One of
the most beloved holidays in the Orthodox calendar is the Protection of the
Mother of God. The Slavic people celebrate this holiday on October 1. The Greek
tradition celebrates it on October 28.
The tradition
holds that during the tenth century, the city of Blachernae in Constantinople
was threatened by a barbarian invasion. Saint Andrei Yurodivyi (Andrew of
Constantinople), his disciple Saint Epiphanius, and a group of people saw the
Mother of God, St. John the Baptist, and several other saints and angels during
a vigil in the church. This same church housed several of the relics of the
Virgin Mary, including her robe, veil and part of her belt. These were brought
from Palestine during the fifth century.
During
this vision, the Theotokos came to the center of the church, knelt down and
prayed for a long time. Her face was drowned in tears. Afterwards, she removed
her veil and spread it over the people as a sign of protection. After this
appearance, the danger passed and the city was spared the bloodshed of an
invasion.
The icon
of the Holy Protection shows the feast in which the Theotokos is standing above
the faithful with her arms stretched open in prayer and draped with a veil.
Angels are on both sides of her. In most icons, Saint Andrew and his disciple
Epiphanius are in the lower right. St. Epiphanius is wearing a tunic under his
cloak and seems astonished at this miraculous appearance. St. Andrew is dressed
only in a cloak. Below the Theotokos, in the center of the icon, is a young man
with a halo dressed in a deacon’s sticharion. In his left hand he is holding an
open scroll with the text of the Kontakion for the Nativity in honor of the
Mother of God. This is St. Romanus the Melodist, the famous hymnographer whose
feast is celebrated on October 1. His choir is with him as is the Emperor Leo
the Wise, the Empress, and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
On my
Greek Orthodox calendar, the October 28th is also marked “OXI Day”. What does
this mean? In the past few years, this feast has been recognized as a
thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Greek nation from the Italian invasion
of 1940. It is a national holiday in Greece known as “Ochi Day” or “No Day”, in
reference to the response of the Greek leader Metaxas to Mussolini’s ultimatum.
By Joanne Jamis Cain in The Sounding Blog
Source: http://myocn.net/the-holy-protection-of-the-theotokos/
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