Akathist to the Life-giving Pillar and the Lord’s Robe

To my Champion and invincible Helper, the holy and divinely radiant Pillar, which shineth over the Lord’s Robe woven from above, flasheth like lightning upon the heaven-like throne, adorneth those who sing and keep its feast, and granteth a dawning and twofold joy to those who offer it praise: Rejoice, O radiant Pillar.

O our Champion and invincible Helper, holy and divinely radiant Pillar, who shinest over the Lord’s Robe woven from above, flashest like lightning upon the heaven-like throne and grantest twofold joy to those who sing and keep the feast, who offer thee praise: Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Behold, gather at this holy feast of the Lord, ye ends of the earth, and ye angels with men, all together in unity of spirit: prophets and patriarchs, apostles, martyrs and hierarchs, choirs of fathers and virgins. Hasten all and fly hither, rejoice, call aloud and cry out; strike the harp, O prophet, and open all ye holy Scriptures to praise the life-giving Pillar, and say:

Rejoice, holy and life-giving Pillar, for thou shinest like the dawn over the divine Robe; rejoice, Pillar that enlightenest the ends of heaven and makest souls fruitful with immortality; rejoice, blessed Pillar, that ever gazest with radiant eye upon the holy Robe; rejoice, thou who flashest like lightning and pourest forth holy myrrh for the faithful; rejoice, divine Pillar that givest souls a taste of sweetness; rejoice, Pillar, fellow-counsellor and initiate of Moses the great seer of God; rejoice, leader and fellow-traveller of Israel; rejoice, forerunner of the new law, who didst minister to the Son of God on Tabor and at the Jordan; rejoice, light that bearest witness to the Light as the beloved Son; rejoice, hope of the fathers, of desert ascetics and holy strugglers, radiant sight seen from time to time; rejoice, thou who like arrows piercest the hearts of the faithful with sunlike golden rays; rejoice, thou who in Sion didst descend upon the apostles in twelve parts as tongues of fire; rejoice, above all, prefiguring of the all-holy Theotokos, who sprang from the earth and was raised to heaven and united us with God; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Ye heavens with the earth, and earth with thy offspring, and heaven amid thy luminaries, sun and moon with the stars, and again earth with all thy offspring, sing out all together! Ye cattle with the beasts of the field, be at peace; and ye plants and trees of many colours, wondrous ones of field and wilderness, ye fruitful in fruits and fragrant, give forth your fragrance and gather together, sing and praise! Let the living creatures too leap for joy, for the holy life-giving Pillar radiantly gladdeneth in spirit and filleth with the food of immortality its people, who sing: Alleluia.

Beholding and knowing thee, radiant as an angel, praised in song by the powers on high and making the whole world bright with miracles, we stand amazed and cry to thee, saying thus:

Rejoice, thou who with thy brightness shinest beneath heaven; rejoice, thou by whose wonders the world flasheth with light; rejoice, all-radiant sun that never setteth; rejoice, light that surpassest the luminaries in brilliance; rejoice, for thou shinest like the dawn over the holy and blessed Robe; rejoice, for thou flashest like lightning upon the throne of the Son of God; rejoice, renewal of failing faith; rejoice, destroyer of the evil of idols and revealer of the true faith; rejoice, thou who hast clothed the dwellers of the earth with light; rejoice, thou who didst overthrow the lawless sons of Hagar and raise up the horn of salvation; rejoice, invincible Champion of Christians, who reconcilest God with men; rejoice, thou who hast gained a chosen people, a holy royal race; rejoice, thou through whom they worship the Creator; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Come, all ye offspring of the light, sons of the font, lovers of the feast, and let us behold a strange sight: the Pillar flasheth and sendeth forth rays like lightning, the Robe shineth like the dawn and the beams of light stream forth like the sun, the heaven of the Church becometh a firmament of ether and twofold light, and the feast breatheth fragrance; and we the faithful exult with delight – behold, the meeting of lights! – and singing with feeling we proclaim: Alleluia.

O divine joy, O most glorious feast! O what sweetness that maketh the soul immortal! For to those that portray the Holy Trinity – the throne of God, the Pillar of light and the holy Robe of the Lord – the people of the faithful sing and offer praise, and with them the angels also cry out rejoicing:

Rejoice, throne of God Most High; rejoice, Robe that containest the light; rejoice, living and life-giving Pillar, which the boundless Light, the light-ruling Son of God, raised up as a flashing light and a pillar of fire, to enlighten the heart of the Georgian people, darkened by the delusion of idols, but to devour the unbelieving mercilessly like fire, a just recompense for fleeing from thy holy light; rejoice, O divine Robe, that didst blessedly enfold in that hour the fire of the Godhead; for this wonder is marvelled at above all through thee, that thou wast wrapped in the fire of the Godhead and, remaining untouched, abidest as the hope and strength of our race until this day and for ever, and without doubt it was His power that ineffably guarded thy holiness; rejoice, O thrice-blessed divine Robe; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Let the Light sent from Light, the holy Robe of the Lord, and the life-giving Pillar and the throne of God be praised with fear, and let us sing to the Cause of the lights, saying: Alleluia.

Come then, gather, ye faithful people, united by wondrous love and nourished by Christ with the suckling of holy myrrh, and for the tasting of that holy food which maketh our souls immortal let us too render some small thing in return, praise in words according to our strength:

Rejoice, O Church of God, whom God the Founder of all hath set upon the foundation of the unshakeable strength of the holy apostles, according to the word of the Lord, as He said to Peter, chief of the apostles: “Thou art the rock, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”; and the martyrs He hath hung upon thee as breasts, from which we suck the nectar of blood and reach the haven of immortality and rejoice for ever; rejoice, O radiant Pillar, that shinest from above over the radiant Robe of light like the eye of the sun, to which are given the flashes of lightning of fiery rays, which gleam twofold and wondrously like twin lightnings amid the dawn; rejoice, O covering of God, not prepared by human hands, whose surpassing excellence the name “woven from above” hath made manifest, which only the blessed and all-holy Mother of God was made worthy to touch with her holy hands in ministry; for when with fear and reverence she clothed her Son and God, a twofold blessedness was given thee by the grace of Son and Mother through the touch of both: O thrice-blessed Robe of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ; rejoice, O Cathedral Church, truly the gathering of every good thing, since the Head of all good things and treasures, the Creator and God of all, dwelleth in thee: therefore thou art called the gathering, for all we faithful in thee are clothed with the light of Christ, and in thee we ask deliverance from sins, and in thee shall be our eternal dwelling after we are loosed from these human bodies, in the hope of good things, that we may rise unashamed with gladness on that last great day of judgement and say: Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Let the lights kindled from the Light, more radiant than it and glorious in the world, be praised above all; and ye children of the Cathedral Church, cry aloud, saying: Holy is the exalted and most lofty throne, holy is the blessed Robe, holy art thou, O life-giving Pillar: Alleluia.

Let us stir up the organs and instruments of speech, and let the tongue pour forth abundantly between the lips the nectar that gladdeneth and delighteth the hearing of the soul, and let us speak words of praise thus:

Rejoice, O living and holy Pillar, glorified of old by miracles and adorned with signs of many kinds, when, going before the people of Israel, thou didst lead them unerringly wherever the Creator of all lights willed through thee, and God was glorified by thy wonderworkings in the wilderness forty years together with the great Moses; with great exploits thou becamest a guardian to help the people of Israel and a destroyer of foreigners and of Amalek; rejoice, O Robe of the Son of God, who didst wondrously serve Him whom the heavens cannot contain because of the uncircumscribed and boundless nature of the Godhead, and in thee was wondrously contained the radiant body of the Godhead, which flashed like lightning within thee, and by the light that shone from it all the world was enlightened without stint; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Ye trumpets, thunder to the ends of the earth, and ye powers of heaven who are on high, flash like lightning and fly unceasingly, and speak to all the tribes and rejoice with sighing: Hasten all, for the Son of God prepareth a feast and a wedding in His dwelling, and the all-holy Pillar in its midst, like a breast, He holdeth out to all and giveth us to taste immortality in myrrh that faileth not; and we cry: Alleluia.

Let us not be held back by our good intentions, but still strive with love for a more perfect addition, and again speak a little, since we have bridled the profit of our word by the weakness of our beginning, and let us say:

Rejoice, O throne of God, for in thee things heavenly and earthly are united, those on high with those below by condescension and those below with those on high by exaltation, and they sing rejoicing to God their Creator unceasingly with sweet-voiced doxology: Holy is the Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of His glory, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that cometh and dwelleth in the throne of His glory on earth, who abideth for ever and ever; rejoice, O living and life-giving Pillar, in which holy souls have many times rejoiced, for by the sight of thee thou didst make the life of immortality fruitful, when from time to time thou didst appear to the souls of the saints who struggled in deserts and in the clefts of rocks, and to the martyrs adorned with many struggles, who were strengthened by the sight of thee, looking with hope to the splendour of rewards to come; rejoice, ye twin lights and twin eyes brighter than the sun, that shine and flash upon one another like lightning in the ether, and the sun in fire, and the dawn in the morning star; for when the Pillar shineth from above upon the Robe and the Robe from below upon the Pillar, those twin lights meet together; whose souls would not rejoice at that blessed sight, the work of the Son of God? rejoice, O holy Church, who holdest in thy womb as a breast the holy Pillar of light, which giveth suck not of milk but of holy myrrh that maketh souls immortal, pouring forth without grudging the nectar of immortality, tasted by the souls of all the peoples clothed with Christ; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

The lofty throne of God, likened to the heavens, which holdeth the Pillar in its womb, like a mother gladdeneth her children with its brightness, and poureth forth an abyss of grace, holy myrrh and golden nectar, the dew of the Spirit, for those who say: Alleluia.

O all-radiant one, who makest radiant and enlightenest the heart and mind of all who hope in thee! As God hath wondrously made thee known, so thou too dost wondrously save all and deliver from trials those who call upon thy name and say:

Rejoice, O tower that containest the unapproachable light, which we hold as an alabaster box that beareth within it a holy and sanctifying fragrance, a sweet savour for holy souls; for when the woman broke the alabaster box, anointing the feet of the Lord with ointment, she laboured, but this present image becometh for thee the giving forth of holy myrrh, though thou remainest unbroken now and for ever; rejoice, O divine Robe, given by the Son of God to our Georgian race as guardian and protector, covering and enfolding not only the body of the Godhead, but still more the nakedness of our souls through sin; for He who ordereth all things in wisdom sent thee beforehand as the ransom and pledge of our salvation, that by that good and blessed guardianship thou mightest guide our souls rightly on the path of truth; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

As two preachers like rivers, the great Andrew and the venerable Nino, swept away all the abomination of idols from the land of the Georgians, so these two rivers water unceasingly the fruit of the Spirit and sweep away every defilement of those who sing: Alleluia.

These two rivers, sweeping away delusion from this side and that and cleansing defilements, rejoice and adorn the feast, and sigh aloud with us, and praise the life-giving Pillar, saying:

Rejoice, O throne that imitatest the heavens, for thy holy womb beareth the most exalted and surpassing holiness, the beauty and blossoming of the adornment of the lights within thee; for when the life-giving Pillar and the Lord’s Robe meet one another with their brightness like sun and moon, and the priests and deacons show forth a manifold brightness like stars by the sanctified service of the spotless, and singing sweetly with cherubic and seraphic lips over the Sacrifice of the Lord stand with reverence, then all things are made equal to the dignity of thy blessedness, O throne that imitatest the heavens; rejoice, radiant Pillar, who wast wondrously a witness to the Son of God and the glory of the Godhead when thou didst flash on Tabor above Jesus the light-ruling God-man, proclaiming the second coming; for the radiance of thy glory made the chief apostles, gazing strangely upon the Son of God, as though breathless, struck with awe at once by the light of thy glory and by the voice of Moses and Elijah; and again at the Jordan, when He drowned the sin of men in the waters, and all glory was seen as from God Himself; rejoice, O Robe, beyond the praise of human tongues; for if the wrappings of servants are so glorified, as is known of the vestments of Aaron, the veil of Moses’ face, the mantle of Elijah and of John, the handkerchiefs and aprons of Peter and Paul, who then can praise thy glory, in which He whom the heavens cannot contain, God Himself the Creator of all, was pleased to be contained? rejoice, O thrice-blessed divine Robe, for this alone is worthy praise for thee – to be called the Robe of God Himself, O divine Robe of the Lord; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Today the Wisdom of God and Word of the Father hath prepared for His throne a glory incomprehensible and wholly boundless, and the life-giving Pillar, which gleameth with that radiant light and filleth all the world with divine fragrance, keepeth festival and enlighteneth the soul and heart of those who sing: Alleluia.

When children were slaughtered at the high place of the idols, Satan rejoiced; but here, before the Pillar, when children are enlightened from the font, Satan laments and the angels rejoice; and let us magnify Christ, saying:

Rejoice, O throne of God Most High, for here I am constrained to praise thee with the most exalted and most blessed song of songs: nothing is equal to this blessedness; O rejoice then, rejoice in thy praise and glory, for by being called the throne of God and by containing God in thee thou becomest a figure of her who is higher than all creatures and surpasseth all praise, the all-holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in whom He was contained: what further glory, who can praise thee, O thrice-blessed one? for it sufficeth for thy praise and glory to be likened to her, through whom God came down to earth and united things heavenly and earthly; and we, tasting the Body and Blood of her Son, rejoice thereby unto the ages of ages; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

To this Pillar raised up by God, which cleaveth the air and ascendeth like lightning to the height of the ether and in mercy returneth again to us for ever and standeth in our midst, let us sing with the wondrous David and say: Blessed is He that cometh to us in the name of the Lord, who ever abideth and shineth for ever. And again we cry: Holiness becometh Thy name, O Lord, unto length of days; save us, Thou who art on high: Alleluia.

O God, who in Sion didst pour out the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and in tongues of fire didst show them forth as burning up the tares of heretics and the altars of the idols, and didst fill them with wisdom: so let wisdom fall upon us too like a drop of fire, that we may worthily adorn the feast with divine song and say:

Rejoice, O radiant Pillar that enlightenest all who hope in thee, for in thee also I prepare to offer the most exalted and surpassing praise and blessedness, as a good end and haven for all good things; for thou too as a figure bearest the honour of that all-blessed Mother of God, for truly we know from the holy Scriptures that she is called a Pillar of light foreshown, reaching from earth to heaven, springing from the earth and raised to heaven, in whom the Lord who dwelt in her abideth for ever, and through her God is in our midst; therefore how far beyond words is the remembrance and praise of thy glorification, O radiant Pillar, figure of that most exalted Pillar of light, the blessed Virgin; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

Today Christ the Son of God prepareth a most radiant and blessed joy for His Bride the Church, who holdeth in her womb as a holy lamp the life-giving Pillar, and it flasheth like lightning and enlighteneth all the world and gladdeneth the ends of the earth; and we, the children of the Church, with the powers of heaven cry and say: Alleluia.

The ranks of angels who sing invisibly around thee, O life-giving Pillar, become visible to us; and we with them glorify God who hath adorned thee, and say:

Rejoice, life-giving Pillar, who pourest forth holy and sanctifying myrrh for the souls of the faithful and deifiest all who flee to thee; rejoice, life-giving Pillar, brighter than the sun and higher than the sight of the ether; rejoice, thou who dimmest the lights of dawn and lightning; rejoice, light invisible in thy beauty to these fleshly eyes; rejoice, thou who art untouched and unexplored by human hands; rejoice, O Robe more blessed than all blessings, for of thee too I speak of God in things many and boundless: were anyone to gather all theologians and orators and those of the highest philosophy, who could tell the worth of thy blessings and praises? for thou wast made worthy of twofold honours of incomprehensible praise, when the nature of the Godhead, dwelling in a body, was enfolded by thee, and again the all-blessed and blessed fingers of His all-holy Mother ministered to thee with longing and love in tenderness; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

O blessed mother Nino, boast of the apostles and glory of women, who by thy struggle and labour, by constant prayer and fasting, wast made worthy of a blessed vision fitting for angels alone, for thou didst see the Pillar untouched by human hands raised up to heaven, and again brought down by the nectar of thy tears; between heaven and earth, unapproachable by human things, it abideth for ever and sheltereth the souls and bodies of those who sing: Alleluia.

O thine ineffable and wondrous blessedness, O wrapping of light of the Lord and God, radiant with lightnings, holy Robe, covering of the body of the Son of God! In conclusion I compose a common and single “Rejoice” for you, O three undivided, divided distinctly and undividedly one in light and one in radiance, figures of the Holy Trinity:

Rejoice then, rejoice, and again I will say, in honour of the Trinity, the figure of your number; rejoice, holy throne, radiant Pillar and divine Robe, for blessed and thrice-blessed is the remembrance and praise of your holiness; and more and higher than this, for your prefiguring showeth forth the whole fellowship of the all-holy Theotokos: O holy Church, who art become a throne through God dwelling in thee; and O radiant Pillar, who with ethereal radiance enlightenest the race of men; and O divine Robe, who coverest by enfolding the nature of the Godhead: pour forth for us ever, pour forth golden nectar and stream abundantly and unfailingly with holy myrrh, the immortal food of the soul, and grant us divine grace in abundance and forgiveness of sins through the help of the Mother of God herself, to those who in hope love her mercy, since it is the commandment of her Son: Knock, and it shall be opened unto you; seek, and ye shall find; Rejoice, O radiant Pillar and life-giving Robe!

(This verse is said thrice, and then Ikos 1 and Kontakion 1.) Composed by Nikoloz Gulaberidze (second half of the 12th century), poet, translator, historian, scholar and churchman (Patriarch of Georgia 1176–1190).