Dear Friends,
Patriarch Joseph the Hieroconfessor was the one who asked us not to use the old "Latin thingy"
but the more traditional Eastern Moleben with the Canon etc.
Our St Nicholas parish uses this Moleben during the weekdays of May but the Akathist to the Mother of God on the weekend.
It is a great opportunity to expose our people to some traditional Eastern liturgical Marian prayer since they are coming to Church each May evening anyway!
And, Griego, every month is Mary's Month in the Eastern Catholic Church!
In addition to her Great Feasts, the daily Horological services sing her praises incessantly and we have more than 1,000 miraculous Icons that have their own feast-days and even liturgical services.
Every iconostasis ALWAYS has the icon of the Mother of God next to the Royal Doors along with the Icon of Christ.
The Theotokos Icon is actually the icon of the First Coming of Christ, the icon of Christ standing alone is that of His Second Coming and the space in between, the Royal Doors, is our lives lived between the two Events, one that has occurred and the other that will occur.
Alex
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