EDITOR'S NOTE: Although the authorship of the following oration is disputed by modern scholars, it is traditionally ascribed to St. Methodius of Olympus (in Asia Minor). St. Methodius is best known as

the author of a Platonic dialogue in which female philosophers at a dinner party establish the exalted status of virginity. Besides defending monastic asceticism, he was an opponent of Origenism; both of these concerns show up in "Simeon and Anna". More on the author's mind, however, is the tragedy of Israel's rejection of the Messiah, and the role of the Church as the New Israel. This theme is addressed not in a tone of triumphant anti-Semitism, it seems to me, but in the spirit of Romans 11: there is a certain sadness mingling with the great joy of the feast.

                                            -- N. Redington