According to the tradition, the Robe of the Mother of God was found in Nazareth in 471 and transferred to the newly founded St. Mary Church in the Blachernae corner of Constantinople, near the Golden Horn, just outside the city’s walls. (The initial basilica was destroyed in 1434, and the current church was built in the nineteenth century.) Subsequently, the omophorion of the Most Pure One and part of Her belt were also placed in the precious ark with the robe in the reliquary chapel. During enemy invasions, the Most Holy Theotokos more than once saved Her City, to which She bestowed Her sacred Robe. This happened during the siege of Constantinople by the Avars (East Asian nomads) in 626, the Persians in 677, and the Arabs in 717. In 860, the fleet of the Russian prince Askold (a Scandinavian raider leading Slavic men) devastated the Black Sea and Bosphorus shores and besieged the Queen City. Emperor Michael III, who probably unjustly was later called “a drunkard,” prayed all night, prostrating himself on the stone slabs of the Blachernae Temple. Holy Patriarch Photios addressed the people with a sermon, calling on them to repent and earnestly pray for the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. After a nationwide prayer service, the robe of the Mother of God with the cross procession was carried around the city walls; its edge was immersed in the waters of the Bosphorus and then transferred to the Church of St. Sophia in the center of Constantinople. The Queen of Heaven pacified the aggressiveness of the Russians, and after some time, having concluded a truce, they began to retreat. The terms of the peace treaty included a provision for the baptism of Rus'. Soon, Prince Askold was baptized with Nikolai, and many members of his company were also baptized (the so-called first baptism of Russians). Askold's burial place is still known in Kiev. Thus, the feast of the Placing of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae is the feast of the founding of the Russian Orthodox Metropolis in Kiev. The veneration of the Feast of the Placing of the Robe has been known since ancient times in the Russian Church. In honor of this feast, St. Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (d. 1174) erected a temple in Vladimir on the Golden Gate. At the end of the 14th century, St. Dionysios, Archbishop of Suzdal, transferred part of the Robe of the Mother of God from Constantinople to Muscovy. The Holy Robe of the Mother of God, which previously guarded Constantinople, later saved Moscow from the enemy. In the summer of 1451, the army of the Tatar Prince Mazovsha (Azov-Shah) approached the Russian capital to extract taxes. Mazovsha was a son of the Khan of the Golden Horde Sayid Ahmad I (1427-1455). The Great Prince Basil II the Blind appointed St. Jonah, the Metropolitan of Kiev, to strengthen the defenders of the capital with continued prayers. According to the chronicle, on the night of July 2/15, great confusion occurred in the Tatar camp; the enemies abandoned their stolen goods and hastily retreated in disarray. They were hearing the approaching of a colossal army. St. John ordered the construction of the Church of The placing of the Honorable Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae in Moscow Kremlin to mark this event, which became known as (bystraia tatarshchina - a quick passing Tartar invasion). |
