Religious Events

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Foundational

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/religious-events/the-presentation-of-jesus-in-the-temple.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/religious-events/the-presentation-of-jesus-in-the-temple

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-presentation-of-jesus-in-the-temple,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/religious-events/the-presentation-of-jesus-in-the-temple},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The bringing of the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, where the Gospel of Luke has the aged Simeon take him up and speak the words the Latin office calls the Nunc Dimittis, and the prophetess Anna give thanks. Luke sets the visit in the frame of the purification after childbirth and the redemption of a firstborn son, two observances that the law of Leviticus and Exodus treats separately and that he narrates together. The feast falls forty days after Christmas, on 2 February, and is called Candlemas in the West from the blessing of candles carried in procession, and the Meeting of the Lord, Hypapante, in the East. Like the other infancy scenes it stands in one gospel only.

Facts

The Event

When It Happened

Kept on 2 February, forty days after Christmas, in keeping with the biblical period of purification the narrative describes. 1

Where It Happened

The Temple in Jerusalem. 2

Principal Parties

Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple, where he is recognised by the aged Simeon and the prophetess Anna. 2

Scholarship

Where It Is Recorded

Narrated only in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two, describing Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the Jerusalem temple in accordance with Jewish law, where he is recognized by Simeon and Anna. 2

Consequences

What It Settled

The episode includes Simeon's prayer, the Nunc Dimittis, which became a fixed part of evening prayer in the Western liturgical tradition. 1

Learn More

Simeon and Anna Recognize a Child

The Gospel of Luke narrates that, in accordance with Jewish law requiring the purification of a mother after childbirth and the presentation of a firstborn son, Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, where they encountered a devout man named Simeon, described as having been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. Taking the child in his arms, Simeon offers a prayer of blessing, later known from its opening Latin words as the Nunc Dimittis, declaring that he can now depart in peace, having seen the salvation God had prepared, before turning to Mary with a further prophecy that a sword would pierce her own soul, foreshadowing suffering to come.

A prophetess named Anna, described as elderly and devoted to worship and fasting in the temple, is also present according to Luke's account and likewise recognizes the child, speaking of him to others who were awaiting Jerusalem's redemption.

The episode is unique to Luke's Gospel among the four canonical accounts and continues the pattern, established earlier in his infancy narrative, of righteous, faithful individuals recognizing Jesus's significance through spiritual insight rather than through any outward sign visible to observers generally.

A Prayer That Outlived the Scene It Came From

Simeon's prayer, the Nunc Dimittis, became one of the most widely used texts in Christian liturgical life, incorporated into the service of evening prayer, Compline or Vespers depending on the tradition, in both Eastern and Western Christianity, recited daily by many Christians for centuries independent of its connection to the specific Presentation narrative from which it originates.

Critical scholarship reads the Presentation, like the other episodes in Luke's infancy narrative, as carefully composed to advance the Gospel's theological purposes: it reinforces Jesus's connection to Jewish law and temple worship from infancy, introduces Simeon's prophecy anticipating both Jesus's significance for the Gentile world, described in the prayer as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles," and the suffering that would eventually accompany his ministry, themes Luke develops at length across the rest of his two volume work, the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

The feast commemorating the Presentation is kept on 2 February, calculated as the fortieth day after Christmas in keeping with the period of ritual purification the Torah specifies, and in Western tradition it is also associated with the blessing of candles, giving the day its popular name, Candlemas, in several European liturgical calendars.

Cross-Tradition Connections