Homily Four on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

 By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in 1958)

Many times the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to a separate great saint, usually accompanied by one or two apostles of Christ, and she appeared to Saint Seraphim of Sarov alone. But she never appeared to anyone in such glory as in the Blachernae Church in Constantinople, on this great feast, named after her Protection.

There were many people in the temple, and among them were blessed Andrew, a holy fool for Christ's sake, with his disciple Epiphanios.

There was an all-night vigil. The people fervently prayed for deliverance from the invasion of the barbarians, who had already approached Constantinople itself.

Homily Two on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

 By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol

(Delivered on October 1/14, 1954)

Do not think that I will speak only about the great feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos: I will not explain the meaning of this feast, for I have already explained it more than once.

I will talk about something completely different, I will talk about the little flock of Christ.

Why then, why on the day of the Protection will I speak of the little flock? This is why: I know that most of you are very alarmed by the sudden increase in anti-religious propaganda, and you mourn ... Do not worry, do not worry! It's none of your business.

Three Miracles of the Holy Zoni of the Mother of God

1. Nikolaos Yiannopoulos, a resident of Patras, was nineteen when he was involved in an accident:

On 10/14/2000, I was involved in a serious traffic accident and taken to a hospital in Rio [a town close to Patras]. I had a burst small intestine - peritonitis - a broken lower jaw and left shin, and peroneal nerve palsy. Six months after I had operations done, there was relative improvement in all areas, apart from the peroneal nerve palsy. I couldn’t move the sole of my foot or lock the knee on my left leg properly. All the doctors said that there was no way I would ever walk again, because it’s the only affliction that doesn’t allow for any restoration of movement in the leg.

Homily One on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

Lutherans, Protestants and all other heretics do not honor the Most Holy Virgin Mary. They consider her only a pious woman and certainly do not pray to her. How do we Orthodox Christians see the earthly Mother of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, who served in the great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God? Are we reprehensible for calling her "more honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim"?  For addressing our fervent prayers to her, who is "the salvation of the Christian race"?

Homily on the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God (St. Dimitri of Rostov)

By St. Dimitri of Rostov

 

During the last, difficult times, when with the increase of our sins our perils have also increased, in fulfillment of the words of the holy apostle Paul: In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren (2 Cor. 11:26), when in fulfillment of the words of the Lord Himself, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places (Matt. 24:7), when we are pressed with invasions by foreign nations, civil wars, and fatal diseases, the Most Holy and Most blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord, gives us her protection as our shield, in order to free us from all disasters; in order to protect us from famines, floods, and earthquakes, to save us from wars and diseases, and preserve us unharmed under her protection. A sign of this protection appeared in the royal city of Constantinople during the reign of the pious King Leo the Wise in the glorious church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae. There during the All-Night Vigil for Sunday, on the first day of the month of October, in the fourth hour of the night, in the presence of many people, St. Andrew the fool for Christ lifted up his eyes and saw the Heavenly Queen, the Protectress of the whole world, the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, standing in the air and praying, shining with the light of the sun and covering the people with her honorable omophorion. Seeing this, St. Andrew said to his disciple Blessed Ephiphanios:

 

Encomium to the Most Holy Theotokos (for December 25th)

 

 

Encomium to the Most Holy Theotokos 

 

For the 25th of December

 

(Edited by Fr. George A. Bouteris in 1902

based on Proclus of Constantinople and the

hymnography of the Church.)

God is brought forth by the Virgin Mother

Today, the gate of the King of glory is opened,
which the Highest alone traveled through.

Today the Beginningless begins
and the Word is noted down.

Today heaven and earth have united,
speaking of Christ.

Today God on earth has arrived,
and man to heaven has been raised.

Today fire has been made visible,
the nature of which is invisible to man.

Today the Virgin brings forth the Fashioner of all things;
the earth offers a cave, and the heavens a star.

The Vision of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God at Blachernae to Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ

 

The following account is a translation from the the Life of Saint Andrew the Fool which describes his vision of the Mother of God at the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople, for which the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God (October 1 or 28) is based on.

 

When a night-long doxology was held in the Holy Soros at Blachernae blessed Andrew was in attendance, behaving in his usual way. Epiphanios was also present,  and with him one of his servants. Blessed Andrew was wont to stand there as long as his zeal gave him strength, sometimes until midnight, sometimes until morning. When it was already the fourth hour of the night he saw the Most Holy Theotokos appear in full sight, very tall, from the Royal Doors, escorted by an awe-inspiring retinue in which there were, among others, the Honorable Forerunner and the Son of Thunder, holding her by the hand on both sides, and many other holy men in white robes accompanied her, some going before her, others following her, singing hymns and spiritual songs.

 

Homily One on the Feast of the Deposition of the Honorable Robe of the Theotokos (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Today our Church, beloved brethren, commemorates the Deposition of the Honorable Robe of our Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary in Blachernae. It is a celebration of an event that refers to our Panagia and refers to a garment of hers that was her "overcoat".

According to the author of the synaxarion of the day, two patricians, Galbios and Kandidos, during the reign of Emperor Leo the Great, as they were traveling to Jerusalem to worship in the Holy Land, upon arriving in Galatia, came across a most-pious Hebrew woman, who had in her home the holy Robe, namely the overcoat of the Panagia. This woman prayed day and night in imitation of the Prophetess Anna who was in the Temple and found worthy to see Christ, when He was brought by the Panagia forty days after His birth.

An Orthodox Correction to the Catholic Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

No one is born free of the ancestral sin. The fall of Adam and Eve and its consequences were inherited by the whole human race. Of course even the Panagia could not be freed from the ancestral sin. The words of the Apostle Paul are clear: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). In this apostolic passage we see that sin is understood as a deprivation of the glory of God and also that no one is exempt from sin. So the Panagia too was born with the ancestral sin. But when was she released from it? The answer to this question must be free of any scholastic conceptions.

Holy Protection of the Theotokos: Gospel and Epistle Reading

Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos

Matins Gospel Reading

Gospel According to Luke 1:39-49, 56

English

In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home.

Synaxis of the Panagia Engymonousa in Katerini (Celebrating the Six Month Pregnancy of the Theotokos)

It has been established that on September 25th the Panagia Engymonousa is honored, the protectress and guardian of all child-bearing women and childless families. Engymonousa is translated into English as "the one who is pregnant," and she is called this because in the icon of the Panagia Engymonousa the Mother of God is depicted as being six months pregnant. The reason her six month pregnancy is commemorated today is because it is exactly six months ago, on March 25th, that we celebrated her Annunciation which resulted in her conception, and in exactly three months, on December 25th, we will celebrate the Birth of our Lord.

Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Archangel Michael at the Sosthenion

On the 8th of June we commemorate the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Archangel Michael in the Sosthenion district of Constantinople.

The Michaelion was one of the earliest and most famous sanctuaries dedicated to the Archangel Michael in the Roman Empire. According to tradition, it was built in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) over an ancient pagan temple called the Leosthenion or Sosthenion, erected by the Argonauts and dedicated to Zeus Sosthenios or a winged deity. According to tradition, Constantine interpreted the winged statue of the temple as a Christian angel. After sleeping the night in the temple, Constantine reported a vision that the angel was the Archangel Michael, and converted the building into a church to honor him. In the early fifth century the historian Sozomen recorded the devotions by the crowds at the Michaelion and wrote of first-hand reports of healings at the Michaelion, stating that he had himself received a healing. The pagan temple which had existed there had been previously associated with healing and medicine, and the Christians continued to associate the location and the Michaelion with its healing waters.

Translation of the Honorable Zoni (Girdle) of the Theotokos in 919 A.D.

Translation of the Honorable Zoni of the Theotokos (Feast Day - April 12)

On this day in the six-thousandth four-hundredth and fiftieth year from the creation of the world, the honorable Zoni [Girdle] of our Lady the Most Holy Theotokos was translated from the Diocese of Zela (which is a city in Cappadocia) to the Queen of Cities, by Constantine and Romanos Porphyrogennetos in the year 919. After this it was put away in the Holy Soros [Coffin] at the Chalkoprateion, on the thirty-first of the month of August, and it can be viewed there.

Verses

The honorable Zoni is given to the Queen city,
By the all-honorable Queen and Birthgiver of God.*

Feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Theotokos to Saint Elizabeth

Fresco of the Visitation in Saint George Church 
in Kurbinovo, North Macedonia

The establishment of this Feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Elizabeth and the composition of the Service are the work of Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin (1817–1894), head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem. Celebration of the Feast of the Visitation has not yet been accepted by all Orthodox jurisdictions.

Embrace of the Theotokos and Elizabeth, 
Timios Stavros (Honorable Cross) Church, 14th century - 
Pelendri village in Limassol area, south east of 
Kato Amiantos village near Saittas, Cyprus. 
The unborn John the Baptist bows before Jesus, who blesses him.

The Gorneye Convent in Jerusalem, built on the site of the Meeting of the Theotokos and Saint Elizabeth, celebrates this Feast on March 30. Since after the Annunciation (March 25) Mary "went with haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth, March 30 seems a reasonable date for the feast, but it does run into possible conflicts with Holy Week and Easter. Therefore, if March 30 should fall between Lazarus Saturday and Easter, the Feast is transferred to Bright Friday.

Feast to the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Mother of God

Feast to the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Mother of God (Feast Day - August 1)

The Russian Feast to the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Mother of God was established on the occasion of portents from icons of the Savior, the Most Holy Mother of God and the Venerable Cross during the time of a battle of holy Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky (1157-1174) with the Volga Bulgars in 1164. The Cross is therefore venerated marking the victory of the armies of Russia over the Volga Bulgars.

The Theotokos as the Incense of Intercession

By Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria

The Akathist Hymn, which is chanted on the Fifth Friday of Great Lent, remotely reminds us of the reverence of our people for the person of the Panagia. It further reminds us of the salvific intervention of the Theotokos in the Queen of Cities, when in 626 the Avars and the Persians attempted to occupy Constantinople, as well as her continuous miraculous interventions in difficult times.

We would not sing hymns to the Panagia, if the Son and Word of God was not incarnated in her all-immaculate womb. She is not only the mother of Christ, but at the same time our own mother. She offered us the greatest gift, the Savior of our souls. And her Son and God gave her the greatest gift, by taking human nature from her, divinizing and renewing it. This is why in the Christmas Service we chant: "God has appeared to mankind from the Virgin, taking our likeness and deifying our nature."

Synaxis of the Theotokos Resource Page

Verses

Blamelessly giving birth without knowing a man in the marriage-bed,

As a blameless gift we welcome the words.

Dance and sing on the twenty-sixth for the most-pure birth-giving.

 

Synaxarion for the Synaxis of the Theotokos and Her Flight Into Egypt With Christ 

 

Synaxis of the Theotokos: Epistle and Gospel Reading

 

The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos

 

The Institution of the Synaxis of the Theotokos

  

The Theotokos as a Model for our Life (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)  

 

December: Day 26: Teaching 3: Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos

 

Properly Honoring the Theotokos the Day After Christmas

  

St. Proclus' Homily For December 26th

  

Three Homilies of St. Nikolai Velimirovich on the Theotokos

 

Through the Theotokos "the Mortal Drachma Has Been Found" 

 

Stories of the Post-Nativity Virginity of the Theotokos

 

"The Year of our Lord" by Fr. George Florovsky

  

The Early Christian Veneration of the Mother of God in Rome

 

Protection of the Theotokos and OXI Day Resource Page

Protection of the Theotokos and OXI Day (Feast Day - October 28)

Verses

With your Protection Pure One, you cover all the faithful,
You have become our Protection, and the salvation of the world.
On the first the mantle of the Pure One covers all who sing hymns to her.

+ + +

With your Protection, Pure One, you cover and comfort,
The faithful who look towards you, O Virgin.
Mother of God the Protection of Greece cover the godly-minded.

 

The Vision of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God at Blachernae to Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ

 

Holy Protection of the Theotokos: Gospel and Epistle Reading 

 

Homily on the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God (St. Dimitri of Rostov)

 

October: Day 1: Teaching 1: Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos 

 

October: Day 1: Teaching 2: Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos

 

Homily One on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

Homily Two on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

Homily Three on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

Homily Four on the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

Feast of the Holy Protection of the Theotokos in Blachernae and OXI Day 

 

The Protection of the Theotokos in the Life of the Church

Why We Celebrate OHI (OXI) Day in Greek Orthodoxy: The Virgin Mary and World War 2 

 

The NO of Greek Clergy in the Year 1940 

 

The Story of OXI Day (video)

 

The First Greek Priest Killed in the War of 1940

History of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos

By John Sanidopoulos

The origin of the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is closely connected with her public veneration in the early fourth century, when Christmas began to be celebrated in Rome, and peaked at the Third Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus in 431, when controversy arose over the title "Theotokos". A few years later, in the Armenian Lectionary of 434, which preserves the ancient liturgical practices of the Jerusalem Church between 417 and 439, it says that a feast of Mary the Theotokos was celebrated on August 15th, "at the second mile from Bethlehem," with Scripture readings that focused on the Nativity of Christ and the Mary as the Mother of God. In Egypt, this same feast was celebrated on January 18th under the influence of the Holy Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria (+ 444), who presided over the Third Ecumenical Synod. In Constantinople, the veneration of the Theotokos was promoted by Holy Patriarch Anatolios (+ 458), who also composed the first liturgical hymns to the Theotokos.

Oikos, Kontakion, Canon to the Theotokos of the Life-Giving Spring

Kontakion.

Plagal of the Fourth Tone.

O Lady, full of grace divine, you ever grant to me your grace's waters, which are gushing forth continually from your never-failing Spring, beyond understanding. You gave birth to God the Logos inexplicably, so I pray you that your gift of grace refreshes me, that I may cry to you, "Rejoice, water of deliverance!"