The Mother of God covers Russia with Her omophorion
The life of the church consists of a chain of daily events. Every day tells us about the life of a saint or a holiday. Over the course of twelve months of church services, all historical events are revealed to us. We live through the Old and New Testaments, written over centuries, in one short year. Every Christian understands perfectly well that every new day brings with it a new idea filled with spiritual content.
Holidays established by the Church are spiritual work, but not idle time. These special, Bright days remind us of events that happened a long time ago, which changed not only the human worldview, but also the world as a whole. We begin to think about the meaning of our lives and God’s providence in the fate of each of us.
One of the most revered and beloved holidays in the Orthodox world is the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has its roots deep in the past. The holiday came to us from Greece, and became one of the main ones, although it is not the twelfth holiday. Russian people especially venerate the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Mother of God covers Russia with Her omophorion.
The cover became the hope for salvation
Initially, the holiday was established in honor of the Mother of God, who extended Her omophorion over those praying and saved the inhabitants of Constantinople from certain death. As time passed, the holiday took on a deeper meaning. The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos has become for believers hope for salvation and protection from all the vicissitudes of life, be it everyday difficulties, complex problems, or serious illness. The all-encompassing love of the Queen of Heaven embraces us, lifts us up and carries us out of even the most dead-end situations. Her heart can accommodate the sorrows of the whole world, which is why we receive help from the Mother of God through prayer to Her.
The Lord showed our sinful world a Great Miracle, He gave us love and care in the person of the Most Holy Mother of God. Everyone who called upon Her Most Pure Name is forever covered with Her shining omophorion. How dull and colourless, empty and worthless our world would be without the grace of God, without the light of the Queen of Heaven’s love for us sinners.
In moments of hopeless sorrow, we go to the temple, light a candle in front of the icon, look at the Most Pure Face, and something begins to happen in our soul. It’s as if a bright star lights up in pitch darkness, the darkness no longer seems so impenetrable, grief and problems so insoluble. It becomes warm, really warm, as if we were wrapped in a soft and warm blanket. The petrified heart softens, tears of repentance flow down the cheeks, washing and reviving the dying soul. Even if there is no strength to pray, the Lord knows everything, we are at home, we are with Him, under His Holy protection.
The Orthodox Church in our days has become the very cover that protects, saves, and heals us. By participating in the Sacraments of the Church, we touch the grace that remains in us. It gives strength and confidence that we are not alone. Even non-believers, who once turned to the Mother of God, confirm that there is still some kind of power to which everything is subject. Help in solving a problem comes in the most amazing way; it cannot be explained, much less called an accident or a coincidence.
In our age of computers and the Internet, there are many sites where people share miracles that have happened to them. People lying on their deathbeds were healed through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and the holy saints of the Lord. Doctors have no other explanation other than a miracle. How many families, thanks to the prayerful help of the Mother of God, have found the happiness of being parents. Incredibly, money appeared, work was found, relationships at work and at home improved. There are many such stories, they are all different, just like people have different destinies.
The Mother of God covers Russia with her omophorion, enveloping us with maternal care and love. In gratitude for Her intercession before God, we build and consecrate temples and monasteries in Her honor. Every painted icon, every good deed is a manifestation of our love for Her.
The holiday of Intercession is revered by the Orthodox Church, although the Greek Church also remembers it. Then, in those ancient times, our pagan ancestors attacked and plundered the Byzantine Empire. Time passed, the people accepted Christianity. The evil that was done then turned against us. Our Fatherland has experienced many tragedies throughout its history. If then the Most Pure One saved the Greeks from us, now the Mother of God covers Russia with Her omophorion. No matter what events happen, we believe that our Heavenly Mother will not leave us. She will answer our fervent prayers with her Divine help, because the Lord and all His saints are constantly near us.
Prayers to the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary
| Cover. 17th century |
The Most Holy Virgin is the most beloved and deeply revered Christian image among the Russian people. There is no other female image in Orthodoxy to which so many icons, churches, holidays, prayers and church hymns are dedicated. One of the numerous evidence of his popularity is the collection of icon paintings of the Novosibirsk State Art Museum. A significant part of this collection consists of icons of the Theotokos cycle, dedicated to holidays and other subjects related to the life of the Virgin Mary and the miracles performed after her dormition.
Attacks by nomads, princely civil strife, the Tatar-Mongol invasion and other events in our history, during which miracles occurred, determined the faith of the Russian people in the protection of higher heavenly powers in the person of the Mother of God, interceding for people before Christ. The idea of intercession and mercy is reflected in the church holiday of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially revered by the people [9, p. 59].
The celebration of the Intercession was established in the 12th century by the noble prince of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky, whose name is associated with the appearance in Rus' of the most valuable monument of Byzantine icon painting “Our Lady of Vladimir”. It is known that the prince revered his heavenly patron, Saint Andrew the Fool, in whose life the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God in the Blachernae Church in Constantinople was described, where the robe, omophorion and part of the belt of the Mother of God were kept. According to legend, Constantinople was besieged by the Saracens, and during a prayer for salvation, the Mother of God appeared to Andrew the Fool. In his life we read: “When the all-night vigil was being celebrated in the holy tomb located in Blachernae, blessed Andrew also went there, doing what was his custom. Epiphanius was also there and one of his servants with him. And since he usually stood, as much as his zeal gave him strength, sometimes until midnight, sometimes until the morning, already at four o’clock in the morning blessed Andrew saw with his own eyes the Holy Mother of God, very tall, appearing from the side of the Royal Gate with a formidable retinue. Among her were the venerable Forerunner and the Son of Thunder, holding the Virgin Mary by the arms on both sides, and many other saints, dressed in white, walked before her, while others followed her with hymns and spiritual chants. And so, when they approached the pulpit, the blessed one approached Epiphanius and said: “Do you see the Lady and Lady of the world?” He answered: “Yes, my spiritual father.” And while they looked, the Mother of God, bending her knees, prayed for a long time, watering her godlike and most pure face with tears. And after the prayer, she approached the altar, asking for the people standing around. And when she finished the prayer, with wonderful dignity she took off the maforia, which she wore on her immaculate head and which looked like lightning, and, taking it with her most pure hands - and it was large and formidable - she spread it over all the people standing there . And for a long time these marvelous men saw him stretched out over the people and radiating the glory of God like amber. And as long as the Holy Mother of God was there, he was visible, and after she left, he was no longer visible, for she, of course, took him with her, and left grace for those who were there” [5].
“Cover us from all evil with Your honest omophorion!”
That was a long time ago. More than a thousand years ago! Formidable enemies invaded the borders of Byzantium, threatening Constantinople itself. The Greek people were unable to repel them on their own. And according to his custom, he turned with a tearful prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, who had already saved him more than once from the invasion of foreigners. Believers rushed in huge crowds to the Blachernae Church, where great shrines were kept: the robe of the Blessed Virgin and Her omophorion, that is, the head veil that fell over the shoulders.
And so, during the all-night vigil, the great righteous man of that time, Blessed Andrew, the Fool for Christ, who was present there, together with his disciple Epiphanius, was presented with a wondrous sight. A majestic Woman, surrounded by a terrible retinue, walked from the royal gates. The Honest Forerunner of the Lord and the Apostle John the Theologian supported Her with their hands, and many saints in white robes accompanied Her, singing sacred songs. When She approached the pulpit, blessed Andrew, as if not trusting his eyes, asked Epiphanius: “Do you see the Lady and Queen of the world?” “I see, my spiritual father,” he answered.
And while they watched, She, kneeling down, prayed for a long, long time, shedding tears on Her God-like and Most Pure Face. Having finished her prayer here, She approached the throne and prayed here for the people ahead. At the end of the prayer, She took off the great and terrible veil that shone like lightning, which She wore on Her Most Pure Head, and, holding it with great solemnity with Her Most Pure Hands, spread it over all the people standing in the temple. And for a long time, while the Most Holy Theotokos was visible, the veil stretched over the people was also visible, emanating from itself the lightning-like glory of the Lord.
Thus, by the will of God, the miraculous patronage of the Most Pure Mother of God was demonstrated to the entire Christian race, and especially to those praying in church with common church prayer, always especially strong and effective.
In memory of this wondrous vision, the great feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was established - October 1st.
Many other similar cases and visions vividly testify to us that to this day the luminous omophorion of the Most Pure One is stretched over us, covering and protecting us from enemies visible and invisible. As then, so now, She never ceases to pray before the throne of God for us sinners, shedding tears on Her God-like and Most Pure Face. She cries inconsolably, like our true Mother, seeing our hardness of heart, our petrified insensibility, our unrepentance, our constant self-justification and daring exaltation.
Not long ago a remarkable incident occurred in Bulgaria. A 14-year-old boy died. When he was being buried, he suddenly rose from the coffin, sat down and began to cry inconsolably. Frightened at first, his relatives then began to calm him down, and when, after much effort, they finally succeeded, they began to ask him about the reason for such inconsolable crying, and he told them the following.
“When I died, I immediately went to those places where sinners suffer. Oh, what terrible faces they had: I cannot forget it, and I am not able to describe their torment. This is so terrible that a person cannot imagine it. Then they took me to the heavenly abodes, and I saw there the Most Pure Mother of God, how She prayed for sinners and for the whole world. Her face, shining with wondrous, unearthly beauty, was exhausted, tears rolled down it like hail. Seeing me, She said: “You will not stay here, you will return to earth to people. Tell them that they tormented Me with their sins:
I am no longer able to pray for them - I am exhausted... Let them take pity on Me!”
This event made a stunning impression throughout Bulgaria.
And no wonder. For if our world, deeply mired in sinful mire, still exists, it is only because the wondrous omophorion of the Most Pure One is still stretched over it, that She still hopes to embrace and warm us all with Her Motherly Love, awakening in us feelings of saving repentance and aspirations towards God. The extent of human iniquities, as was revealed to many righteous people, has long since overflowed the cup of God’s patience, and if this lawless world of ours has not yet been destroyed, it is only because, in the words of one akathist song, the prayers of the Mother of God “are preserved for repentance.”
The Most Pure Mother of God cries for us, praying for the salvation of the souls of Her Son and God. She cries tirelessly, like a loving mother for her rebellious and wayward children. And we usually don’t see these tears from Her.
But when, by our immeasurable iniquities and stubborn unrepentance, we incur God’s punishment upon ourselves, and grave trials and troubles are ready to fall on our heads, these tears of the Most Pure Mother of God, as a sign of warning to us, sometimes become obvious to us: Her icons then begin to be visible to everyone in a way to shed tears, thereby foreshadowing the disasters coming to us.
Such a miraculous sign from the icons of the Mother of God has occurred more than once in history. The last time, in our memory, it was observed in Greece - just before the violent introduction of a new style, which caused so many grave troubles and upheavals in the Church.
And now, now again we are witnesses to such a wondrous miracle. The icons of the Mother of God are crying again, and not just one, but three!
And St. weeps with her. Great Martyr Barbara, St. John the Baptist, and the perforated rib of Christ on the Crucifixion exudes blood and water.
There is something to think about!
One cannot help but recall the words of Elder Melchizedek, Bishop of Romania, who observed the miracle of the flow of tears from the icon of the Mother of God in the Sokolsky Monastery in Romania, that “such an event always foreshadowed difficult trials for the Church of Christ and for the Fatherland” (See the book “Descriptions of the earthly life of the Mother of God and miraculous icons of Her”, edited by Poselyanin).
Something is foreshadowed by the current wondrous sign, which was witnessed by many thousands of people who crowded day and night in the Greek temple of St. Paul in Hempstead, including non-believers?
The times we are experiencing, and in particular the events now taking place in the depths of our Orthodox Church itself, it seems, should not leave doubts or bewilderments as to why
we were eyewitnesses of such an extraordinary miracle, as well as why
this
miraculous sign was revealed in the United States of America and, moreover, in a Greek family.
Is it really not clear that the Most Pure Mother of God wants in this way to bring some understanding to those who in no other way want to come to their senses?
Isn’t it significant that She, having appeared in a dream to a pious Greek woman, expressed the desire that Her icon be taken from the temple and returned to the house, where it began to shed tears?
How many times did the Most Holy Theotokos save Her faithful Byzantium with Her royal city of Constantinople through Her all-powerful intercession - until the spirit of materialism and apostasy from the faith, which so clearly manifested itself at the Council of Florence in 1439, prevailed there. And then Byzantium, which had betrayed its true faith, was betrayed into the hands of its fall, finally falling under the blows of the Mohammedan Turks in 1453.
Like Byzantium - New Rome - and our Fatherland Moscow - Third Rome - countless times experienced the miraculous patronage of the Zealous Intercessor of the Christian race. But our unfortunate Russian people did not stand up to the height of their calling, and the same spirit of materialism and apostasy led them to a terrible, bloody fall.
And now the whole world is overwhelmed not only by the spirit of materialism and apostasy, but also by fierce God-fighting - a terrible and daring challenge to God, and is on the verge of destruction, in its insane blindness, prepared by its own hands. This destructive spirit of Apostasy has already penetrated into our Orthodox Church, very prominent hierarchs of which openly proclaim the advent of some kind of “new era” and cynically propose to do away with the entire past, intending to create some kind of completely “new church”, in a close “ecumenical” contact and like-mindedness with all apostates from the true faith and the Church.
There is something to cry about for the Most Pure Mother of God - the Mother of the Divine Founder of the true Church!
It is also significant that a particularly profuse flow of tears from the third icon, called the “Passionate”, was observed by pious pilgrims in the days preceding the opening in New York of the session of the institution in which the modern arbiters of the destinies of the world sit - a kind of prototype of the future world government. Like dew, the entire icon was covered with copious tears on the very day of the arrival in New York for these meetings of a gang of international criminals who had seized state power through cruel terror and represented in this institution countries with a clearly expressed atheistic tendency.
Yes! The Mother of God is crying, in such an obvious way for us and striking our souls, and how
crying!
And she is crying now, of course, not just about our everyday, ordinary falls into sin, which have always been, are and will be as long as man lives on this sinful earth, for “there is no man who will live and not sin,” but undoubtedly about something much more - about something terrible that
inevitably awaits us, unless modern people, presumptuous in their God-fighting madness, come to their senses and repent with all their hearts, radically changing their entire present apostate life for the better.
Evil is growing and expanding with extraordinary speed and is ready to devour us all. But the Most Pure Mother of God, “Intercessor of all Christians and refuge,” as “an invincible wall and source of mercy,” appears to all who come running with faith into Her sovereign cover: She will cover us from all evil with Her honest omophorion, if only we ourselves voluntarily and willingly did not join in this evil.
And so, in order not to deprive yourself of this saving cover of the Mother of God, in this extremely evil time, perhaps most of all
it is necessary
to guard ourselves from being carried away by all sorts of modern fashionable “ideas”,
no matter how seductive and even, sometimes, in agreement with the spirit of Christ’s teaching, they may seem to us.
Let us always remember the warning. Lord, that the enemy will try to deceive, “if possible, even the elect”
(Matthew 24:24).
Fleeing all such crafty deceptions, let us remain unchangeable in our fidelity to Christ the Savior, serving and pleasing Him Alone - and
only
Him Alone and no one else.
canons be the measure of truth for us, after the Word of God.
- but not so much those of them that regulate the formal-legal side of church life (for having a temporary and conditional meaning, some of them actually become “outdated” over time), but rather those that..., reflecting the sublime moral teaching of the Gospel , appointed by the Holy Church in order to regulate
the spiritual and moral
side of the life of Christians, both the laity and the clergy themselves.
Where these sacred canons, which are the expression of the will of the Holy Spirit, are trampled underfoot (“It is good for the Holy Spirit and for us”...), where saving church institutions and pious traditions are neglected and imputed to nothing - everything there is lies, deception, and nothing but hypocrisy.
About this hypocrisy
as the most characteristic sign of the last times, many Holy Fathers predicted, as Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) testifies in his “Fatherland”, and about which our great Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk wrote especially strongly and expressively. This “hypocrisy”, in the words of St. Tikhon, in which, under the appearance of imaginary service to God and the Church or some supposedly high, humane, noble “ideas”, in reality only service to one’s own sinful passions and lusts is hidden, and we must more to be afraid of everything, for it represents the most dangerous and destructive spiritual infection of our time, the spread of which prepares conditions favorable to the speedy accession of the World Ruler - the Antichrist, who will be the greatest Hypocrite.
Let us contrast this hypocrisy with our sincere,
unfeigned service to Christ the Savior and His true Church, our
selfless
desire to please Him alone, calling incessantly to His Most Pure Mother: “cover us from all evil with Your honest omophorion!”
