Saints Peter and Paul
Springfield, MA
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Fifth Week of Lent is a week of remarkable hymnody—the alphabetical stichera of Saint Simeon Metaphrastes on Wednesday night, the Great Canon of Saint Andrew sung in its entirety on Thursday morning. And today, the Fifth Saturday, is devoted to the Akathist to the Theotokos.
This beloved hymn is, of course, not only for Lent: though it is appointed liturgically today, many pious Orthodox Christians sing the hymn throughout the year, even daily.
And certainly the Akathist, in its richness, deserves to be sung more than once a year. On the one hand, it is an expression of the love of the Christian people for Our Lady and Mother, the most pure Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary. But it is also a profound expression of Orthodox dogma. The Akathist to the Theotokos describes in a sublime way who she is, and who her Son is, and as such it is worthy not just of frequent song, but of diligent study.
Today I would like to consider just a few expressions from this marvelous hymn, allowing these words to teach us about the most holy Theotokos.
In fact, I would like to focus on just one section of the hymn, the cries of rejoicing from the second ikos.
Expanding on the angelic salutation of the archangel Gabriel, the hymn-singer cries out to the Mother of God:
Rejoice, initiate of God’s secret counsel.
Rejoice, faith in that which must be guarded by silence.
Rejoice, beginning of Christ’s wonders.
Rejoice, crown and fulfillment of his teachings.
Rejoice, heavenly ladder by which God came down.
Rejoice, bridge leading men from earth to heaven.
Rejoice, marvel greatly renowned among the angels.
Rejoice, wound bitterly lamented by the demons.
Rejoice, for ineffably thou shalt bear the Light.
Rejoice, for thou hast revealed the mystery to none.
Rejoice, wisdom surpassing the knowledge of the wise.
Rejoice, dawn that illumines the minds of the faithful.
Rejoice, O unwedded Bride!
These are not just pretty turns of phrase; they are also concise expressions of the Christian mystery, leading us deeper into the life of faith.
Indeed, in the first line of the cries of rejoicing, the Theotokos is called the “initiate of God’s secret counsel.” She is fully initiated into his mysteries; she is the one who, to paraphrase the words of the Evangelist St. Luke, stored up everything concerning the incarnation of Christ in her heart and always pondered those mysteries. She alone brings Christ into the world, and thus, as a full initiate in the mystery of the Incarnation, she alone is qualified to bring Christ to us, and us to Christ.
Next, the Theotokos is called “faith in that which must be guarded by silence.” We do not know, we cannot grasp, what it truly means for God to become man. We cannot understand the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. But we can have faith in the mystery, and in a sense, the Theotokos is herself our faith: she is the mediatress, the sign of the mystery. We cannot see the mystery, but we can see the one in whom it took place, and this is the Virgin Mary. And so she, the Ever-virgin, is our faith in a mystery shrouded in utter silence.
She is also, in the words of the Akathist, “the beginning of Christ’s wonders.” Her life—her miraculous birth from an aged womb, and her own wonderful conceiving of the uncontainable Deity—is the first miracle of Jesus, who is both her Son and Creator.
But she is also “the crown and fulfillment of his teachings.” The Theotokos was not just an instrument of salvation; she is also the greatest among the saved, higher than cherub or seraph. She has perfectly fulfilled all her Son’s commands. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, and the Theotokos is the most faithful keeper of the Word. She was so worthy in the sight of God that he vouchsafed her to keep the Word in her very womb.
And so, as the Mother of the Word, she is the “ladder by which God came down,” the unique way by which Christ our true God entered the world. She is the “bridge leading men from earth to heaven,” the only way by which we can approach him in turn. We know no God save the Lord, and the Lord we know is the Son born of her womb.
Thus, she is a “marvel” to the angels, but a “wound” to the demons who wish to keep us apart from God, who wish us to share in their own wretched misery of eternal separation from him. They are wounded because, in the words of the hymn, the Theotokos has “ineffably” borne “the Light” that enlightens those in darkness, driving back the demonic blackness of ignorance and despair.
In all of this, she has “revealed the mystery to none,” for, as I have said, no one could comprehend it if she did. And yet she is the “wisdom surpassing the knowledge of the wise”: she, who contained Wisdom in her womb, is thus herself called wisdom, for within her, quite literally, is the Treasure of all wisdom and knowledge, God himself, who surpasses all worldly knowledge and wisdom. Through her we receive divine and heavenly wisdom and knowledge, and thus we know her as the “dawn that illumines the minds of the faithful.”
This is but a small sampling of the praises of the Theotokos that we find in the Akathist Hymn, and the Akathist is but one hymn in her honor—albeit, perhaps, the greatest hymn. St. Gregory Palamas, in one of his sermons on the Theotokos, says that his audience was accustomed to composing their own hymns to sing to her. It would appear that the whole city of Thessalonica was not content with the many hymns to the Mother of God found in the Church books: they all wanted more.
As for us, we are probably, for the most part, not hymnographers. But we can all sing her hymns, and especially the Akathist Hymn, more often, and more attentively, praising her greatness and being drawn deeper into the mystery of her Son, who comes into the world through her and through her saves mankind.
To him, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, be all glory and adoration, together with his Father and his All-holy Spirit. Amen.
Most holy Theotokos, save us! Rejoice, O unwedded Bride!