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:

Holy Martyr Matrona of Thessaloniki in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Matrona was a servant of a certain Jewish woman, who was called Pantilla. She would follow her mistress as far as the synagogue, but she did not enter inside; rather, she would turn back and go to the church of the Christians. Once she was seen doing this, and so they seized her and beat her very severely, and afterwards they shut her up in prison for four days, without anyone being able to approach her and without food. Then they brought her out and lacerated her with whips. Again they imprisoned her and left her there for many days, where she also gave up her soul to God. It is said that her holy relic was thrown down from the wall by Pantilla, and for this she suffered a just punishment, falling by accident into the winepress, into which the pressed must was being poured from above. There she ended her life and her soul departed.

The contrast is striking: on the one hand, Saint Matrona, the servant, the obscure one, the despised; and on the other, Pantilla, the mistress, the glorious, the rich. By worldly standards, there is no basis for comparison. The scale tilts automatically toward the side of Pantilla. Would not the modern secularized man say this, even if he is a “Christian”? When, for example, what appears as a priority for most people — the pursuit of pleasures, money, and glory — s what Pantilla represents, who would not choose her position, while pitying the “wretchedness” of Matrona? And yet how much delusion there is in such a value judgment! For it is the judgment of the surface. In depth, there where the heart is and where the Lord, the righteous Judge, sees — there where things operate on the level of eternity — things are entirely different: Matrona is the glorious one and the mistress, the bright star, and Pantilla is the obscure one, the non-existent, the servant and the miserable one. The Hymnographer of our Church, Saint Theophanes the Hymnographer, repeatedly emphasizes this reality, because he operates precisely with the criteria of the regenerated person, the Christian, who sees things from the perspective of the revelation in Christ, that is, of the truth.

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Occasion of the Celebration of the 1400th Anniversary of the Solemn Chanting of the Akathist Hymn While Standing for the Deliverance of the Queen of Cities from the Siege of the Avars and the Persians

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Occasion of the Celebration of the 1400th Anniversary of the Solemn Chanting of the Akathist Hymn While Standing for the Deliverance of the Queen of Cities from the Siege of the Avars and the Persians

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

+ BARTHOLOMEW

By God’s Mercy

Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome

and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church:

grace and peace from God

✦  ✦  ✦

“To You, our Champion Leader, we, Your City, ascribe hymns of victory and thanksgiving, for having been delivered from calamities, O Theotokos!”

This year marks fourteen hundred years since, in honour of the Theotokos, the Kontakion now universally known as the “Akathist Hymn” was solemnly chanted in church, with all the faithful standing. It is an exalted and triumphant poem which, with singular richness and elegance of expression, refers both historically and theologically to the divine economy of the Incarnation and to the unique role of the All-Pure Mother of God within it.

Through this Kontakion, the faithful at prayer reverently greet the Panaghia with the repeated echo of the first salutation addressed by the Archangel Gabriel, herald of grace and joy, to the one full of grace: the word “Rejoice.” Through this word, the “mystery hidden from all ages” is made manifest, and “the sum of our salvation” is brought to fulfilment. The repetition in this hymn of the word “Rejoice” one hundred and forty-four times in address to the All-Blessed Virgin clearly bears a mystical meaning. It recalls the one hundred and forty-four thousand pure saints of the Revelation, who sing the “new song” with their harps before the throne of God and “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”[1] As the people of God are purified in both life and doctrine, wholly devoted to the incarnate Word of God and indissolubly united with Him, they hymn the saving divine economy and at the same time salute, in songs of praise and sacred melody, the All-Glorious Mother of the Lord and Mother of the Church, as well as her mighty protection over the Church’s devout flock.

Prologue in Sermons: March 27

One Must Be Prudent in Petitions to God

March 27

(The Tale of our Venerable Father Daniel of Scetis concerning Eulogios the Stonecutter.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

There are, brethren, fortunately even at the present time quite a number of God-loving souls who, though themselves poor, do not cease to build their salvation through works of mercy and share their last possessions with the needy. Does not the thought ever come to these merciful ones: if we were rich, what would we not do for the poor? If the Lord were to bless us with abundance, how many widows and orphans we would provide for! Is it not also often heard among us: ah, if such-and-such a one were rich, how much good he would do, how many others he would enrich! — To our sorrow, we are mistaken in such judgments.

A certain elder, having come to a village to sell his handiwork, met a simple man who, surrounded by beggars and the destitute, was returning home from his work. The elder, together with the others, entered his house, and the man washed everyone’s feet, fed them all, gave them drink, and gave them rest. Having learned that this lover of the poor was a stonecutter named Eulogios, who every day distributed his entire wage among the poor, the elder thought: "What if this man were rich, how much good he would do!" And he began to pray to God that He would grant Eulogios wealth.

The Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

On the 26th of the month of March we celebrate the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, which has been handed down to us from the beginning and from God, because this Archangel ministered in the divine, supernatural, and ineffable mystery of the economy of Christ.

According indeed to the note of the Venerable Nikodemos the Hagiorite in his Great Synaxaristes, “Gabriel means man and God (that is, man of God), according to Proclus of Constantinople. For this reason he is the one who served in the mystery of the incarnate economy of God the Word. And Theophanes Kerameus, the Bishop of Tauromenium, also says that the seven letters contained in the name Gabriel signify that Christ, whose Birth Gabriel proclaimed, will come for the salvation of the whole world, which is measured by the week and comes to completion in seven ages.”

The Holy Hymnographer, namely Joseph the Hymnographer, is moved ecstatically as he refers to the “all-great Gabriel.” There is almost no troparion either at Vespers or in the Canon for the Archangel that does not reveal his admiration and his awe-filled stance toward him, not only for the fact of Gabriel’s participation in the revelation of the mystery of the coming of God into the world as a man to the pure maiden Mariam, but also for his twofold unceasing and eternal stance before the Lord of all, the Triune God: the glorification of His holy name and the readiness of obedience to the commands of His will. For example:

Prologue in Sermons: March 26

Why the Archangel Gabriel Is Called the Herald of Joy

March 26

(Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The Holy Archangel Gabriel is called among us the Herald of Joy. Why is this so?

First, because he proclaimed to people, in general, only one thing — joy. In the Prologue it is said of him:

“This Holy Archangel Gabriel is one of the great princes of the heavenly hosts, who from the beginning is sent by God to the earth, proclaiming every joy to human nature.”

Then the Archangel Gabriel announced joy to the Prophet Daniel concerning the deliverance of God’s people from the Babylonian captivity and about the time of the Messiah. 

He announced joy to Zechariah concerning the birth of the Forerunner from a barren mother and said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John; and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:13–14).

The Annunciation of the Theotokos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

March 25th is “a festival of faith and freedom,” according to the poet. It is a day on which we are called to remember the struggles undertaken by our heroic forefathers in order to cast off the four-hundred-year slavery under the Turks. It is a sacred landmark, since it is considered the starting point for the acquisition of our national freedom. But it is also a day that more deeply calls us, the faithful — who perceive the depth of these events — not merely to remember something or to take example from something, but to participate in the greatest event ever realized in human history: the incarnation of the Son and Word of God within the All-Holy Virgin. And if the one feast is great because it marks the beginning of our national freedom, the other — the Annunciation — is a most great feast, because it marks the beginning of our existential and eternal salvation.

The Apolytikion (Dismissal Hymn) of the day helps us approach the meaning of the feast, and so we will comment briefly on it below:

“Today is the beginning of our salvation and the manifestation of the mystery from all eternity. The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel proclaims the good tidings of grace. Therefore we also, together with him, cry aloud to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with You.”