Anna

Anna, meaning grace, was an aged prophetess of the tribe of Asher who was present at the Jerusalem temple when the infant Jesus was brought for his presentation (Luke 2:36–38). The daughter of Phanuel, she had been widowed after seven years of marriage and had since devoted herself to the temple, fasting and praying night and day. At the moment of Jesus' presentation she gave thanks to God and spoke of the child “to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem,” making her one of the earliest human witnesses to the Messiah.

Anna is grouped with the prophetesses of the Old Testament—Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah—as a woman recognized for her prophetic gift. Her great age (she was either eighty-four years old or had been a widow for eighty-four years, the text admits both readings) and her ceaseless temple ministry make her a model of patient, prayer-centered expectation. Her brief appearance in Luke's infancy narrative pairs with Simeon's canticle to provide both male and female witness to the identity of the child as the fulfillment of Israel's hope.