Anna

Etymology

The Greek form of the Hebrew 'Hannah' (חַנָּה), from the root 'chen' (חֵן) meaning grace or favour. In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), Hannah becomes Anna, and the New Testament uses this Greek form.

Who they were

Anna appears in only three verses of Luke's Gospel, but they paint a portrait of extraordinary devotion. She was a prophetess from the tribe of Asher — one of the northern tribes, making her heritage unusual in Jerusalem. She had been married for seven years before being widowed, and had then spent decades in the temple — Luke says she was eighty-four years old, worshipping night and day with fasting and prayer. When Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple for his presentation, it was Anna — along with the elderly Simeon — who recognised who the child was. Luke says she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child 'to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.' She had waited her entire adult life for this moment. Her story is about the kind of patient, faithful attention that eventually sees what others miss. She is one of only a handful of women in the Bible explicitly called a prophetess.

Family

Father

Phanuel

Character qualities

• Lifelong devotion
• Patient waiting
• Spiritual discernment
• Prayerfulness
• Prophetic recognition

Key verse

Luke 2:38

Where they appear

Themes

Variants & related forms

Anne · Ann · Annie · Ana · Anya · Anneke · Annika · Hannah

Related names