Axion Estin Prayer

Axion Estin (Truly you are worthy) is probably the most known prayer to the Mother of God, recited daily by millions of Orthodox Faithful.

Truly you are worthy to be blessed,
Mother of our God, the Theotokos,
You the ever blessed one, and all blameless one,
And the Mother of our God.
You are honored more than the Cherubim,
And you have more glory, when compared, to the Seraphim;
You, without corruption,
Did bear God, the Logos;
You are the Theotokos;
You do we magnify.

Here is the short history of how this prayer entered in the practice of the Church.

In 980 the holy Archangel Gabriel appeared in the guise of a monk to the disciple of a certain elder living in a hermitage belonging to the Monastery of Pantocrator on the Holy Mountain. During Matins, after the monk had chanted the customary hymn, "You are honored more than the Cherubim . . . ," composed by Saint Cosmas the Hymnographer, the Angel chanted the same hymn, but with the following prelude: "Truly you are worthy to be blessed, Mother of our God, the Theotokos, you the ever blessed one, and all blameless one, and the Mother of our God." While the hymn was being sung, the icon of the Theotokos shone with a heavenly light.

Marveling at the hymn's beauty, the monk asked his visitor - who appeared also to be a monk - to record this new text in writing, which the Angel did by miraculously inscribing the words on a piece of slate, using only his finger, and straightway he vanished from sight.

This slate was brought to the Church of the Protaton, and from there to Constantinople, as evidence of the miracle. Henceforth, this version of the hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos began to be chanted in the Divine Liturgy in all the churches.

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