In this feast we see the Holy Theotokos taken into the temple, and yet we also know that she herself will become “the living temple of the Holy Glory of Christ our God.” She is “the temple that is to hold God” and is consecrated to be the “dwelling place of the Almighty.” One of the hymns of the feast calls it “the prelude of the good will of God,” for it announces and prefigures the coming of God’s salvation in the Incarnation of Christ that we will celebrate at Christmas.

Today is the prelude of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the temple of God, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: "Rejoice, O Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation."