The Protection of the Theotokos: October 1

During a siege of Constantinople, at the all-night vigil in the church at Blachernae where her robe was kept, St Andrew the Fool for Christ saw the Theotokos come in above the people, pray, and spread her veil over them. The feast keeps that vision. It is not one of the Twelve, and in the Slavic churches it is kept with more solemnity than several that are: the Pokrov is one of the great days of the Russian year, and the Ukrainian and Serbian churches keep it likewise. The Greek Church moved its observance to 28 October to join it with the anniversary of the refusal in 1940, which is a rare case of a modern deliverance being written into the calendar.