The Synaxis of the Mother Holy Mother of God is the patronal feast of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery’s Metochion Church in Arzamas.

The right side chapel of the Church to the Nativity of Christ was consecrated by His Eminence Archbishop Georgiy (who is currently a Metropolitan) of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas on September 25, 2010. This side chapel was dedicated to two feasts, the Annunciation and the Synaxis of the Mother Holy Mother of God.

The services including Vigil, Paraklesis with the water blessing prayer service and the Divine Liturgy were served there today and Hegumenia Sergiya, the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, prayerfully attended the liturgy. At the end of the liturgy, the cross procession went around the church.

The second day of the Nativity of Christ is dedicated to the Mother of God and the kinsmen of the Savior, His Family. We call this feast the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God and give honors to the Savior’s family, His close relatives, and those who in the first place followed Him throughout His life, from childhood to His death.

The establishment of this feast goes back to the ancient times of the Christian Church. Even the Holy Hierarchs St. Epiphany of Cyprus, St. Ambrose of Milan, and Blessed Augustine, in their teachings regarding the feast of the Nativity of Christ, pieced together the praise to the Incarnate God and Man with offering praise to the Virgin Who Bore Him. The reference to the feast of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God on the day following Christ’s Nativity can be found in the Canon 79 of the Ecumenical Council that took place in 691 AD.