The Meeting of Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ

The Meeting of the Lord is one of the most ancient feasts of the Christian Church, but until the sixth century it was not celebrated with special solemnity. In 528, in the time of the Emperor Justinian (527–565), a terrible earthquake struck Antioch, and many people perished in it. One disaster was followed by another, an epidemic of plague: several thousand people died every day. During this trial it was revealed from on high to a pious Christian that the feast of the Meeting should be celebrated more solemnly, and when on that day all-night vigils and litanies were held, the series of disasters in Byzantium stopped. In gratitude to God, in 544 the Church ordained that the Meeting of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ be celebrated more solemnly.