Sunday of the Final Judgment: The Encounter of Our Lord, Savior, and God Jesus Christ.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to the Apostle and Evangelist Saint Luke (Lk 2:22–40).

When the days of their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought the Child up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord: Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he came into the Temple; and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Now let Your servant depart in peace, O Lord, according to Your word;

for my eyes have seen Your salvation,

which You have prepared before the face of all peoples:

a light to enlighten the Gentiles

and the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at the things that were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against—yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Coming in at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Homily.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord,

today the Church leads us into one of the most delicate and profound mysteries of the liturgical year: the Encounter of the Lord, the Hypapantē, the Presentation of Our God, Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. It is a feast marked by silence rather than clamor, and precisely for this reason it is filled with an extraordinary theological depth. On this day we do not simply commemorate an episode from the childhood of Jesus; rather, we contemplate the way in which God enters human history without violating it, bringing it to fulfillment from within.

Mary and Joseph ascend to the Temple in obedience to the Law of Moses. Nothing is abolished, nothing is despised; everything is assumed and brought to its fullness. He who is the Giver of the Law submits Himself to the Law, not because He has need of it, but so that humanity may encounter Him without fear. Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem states with clarity: “He who established the Law becomes obedient to the Law, so that human obedience might be healed from within” (Homily on the Hypapantē, PG 87, 3292). In this act of obedience the mystery of kenosis, the voluntary self-emptying of the Son of God, is already revealed—a mystery that runs through His entire life, reaching its fullness on the Cross.

By entering the Temple, Christ is not purified, but purifies; He is not consecrated, but consecrates. And yet He accepts to be presented like every other firstborn, carried in the arms of His Mother, offered with the sacrifice of the poor. Here the Church contemplates a paradox that lies at the very heart of the Orthodox faith: God allows Himself to be carried by humanity, so that humanity may learn how to allow itself to be carried by God. Saint Gregory of Nyssa expresses this with luminous words: “The old man takes the Child in his arms, but in truth it is the Child who sustains the old age of the world and leads it to new life” (Homily on the Presentation, PG 46, 1136).

Within this context the figures of Simeon and Anna emerge, not as secondary characters, but as living icons of faithful expectation. Simeon is the man who has learned how to wait, not with impatience, but with purified hope. Anna is the woman who has transformed time itself into prayer. They represent the heart of Israel that has not grown hard, the holy remnant capable of recognizing God when God manifests Himself in smallness. Saint Cyril of Alexandria writes: “Not all saw the Lord, but only those whose eyes had been purified by expectation and prayer” (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, PG 72, 528).

When Simeon takes Jesus into his arms and pronounces the canticle that the Church sings every evening, he is not merely giving thanks for a life fulfilled. He is proclaiming that history has finally found its meaning. “My eyes have seen Your salvation”: not an idea, not a law, not a distant promise, but a Person. And this Person is light. Yet the light of Christ is never neutral. It is a light that reveals, unmasks, judges, and saves all at once. For this reason Simeon announces that this Child will be a sign of contradiction and that a sword will pierce the soul of Mary. Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments: “The light of Christ consoles the pure, but wounds those who refuse to be enlightened” (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, PG 72, 529).

This dimension of judgment and salvation naturally leads us to the apostolic reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. The sacred author shows us that Christ is a Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to the ancient Law founded on lineage, but according to the power of an indestructible life. Here the Church understands that the priesthood of Christ is not functional, but ontological; not temporary, but eternal. He does not offer something external to Himself, but offers Himself. Saint John Chrysostom states this with force: “Christ is at once Priest, Altar, and Victim; everything in Him is gift and offering” (Homilies on the Letter to the Hebrews, Homily XIII, PG 63, 99).

In the light of this truth, the Presentation in the Temple appears as a silent prophecy of Pascha. The Child who enters the Temple will be the Man who enters the Holy of Holies not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood. Today’s Encounter anticipates the definitive Encounter between God and humanity on the Cross and in the Resurrection. Saint Maximus the Confessor writes: “Every mystery of Christ’s life is oriented toward the Cross, and in the Cross every mystery finds its fulfillment” (Ambigua, PG 91, 1084).

Yet the Church does not celebrate this mystery as a mere spectator. The Hypapantē is not only a past event; it is a reality that is renewed in the liturgical and spiritual life of each one of us. Every Divine Liturgy is a real encounter with Christ who comes to us in the poverty of signs. Each time we are called to become like Simeon: men and women capable of recognizing God when He presents Himself in humility, fragility, and even scandal. Saint Maximus the Confessor affirms: “Whoever receives Christ into the temple of the heart becomes himself a dwelling place of God” (Ambigua, PG 91, 1088).

It is precisely here that I feel the need to share with you a personal memory. On the day of my priestly ordination, when I walked three times around the altar, I perceived inwardly that I was not merely performing a ritual gesture. I too was entering into an Encounter. The altar was not an abstract symbol; it was Christ Himself—present and living. To circle around it meant to entrust my entire life, past, present, and future, to Him who offers Himself without reserve. In that moment I understood that the priesthood does not consist in doing something for God, but in allowing oneself to be taken by God, in allowing Him to carry our fragility as Simeon carried the Child.

In that act I recognized the very same dynamic of the Presentation: I thought I was offering myself, but in reality I was being received; I thought I was sustaining, but I was being sustained. And I understood that every true peace is born from this allowing oneself to be taken into the arms of God. Like Simeon, the priest too is called each day to say: “Now let Your servant depart in peace,” not because everything has ended, but because everything has finally found its meaning in Christ.

Brothers and sisters, the feast of the Encounter of the Lord invites us to examine the way we wait for God and the way we encounter Him. It calls us to bring Christ into the temple of our hearts, knowing that it will be He who transforms us. It calls us to welcome the light, even when it illuminates our wounds, and to allow ourselves to be sustained by Him who became small so that He might make us partakers of His eternal life.

To Him be glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

Amen.

Archpriest Michele Alberto Del Duca