Despoina Panaghia .:. Δέσποινα Παναγία
- 15 years ago
This is an Akathist hymn by Saint Nektarios of Aegina who was a dedicated scholar, well versed in the ancient texts and in the liturgy of the early Byzantine Church.
The titles which have been encoded in this hieratic aretalogy of the Panaghia are those which were used to invoke the pre-Hellenic Great Goddess :
Despoina ("Mistress"),
Nymphe ("Bride"),
Meter ("Mother"),
Kore ("Daughter"),
Kuria ("Lady"),
Anassa ("Queen"),
Basilissa ("Queen"),
Pantanassa ("Queen of All Things"),
Panaghia ("All Holy One" cf. Ariadne / Ariagne ).
Despoina has, in living memory, been one of the names by which the memories of the Goddess are retained in the land - and this has been well documented since the 1800s - the very time that this inspired litany came into being.
The chorus "Khaire Nymphe" is an invocation to "The Bride" and appears in Orphic hymns long before it was appropriated by the Byzantine Church.
The musical arrangement is timeless, extraordinarily beautiful and evocative.
The titles which have been encoded in this hieratic aretalogy of the Panaghia are those which were used to invoke the pre-Hellenic Great Goddess :
Despoina ("Mistress"),
Nymphe ("Bride"),
Meter ("Mother"),
Kore ("Daughter"),
Kuria ("Lady"),
Anassa ("Queen"),
Basilissa ("Queen"),
Pantanassa ("Queen of All Things"),
Panaghia ("All Holy One" cf. Ariadne / Ariagne ).
Despoina has, in living memory, been one of the names by which the memories of the Goddess are retained in the land - and this has been well documented since the 1800s - the very time that this inspired litany came into being.
The chorus "Khaire Nymphe" is an invocation to "The Bride" and appears in Orphic hymns long before it was appropriated by the Byzantine Church.
The musical arrangement is timeless, extraordinarily beautiful and evocative.