presentation of the lord. we remember the gospel event, according to which on this day, the fortieth day after the nativity of christ , the most holy theotokos brought the baby jesus to the jerusalem temple to dedicate him to god. after all, according to the old testament law of moses, it was customary to bring the firstborn, that is, the eldest son, to the temple and dedicate it to god. according to the sacred tradition of the church, after the birth of christ, the holy family lived in bethlehem. on the fortieth day, joseph the betrothed and the most holy theotokos with the infant christ headed to jerusalem to fulfill command of the law. they were met in the temple by elder simeon, who had been waiting for this meeting for many years of his righteous and pious life. the church has preserved information that... that

the righteous elder simion was one of the most educated people of his time, he was one of the 70 translators of the biblical pentateuch from hebrew into greek, when the righteous semyon translated the book of the prophet isaiah, and came to the words: “all virgins she will be pregnant and give birth to a son, he doubted whether a virgin could give birth, he wanted to write instead of..." the word virgin, the word wife, he took a knife, to clear it, it is written, and suddenly an angel appeared to him, holding his hand, saying that semyon would not die until he saw the fulfillment of the prophecy. when the blessed christ was brought to the temple, semyon took him in his arms and blessed him, joyfully saying: now you, vladyka,

with faith and hope awaited his coming. the church slavonic word "sreteni" can be translated into russian as the word "meeting". the meeting of the old testament with the new. meeting of semyon the god-receiver and anna the prophetess with the lord jesus christ. the words of the meeting are the most.

complete conveys the meaning of this event, because it does not just mean a meeting, a meeting of the lesser with the greater, of man with god. righteous semeon turned to the blessed virgin mary, who prophetically predicted the future of christ, her suffering with christ’s son. this lies this, an attack on the rebellion of many in israel and the subject of controversy. and the weapon will pierce your soul. let the thoughts of many hearts be revealed. this is what evangelist luke testifies. therefore, the feast of the presentation of the lord reminds us of the great coming soon lent and passion week, the time of remembering the sufferings of the lord's death on the cross. it was then that simeon’s prophetic words were fulfilled, after all. the most holy theotokos

suffered in soul together with her son. semyon, the god-primer, died according to legend in the 360th year of his life. he was not afraid of death, because the promise given to him to all people was fulfilled. semyon held the savior in his arms. and his soul now departed into eternity, to tell all the righteous of the old testament that the lord became incarnate and came to earth. to save humanity from the sin of death. holiday the meeting of the lord is not just a remembrance of the gospel event. he brings important spiritual edification to us today. stretina is not only a meeting of the righteous semyon the god-receiver with christ, but our personal meeting with god. such a meeting should occur in the life of every person. seeks salvation

for every person, but only those who, like the pious elder simeon, respond to god’s call, meet, that is, meet. life of christ. then in the jerusalem temple, together with the righteous simeon, humanity received the opportunity of his salvation, embodied in the eternal god, resting in the arms of the virgin mary. now any person can find unity with the lord if he wants it. how can we understand whether we have had a personal encounter with christ? spiritually experienced people figuratively say that whoever has seen the sun will never confuse it with a lantern. in bright sunlight , even the smallest dust scratches on things are clearly visible. so, in the presence of god, the soul clearly

experiences its sinfulness, it sees all the untruths in itself: lies, hatred, envy, pride. other disadvantages. therefore, an important sign of a person’s meeting with the lord is the sincere consciousness of one’s sins, which cover our soul like dust. and some become a stone wall that separates us from god. this was also spoken about by many holy ascetics who, through sincere repentance and strict asceticism , cleansed their hearts for many years. from sins, when a christian sees his spiritual state , he realizes, despite all his sinfulness, that he is not rejected by the savior, does not despair, but is filled with hope and finds a source of joy in christ, he

becomes better. st. seraphim of soros greeted everyone with the words “ my joy.” god and his omnipotence are purely from a pragmatic point of view, and one expects exclusively from meeting him. ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, it will be opened to you, for

everyone who asks receives, whoever seeks finds, it will be opened to him who knocks, but even if our desires are like us... it seems that the kindest and most selfless, immediate fulfillment of them is not always useful. god grants us what we ask solely out of his mercy, and not because that he owes us something. but sometimes people stubbornly want to see the face of the lord exclusively as their fulfiller of requests. a real christian, like the righteous simeon, must pay attention to the main thing for which he came. christ to earth, our salvation for eternal life, and in order for our personal salvation to begin to take place , a meeting with christ must occur in our life. sometimes it seems to a person that god, being

almighty, is infinitely far from him, his problems and experiences, but this is not so, the lord is truly omnipotent, but he sees everyone's heart. of us is much closer to us than we sometimes think. the holy scripture calls him a man of the heart, because he knows all our thoughts, intentions and heartfelt experiences. dear brothers and sisters, the great holiday of the meeting of the lord is the holiday of man’s meeting with his creator. let those of us who have already found christ, in whose lives such a meeting took place. with him one strengthens one’s faith with a firm intention to follow a difficult, but very gracious and joyful path in the christian life. for those who have not yet met in their life with christ, may god let us hear his call, and having heard it, do not reject it, accept it

with readiness and joy, and the soul of a person who has not lost sight of god, in its depths yearns for him. even without admitting it to himself, he is looking forward to meeting him, on the holiday. morning news on