Candlemas or the Presentation of the Lord (2 February)

Luke 2:22-40 records an occasion in the life of Jesus, when, after 40 days, he was taken to the Jerusalem Temple and purification rites were performed for his mother, Mary. This was in accordance with the commandments in Exodus 13, Leviticus 12 etc. In the temple, he was met by the elderly Simeon whom God had promised "that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Anna the Prophetess also met the infant Christ.

This event in the life of Jesus is commemorated in the church calendar on 2 February, or 15 February according to the Old Calendar (40 days after Christmas). In English, this holy day is known as "the Presentation of the Lord", as well as the historic title "Candlemas". It is celebrated in liturgical Protestant communions such as the Anglican church and Lutheran church, in Roman Catholicism, in Eastern Orthodoxy (where it is known as the "Entrance of the Lord into the Temple" or, the "Feast of the Meeting of the Lord"), and in Oriental Orthodoxy (in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido church it is also known as "Lidete Semon"). It is not celebrated by the Assyrian Church of the East ("Nestorians").

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