Feast of the Patronage

Troparion of the Protection Tone 4
Most holy Mother of God,/ today we Orthodox joyfully celebrate thy coming among us./ As we gaze at thy icon we cry with compunction:/ Shelter us under thy protection, deliver us from evil,/ and pray thy Son Christ our God to save our souls.

Kontakion of the Protection Tone 3
Today the Virgin is standing before us in the Church/ praying for us with the choirs of Saints./ Angels worship with Hierarchs,/ Apostles rejoice with Prophets,/ for the Mother of God intercedes with the Eternal God for us.

"We believe and profess that you are truly the Mother of God, and that, in your deep love for us, you are a fountain of mercy, the consolation of the afflicted, a haven for the lost, a powerful and constant advocate before Christ, and the guarantee of our repentance.  Truly there is no help or refuge for humanity except in you, O merciful Lady.  No one who hopes in you is every disappointed, no one who implores God through you is every forsaken.  For this reason, we beseech your inexhaustible goodness:   open the gates of your mercy to us.  We beseech the merciful God, born of you, that He forgive us, so that we may praise and glorify God's boundless mercy and your unfailing intercession for us, both in this life and in the age to come."   (Moleben to the Mother of God).

Mary the Mother of God, our spiritual Mother and Mother of the Church, brings a certain tenderness, compassion, and loving concern which has touched the hearts, souls, and minds of every generation throughout the history of the Church.  Her title of "Mother" reveals her unique relationship with her Son and with the Church.   In this, she is a wonderful source of inspiration, hope, and courage as we face the many trials and challenges of our Church and society.  The spread of secularism and permissiveness seriously threatens the fundamental and sacred values of the Christian norms of morality.  This requires of us prayers, penance, reparation and reform to change whatever needs changing in our hearts based on the values of the Gospel. 

On the tree of the cross, Jesus gave to us His most precious possession:  the gift of His mother is a treasure we shall always cherish.

Among the Marian feasts listed in our Liturgical Year, the feast of the Patronage of the Most holy Mother of God deserves special consideration. The cult of the Mother of God as Protectress of our nation reaches like a golden thread from the times of the Kievan princes to the present day. The secret of honoring the Mother of God as a Protectress lies, perhaps, in the fact that we are dealing here not with human but with heavenly and more powerful intercession. Every person, family and nation would like to enjoy such an intercession and protection. From the very beginning of our Kievan State, we have had great and powerful enemies. It is small wonder then that our people sought the assistance and protection of the Most Holy Mother of God whose intercession is all-powerful. For our people, then, the feast of the Patronage has always been, and still remains, a day of great manifestation of love and gratitude to the Most Holy Mother of God, a day of joyous praise and glorification of her protection and intercession.

The Institution of the Feast of Patronage

The chief motive that led to the institution of this feast was a vision granted to St. Andrew, the Fool for Christ, when the Saracens besieged the capital of Constantinople. The people, terror-stricken, gathered in the church of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernae where her mantle was preserved, and there they held an all night prayer vigil. The greatly distressed people filled the church to overflowing. Among the gathering were St. Andrew and his disciple. Epiphany, both of whom also prayed for the protection of the city. After the service, St. Andrew saw the Most Holy Mother of God in radiant light as she was approaching from the royal doors (a name the Greeks gave to the main doors of the church) in the company of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Theologian and amid the singing of a great choir of Saints. The Mother of God proceeded toward the altar where she knelt down and prayed long, shedding tears. Afterwards she arose removed from her head a luminous veil, and stretched it out wide over the people in church. Then she disappeared. St. Andrew and his disciple, Epiphany, saw the vision and understood that the Mother of God came to rescue the city. News of the miracle spread throughout the whole city like a flash of lightening. The enemy retreated and the city was saved.

From this veil, which in Slavonic is called "pokrov", the feast got its name: "Pokrov Presvyatoyi Bohordoytsi" (The veil (or Protection) of the Most Holy Mother of God). The veil became the symbol of protection and intercession of the Blessed Virgin.

Who was St. Andrew the Fool? Historians generally agree that he was a Slav from the southern part of Rus-Ukraine. He together with other slaves, was brought to Constantinople where he became the slave of a wealthy Lord. Here he learned and loved the Christian faith. Meditating on the words of St. Paul: "We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ" (I Cor. 4:10), he began to act like a fool, hence, his name. Having gained his freedom from his master, he spent much time in prayer and the reading of Holy Scriptures.

At what period of time did St. Andrew live and when did the miracle of protection take place? It is difficult to give a clear and adequate answer to this question. The opinions of the historians in regard to this question are divided. Some say that St. Andrew lived during the reign of Leo I, the Great (457-474), that is, in the fifth century, while others, who represent the majority, place the time of his existence during the reign of Emperor Leo VI, the Wise, (886-911), that is, at the beginning of the tenth century.

The feast of the Patronage was a local feast among the Greeks, which they ceased to celebrate after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. No one knows precisely why October first became the day of the feast. Probably because St. Andrew had the vision on this day, or perhaps because, as some think, on that day the Eastern Church celebrates the memory of St. Roman the Melodist, who composed many hymns in honor of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. On the day following the feast, the Church commemorates St. Andrew the Fool.

The feast of the Patronage enjoys a service similar to that of the great feasts with an all-night vigil, but is not one of the twelve great feasts, and has neither a pre-feast nor a post feast.

The Spirit of the Service of the Feast of the
Patronage of the Mother of God

The service of this feast reflects the hundreds of years of deep faith of the Eastern Church and of the faith of our people in the intercession and protection of the Most Holy Mother of God.

In the sticheras of the Small vespers service, the Church calls upon all the faithful to celebrate the feast of the Patronage: "Come, all you lovers of the feast, and let us praise the venerable protection of the Mother of God. For she stretched forth her hands imploringly to her Son, and the world fell under Her protection. Therefore, let us celebrate gloriously with our lips and hearts, with spiritual songs and melodies, together with all lovers of the feast."

In the sticheras of Vespers and Matins services, in the troparion and canon, holy Church pours forth and expresses her childlike love, her unreserved trust in Mary’s powerful protection and immediate help, her role in salvation and her very great maternal mercy: "O most Pure Mother of God," – we sing in the first stichera of the Great or Solemn Vepsers service – "You are a great Intercessor for those in sorrow. You are swift help, salvation and strength of the world. You are the depth of mercy, the fount of divine wisdom, and the protectress of the world. Let us, the faithful, extol and glorify her unspeakable and glorious patronage. Hail, Rejoice, O Full of grace, the Lord is with you, grant the world great mercy."

In the sessional Hymn at the third Ode of the canon we read: "Zealous and invincible Advocate, sure and infallible hope, bulwark, protection and refuge of those who have recourse to you, O ever-Virgin Pure, together with the angels implore your Son and God to give the world peace, salvation and great mercy."

The troparion of the ninth Ode of the canon praised Mary’s privilege of curing the sicknesses of soul and body and of delivering from misfortune: "As the Mother of God, you received from God the gift of healing the ills of all Christians; of delivering them from misfortune; of releasing them from sin and of saving them from captivity and all necessity. Therefore, do not despise us either, O Lady, for you know what we need: health of body and salvation of soul."