The Theotokos in the Orthodox Tradition and in the Worship of Great Lent (2 of 2)

By Panagiotis S. Martinis

In our first article, which bore the title “The Theotokos in the Biblical and Patristic Tradition,” we referred to the person and the role of the Theotokos in the mystery of salvation, as these are expressed by the sacred writers of Holy Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, on the occasion of the feast of the Annunciation (March 25).

In the article that follows, we shall refer to the honor rendered to the Theotokos during the period of Great Lent, on the occasion of the Service of the Akathist Hymn.

B. THE THEOTOKOS IN THE WORSHIP OF GREAT LENT

During the period of the Triodion and especially of Great Lent, the Theotokos is particularly honored. Already with the beginning of the Triodion we invoke her help, chanting: “Guide me in the paths of salvation, O Theotokos… by your intercessions deliver me from every impurity.”

Byzantium and the Panagia (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

Byzantium and the Panagia

Homily of His Eminence the Metropolitan of Mani, Chrysostomos III

Delivered during the Fourth Salutations (5 April 2019) at Saint Demetrios of Mystras

We find ourselves, by the honorable invitation and blessing of His Eminence the Metropolitan of Monemvasia and Sparta, Eustathios, in Mystras, the capital of the Byzantine Despotate during the 14th and 15th centuries, just a few kilometers east of the historic city of Sparta.

And although Mystras is called a “dead city” because it is no longer inhabited, nevertheless it is a living city of the wonders of God.

It is, of course, connected with the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade (1204), after which it became a most important spiritual center of the late Byzantine period. Many rulers — the Kantakouzenoi and the Palaiologoi — governed and were active in the Despotate. Many scholars, artists, and spiritual men also left their mark.

Saint Dionysios the Merciful, Metropolitan of Larissa (+ 1510)

For Saint Dionysios the Merciful, Metropolitan of Larissa and founder of the Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas in Meteora, no hagiographical texts, services, synaxaria, or life have been preserved, nor is any date of the celebration of his memory recorded anywhere. Therefore, we do not have detailed information about his life and activity.

He is depicted in a fresco of 1627 in the left aisle of the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries in Trikala, where, in chronological order from left to right, seven “holy archbishops of Larissa” are portrayed:

Saint Thomas of Goriani (1264–1273), Saint Cyprian the Wonderworker (Oct. 1318), Saint Anthony the Most Learned and New Theologian (June 1340 – March 21, 1362), Saint Bessarion the Former (in 1489–90 he was transferred from the Bishopric of Demetrias to the Metropolis of Larissa), Saint Dionysios the Merciful, Saint Mark the Hesychast (1499 – late 1526 or early 1527), and Saint Bessarion of the Savior (this refers to the well-known Metropolitan Bessarion II, founder and builder of the Monastery of the Savior of the Great Gates, known as the Monastery of Dousikou, who served as archbishop in Larissa from March 1527 to September 13, 1540).

Venerable Hilarion the New in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

“Having given to the earth his earthly flesh, Hilarion dwelt in the blessed land of the blessed” (Verses of the Synaxarion).

Venerable Hilarion served as abbot of the Monastery of Pelekete in Trigleia and was distinguished for his ascetic ethos, his love of God, his gift of almsgiving, and his spiritual struggles. For this reason, God granted him the gift of foresight. The Saint reposed in peace in the year 754.

We do not have many details from the life of Saint Hilarion the New, beyond the fact that he was abbot of the Monastery of Pelekete, a monastery whose foundation dates to the eighth century and whose name is related to its location upon a steep rock. The actual name of the monastery is that of Saint John the Theologian, which is situated near present-day Trigleia, in medieval Bithynia. The monastery, whose ruins from the Byzantine period are preserved even today, was, according to historians, a center of the Orthodox who struggled against the heresy of the iconoclasts; for this reason the monks suffered many tortures from their iconoclast persecutors, to the point that many of them became martyrs for their faith. Saint Joseph the Hymnographer therefore quite naturally emphasizes also the persecutions that the Venerable Martyr and Abbot Hilarion suffered from these heretics: “Precious was your death before God, most sacred Father,” he notes, “for you honored His Icon and endured, being afflicted, the persecutions of the tyrants; thus you were shown to be a martyr” (Ode 8).

The Boundless Motherly Embrace of the Akathist Hymn

The Boundless Motherly Embrace of the Akathist Hymn

April 16, 2021

By Elder Patapios of Kavsokalyva

In the liturgical life of our Church, the Fridays of Great Lent constitute an island of joy within the springtime and the preparation for Pascha, which makes everything good and beautiful appear attainable and within easy reach.

It is a Theometoric-centered path that leads us safely along the cross-and-resurrection journey toward Pascha.

The Akathist Hymn is yet another gift of the Panagia to humanity, but also to each one of us personally, within this heartfelt communion and atmosphere of this service.

With the Theotokos, the world was illumined again; it became new, renewed. It became our home. We are able to live, to be saved through her Son and our God.

Prologue in Sermons: March 28

Where the Souls of Sinners Are After Their Separation from the Body

March 28

(A Discourse about a certain soldier, named Taxiotis, who rose from the dead.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Where, brethren, are the souls of sinners after their separation from their bodies? Let us speak about this for our edification.

There was in the city of Carthage a certain man, named Taxiotis, who lived a sinful life. Once, a pestilence struck Carthage, from which many people were dying. Taxiotis turned to God and repented of his sins. Leaving the city, he withdrew with his wife to a certain village, where he remained, spending his time in meditation on God.

After some time, he fell into sin with the wife of a farmer; but a few days later, he was bitten by a snake and died.

Not far from that place stood a monastery; the wife of Taxiotis went to this monastery and begged the monks to come, take the body of the deceased, and bury it in the church; and they buried him at the third hour of the day. When the ninth hour came, a loud cry was heard from the grave: “Have mercy, have mercy on me!” The monks, approaching the grave and hearing the cry of the one buried, immediately dug it up and found Taxiotis alive. In terror, they were amazed and asked him what had happened to him. But Taxiotis, because of intense weeping, could not tell them anything and only asked to be taken to Bishop Tarasios; and he was taken to him. The bishop urged him for three days to tell him what he had seen there, but only on the fourth day did Taxiotis begin to speak and recounted the following:

The Theotokos in the Orthodox Tradition and in the Worship of Great Lent (1 of 2)

By Panagiotis S. Martinis

With two articles we will deal with the above title. In the first, on the occasion of the feast of the Annunciation (March 25), and in the second, on the occasion of the Service of the Akathist Hymn (during the period of Great Lent).

A. The Theotokos in the Biblical and Patristic Tradition

The Orthodox Catholic Church “received” and “preserves” the Theotokos at the center of its worship, just as the “beloved” disciple of the Lord, John, “took her into his own home,” as the most precious thing he had after Jesus, and just as the disciples, “continuing with one accord in prayer,” had her at the center of their gathering, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verse 14.

This is the reason why the “mystery” of the Virgin in Orthodoxy is a liturgical “mystery,” and only through divine worship is it possible to discern the multitude of passages, both of the Old Testament and of the New, that refer to Her. For this very reason the hymnographer expresses this “mystery” in one of the Stichera of the Praises on Sunday:

“Lord, though the tomb was sealed by the lawless, You came forth from the sepulcher, just as You were born from the Theotokos. Your bodiless angels did not know how You were incarnate… but the miracles have been revealed to those who worship in faith the mystery…”

The Evangelists indeed write in the sacred texts what is necessary for the “certainty of the words” (Luke 1:4), and leave the rest to be lived by the Church in her worship.

Saint Cleopa of Sihastria on the Akathist to the Theotokos

1.  The Holy Elder Cleopa Ilie of Sihastria used to say:

“Do you know who the Mother of our Lord is, and how much she loves, and how great her power is, and how great her mercy is? She is our Mother, who has mercy on the poor and the widows and all the other Christians. She always prays to the Savior Christ for all of us.”

2. Considering his healing as a small child, it is not surprising that Constantine [secular name of Elder Cleopa] developed a great devotion to the Mother of God at an early age. By the time he was eleven years old, he could sing the Akathist Hymn by heart. He would later tell the story of how he learned this ancient and poetic prayer: 

“When I shucked corn in the field I would hide the prayer book under the husks until father would come with the horse-cart. During this time I would learn one more oikos and one more kontakion. And, lo and behold, I learned the entire Akathist to the Mother of God.”

The Icon "Life of Jesus – Akathist Hymn – Second Coming" at the Benaki Museum

The icon with the subject "Life of Jesus – Akathist Hymn – Second Coming" is a post-Byzantine icon and is exhibited in the Benaki Museum.

The icon with the theme "Life of Jesus – Akathist Hymn – Second Coming" is complex and includes various iconographic subjects. Specifically, within four concentric circles in the upper part of the icon are depicted: the Creation of the world, the creation of Adam and Eve, the sin of the first-formed and their expulsion from Paradise, scenes from the Old Testament, scenes from the life of the Theotokos and of Jesus, the Passion of Christ, the 24 oikoi (stanzas) of the Akathist Hymn, the last of which is depicted at the center, with the image of the Theotokos seated on a throne holding the Infant. In the lower part of the panel is depicted the Second Coming in a multi-figured composition. In the upper part of the icon, on a band which is held by two Angels, there is the following inscription: