The holy and blessed Anna the prophetess came from the city of Armaethma, which was located on the mountain side of the inheritance of the sons of Ephraim, and was married to Elkanah, a husband from the tribe of Levi. Since she was barren and did not bear children, Elkanah, her husband, took another wife, Pennana, who bore him children, and he rejoiced with her. Upset by the reproach of childlessness not only from her rival, Pennan, but also from her husband, although he loved her, and from her neighbors and relatives, Anna grieved greatly and prayed a lot to God, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God’s law; every morning and every evening she offered up her holy offerings, so that the Lord would deliver her from this reproach and grant her childbearing. Elkanah went every year with his entire family at the time prescribed by law from his city to Shiloh to offer sacrifice to the Lord God Almighty by the hand of the high priest Eli.
And then one day, after making a sacrifice to God, Elkanah, dividing the remains of the sacrifice among the members of his family, distributed one part to Peninnah and her sons and daughters, and gave the other to Hannah, since he loved her more than Peninnah, although she had no children: from This filled Fennana's heart with envy and vexation, and for Anna this served as a source of new, even greater, grief and insults. Confused by envious reproaches, she cried and did not eat and did not find joy in the consolation of her loving husband (1 Samuel 5:8); her face saddened, and she did not know what to do. At the end of the sacrificial meal, Anna, having dismissed her husband and family, hurried alone to the tabernacle and, throwing herself on the ground, poured out her heartfelt sorrow before God and made the following vow:
“Lord of hosts, if You look upon the sorrow of Your servant, remember me, and do not forget Your servant, and give Your servant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord as a gift for all the days of his life.”
While Anna had been praying for such a long time, the high priest Eli, who was sitting at the door of the tabernacle, paying attention to her and noticing that her mouth was moving and her voice was not heard, said to her:
- How long will you stay drunk? Sober up from your wine and go from the presence of the Lord!
“No, my lord,” answered Anna, “I am a wife grieving in spirit, I have not drunk wine; but I pour out my soul before God, do not consider your servant a worthless woman, for out of my great sadness and out of my grief I have spoken hitherto.
Then Eli said:
“Go in peace, and the God of Israel will grant your request.”
And God really did not reject Anna’s prayer, and not only through the lips of Elijah vouchsafed, thus, to bestow fruit on her, but also vouchsafed the son who was later born from her the gift of prophecy.
Having received the promise of God with undoubted faith, Anna joyfully returned to her husband, and after a while she conceived and gave birth to Samuel (in Hebrew - asked of God), who later became a prophet and leader of the people of Israel. When the baby was breastfed, Hannah took him with her at the appropriate time and went, accompanied by her husband, to Shiloh. There she again prostrated herself before the Lord God, giving Him thanks. After the sacrifice was made, Samuel's father and mother brought him to the high priest Elijah, and Hannah said to him:
- My lord! I am the woman who stood here with you and prayed to the Lord for this child, and the Lord fulfilled my request, what I asked of Him; and I commit him to the Lord all the days of his life to serve the Lord.
Eli blessed Anna and said:
- May the Lord give you children instead of Samuel.
Anna rejoiced and, bowing before the sanctuary, sang a prayer song in the abundance of her heart: “ My heart rejoiced in the Lord; my horn is exalted in my God; My mouth is opened wide against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation
"(1 Samuel 2:1).
After this, Elkanah and his pious wife returned to Armathem; Samuel remained at the tabernacle to serve the Lord. Subsequently, Anna had three more sons and three daughters, and already in old age she moved to the eternal abodes.
The Church celebrates the memory of the holy prophetess Anna on December 22.
The page was prepared by Anastasia
Prayerful invocation of the holy prophetess Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel
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Stories of the West and East. Soloist of the Berlin Staatsoper Anna Samuel
Yuri Veksler: Anna Samuil was a soloist at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater in Moscow. Did she doubt it when the wonderful conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim invited her, so to speak, to work permanently at the Berlin Staatsoper under his direction? Anna Samuel speaks.
Anna Samuel: No doubts, there were no doubts. You see, I didn’t just come here to live, I came here to work, I came here in the high sense of the word to study, gain experience, learn completely new things. I performed for the first time in Berlin in 2003, just with Barenboim and Rolando Villazon, we sang La Traviata. And when I saw all this happening here, I realized that I should be here, because as an artist, as a singer, this is very important to me.
Yuri Veksler: Anna just sang Tatiana in Onegin on the Berlin stage, and she made her debut in this role in the West a year ago in Salzburg, also with Daniel Barenboim. Daniel Barenboim loves his international troupe, loves his singers, and Anna Samuel is no exception. The maestro easily finds a common language with everyone in the literal sense of the word.
Anna Samuel: In general, Maestro Barenboim speaks, in my opinion, at least eight languages, and he doesn’t care what language he speaks. In general, when he is in a good mood, he speaks Russian perfectly, and I assure you that, in general, without an accent.
Yuri Veksler: Soloist of the Berlin Staatsoper Anna Samuil has been living in Berlin for five years. Has she gotten used to the German capital?
Anna Samuel: Berlin seemed to me a very nice city, quite democratic, without any special pretensions or any frills. In general, I feel very good here. Of course, after Moscow it seems that it is quiet here, there is no one on the streets, the metro is generally empty. On the other hand, this city is very colorful, diverse, there are a lot of different people here, and therefore you don’t feel like some kind of black sheep here, you don’t feel like a stranger here. I think that this is not the case everywhere, and this is precisely what makes Berlin different.
Yuri Veksler: It’s interesting that Anna, the daughter of musicians, before graduating from the Moscow Conservatory as a singer (she is a student of Irina Arkhipova), received a diploma as a violinist from the same conservatory. To my question whether she sometimes touches the violin or has said goodbye to it forever, Anna Samuel answered.
Anna Samuel: I touch it sometimes, but now I have to repair it, there are some problems there. But, in principle, the hands still remember, after so many years it’s difficult to lose it.
Yuri Veksler: I once had a music teacher, a long time ago, he was both a conductor and a violinist, and he once studied with Polyakin.
Anna Samuel: Miron Polyakin, of course, I know.
Yuri Veksler: And he just suddenly took the violin for himself and played Bach. Sometimes there is such an impulse that I would take the violin and...
Anna Samuel: Yes, I play sometimes, but it depends on my mood - I can play Bach, or I can play Brahms or Tchaikovsky, which would be suitable now. Yes, of course, it sometimes calms the nerves and generally somehow puts thoughts into a different mood.
Yuri Veksler: Nowadays Anna sings on the most prestigious opera stages in the world, in particular at La Scala and the Metropolitan, where she sang Musetta in Puccini’s opera La Bohème; in that performance, the role of Mimi was performed by another Anna - Anna Netrebko, the role of Rodolfo - by Rolando Villazon, and conducted by Placido Domingo. In addition to her extensive solo work, Anna also manages to make her own recordings of chamber repertoire, being one of the conductors of Russian music in the West. Proof of this is her new just released disc “Angel and Demon”, which Anna Samuel spoke about.
Anna Samuil: Yes, the fact is that this year, 2008, is a fairly important date, it is the 100th anniversary of the death of Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov. It is quite widely celebrated in Russia; everywhere there are some productions or revivals in opera houses. Here this composer is practically unknown, although I believe that he is one of the strongest opera storytellers, so to speak, both in colors and in orchestration he is in some ways close even to Wagner. But for this disc with the Mexican baritone Alfredo Dazo, he also works here, we chose his romances, the most touching, the most soulful. And all these are romances based on poems by Pushkin, Maykov, Fet, that is, this is also very high poetry. “Angel and Demon”, because it’s called one of the duets, and we thought that this was a very good title for the disc, because everyone is torn apart by an angel and a demon, this applies to everyone.
Radio Liberty
Anna the prophetess daughter of Phanuel
One of the most famous Orthodox saints is Anna the Prophetess. The church celebrates her memory days on September 10 and February 16. Some sources say that her memory falls on February 3.
She lived with Jesus Christ and stayed with him until the end of his earthly days and even witnessed the Resurrection. Anna became an ardent preacher of Christian teaching and thanks to this she acquired the gift of predicting events and the destinies of individual people.
During her life, Anna the prophetess strictly observed fasts and all Christian rules. She was distinguished by her modesty and intelligence, and after widowhood she had the opportunity to get married well and live in abundance.
However, since pagans ruled at the time, Anna chose a wandering Christian lifestyle and became famous for her faith and miracles.
It is worth noting: in the Orthodox calendar, the prophetess Anna is considered perhaps the main saint, after whom parents often named and name their daughters.
Anna's name day according to the church calendar
Since ancient times, there has been a tradition to celebrate Angel Day . Nowadays it is becoming common again. Orthodox people give the newborn baby a name chosen according to the Saints - the church calendar. As a rule, they choose the name of a saint who is revered on the nearest date after the baby’s birthday. This saint becomes the child’s patron. Sometimes it happens that there are several saints with a similar name in the Saints who are honored several times a year. In the case of the name Anna, the days of the angel according to the church calendar are celebrated 28 times a year:
January 11 (new martyr), 3, 16, 17 (new martyr), February 23 and 26 (new martyr), 11 (new martyr), 14 (new martyr) and 20 March (new martyr), 8 and 13 April, 11 May (new martyr), June 25 and 26, July 18, August 3, 5 and 7, September 10 and 22, October 15, 4, 10, 11, 16, 23 (new martyr) and November 27 (new martyr), December 3 and 22.
These days will be name days for an Orthodox woman, but the main holiday is the date on which her patron saint is venerated. As a rule, this is the closest date after your birthday. This day will be a big name day and this is the main holiday in Anna’s life, and the remaining dates are small name days.
Character of the birthday girl
Anna is a calm child. She is quite obedient and not capricious. Anna likes to imagine herself as the heroine of a romantic book. As a rule, she is the oldest of the children. She quickly gets used to being listened to, and she maintains an authoritative and commanding tone in her voice. During her school years, the girl is a “fighter for justice.” She resists everything she doesn't agree with. It should also be noted that the girl does not succumb to the influence of others. She always does what she thinks is right.
But despite the above-described main character traits of this name, it should be noted that they may differ slightly. It all depends on the date when the child was born. Or rather, depending on the time of year. In the autumn-winter period, the character of the owner of the name Anna is more firm and decisive than girls born in the spring-summer period.
Dear brothers and sisters! We invite you to visit the unique resource https://www.slovo-pomoshi.ru/. With its help, you can convey your aspirations to St. Petersburg churches, chapels, monasteries, and also contact the righteous at the place of their burial. We will write a note ourselves, take it to the temple and send you a photo report by email. Turning to God with the help of prayers has helped many people overcome grief, regain health and the joy of worldly life.
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