DIVINE LITURGY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PROTECTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

On Wednesday 14 October 2026, the feast of the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at Holy Trinity Cathedral. The service was led by the cathedral’s key-keeper, Priest Maxim Politov, with the cathedral clergy concelebrating.

The Protection of the Mother of God is celebrated on 14 October (1 October, old style). According to the Life of St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ (ninth-tenth centuries), during a night-time service the saint and his disciple Epiphanius saw the Most Holy Theotokos surrounded by saints, among them St John the Forerunner and St John the Theologian. After a long prayer she spread her maphorion, the veil covering her head, over those at prayer.

Where and when the feast was established is not known for certain. Some scholars point to Vladimir-Suzdal Rus’, linking it to Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. Others point to Kiev and Novgorod. One of the earliest references to the celebration of the Protection on 1 October is found in the Prologue, a Slavonic collection of church readings from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.