Simeon the Righteous
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This article concerns Simeon the Righteous in Christianity. For Simeon the Righteous in Judaism, see Simeon the Just.
Simeon the Righteous (also Simeon the Elder, Simeon the God-Receiver, or Holy Simeon) is the "just and devout" man of Jerusalem who, according to Luke 2:25-35, met the Virgin Mary and Jesus as they entered the Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses on the fortieth day from Jesus' birth. On taking Jesus into his arms he uttered the prayer Nunc dimittis which is still used liturgically in Christian churches, and gave a prophecy alluding to the crucifixion. This meeting is commemorated on February 2 as Candlemas or more formally, the Presentation of the Lord, the Meeting of the Lord, or the Purification of the Virgin.
According to a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Simeon had been one of the seventy-two translators of the Septuagint. As he hesitated over the translation of Isaiah 7:14 (LXX:"Behold, a virgin shall conceive..." Many modern scholars read "young woman" for "virgin" in the Hebrew), an angel appeared to him and told him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ born of a virgin. This would make him well over two hundred years old at the time of the meeting described in Luke, and therefore miraculously longeval.
He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions. His feast day is February 3.
[edit] External links
- Entry for February 3 from the Prologue from Ohrid with a brief hagiography of St. Simeon.
- Icon and hagiography from the website of the Orthodox Church in America.
