Saint Mark of Ephesus. Prayer canons to the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria. Canons 3–4

Translation from Greek, Introduction and Notes by Dmitry S. Chepel

Abstract

Eight prayer canons of St. Mark Eugenikos (1394–1445), the future Metropolitan of Ephesus, were written in 1422, when he, a young monk, was forced to return due to the threat of Turkish raids with his elder Simeon from the island of Antigone, where they both labored as monks, to Constantinople, where St. Mark entered in the monastery of St. George of Mangana. In June — August of that year, the Turkish Sultan Murad II besieged Constantinople, but through the prayers of Сhristians to the Mother of God, the Тurks, fearful, retreated from the Сity. The young monk Mark composed eight thanksgiving prayer canons, in eight voices, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God and to this event. The proposed translation is performed based on the publication: Μίνεβα Ε. Το υμνογραφικό έργο του Μάρκου Εὐγενικού. Αθήνα, 2004. Σ. 603–676.