Deposition of the Holy Belt of the Virgin
Date of celebration: 31/08
The collection of the holy Belt of the Theotokos, some say it was done by King Arcadius and others by his son Theodosius II. The transfer took place from Jerusalem to Constantinople and they placed it in a golden case, which was called the holy pile. When 410 years had passed, King Leo the Wise opened this holy Soros for the queen wife of Zoe, who was possessed by an unclean spirit. So when he opened the holy pile, he found the honest Belt of the Virgin shining supernaturally. And he had a golden seal, showing the time and day he was transferred to Constantinople. So after they worshiped her, the Patriarch spread the honorable Belt over the queen, and immediately she was freed from the demon. Whenever everyone glorified Christ the Savior and thanked His eternal Mother, who is for the faithful a guard, guardian, protector, refuge, helper, shelter, in every time and place, day and night.
Then the Holy Belt was dismembered and pieces of it were transferred to various temples in Constantinople. After the fall of the City by the Crusaders in 1204 AD, some pieces were seized by the barbarian and uncivilized conquerors and transported to the West. A part, however, was saved and remained in Constantinople even after the liberation of the city by Michael VIII Palaiologos. It was kept in the holy temple of Theotokos of Blacherna. The last reference to the holy relic is by an anonymous Russian pilgrim in Constantinople between 1424 and 1453 AD.
After the fall of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 AD, it is unknown what happened to the rest of the Holy Zone afterwards. So the only surviving part is the one kept in the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi; it got there in an extremely adventurous way.
Saint Constantine had a golden cross made to protect him on campaigns. In the middle of the cross was placed a piece of Sacred Wood; the cross also bore cases of holy relics of Martyrs, and a piece of the Sacred Belt. All Byzantine emperors took this cross on campaigns. Emperor Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195) did the same in a campaign against the Bulgarian ruler Asan. But he was defeated and in the panic a priest threw him into the river so that the enemies would not desecrate him. After a few days, however, the Bulgarians found him; thus he passed into the hands of Asan.
The Bulgarian rulers, imitating the Byzantine emperors, took the cross with them in their campaigns. But in a battle against the Serbs, the Bulgarian army was defeated by the Serbian ruler Lazarus (1371-1389). Lazarus later donated the cross of Saint Constantine to the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi along with the piece of the Holy Belt.
The Holy Fathers of the Holy Monastery also preserve a tradition according to which the Sacred Girdle of the Virgin was dedicated to the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi by the emperor John ST Kantakouzenos (1341-1354), who then resigned from office, becoming a monk with the name Ioasaf and became a monk in the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi.
The miracles performed and performed by Timia Zoni are many. It especially helps infertile women to have a child. If they reverently ask for the help of the Virgin Mary, they are given a piece of ribbon that has been blessed in the reliquary of Agia Zoni; if they have faith, they become pregnant.
