Шығыс шіркеулерінің акафист әні

Liturgical hymn of Eastern Churches

An Akathist or Acathist Hymn (Ἀκάθιστος Ὕμνος, "unseated hymn") is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Christians, dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The name derives from the fact that during the chanting of the hymn, or sometimes the whole service, the congregation is expected to remain standing in reverence, without sitting down (ἀ , a , "without, not" and κάθισις, káthisis, "sitting"), except for the aged or infirm. The Akathist is also known by the first three words of its prooimion (preamble), Têi hypermáchōi strategôi (Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ στρατηγῷ, "To you, invincible champion") addressed to Holy Mary (Panagia Theotokos, "The all holy birth giver of God"). During Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox Christian religious services in general, sitting, standing, bowing and the making of prostrations are set by an intricate set of rules, as well as individual discretion. Only during readings of the Gospel and the singing of Akathists is standing considered mandatory for all.

The akathist par excellence is the one written for the feast of Annunciation of the Theotokos (25 March). This kontakion was traditionally attributed to Romanos the Melodist since kontakia of Romanos dominated the classical repertoire of 80 kontakia sung during the cathedral rite of the Hagia Sophia, though recent scholarship rejects this authorship like in cases of many other kontakia of the core repertoire. According to the synaxary the origin of the feast is assigned by the Synaxarion to the year 626, when Constantinople, in the reign of Heraclius, was attacked by the Persians and Avars but saved through the intervention of the Most Holy Theotokos. "From that time, therefore, the Church, in memory of so great and so divine a miracle, desired this day to be a feast in honour of the Mother of God and called it Acathistus" (Synaxarion). This origin is disputed by Sophocles on the grounds that the hymn could not have been composed in one day, and its twenty four oikoi contain no allusion to such an event and therefore could not have been composed to commemorate it. However the feast may have originated, the Synaxarion commemorates two other victories, under Leo III the Isaurian, and Constantine Pogonatus, similarly ascribed to the intervention of the Theotokos. No certain ascription of its authorship can be made. It has been attributed to Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople, whose pious activities the Synaxarion commemorates in great detail. J. M. Quercius (1777) assigns it to George Pisida, deacon, archivist, and sacristan of Hagia Sophia whose poems find an echo both in style and in theme in the Akathist; the elegance, antithetic and balanced style, the vividness of the narrative, the flowers of poetic imagery being all very suggestive of his work. His position as sacristan would naturally suggest such a tribute to the Theotokos, as the hymn only gives more elaborately the sentiments condensed into two epigrams of Pisida found in her church at Blachernae. Quercius also argues that words, phrases, and sentences of the hymn are to be found in the poetry of Pisida. Leclercq finds nothing absolutely demonstrative in such a comparison and offers a suggestion which may possibly help to a solution of the problem. Before the turn of the 21st century the Akathist was usually assigned to the 6th or 7th century but more recent scholarship, driven by the work of Leena Peltomaa, has argued for a 5th century origin on the basis of theological content. Cunningham concurs with Peltomaa's analysis of the hymn's Christology but postulates, from its "highly developed poetic form" and elaborate invocations of Mary, a somewhat later provenance of the latter 5th/early 6th century. In contrast, Shoemaker reasons that "Peltomaa's [arguments] for dating the Akathist hymn to the period before Chalcedon would seem to apply equally if not even more so" for a collection of Marian hymns within the Georgian Chantbook of Jerusalem that he contends are of primarily pre Chalcedonian authorship. Following Renoux he argues that the hymns, which are colourful and invocatory, contain theology closest to mid 5th century homilists, bearing witness to a highly developed cult of Mary at an earlier period than previous generations of scholars had appreciated. Reynolds summarises prevailing opinion as being in favour of a date for the Akathist "somewhere between the Councils of Epheus and Chalcedon." Similarly, Arentzen observes that most scholars now favour an early provenance. Since the 14th century the Akathist moved from the menaion to the moveable cycle of the triodion, and the custom established that the whole hymn was sung in four sections throughout Lent. As such it became part of the service of the Salutations to the Theotokos (used in the Byzantine tradition during Great Lent).

When the word akathist is used alone, it most commonly refers to the original hymn by this name, the 6th century Akathist to the Theotokos. This hymn is often split into four parts and sung at the "Salutations to the Theotokos" service on the first four Friday evenings in Great Lent; the entire Akathist is then sung on the fifth Friday evening. Traditionally it is included in the Orthros (Matins) of the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent, which for this reason is known as the "Saturday of the Akathist". In monasteries of Athonite tradition, the whole Akathist is usually inserted nightly at Compline. The four sections into which the Akathist is divided correspond to the themes of the Annunciation, Nativity, Christ, and the Theotokos herself. The hymn itself forms an alphabetical acrostic—that is, each oikos begins with a letter of the Greek alphabet, in order—and it consists of twelve long and twelve short oikoi. Each of the long oikoi include a seven line stanza followed by six couplets employing rhyme, assonance and alliteration, beginning with the greeting Chaíre and ending with the refrain, "Rejoice, Bride without bridegroom!" (also translated as "Rejoice, thou Bride unwedded!") In the short oikoi, the seven line stanza is followed by the refrain, Alleluia. The Salutations to the Theotokos service, often known by its Greek name, the Χαιρετισμοί/Chairetismoí (from the Χαίρε/Chaíre! so often used in the hymn), consists of Compline with the Akathist hymn inserted. It is known in Arabic as the Madayeh.

The Enchiridion Indulgentiarum of 2004 confirmed the plenary indulgence on condition that it is recited piously in a church or oratory (even alone), in a family, religious community , an association of Christ's faithful or, more generally, in a meeting of a plurality of people who come together honestly for this purpose. In other circumstances, partial indulgence is permitted.

This icon "Panagia of the Salutations the Myrrhgusher" is in a chapel of the Dionysiou Monastery where the Akathist is sung daily before it. The inscription on the back of the icon states it was a gift to Saint Dionysius by Emperor Alexios III Komnenos, upon his visit to Trebizond in Asia Minor. According to tradition, this is the icon that Patriarch Sergius carried in procession around the walls of Constantinople in 626 A. D. when the city was attacked by the Persians and Avars.

The icon of the Theotokos "Of the Akathist" is on the iconostasis of Hilandar Monastery. In 1837 a fire occurred at this monastery, and the monks were chanting the Akathist Hymn in front of this icon. Though the fire caused great destruction around it the icon itself remained untouched by the flames. The feast day of the Icon of the Theotokos "Akathist Hilandar" is celebrated on January 12 (for those churches which follow the Julian Calendar January 12 falls on January 25 of the modern Gregorian Calendar).

A similar icon is venerated in the Monastery of Zographou. The feast day of the Icon of the Theotokos "Akathist Zographou" is celebrated on October 10 (October 23).

Papagiannis, Gregorios (2006). Ακάθιστος Ύμνος. Άγνωστες πτυχές ενός πολύ γνωστού κειμένου. Κριτικές και μετρικές παρατηρήσεις, σχολιασμένη βιβλιογραφία. Thessaloniki.

Churkin, Aleksandr (2007). “ Русский акафист середины XIX – начала XX века, как жанр массовой литературы. Доклад [The Russian Akathist in the middle of 19th – beginning 20th century as a mass literature genre. Report]”. In Bolsheva, A. O. (ed.). Материалы XXXVI Международной филологической конференции 12 – 17 марта 2007 г. St. Petersburg. pp. 23–33.