“Rejoice, our joy;
cover us from all evil with thy precious Veil!”
On October 1, 911, while a vigil was being held in the church of Blachernae in Constantinople for the salvation of the besieged city, at four o'clock in the morning, the Mother of God appeared before the people, standing in the sky and praying with tears to her Son for the people who were waiting for God's mercy and help. This is related not only in the Akathist to the Protection of the Mother of God, but also in the spiritual life of the monasteries which incessantly ask for the intercession of the Mother of God.
The Protection of the Mother of God is also the feast day of the monastery in Allegan, Michigan. The feast began on Friday evening, September 30, with Vigil (Vespers with Litya, followed by Matins) served by Hieromonk Daniel Mih. The next day followed the Divine Liturgy at which Father Daniel spoke about the significance of the feast, recalling the historical event of the 10th century in the church of Blachernae, which is the inspiration for this feast dedicated to Our Lady.
The celebration continued on Saturday evening with Vespers, at which His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae presided, and then on Sunday morning with the Divine Liturgy. Father Daniel and Father Evanghelos Pepps, one of the friends of the monastery, served alongside Metropolitan Nicolae. The responses were chanted by a group of young people and children, who are regular pilgrims of the monastery. The celebration was attended by Allegan locals and a large number of pilgrims from Chicago.
In his homily, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae began by interpreting the Gospel passage from Luke, the cornerstone of any Christian, about the love of enemies:
In order to understand the Savior's command to love our enemies, we must start from the last verse of the Gospel pericope which exhorts us to be like the heavenly Father, Who is merciful. The Holy Gospel of Matthew says that "He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). The heavenly Father is merciful, He is good to all, He is the one who has the initiative: He does not make the sun rise or send rain in response to man's good deeds. What is our problem if we cannot imitate the heavenly Father, be merciful, do good to our fellow men as we expect of them? The problem is with understanding this commandment to love our enemies. The enemy for us is the one who has done us an evil, an evil that we keep in our mind and in our soul, an evil that we cannot erase from our mind... If we remember the parable of the merciful Samaritan, we understand that the commandment to love one's enemies can be fulfilled if we strive to be neighbors to others. And St. Silouan the Athonite teaches us that "without the grace of God we cannot love our enemies... If you pray for your enemies, peace will come upon you. And when you love your enemies, know that great divine grace dwells in you. I'm not saying it's already perfect grace, but it's enough for salvation." It is humanly impossible to love our enemies, precisely because we consider them enemies. Only receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit can overcome this impossibility.
His Eminence then spoke about the historical basis of the feast and its significance: the protection of the Mother of God covers all Christians in suffering who pray and ask for help from the Mother of God. The agape meal concluded this blessed day for the clergy and pilgrims.
“We place all our hope in you, Mother of God, protect us from all evil with your precious Veil.”
