This Belt, which had girded the chaste womb that carried the Creator and which had been dampened with drops of milk by which He Who is the Life of the world is nourished, remains for all believers a pledge of Salvation. It urges them to gird all the movements of the flesh, and to imitate the chastity of Soul and body of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother, so that they may be counted worthy to carry in their hearts, in their turn, the Christ who never ceases, for us, to become a ‘little Child’. – The Synaxarion
Prayers
Apolytikion: O Ever-Virgin Theotokos, Shelter of mankind, thou hast bestowed upon thy people a mighty investure, even thine immaculate body’s raiment and sash, which by thy seedless childbirth have remained incorrupt; for in thee nature and time are made new. Wherefore, we implore thee to grant peace to the world, and great mercy to our Souls.
Kontakion: Thy precious sash, O Theotokos, which encompassed thy God-receiving womb, is an invincible force for thy flock, and an unfailing treasury of every good, O only Ever-Virgin Mother.
Hymn: O Lady and Queen of all, deliver your people and flock from every danger, by the power and grace of your all-precious, Divine Belt, which we with faith and longing glorify.
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