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==Lives==
St. Joachim was of the tribe of [[Judah]], and a descendant of King [[David]]. St. Anna was the daughter of Matthan the priest, of the tribe of Levi as was Aaron the High Priest. Matthan had three daughters: Mary, [[Zoia]], and Anna. Mary was married in [[Bethlehem ]] and bore Salome; Zoia was also married in Bethlehem and bore [[Elizabeth]], the mother of St. [[John the Forerunner]]; and Anna was married in [[Nazareth ]] to Joachim, and in old age gave birth to the [[Theotokos]].
Sts. Joachim and Anna had been married for fifty years, and were barren. They lived devoutly and quietly, using only a third of their income for themselves and giving a third to the poor and a third to the Temple. Joachim had done this since he was 15-years-old, and God multiplied his flocks, so the couple was well provided for. They longed for a child but remained childless into their old age. When they were in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, the High Priest, Issachar, upbraided Joachim, "You are not worthy to offer sacrifice with those childless hands." Others who had children jostled Joachim, thrusting him back as unworthy. In despair, he consulted the geneological records of the tribes of Israel and discovered every righteous man in the nation had been blessed with children, except him. This caused the aged saint great grief, and he and his wife left with heavy hearts. Then the two of them gave themselves to prayer to God that He would work in them the wonder that He had worked in [[Abraham]] and [[Righteous Sarah|Sarah]], and give them a child to comfort their old age.
==Dormition of the Righteous Anna==
During the next seven years, Righteous Anna and Joachim visited Mary often at the temple until they died, leaving her an orphan at age ten. St. Joachim lived for 80 years and Anna for 79, and they both entered into the kingdom of God before the [[Annunciation]] to the Most Holy Theotokos. The Dormition feast day of St. Anna is celebrated on [[July 25]].
The holy Ancestor-of-God Joachim had himself reposed at 80 years of age, several years after the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (November 21). St Anna, having been left a widow, moved from Nazareth to Jerusalem, and lived near the Temple. At Jerusalem she bought two pieces of property: the first at the gates of Gethsemane, and the second in the valley of Josaphat. At the second locale she built a tomb for the members of her family, and where also she herself was buried with Joachim. It was there in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Savior often prayed with His disciples.
The most-pure body of the Mother of God was buried in the family tomb. Christians honored the sepulchre of the Mother of God, and they built a church on this spot. Within the church was preserved the precious funeral cloth, which covered Her all-pure and fragrant body.
The holy Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem (420-458) testified before the emperor Marcian (450-457) as to the authenticity of the tradition about the miraculous ascent of the Mother of God to Heaven, and he sent to the empress, St Pulcheria (September 10), the grave wrappings of the Mother of God from Her tomb. St Pulcheria then placed these grave-wrappings within the Blachernae church.
==Relics==
==External links==
*[http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=201 The Holy & Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna] ([[GOARCH]])
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?FSID=102546 Holy and Righteous Ancestor of God, Joachim], [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?FSID=102547 Holy and Righteous Ancestor of God, Anna] ([[OCA]])
*[http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=140 Dormition of St. Anna, mother of the Theotokos] (GOARCH)
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?FSID=102086 Dormition of the Righteous Anna, the Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos] (OCA)
*[http://goarchsingerabis.org/en/chapel/saintswordpress.asp?contentid=140 Dormition com Church in honor of St. the Holy Righteous Joachim and Anna, mother of the Theotokos] (GOARCH)*[http://www<googlemap lat="46.925245" lon="28.comeandseeicons962488" zoom="18">46.com/j/inp80924996, 28.htm Icon 962402, Church in honor of Ss. the Holy Righteous Joachim and Anna with the Theotokos]</googlemap>
[[Category:Biblical Saints]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[el:Ιωακείμ ο δίκαιος]]
[[el:Άννα, Αγία]]
[[fr:Joachim et Anne]]
[[pt:Joaquim e Ana, os Justos]][[ro:Ioachim şi și Ana]][[ru:Иоаким и Анна]]