The Placing of the Precious Sash of Our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God in Calcoprateia (942)
Hebrews 9:1-7; Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28
Read Hebrews 9:1-7
This reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews is read on most feast days of the Mother of God. It describes the physical arrangements of the first Tent that was used for worship of the one true God by Israel. Everything centred upon the Holy of Holies in which lay the Ark of the Covenant which in turn contained the manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tablets of the Law. This reading is read because it is a foreshadow of the new Ark of the New Covenant who contained the Bread who is our Life—Mary, the ever-Virgin Mother of God.
Today, we celebrate the placing of her sash in Calcoprateia. Here a description of the feast from the Prologue of Ochrid:
After her Dormition, the Holy Theotokos gave her cincture [sash] to the Apostle Thomas. That cincture was later brought to Constantinople and kept in a sealed reliquary in the Church of the Mother of God at Blachernae, founded by the royal foundation [Zaduzbina] of Empress Pulcheria. This reliquary was not opened until the time of Emperor Leo the Wise (886-912 A.D.). Leo’s wife, Empress Zoe, became mentally ill and, in accord with a heavenly vision, she desired that the girdle of the Most-holy Theotokos be placed on her. The emperor implored the patriarch, and the reliquary was opened. Then the girdle was removed and placed on the ailing empress. The empress was healed immediately. Today’s feast was instituted in commemoration of that miracle. Currently, one part of the girdle is to be found in Zugdidi, Georgia, because the daughter of Emperor Romanus was healed by the aid of this girdle–and when her father married her to the Georgian Emperor Abuchaz, she took part of the girdle with her. By order of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, a special church was built in Mingrelia, in Zugdidi, where that relic of the miracle-working garment of the Most-holy Theotokos is kept.