Today Christians celebrate one of their main church holidays

he Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple commemorates the day when her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, fulfilling their vow to dedicate their child to God, brought the three-year-old Virgin Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem.

There, she astonished everyone from the very first moment when, after her parents placed her on the first step of the stairs leading to the Temple, she ran up all fifteen steps without turning to face her parents, as other children did. The young Virgin Mary was met by the High Priest Zechariah, who, inspired by God, led her into the Holy of Holies—the most sacred room of the Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Of all people, the High Priest himself had the right, and only once a year, to enter with the blood of sacrificial animals.

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According to tradition, the Virgin Mary, who remained in the Temple, was taught the Holy Scriptures and needlework. Her day, or rather, early morning, began with prayers (she prayed in the Holy of Holies) and ended with prayers in the evening, after which she received food from the hands of an angel. Here, traditions (the four canonical Gospels do not mention any of this) differ: according to some texts, the High Priest also saw the angels who appeared to Mary; according to others, only God and the young virgin's constant guardian, the Archangel Gabriel, could see them.

This continued until the day when a suitor was selected for the 12-year-old (according to other sources, 14-year-old) Mary, at which, thanks to a magically blossoming staff, the widower Joseph was chosen as her husband.

Photo: Titian. Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Temple (detail)