The hymn sung standing

The great Marian hymn of the Christian East.

<em>Akathist</em> means not sitting — it is sung standing, all the way through, and it takes about forty minutes. Composed in Greek in the sixth century, it is the ancestor of every litany of praise to Our Lady, and it is sung in Byzantine churches through Lent.

The Kontakion

To you, O Theotokos, invincible champion,
we your servants ascribe these victory hymns
in thanksgiving for our deliverance from danger.

Since you have power unassailable,
free us from every peril,
that we may cry out to you:
Hail, O bride ever-virgin!

From the Salutations

Hail, through whom joy shall shine forth.
Hail, through whom the curse shall vanish.
Hail, restoration of fallen Adam.
Hail, redemption of the tears of Eve.

Hail, height beyond human reasoning.
Hail, depth invisible even to the eyes of angels.
Hail, for you are the throne of the King.
Hail, for you carry Him who carries all.

Hail, star that causes the Sun to appear.
Hail, womb of the divine Incarnation.
Hail, through whom creation is renewed.
Hail, through whom the Creator becomes a babe.

Hail, O bride ever-virgin!

About This Hymn

It has twenty-four stanzas, one for each letter of the Greek alphabet, and more than a hundred and forty salutations each beginning Hail. The selection above gives its flavour; the complete hymn is available in any Byzantine prayer book and is well worth praying once in full during Lent.

Theotokos means God-bearer — the title defined at Ephesus in 431 and the East’s usual name for Our Lady.