Meeting is a meeting of the Divine and the human, the old and the new, the dying and the born.
People say that winter and spring meet at the Meeting: it is these first thaws that will determine what the weather will be next. But, in addition to the signs, there is a deeper understanding of the holiday, which has become the border between the Old and New Testaments, their intersection.
Elder Simeon waited for God all his life. The expectation of the Lord became for him the expectation of death. According to legend, Simeon the God-Receiver at that moment was more than two hundred years old. Once he doubted the prophecy about the birth of the Savior, and it was said that he would not die until he saw the truth with his own eyes. The Old Testament "Unbeliever Thomas", who was also granted to confirm his doubts, to be convinced of the divine truth. This image is close to every person whose faith grows stronger in the furnace of doubts.
The words of the elder have remained for centuries a prayer song, which is often repeated by believers: "Now let go of Thy servant, Master, according to Thy verb, in peace." They testify of humility and joy to die, knowing that human sins will be atoned for by the Savior revealed to the world.
It would have been a celebration of joy if other words of the righteous elder spoken to the Virgin Mary had not been recalled. For the Mother of God, the "Simeon prophesy" became an omen of the future fate of Jesus, his crucifixion.
As if the whole Christian history was reflected in this one event, which formally tells us about the tradition of bringing a baby to the temple on the fortieth day. The newly born Christ and the realization that He is the Savior of the world who will accept suffering and rise again. Meeting of the Old and New Testaments: the Jewish commandments with the world go into eternity, giving way to Christianity.
The search for God, spiritual doubts attracted the poet Joseph Brodsky as a poetic plot. Seemingly far from church culture, he perfectly embodied the main ideas of the holiday in his Sretensky poem.
We are all afraid of death and are looking for God, and it is precisely such a meeting with the divine that changes our life: the “sting of death” no longer frightens us, the rejoicing soul passes into a new beautiful world. The main thing is to find God in time, who is actually always with us.
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He was going to die. And not into the street hum
He opened the door with his hands and took a step, But into the deaf and dumb domain of death.
He walked through a space devoid of solidity, He heard that time has lost its sound.
And the image of a Baby with radiance around
The furry crown of the death path
Simeon's soul carried before him
Like some kind of lamp, into that black darkness, In which until then no one else
It did not happen to illuminate the way for myself.
The lamp was shining, and the path widened.
