Hanna (prophetess)

The prophetess Hanna (painting by Rembrandt van Rijn , 1613)

The prophetess Hanna (* 90 BC in Israel ; † after 5 BC in Israel), also Anna , is a female figure in the New Testament of the Bible . The Hebrew name means "the graced one ".

New Testament findings

In the second chapter of Luke's Gospel ( Lk 2,36-38  EU ) Hanna is described as an 84-year-old widow who is constantly in the temple , serving God there day and night with fasting and prayer. She is of Jewish origin and is said to be the daughter of Penuel from the Ascher tribe , who married very young and lived with her husband for seven years. Like Simeon before , she recognizes the promised Messiah in the child Jesus during the presentation in the temple and spreads the good news in Jerusalem among all who long for salvation . Hanna is considered the only prophetess named in the New Testament.

Interpretations

As one of the few elderly people named in the Gospels , Hanna embodies the Jewish traditions and openness to the hoped-for Messiah. The tradition of the Old Testament prophets is taken up in Hannah. Hanna's praise is not recorded literally as with the so-called “hymn of praise of Simeon” , but can be seen as confirmation of what Simeon said about Jesus.

It is disputed whether the specified 84 years refer to the duration of Hanna's widowhood or to her age. It is also conceivable that the number 84 stands for 12 times 7 years for each of the tribes of Israel.

As a prophet of the New Testament, Hanna, who defies her social isolation as an old woman and childless widow, is a key figure in the interpretation of the Bible from the perspective of feminist theology . Hannah proclaimed the message of the one God of Israel, who was on the side of the weak and the oppressed.

reception

Remembrance days of the saints are celebrated by the Catholic (February 3, September 1), Orthodox (February 3, August 28), Armenian (February 3, February 15, April 9, April 16, September 1) and Syrian Orthodox Church (February 2).

The life of Hanna, who has been waiting for the Messiah for years, is the subject of Birgit Minichmayr 's children's musical entitled The Prophet Hanna - The Long-awaited Gift .

In art, Hanna is mostly a figurehead in the temple scene with Simeon in numerous fresco paintings and in paintings by Rembrandt ( Simeon in the Temple , 1627) or Gerbrand van den Eeckhout ( The Presentation of Christ in the Temple , 1671). Rembrandt portrays his mother as the prophetess Hanna ( Die Prophetin Hanna , 1631).

The Estonian Orthodox Apostolic Admiralty Church in Tallinn is called the Church of Saint Simeon and the Prophetess Hanna.

gallery

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  Peter Paul Rubens : Jesus in the Temple with Simeon (Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp), between 1611 and 1614

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  Rembrandt van Rijn : Simeon in the Temple , 1627–1628

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  Gerbrand van den Eeckhout : The Presentation of Christ in the Temple , 1671

literature

• Thomas Blisniewski (ed.): Mothers in the picture: portraits of mothers by famous painters - Rembrandt, Cézanne, Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and others. v. a. Munich 2010, p. 7.
• Hanna - prophetess of liberation. Luke 2: 25-38. In: Young Church. Volume 12, 1996, pp. 686-689.
• Angelika Ritter-Grepl: Prophetess Hanna: The testimony of the prophetess Hanna in the temple in Jerusalem about Jesus as the longed-for Messiah. In: FrauenStärken, the magazine for women in the Diocese of Innsbruck. Year 2012, p. 15.

Web links

Commons : Hanna (Anna the Prophetess)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Joachim Schäfer: Hanna, also: Anna. In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . 3rd June 2020.