During the 10th century at the Blachernae church in Constantinople (Istanbul) where several of her relics (robe, veil, and part of her belt) were kept, the Theotokos miraculously appeared. On October 1 at four in the morning, St. Andrew the Blessed Fool-for-Christ saw the dome of the church open and the Virgin Mary enter, moving in the air above him, glowing and surrounded by angels and saints. She knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. This scene is shown in the icon.
In most Slavic languages the word "cerement" has a dual meaning of "veil" and "protection." The Russian word Pokrov (Покров), like the Greek Skepi (Σκέπη) and Romanian Acoperamint, has a complex meaning. First of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is variously translated as the Veil of Our Lady, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos, the Protection of the Theotokos, or the Intercession of the Theotokos.
Below the Theotokos, in the center of the icon, stands a young man clothed in a deacon's sticharion. In his left hand, he is holding an open scroll with the text of the Kontakion for Nativity in honor of the Mother of God. This is St. Romanus the Melodist, the famous hymnographer whose feast is also celebrated on the same day, October 1. He is with his choir attended by the Emperor Leo the Wise together with the Empress and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
The two different events took place four hundred
years apart and they are combined in this one icon.
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