every moment of our lives, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Head of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasized the fact that the Mystery of Baptism represents the first meeting with Christ in our life, but also the foundation of every meeting with Christ.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained the fact the Church is the place where we meet Christ, and Christ encounters us.
“Here, in the Church is the place of our meeting with God, the most intimate, the most holy and the most appropriate place for God to encounter us and for us to meet the Lord. Moreover, this meeting can be observed when we enter the Church with piety and humility, and we cross ourselves, we kiss the icon of our Saviour and then of the Theotokos, who carries the Child Jesus on her arms. This is the first meeting with Christ: when entering the church. We then meet Christ and He meets us when we humbly listen His Gospel in the Church, and then we meet Christ in a more intimate and more intensive way when partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood”, the Romanian Patriarch said.
