Veneration of the Theotokos icon. Clergy and common people are praying to the Theotokos for deliverance from misfortunes on the sides of the portable Hodegetria icon.
It is believed that the kontakion “Unto you, O Theotokos, invincible Champion” was written later than the main text of the Akathist as it was first performed on 7 August 626 to commemorate the end of the siege of Constantinople by Persians and Avars.
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