Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is a great Orthodox holiday falling on October 14 (October 1 - old style) The intercession of the Mother of God for the human race is continuous, and the holiday serves as confirmation of this It is one of the people's favorites and has been installed in the Russian Church since the 12th century in memory of the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary This happened in the Blachernae Church of Constantinople, and Saint Andrew and his disciple became witnesses The source does not indicate the exact date of the event, but only the time And only in the 17th century the works of Dmitry Rostovsky gave reason to believe that this happened on October 1 Many scientists and theologians argue about the time of life of Andrei Yurodivy, giving their own arguments Opinions also differ about the personality of the blessed one According to one of them, he was Russian by birth, captured by the Greeks The main current version is the following chronology of events In 910, during the reign of Emperor Leo, nicknamed the Philosopher, the mercenary army of the Khazars invaded the Greek Empire, ruining everything in its path and enslaving the population The Greeks could not resist the numerous Saracens Having taken refuge in Constantinople, with their last hope they gathered for a night vigil in the temple Blachernae, from the moment of its foundation, was considered a place of special veneration of the Mother of God, as they kept a special relic - the chasuble Among the people, and even the Tsar himself was present, was the holy fool Andrei, who had the opportunity to see the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels and saints before the end of the service She performed her prayer, and then showed a sign - approaching the throne of the temple, she took off her headdress (omophorion) and spread it over those praying With Andrei at that moment was his young disciple Epiphanius, also blessed, who confirmed the vision There is nothing unusual in the fact that it was the holy fool who saw the divine visitation A person in this rank of holiness is able to forget about himself and everything worldly, to serve only God and people Many of them possessed such wondrous gifts for their feat, such as the ability to work miracles and prophecies, and were canonized Residents, having learned about the intercession of the Mother of God before God, gained faith in a happy deliverance from the enemy invasion And so it happened: the Saracens retreated from the city without bloodshed The holiday quickly took root in Rus' The spiritual life of our ancestors was directly dependent on the agricultural cycle By Pokrov, a kind of natural border between autumn and winter, the village suffering, harvesting and preparation ended The period of fairs began, the housing of livestock for the winter And most importantly, the wedding weeks began, and the Intercession of the Virgin Mary was associated with wedding decorations The holiday does not belong to the Twelves, but since its events are connected with the name of the Mother of God, especially revered in Russian Orthodoxy, it has liturgical features More than once the Mother of God protected and saved people, and this is confirmed by the number of temples and churches dedicated to the Intercession Moreover, even today new monasteries are named in his honor Today, many dioceses organize trips for believers to holy places or processions of the cross, which take place after obligatory services The cover of the Most Holy Theotokos, with its spiritual content, indicates that any prayer request for help and protection will be heard