September: Day 9: Teaching 2: Holy Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna

September: Day 9: Teaching 2: 
Holy Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna
 
(Lessons From Their Lives:
a. Piety Does Not Interfere With Family Life, 
b. Christians Should Not Shun Family Life, and 
c. Do Not Be Afraid of Having Many Children)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Let us, Christians, transport ourselves in thought almost nineteen centuries back, to those times of Old Testament history, when the people were increasingly losing their independence and autonomy, and when the time was coming for the work of saving the human race to be accomplished through the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the most blessed Virgin Mary.

In those days, in the poor Galilean town of Nazareth, there lived a pious couple, Joachim and Anna. These humble Nazarenes were not famous in Israel for anything, and did not differ from the simple inhabitants of Nazareth by any special external advantages.

However, not noble in the eyes of men, Joachim and Anna were great before God for their faith and piety; not famous for their corruptible wealth, they were rich in righteous life and virtues. A modest, hard-working, God-fearing life provided them not only with honest contentment, but also with some surplus, which gave them the opportunity to do more deeds of piety and love for mankind than the law itself required. Saint Joachim had the custom of dividing all the fruit of his labors into three parts: he dedicated one to God in sacrifices and offerings to the altar of the Lord instead of the tithe required by law, he distributed the other to the poor and needy, and only the third part he left for the maintenance of his house. This alone placed him immeasurably higher than those righteous men famous in Israel, who regularly paid tithes and abandoned the most important things of the law - mercy and truth - who from their great treasures gave mites in the marketplaces "that men might be seen" and at the same time devoured the houses of widows. But the entire height of the inner piety of the righteous couple, their purity and holiness, their spiritual perfection in faith and trust in God was revealed later, when it pleased the Lord to reveal to the whole world their great destiny.

It would seem that nothing should have disturbed the peaceful, blessed, and contented life of the pious spouses. But the righteous cannot be without temptations and sorrows: “Many are the sorrows of the righteous,” says the word of God. The high calling of Saints Joachim and Anna required both a preparatory and prolonged trial, purification, and perfection. That is why the entire life of the righteous spouses, according to God’s arrangement, was a continuous test of their faith, patience, and devotion to the will of God. Joachim and Anna were childless. Even in our times, childlessness is a grave sorrow for spouses; but in times under the law, it was considered the greatest calamity and was accompanied by grave sorrows, for the endurance of which all the firmness of faith and trust in God was needed. The law itself considered childlessness a clear sign not only of disfavor, but also of severe punishment from God, and forbade even accepting gifts and sacrifices from a man who had left no seed in Israel. And in the opinion of the people, a childless man was considered as if rejected by God, worthy of alienation and contempt by the sons of Israel. And this, as the Church hymn expresses it, "the reproach of childlessness" the pious spouses had to endure until old age! But they endured and did not weaken in faith, they prayed and trusted, in the firm conviction that God can grant offspring to the barren and bereave the multi-fruitful.

Growing thus in faith and trust, strengthening themselves in patience and devotion to the will of God, purifying their hearts with attention, prayer and the fulfillment of the commandments, renewing their spirit as their physical strength declined, Joachim and Anna, with their advanced physical age, reached such a height of spiritual perfection that they were worthy to become the parents of that most blessed Daughter, Who, according to God's predestination, was to be the Mother of the only begotten Son of God.

But for this, it pleased the Lord to subject them to a most severe trial. On a great feast day, the righteous Joachim, in accordance with the lawful custom, came with gifts and offerings to God in the Lord's Temple. The High Priest Issachar, who was receiving the offerings from the people, perhaps burdened by the preparations of numerous sacrifices, was unwilling to accept the offering from Joachim's hands. "You are not worthy," said Issachar to him, "to present gifts to God as a true Israelite; for you are without children, and there is no blessing of God upon you from our forefathers. Truly, for some grave sins, the Lord our God has thus rejected you." And what did Joachim do? - With deep humility he accepted this rebuke, as if from the lips of God Himself, recognizing himself as unworthy not only to remain any longer in sight of the house of God in Jerusalem, but also to return to his home, and with great sorrow he withdrew into the desert where his flock was pastured. Here in fasting and repentance, in tears and prayer he spent forty days, begging the Lord to forgive him all his sins, to take away his reproach in Israel, to bless him in his old age with the birth of a child, as He blessed Abraham with the birth of Isaac.

At the same time, the heart of righteous Anna was struck with inexpressible grief when she heard of such a disgrace to her virtuous husband before the altar of God, in the presence of a large congregation of the sons of Israel, on the sacred day of the great feast of the Lord. She considered herself entirely guilty, herself alone more sinful than all the women of Israel. Having locked herself in the inner cell of her house, in fasting and repentance, in tears and sighs, she cried out to the Lord day and night, beseeching Him, not for herself, as unworthy of mercy, but for the sake of the virtues of her pious husband, to take away from them the reproach of childlessness and bless them with the fruit of the womb.

Such strong faith and trust in God, such self-abasement and humility of the righteous spouses were worthy of being looked upon by He Who said through the prophet: "To whom shall I look, but to the meek and silent and one who trembles at My words." And so the angel of the Lord appeared to the praying Anna, and then to the weeping Joachim in the desert, and announced to them that their prayers were heard, their tears and sighs were accepted by the Lord as fragrant incense and as an acceptable sacrifice; that He would give them a Daughter - most blessed among women, through Whom they will be blessed, Whom all the tribes of the earth will bless. Overjoyed by this heavenly good news, the righteous Joachim and Anna wholeheartedly glorified and thanked the Lord God, who had looked with His mercy upon their humility, and unanimously made a vow to dedicate the promised child to Him. And the divine promise about the birth of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and the vow of her parents, in due time, were fulfilled exactly.

II. Such were the righteous Joachim and Anna!

In their way of life and in their high moral qualities, may they serve as role models for both Christian parents and all Orthodox Christians.

a) In vain do many of our time think that a high Christian life is unattainable for people bound by family ties, burdened with the cares and worries of life. The example of the righteous parents of the Most Holy Virgin shows that, even living in the world, without breaking either family or social ties, without abandoning the necessary cares for one's home and the labors of public service, one can reach such a height of spiritual perfection that not everyone reaches even in the desert. The whole secret is in where a person's heart is directed - to God or to mammon, to heaven or to earth. A truly pious person, wherever and whatever he may be, directs all the powers of his soul to God, accustoms himself to be always in the omnipresence of God, and therefore, like the ancient prophet, makes a covenant with himself not only not to do, but also not to think anything evil before God, not to transgress the commandments of God not only in deed, but also in thought and desire. He looks upon all his duties and occupations, no matter how great or small, as God's work, and performs them with the fear of God, to the glory of His most holy name. Whatever he does, he does before the Lord, calling upon His holy blessing and help, giving Him thanks and glory for the success of his work.

It has even been noted that family people are often distinguished by such devotion to God’s Providence, such hope in God, which is not always found among single people.

b) The second lesson that the life of the Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna, who greatly grieved over their childlessness and greatly desired children, offers us is that Christians should not shun family life. It is gratifying for the elderly parents to be surrounded by children who are able to support their affairs and comfort them in the infirmities of old age. In view of the growing generation, zeal for affairs in the older members of the family naturally intensifies, since there is someone to work for and someone to place hope in.

In grief and misfortune, a family man will find a best friend and comforter in the person of his wife, the best helper for himself and an irreplaceable educator of children in the spirit of holy faith and piety.

How incomplete and joyless, on the contrary, is the life of a man without a family, lonely, not seeing around him relatives on whom to rely in times of depletion of strength. Not having in mind the immediate goal of life, in the future provision and religious, moral and at the same time intellectual enlightenment of the members of his family, a lonely man gets used to living only for himself, for his own pleasure, and involuntarily deviates from the correct order of life, becomes incapable of self-denial and curbing his whims. And we see from experience how often a single and lonely life draws a person to idleness, extravagance, stinginess, disgusting selfishness (egoism), debauchery and similar vices.

c) The third lesson offered by the life of the Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna, is that Christians should not be afraid of having many children. Only a false freedom from the obligations connected with the maintenance and welfare of a family serves for some as a lure to a bachelor life and as a disincentive to marriage, so that to enter into a legal marriage, according to the understanding of the majority of today's young people, means to impose "heavy bonds" on oneself. What does this evasion of the sacred duties of a family man show, if not the obvious prevalence in modern society of the destructive spirit of self-interest and self-indulgence and very often unbridled sensuality?

Is it not because of the influence of this spirit that many family people are burdened by their situation and directly grumble about having many children? Yes! If we judge our earthly purpose by the degree of our personal peace and pleasure, then we will involuntarily come to the perverse thought that having children is not a blessing from God, but a direct punishment. This is what many often say, complaining about having many children, losing heart from family worries, even wishing for the death of their children and are glad when this wish is fulfilled. What a grave sin this is, brethren! How can one contradict God's decree and grumble at God! Who says that having children and even many children is easy for a person? The sentence of Divine justice is executed on every mother: "In pain you will bring forth children" (Gen. 3:16). Having given birth to children, one must raise and educate them, and this requires much self-sacrifice and patience, and sometimes parents have to spend days and nights caring for and looking after their children. But nothing good and useful comes easily to a person on earth. The path of human life is thorny and difficult, but one should not become despondent or complain at all; and even with many children, one should not weaken in faith and trust in God. Childbearing and raising children are such feats that lead to salvation. “A woman will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with chastity” (1 Tim. 2:15), says the Apostle. Let family duties sometimes hinder us in the work of philanthropy and worship, and prevent us from often going to the temple of God, strictly fasting, and giving generous alms. But for parental love and selflessness, for diligent upbringing of children for the Kingdom of God, and also for the prayers of our children, the Lord will forgive our shortcomings and cover them with His goodness.

III. Let the life of the Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna, teach us the truth that family life does not hinder piety, that a true Christian should neither shun family life, established by God and blessed by God, nor fear having many children, which is a sign of God’s special favor. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.