On Monday, August 3, Archbishop Makarios of Australia presided over the Small Paraklesis to the Virgin Mary at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Sydney.
In his short speech, the Archbishop first explained to the faithful that the Small Paraklesis (Supplicatory Canon) was an excellent hymn, which is both a eulogy and a supplicatory prayer to the Virgin Mary. “Through this Canon,” he noted, “we pay respect to the holiest person in human history.
Because the Virgin Mary is the reason for our salvation. It is the bridge that connected the earth with the sky. It is a staircase that the first step lies on the ground and the last one reaches the foot of the Throne of the Trisilion Deity. It is the key with which the door of Paradise was opened again for man to enter. Therefore, we praise the Virgin Mary because we have great gratitude for her, but at the same time we ask her to save us from the devil, to keep us close to Christ and the Church, to give us strength and health, to help our decisions to aim at the salvation of humankind. We ask the Virgin Mary to save us from diseases, trials and tribulations.”
Focusing his attention on the current ordeal of the pandemic, the Archbishop expressed his deep conviction that “where man cannot give the solution, the Virgin Mary can.” “In the panic of the days due to the pandemic, we must think,” he underlined, “that the Virgin Mary is the good hope for all of us.”
Given this, the Archbishop stressed that the prayer to the Virgin Mary is an additional necessity these days. He, therefore, asked the faithful not to lose their courage, but to intensify their prayers to the Virgin Mary for the benefit of all humanity and especially for the sake of our fellow human beings in Melbourne who are facing a great ordeal. “Our prayers to the Virgin Mary,” he urged, “must become intense, conscious, substantial, true.”