Today, when the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Protection of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos, His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of the Lord. Concelebrating in the Altar were His Grace Ioan, Bishop of Soroca and Metropolitan Vicar, and the clergy of the Cathedral, who prayed along with numerous church-goers who came to the Cathedral to share the joy of the Capital’s Patron Feast.
Mayor of Chisinau, Mr. Dorin Chirtoaca, accompanied by a group of municipal councilors, as well as a group of priests from Romania, lead by Priest Mihai Himcinschi, PhD, dean of the Theology Department of the “1st of December 1918” University of Alba Iulia, participated in the Divine Service.
At the Liturgy, the clergy and the lay Christians shared the spiritual joy of the Feast, united in prayer and in liturgical feeling, thanking God for His gifts, cast so abundantly on our Church, and praying to the Theotokos for health and Her most holy intercession before the Throne of the Righteous Judge.
In his archpastoral message to the faithful community, His Eminence called everybody to experience faith and enrich with the Orthodox teaching, relying on All-good God. The Metropolitan expressed hope that the Church will continue to be spiritual centre of the community, providing a model for the education of the faithful in the spirit of traditional Christian values.
The Hierarch underlined: “Even though we are experiencing hard times, and much of what we need to achieve seems impossible, we should know that praying with pure heart to the All-Good God, and always asking for the protection and intercession of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos whom we are celebrating today with so much piety, we can manage everything, in the triumph of eternal values and for the our common well-being”.
After the Liturgy, the praying community, headed by the Archpastors and the clergy, engaged in a procession with icons and crosses around the Cathedral, and then a Thanks-giving Te-Deum service was officiated, to bring glory to God for the grace and all good cast on the faithful people.
Mr. Dorin Chirtoaca, Mayor of the capital, also came with a congratulation message to the church-goers, underlining that all great things that have been achieved in the city, were possible only with the mercy and help of the Lord, and that from now on, the entire population of Chisinau should join efforts for the prosperity of the native city, with pure souls and hope for the protection of God.
It should be mentioned that the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God also coincides with the celebration of All Saints who shone in the land of Moldova. The Synax of Moldovan Saints includes St. Stephan the Great, St. Petru Movila, Sts. Varlam and Dosoftei of Moldova, Reverend Paisy Velichkovsky, St. Parascheva of Iasi, St. Teodora of Sihla, Great-Martyr Ioan of Suceava, recently beatified St. Metropolitan Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni and Blessed Agafia of Cuselauca, and numerous other saints.
On this day also the icon of Most Holy Mother of God of Hirbovat – a precious Moldovan shrine – is celebrated.
Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Relations with the Mass-Media
From the history of the Feast of the Protection of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos
The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos: “Today the Virgin stands in the midst of the Church, and with choirs of Saints she invisibly prays to God for us. Angels and Bishops venerate Her, Apostles and prophets rejoice together, Since for our sake she prays to the Eternal God!”
This miraculous appearance of the Mother of God occurred in the mid-tenth century in Constantinople, in the Blachernae church where her robe, veil, and part of her belt were preserved after being transferred from Palestine in the fifth century.
On Sunday, October 1, during the All Night Vigil, when the church was overflowing with those at prayer, the Fool-for-Christ St Andrew (October 2), at the fourth hour, lifted up his eyes towards the heavens and beheld our most Holy Lady Theotokos coming through the air, resplendent with heavenly light and surrounded by an assembly of the Saints. St John the Baptist and the holy Apostle John the Theologian accompanied the Queen of Heaven. On bended knees the Most Holy Virgin tearfully prayed for Christians for a long time. Then, coming near the Bishop’s Throne, she continued her prayer.
After completing her prayer she took her veil and spread it over the people praying in church, protecting them from enemies both visible and invisible. The Most Holy Lady Theotokos was resplendent with heavenly glory, and the protecting veil in her hands gleamed “more than the rays of the sun.” St Andrew gazed trembling at the miraculous vision and he asked his disciple, the blessed Epiphanius standing beside him, “Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?” Epiphanius answered, “I do see, holy Father, and I am in awe.”
The Ever-Blessed Mother of God implored the Lord Jesus Christ to accept the prayers of all the people calling on His Most Holy Name, and to respond speedily to her intercession, “O Heavenly King, accept all those who pray to You and call on my name for help. Do not let them go away from my icon unheard.”
Sts Andrew and Epiphanius were worthy to see the Mother of God at prayer, and “for a long time observed the Protecting Veil spread over the people and shining with flashes of glory. As long as the Most Holy Theotokos was there, the Protecting Veil was also visible, but with her departure it also became invisible. After taking it with her, she left behind the grace of her visitation.”
At the Blachernae church, the memory of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God was remembered. In the fourteenth century, the Russian pilgrim and clerk Alexander, saw in the church an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos praying for the world, depicting St Andrew in contemplation of her.
The Primary Chronicle of St Nestor reflects that the protective intercession of the Mother of God was needed because an attack of a large pagan Russian fleet under the leadership of Askole and Dir. The feast celebrates the divine destruction of the fleet which threatened Constantinople itself, sometime in the years 864-867 or according to the Russian historian Vasiliev, on June 18, 860. Ironically, this Feast is considered important by the Slavic Churches but not by the Greeks.
The Primary Chronicle of St Nestor also notes the miraculous deliverance followed an all-night Vigil and the dipping of the garment of the Mother of God into the waters of the sea at the Blachernae church, but does not mention Sts Andrew and Epiphanius and their vision of the Mother of God at prayer. These latter elements, and the beginnings of the celebrating of the Feast of the Protection, seem to postdate St Nestor and the Chronicle. A further historical complication might be noted under (October 2) dating St Andrew’s death to the year 936.
The year of death might not be quite reliable, or the assertion that he survived to a ripe old age after the vision of his youth, or that his vision involved some later pagan Russian raid which met with the same fate. The suggestion that St Andrew was a Slav (or a Scythian according to other sources, such as S. V. Bulgakov) is interesting, but not necessarily accurate. The extent of Slavic expansion and repopulation into Greece is the topic of scholarly disputes.
In the PROLOGUE, a Russian book of the twelfth century, a description of the establishment of the special Feast marking this event states, “For when we heard, we realized how wondrous and merciful was the vision… and it transpired that Your holy Protection should not remain without festal celebration, O Ever-Blessed One!”
Therefore, in the festal celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, the Russian Church sings, “With the choirs of the Angels, O Sovereign Lady, with the venerable and glorious prophets, with the First-Ranked Apostles and with the Hieromartyrs and Hierarchs, pray for us sinners, glorifying the Feast of your Protection in the Russian Land.” Moreover, it would seem that St Andrew, contemplating the miraculous vision was a Slav, was taken captive, and became the slave of the local inhabitant of Constantinople named Theognostus.
Churches in honor of the Protection of the Mother of God began to appear in Russia in the twelfth century. Widely known for its architectural merit is the temple of the Protection at Nerl, which was built in the year 1165 by holy Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky. The efforts of this holy prince also established in the Russian Church the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, about the year 1164.
At Novgorod in the twelfth century there was a monastery of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (the so-called Zverin monastery) In Moscow also under Tsar Ivan the Terrible the cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God was built at the church of the Holy Trinity (known as the church of St Basil the Blessed).
On the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos we implore the defense and assistance of the Queen of Heaven, “Remember us in your prayers, O Lady Virgin Mother of God, that we not perish by the increase of our sins. Protect us from every evil and from grievous woes, for in you do we hope, and venerating the Feast of your Protection, we magnify you.”