www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Akathist to our Father among the Saints, John Paul the Great, Pope of Rome

Dear Alex,

You know that the reason you saw Pope John Paul II in a dream looking at you was because you were either writing the Akathist or planning it. God allowed John Paul to aknowledge you for the works that the Holy Spirit was doing through you.

In Christ,

Zenovia

Dear Friends,

Thank you and if anyone has any comments or suggestions for changes, please let me know!

Alex

Dr. Alex:

My good wife and I appreciate your Akathistos to John Paul the Great. We especially appreciate your use of traditional titles and typological references. It would be good to see this set to modern musical notation.

Given John Paul's serious love for Greek Christianity and his personal connections through his mother, he is truly honored and properly commemorated in this way.

Dr. Michael

Dear Dr. Tkacz,

To quote St Thomas More,

"You do my household more honour than I fear my household can bear!"

Thank you.

Alex

This is quite nice and well-written.

Dear Charles,

Thank you, Sir!

Actually, I received an e-mail from someone from the Beatification address who said he will pass the akathist on to Pope Benedict.

I told him I would mail His Holiness a hard copy, which I already have.

It is interesting that my bishop doesn't want to know about these things - says he's got no time to read anything . . .

If I get any word from Rome, I'll be sure to pass it on to my Vladyka . . . just to keep him informed . . .

Alex

Dear brother in Christ Alex,
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have shared your Akathist with a few colleagues here at work.

My colleague, originally from Singapore, has just informed me that she sent this across the net to her friend in Taiwan who will be praying this with her Rosary group every week.

Here's the kicker. The Rosary group is 105 people strong.

The Holy Spirit is alive and continues to work through modern media.

Brad

Dear Brad,

And through you too, it would appear!

Alex

It is truly wonderful Alex.
Glory to God, our Lord is such an awsome composer!
How wonderful that he uses such neat mortals to write works for his saints. Thanks for being so open Alex.

Does anyone have a good link to a site where an Akathist is sung. I posted this Akathist to a list I am on and some of the memebers would like to hear one sung.

Thanks in advance,
Pani Rose

Well done, Alex, well done!
your friend in hopes of speedy canonization, Daniel

Alex,

I sent this off to a friend of mine, and he said he wept throughout his prayer time! Very moving!

One thing he did mention is that the Holy Father was struck by only two bullets (chest and finger, I believe). In the Akathist, it references him being shot 6 times. Was there some other meaning to the number 6?

Gordo

Pani Rose,

If you go here: http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/learntochant/akathist.asp , to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese's website, you can hear an Akathist to the Theotokos chanted.

Logos Teen

THanks Teen!

If you don't mind a non-English setting, there is a wonderful recording using a Kievan melody at here [grkat.nfo.sk] , as well as many other examples of liturical singing from churches in Slovakia.

Dear Friends,

The East Slavic Orthodox Churches developed the all-night "Akathist Reading" that involved reading or singing akathists throughout the night until morning.

St Jonah of Odessa, a married Ukrainian Orthodox priest, did this regularly, getting up at midnight for the nocturnal Hour and then reading akathists until morning.

A miracle-worker, he prayed this way for nine nights straight over the bed of a girl born blind.

On the morning of the tenth day, the girl could see.

This happened in 1924 and Fr. Jonah was arrested by the communists and put on "trial" but was released.

Alex