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Two different events that took place four hundred years apart are combined in this one icon. Both events took place in the former Church of Blachernae in Constantinople.
The [[icon]] of the feast, Protection of the Mother of God, shows the [[Theotokos]] standing above the faithful with her arms outstretched in prayer and draped with a veil. On both sides of her are [[angels]]. On the lower right of most icons of this feast, are saints Andrew and his disciple Epiphanius who saw this vision of the Mother of God, with the twelve apostles, bishops, holy women, monks and martyrs, spreading her veil in protection over the [[congregation]]. St. Epiphanius is wearing a tunic under his cloak and gestures in astonishment at the miraculous appearance, while St. Andrew, [[Fool-for-Christ]], is dressed only in a cloak.
Below the Theotokos, in the center of the icon, stands a young man with a [[halo]], he is clothed in a [[deacon]]'s [[sticharion]]. In his left hand, he is holding an open scroll with the text of the [[Kontakion]] for [[Nativity of the Theotokos|Nativity in honor of the Mother of God]]. This is St. [[Roman the Melodist|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 [[Leo VI|Emperor Leo the Wise]] together with the Empress and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
