St Andrew's Blog - Theology & Life

By Associate Professor Philip Kariatlis (Sub-Dean)

The Presentation of the Lord, also known as the Feast of Hypapante [Ὑπαπαντή], is a significant event in the Christian tradition, commemorating the moment when the infant Jesus was brought into the Temple in Jerusalem by His mother, Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Jewish law. The term Hypapante means “reception”, signifying the encounter between the Messiah with both the righteous Simeon and the prophetess Anna in the Temple—both of whom had been waiting for this moment for their entire lives. Dating back to the early centuries of the Church, the commemoration of this feast in the Eastern Orthodox tradition is considered one of the Twelve Great Feasts...

By Associate Professor Philip Kariatlis (Sub-Dean)

As we all know, the love of Christ, and by extension the love of our Trinitarian God, captures the very essence of the Christian Gospel. “God is love [ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν]” (1Jn 4:8) we read, rather simply yet most profoundly, in the first letter of St John the beloved Apostle. God’s love is founded on sacrifice, on compassion and forgiveness; indeed, it is a love so powerful, that it alone is capable of transcending human weakness and societal divisions. It alone is capable of disrupting the cycle of hatred and violence; love alone finds solutions and ways forward when human beings solely see irresolvable and immovable impasses. Ultimately, it is this love of God, that we behold personified in the person of Jesus Christ, which alone has the ability to sprout forth the gift of enduring life out of the finality of death...