About Our Name
This festal icon shown in the upper left corner of this website portrays the event from which our parish's name, "Protection of the Virgin Mary", is taken. This feast is celebrated on October 1st and is recorded as follows in the Prologue of Ochrid:
On October 1st, 911, in the time of the Emperor Leo the wise, there was an all night vigil at the Blachernae church of the Mother of God in Constantinople. The church was crowded. St. Andrew the Fool for Christ (not the same St. Andrew the Apostle) was standing at the back of the church with his disciple Epiphanius. At 4 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, "I see it and I 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.
...from The Prologue of Ochrid, October 1st, vol. 4, pg. 5.