Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos

By the blessing of His Beatitude Onuphriy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

Year of publication 2021 

Church Slavonic language 

Hardcover 

Number of pages 24 

The format of the book 305х225х8 mm 

Offset paper 

Weight 430 g

An Akathist to the Most Holy Virgin Mary is a hymn of praise in honor of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, composed in Byzantium, according to various assumptions, between the fifth and seventh centuries, or at any rate in the early Byzantine era. The authors may have been St. Romanus the Sladkopevets (6th century), St. George of Pisidia (7th century), Patriarch Sergius (7th century), and others. The Greek word "Akathistos" literally means "non-sitting," i.e., a song during which one does not sit, indicating its original liturgical use. The term "akathisto," however, did not immediately become a designation for a hymnographic liturgical genre (like the troparion, verse, canon, etc.). This happened after they imitated the first and for a long time the only one of its kind "Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God", and began to compose other hymns, repeating its formal structure, which also began to be called "Akathists" - to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Mother of God in connection with Her various icons and feasts, and to saints, - very different in their theological and poetic value. Akathist creation especially developed in the second Christian millennium, including in Russia, preserving its significance to this day.

In the modern liturgical life of the Orthodox Church, the Byzantine Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God continues to occupy a primordial and exclusive position, as evidenced by the fact that it, the only one of all the Akathists, is inscribed in the liturgical charter. Its firm place is in the Lenten Triodion, on the matins of Saturday of the fifth week of Great Lent, for which reason that Saturday is called "Saturday of the Akathist" or "Praise of the Blessed Virgin."

Large print, large format (215x295 mm).
Beautiful cover design with double-zone embossing. Excellent for solemn reading in the middle of the temple.
Church Slavonic language, quality printing and materials.