07/13/2026
Please join us on Thursday, July 16, 2026 as we receive a visit with the world traveling Protection of the most-holy Theotokos Icon. This icon contains a relic of her sash/omophorion which she herself made and which is seen as the white belt she holds in every icon of her Protection.
This icon is en route to Chicago and the caretaker offered to stop at Saint Nicholas on the evening of Thursday, July 16. There will be a brief service and veneration of the icon at 6:30 that evening. 
Here's an article about the icon and its travels: https://eadiocese.org/news_171202_1.
For more information about the historical event of the Protection, here is an article about it: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/10/01/102824-the-protection-of-our-most-holy-lady-the-mother-of-god-and-ever.
This miraculous appearance of the Mother of God occurred in the mid-tenth century in Constantinople, in the Blachernae church where her robe, veil, and part of her belt were preserved after being transferred from Palestine in the fifth century. On Sunday, October 1, during the All Night Vigil,…
