The Holy Protection Agia Skepi of the Most Holy Theotokos celebrated on October 28th

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

The Holy Protection [Agia Skepi] of the Most Holy Theotokos
celebrated on October 28th.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Holy Protection. First Tone

O VIRGIN, we extol the great grace of thy Protection, which thou
didst spread out like a bright cloud beyond all understanding;
for thou dost invisibly protect thy people from the foe’s every assault.
Since we have thee as our shelter and certain help, we cry to thee with
our whole soul: Glory to thy great deeds, O Most Pure Maid. Glory to
thy shelter Most Divine. Glory to thy care and Providence for us, O
spotless one.

Kontakion Hymn of the Holy Protection. Plagal of Fourth Tone

LET us the faithful hasten to the Theotokos now and venerate her
SACRED VEIL, as we chant unto her, singing hymns to praise and
honor her, as is fitting; for she sheltereth with her shelter all her
faithful flock and preserveth them unharmed from all calamities,

Kontakion of the Holy Protection. Third Tone
(According to the Russian usage)

TODAY the Virgin doth stand before us in the church, and with the
choirs of Saints invisibly prayeth to God for us. Angels worship with
Hierarchs, Apostles rejoice with Prophets , for the Theotokos prayeth
for us to the Eternal God.
as they cry to her: Rejoice, Protection most radiant

The HOLY FEAST OF THE PROTECTION commemorates the appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary in the Church of Vlachernae in Constantinople in the early 6th century, as recorded in the life of Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ’s sake. While the multitudes of the Orthodox faithful were gathered in church, Epiphanios the friend of Saint Andrew,through the Saint’s prayers, beheld the Ever Virgin Mary above the faithful and spreading out her veil over them, signifying her UNCEASING PROTECTION OF ALL CHRISTIANS. Because of this we keep a yearly feast of gratitude, imploring our Lady never to cease sheltering us in her mighty prayers.

The Holy Feast is celebrated with particular fervor in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. In Ukraine, it has a special significance because of its connection to the spirituality of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the feast is considered the patronal feast of the Cossacks, who defended the Russian Empire from its enemies.

In Greece, the Feast of the Holy Protection (Agia Skepi) is celebrated on October 28th. This is because in 1952, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece decreed that Greece would celebrate the feast on October 28th to coincide with the National holiday of "Oxi" ("No") Day. This day commemorates when Greece said "no" to fascism and Nazism during World Water II. It used to be celebrated on October 1st.

More information on the Holy Feast:

According to Tradition, in the year 911 A.D., during a time when the city was threatened by enemy forces, Saint Andrew the Fool-for-Christ witnessed a vision. In this vision, he saw the Virgin Mary, surrounded by a host of Angels, spreading her protective veil over the entire city and its people. fer

This miraculous vision was seen not only by Saint Andrew but also by his spiritual father, Saint Epiphanios, and many others who were present at the Vlachernae Church. In response to this heavenly apparition, the Orthodox Christians of Constantinople fervently prayed for the protection of the Theotokos, and their prayers were answered. The city was miraculously saved from its impending doom through the intercession of the Mother of God.

The Protection of the Theotokos is not merely a historical event to be commemorated; it carried profound spiritual significance for Orthodox Christians. Here are some key aspects of its importance:

Intercession of the Mother of God

The Ever-Virgin Mary holds a unique place in Christian Theology as the Mother of God (Theotokos). Orthodox Christians believe that she continues to intercede on behalf of the human race, bringing out prayers and supplications to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. The Holy Feast reminds believers of the powerful role the Ever-Virgin Mary plays as a mediator between humanity and God.

Why do we call the Ever-Virgin Mary ‘Mother of God?’ we are asked by the visitor to our sacred services, "God has no mother." Of course not, but the Only-begotten Son of God, EQUAL TO THE Father and the Holy Spirit, entered the world through Mary’s womb, and for that we celebrate her as the bride of the Holy Spirit. The Greek term THEOTOKOS means just that; i.e. God bearer. The name "Theotokos" has a direct foundation in Sacred Scripture. The Holy Apostle Paul writes: "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman" [Galatians 4:4]. Here is expressed the truth that a woman gave birth to the Son of God. "God was manifest in the flesh" [1 Timothy 3:16]: the flesh was woven for God the Logos/Word by the Most Holy Virgin Mary. The Apostolic Father expressed themselves thus: "Our God Jesus Christ was in the womb of Mary."; "God took flesh of the Virgin Mary" (Saint Ignatius the God-bearer, Saint Irenaeus).

"More honorable than the cherubim and
more glorious beyond compare than the
seraphim, true Theotokos we magnify you".

The Ever-Virgin Mary truly deserves more honor from us even than the highest of the ranks of Angels surrounding the Throne of the Lord Almighty, because no cherub brought the Son of God into our world as a man. Far transcending any possible comparison we might conceive of in glory, greater than the seraphim is she to us, because no Angel could have been commissioned by the Heavenly Father to save us from sin, death and separation from God’s Kingdom, yet He found a way to do all three by having His Only-begotten Son enter time and space, born as on eof us, to lead us back to the relationship that the Holy Trinity planned for before the world was made.

At the meeting of the Virgin Mary, after the Annunciation, with the righteous Elizabeth, "Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she spake out with a loud voice, and said: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And when is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?… And blessed is she that believed for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord" [Luke 1:41-45]. Thus Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary the Mother of the Lord, the God of Heaven; it is precisely the God of Heaven that she is here calling "Lord," as is clear from her further words: "She that believed…those things which were told her from the Lord" –the Lord God.

The Mother of God continues to pray to her Lord and Son for our protection and salvation. Saint Maximos the Confessor says, of the Christian goal of becoming Christ-like, of theosis. Just as the Theotokos gave birth to Christ in a bodily way, so we must,Saint Maximos tells us, give birth to Christ in an unbodily or spiritual way. In so doing, we imitate her practical spiritual life, including the purity and humility by which she formed her free will into PERFECT OBEDIENCE to the Will of God. [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

___________
‘Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George