A paraklisis is a supplicatory prayer that is chanted, at any time of distress or sorrow, for the benefit of the faithful. It can be chanted to a specific Saint, but prayers to Panagia are the most popular.

On the 25th of March, nine months prior to the Nativity, we celebrate the Annunciation; the “announcing” of Jesus’ conception. The Greek word for this day is Evangelismos, or “the telling of the Good News”. 

St Gregory Palamas in his homily on the ‘Dormition of Our Supreme Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary’ reveals the mystery that is the Theotokos. He explains how Panagia, through her obedience to the divine plan of God, ‘to things heavenly rather than things earthly,’ made ‘earth heavenly, (since) she deified the human race’.