The whole event of the feast is connected with the life of St. Andrew, Fool for Christ. This account was recorded by Priest Nikephoros of Constantinople, who knew the saint. Most likely, St. Andrew lived during the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise (886–912). Andrew was a native of Scythia (an antique term which roughly corresponds to the area of the Pontic steppes, including the Crimean Peninsula). He became a slave of the imperial official Theognostos, who paid for Andrew’s education and practically adopted him. St. Paul teaches us: “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!” (1 Cor. 4:10). Recall also the affluent young youth whose heart was so attached to his wealth that he could not follow the Lord (Matt. 19:16-30). Christ began to knock on the door of Andrew’s heart. Having consulted Fr. Nikephoros, Andrew decided to become a fool in people’s eyes. He wandered around the New Rome, where many people were entrenched in vice and eager for “bread and circuses,” as in the Old Rome. Often, Andrew was subjected to public beatings; he would drink from puddles and sleep in manure with homeless dogs. The alms that he collected would be given to people experiencing poverty. In liturgical prayers to the Mother of God, Constantinople is often called “[Her] City.” So, despite the depth of the sin committed by its residents, the Most Holy Theotokos, during the divine service on the eve of a feast in Her honor, appeared to St. Andrew while he was praying at the Zodochos Pigi (“Life-Giving Fount”) in Blachernae in Constantinople. She was approaching the ambo in the company of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Theologian. Besides St. Andrew, Epiphanios, a disciple of St. Andrew, also saw this vision. This vision is celebrated in today’s feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, which was introduced in the Russian Church by Prince St. Andrei of Bogoliubovo in the twelfth century. Prince Andrei likely introduced this feast without the sanction of the Byzantine Metropolitan in Kiev. Known in Slavonic as Pokrov, it has since become one of the characteristic feasts of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy. There is no evidence of the existence of this feast in the Byzantine Church. On the same day, the Church commemorates Deacon St. Roman “the Melodist,” a sixth-century hymnographer who wrote in tonic verse and served in Blachernae Church. Source: I.V.T., O.V.L., A. Iu. Nikiforova, N.V. Pivovarova, “Andrei Iurodivyi” [St. Andrew Full for Christ], Pravoslavnaia Entsiklopedia [Orthodox Entsiclopedia]. |
