Simeon (Gospel of Luke)

• Simeon senex (Simeon the old man) occurs in some Latin texts and hagiographies.[3]
• Aged Simeon in poetry and music, including the Candlemas anthem "When Mary to the Temple Went" by Johannes Eccard (1533–1611).
• Simeon is used by Protestants.[4]
• Simeon Theodochos (Simeon the God-receiver, Συμεών ο Θεοδόχος) is used in Greek Orthodox tradition. In Russian Orthodox tradition this becomes Simeon Bogo-priimets (Симеон Богоприимец).

According to a tradition in the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches, 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...") and was going to correct it to γυνή (woman), 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 long-lived.[5]

St. Simeon Monastery, Katamon, Jerusalem

Sometime between 565 and 578 the body believed to be that of Simeon, was translated from Syria (or Jerusalem) to Constantinople.[6] Sometime around the Siege of Constantinople (1203) the relics were seized and shipped to Venice; however, a storm forced the ship to put in to the port of Zadar on the Dalmatian coast. The relics were first placed in the Velika Gospa (Church of the Virgin) and then later to the Church of St. Stephen, which became known as the Sanctuary of St. Simeon the Godbearer. Simeon is one of the four patron saints of the city; his feast day is celebrated on October 8. In October 2010, Archbishop Želimir Puljić of Zadar conveyed a small silver reliquary containing a portion of the saints relics to Archbishop Theofylactus of Jordan, representing Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem for the monastery of St. Simeon the Godbearer in Jerusalem.[7]

The Chiesa di San Simeon Grande in Venice also claims to have the relics of the saint.

Under Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for three and thirty days "in the blood of her purification", which makes a total of 40 days. The Christian Feast of the Purification therefore corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to Jewish law (see Leviticus 12:2–8), should have attended a ceremony of ritual purification. The Gospel of Luke 2:22–39 relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus's presentation in the Jerusalem temple, and this explains the formal names given to the festival.

In the liturgy of Evening prayer in the Anglican communion, Anglicans recite the Nunc dimittis – or sing it in Evensong in the canticle known as the Song of Simeon – traditionally, every evening. It is also used in the Roman Catholic Compline and Orthodox Vespers. The Nunc dimittis has been set to music by many notable composers, such as Rachmaninoff (All-Night Vigil).

The feast on February 2 is often referred to as Candlemas, as in honor of the ritual purification of the Virgin Mary, candles (of beeswax) which will be used for the entire year are brought into a church and blessed. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Presentation is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. In the Church of England, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is a Principal Feast. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts.

Chest of Saint Simeon from 1380 in Zadar, photographed c. 1900

Chest of Saint Simeon today

This feast day has a number of different names:

• The Meeting of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Eastern Orthodox Church)
• The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple (Armenian Apostolic Church)
• Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (Eastern Rite Catholic Churches)
• The Presentation of the Lord (ordinary form of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church)
• Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1962 and earlier forms of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church)
• The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Temple (Episcopal Church of the United States)
• Presentation of Our Lord (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
• The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Anglican Church of Canada)
• The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Church of Canada)
• The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Church of England and Anglican Church of Australia).

Simeon the Righteous is commemorated in his own right on February 3. In the Anglican Communion, Simeon is not venerated with a festal observance, and February 3 is set aside to recognize Anskar (801–865), a missionary, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and first Bishop in Sweden, 864.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Simeon is commemorated with Anna the Prophetess on February 3 on the Feast of the Holy and Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess.

While both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches agree on the setting of the date of Candlemas on the 40th day after Christmas (in accordance with the Mosaic Law), the difference in the marking of Christmas – December 25 results over a theological dispute related to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar over the older Julian Calendar. December 25 currently occurs 13 days later on the Julian Calendar than on the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian revision of the calendar occurred in 1582, well after the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches in 1054.

As a result, many Orthodox Christians celebrate St. Simeon's feast day on February 16. As mentioned above, the Orthodox Church celebrates St. Simeon on the day after the Feast of the Presentation, that is to say, February 3. However, for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, February 3 falls on February 16 of the modern Gregorian Calendar.

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Nativity of Christ on January 6, and so their celebration of the Presentation, which they call The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple is on February 14.