Florus and Laurus were brothers in the flesh, and in spirit and in vocation. Both were zealous Christians and, by occupation, stonecutters. They lived in Illyria. A pagan prince hired them for the building of a temple to the idols. It happened that during their work, a piece of stone flew and struck the eye of the pagan priest’s son who was observing the work of the builders with curiosity. Seeing his son blind and bloody, the pagan priest began to shout at Florus and Laurus and wanted to beat them. Then, the holy brothers said to him that if he would believe in the God in whom they believed, his son would be healed. The pagan priest promised. Florus and Laurus prayed with tears to the one, living, Lord God and traced the sign of the Cross over the child’s injured eye. The child was immediately healed and his eye became whole just as it had been. Then the pagan priest Merentius and his son were baptized and, shortly after that, both suffered for Christ by fire. When they completed the temple, Florus and Laurus placed a cross on it, summoned all Christians and consecrated it in the name of the Lord Jesus with an all-night vigil of hymn singing. Hearing of this, the Illyrian deputy burned many of those Christians and threw Florus and Laurus alive in a well and then filled it with dirt. Later, their relics were revealed and translated to Constantinople. These two wonderful brothers suffered and were martyred for Christ and were glorified by Christ in the second century. (Prologue of Ohrid)
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GREAT VESPERS
Kathisma Reading
“Blessed is the man…” is sung.
At Psalm 140
In Tone 4
10. We never cease to adore Your life-giving Cross, O Christ our God,
And we glorify Your resurrection on the third day.
For You, Almighty One, have thereby restored the corrupted nature of all
and reopened the way to heaven,
since You alone are gracious and You love mankind.
9. O Saviour, You have absolved the penalty of disobedience,
committed through the tree of Eden,
by willingly being nailed to the tree of the Cross.
As Almighty God, You descended into Hades
and broke asunder the bonds of death.
We, therefore, venerate Your resurrection from the dead,
and joyfully cry out to You:
Almighty Lord, glory to You!
8. O Lord, You have battered down the gates of Hades,
and by Your death You have dissolved the realm of death.
You have freed mankind from corruption,
bestowing life, incorruption, and Your great mercy upon the world.
7. Come, all you people,
let us sing the praises of our Saviour’s resurrection on the third day.
For we have, thereby, been delivered from the invincible bonds of Hades,
and we have received incorruption, together with eternal life.
Therefore, we cry out to You
after Your crucifixion, burial, and resurrection:
Save us by Your resurrection, for You love mankind.
In Tone 4
6. You were not taken from the earth in a chariot of fire
as was the righteous Elijah,
but He Who is truly the Sun of righteousness
received your most holy soul in His hands.
You have come to final rest in His abode, most pure one,
assumed in honor and grace in an ineffably wondrous manner!
5. Come, lovers of feasts,
celebrate today the holy passage of the Mother of God,
for in joy she has commended her most pure and godly soul
into the hands of her Son
Who shone from the unoriginate Father before all ages
and in the last days came forth from her womb, Jesus our God,
Whom she ceaselessly begs to save us.
4. Most awesome wonder!
She who carried the King in her most pure womb,
now is laid to rest in the tomb
and the assembly of angels with the apostles
bury her honorable body in fear.
But she has been taken up into heaven
by Jesus, her Son, the Savior of our souls!
3. Revealed as perfect stones cut by martyrdom
and quarried by torments, holy ones,
you fashioned yourselves into a church of the Lord,
casting the temples and worship of the idols down to the ground!
Therefore, we call them blest as inhabitants of Paradise;
offerings of the temple of heaven.
2. Touching the relics of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus,
you draw grace and receive enlightenment, gladness and mercy,
for the divine work of healing richly flows from them!
Let us bless them as favorites of the Lord,
earnestly cry out: Glory to You, our God!
1. You were imprisoned in a pit and buried in the earth
at the command of the tyrant.
By divine speech and the revelation of the Holy Spirit
you have been revealed to us
as stars shining with portents, wonders and gifts of healing,
brother athletes and fellow citizens with the angels!
In Tone 4, Glory…
Come, people, let us sing the praises of the pure and most holy Virgin
from whom the Word of the Father ineffably came forth in the flesh!
Let us cry aloud and say:
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the womb that held Christ!
Having delivered your soul into His holy hands
most pure one, entreat Him to save our souls.
Now…
O Mother of God, because of You David the Prophet
became an ancestor of God;
he foretold and sang a joyous hymn of praise
and cried out to Him who worked wonders in you:
“The Queen stood at your right hand.”
God revealed you as a life-giving mother,
when He chose to be incarnate of you without a father.
He renewed in man His image which the passions had corrupted.
He found the lost sheep in the mountains, carried it on His shoulders,
offered it to the Father, generously numbered it among the powers of heaven,
and saved the whole world, since He is Christ of great and rich mercy.
Aposticha
In Tone 4
In being lifted upon the Cross, O Lord,
You abolished the curse which we had inherited from our ancestors.
By going down into Hades,
You freed from eternal captivity those imprisoned there,
and granted incorruption to the human race.
We, therefore, praise Your life-giving and redeeming resurrection.
The Lord reigns, He is clothed in majesty. Robed is the Lord, and girt about with strength.
By hanging on the Cross, O Almighty One,
You shook the whole creation to its foundations.
When You Yourself were laid in the grave,
You raised to life those who had been lying in the graves,
and You granted life and incorruption to mankind.
We, therefore, praise and glorify Your resurrection on the third day.
For He has made the world firm, which shall not be moved.
O Christ, the lawless people showed their ingratitude to You, their Benefactor,
by delivering You to Pilate who condemned you to be crucified.
But You willingly suffered death and burial;
and, as God, You rose by Your own power on the third day,
granting us everlasting life and great mercy.
Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, for length of days.
The women, shedding bitter tears, came to see You in Your tomb;
and not finding Your body, they lamented, saying:
O Saviour and King of All, how were You stolen?
What place holds Your life-bearing body?
An angel answered them, saying:
Do not weep, but go and proclaim that the Lord is risen,
filling our hearts with joy;
for He alone is most compassionate.
In Tone 4, Glory… Now…
Come, people! Let us sing today to Christ our God a song of David!
The virgins that follow her, he said, shall be brought to the King.
With joy and gladness shall they be brought!
For she, through whom we have been made godlike, is of the seed of David,
and gloriously and ineffably commends herself into the hands of her own Son and Master!
Praising her as the Mother of God
we cry out to her and say:
Save us who confess you, Theotokos,
from all distress and tribulation!
Troparia
In Tone 4
When the disciples of the Lord learned from the angel* the glorious news of the resurrection* and cast off the ancestral condemnation,* they proudly told the apostles:* “Death has been plundered!* Christ our God is risen,*granting to the world great mercy.”
In Tone 1, Glory…
Be swayed by the pains that the saints have suffered for You, O Lord,* and heal all our pains,* O Lover of mankind, for this we pray.
Now…
In giving birth you retained your virginity,* in falling asleep you did not abandon the world, O Mother of God.* You passed into life, for you are the Mother of Life,* and by your prayers* you deliver our souls from death.
DIVINE LITURGY
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 4: When the disciples of the Lord learned from the angel* the glorious news of the resurrection* and cast off the ancestral condemnation,* they proudly told the apostles:* “Death has been plundered!* Christ our God is risen,* granting to the world great mercy.”
Troparion, Tone 1: In giving birth you retained your virginity,* in falling asleep you did not abandon the world, O Mother of God.* You passed into life, for you are the Mother of Life,* and by your prayers* you deliver our souls from death.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Kontakion, Tone 4: My Saviour and Deliverer from the grave* as God raised out of bondage the children of the earth* and shattered the gates of Hades;* and as Master, He rose on the third day.
Now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 2: The tomb and death could not hold the Mother of God,* unceasing in her intercession and unfailing hope of patronage,* for, as the Mother of Life, she was transferred to life* by Him Who had dwelt in her ever-virgin womb.
Prokeimenon, Tone 4
How great are Your works, O Lord* You have made all things in wisdom.
verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, You are exceedingly great. (Psalm 103:24,1)
Prokeimenon, Tone 3
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
verse: Because he has regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold, all generations shall call me blessed. (Luke 1:46-48)
Epistle
1 Corinthians 16:13-24
Alleluia, Tone 4
verse: Poise yourself and advance in triumph and reign in the cause of truth, and meekness, and justice.
verse: You have loved justice and hated iniquity. (Psalm 44:5,8)
verse: Rise up, O Lord, to the place of Your rest, You and the ark o
Gospel
Matthew 21:33-42
Hymn to the Mother of God
Seeing the pure one’s falling asleep, angels marvelled in wonder how the Virgin could ascend from earth to heaven.
And the Irmos: O pure Virgin, in you are conquered the bounds of nature,* for childbirth remains virginal and death is betrothed to life.* V
Communion Hymn
Praise the Lord from the heavens;* praise Him in the highest. (Psalm 148:1)* I will take the cup of salvation;* and I will call upon the name of the Lord.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 115:13)