Salutations to the Theotokos held at St George’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Woodstock on Friday 7 March 2025. 

 Last night we started our Lenten services with the First Salutations to the Theotokos, a sacred and joyous service of prayer and praise in our Orthodox tradition. 

 As we gathered to honour the Mother of God, we beseeched her intercessions, that she may guide us on our spiritual journey and protect us from harm. 

 We have just started our journey through the seven weeks ahead that will lead us to the greatest celebration of our ecclesiastical calendar – Pascha or Easter. 

I would like to invite you to come with me to the various services through these posts and allow me to share all the beauty and blessings along the way with you.

 So yesterday we focused on the Holy Virgin Mary with the first of five Akathist Hymn services held each Friday evening during Great Lent.

 The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem or chant, and consists of praises and salutations directed to the Mother of God, beginning with the salutation of the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation. 

 The Akathist Hymn, which has been expanded over the centuries, is one of the most beloved services in the Orthodox Church. 

 It was composed in the imperial city of Constantinople, “the city of the Virgin,” by St. Romanos the Melodist, who died in 556 AD. The hymn existed even before it was formally accepted by the Church in 626 AD. 

 It was then recognised as the Akathist Hymn, because of a huge miracle attributed to the intercession of the Theotokos which I will reveal to you next week. 

 It is a very famous hymn and has been recognized by other denominations as well. Fr. Vincent McNabb, a Roman Catholic Priest in London, translated the Hymn into English in 1934. 

 In the Greek Orthodox Faith we devote many services to our glorious Theotokos and the Akathist Hymn is our chance to shower her with beautiful salutations and to ask her to intercede with Her Son on our behalf. 

 The service with its poetic prayers and praises, and the visual feast of the flower-bedecked icon and church, are simply so beautiful that they instantly touch your heart and lift you up.

 The icon you see here in our church is especially appropriate for the Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Mary, and it is called the Rhodon to Amaranton (Ρόδον τό αμάραντον) or “Unfading Rose” . 

 Take a close look at our icon so beautifully hugged in a halo of roses……. 

 You will see that the Theotokos holds a big rose bloom and her young son Jesus stands upright on more roses holding the scepter and orb of a king.

 It’s a symbol taken from the Canon of the Akathist which says: “Ρόδον τό αμάραντον, χαίρε η μόνη βλαστήσασα, τό μήλον τό εύοσμον” “Hail, from whom alone sprouted the unfading rose, the sweet‑smelling apple.” 

 There are many and varied interpretations of this icon but the central theme is the rose that never fades or dies. 

 In ancient Greek, “rhodon” (ῥόδον) means “rose and amaranthine” (or “amaranth”) comes from the word “amarantos” (ἀμάραντος), which means “unfading” or “immortal”. 

 The icon of the Theotokos of the Unfading Rose, was first mentioned in the year 1890. 

 Urban legend tells us that a fisherman pulled up an old icon from the rocky shores of Piraeus in Athens. The icon depicted the Mother of God holding Christ, and in her hand was a rose. 

 Once the news spread in the area, a devout family named Katsaros wanted to provide a safe home for the icon. So on their own initiative, they constructed a private chapel, which they named Eklisia Rodo to Amaranto Panagitsa (Church of the Unfading Rose of The Virgin Mary). 

 But that’s not all ……. During the summer of 1895, an epidemic of smallpox broke out in Piraeus, and it was decimating the residents. As the number of deaths from the contagious disease increased, the faithful residents turned to the Theotokos for help. They gathered in the Church of the Virgin Mary of The Unfading Rose and prayed in front of the holy icon.

 As the days passed, the residents of the area began to notice that none of them had been infected and the rate of deaths decreased dramatically plus there were no new cases in the neighboring areas. This news spread and led to a public outpouring of praise and thanks to the Theotokos and this holy icon, as the disease was finally eradicated. 

 This was a great miracle attributed to the holy icon of the Virgin Mary of The Unfading Rose. 

 The Unfading Rose symbolises eternity and the pure, immortal nature of the soul. Jesus is the Rose of salvation and a flower entirely free of corruption, because He was born without the ancestral sin of Adam and Eve.

 The Theotokos is also hailed as the “Unfading Rose”, since she is the only human being in the world to have been born completely pure, without the stain of original sin. The Virgin Mary is the flower that does not wither and remains spotless and perfectly pure forever. 

 The Synaxis ( Gathering) of the All-Holy Theotokos of the Unfading Rose is celebrated every year on the 3rd of April. More about that on the day. 

 Wishing you and yours the fragrant blessing of the Unfading Rose.

( Text and photos: Pepe Sofianos)