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.<br /><br />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 :<br /><br />Despoina ("Mistress"),<br />Nymphe ("Bride"),<br />Meter ("Mother"),<br />Kore ("Daughter"),<br />Kuria ("Lady"),<br />Anassa ("Queen"),<br />Basilissa ("Queen"),<br />Pantanassa ("Queen of All Things"),<br />Panaghia ("All Holy One" cf. Ariadne / Ariagne ).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The chorus "Khaire Nymphe" is an invocation to "The Bride" and appears in Orphic hymns long before it was appropriated by the Byzantine Church.<br /><br />The musical arrangement is timeless, extraordinarily beautiful and evocative.
