On the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos—a day when, according to an old Kotor custom, the first autumn memorial service for the departed is held exclusively at the City Cemetery in Škaljari—Archpriest Mijajlo Backović addressed the faithful on the occasion of the church's patronal feast.
"The Most Holy Theotokos is the mirror of God’s glory; She whom God chose to give a body to the Savior of the world, and through whom—from birth to this very day—we have received that eternal and imperishable DNA: the DNA of eternity. Through Her, God assumes a body and becomes man. She, who is a swift helper in prayer, a comforter, and to whom all the epithets of this world belong most of all and first of all, holds this world within Her protection and prays for it," said Fr. Mijajlo.
We honor the Savior of the World by commemorating the year 911, when—inside a church in Constantinople—She revealed Herself to two saints, who saw Her standing above the people and holding out Her protective veil. “But that day merely symbolizes every day in eternity, where She—our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God—stands and holds this world within Her protective veil. When we visited Vatopedi Monastery, we saw a wondrous icon that differed from all others. In it, the Mother of God holds Christ; He places His hand over Her mouth, but She gently moves it aside. When we asked the monks why the icon was depicted this way, they explained that it had once been like any other. However, a time came when the monastery faced great trials and the monks had ceased to observe their monastic rule; God allowed pirates to approach the monastery’s locked gates. Disguised as monks, the pirates sought to deceive the brethren and gain entry. The Mother of God moved to warn the monks not to open the gates, but He covered Her mouth and said: ‘Let them be; they must suffer, for they have forsaken the Word of God.’ She moved His hand aside—though she could not fully remove it—for Her love is so great that She said even to Her God: ‘I shall warn the monks nonetheless, so that they do not suffer,’” said Fr. Mijajlo.
“Great as Her love is, so too is the protective power She extends over this world,” the Father continued. Mijajlo, highlighting “that love pierced through, that sacrificed love, and Her heart that suffered as it beheld its Son.” And is there any greater love or sacrifice than when a mother watches her child being killed? Yet she endured even that with Him beneath the Cross; she shared in His death and ascended with Him into the Kingdom of God, where she continues to pray for us to this day. May the Lord, through her prayers and her protecting veil, preserve this world; and let us pray to her—that when the time comes for us to endure suffering, she might guide us with her motherly love and the benevolent heart of the Most Holy Theotokos.
May her protecting veil guard this city of Kotor and this Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos; may it also guard the city of Niš, which today celebrates alongside the 63rd Parachute Brigade—a unit that bore the cross of suffering for the sake of the Serbian people. It is no coincidence that this unit, too, celebrates the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos today—a feast that bears a resemblance to the parachute we use for jumping. Yet that *other* parachute—her veil—overshadows the entire world, protecting it from shattering amidst its sins.
May the Lord, through the prayers of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and her protecting veil, grant the brotherhood of this holy church—Father Nemanja, Father Milenko, Father Nenad, Father Vojo—and all of you, the faithful people of the Kotor Parish and beyond, the grace to always know and to... "Let us never doubt that the One who will always hear our prayer is none other than our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos, in whose church we find ourselves today. May the Lord, through her prayers, grant us all strength, endurance, patience, and—most importantly—love, so that we may see one another through her heart. That is the identity she bestowed upon us by giving birth to our Savior. May this feast bring health and salvation to all—amen," said Fr. Mijajlo.