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The '''Entrance of the Theotokos''' into the Temple, also called '''The Presentation''', is one of the [[Great Feasts]] of the [[Orthodox Church]], celebrated on [[November 21]]. Among those Orthodox Christians who use the "Old" ([[Julian Calendar|Julian]]) calendar as their Church calendar, the date of this feast corresponds to December 4 in the secular calendar.
According to [[Tradition]], the [[Theotokos|Virgin Mary]] was taken &mdashndash;presented&mdashndash;by her parents [[Joachim and Anna]] into the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as a young girl, where she lived and served as a Temple virgin until her betrothal to [[Joseph the Betrothed|St. Joseph]]. One of the earliest sources of this tradition is the non-canonical [[Protoevangelion of James]], also called the ''Infancy Gospel of James''.
Mary was solemnly received by the temple community which was headed by the priest [[Zacharias]], the father of [[John the Baptist]]. She was led to the holy place to become herself the "holy of holies" of God, the living sanctuary and temple of the Divine child who was to be born in her. The Church also sees this feast as a feast which marks the end of the physical temple in Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God.