Kon­takion 1

To Thee, the cham­pion leader, do we Thy ser­vants ded­i­cate a hymn of vic­tory and thanks­giv­ing, as ones who have been de­liv­ered from eter­nal death by the Grace of Christ our God Who was born of Thee and by Thy ma­ter­nal me­di­a­tion be­fore Him. As Thou dost have in­vin­ci­ble might, free us from all mis­for­tunes and sor­row­ful cir­cum­stances who cry aloud:

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Ikos 1

An archangel was sent from Heaven to de­clare unto the Theotokos: Re­joice, an­nounc­ing the di­vine In­car­na­tion of Christ, Who de­sired to be born of Her, the Joy of the whole world which was lan­guish­ing in sor­row. Where­fore, heavy laden with sins, but hav­ing ob­tained the hope of sal­va­tion in Thee, we cry out to Thee with com­punc­tion:

Rejoice, good­will of God to­ward sin­ners; rjoice, strong help for those who re­pent be­fore the Lord God! Re­joice, restora­tion of fallen Adam; re­joice, re­demp­tion of the tears of Eve! Re­joice, Thou that dost re­move the stain of sin! Re­joice, laver that dost wash the con­science clean; re­joice, Thou that didst bear the Re­deemer Who freely cleanseth us of our trans­gres­sions! Re­joice, all-won­der­ous rec­on­cil­i­a­tion of all with God; re­joice, bridge that dost truly lead us from death to life! Re­joice, Thou that savest the world from the flood of sin; re­joice, heav­enly lad­der by which the Lord de­scended to us! Re­joice, cause of de­ifi­ca­tion for all!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 2

Behold­ing the streams of won­ders which pour forth from Thy holy icon, O most blessed Mother of God, in that Thou art the good helper of them that pray, the sup­port of the op­pressed, the hope of the hope­less, the con­so­la­tion of them that grieve, the nour­isher of the hun­gry, the rai­ment of the naked, the chastity of vir­gins, the guide of strangers, the as­sis­tance of them that labor, the restora­tion of sight for the blind, the clear hear­ing of the deaf, and the heal­ing of the sick, in Thee do we thank­fully chant unto God: Alleluia!

Ikos 2

Seek­ing to un­der­stand the in­com­pre­hen­si­ble rea­son for the bit­ter sor­rows that as­sail us, in need of con­so­la­tion we flee to Thee, O Mother and Vir­gin. And in that Thou art good, teach us to see in them the mer­ci­ful prov­i­dence of Thy good Son for the sal­va­tion of our souls and the cleans­ing of our many trans­gres­sions, that we may joy­fully cry to Thee:

Rejoice, calm haven of the tem­pest-tossed; re­joice, sure con­fir­ma­tion of them in doubt! Re­joice, only mother of lov­ing-kind­ness; re­joice, ready helper of them in mis­for­tunes and temp­ta­tions! Re­joice, Thou that dost wash away the sor­rows of our sins; re­joice, Thou that healest the grief of our spir­i­tual in­fir­mity! Re­joice, Thou that dost teach us to dis­dain the vain joys of this world; re­joice, Thou that lead­est our minds from the world to that which tran­scen­deth it! Re­joice, Thou that drawest us from the love of things earthly to the heav­enly love of God; re­joice, Thou that grantest us con­so­la­tion and a life of Grace amid our very sor­rows! Re­joice, pledge of eter­nal bless­ings; re­joice, me­di­a­tress of ever­last­ing joy!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 3

With power from on high, do Thou strengthen me, who am af­flicted in body and soul, O good Lady, and vouch­safe me Thy vis­i­ta­tion and prov­i­dent care, dis­pelling the gloom of de­spon­dency and sor­row which en­fold me, that saved by Thee I may un­ceas­ingly cry out to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 3

O Thou that hast an in­ef­fa­ble wealth of lov­ing-kind­ness, that dost stretch forth the hand of Thine as­sis­tance unto all that sor­row, that curest in­fir­mi­ties and healest the pas­sions: dis­dain not even me, O blessed Lady, as I lie upon the bed of mine af­flic­tion and cry unto Thee:

Rejoice, price­less trea­sury of mercy; re­joice, sole hope of the de­spair­ing! Re­joice, heal­ing of my body; re­joice, sal­va­tion of my soul! Re­joice, un­fail­ing strength of the in­firm; re­joice, aid and strength­en­ing of the dis­abled! Re­joice, Thou that quickly as­suagest the wrath of God by Thy sup­pli­ca­tion; re­joice, Thou that dost tame our pas­sions by the power of Thy prayers! Re­joice, sight for the blind and hear­ing for the deaf; re­joice, feet for the lame, speech for the dumb! Re­joice, vis­i­ta­tion of good cheer for the sick; re­joice, for through Thee are Grace-filled heal­ings granted to the in­firm, ac­cord­ing to the mea­sure of their faith!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 4

A tem­pest of many mis­for­tunes and temp­ta­tions doth beset me, and no longer can I en­dure its rag­ings. But as Thou art the mer­ci­ful mother of my Sav­ior and God, lift up Thy hands to Thy Son, be­seech­ing Him to re­gard the bit­ter sor­row of my heart and to raise me up from the abyss of de­spair, who cry to Him: Alleluia!

Ikos 4

O most holy Vir­gin and Mother, hear­ing the prophecy of the right­eous Simeon: A sword shall pierce through Thine own soul, Thou didst keep all these say­ings in Thy heart, un­der­stand­ing that the joy of a mother's heart over her chil­dren can be ac­com­pa­nied with much grief in this world. Where­fore, as one tried in every­thing and able to com­mis­er­ate with a mother's sor­rows, we cry to Thee:

Rejoice, Thou that didst bear the Sav­ior Christ, the Joy of the world; re­joice, Thou that de­liver­est the world from sor­rows! Re­joice, Thou that didst en­dure the blas­phemies and slan­ders hurled at Thy Son; re­joice, Thou that didst suf­fer to­gether with Him through His suf­fer­ing! Re­joice, con­so­la­tion of the sor­rows of moth­ers; re­joice, gra­cious preser­va­tion of their chil­dren! Re­joice, speedy help amid mis­for­tunes; re­joice, cor­rec­tion of the erring! Re­joice, nour­ish­ment of in­fants; re­joice, guid­ance of the young! Re­joice, mother of the or­phaned; re­joice, help of wid­ows!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 5

Behold­ing the di­vinely-flow­ing blood of Thy Son poured forth upon the Cross of our sal­va­tion, as the hand­maiden of the Lord Who didst humbly sub­ject Thy­self to the will of the Fa­ther Who is in the heav­ens, Thou didst give us an ex­am­ple of en­durance and of pa­tience, that amid the fur­nace of temp­ta­tions and pre­sent mis­for­tunes we may cry aloud to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 5

Behold­ing Thee cru­ci­fied with Him in Thy heart and stand­ing with His beloved dis­ci­ple by the Cross, Thy Son and God did say: Woman, be­hold Thy son, and to His dis­ci­ple: Be­hold thy mother, thereby giv­ing Thee as sons all that be­lieve in Him. And hav­ing in Thee a good mother, plac­ing all our hope in Thee amid our sor­row, as par­tak­ers of the sor­rows and suf­fer­ings of Thy Son, we cry to Thee:

Rejoice, mother of the Chris­t­ian race; re­joice, Thou that didst adopt us at the Cross of Thy Son! Re­joice, Thou that didst unite God with mankind; re­joice, Thou that didst join the faith­ful to the Lord! Re­joice, ewe that didst bear the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world; re­joice, cup that drawest joy for us from the Foun­tain of Im­mor­tal­ity! Re­joice, surety of the sal­va­tion of sin­ners; re­joice, search for the per­ish­ing! Re­joice, un­ex­pected joy of sin­ners; re­joice, rais­ing up of all the fallen! Re­joice, healer of all in­fir­mi­ties; re­joice, al­le­vi­a­tion of every sor­row!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 6

O Mother of God, all the ends of the earth pro­claim Thy mer­cies, for by Thy sa­cred pro­tec­tion Thou dost shel­ter the whole Chris­t­ian race for which Thou dost sup­pli­cate Christ our Sav­ior and dost de­liver from all mis­for­tune Thy pious and God-fear­ing ser­vants who faith­fully cry out to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 6

Behold­ing the ra­di­ant Grace which shineth forth from Thy most won­drous icon, O Mother of God, falling down be­fore it with tears, we be­seech Thee: dis­perse the clouds of temp­ta­tions which have come upon us, that we may cry out to Thee with joy:

Rejoice, Thou that bear­est the sup­pli­ca­tions of the faith­ful unto Thy Son and God; re­joice, Thou that thy­self dost pray for us at the throne of Thy Son! Re­joice, in­ter­ces­sor be­fore God that dost save the world from calami­ties; re­joice, help of the Chris­t­ian race, given us by God! Re­joice, tree of goodly shade, whereby many are shel­tered; re­joice, tree bear­ing ra­di­ant fruit, whereby the faith­ful are nour­ished! Re­joice, shel­ter of the world, more spa­cious than a cloud; re­joice, land of promise whence floweth milk and honey! Re­joice, ra­di­ant cloud, un­ceas­ingly il­lu­mi­nat­ing the faith­ful; re­joice, pil­lar of fire, guid­ing the elect to their heav­enly in­her­i­tance! Re­joice, field that yield­est an abun­dance of com­pas­sion; re­joice, be­stower of every bless­ing!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 7

Desir­ing to pro­duce streams of won­ders from Thine icon, "The Joy of All Who Sor­row," Thou, O Lady, didst com­mand the ail­ing Eu­phemia to have a moleben served be­fore it, and hav­ing re­ceived heal­ing, to pro­claim to all the mer­cies be­stowed through this icon, that the source of gra­cious heal­ings be not hid from those in need. Where­fore, we hide not Thy good deeds, but thank­fully glo­ri­fy­ing God, we cry to Him: Alleluia!

Ikos 7

Thy tem­ple, in which we bow down be­fore Thy won­der-work­ing icon, is shown to be a new pool of Siloam, sur­pass­ing the one of old, O Most-pure Lady; for health of body is given not once a year and only to the first-come, but Thou dost al­ways heal every ail­ment and every dis­ease of soul and body of them that has­ten to Thee with faith and love. Where­fore we cry to Thee:

Rejoice, font wherein our sor­rows are drowned; re­joice, cup whereby we par­take of joy and sal­va­tion! Re­joice, rock that givest drink to them that thirst for life; re­joice, tree that dost sweeten the salty wa­ters of the sea of life! Re­joice, in­ex­haustible foun­tain of life-giv­ing wa­ters; re­joice, laver that dost wash away the stain of sin! Re­joice, sweet­en­ing of our sor­rows; re­joice, as­suage­ment of our sor­rows! Re­joice, heal­ing of our af­flic­tions; re­joice, de­liv­er­ance from mis­for­tune! Re­joice, tram­pling down of demons; re­joice, hu­mil­i­a­tion of en­e­mies!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 8

Strangers and pil­grims are we upon this earth, in the words of the Apos­tle: en­dur­ing per­ils at the hands of en­e­mies, per­ils at the hands of rel­a­tives, per­ils at the hands of false brethren, in much want and sor­row. And in that Thou art the good Di­rec­tress, O Lady, do Thou grant us re­mis­sion of our trans­gres­sions be­fore the end, that we may un­ceas­ingly cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 8

Our whole life on earth is painful and filled with grief be­cause of false ac­cu­sa­tions, re­proaches, in­sults, and var­i­ous other mis­for­tunes and temp­ta­tions, for the flesh is weak and our spirit faileth. There­fore, to Thee do we flee, O Mother of God, falling down be­fore Thine all-pure icon. Fill our sor­row­ful hearts with joy and glad­ness, that we may cry to Thee:

Rejoice, guide that dost di­rect us to the heav­enly fa­ther­land; re­joice, queen of Heaven and earth Who dost open unto us the gates of Par­adise! Re­joice, mer­ci­ful one that hast mercy upon us; re­joice, stew­ard that or­der­est well our life! Re­joice, fleece be­dewed, which Gideon didst fore­see; re­joice, blessed womb which didst con­tain the un­con­tain­able God of all! Re­joice, bush that burned and yet re­mained un­con­sumed; re­joice, unas­sail­able wall! Re­joice, life-giv­ing foun­tain; re­joice, never-fad­ing bloom! Re­joice, soft­en­ing of the hearts of the wicked; re­joice, com­punc­tion of the good!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 9

Every sweet­ness of life in this world par­taketh of sor­row: glory en­dureth not, wealth pas­seth, beauty and health fade away, and friends and neigh­bors are taken away by death. Where­fore, sweeten our sor­rows, Thou cause of every good thing, be­stow­ing Thine in­cor­rupt­ible joy upon us that cry out to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 9

The most elo­quent or­a­tors know not with what words to con­sole the sor­row­ful; but do Thou Thy­self, O Lady, speak con­so­la­tion to our hearts, dis­pers­ing the cloud of our sor­row and the gloom of de­spair with the rays of Thy Grace, that we may cry out to Thee:

Rejoice, Thou that hast made glad all Chris­tians that have con­fi­dence in Thee; re­joice, joy and tran­quil­ity of the world! Re­joice, be­stower of di­vine good­ness; re­joice, hope of eter­nal bless­ings! Re­joice, ship of them that wish to be saved; re­joice, har­bor for the voy­ages of life! Re­joice, faith­ful pre­server of them that, after God, do trust in Thee; re­joice, ves­ture of them that are stripped of bold­ness! Re­joice, pre­server and con­fir­ma­tion for all; re­joice, for­ti­fi­ca­tion and sa­cred refuge of all the faith­ful! Re­joice, help of them that faith­fully pray to Thee; re­joice, ra­di­ant knowl­edge of Grace!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 10

Desir­ing to save the human race from eter­nal tor­ment and un­end­ing sor­row, the Lord Who loveth mankind dwelt in Thine ever-vir­gin womb, and gave Thee, His own mother, to the per­ish­ing as a help, pro­tec­tion, and de­fense, that Thou might­est be the con­so­la­tion of the griev­ing, the re­joic­ing of the sor­row­ful, the hope of the de­spair­ing, re­leas­ing them from eter­nal tor­ment by Thine in­ter­ces­sion, and lead­ing to heav­enly glad­ness all that faith­fully cry to Thy Son and our God: Alleluia!

Ikos 10

Thou art the bul­wark of vir­gins, O Vir­gin Theotokos, and of all that flee to Thy pro­tec­tion. Where­fore do we be­seech Thee: help, pro­tect, and pre­serve from temp­ta­tions, af­flic­tions, and mis­for­tunes all the or­phans and help­less ones who cry out to Thee with love:

Rejoice, pil­lar of vir­gin­ity; re­joice, cho­sen ves­sel of pu­rity and chastity! Re­joice, spe­cial crown­ing of them that by chastity make war upon the flesh; re­joice, be­stower of eter­nal re­joic­ing upon them that mourn prof­itably in monas­ti­cism! Re­joice, Thou that dost quench the flame of the pas­sions; re­joice, Thou that dost dis­pel the dark­ness of temp­ta­tions! Re­joice, guide to chastity; re­joice, ram­part of pu­rity! Re­joice, re­for­ma­tion of mankind; re­joice, Thou by whom we are raised up from the fall! Re­joice, stead­fast af­fir­ma­tion of the Faith; re­joice, pleas­ing in­cense of prayer!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 11

We, Thy ser­vants, offer Thee a hymn of com­punc­tion, O Theotokos, for Thou art the all-pow­er­ful helper of our race. As­suage the pains of those who flee to Thee; ap­pease the wrath of God which hath been justly aroused against us be­cause of our sins; de­liver us from every bit­ter pain and sor­row, who cry through Thee to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 11

O Lady, Thy most hon­ored icon, a light-bear­ing lamp lit by the ember of the Grace of God, hath ap­peared unto us for our sanc­ti­fi­ca­tion and con­so­la­tion. And we, hon­or­ing it with love and falling down be­fore it with faith, cry out to Thee:

Rejoice, Thou that by Thy mighty as­sis­tance dost de­liver us from all calami­ties; re­joice, Thou that dost de­fend us from earth­quake and flood! Re­joice, Thou that dost pro­vide for us against hunger of body and soul; re­joice, Thou that dost ex­tin­guish the fire by the dew of Thy prayers! Re­joice, Thou that dost save us from deadly pesti­lence; re­joice, mighty helper in bat­tles! Re­joice, Thou that de­fend­est us from the in­va­sions of for­eign­ers; re­joice, Thou that dost pre­serve us from civil strife! Re­joice, easy pas­sage of them that sail upon the water; re­joice, good guide of them that travel! Re­joice, lib­er­a­tion of cap­tives; re­joice, speedy de­liv­er­ance from the right­eous wrath of God that threat­eneth us!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 12

Wish­ing to give a pledge of Grace to mankind, Thou didst re­veal Thy heal­ing icon to us, O Mother of God, from which streams of won­ders are poured forth for them that ap­proach with faith - in­fir­mi­ties are healed and sor­rows as­suaged. Where­fore do we cry in Thee to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 12

Lau­d­ing Thy mer­cies and won­ders, O Theotokos, we all praise Thee as our stead­fast me­di­a­tress, and we bow down with com­punc­tion be­fore Thee that prayest for us, and we im­plore: lift up Thy hands to Thy Son, that al­ways in this life and after our death His mercy may con­tin­u­ally be upon us that cry out to Thee:

Rejoice, our unashamed hope in life and after our re­pose; re­joice, Thou that dost grant a peace­ful end of this life to them that trust in Thee! Re­joice, our hope and de­fense on the day of judg­ment; re­joice, sup­pli­ca­tion of the just Judge! Re­joice, de­liv­er­ance from ever­last­ing Gehenna; re­joice, hope of eter­nal sal­va­tion! Re­joice, key to the King­dom of Christ; re­joice, por­tal of Par­adise! Re­joice, bridge lead­ing to the heav­ens; re­joice, refuge and good in­ter­ces­sor for all re­pen­tant sin­ners! Re­joice, joy of the an­gels; re­joice, glory and con­so­la­tion of all the right­eous!

Rejoice, O Vir­gin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sor­row!

Kon­takion 13

O all-hymned, di­vinely fa­vored Mother, Thou that didst bear Christ the King, our God, to the joy of Heaven and earth: hear­ken unto the voice of Thy sor­row­ing ser­vants and hav­ing re­ceived this our small sup­pli­ca­tion, de­liver us from every af­flic­tion, sor­row, and temp­ta­tion; heal our in­fir­mi­ties, de­stroy vi­cious slan­ders, drive far from us every evil and enemy, and de­liver from fu­ture tor­ment them that cry in Thee: Alleluia!

Се́й конда́къ глаго́лется три́жды. Та́же Икосъ 1-й и Конда́къ 1-й

First Prayer

O Lady most holy and Theotokos, Thou that art more ex­alted than the Cheru­bim and more hon­or­able than the Seraphim, O di­vinely-cho­sen Maiden, Joy of all who sor­row; grant con­so­la­tion even unto us that are sunk in sor­row, for apart from Thee we have no refuge or as­sis­tance. Thou alone are the Me­di­a­tress of our joy and, in that Thou art the Mother of God and Mother of mercy, stand­ing at the throne of the All-holy Trin­ity, Thou art able to help us, for none that doth flee to Thee de­parteth ashamed. There­fore, hear­ken now in the day of our sor­row unto us who fall down be­fore Thine icon and sup­pli­cate Thee with tears: drive away from us the sor­rows and griefs that as­sail us in this tem­po­ral life, and by Thine om­nipo­tent in­ter­ces­sion may we not be de­prived of eter­nal and never-end­ing joy in the King­dom of Thy Son and our God. Amen.

Sec­ond Prayer

O my most blessed Queen, O Theotokos my hope, guardian of or­phans and in­ter­ces­sor for strangers, Joy of the sor­row­ful, Pro­tec­tress of the op­pressed; Thou be­hold­est my mis­for­tune, Thou seest my sor­row. Help me, for I am in­firm; feed me, for I am a stranger. Thou know­est mine of­fense: do Thou loose it, as Thou dost will, for I have none other help but Thee, nor any other in­ter­ces­sor save Thee, O Mother of God. Do Thou pre­serve and pro­tect me unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Third Prayer

O most holy Vir­gin, Mother of the Lord of the hosts on high, Queen of Heaven and earth, almighty in­ter­ces­sor of our city and coun­try: re­ceive this hymn of praise and thanks­giv­ing from us, Thine un­wor­thy ser­vants, and bear our prayers to the throne of God, Thy Son, that He may be mer­ci­ful to­wards our un­right­eous­ness and ex­tend His Grace to them that honor Thine All-hon­or­able name and bow down be­fore Thy won­der-work­ing icon with faith and love. For we are not wor­thy to be pitied by Him. Where­fore we flee to Thee as our un­doubted and speedy in­ter­ces­sor: hear­ken Thou unto us that sup­pli­cate Thee. Over­shadow us with Thine almighty pro­tec­tion, and re­quest of God Thy Son: zeal and vig­i­lance con­cern­ing souls for our pas­tors, wis­dom and strength for civil au­thor­i­ties, jus­tice and eq­uity for judges; knowl­edge and hu­mil­ity for them that teach; love and con­cord be­tween hus­bands and wives, obe­di­ence for chil­dren; pa­tience for the op­pressed; fear of God for the op­pres­sors; strength of spirit for the sor­row­ful; mod­er­a­tion for the joy­ful; and for all of us: the spirit of un­der­stand­ing and piety, the spirit of mercy and meek­ness, the spirit of pu­rity and right­eous­ness. Yea, O most holy Lady, take pity on Thine af­flicted peo­ple: gather the dis­persed, guide to the right path them that are astray, sup­port the aged, teach the young sober-mind­ed­ness, nour­ish the in­fants, and look down with the gaze of Thy mer­ci­ful as­sis­tance upon us all. Raise us up from the abyss of sin and open the eyes of our hearts to the vi­sion of sal­va­tion. Take pity on us here and now - both in the land of our earthly so­journ and at the dread judg­ment of Thy Son. Cause our fa­thers and brethren who have passed from this life in faith and re­pen­tance to abide in eter­nal life with the an­gels and all the saints, for Thou, O Lady, art the glory of them in Heaven and the hope of them upon the earth. After God Thou art our hope and the helper of all that flee to Thee with faith. There­fore, to Thee do we pray, and as to an all-pow­er­ful helper, to Thee do we com­mend our­selves and each other and all our life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Akathist to the Theotokos, the Joy of All Who Sor­row in Eng­lish
Other hymns in Eng­lish