Church celebrates the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos
The Icon of the Protection. Photo: the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra website
On October 14, the Church prayerfully celebrates the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and commemorates the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God to those praying in the Blachernae Church in Constantinople in 910.
This feast is not one of the Twelve Great Feasts, but it is beloved by Orthodox Christians.
The feast is established in honor of a miraculous event that took place in 910 in Constantinople when St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ and his disciple Epiphanius had a vision of the Protection of the Mother of God.
These were difficult times for Byzantium. The empire was threatened by the Saracens, who practised Islam. As the barbarian forces approached Constantinople, the residents of the Byzantine capital, preparing for death and seeing no help in sight, flocked in large numbers to the Blachernae Church, where the robe of the Theotokos and her veil were kept, and prayed.
On Sunday, October 1, 910, during the all-night vigil, St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ saw the Theotokos walking through the air, radiant with light and surrounded by angels and saints. First, she tearfully prayed for the Christians, and then she removed her veil from her head and spread it over the people praying in the church, protecting them from visible and invisible enemies.
The miraculous protection saved the city. A storm arose and scattered the barbarian ships, sparing the people of Constantinople from death.
Read also
Moldova lacks capacity to maintain 800 temples it intends to seize from Church
According to the Minister of Culture, authorities plan to seize 800 churches from the Moldovan Church, but they lack the capability to manage them.
Court returns seized church to UOC community in Ivankiv
The appellate court declared invalid the re-registration of the UOC community of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the town of Ivankiv.
2,800-year-old seal with biblical symbols found in Israel
Israeli archaeologists have found a stone seal from the era of Judean kings with an inscription in ancient Hebrew.
Pope warns clergy against writing AI-based sermons
The head of the Roman Catholic Church warned priests about the risks of using digital technologies in ministry.
UOC parishes abroad hold memorial services on war anniversary
Clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church abroad prayed on the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Persecuted UOC parish in Tovtry performs reading of Great Penitential Canon
Another Bukovynian community, deprived of its church, continues Great Lent services in an adapted facility.