The Akathist Hymn is characterized as a masterpiece of Byzantine hymnography. It was first chanted in Constantinople at the Church of Hagia Sophia as a show of infinite gratitude by the Christian faithful to the Most Holy Theotokos for saving the City from the enemies that had laid siege to it.

By the Grace of God and the blessings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the first official translation of the Akathist Hymn in Swedish was published – an offering of the Righteous Sister Christodouli of the Hermitage of St. Mary Magdalene in Serres to the Holy Metropolis of Sweden and All Scandinavia.

I express my deepest gratitude to Sister Christodouli for her spiritual offering to our local Church, as well as to the General Director of the Church of Greece’s Publishing House Apostoliki Diakonia, the beloved and esteemed Right Reverend Bishop Agathangelos of Phanarion, who edited and published this bilingual edition.

We offer this publication as an expression of our many filial thanks to the Most Holy Theotokos and as a gift to the flock of the Mother Church of Constantinople in Scandinavia.