Beneath Thy Compassion, Theotokos

(The oldest Byzantine icon of Mary, c.600)

“Theotokos,” an ancient name given to Mary, attributed to her by theologians such as Origen and early church fathers, is found, in its earliest written and lyrical form, in a prayer entitled, “Beneath Thy Compassion.” “[Theotokos], rendered in Greek...probably appeared for the first time in the very region of Alexandria, Egypt” 1. The title "Theotokos" title was declared a valid name attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Church in the Council of Ephesus, in 430 ad. “During that Council, to the great joy of Christians, the truth of the divine motherhood of Mary was solemnly confirmed as a truth of the Church's faith. Mary is the Mother of God (= Theotókos).”2

This discovered hymn, which is still practiced today, is said to have dated back as far as 250 AD, long before the Council of Ephesus... within the time of Origen, “precisely where [he] lived for the first half of the century,”3 the very time this hymn was predicted to have been written.

In the Greek, in which it was originally found:

Υπο την σην ευσπλαγχνιαν καταφευγομεν Θεοτοκε. τας ημων ικεσιας μη παριδης εν περιστασει, αλλ’ εκ κινδυνων λυτρωσαι ημας, μονη αγνη, μονη ευλογημενη.

It was discovered within Coptic Christian liturgy from the 3^rd Century. Written in Greek, this beautiful text translates:

Under your
mercy
we take refuge,
Mother of God! Our
prayers, do not despise
in necessities,
but from the danger
deliver us,
only pure,
only blessed.

And, this is what it sounds like:

Taking the english translation of the text, I have endeavored to apply what I imagined this hymn might have sounded like if it were written today, attempting to keep with it a prayerful, solemn tone:

1. II, John Paul, Pope. "Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II." Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

2. Benedict XVI, Pope. "31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI." 31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

3. Benedict XVI, Pope. "31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI." 31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.