🔸 October 28 - The Holy Protection of the Mother of God 🇬🇷 🔸 Today, we commemorate the Holy Protection of the Theotokos. While most Orthodox Christians celebrate this feast on October 1st, the Greek tradition celebrates the Holy Protection on October 28th to coincide with Ohi (“No”) Day, a national holiday commemorating the Greek resistance to the Italian fascist forces in WWII. The feast of the Holy Protection was established after a miraculous appearance of the Theotokos in the 10th century. On October 1st, St Andrew the Fool for Christ and his disciple Epiphanius went to an all-night vigil at the Blachernae Church in Constantinople where several relics of the Mother of God were kept including her holy robe and part of her belt. During the vigil, they saw the Theotokos enter the church through the dome, glowing and surrounded by a choir of angels and saints. In the centre of the church, she knelt down and prayed for a long time, her immaculate face besprinkling tears. Taking off her veil, she spread it over all the people in the church as a sign of her protection. Since then, the Holy Protection was celebrated on October 1st. 1000 years later, on October 28 1940 at 3am, the Italian dictator Mussolini gave the Greek prime minister Metaxas an ultimatum: allow Italian forces to occupy Greek territory, or face war. Still in his pyjamas, Metaxas responded saying «Alors, c'est la guerre», meaning "Then it is war". Within hours, Mussolini ordered his forces to attack the Greek border, beginning the Greco-Italian War and marking Greece’s entry into WWII. Many Greek soldiers on the front lines reported seeing visions of the Theotokos above them, covering them with her veil, and guiding them to confront the enemy. Against all odds, the outnumbered Greek army launched a successful counter attack from the Pindus Mountains, pushing the Italians into Albania. This was the first significant Axis setback of the war. In 1952, to honor the Holy Protection of the Theotokos over the Greek nation throughout its history, and especially during Greece’s resistance to the Axis powers, the Greek Church moved this feast to the October 28th to coincide with this important national holiday.