Book of Akathists
Welcome to the Book of Akathists YouTube Channel. Featuring prayer hymns from the Book of Akathists, and this is where we took our name. Akathist means to not sit. These are standing devotional prayers by definition. However, I’m sure it’s fine to pray these any way you are able. The akathists contain a tremendous amount of information, history, theology, perspective, and Orthodox mindset. We occasionally share thoughts and stories about Orthodoxy as well. These prayers, thoughts, and stories have blessed us personally and we hope they bless you as well. Glory to God in all things.
"A religious hymn is a great blessing for everyone. It brings about a complete Spiritual uplifting and absolute peace and joy in redeemed hearts. It drives away hardness of heart… it dissolves and dissipates despondency."
~Saint Ambrose of Milan
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Book of Akathists
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Happy Feast of Stephen!
St Wenceslas and Stephen and Agnes pray to God for us!
3 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 1
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Book of Akathists
Shout out to dingbobberseer2651 for becoming a Benefactor to the Book of Akathist YouTube Channel. We are working to release O Pure Virgin first to our members. And more Akathists are will be published in 2026 thanks in part to members. May God bless you!
6 days ago | [YT] | 12
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Book of Akathists
Happy Feast of St Nicholas!
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 6
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Book of Akathists
🌲 The Top Ten Orthodox-Hearted Reasons to Buy a Real Christmas Tree from Your Local Lot in 2025
(plus one glorious bonus reason)
1. It continues a tradition whose deepest root goes back 1,301 years to St. Boniface’s felling of the Donar Oak in 723–724 AD (Vita S. Bonifacii by Willibald, ca. 768; MGH SS rer. Merov. 2, pp. 331–353). When the oak of Thor fell by divine power, it split into four pieces forming a cross; Boniface built a chapel from its wood. The “little fir” legend is 19th-century, but the historical event is the first recorded Christian replacement of a pagan sacred tree with an evergreen.
2. It honors St. Boniface the Enlightener of Germany (Old Calendar June 5), pre-Schism Western saint and Apostle to the Germans, martyred in 754 while shielding himself with the Gospel.
3. Every branch points heavenward—an icon of the Incarnation and our ascent to the Father (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation §54).
4. It recalls the Tree of Life lost by the first Eve and restored when the Second Eve, the Theotokos, offered the true Fruit upon the Tree of the Cross (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.19.1 & III.22.4). This theology birthed the medieval Paradise Tree on the Feast of Adam and Eve (first documented Freiburg 1419).
5. It remembers holy Prince Wenceslas of Bohemia (Old Calendar Sept 28), who on the Feast of St. Stephen carried “pine logs” through the snow to warm the poor (carol by J. M. Neale, 1853; Oxford Book of Carols).
6. It recreates the opening scene of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker (1892), an Orthodox composer’s vision of a Christmas-Eve tree that wondrously grows—Nativity making all things new.
7. Ornaments become family icons, just as the earliest trees in Riga (1510), Tallinn (1441), and Strasbourg (1605) were hung with apples, wafers, and candles echoing the Paradise Tree.
8. The scent of pine is the living ison of the feast—steady, unchanging, supporting every hymn and prayer (evergreens still used in Athonite and Valaam festal decorations).
9. Buying locally is love of neighbor: your dollars stay in town.
10. After Theophany the tree is laid to rest, teaching the Paschal mystery: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone” (John 12:24). Manger wood → Cross wood → Empty Tomb.
BONUS 11th Reason – The Unbroken Chain
Do not mulch or burn the tree right away. Cut the trunk and larger branches into pine logs, stack them in the wood-shed, and let them season exactly one year. When next year’s Nativity Fast begins (Nov 15 Old Calendar), bring those very logs into the house to light the fire on the eve of the Feast. In this way the pine that proclaimed “Christ is born!” this year will warm the home that sings “Christ is born!” next year—linking fasting season to feasting season, death to resurrection, in an unbroken circle of wood, fire, and prayer. Just as Good King Wenceslas once did, you will literally carry last year’s Nativity tree to warm the poor in spirit during this year’s.
1 month ago | [YT] | 10
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Book of Akathists
Glory to God.
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