Christ the Savior-Holy Spirit Orthodox Church
Archpriest Steven C. Kostoff
4285 Ashland Ave, Cincinnati OH 45212 - (513) 351-0907
The Akathist 'Glory to God for All Things' and the Church New Year

Order the CD recording of this beloved Akathist!
Order the CD recording of this beloved Akathist!

 

 

AKATHIST 'GLORY TO GOD FOR ALL THINGS'

As we have done for many years now, we will chant the beautiful Akathist of Thanksgiving, 'Glory to God for All Things' to welcome the Church New Year:

 

Tuesday, August 31, 7:00pm

 

Read some of Fr Steven's meditations on this beautiful Akathist service:

 

 

And explore these encouraging messages on the Church New Year:

 

 

Read and Download the text for this beautiful service:   HTML  -   PDF

 

Learn more about how it was written, and order the CD recording here.

 

Also available through the Apple iTunes Store as a digital download here.

 

From the description of the CD recording:

 

It is said that Father Gregory Petroff was murdered while in a prison camp, but not before he was able to pen the poignant Akathist of Thanksgiving, giving to the Church and to the world light from great darkness, reminding us that even in the midst of frightful suffering true Christian conviction and courage are unconquerable.

 

This is a recording of an actual Akathist service (literally "not sitting") with Little Compline. The most well known Akathist service is the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God sung during Great Lent. The subject of this Akathist is thankfulness, (also known as the Akathist "Glory to God for all things"), and is sung here in commemoration of the holy "New Martyrs" of Russia who in the last century died under Bolshevism and Communism. Though little is known for certain about this hymn, the text is said to have been written around 1942 by the Archpriest Gregory Petroff, one of the Christian hieromartyrs (priest martyr), while suffering before his execution in a Soviet prison camp. An estimated 45 million people or more were slain under Bolshevism and Communism, and it is in honor of the continued and living faith of these Christian martyrs that this service gives praise. The service is sung in English. The liner notes include the entire text of the Akathist of Thanksgiving.

 

St. Ignatius of Antioch Orthodox Christian Mission in Madison, Wisconsin, has long had a special fondness for this service. We are pleased to share with your their beautiful offering of this Akathist Service in English, hoping that others will receive as great a blessing from hearing this poignant service as they do when they pray it.

 

This CD also includes a the hymn "O, Pure Virgin" by St. Nektarios of Aegina.

 

 


Christ enters the synagogue (Lk 4:16-22)
Christ enters the synagogue (Lk 4:16-22)
Christ enters the synagogue (Lk 4:16-22)

 

The Feast of the Indiction, the Church New Year

 

The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor Constantine (May 21) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the New Year on September 1.

 

According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1 to announce His mission to mankind (Luke 4:16-22). Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2), the Savior proclaimed, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...” This scene is depicted in a Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Cod. Gr. 1613, p.1).

 

Tradition says that the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September.

 

Source: OCA.org