Listen now ‘Triumphant Leader’ (setting by Georgios Raidestinos), tone plagal four. Sung by the Greek Byzantine Choir conducted by Lykourgos Angelopoulos. From the CD Hymne Acathiste (2005). Source: pemptousia.com
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian ‘From heaven Gabriel cries Hail to the Virgin’ [1]. Glad tidings indeed today for Orthodoxy. A feast of the Lord and the Mother of God. Of the Lord because is has to do with Our Lord Jesus Christ who was conceived in the womb of Read more…
Father Nikolaos Patsalos This year, the 5th Sunday in Lent coincided with the great feast of the Mother of God, her Annunciation. We’d left the middle of Lent the previous Sunday, that of John of the Ladder, and, instead of the 5th being centred on the great desert ascetic, Read more…
Anonymous Every Friday during Great Lent, crowds of the faithful flock to churches to honor the Mother of God, to sing ‘Hail’ to the ‘sweetly-smelling incense’, the ‘precious myrrh’, Our Lady. Orthodox churches are redolent with the ineffable fragrance exuded by the pure figure of the most blessed Mother Read more…
The Akathistos Hymn occupies an important in the reverential period of Great Lent and is one of the most popular and well-known hymns, both in terms of its melody and poetry. Its inclusion in the Triodio can be explained by the fact that the content is linked to the joyful Read more…
Archbishop Theofylaktos of Ochrid This is today’s feast, the event we’re celebrating today, the escorting of the maiden to the Temple and her introduction into the Holy of Holies. What a strange event! What an astonishing thing it is that we hear! A little girl living in the fathomless Read more…
Archbishop Theofylaktos of Ochrid Address on the Feast of Our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God, when she was taken by her Parents to the Temple All too often the “remembrance of the righteous which is accompanied by encomia” is an opportunity to censure the person praising if Read more…
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios “Your birth, Oh Theotokos, brought joy to the whole world, for from you dawned the sun of righteousness, Christ our God. Freeing us from the curse, He gave us His blessings. Abolishing death, He granted us eternal life.” Apolytikion (the Dismissal hymn) of the Nativity of the Read more…
Saint German, Patriarch of Constantinople And you, All-Pure and All-Good and Most-Merciful Lady, the consolation of Christians, the fervent comfort of those in distress, the immediate refuge of sinners, do not abandon us as orphans, without your divine assistance. For if you do abandon us, where shall we turn? Read more…
Saint German, Patriarch of Constantinople Discourse on the Deposition and Veneration of the Holy and Honourable Belt of Our Most Pure Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary Through the Holy Spirit, David, the Prophet and King, sang, “Glorious things are spoken of you, the City of God”. Read more…