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

 

October: Day 1: Teaching 1:
Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(To What Should This Truth Encourage Us, That the Most Holy Mother of God Is Our Glorious Intercessor and Advocate Before God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today, brethren, we celebrate the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. The beginning of this celebration is undoubtedly known to you. Once upon a time, the Saracens, a strong and warlike people, invaded the Greek Empire and threatened its very capital. The inhabitants of Constantinople, terrified by the imminent danger and seeing their own impotence to repel the adversaries, turned to God with prayers for help, and the Lord showed it to them. Once, when the all-night vigil was being held in the Blachernae Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, blessed Andrew and his holy disciple Epiphanios were honored with a miraculous vision. They saw the vault of the church open and they saw in the air that the Mother of God with a host of prophets, apostles and other saints, kneeling before God praying for the Christian world and overshadowing it with her honorable omophorion. This vision filled the people of Constantinople with joy, inspired their warriors with courage, and was accompanied by a victory over the Saracens. In memory of this event and to constantly remind Christians of the protection of the Mother of God, the Holy Church established the annual celebration of Her honorable protection on this day.

However, not one of the described visions serves as the basis for our belief that the Most Holy Mother of God intercedes before God for Christians and provides them with beneficial assistance in their needs; there are many other proofs of this. Her miraculous icons, honored in various places, serve as clear and unceasing witnesses that the Mother of God is truly our powerful intercessor and advocate before God.

II. What edification shall we draw from this for ourselves, brethren - what should this encourage us to?

a) First, we must honor, magnify, and most fervently thank the Most Holy Theotokos for her great benefits to us. True, she has no need of our praises, because the angels sing of her, all the heavenly powers glorify her; she will not require our thanks, because she does good to us solely out of love and mercy for the human race. But this does not free us from every obligation to magnify and thank her, our great intercessor, for ingratitude, especially before God and His Most Pure Mother, is the greatest sin. When, out of ten lepers healed by Jesus Christ, only one came and thanked Him, the Lord said with sorrow: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? How is it that they did not return to give glory to God, except this stranger” (Luke 17:17-18)? He will make such a reproach to us if we do not thank Him for the blessings that He gives us through His Most Pure Mother, and He will deprive us of His favor, as insensitive people who do not know how to appreciate His mercy, and therefore are unworthy of it.

b) Secondly, we must resort to the protection of the Mother of God in all our needs with firm trust in Her help. She, as the Mother of God, can approach “the throne of God’s grace with greater boldness than anyone else, to obtain mercy and grace to help people in time of need” (Heb. 4:16): will She, the Most Blessed One, not want to send us gracious help when we implore Her for it? And the Son of God, will He not listen to His beloved Mother when She intercedes before Him for us for the glory of His name? While still in the flesh, He performed miracles and did good to people to please His Most Pure Mother, as He did at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-10): will He not do what is pleasing to Her, moreover, for the good of those who believe in Him, now, when “all power has been given to Him in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18)? More honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, She is, without a doubt, the first recipient and dispenser of the grace of God; therefore, She, more than other saints, has performed and continues to perform miraculous benefits to believers, for which She is blessed in all corners of the universe.

c) Thirdly, having such a great intercessor and protectress as the Mother of God, we must be good-natured in all the circumstances of our life and must not at all be despondent, much less despair, no matter what misfortunes befall us: for countless examples testify that the Mother of God has delivered Christians from various great troubles, and often showed them Her help when, apparently, it was impossible to expect it. True, it may also happen that She will not soon appear to help us and will allow us to endure for a long time those misfortunes that the Lord will send us. But in this case we must not be upset and think that the Mother of God has forgotten us and does not favor us; on the contrary, from this we must conclude only that, according to God’s wise plans, the time has not yet come to deliver us from troubles, and that they are needed for some higher good of ours, for example, to strengthen us in Christian patience and courage, to arouse in us sincere repentance for sins that expose us to the wrath of God, or to turn our hearts to God, Whom we often forget in happiness.

III. But in order that the Mother of God may intercede for us before God, and that Her intercession may be effective before Him, we, brethren, must be worthy of Her protection and the mercy of God; otherwise She cannot show us gracious help, not because She does not want to give it, but because we, because of our sins, are not able to accept it and make use of it: for “what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, or light with darkness,” says the Apostle (2 Cor. 6:14–15).

And we, brethren, will do so now, recognizing our sins and the need for God's help; and we will cry out to the Queen of Heaven with repentance, faith and humility: "Lady, help us by having mercy!"

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.