The Akathist Hymn Is Being Liturgically Mistreated (EN-GR)

ΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΠΡΩΤΟΤΥΠΟ ΚΕΙΜΕΝΟ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙ

OUR MAIN PHOTO: The Akathist Hymn has been “hagiographed” – this photo is from Moldavitsa Monastery in Romania.

The most famous hymn to the Lady Theotokos, which, 1400 years later, is being liturgically mistreated

By Dr. Giorgos Bilalis – Periodontal Plastic Surgeon, Protopsaltis (chief chanter), Musicologist

Between the years 624–626

Patriarch Sergius, a composer and hymnographer, wrote a musical poem of 24 stanzas, forming an acrostic with the letters of the Greek alphabet from Alpha to Omega.

The History from the Beginning

Constantinople was besieged by 80,000 foreign troops: the Avars and Slavs from the north on the European side of the city, and the Persians on the Asian side, encamped at Chalcedon.

Emperor Heraclius (610–641), having overthrown the disastrous ruler Phocas, was campaigning in a major war against the Persians. He would later succeed in recovering Byzantine territories and establishing favorable peace terms and stable borders for the Empire.

Inside the City remained Patriarch Sergius, the nobles, 12,000 well-trained cavalry and infantry, and the chosen people of God. The Byzantine navy controlled the Bosporus.

On August 7, 626, a fleet of Persian rafts attempted to cross the Bosporus, but they were encircled and destroyed completely by a sudden violent storm, a typhoon-like sea tempest.

PHOTO: Also from Moldavitsa Monastery in Romania, “Τη Υπερμάχω”.

Worship in the Church at That Time

Manolis Theodorakis (b. 1965), civil engineer, chanter, and researcher of early Christian liturgics, sheds light (in an as yet unpublished study) on the liturgical developments of that period.

Patriarch Sergius was a musical poet of the Church.

• In 617, he introduced into the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts the “mystikon,” that is, instead of the Cherubic Hymn, the chant “Now the Powers of Heaven…”, which is still sung today.
• In 624, he introduced the now-nearly-forgotten eucharistic hymn “Let our mouth be filled with praise…”, which came to be sung in all three liturgies of Eastern Christianity.
• In 620, being devoted to the Theotokos, he established July 2 as the principal feast of the Deposition of the Precious Garment of the Theotokos at Blachernae.

Sergius composed two kontakia for the Theotokos:

• The “Akathist” kontakion for the Annunciation, with 24 stanzas and an alphabetical acrostic (A–Ω), introducing a lyrical innovation: a double refrain (“Rejoice, O unwedded Bride” and “Alleluia”).
• According to J. P. Pitra, another kontakion for the Dormition of the Theotokos with 15 stanzas and a fixed refrain.

In Byzantine worship at that time, the musical kontakia of Romanos the Melodist predominated, with a fixed structure and acrostic indicating their author.

On the night of Friday, August 7–8, 626 AD, the people, together with Patriarch Sergius and the chanters, stood inside the Church of Blachernae and sang the kontakion for the Annunciation, all standing (akathistoi) during an all-night vigil.

They did not read or recite the poem—as is done today—but sang it musically, as originally composed.

PHOTO: Akathist Hymn – Markov Monastery – Skopjie

Iconographic Tradition

The Akathist Hymn was depicted artistically through its 24 letters (A–Ω) by Byzantine iconographers in frescoes and portable icons.

• The earliest evidence comes from the Monastery of the Panagia Olympiotissa (1298).
• The siege of the City (“To the Champion Leader”) was depicted together with the 24 letters on Golem Grad (Snake Island) in Lake Prespa.
• Two centuries later (1537), it was triumphantly painted at the Moldovița Monastery in Romania, adapted to the siege of Suceava (1527) by the Ottomans.

PHOTOS: (Left) Anunciation – Theotokos from Kurbinovo in Skopje. (Right) Music Manuscript from Messina (gr127), Italy. 

AKATHIST HYMN: A Musical Poem of Masterful Chant Art

Ioannis Arvanitis (b. 1961), physicist, chanter, and Byzantine musicologist, decoded the music of the Akathist Hymn in 2017 from the Ashburnham manuscript.

• The first stanza (Alpha: “The Archangel was sent…”) with its 13 “Rejoice” salutations was revived and performed in May 2018 at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral by the ensemble Romeiko, lasting 23 minutes.
• The even-numbered stanzas (B, D, Z, etc.) last about 5 minutes each when sung.

Thus, the full 24 stanzas would have taken 6.5 to 7 hours of continuous standing chant that night, as a thanksgiving to the Theotokos, the “Champion General” of victory over the Persians.

From this event also emerged the kontakion “To the Champion Leader”, alongside the original opening of Sergius’ poem (“The Commanded…”, referring to the Annunciation).

The Church preserved the poetic text but forgot the music and suppressed the author’s name, because both Sergius and Heraclius later died as adherents of the heresy of Monothelitism.

Why Is It Celebrated on the 5th Saturday of Lent?

Why do we celebrate the Akathist Hymn on the 5th Saturday of Great Lent, instead of August 7 each year?

The answer lies in the liturgical typikon developed in the 8th–9th centuries.

Since the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) was fixed in the yearly cycle, the Church—together with the Emperor—appointed the fifth Saturday of Lent (near the Annunciation) as the day to honor the Theotokos, recalling the miraculous event of August 7, 626.

Final Reflection

It would be a blessing if the Saturday of the Akathist were celebrated in Greek-speaking churches as it was then:

• within the liturgical framework of the Byzantine all-night vigil
• and performed musically as rediscovered by the “Champollion” of Byzantine chant and musicology, Ioannis Arvanitis.

PHOTO CREDITS: Dr. Georgios Bilalis

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OUR MAIN PHOTO: The Akathist Hymn has been “hagiographed” – this photo is from Moldavitsa Monastery in Romania. Followed by “Τη Υπερμαχω.

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