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[[image:Joachimanna.jpg|right|thumb|Ss. Joachim and Anna, grandparents of [[Christ]], with their daughter the Ever-virgin [[Mary]].]]The holy and [[righteous]] '''Joachim and Anna''' are the parents of the [[Theotokos]], the grandparents of [[Jesus Christ]]. Their [[feast day]] is celebrated on [[September 9]], following the [[Nativity of the Theotokos]]; the dormition of St. Anna is commemorated on [[July 25]].
==Lives==
St. Joachim was of the tribe of [[Judah]], and a descendant of King [[David]]. 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]]. 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, and they were well provided for. Once, when they were already old and 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. This caused great grief to the two aged souls, and they went home with very 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]].
==Relics==
During the reign of St [[Justinian]] the Emperor (527-565), a church was built in honor of St Anna at Deutera. And since St Anna had appeared to his pregnant wife, Emperor Justinian II (685-695; 705-711) restored her church. It was at this time that her body and maphorion (veil) were transferred to Constantinople.
:That deliverance from every affliction be granted to those who cry out:
:"Be with us, O God, who in Your good pleasure glorified them."
==Sources==
What the Church knows of the Theotokos’ parents, survives from several sources, primarily the [[Protoevangelion of James]].
*[http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/saints/joachim_anna.htm Saints Joachim and Anna]
*[http://www.gostanna.org/church/life.asp The Life & Dormition of St. Anna]
==External links==
*[http://goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=201 The Holy & Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna] ([[GOARCH]])
[[Category:Saints]]
[[fr:Joachim et Anne]]
[[ro:Ioachim şi Ana]]