Anna
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(gracious) — the name of three persons: a) (Luke 2:36) a prophetess of the tribe of Asher, daughter of Phanuel. Having reached a great old age, she, according to the Gospel account, did not depart from the Temple, but served God with fasting and prayer night and day. When Simeon, who received God into his arms, took the infant Jesus into his embrace and uttered his wondrous prophecy concerning Him, the prophetess Anna together with him glorified the Lord and spoke of Him to all who awaited redemption in Jerusalem; b) (1 Sam. 1:1, 2; 2:1–10) mother of the prophet Samuel, one of the wives of the devout Levite Elkanah.
Long barren, she at last, by prayer, bore a son, whom she dedicated to the Lord’s service at the tabernacle. On this occasion she uttered a deeply moving prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord, in which, for the first time, we encounter the name Christ, the Anointed of God (1 Sam. 2:1–10); c) (Tobit 1:9) wife of Tobit, a devout Israelite who lived in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.