The Akathist Hymn is a service full of poetry and theology in praise of the Mother of God, the Theotokos. Thus today’s Gospel reading takes us back to Christmas, to the good news that was given to the Theotokos that she would bare God in her womb and become His mother. This is another feast we celebrate every Lent, on the 25th March, the Annunciation.
But why do we sing this Akathist Hymn, this song to the Mother of God, every Lent, shortly before Holy Week, when we celebrate the Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Christ? In other words, what does the Birth of Christ have to do with His Death and Resurrection?
First of all, we do not make a sharp distinction between the joyful celebration of Christmas and the more sorrowful celebration of Christ crucified. On the eve of Christmas, we sing a hymn which is almost identical in language, style and musical execution to the hymn we sing at the procession of the Cross on Great Friday. This is what we sing on Christmas Eve:
Today, he who holds creation in the hollow of his hand is born of a virgin.
He who in his being cannot be handled is as a mortal wrapped in swaddling rags.
God who of old established the heavens in the beginning lies in a manger.
He who rained Manna on the People in the desert is nourished with milk from the breast.
The Bridegroom of the Church summons the Magi.
The Son of the Virgin accepts their gifts.
We worship your birth, O Christ.
Show us also your divine Epiphany.
And this is what we sing on Great Friday:
Today he who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon a Tree.
He who is King of the Angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns.
He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
He who freed Adam in the Jordan is struck on the face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is affixed to the Cross with nails.
The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a spear.
We worship your Passion, O Christ
Show us also your glorious Resurrection.
Why do we have this similarity on these two apparently very different feasts? How can we reconcile the joy of Christmas with the pain of the Cross? The reason is that in both feasts, we above all recognise the unparalleled humility of God. In the Nativity, we hear the Church express her wonder that the one whom even heaven cannot contain is contained in the womb of a woman, that He who has no beginning, who is by ‘nature’ eternal, is born! While in the Crucifixion, we hear the Church express her wonder that the one who created the heaven and earth is suffering on the Cross. He who by ‘nature’ cannot die is being killed!
Thus it is no coincidence that the Akathist Hymn, which is all about the Nativity of Christ, the mystery of the Incarnation, is pondered upon in the Akathist Hymn toward the end of Lent every year. Christ came into this world above all to die, to give his life as a ransom for many. Just as the Church does not let us forget the Passion at Christmas, so too the Church does not let us forget the Nativity in Lent and Holy Week.
Joy and sorrow are not mutually exclusive in Christian spirituality. Lent, in particular, is characterised by joyful sorrow, or sorrowful joy (depending on your outlook on life). In our age of comfy religious definitions, in a society that likes to think and speak of religion as something that “helps” and makes us “feel good” about ourselves, what I am about to say is not popular, but I will say it because it is true, and all truth is sacred. Pain is part and parcel of Christianity. If you think about it, our whole faith is based on pain – the pain of Christ on the Cross. As Christians, even when we rejoice and celebrate the great and radiant feasts of Christmas and Pascha, we are called to stand before the Cross. To remember that “through the Cross joy came to all the world”.
But Lent and Holy Week find their purpose and fulfilment not in Great Friday, in the Crucifixion, but on Easter Sunday, in the Resurrection. Our faith is above all one of joy, and it is a joy that is so great that it is worth suffering for, worth striving for, worth waiting for, worth living for. That is what Lent is all about. We struggle, we deprive ourselves, while always looking forward to the Resurrection, to Pascha. Just as we have to go through Lent and Holy Week to get to Easter Sunday, so we can only truly experience the joy of the Resurrection by taking up our cross and following Christ to the Cross. This is ultimately what Christian life is. We live forever in that strange Pascha, the Passover, from death to life, from sorrow to joy. We can already taste the joy of the Resurrection. We taste it every time we celebrate the Eucharist and receive Communion. We taste it in the Holy Spirit that lives with us and comforts us. But we are still waiting, still waiting for that glorious day when pain and sorrow will be no more, when we will see God face to face. This is the hope, the joy, we live with every day. And if you live Christ’s life – which was by no means an easy one – if, in the words of St Paul, you have Christ living within you, then as our Lord promised, “No one will be able to take your joy from you”.
~ Adapted from ORTHODOXYMORON, the Website of Vassilios Papavassiliou, http://vassilios-papavassiliou.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-do-we-sing-akathist-hymn-every-lent.html.
