Orthodox believers celebrate today one of the main Christian holidays, that of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.
Services are being conducted in all Russian churches. Young Orthodox believers will attend a Candlemas ball in Moscow.
The Holiday is linked to a Biblical event involving the Presentation of Baby Jesus by Mary and Joseph to the Jerusalem Temple on the 40th day after His Nativity. The righteous Simeon met Him and took Him into his arms.
Tradition has it that Simeon lived for 360 years. When translating the prophesy of Isaiah about the birth of the Saviour of the Virgin Mary, Simeon had some doubts about it, and then he got a revelation that he would not die until he saw the Infant God with his own eyes.
Source: Voice of Russia