Feasts
The Protection of the Theotokos
The vision of St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ at Blachernae and the Russian veneration of the Protection.
Tradition
According to the Life of St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ, during a vigil in the Blachernae church of Constantinople (10th century) he saw the Theotokos spreading her veil over the worshippers.
In Rus
The feast took root in Rus from the 12th century (the Church of the Protection on the Nerl, 1165). In the Greek Churches it is not a great feast — an example of differing local traditions.