8 Dec 2024
Kontakion 1
Most splendid Theotokos, we awake in the morning to your compassion and retire at night in your vigilance. We thank you for your fidelity to God and mankind, in that you wish salvation to all who have fallen into disgrace or who have met with grief. In appreciation of your constant intercession for our release from anguish, we humbly cry out: Rejoice!
Rejoice, Theotokos, heavenly fountain of charity and kindness.
 Ikos 1
Let us begin by thanking you for giving birth to Jesus Christ, for your cooperation with God’s plan of salvation, and for your unceasing aid to the suffering in this world. Most exalted Theotokos, you are not debased in your care of the pitiful. Rather, you delight in nurturing mankind with the eternal bread of love and the pure water of truth. You tenderly show us the way to Christ, and we therefore honor you with heartfelt praises: Rejoice!
Rejoice, Handmaid of the Sovereign God, affirming the sanctity of life.
Rejoice, Birthgiver of a Divine Son, pointing the way to enlightenment.
Rejoice, maternal attentiveness, cloaking the forsaken with acceptance.
Rejoice, perpetual caretaker, showering the afflicted with encouragement.
Rejoice, Theotokos, heavenly fountain of charity and kindness.
 Kontakion 2
Most sublime Theotokos, we are conscious of our need for your mediation throughout our daily tasks, turning to you with prayers as the sun passes from East to West, and thanking you for your consideration of our necessities and our hopes. You reach out to the disheartened and search for the missing, stretching forth your arms as a mother to her children. Indeed, you are the Mother of Christians and a bringer of relief to the burdened, causing everyone to say: Alleluia!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
 Ikos 2
Many people around us try to sabotage us, sometimes from an early age, and we learn not to trust anyone. We have been manipulated and betrayed, used and discarded, or shunned because we live in truth. Most excellent Theotokos, you are ever trustworthy, since you never take for personal advantage but always give from your vast goodwill. You welcome us into the light of the Gospel and into the meekness of Jesus Christ, and we thank you with sincere praises: Rejoice!
Rejoice, entrusted by God and trustingly compliant.
Rejoice, pleasing to Christ and pleasingly attendant.
Rejoice, lover of truth and truly loving.
Rejoice, giver of love and lovingly given.
Rejoice, Theotokos, heavenly fountain of charity and kindness.
 Kontakion 3
Most sagacious Theotokos, we pause and pray during the day, we combine work and prayer as much as possible, and then we awake in the night and implore you for the soothing of all wounds and the courage to live another day. We turn to you with our urgent requests, and also in thanksgiving for your readiness and dependability which are greater than our worthiness and beyond all that the world has to offer. Let us never doubt or refuse your solicitude, but say: Alleluia!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
 Ikos 3
Many of us are traumatized by our upbringing and tormented by the cruel behaviors of aggressors and schemers. Most effulgent Theotokos, you are eager to defend us from desolation and to reconcile us in the love of Jesus Christ, if only we flee to you in prayer. Even if we have not placed our confidence in you, your benevolence exceeds our neglect and weaknesses, and therefore the entire human race can bring forth praises: Rejoice!
Rejoice, for your patience surpasses our faults.
Rejoice, for your persistence erases our fears.
Rejoice, for your stability overcomes our turmoil.
Rejoice, for your steadiness conquers our trepidation.
Rejoice, Theotokos, heavenly fountain of charity and kindness.
 Kontakion 4
Most sympathetic Theotokos, guide us on the path of righteousness today and guard us in purity of thought tonight. Pierce the dark clouds of impure passions with your rays of protection. Expose the depraved notions of modernism with your beams of illumination. We are alive in thanksgiving because God chose you as the Birthgiver of His Son and the Patroness of all who endeavor to live in holiness. Since our words cannot equal your glory, or even express our indebtedness, we simply say: Alleluia!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
 Ikos 4
Although we devote every hour to walking on the straight path and acquiring the virtues, we are nevertheless insufficient within ourselves. It is only the Savior Himself Who can quench our thirst for truth and satisfy our hunger for love. Most esteemed Theotokos, you have given us reason to rejoice, and to rejoice together with you and all the saints, for you have offered us your Son, Jesus Christ, and He has offered you to all Christians. Therefore, in utmost humility, we sing these praises: Rejoice!
Rejoice and lead us from pain to piety.
Rejoice and take us from sorrow to serenity.
Rejoice and guide us from conflict to comfort.
Rejoice and lift us from failure to faithfulness.
Rejoice, Theotokos, heavenly fountain of charity and kindness.
 Kontakion 5
Most sober Theotokos, the reality of your purity awakens us to a new day and a bright night. Through your love, through Jesus Christ, we have received the gift of salvation. We therefore magnify you and thank you for all that you have done for us, and we pray for your continued mercy upon our spiritual journey. Alleluia!
Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia!
O Mary, Virgin Theotokos!
Akathist Stanza 1
An Angel of the first rank was sent from heaven to say to the Theotokos: Rejoice! (3) And perceiving You, O Lord, taking bodily form, he stood in awe and with his bodiless voice cried aloud to her as follows: Rejoice!
Rejoice, through whom joy shall shine forth;
Rejoice, through whom the curse shall vanish.
Rejoice, fallen Adam’s restoration;
Rejoice, redemption of Eve’s tears.
Rejoice, height that is too difficult for human thought to ascend;
Rejoice, depth that is too strenuous for Angels’ eyes to perceive
Rejoice, for you are the throne of the King;
Rejoice, for you hold him Who sustains everything.
Rejoice, star that shows forth the Sun;
Rejoice, womb in which God became incarnate.
Rejoice, through whom creation is renewed;
Rejoice, through whom the Creator becomes an infant.
Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
 Closing Verse
Let us live in gratitude for our life and for our redemption, always praising the holy Theotokos for her protection, direction, and mediation.