Music: O Virgin Pure

This is an English version of a Byzantine hymn called Agni Parthene, or O Virgin Pure. I discovered it when some friends of mine included it in the music for their wedding. Like all Orthodox music, it is almost painfully beautiful -- hypnotic. I've put it up in celebration of the Assumption of Mary (known, in the East, as the Dormition, i.e. falling asleep), which is my favorite of all the Marian feasts of the Church.

O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
More radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O joy of virgin choruses, superior to angels,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O brighter than the firmament, and purer than the sun's light,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
More holy than the multitude of all the heavenly armies,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!

O Ever-Virgin Mary, of all the world the Lady,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O Bride all-pure, immaculate, O Lady Panagia,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O Mary Bride and Queen of all, the cause of our rejoicing,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O noble maiden, gracious Queen, supremely holy Mother,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
More honored than the Cherubim, beyond compare more glorious,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Than the unbodied Seraphim, transcending the angelic Thrones,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!

Rejoice, the song of Cherubim, rejoice, the hymn of Angels,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Rejoice, the ode of Seraphim, the joy of the Archangels,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Rejoice, O peace and happiness, and haven of salvation,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O sacred chamber of the Word, the flower of incorruption,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Rejoice, delightful paradise of blessed life eternal,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Rejoice, O sacred Queen of life, and fount of immortality,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!

I supplicate you, Lady, now, I fervently entreat you,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O Queen of all, I earnestly implore and seek your favor,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O gracious maiden, spotless one, O Lady Panagia,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
I call upon you ardently, O holy, hallowed temple,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O help me and deliver me, protect me from the enemy,
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
And make me an inheritor of blessed life eternal.
O rejoice, Bride unwedded!

Theotokos means 'Mother of God,' a title used in popular devotions since at least the second century and defined as the Church's formal confession in the fifth, at the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). Panagia means 'All-holy,' and is one of the popular liturgical titles of the Virgin Mary in the East; in the West, the partially equivalent titles 'Immaculate' and 'Conceived Without Sin' are more in use.