Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos (Saturday Akathist)

Every year on Saturday in the fifth week of Lent, churches celebrate the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos, also called Akathist Saturday in Orthodoxy This event is a thanksgiving to the mother of Jesus Christ, whose icon helped at one time to protect Constantinople from destruction The akathist is composed of 24 long hymns; they begin with the praise of Saint Mary and end with a prayer request for the preservation of the population from harm The Praise dates back to the 9th century, when, with the help of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was possible to defend Constantinople from enemy invaders The Scythians and Persians marched in large numbers against the city; the citizens of Constantinople had little chance of resistance During the siege, the townspeople spent days making requests in the church for liberation, and the first Saint Sergius walked along the walls of the settlement with an icon of the Mother of God and asked God to save them from their enemies When ruler Constantine I founded the city, he paid an important role to the construction of churches Many of them were dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary, she was considered the intercessor of Constantinople The icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, carefully kept in the Blachernae Church, was created by the apostle of the seventy - Luke, the first icon painter When the enemy launched a shock offensive from the sea, the weather suddenly deteriorated, a storm with high waves began and sank the attacking ships The foot part of the enemy army, seeing the failure from the sea side, retreated The townspeople assigned the liberation to the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and spent the whole night singing an akathist - a grateful ode Since then, the holiday has become a significant event in the Orthodox calendar Initially, Akathist was celebrated only in the Church of Constantinople, in which there was a saving icon of the Mother of God and the things of her stay in the world - a belt and rice Later, the celebration was established among monasteries with the Studite Charter, and then it came to the Eastern Church