This year was especially meaningful as we heard in the Patriarchal Encyclical we celebrated the 1400th anniversary of the chanting of the Akathist Hymn while standing for the deliverance of Constantinople from the siege of the Avars and the Persians.
“To thee, the Champion Leader, we thy flock dedicate a feast of victory and of thanksgiving, as ones rescued out of sufferings, O Theotokos. But as thou art one with might which is invincible, from all dangers that can be do thou deliver us, that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, thou bride unwedded.”
Τῇ ὑπερμάχῷ στρατηγῷ τὰ νικητήρια, ὡς λυτρωθεῖσα τῶν δεινῶν εὐχαριστήρια, ἀναγράφω σοι ἡ πόλις σου, Θεοτόκε· ἀλλ’ ὡς ἔχουσα τὸ κράτος ἀπροσμάχητον, ἐκ παντοίων με κινδύνων ἐλευθέρωσον, ἵνα κράζω σοί· Χαῖρε Νύμφη ἀνύμφευτε.