The Prologue of Ochrid: October 1st
1. The Protecting Veil of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The Church has always glorified the most holy Mother of God as
the Protectress and Defender of the Christian people, entreating,
by her intercession, God's loving-kindness towards us sinners.
The Mother of God's aid has been clearly shown times without
number, both to individuals and to peoples, both in peace and
in war, both in monastic deserts and in crowded cities. The event
that the Church commemorates and celebrates today proves this
constant protection of the Christian people by the Mother of
God. On October 1st, 911, in the time of the Emperor Leo the
Wise (or the Philosopher), there was an all-night vigil at the
Blachemae church of the Mother of God in Constantinople. The
church was crowded. St Andrew the Fool for Christ was standing
at the back of the church with his disciple Epiphanius. At four
o'clock in the morning, the most holy Mother of God appeared
above the people with a veil spread over her outstretched hands,
as though to protect them with this covering. She was clad in
gold-encrusted purple and shone with an unspeakable radiance,
surrounded by apostles, saints, martyrs and virgins. Seeing this
vision, St Andrew gestured towards it and asked Epiphanius: 'Do
you see how the Queen and Lady of all is praying for the whole
world?' Epiphanius replied: 'Yes, Father; I see it and stand
in dread.' As a result, this commemoration was instituted to
remind us both of this event and of the Mother of God's constant
protection whenever we prayerfully seek that protection, that
shelter, in distress.
2. The Holy Apostle Ananias.
One of the Seventy, he was bishop in Damascus. In response to
a vision from God, he baptised Saul, the future Apostle Paul
(Acts 9), and courageously preached the Gospel in the face of
all persecution, for which he was stoned to death in the city
of Eleutheropolis. His holy relics were taken to Damascus, and
later to Constantinople.
3. Our Holy Father Romanus the Melodist.
Born in the Syrian town of Emesa, he served as a verger first
in Beirut and then in Constantinople at the cathedral, in the
time of Patriarch Euphemius (490-96). Illiterate and with no
musical training, he was despised by certain educated clergy.
St Romanus prayed weeping to the Mother of God, and she appeared
to him in a dream, held a piece of paper out to him and told
him to swallow it. The following day was Christmas Day, and Romanus
went up to the ambo and, with an angelic voice, sang: 'Today
the Virgin which has come down to us as the Kontakion of the
Feast. All marvelled at the words of the hymn and at the singer's
voice. Receiving thus the gift of song from the Mother of God,
Romanus composed more than a thousand kontakia. He died as a
deacon of the Great Church in Constantinople in 530, and went
to join the angelic choir.
4. Our Holy Father John Kukuzelis.
A Slav from Dyrrachium, he was taken as a young man to the School
of Music in Constantinople, where he became a popular singer
at the imperial court. Feafing the flattery and praise of men,
he fled to the Holy Mountain and presented himself at the Great
Lavra as a shepherd. As shepherd and monk, he lived in rare asceticism,
and the Mother of God appeared to him twice. He entered into
rest in the twelfth century.
5. Our Holy Father Gregory.
A monk of the Great Lavra in the fourteenth century.