www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Akathist to the Mother of God of Perpetual Help

Dear Diak,

You are too wonderful for words!

What may I send you for it?

Alex

Originally posted by Professor J. Michael Thompson:
While we are on this subject: is there a troparion and kontakion for the feast of the icon of St. Mary of Perpetual Help (western date, anyway, June 27?)

Yes, the feast day of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is on June 27th, however, this feast day is only liturgically celebrated by the Redemptorist order(Roman and Byzantine), since OLPH is the patroness of the Redemptorist Order. The Roman Redemptorists do have a proper Office and Mass prayers for use on that day. I am assuming it is the same for Byzantine Redemptorists, although I have not been able to confirm this.

Interestingly enough, the Roman Redemptorists may not be able to liturgically celebrate the feast of OLPH this time, since the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus falls on June 27th this year. Of course, a dispensation may have been granted to the Redemptorists to liturgically celebrate OLPH on that day.

In the Roman-rite, if two feasts fall on the same day, the feast with the greater rank is liturgically celebrated. For example, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul will not be clebrated this year since it falls on a Sunday.

That is not the case in the Byzantine-rite. If two feasts days fall on the same day, they are both liturgically celebrated. For Byzantine Redemptorists, June 27th is not only the feast of their patroness but also the feast of the Blessed Ukrainian Martyrs-four of whom were Redemptorists. Thus, both feast days can be liturgically celebrated in the Divine Liturgy by the Byzantine Redemptorists.

Dear highly esteemed fellow Forum member,

Thank you very much for the Akathist to Our Lady of Perpetual Help!!!

You had mentioned in a past post that there exists an akathist to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus in Ukrainian.

Devotion to Saint Therese is very popular among Byzantine Catholics and even among some Orthodox Christians- the Russians in France, for example.

Any possibiltiy that you could translate the akathist into English for us?

May Our Lord richly bless you,

Griego

Dear Forum members,

In the early 1990's, the original icon of OLPH was taken to the Vatican for much needed restoration work due to cracks and fungus that appeared on the icon.

As a consequence of the restoration, the crowns which were placed on the heads of Our Lady and the Christ Child in 1867 were removed. The Redemptorists wanted to preserve how the iocn originally looked.

The removal of the crowns did cause a bit of controversy then. The crowns had been on the icon for about 123 years and became a part of the image. I am sure thare are many who would like see the crowns placed back on the icon. Since I have been devoted to OLPH as a boy, it took me some time to get used to seeing my personal patroness without Her crown.

I am not aware of any other icons which have been solemnly crowned to have had the crowns subsequently removed. Even the Orthodox monks at Pochayiv monastery didn't remove the crowns that were placed on the icon of Our Lady of Pochayiv by the Basilians.

What is your opinion on the icon of OLPH not being crowned anymore?

Dear Griego,

I don't have the akathist to St Therese and the book is out of print, but I'll try and get a hold of one at the Basilian Press - it is a new book of akathists written by a Basilian Father who spent ten years in Siberia. He actually wrote a total of THREE akathists in Ukrainian to St Therese! SVICHADO press in Lviv might have it, I'll see . . .

I've come across those who feel that crowned icons are not "Eastern" and nothing could be further from the truth.

This is a later practice and one that derives from the royalty of the Byzantine-Roman court, but so are other practices that we take for granted today (the liturgical Cherubic Hymn is a version of an imperial song that honoured the emperor following a military victory etc.).

Such coronations are a form of "canonization" of a miraculous icon of the Theotokos, but not all icons are so crowned.

In other words, one does not need to crown an icon to declare it "miraculous."

The icon of the Passion or Perpetual Help was crowned by Rome and this is perhaps why the Redemptorists want it to resemble its earlier look.

But I've never heard of Orthodox Christians complain about the (papal) crown and this icon is much venerated by them, although they do have versions without the crowns (and some with a formal three bar Cross with a slanted foot-rest which was not on the original).

I would go with the tried and true version with the crowns!

Alex