This prayer is called Kontakion in a series of prayers of thanksgiving for every good deed of God.
St. Herman, Patr. Const., T. XII. Vivliof.
See Teachings of St. John. Chrysostom (about St. Proclus) p. 227.
That is why, for the Holy Church, the dignity of the Ever-Virgin Mary, expressed by the word Mother of God, is such a high dignity, higher and more sacred than which, after God, there is nothing in the universe; which is why she instructs us to call Her Most Holy, that is, to give Her a name that primarily befits Her before all created things.
See St. Gregory of Nyssus. teaching about the Nativity of Chr.
See Margaret of St. Ephr. Sire. (De Marg. pretiosa ad a Voss), p. 668.
See Bl. Augustina, T. 10 (Serm. 14 de Temp.) p. 218.
See St. Ambrose, T. 5, ch. 186. (Epist. Sept. ad Sirie pag).
Book I, Pis. 226.
See Patavia, book. 17, ch. 6. (De Incornat).
See Act. Sob. Ephes. act I.
Here is the story in brief: Not far from the Pantocrator monastery, near Kareya, in a group of monastic shelters, there was a cell (which exists to this day), where one elderly monk and his novice took refuge. One day this elder, wanting to listen to the Sunday all-night vigil at the Kareya Cathedral, went there in the evening, leaving the novice to guard his cell and pray at home. At night, the young ascetic was awakened by a knock on the door and, opening it, saw an unfamiliar monk, whom, having received with respect and hermit hospitality, he calmed him down from the labors of the journey. When the time for prayer came, the young man invited the stranger to pray together. Going through all the prayers and hymns established by the Church, they finally reached the praise of the Mother of God, but when the novice began to chant this song in ordinary words; The most honorable Cherub and so on, which had previously existed according to church regulations, then the stranger stopped the young man and, before these words, sang new ones: It is worthy to eat, as truly, and so on. and then connected them with the previous ones.
This struck the novice so much that he, touched by the warmth of the new words and touched to the depths of his soul by them, asked the guest to write them for him to study as a keepsake. He agreed and demanded paper and ink, but since they were not in the cell, he ordered to bring some kind of stone to inscribe them on it. The novice brought a stone slab and oh, miracle! the stranger, taking it, began to write on it, not with any instrument, but with his finger, and the words cut into the stone, as if it were melting like wax under the finger of the writer. Having written the entire prayer, the unknown person gave the slab to the astonished young man and, saying: “From now on, sing like this forever, you and all Orthodox Christians,” he became invisible! Then the young novice realized that he was honored to receive in his cell, under the guise of a monk, none other than Archangel Gabriel the Evangelist and the chosen servant of the Mother of God. The returning elder, having learned about what had happened, immediately reported everything in detail to Protat, who, for his part, immediately reported to the Patriarch and the Tsar with a presentation of the miraculously written slab itself.
From that time on, the narrator concludes, the angelic song “It is worthy to eat as in truth to bless Thee Theotokos and beyond” began to sound in the mouths of the Orthodox, in the fullness in which it is sung to this day. This event is remembered and celebrated on Mount Athos on June 11. (See “Vyshny. Pokrov over Athos.” ed. 1867, St. Petersburg, pp. 3–9).
When the Cross of the Lord was found by Queen Helena (March 6, 326), when, after demolishing the mountain and the pagan temple with which the Jews deliberately wanted to hide the instrument of their redemption, precious to Christians, three crosses were found, it remained unknown on which of them Christ was crucified? in appearance all three crosses were identical; The tablet that was nailed to His Cross during the crucifixion of the Lord, with the inscription: INCI, was found not on the cross, but lying separately near the crosses, as well as the nails. Everyone fell into sad bewilderment at the sight of these three identical crosses, when their holy works, thoughts and desires strived for the one and only thing! “If God’s Providence,” said the Patriarch (St. Macarius), “did not allow the Cross of the Lord to remain in the earth forever, then will it now allow it to remain in obscurity? will he allow us, instead of the Cross of the Lord, to give honor to the cross of the thief? God Himself will show us the Cross of our Savior. Carry the crosses you find after me!
And having come to the house of one pious wife, who was lying on her deathbed due to a long-term and incurable illness, the patriarch, after fervent prayer, laid crosses on the dying woman, one after the other. The first two did not produce any change in the patient; but the touch of the third not only restored her from her sickbed, but also completely healed her, giving her even greater strength than what she had in a healthy state. Delighted by this miracle and giving praise to the Lord, everyone unanimously recognized the miraculous Cross as the Cross of the Savior. But this was not enough for the glory of the Holy Tree. Providence wanted His glory and power to be visible and convincing to those who denied them, and so that the unbelief of His enemies would be crushed by the power of the Cross of the Lord. - Upon leaving the patriarch with the queen and the people carrying crosses from the house of the healed woman, they encountered a crowded funeral of one Jew.
Filled with faith, the patriarch stopped the funeral procession and, approaching the coffin, placed all three crosses on the dead man again, one after the other; but two of them, which did not help the sick woman, helped the deceased even less; only the Cross of the Conqueror of Death and the Source of Life broke the mortal bonds - and the deceased came to life! One can imagine with what joy the Christians were filled with this secondary miracle of confirmation of the power of the Cross of the Lord, and with what horror the unbelievers were struck. Everyone was in a hurry to turn down, kiss him, touch him, or at least look at him; but since the crowded conditions, with the constantly arriving crowd of people, did not allow everyone to satisfy the desire, the patriarch, standing on an elevated place, erected, that is, raised the Honest Tree and, showing It in this way to those standing in the distance, blessed everyone with it; The people, overshadowing themselves with the sign of the cross, reverently exclaimed: “Lord have mercy!” This solemn action gave the name to the holiday, known in the Orthodox Church under the name of the “Worldwide Exaltation of the Honest Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.”
At this majestic sight and glorious miracles of the Cross of the Lord, the enemies of the Crucified One themselves fell before His Divine Name and teaching and hastened to accept Holy Baptism. Among many of them was that Judas, through whose forced recognition the crosses were acquired. After Holy Baptism, he took the name Cyriacus and subsequently became the Patriarch of Jerusalem; under the Emperor Julian the Apostate, he was tortured for Christ and, having accepted the crown of martyrdom, was canonized (Cheti Menaion, September 14).
The Life-Giving Cross thus acquired was placed in a silver ark and handed over to St. Patriarch Macarius for safekeeping; part of St. St. Helena brought the wood, along with the nails, with her to Constantinople to her son, the Emperor, who accepted this shrine as a guarantee of the prosperity of his new capital and state.
In 1799, during the reign of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, upon his acceptance of the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, part of the Life-Giving Cross was transferred from the island of Malta to Russia and placed in the city of Gatchina, and then in the Church of the Image of the Lord Not Made by Hands in the Imperial Palace, where it remains to this day. (See the book. The Twelfth Feasts of the Orthodox Church by G. Lavrentiev, published in 1862, St. Petersburg, under the heading Exaltation of the Honest Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, pp. 8–10).
2 Peter 1:21.
This prayer should be said while lying down in bed, kissing the cross worn on the chest, and protecting the bed and yourself with the sign of the cross.
This prayer should be said when you have completely surrendered to sleep.