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Keep high the Feast!

Yesterday was the feast day of the Entrance of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple. (Leave-taking of the Feast is next Monday.)

Mary, the child, is taken into the temple by her aged parents, Joachim and Anna, to dwell in the temple in Jerusalem. Mary is three years old.

Some 10 to 13 years later, Mary would bring her own Child, just eight days old, into the Temple. 

From the Aposticha of Vespers: 

Heaven and earth rejoice,beholding the spiritual Heaven, the only Virgin without blemish,as she enters the house of God, there to be reared in reverence. Zachariah cried to her in amazement:“Gate of the Lord, to you I open the gates of the Temple;rejoice and go around it dancing. For I know and believe that the deliverance of Israel will  now come to dwell openly in our midst,and that from you shall be born God the Word,//Who grants the world His great mercy!”

From the Paremia:

Ezekiel 43:27-44:4

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁷ When they have completed the days, it shall be that on the eighth day and onward, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ declares the Lord God.”

44 Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. ² The Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. ³ As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”

⁴ Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, and I fell on my face.

  

Troparion — Tone 4
Today is the prelude of the good will of God, / of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. / The Virgin appears in the temple of God, / in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. / Let us rejoice / and sing to her: / "Rejoice, O Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation."

Kontakion — Tone 4
The most pure Temple of the Savior; / the precious Chamber and Virgin; / the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, / is presented today to the house of the Lord. / She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, / therefore, the angels of God praise her: / “Truly this woman is the abode of heaven.”