“Today the Virgin standeth forth in the Church, and with
the choirs of the Saints she invisibly prayeth to God for
us. Angels and hierarchs offer homage, and the apostles and
prophets join chorus; for our sake, the Theotokos entreateth the
pre-eternal God.” That is how the Church proclaims the marvelous
apparition of the Mother of God that took place in the mid-10th
Century, in Constantinople’s Blachernae church, the church
to which her head-covering – her omophorion – and part of her
cincture had been brought from Palestine in the 5th Century. On
Sunday October 1 (October 14 on the new calendar), at the
fourth hour of the night, when during the All-night Vigil the
faithful filled the church to overflowing, St. Andrew, Fool for
Christ (commemorated on October 2), lifted his gaze to the
heavens and saw our Most-holy Sovereign Lady Theotokos,
illuminated by heavenly radiance and surrounded by Angels and a
host of Saints, moving through the air. St. John the Baptist and the Holy Apostle St. John the Theologian
accompanied the Queen of Heaven.
The Most-holy Virgin knelt, and
for a long time remained in tearful prayer on behalf of
Christians. Then she approached the Altar Table, and continued to
pray. At the conclusion of her prayer, she removed her head
covering and raised it over the people praying in the church,
in token of protection from enemies visible and invisible. The
Most-holy Lady shone with a heavenly light, and the omophorion
was brighter “than the rays of the sun.” With trepidation,
St. Andrew contemplated the marvelous vision, and asked blessed
Epiphanios, his disciple standing nearby: “Brother, do you see
the Queen and Sovereign Lady, praying for the entire
world?” Epiphanios replied, “I see, holy father, and am
terrified.”
The Most-blessed Theotokos was asking the Lord Jesus
Christ to accept the prayers of all who called upon His Most-holy
Name and who rushed to her for intercession. Along with
the Angels with her in the air, the Mostimmaculate Queen prayed,
“O Heavenly King, accept everyone praying to Thee and calling
upon my name for help, that they not depart from my sight wasted
and unheard.” St. Andrew and Epiphanios, who had been made
worthy to see the praying Mother of God, “…for a long time gazed
upon the covering stretched out over the people and upon the
glory of the Lord shining forth like unto lightning. As long
as the Most-holy Theotokos was there, the covering was also
visible. Once she departed, it too became invisible. However,
although she took the omophorion away, she left behind its
accompanying grace.”
. . .That is what Church Tradition passes down to us regarding the Protection
of the Most-holy Theotokos, which we celebrate on October 14. What
for us is the PROTECTION of the Theotokos, the symbolic appearance of
which was revealed to St. Andrew, Fool for Christ, in Constantinople’s
Blachernae church?
The Protection of the Mother of God lies in her being the Mother of
God. The Mother of God is that point on earth in which Incarnate God
was realized, the point in which He, who had eternally been in God,
found His temporal form of existence. The Mother of God is the center
of two worlds, the world of the Divine and of the earthly. This is
extremely important. It (i.e. the Nativity of God in the world) is
what is most important in Christianity. Hence one may say that
Christianity is a Theotokian religion, a religion of God-birth-giving:
Christianity teaches us about how and why God was born in the world.
God was born (i.e. was Incarnate) in the world in order to realize and
restore/renew the idea, conceived before all ages, of man as the
object of His love.
In order for the immemorial idea of Theosis (deification,
attainment of likeness to or union with God) to be accomplished, God,
when creating man, instilled in him His Image and His Likeness.
Thereafter, God’s revelation to the world has been in human form: It
became possible to talk about God, that is to say about His love, His
beauty, His truth, His freedom, by looking upon man. Therefore,
biblical concepts and words pertaining to man and attributed to God
are not, as some propose, simply naïve allegories, but rather comprise
a great truth — the truth of the community of God with man:
Godliness in man, and humanity in God!
The problem is that the first-created man (Adam) fell, and with him
and through him, all God’s Creation departed from God. In order to
return man to the likeness of God, the Son of God, the New Adam,
eternal Christ, was sent into the temporal world. Taking upon Himself
fallen human nature, He transfigured it and raised it up into the
Heavens to God the Father. Thus, for the world lying in evil,
Incarnate Christ is “Savior,” but salvation would not have been needed
had the first Adam not sinned; then the God-Man/God-Incarnate Christ
would not be “Savior,” but would simply be “God-Man/God-Incarnate.”
Christ received his human nature from the Ever-virgin Mary. Through
her, fallen humanity consented to its restoration, by saying to the Archangel Gabriel,
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word.” Through the Theotokos, something beyond comprehension, the
union of what cannot be joined together – the Creator and His
creation – is accomplished. What a wealth of treasure and wisdom and
love God has for man! The Creator unites with His creation, and in
that union, His creation does not burn to ash in the fire of Divinity.
That is the meaning of the Protection of the Mother of God. Because
of that protection, the Church attributes to the Mother of God the
most beautiful, precious names! What a plethora of terms and poetic
comparisons are used to honor the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary! Here
are some of the liturgical terms that the Church uses to describe the
Unwedded Bride, the Virgin Mary: The Mother of God is the Queen of
Heaven and the central point of beauty of the earth; she is the flower
of the earth, and a hyacinth, azure vase; she is a sweet-sounding
lyre, she is a most-holy ark and a sunbright ray; she is incense and
the Spring of grace; she is precious myrrh and a gold/porphyry robe;
she is all-holy, and robed in the sun; she is the pearl of the
kingdom; she is joy, praise, chanting and glory… She is the power of
Divine infiniteness . . ..
Glory to God, Who hath shown us the light, and Who hath given us such an Intercessor!
Parish Life, a monthly publication of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Washington, DC. October 2017
10/14/2017
0 comments:
Post a Comment