The Akathist Hymn is one of the most beautiful works in Orthodox hymnography. During the Salutations to the Virgin Mary, on the third Friday of the Great Lent, the 3rd Stasis is read.
This part refers to the restoration of creation, which is redeemed from sin and spiritually renewed through the Incarnation and the Passion of our Lord.
3rd Stasis
The new creation revealed the Creator by showing himself to us whom he created, sprouting up from an unseeded womb, while preserving it just as it was, unspoiled, so that beholding the miracle we might extol her by saying:
Rejoice, flower of incorruption; Rejoice, crown of chastity.
Rejoice, illuminator of the impress. of the resurrection; Rejoice, for the angelical life you exemplified.
Rejoice, tree with luscious fruit, by which the faithful are sustained; Rejoice, foliaged tree of beautiful shade beneath which many are sheltered.
Rejoice, you who were pregnant with the guide for the wayward; Rejoice, you who gave birth to the redeemer of captives.
Rejoice, by whom the righteous Judge is pacified; Rejoice, forgiveness of many offenders.
Rejoice, robe of those without hope; Rejoice, tender love that defeats every longing;
Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
Seeing the strange childbirth, let us be estranged from the mundane, transporting our mind to heaven. For this purpose the most high God appeared on earth as a lowly man, wishing to attract to heaven those who cry to Him: Alleluia.
Present below completely but in no way absent from on high was the uncircumscribable Logos. For this was divine condescension and not a change of place. He was born of a God-chosen virgin who heard this that follows:
Rejoice, uncontainable land of God; Rejoice, doorway of sacred mystery.
Rejoice, unbelievable myth for the unfaithful; Rejoice, unequivocal boast of the faithful.
Rejoice, all-holy vehicle of Him who rides the Cherubim; Rejoice, exquisite domicile of Him who mounts the Seraphim.
Rejoice, bringer of opposites to harmony; Rejoice, joiner of virginity -and childbirth.
Rejoice, through whom sin was nullified; Rejoice, through whom Paradise was opened.
Rejoice, key of Christ's kingdom; Rejoice, the hope of eternal blessings.
Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
All Angels were quite amazed by the great deed of Your incarnation. For they beheld the once inaccessible God accessible to all as- a man living among us, while hearing from everyone: Alleluia.
Eloquent rhetors we see mute as fish before you O Theotokos. For they are at a loss to explain how you had the power to give birth and yet remained a virgin. But we the faithful marveling at the mystery cry out with faith:
Rejoice, vessel of God's wisdom; Rejoice, storehouse of God's providence.
Rejoice, revealer of philosophers as fools; Rejoice, exposer of the technologists as irrational.
Rejoice, for the fierce debaters are made foolish; Rejoice, for the creators of the myths have wilted.
Rejoice, breaker of the webs of the Athenians' logic; Rejoice, filler of the nets of the fishermen.
Rejoice, drawer of many from the abyss of ignorance; Rejoice, enlightener of many with knowledge.
Rejoice, ship for those wishing salvation; Rejoice, harbor for life's navigators.
Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
Wishing to save the world, the creator of all came down to it of his own will. And while being the shepherd as God, for us he appeared like us, as a man; and having called his own, like by like, as God he hears: Alleluia.
