Beneath your compassion

Beneath your compassion we take refuge, Virgin Theotokos; despise not our prayers in our necessity, but deliver us from harm, O only pure and blessed one.

This ancient hymn - and so beloved of Orthodox faithful! - identifies the Mother of God and her compassion as a refuge and protection for believers. Another wonderful hymn affirms For those in great sorrow you are joy, and for the oppressed a protection, and for the hungry their food, comfort unto those estranged; you are a staff to the blind, visitation of all those who are sick and to those held by pain a shelter and comfort, to the orphaned, an aid.

Our hymns and prayers give voice to our conviction and experience that the Mother of God intercedes for us - and for our salvation - out of her deep, embracing compassionate love. Therefore, on this feast day of the Protection of the Mother of God, let us call to mind just how important compassion is as a Christian virtue!

Compassion is a certain tender-heartedness, the capacity to be moved by the misery and needs of others. From it comes the desire to alleviate suffering, a desire which - in the name of Christ - is the ground of our good works on behalf of those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick, in prison, captives, our acts of kindness and hospitality, and our care for the departed.

So too there are also works of compassion with a spiritual focus, such as education, counsel, correction, patient listening, forgiveness, offering comfort, intercessory prayer. Out of a compassionate heart spring works of mercy and all manner of good.

God Himself models compassion. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who .... moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt (Matthew 18:27). In the story of the Prodigal Son we read: But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him (Luke 15:20). The Good Samaritan, a figure of Christ, when he saw the half-dead man, had compassion on him (Luke 10: 33). Indeed, throughout the Gospel we meet the Lord's compassion for the sick, the sinful, the needy, crowds, children... and perhaps most poignantly for those that persecute and torture Him.

God is compassionate! St. Isaac the Syrian writes: Among all His actions there is none which is not entirely a matter of mercy, love, and compassion: this constitutes the beginning and the end of His dealings with us.

We pray in our evening prayers and bring this to mind on our altar feast: O blessed Theotokos, open the doors of compassion to us whose hope is in you, that we may not perish but be delivered from adversity through you, who are the salvation of the Christian people.