Having been taught by our holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that it is meet and right to magnify the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, I composed these odes and hymns to praise and celebrate the Most-Holy Mother of the Lord in song, with special consideration for the icon of Our Lady Gorgoepikoos, as well as for the succour and protection of those who call upon it, and to express my eternal gratitude towards the Theotokos for her many benefactions towards me, which are abundant. I published these hymns in order to offer those who love and honour the Mother of the Lord a guide wherein they could find an articulation of their affections towards her, and express them by praising and singing hymns to our Most-Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God. While its publication and distribution was being carried out, the desire to praise Our Lady the Theotokos inspired us to compose new odes and new hymns, and so their number increased, and both odes and hymns multiplied. So then, one-hundred-and-five new odes, fifty-three hymns, nine canons, seven enneaodia, and two triodia were written. In order to fulfil the desire of the faithful, I decided to publish these odes, hymns, and canons in one book together with what had already been published. We have removed four unusual odes from the first edition of the Theotokarion, and this is reflected in this present edition.
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