The Feast of the Patronage of Mary, the Mother of God, is celebrated on October 1^st.

This Feast was placed on the Church calendar to commemorate the apparition of the Mother of God in Constantinople in the 10^th century.  The account of the apparition is found in the life of St. Andrew, the fool for Christ’s sake.  The Saracens were trying to take the city of Constantinople and had begun the decisive battle.  The terror-stricken people had gathered in the various churches.  The event took place at the Church of Balchernae near Constantinople.  During the Office of the Vigil, at about 4 o-clock in the morning, St. Andrew and his disciple, Epiphanius, saw a majestic woman supported by St. John the Baptist and St. John the Theologian, accompanied by several saints.  On reaching the center of the Church, the Mother of God knelt down and remained long in prayer, her face bathed in tears.

When she prayed again before the Altar, she took the veil that covered her head, holding it above her head, extended it over all the people in the Church.,  Andrew and Epiphanius alone were able to see the appearance of the Mother of God, but all who were present felt the grace of her protection.  The next day the city was freed from danger.

Feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Commemorated on January 6

 

Troparion & Kontakion

Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord (Mt.3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptized by the St John the Forerunner, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in the form of a dove. From ancient times this Feast was called the Day of Illumination and the Feast of Lights, since God is Light and has appeared to illumine “those who sat in darkness,” and “in the region of the shadow of death” (Mt.4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.

In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptize catechumens at the Vespers of Theophany, so that Baptism also is revealed as the spiritual illumination of mankind.

The origin of the Feast of Theophany goes back to Apostolic times, and it is mentioned in The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V:13). From the second century we have the testimony of St Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and the night vigil before this Feast.

There is a third century dialogue about the services for Theophany between the holy martyr Hippolytus and St Gregory the Wonderworker. In the following centuries, from the fourth to ninth century, all the great Fathers of the Church: Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, John of Damascus, commented on the Feast of Theophany.

The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this Feast, which is sung at Orthodox services even today. St John of Damascus said that the Lord was baptized, not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but “to bury human sin by water,” to fulfill the Law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify “the nature of water” and to offer us the form and example of Baptism.

On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Church proclaims our faith in the most sublime mystery, incomprehensible to human intellect, of one God in three Persons. It teaches us to confess and glorify the Holy Trinity, one in Essence and Indivisible. It exposes and overthrows the errors of ancient teachings which attempted to explain the Creator of the world by reason, and in human terms.

The Church shows the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires us with a sense of deep gratitude for the illumination and purification of our sinful nature. The Church teaches that our salvation and cleansing from sin is possible only by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, therefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism, keeping clean this priceless garb, for “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).

On the day of Theophany, all foods are permitted, even if the Feast falls on a Wednesday or Friday.

 

Source:  www.oca.org