Righteous Ancestor of God
Dormition of Righteous Anna
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The Church commemorates the falling asleep of Saint Anna, mother of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — Dormition of Righteous Anna, The Prologue from Ohrid — July 25. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
Life and Historical Setting
Righteous Anna, wife of Joachim, received from God the Virgin Mary after long years of prayer. The Church honors her as the mother of the Theotokos and commemorates her holy Dormition on July 25.
Miracles, Relics and Places of Veneration
The Church's liturgical tradition links her life with Jerusalem and the birth of the Theotokos. Traditions concerning portions of her relics exist in Constantinople and Athonite monasteries, but the feast primarily proclaims her righteous motherhood and God's answer to prayer.
Iconography and Spiritual Meaning
The saint's icon presents a transfigured human person whose holiness is the gift of God. The spiritual lesson is drawn from the received life and worship of the Church, not from invented moral anecdotes.
Feast Day
July 25 — Dormition of Righteous Anna.
From the Orthodox Synaxarion
The Prologue from Ohrid honors Righteous Anna within the mystery of God’s providence: after years of childlessness, she became the mother of the Theotokos. Her Dormition is celebrated in thanksgiving for her place in the ancestry of Christ according to the flesh.
Historical Record and Ecclesiastical Tradition
The canonical New Testament does not name the Theotokos's parents or narrate Anna's life and Dormition. Joachim and Anna are known through early Christian tradition, especially the Protoevangelium of James, and through the Church's liturgical reception; later ages, relic translations and shrine claims are attributed rather than treated as Gospel data.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Church in America — Dormition of Righteous AnnaThe Prologue from Ohrid — July 25