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

October: Day 1: Teaching 2:
Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(Lessons from the Celebrated Event)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Once upon a time on this day in the Blachernae Church in Constantinople, on the eve of the Sunday, the usual all-night vigil was being celebrated, at which, among others, was Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ. Amidst the hymns and prayers, this man of God, at the fourth hour of the night, suddenly saw in the air the Mother of God among the Forerunner of Christ and John the Theologian, with a multitude of angels and saints praying for the human race, and covering the people who were in the church with her most pure omophorion. Full of spiritual joy, the seer turned to his friend and disciple in spirit, Saint Epiphanios, and asked him: "Do you see the miracle?" "I see, father," answered Epiphanios, "and I am terrified." When this miracle was learned of by the others who were in the church, then a joyful tremor seized everyone; in tenderness of heart they began to thank God and glorify the universal intercessor. And the pious Emperor Leo and the Holy Patriarch Tarasios decided to annually commemorate this comforting event.

II. a) The first thing that our attention should focus on here is the very appearance of the Mother of God with the angels and saints.

Hence, it is not in vain that we believe that the inhabitants of heaven take a great part in the events of the human world, that our elder brethren in heaven care for the salvation of us - the little ones on earth! For what then should they use their power and their closeness to the throne of grace, if not to help us, struggling in the sea of life's misfortunes and cares? And we, with all the coldness of the earthly heart, cannot look upon the unfortunate without a feeling of compassion, and often provide assistance. Should heavenly beings remain idle spectators of our spiritual and physical poverty and not spread over us their gracious cover?

It is not in vain, then, that we believe that the heavenly powers are present with us in the temples! Where else can they be more constant than where their King and Lord is especially present? We do not see them, because the radiance of heavenly glory is unbearable for the mortal eye; but they see us and all that is ours, our very thoughts and desires. The time will come, and we will see them; we will enter, if we are worthy of it, into their most divinely luminous circle, but until that time we must believe in their invisible presence, and, believing, visit the temples of God as often as possible.

b) The second subject worthy of pious attention in the appearance of the Mother of God is the form in which She appeared in the air to the clairvoyants. As the Mother of the Heavenly King, She could have appeared sitting on a throne and from its height sending down blessings upon the human race; but She appears – praying!

If nothing can be done in heaven without prayer, if prayer is needed for he who is more honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious that the seraphim, then how necessary, brethren, is prayer for us! And how much is lost by those who neglect this gift of God! And many neglect it! There are people who do not pray at all. Others pray, but with compulsion, with heaviness. Prayer seems to them a heavy burden - work for the master. And in fact, to pray without feeling the need for prayer, not knowing why and for what you are praying - is hard. But who is to blame for the fact that the manna from heaven turns into bitterness in our lips? True prayer is sweet and nourishing, and there is no one among those who pray who has never experienced this sweetness. If prayer becomes bitter, it is because our spiritual taste is spoiled. It is hard for us to raise our eyes to heaven because they are covered with the dust of earthly cares. He who is dying of hunger will cry out for food, if only he could see a man; a drowning man will stretch out his hands even to inanimate things; equally, he who feels spiritual hunger, his lips will open of their own accord to pray; he who through self-absorption, through self-examination, through reflection on his destiny, sees himself in the abyss of sin, his eyes and hands will involuntarily rise to heaven.

c) Let us now look at those people who were honored to behold the omophorion of the Most Holy Virgin. There were many people in the temple of Blachernae; there was an emperor, called wise for his knowledge; there was a patriarch, who was later canonized for the holiness of his life; there were famous and rich people: but none of them saw what happened "in the air;" only Andrew and Epiphanios were honored to be witnesses of the miracle, the very least of the people, and during their earthly life despised by many. So heaven is close and open to everyone worthy, even if he was nothing among people!

A particularly remarkable feature of Saint Andrew's character is that he was a fool, that is, for the sake of Christ he seemed to be deprived of reason. And so, this apparently deprived of reason, but in fact intelligent, imbued with deep humility Christian sees first what is above all reason! From this we learn the greatness of humility and the madness of human pride, which many wise men of this century suffer from.

III. By the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and all the saints, may the Lord preserve us from all troubles, and especially from sins that remove us from the gracious protection of the Intercessor of the Christian race. Amen.

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