Paraklesis

DIMITRI CONOMOS

A service of supplication and intercession. Loosely based on the structure of Matins, this unique service combines litanical prayer, a gospel reading, psalmody, and hymnody. It may be celebrated in church with a priest or at home as a service of the laity. Its function is to call upon Christ or one of his saints for succor, blessing, and mediation. The most popu­lar (and presumably the model for subse­quent imitations) are the Great and Small Parakleses to the Mother of God. Either one is chanted (often in alternation) each day during the fast of the Dormition (August 1–14).