The Divine Protection
An instruction for the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
O fervent Protectress, Mother of the Lord Most High, entreat Your Son, Christ our God, on behalf of all, and enable all who take refuge in Your mighty protection to be saved (Troparion of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God)
Hear, brothers and sisters, what the holy Church sings about our Most Holy Lady, the Queen Theotokos. The Church chants: «Our fervent Protectress, entreat Your Son, Christ our God, on behalf of all, and enable all who take refuge in Your mighty protection to be saved». These words of the Church, our most holy mother, about the Most Holy Mother of God are the purest truth; they tell what in fact goes on without ceasing, for the Most Holy Theotokos, in her maternal love for us, intercedes for us before the throne of God day and night: day and night You pray for us, holy Church says to her in the midnight service, and the scepters of kingdoms are made firm by Your prayers. Every one of you has often seen and still sees that the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted on icons either with both hands outstretched in supplication toward her Son and God, or with one hand stretched out to Him in prayer, for in this latter case she holds on her other arm her all-sovereign Son, who holds all creation in the hollow of His hand.[1] This visible image plainly shows us the invisible work that goes on without ceasing in the spiritual world, in heaven—the unsleeping prayer of the Mother of God for us before God; for heaven knows no nightly repose such as we have here on earth; there is eternal day, eternal wakefulness, eternal all-joyous praise of the Creator, unceasing prayer for us.
O, how comforting it is, my brothers, to think and to be certain that in heaven there is such an ever-present, fervent, and unsleeping Protectress and Intercessor for us sinners before God! What can She not obtain for the Christian race, which ever blesses, glorifies, and exalts Her? Yes, She can obtain everything—though only for those Christians who have not fallen asleep in the death of sin, who themselves stretch out their hands to Her with faith in a prayer for help, or in a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, who themselves strive to live in a Christian manner and to fulfill Christ’s commandments, and although they sin through human weakness and through some forgetfulness, they soon rise again, recognizing the deceit of sin, and take up once more their good works, their salvation. The prayers of the Mother of God greatly help such Christians; but the prayers of the Mother of God are not effectual for those negligent toward prayer and toward every good work, who through their negligence fall from one sin into another, from one vice into another, for the gifts of God’s grace are received by us through faith, through our own desire and seeking of them: God does not cast His pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet[2]. Yet what am I saying—that it is not effectual? No, the prayer of the Mother of God is effectual even for them, for She asks Her Son for them as well, that He may bear with them yet and again—will they not come to their senses from the sleep of sin, will they not come to know the abyss of evil in which they have sunk, will they not desire heavenly help, will they not sigh to God? And how many has She raised up by Her prayers from the depths of sin! – An example of this is Saint Mary of Egypt, who from a most great harlot became a most great righteous woman, equal to the angels in honor. It was precisely the prayers of the Mother of God that made her come to her senses from the sleep of sin, hasten to repentance, and resolve to change her life.
My brothers! The Most Holy Theotokos is our Queen and Mother by grace; She is the Mother full of love of the All-Creator and our Savior—according to His humanity; no one after the Savior loves people more than She does; no one grieves over them more than She does—no one is more concerned for their eternal salvation than She; how could She fail to pray for them like a mother, that they not be cast into hell and into the fire of Gehenna forever? And—I will add—how could we fail to pray for ourselves, how could we fail to take care of ourselves, of our eternal salvation, of eternal blessedness; and if She is our Queen and Mother, and the Mother of God, then let us honor Her as is due, not with our lips only, but especially by our deeds—with meekness, humility, self-restraint, purity, obedience to God, the keeping of His commandments, devotion to His will, patience. She is the head of the noetic edifice, that is, She is first in holiness and majesty in the Church of Christ, as Queen; but we too are members of the Church of Christ, even if we are weak; let us then strive to conduct ourselves worthily of so great a leader of ours—let us zealously strive, according to our strength, to imitate her meekness, humility, purity, devotion to the will of God, patience, and love for God and our neighbor. Let us not forget to have recourse more often to her sovereign protection with faith, hope, and love, and she will unceasingly intercede for all who take refuge with faith in her sovereign protection—for all who are in misfortunes and sorrows and sicknesses, burdened with many sins; for those who stand before her and pray to her with a soul filled with compunction and a contrite heart before her all-pure icon, with tears, and who place their hope in her irrevocably—beyond all doubt; she grants deliverance from every evil and bestows what is profitable to all, for she is the divine protection of her servants. Amen.