Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
At Psalm 140
In Tone 7
- Lead my soul forth from prison* that I may give thanks to Your name.
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.
- The just shall gather around me* when You have been good to me.
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 6
- Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord;* O Lord, hear my voice!
Your martyrs did not reject You,
nor did they renounce Your commandments.
Through their prayers, have mercy on us!
- Let Yours ears be attentive* to the voice of my prayer.
Your martyrs, O Christ,
have endured many sufferings for Your sake,
and have received their heavenly crowns.
Now they intercede for our souls.
- If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
The suffering martyrs, citizens of heaven,
when taking part in the contest upon earth,
endured manifold torments.
By their intercessions and prayers, preserve us, O Lord.
- I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Your Cross, O Christ, has been an invincible weapon for the martyrs;
for beholding the approach of death
and foreseeing the future life,
they were made strong by the hope that lies in You.
By their intercession, have mercy on us!
In Tone 4
- From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Most richly blessed one,
with pious thought, purity and holiness of mind,
by restraining the passions and observing the commands of Christ,
you strove to preserve the dignity of the image
that was fashioned in the beginning
according to the image and likeness of God!
- For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Most richly blessed one,
with pious thought, purity and holiness of mind,
by restraining the passions and observing the commands of Christ,
you strove to preserve the dignity of the image
that was fashioned in the beginning
according to the image and likeness of God!
- Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
You undertook ascetic endeavour,
followed by suffering in a godly manner.
In both you were well-pleasing to the Creator
Who alone requires of us purity and nobility of soul.
Glorifying His incarnation,
you venerated the holy image of His divine Humanity!
- Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You denounced, venerable one,
those who wickedly rejected the incarnation of the Word!
You perfected the truth, upholding it by enduring wounds
and all kinds of affliction in your bonds and imprisonment.
Therefore you became an heir to the kingdom of Christ:
To ineffable joy and everlasting radiance!
In Tone 6, Glory…
Your creating command was my origin and formation,
for You willed to fashion me, a living creature,
out of visible and invisible nature.
From the earth You formed my body
and gave me a soul by Your divine and life-creating breath.
Therefore, O Christ, give rest to Your servant in the place of the living,
in the abodes of the just.
Now…
Who would not call you blessed, O Virgin most holy?
Who would not sing a hymn of praise to the glory of your giving birth without pain or travail?
The only-begotten Son Himself,
begotten of the Father before all ages,
was made flesh out of you in a manner that cannot be explained, O Woman most pure!
And for our sake He who is God by nature assumed the nature of man.
He is not divided into two persons;
He is understood to have two natures without commixion or confusion.
O noble and blessed Woman,
intercede with Him that He may have mercy on our souls.
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.