The Paraklesis (Supplicatory Canon)

A service of intercession to the Theotokos, sung when someone is in trouble and, in the Greek use, on the evenings of 1 to 13 August through the Dormition fast, except Saturday evenings and the eve of the Transfiguration. The Small Paraklesis is the one most parishes know. It is built as a canon, with the names of the sick or the afflicted read into the middle of it, and its refrain is short enough to carry a whole congregation: Most holy Theotokos, save us. Where the Akathist stands and praises, the Paraklesis asks, and that is the difference between the two great Marian services of the Byzantine rite.