The Comfort Of The Most Holy Theotokos
My beloved in the Lord:
As we approach the Fasting Period for the Dormition of the Theotokos, beginning this year on Tuesday, August 1, let us reflect on experiencing the comfort of the most Holy Theotokos. Throughout the ages the role of the mother has played an integral aspect in the formulation of the families and of the nations. We all know firsthand the comfort a distressed child finds in the arms of a nurturing mother. It seems there is a mystical touch where the hurts, the fears and pain diminishes. The Holy Church in her wisdom knows firsthand the importance of the mother-child role and has taught and preserved for us for 2,017 years the reality of the maternal nurturing of the Panagia, the most Holy Theotokos or the Mother of God. She is called Panagia because she is all holy. The name Theotokos, a Greek compound word, refers to her role, the birth-giver of God.
Moreover, we see even more deeply and personally that the Panagia is our Spiritual Mother. She is there to nurture us when we fail spiritually. The hymns of the Paraklesis Service, which is chanted during the first fifteen days of August, as well as in times of trials and tribulations, is filled with the pleas of a child crying to a mother to soothe and take away the ills and pains that besiege one. In turn, it is the Panagia who also prays that God will come to the aid of those tormented spiritually and physically. Let us, therefore, look at a few of the hymns from the Paraklesis Service and experience the richness of their meaning by allowing them to speak to us during the Fast of the Dormition of the most Holy Theotokos.
The First Ode of the Paraklesis, which is very rarely chanted, is a reminder that we are pilgrims in our spiritual quest. We, like the Israelites, are fleeing from the wrath and evil of Satan. And, miraculously, God always provides an escape for us as He did when He parted the Red Sea. Thus, we begin our spiritual journey praying and acknowledging that God is our redeemer and benefactor of our souls and bodies.
Crossing the waters as on dry land, in that way escaping from the evils of Egypt’s land,
The Israelites cried out exclaiming: Let us sing to our Redeemer and our God.
We see firsthand in the various hymns of the Paraklesis the lament of the entire person, the mind, the body and the spirit. They are filled with the themes of despondency, illness of the body and of the soul, spiritual afflictions and grievous temptations. Nevertheless, at the same time acknowledging that it is the Panagia who is our refuge, the sheltered port, the staff of the faithful.
I beseech thee, O Virgin,
do thou dispel far from me all of the distress of despair and turbulence in my soul;
for thou, O Bride of God, hast given birth to the Lord Christ, Who is the Prince of peace,
O thou only all-blameless one.
The Orthodox Study Bible shares this insight regarding the Panagia: “We entreat her, as the human being who was most intimate with Christ on earth, to intercede with her Son on our behalf. We ask her, as the first believer and the mother of the Church, for guidance and protection. We venerate her – but we do not worship her, for worship belongs to God alone.”
The Sixth Ode of the Paraklesis shares with us our calling as Orthodox Christians to call out to the Lord, confessing our sins, pains and dilemmas, asking Him to lift the heaviness and rescue us as He did Jonah from the belly of the whale.
My petition I pour out to the Lord, and to Him I will confess all my sorrows;
for many woes fill my soul to its limits.
And unto Hades my life has now approached, like Jonah, I pray You.
O God, now raise me from corruption.
Thus, we see in the hymns of the Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos that we are invoking our prayers to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to come to our aid. We are asking the Panagia, the Mother of God, to help us in our endeavor. After all our Lord has reminded us, “Where two or three are gathered I am there.” Therefore, we experience firsthand this presence of God in the Paraklesis.
Preserve and save, O Theotokos, thy servants from every danger,
after God do all of us for refuge flee unto thee; a firm rampart art thou, our protection.
Along with the Paraklesis Service, let us experience the Fast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos through focusing our eyes upon Her Holy Icon. Please look reverently upon an icon of the Panagia and through her icon reflect thusly:
- Lenten seasons are given to us as an opportunity to strive to become closer to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If we truly wanted to be God’s vessels, then let us look to the Panagia and some of the events that transpired in her life, as our role model for bearing Christ.
- We recall at the Annunciation when the Archangel Gabriel informed the young Panagia she would conceive and bear a child. The Panagia’s response was: “Let it be according to your word” (Luke 1:38). The Panagia showed extreme obedience to God, and we too are to exercise that same submission confessing, “Yes, Lord, I will do what you want me to do, even if it means ridicule, torture, or even if it means taking an unpopular stand.”
- Second, as Christ was formed in the womb of the Panagia, in the same way He too must be shaped and grow within each of us. We cannot merely pay lip service and say we belong to Christ; our actions, our words, our thoughts will display our faith if Christ is truly rooted within us.
- Third, we are called to pray for one another. As previously mentioned, the Panagia is one who prays to God on our behalf. We are called to imitate her role and pray to Christ on behalf of our brothers and sisters around us who are in need of God’s mercy and help.
- Fourth, for many, our Faith has been transcended to each of us at the altar of our mother’s knee. It is at that prominent place we have learned of God’s love for each of us. The Panagia, in the same motherly fashion, shared with her Son the teachings of God.
- Fifth, Holy Tradition teaches us that the Panagia grew up in the temple. We too must live inside the Holy Church, listening attentively to the Word of God, worshipping at the Divine Liturgy and passing on to one another the “Kiss of Peace.”
- Finally, may we be the shelter for those whose tempest tossed by the storms of life. Let us learn to nurture one another as does the Panagia who prays to Christ on our behalf. Since when we “carry the burdens of one another,” we are true vessels of God.
Praying that the comfort and prayers of the most Holy Theotokos be with you, I humbly remain,
With love and blessings in the Lord,
+Fr Panagiotis
