Preparing for the Feast of the Assumption
Every year, 1 August marks the start of the fast known as the Fast of the Mother of God (from 1 to 14 August, the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin).
During these fourteen days, the Byzantine churches celebrate the Paraclesis, a prayer of supplication to the Mother of God. The Small Paraclesis may also be sung in any need, illness or distress.
In monasteries it is customarily sung throughout the year at various times, and many of the faithful include it in their daily rule of prayer.
The word Paraclesis means “supplication”, because the hymns of the two canons (the Small and the Great Paraclesis) are supplications addressed to the Virgin to intercede with God, the lover of mankind.
Scholars are unsure whether to attribute the Small Paraclesis to the monk Theosteriktos or to Theophanes; the Great Paraclesis is attributed to the Emperor of Nicaea, Theodore II Doukas Laskaris, around 1254.
In the early centuries of Christianity, the devout people of Constantinople used to carry the wood of the precious Cross in procession through the streets of the city from 1 to 14 August, to sanctify the city and protect it from disease, especially from eye diseases, which could spread among the people in that month. The patriarch and the faithful would enter Hagia Sophia and chant the Paraclesis with great devotion, and they kept the fast known as the Fast of the Mother of God from 1 to 14 August.
“O Virgin, do not turn away from those who ask for your help, who sing your praises and exalt you forever.”
A blessed fast and accepted prayer to all!
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team
