In Old Slavonic the word "Sretenye" means "meeting", while the second meaning of the word is "joy".
The Feast of the Candlemas of the Lord was established in honor of the meeting of the infant Christ with the righteous Elder Simeon and the prophetess Anna. Following the custom of the Old Testament, on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus, the parents brought their first child to the Temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to God. There, according to the Gospel, he was met by the 360-year-old Simeon, who had been predicted would not die until he saw Savior who came to the world.
Priest of the Sretensky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), notes that the events that underlie this holiday indicate the main purpose of human life, which is to meet God.
