Word for Saturday Akathist

St. Theodore the Studite in his “Sermon on the Saturday of the Akathist” praises the Most Holy Theotokos, glorifying Her intercession for Constantinople. The main focus of the essay is on the description of the siege of the Byzantine capital by the Arabs (Ishmaelites) in 717-718. under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. The author describes the enormous enemy forces (more than 1,800 warships), their treachery and attempts to capture the city. Against the backdrop of this threat, Rev. Theodore emphasizes the deep faith of the inhabitants of Constantinople, their prayer processions with the Cross of the Lord and the icon of the Virgin Mary. He describes in detail a series of Divine interventions and miracles: the death of the blasphemous invaders, the defeat of the Arabs from the Bulgarians, the destruction of their fleet by a strong storm, “Greek fire” and terrible hail. Particular attention is paid to the horrors of hunger in the camp of the besiegers, who reached the point of cannibalism. As a result of these events, by Divine will, only 10 ships survived from the huge armada. In the final part of Rev. Theodore moves from the historical narrative to the praise of the Most Holy Theotokos. He emphasizes the impossibility of verbal glorification of the Mother of God and points out that true gratitude to Her is not rhetoric, but a life filled with Christian virtues: sincere love, brotherly love, mercy, virginity and humility. These qualities, in his opinion, are pleasing to Her Son and return man to the original image of God. * Title of the work in Latin: Une chronique de Maurice a Heraclius dans un recit des sieges de Constantinople. 71. This city [Constantinople] was surrounded by a large army and fleet, but by the grace of God they all turned back and, without causing damage, left in a disastrous state. 72. And when they arrived from the direction of Sileon, a strong wind suddenly blew upon them, by the just will of God, throwing them back and destroying them. And so it was at all times with those who were enemies of God and came to fight the city protected by God. With the help of the power of God, they lost their minds and retreated without fighting, filled with confusion. A story about the siege of 717 under Leo the Isaurian 73. Once again crowds of doom-bearing Ishmaelites gathered from everywhere, their strength increased and accumulated from the east and west. First they conquered the Persian kingdom, then Egypt and Libya. They gave Christians their word that they would not force them to renounce their right faith in Christ, that they would remain in Orthodoxy, which they did not preserve. But under their rule, many became martyrs because they did not trample under foot the revered sign of the Cross, for the conquerors forced Christians to do so. 74. As I have already said about this, they captured the entire land and devastated it. They rushed in all directions, they rushed to India and Ethiopia, also to African countries, to Libya and Spain. In the end, they besieged the imperial city 2 and wanted to capture it. 75. Then Emperor Esau 3, who ruled over the Greeks, offered the invaders a reprieve and that he would immediately pay them a ransom for many years. But they again wanted to take possession of the city’s defenders and place the soldiers of their army on the city towers; and they tried to capture them, for they were confident in the number of horsemen they had for the siege, and in their own men of the Mizdurn 4, and in the armed warships, of which there were about one thousand eight hundred in orderly battle formation, equipped with all sorts of equipment for war, as noted in the records of the Chronicler. 76. However, these wild beasts did not keep their firm promises, but, on the contrary, they, together with their cavalry, camped on all sides right on the shore near the city, so much so that they almost forced several stray Christian soldiers to fight with their backs to the wall. For they again began to build their tents, their minds clouded, like mad dogs, devoid of understanding and reason. But truly, with the help of God, they were exterminated and deprived of the opportunity to commit their cruelties, and their plans were found false 5. 77. So, the inhabitants of this large city, beloved by Christ, according to custom, made a procession and prayer to God with bitter tears, asking Him for peace. Then they lifted up the holy tree of the Cross of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ and the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and went outside the walls of the city, where they stretched out their hands to God and exclaimed: “Arise, O God, do not cast us off completely! Look upon Your people singing Your praises, for behold, Your enemies have plotted and those who hate You have raised their heads! Do not betray Your inheritance to the pagans, do not let them reign over us! They did not know Your name, but You, Lord Jesus Christ, God, by Your power teach them to know Your holy name for the glory of God the Father!” 78. One of the besiegers, seeing the city from the embankment, at the instigation of the demon, began to blaspheme and give the city various epithets, calling it “Constantine”, and the holy church “Soplina 6; and as he uttered these satanic taunts, the horse on which he was sitting suddenly became violent and fell into a deep pit along with its rider, crushing him, and thus both gave up the ghost. Then another, the herald of their assembly, ascended to an elevated place erected with the help of planks, which is called “midzgiti 7”, to invoke and proclaim their unholy prayer. Then his eyes darkened, his mind became clouded, he began to stagger and, falling from a height, died a miserable death. 79. Then they launched a military campaign to conquer the Bulgarians and selected two military leaders: they left one to fight the imperial city, while the other with all his troops went to fight the Bulgarians. After they came together in battle, the Bulgarians defeated the Ishmaelites, and more than twenty thousand of them died. Those who escaped the massacre by getting lost among the Bulgarians, those Ishmaelites returned with great shame and were expelled. 80. Returning from this battle, some of them decided to go on ships going to Blachernae, and when they reached Pera, they found that a chain was stretched from Pera to the palace, which was an obstacle for them, and thus they could not carry out their plan. Then they turned back and headed to Xenon 8 and with all their ships moved to the port called Suston 9. And so they were struck by a harsh winter with winds, and they began to rush to reach other small ports. A large number of their ships were destroyed by severe winds, and the Greeks 10 burned most of their ships with fire. 81. At that time there was a great famine in Constantinople due to lack of food, while the Hagarites without hesitation devoured 11 everything they found and did not leave anything that could serve them as food. With such a lack of food, they went so far as to eat human flesh 12 and the meat of unclean animals without hesitation. Eventually they began making small cakes from human excrement, which they placed in an oven and then ate. And even in this case they could not be broken 13, and many of them were glorious warriors. 82. God preserved His city unharmed and raised up against His enemies the calamity to which the Egyptians were subjected at the time when they were pursuing the Israelites: And He plunged them into the abyss, He drew them in and drowned them in the depths of the waters (Ex. 15:5 14. So He withstood them, for, struck down and pursued on all sides, they were shocked and fled, wanting to return home 15. Most of their camp, together with the ships, went to a place called Egeon Pelayo 16; and this is how wrath came upon them from above: an icy wind blew on them, which opened up the depths of the waters, and a terrible hail began to fall. For just as iron heated by fire turns water into steam, in the same way it happened when these hailstones cut through the sea waves, they swelled and caught fire, and flowed out from boiling water; resin used to join parts of the attackers' ships. 83. Thus, they were sunk in the depths and disappeared, so that by Divine will, out of all the ships, out of such a large armada, only ten vessels remained. It was a terrible sight: on the islands, shores and in port harbors - everywhere there were a huge number of dead people, corpses lying one on top of the other. God did all this in order, according to the psalmist, to tell it to another generation (Ps. 101:19), as we say: Thou hast blotted out the heads of the serpents in the water (Ps. 74:13), and we add, according to the praise from the book of Exodus: Let us sing to the Lord: gloriously thou art glorified! (Ex. 15:1). The final part of the word. Praise to the Blessed Virgin 84. Having reached a miracle in this story, I lift my eyes to the Almighty in the face of His countless and unspeakable blessings, in delight and grace I turn my gaze to our zealous Patroness and Intercessor of all Christians before God, the Most Holy Theotokos, and I see those saving signs and wonders done by Her for our sake. The impossibility of speaking amazes my mind, unable to find worthy words to express Her benefits. What voice can, with sublime speech and appropriate thought, worthily praise and glorify the greatness of the Virgin, the Most Holy Mother of God? How and with what words can we decorate the praise of Her Who surpasses all creation in glory? What kind of thanksgiving will I dedicate to Her, the source of our life, the One who always comes to our aid, takes care of us by the grace of God and by Her love for mankind? 85. However, it is fitting for us to dedicate favorable praise to the Mother of God, worthy of Her good deeds, for She will be most pleased and pleased with what Her Son desires. And with what songs will I praise Her, except with strings and organ (Ps. 150:4)? This is what I will say that we need: sincere love, which is the affirmation of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:40), immaculate, kindly and without any blemish brotherly love, genuine charity, 17 divine virginity, an immaculate bed, conscious dignity, rightness in action and in intercession, firm courage in relation to passions, balanced judgments, abundant and without restrictions generosity, unfeigned asceticism, complete humility! And along with all this, a free life and devoid of any carnal desire, a resolute but also contrite appearance, humble conversation, decently ordered thoughts, calm speech, eyes that do not want to track, hands that do not want to commit evil, 18 energy without rage, which pacifies the rebellion of passions and tames intemperance, and much more that returns man to the original state in which he was created in the image God (Gen. 1:26), which positions him as an heir before God through adorning him with various qualities and virtues, which helps him prepare for the transition to the [other] world, which is endowed and adorned with all the variety of blessings. 86. It is in this way that it is worthy to praise and thank the Most Holy Theotokos, especially since grace truly works through Her; and everything we have said is not an intricacy of words, as sophists and teachers of good manners do. For, while the weakness of our nature and the deceit of our thoughts make it difficult for us in matters of piety and we only barely reach what is called the “heights of the spirit 19 , we dare to enjoy the many Divine miracles and signs and the abundant care of the Blessed Virgin for us, although we are least worthy of the grace that descends to us 20 87. That is why, in a contrite spirit, we will unceasingly sing words of praise, raise our voices, prepare our thoughts, improve the form of our words, seek refuge in a quiet haven, extol and praise the Most Holy Theotokos in word and silence, and always remember in songs, hymns and magnificent praises the Most Holy Lady, in order to become worthy of Her care and mercy, which we have been awarded through works, transcending nature. We were slow to praise, glorify and extol Her, to dedicate words of praise and gratitude to Her. 88. So, every addition to glorification and praise turns out to be useful for us, for if for those benefits that are provided to us and that She has given us, we sing due praises, if we turn out to be those who praise Her, we ourselves will become the object of many countless benefits now and in the future, we will find peace with God and the Master of all and thus receive ineffable and lasting benefits! By the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him belongs glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. That is, this word. – Ed. That is, Constantinople. – Ed. That is, Leo III the Isaurian (717–741). – Ed. The Georgian translator took the Greek word μισθοφόρου (mercenary soldier) (PG. T. 92. Col. 1365A) to denote a nationality. – Ed. We give here the Greek parallel of this phrase as an example of the divergence between BHG 1060 and Studite: πεπλανημένοι Χριστομάχοι τέως μεν ούδεμίαν προβολήν τοΐς τείχεσι προσήγον, διά το σχολάζειν έπι κτίσεις οικημάτων, ως οϊκον μένοντές · άφηρημένοι μεν φρόνησιν και λογισμόν το δε άληθές υπό θεοΰ κωλυόμενοι ματαιώσαντες αυτούς εν τοΐς οίκείοις διαβουλίοις “ (“Having encamped near the city, the lost Christ-fighters had not yet made any attack on the walls, since they were engaged in making dwellings and remained at home. Deprived of understanding and reason, truly devoted to God, futile in their advice”). Despite the difference, it is still similar. – Ed. "Sophia" (Σοφίαν) (PG. T. 92. Col. 1365C). The Church of Hagia Sophia was addressed as the virgin. From the Georgian language “snot” can be translated as “shepherdess”. – Ed. This word, missing from the Greek text, is a corruption of the Arabic mi'addanat (minaret) or even mu'addin (muezzin). – Ed. Here the Greek text retained the original reading 1368A στενον (στενόν – “narrow passage”, “gorge”), which was adopted as a proper name. – Ed. Corruption from Σωσένιον (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368A). – Ed. Romei ('Ρωμαίοι) (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368A). – Ed. Option: άφανίσαντες – “destroying” (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368A). – Ed. The Greek text specifies τενηχότων: “dead” (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368B). – Ed. Greek προσρνηναι, which means "to be saved" (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368B), is translated into Latin as dilapsi. The Georgian text describes coprophagy, of course, in the context of the famine suffered by the besiegers. – Ed. The Greek text has clearly lost part of the phrase needed to insert the quotation. – Ed. The Greek text (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368B) here describes the gust of wind in more detail. – Ed. Greek Αιγαΐον πέλαγος: “Aegean Sea” (PG. T. 92. Col. 1368B). – Ed. Greek συμπάθεια ανεπίστροφος – “unchangeable compassion” (PG. T. 92. Col. 1369B). – Ed. The Greek text, of course, is original: Χεΐρες ούχ ακρατεΐς · πόδες ούχ οξεΐς προς κακίαν (“hands are not intemperate, feet are not quick to do evil”) (PG. T. 92. Col. 1369B). – Ed. Greek και οσφ είπεΐν ακρφ δακτύλφ (“and even then, if we touch, then only with the tip of the finger”) (PG. T. 92. Col. 1369C). The Georgian and Greek texts differ here. – Ed. From here, the Greek text introduces an ending with quite theological content that differs from the rest of the text. Paragraph 87 barely agrees with the text (Col. 1372C) mentioning a safe haven: εις τον ασφαλή της σιωπής ορμήσωμεν λιμένα (“to the safe haven of silence Let's rush"). – Ed. Translation of the Word for Saturday Akathist and notes made by S. A. Vinogradov according to the publication: Michael van Esbroeck. Un Panegyrique de Theodore Studite pour la fete liturgique des sieges de Constantinople // Studia Anselmiana. 110. Roma, 1993. P. 530–536. – Ed. You might be interested in: