Mount Athos has held major celebrations marking the 1,400th anniversary of the first performance of one of the best-known Orthodox hymns, the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. The principal events took place at the Dionysiou Monastery, the Orthodoxia News Agency reported.

A delegation of hierarchs from the Ecumenical Patriarchate attended the commemorative services on Athos, including Metropolitan Titus of Kydonia and Apokoronas, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, and Metropolitan Dimitrios of France.

Organizers said the celebrations were especially significant because Athos is home to one of the central relics associated with the Akathist tradition—an icon of the Virgin Mary known as the “Akathist-Dionysiou” icon, preserved at Dionysiou Monastery. According to ancient monastic tradition, this is one of seventy icons painted by the Evangelist Luke. Services are held daily in the chapel where the icon is kept, and each evening the Akathist to the Theotokos is read before the miracle-working image.

The climax of the jubilee included prayers at historic sites on Athos and festive services commemorating the event traditionally linked to Constantinople in 626.

Church tradition holds that the Akathist emerged after the Byzantine capital was spared an invasion by the Avars and Persians. In August 626, when Constantinople was under siege, the city’s residents turned to the Virgin Mary in prayer. After the attackers suffered an unexpected defeat, believers gathered in the Church of Blachernae and sang the hymn of thanksgiving to the Mother of God throughout the night. Because the faithful are traditionally said to listen while standing—“without sitting”—the hymn came to be called the “Akathist.”

The hymn’s central section begins with the words “To thee, O Theotokos, O Commander of victorious…” and contains 24 stanzas, repeatedly addressing the Virgin Mary with “Rejoice.”

Over time, the Akathist became one of the best-known works of Orthodox hymnography and was incorporated into the worship traditions of all Orthodox Churches.

As part of the anniversary observances, additional services were held elsewhere in Greece connected to Orthodox history. Among them, an archieral Divine Liturgy took place in the ancient Basilica of Saint Achilles in Prespa, dedicated to the 1,400th anniversary of the hymn’s composition.

Earlier, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew led a service at the Church of the Virgin of Blachernae in Istanbul—at the site traditionally associated with the first performance of the Akathist. He said the date marks not only a historical milestone, but also a reminder of the role of prayer and faith in Christian life.