May 25
(A word from the Lemonarion concerning entrusting one’s wife to the Most Holy Theotokos.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
Some pious Christians, when setting out on a long journey, entrust their loved ones to the protection and care of the Most Holy Theotokos. Do they do well in this?
There once lived in Alexandria a Christ-loving man, reverent and charitable, who received strangers and washed the feet of monks. He had a humble and fasting wife and a six-year-old daughter. Once, when he was leaving for Constantinople on business, his wife asked him: “To whom, my lord, do you entrust me and our daughter during your absence?” — “To our Lady the Theotokos,” the husband answered. Leaving one servant in the house, he departed.
During his absence, the devil inspired in that servant an evil thought: to kill his master’s wife and daughter, plunder the property, and flee with the stolen goods. Taking a knife, he went toward the room where his mistress sat doing needlework, intending to kill her. But when he approached the door, he was suddenly struck blind and could move neither forward nor backward. After suffering for a long time, searching for the entrance or the exit and finding neither, he began calling out to his mistress, shouting: “Come here!”
Seeing that the servant stood in the doorway and did not come to her, and not knowing of his blindness, the mistress said to him: “Why should I come to you? I am your mistress; you should come to me, not I to you.” Then the servant began desperately begging her to approach him. But she did not go. Then he cried out: “At least send your daughter to me!” But the mistress would not send her daughter either.
Then the servant, realizing that his evil deed had failed, struck himself with the knife in despair and fell down. The mistress cried out. Judges and people gathered, and while the servant was still alive, he recounted in detail his attempt upon the lives of his mistress and her daughter. And all glorified God.
Thus it becomes clear that those do well who, during their absence, entrust their loved ones to the protection and intercession of the Queen of Heaven. Yes, indeed they do well; for the Queen of Heaven, having Herself experienced many sorrows and sufferings in this life, knows from Her own experience man’s need for higher help, and therefore is always especially ready to help both those who flee beneath Her protection and those who entrust to Her care the people dearest to their hearts.
Let us remember, then, that the Queen of Heaven is truly for us a Protection broader than the clouds! Let us remember that She is always ready to cover us with the shelter of Her wings, to defend us from all visible and invisible enemies, and always ready to extend to us a helping hand in the difficult circumstances of our lives. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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