Saint Anna the Ancestor of God (Fiorenzo) Icon - S642

This touching icon of the holy Ancestor of God Saint Anna is by the hand of American iconographer Mark Fiorenzo. It depicts the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ embracing her daughter. The young Mary holds a flower. This icon can be paired with a matching icon of Anna’s husband, Saint Joachim.

Saint Anna and her husband Joachim were childless. For this, they were derided by their fellow Jews, who believed they must have been cursed. Once, when offering a sacrifice at the temple, Joachim was turned away by the priest. Remembering Abraham and Sarah, they prayed to the Lord and vowed to dedicate their child to the service of God. They conceived a daughter (December 9), whom they named Mariam, or in English, Mary (September 8).

To fulfill their promise, they dedicated Mary to service in the Temple when she was three years old (November 21). Joachim and Anna visited their daughter often during the next seven years. About the year 8 B.C., when Mary was about 10 years old, Joachim reposed at the age of 80. Now a widow, Anna moved from Nazareth to Jerusalem and purchased a family tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Joachim was buried. Not long after, Anna also died at the age of 79, and she was buried with her husband.

Saints Joachim and Anna are called "the ancestors of God," because they were the grandparents of Christ, the incarnate God. They are honored as a model for husbands and wives, and their powerful intercessions are often felt by childless couples. So important are these saints as models and intercessors, as well as in the plan of salvation, they are always invoked at the Great Dismissal in Eastern Orthodox worship services. These righteous spouses are commemorated together on September 9, the day after the Nativity of the Theotokos. Saint Anna’s Dormition (falling-asleep) is also commemorated on July 25.