October 1: Protection of the Mother of God

....  Calling on the saints, through communion in prayer, deepens the consciousness of the catholicity of the Church. In our invocation of the saints our measure of Christian love is exhibited, a living feeling of unanimity and the power of Church unity is expressed; and, conversely, doubt or inability to feel the intercession of grace and the intervention of saints on our behalf before God witnesses not only to a weakening of love and of the brotherly and Church ties and relationships but also to a decrease in the fullness of faith in the value and power of the Incarnation and Resurrection.

One of the most mysterious anticipations of the Orthodox Church is our contemplation on the "Protecting Veil of the Mother of God," of her constant standing in prayer for the world, surrounded by all the saints, before the throne of God. "Today the Virgin stands in the church and with hosts of saints invisibly prays to God for us; angels and bishops worship; apostles and prophets embrace each other - it is for us that the Mother of God prays unto the Eternal God!" Thus the Church remembers the vision which was once seen by St Andrew, the fool for Christ's sake. And that which was then visibly revealed remains now and will stand for all ages. The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God is a vision of the celestial Church, a vision of the unbreakable and ever-existent unity of the heavenly and earthly Church. And it is also a foreseeing that all existence beyond the grave, of the righteous and the saints, is one untiring prayer, one ceaseless intercession and mediation. For love is the "union of all perfection." And the blessedness of the righteous is an abiding in love...

- Fr Georges Florovsky, "On the Veneration of the Saints"