Οἶκος Ξ'
The Call to Heavenly Ascent
The mystery of the Incarnation invites the believer to detach from worldly concerns and fix their gaze upon the heights of heaven.
Seeing this strange birth, let us become strangers to the world and set our minds on heaven. For this is why the Most High God appeared on earth as a humble man: he wanted to draw up to the heights those who cry out to him. Alleluia.1
Read the original Latin
Ξένον τόκον ἰδόντες, ξενωθῶμεν τοῦ κόσμου, τὸν νοῦν εἰς οὐρανὸν μεταθέντες· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ ὑψηλὸς Θεός, ἐπὶ γῆς ἐφάνη ταπεινὸς ἄνθρωπος· βουλόμενος ἑλκύσαι πρὸς τὸ ὕψος, τοὺς αὐτῷ βοώντας· Ἀλληλούια.
Notes
- 1 ↩Ξένον τόκον / ξενωθῶμεν is deliberate wordplay (strange birth → become strangers). 'Strange' is kept for that echo rather than softened to 'wondrous' alone; the birth is both alien to ordinary generation and theologically marvelous.
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos companion
Never lose the rhythm again
Chosen Portion delivers your morning, midday and night office to your phone — the Hours, without the bells.
Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
- Three daily prayer moments scheduled around your real calendar, not a monastery's
- Psalms and historic prayers sequenced for you — no page-flipping or decision fatigue
- A visible streak of completed offices, so the rhythm compounds instead of collapsing