The term "akathist" in translation means "a hymn during which it is forbidden to sit."
What is an akathist?
In the old days it was called the non-saddle anthem. Kathismas are the opposite of akathists. During their performance, it is allowed to sit. Akathist is a genre version of the church hymn. It appeared during the early Byzantine period and was often found in Greek literature of the Middle Ages. Akathist received wide distribution. From Greece, he migrated to the literature of Eastern Europe.
Kondaks and ikos
There are only 24 stanzas in this chant: 50% of it consists of kontakia and 50% of ikos. Many today do not even know what it is. At the end of the hymn, the first ikos and kontakion are sung again. But what do these words mean? "Kondak" used to be called a roll of paper, on which something is written on both sides. In the old days, this word was quite famous. It should always be remembered that an akathist is a chant consisting of several sections. This is a very important point. Kontakions in the akathist contain concise information about the life of the saint or the meaning of the celebration.
They end with words that are then sung at the end of all the ikos following them. And again, many thought about the meaning of an unfamiliar word. The term ikos reminds Christians of Syrian traditions. In this country, this word had two meanings at once - “poetic stanza” and “dwelling”. Syrian Christians often sang hymns in the home of one of the believers. Modern Orthodox often go to a prayer service with an akathist. What it is? This is a service in which Christians ask God, the Mother of God or the saints for a blessing, or thank the Lord. Of course, this service includes an akathist.
More about kontakia and ikos
But back to ikos and kontakia. They are arranged in alphabetical order. We are talking, of course, about the Greek language. But there is an exception - this is the first kontakion. You could say he's out of order. The work traditionally reflects both dogmatic and historical issues. At the same time, only the rudiments of the theme are presented in small kontakia, while it is described in detail in lengthy ikosas. The latter are composed of two sections: one contains a story about something, and the other contains a glorification. It always happens.
In the glorification section, there are certainly hairetisms - couplets that begin with the obligatory word “Chaere”, which translates as “rejoice”. Vespers are often held in churches with an akathist. What it is? In fact, this is a regular service. It's just that an akathist is being performed on it. Every Orthodox person should know about this.
Russian and Greektradition
In the old days, the word "akathist" meant only one liturgical hymn that was common in Byzantium, namely, a laudatory-dogmatic hymn dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. It is still considered the best example of akathistography. This word means writing hymns. An akathistographer is a person who invents chants. So called Christian poets. After some time, when other chants similar to akathists appeared, this term began to mean all such hymns. Thus a new genre was born.
Akathist is a hymn that immediately fell in love with believers. He is very beautiful, therefore, there is nothing surprising in this. Soon the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos received a different name. He began to be called the "Great Akathist". It is still known by this name to many today. The Greek tradition considers only this hymn to be an akathist, and other non-sedal chants, reminiscent of it in form, are called "like new" in this country. Where does this name come from? It arose for the reason that these ikos are like an akathist. They really do look like him. But in our country there are many types of akathists. Still, we have a lot of differences with Greece. We also have akathists to saints. These are chants that contain information about their lives.
Great Akathist
The great akathist today has a proimium (from Greek this word is translated as “introduction”) or a beginning, which is often called “cuculia” (this term means “hood”). Heliterally envelops 24 stanzas following it: 12 lengthy and 12 compressed ikos, following in a checkerboard pattern. What else can be said about them? Each ikos begins with a Greek letter. Spacious consist of two sections. In this case, the initial one repeats the metric of the compressed icos. And the second section consists of 12 appeals addressed to the Virgin Mary-hairetisms. At present, the vast majority of hymnologists and specialists in Byzantium are inclined to the version that the Great Akathist appeared in 431-634. More precisely, in between. Researchers believe that several hymnographers worked on this akathist. Most likely, it was so. It is good that akathist prayers have reached our country: now they are an integral part of Orthodox life.
Akathists in our country
In the Russian church tradition, this hymn could have arisen around 916, since during this period the translation into Slavonic of the book “Lenten Triod” was completed, in which it was already included. There are over 30 editions of this hymn, but in our country it was not the Athos version of the early 14th century (an elder named John) that won fame, but the Kyiv version of 1627, which was compiled by Archimandrite Pletenetsky, who called himself Elisha. It should be noted that this man translated the Lenten Triodion, and in 1656, on the basis of his work, the Moscow edition of this church book was published. Greek hymns already at the dawn of the 15th century became widespread among Slavic monks. This is evidenced by a book called "Canon" by CyrilBelozersky, issued in 1407. An akathist is a solemn hymn, therefore, the attitude towards it should be appropriate.
