Kontakion of the Akathist Hymn

The Kontakion of the Akathist Hymn which is chanted during the first 5 Fridays of Great Lent. It was first chanted when the Persians, Avars, and Slavs came with a great host and besieged the imperial city of Constantinople while the Emperor Heraclius and the main body of the Byzantine army were absent in the East. There were hundreds of soldiers and ships all the people put their only hope in the Theotokos, then miraculously a violent tempest broke up all the ships and submerged them, and the bodies of the invaders were cast out near the Blachernae quarter of the city where the famous Church of the Theotokos stood. Taking courage from this, the people went forth from the city and repulsed the remaining forces, who fled out of fear. In 673, the city was miraculously delivered yet again, this time from an invasion of the Arabs.