Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
At Psalm 140
In Tone 7
10. Like the prodigal, I have turned away from Your grace;
I have wasted the riches of Your goodness, O Lord.
I now run to You and cry out:
I have sinned , O Lord, have mercy on me.
9. Like the prodigal, I have turned away from Your grace;
I have wasted the riches of Your goodness, O Lord.
I now run to You and cry out:
I have sinned , O Lord, have mercy on me.
In Tone 5
8. You were not concerned about all these earthly matters,
and you courageously braved the tortures.
You did not sin against hope,
having confidence in God’s love for humankind;
thus you were made heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven,
O most praise-worthy martyrs.
Ask for peace for the world and great mercy for our souls.
7. Putting on the shield of faith
and fortifying themselves with the symbol of the Cross,
Your saints, O Lord, bravely went of their own accord to torture.
They defeated the craft and insolence of the devil.
By their supplications, O all-powerful God,
send peace to the world and great mercy to our souls
6. Intercede for us, O holy martyrs,
that we may be delivered from our iniquities;
for the grace to pray for us is given to you.
5. With your souls filled with unquenchable love,
you endured the most terrible sufferings without ever denying Christ;
and you laid low the impudence of the torturers.
You kept the faith unwavering and unharmed,
and have gone to dwell in heaven.
Therefore, having the boldness to approach the Lord,
beg Him to grant us His great mercy.
In Tone 4
4. You were unvanquished martyrs,
heavenly-minded fathers!
All-praised hierarchs and beacons of the universe,
immovable pillars of the church of God,
and a foundation of its teachings,
instructors of the righteous and destroyers of falsehood,
light-bearing guides for our souls,
fellow citizens with the angels,
and champions of the Trinity!
3. You were unvanquished martyrs,
heavenly-minded fathers!
All-praised hierarchs and beacons of the universe,
immovable pillars of the church of God,
and a foundation of its teachings,
instructors of the righteous and destroyers of falsehood,
light-bearing guides for our souls,
fellow citizens with the angels,
and champions of the Trinity!
2. Let the glorious Ephrem be blessed with divine speeches
together with the divinely wise Basil,
the great Capiton, the godly Agathadorus,
Elpidius, Etherius and the glorious Eugene:
For they lived righteously and suffered in a holy way.
They were revealed to be inhabitants of the Kingdom of heaven!
1. Having slain fleshly knowledge with ascetic labours,
by invoking the name of God,
the glorious Basil raised up a man from the dead!
The most holy shepherd, Capiton,
was seen unconsumed while he stood and rejoiced
in the midst of the fire!
By their supplications, Lover of mankind,
grant us the means of atonement and Your great mercy!
In Tone 5, Glory…
I recall the prophet crying out:
I am ashes and dust.
And again, I looked into the graves and saw bones laid bare and I said:
Which is king or soldier, rich or poor, righteous or sinner?
But, with the just, give rest, O Lord, to Your departed servants,
since You are the Lover of humankind.
Now…
A symbol of the undefiled Virgin and bride was revealed in the Red Sea.
There, Moses divided the waters;
here, Gabriel is the messenger of the miracle.
There, the Israelites crossed the deep and their feet were not even wet;
here, the Virgin gives birth to Christ without human seed.
There, the sea remained uncrossed after the passing of Israel;
here the immaculate remained incorrupt after giving birth to Emmanuel.
Therefore, O Immortal God, who appeared in the flesh as true Man,
have mercy on us!
Prokeimenon I, Tone 4
Give us Your help against the foe,* for human help is vain.
verse: O God, You have rejected us and broken us. You have been angry; come back to us.
Reading I
Genesis 8:4-21
In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark. He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark. In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked – off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth. He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back. In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up. In the second month, on the twenty – seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah: “Go out of the ark, together with your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you – all bodily creatures, be they birds or animals or creeping things of the earth – and let them abound on the earth, breeding and multiplying on it.” So Noah came out, together with his wife and his sons and his sons’ wives; and all the animals, wild and tame, all the birds, and all the creeping creatures of the earth left the ark, one kind after another. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar. When the Lord smelled the sweet odour, he said to himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.
Prokeimenon II, Tone 6
O God, hear my cry!* Listen to my prayer!
verse: So I will always praise Your name; day after day I will fulfil my vows.
Reading II
Proverbs 10:31-11:12
The mouth of the just yields wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the just know how to please, but the mouth of the wicked, how to pervert. False scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a full weight is his delight. When pride comes, disgrace comes; but with the humble is wisdom. The honesty of the upright guides them; the faithless are ruined by their duplicity. Wealth is useless on the day of wrath, but virtue saves from death. The honest man’s virtue makes his way straight, but by his wickedness the wicked man falls. The virtue of the upright saves them, but the faithless are caught in their own intrigue. When a wicked man dies his hope perishes, and what is expected from strength comes to nought. The just man escapes trouble, and the wicked man falls into it in his stead. With his mouth the impious man would ruin his neighbour, but through their knowledge the just make their escape. When the just prosper, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation. Through the blessing of the righteous the city is exalted, but through the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown. He who reviles his neighbour has no sense, but the intelligent man keeps silent.