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Wed13Apr2022
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts for Great Wednesday
LITURGY OF THE PRESANCTIFIED GIFTS
At Psalm 140
In Tone 1
- Lead my soul forth from prison* that I may give thanks to Your name.
In You, born of the Virgin, the harlot recognized her God;* ashamed of her sinful deeds, she sighed and wept, and said:* O Lord, loosen my debt to You, as I unloosen my hair.* Grant Your love to the one who loves You, despite all my unworthiness;* and I shall exalt Your love for all,* harlots and publicans alike,* O Lover of humankind and their Benefactor.
- The just shall gather around me* when You have been good to me.
The harlot mixed her tears with the precious myrrh,* as she poured them over Your most pure feet,* which she covered with kisses;* thus You showed her to be justified.* O Lord, who suffered for us,* grant us Your forgiveness and save us.
- Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord;* O Lord, hear my voice!
While the sinful woman was offering You her ointment,* Your disciple conspired against You.* She rejoiced to pour out the precious myrrh,* while he hastened to sell the One who is beyond price.* As she came to recognize her Lord,* the disciple separated himself;* she was set free,* while Judas became enslaved to the Enemy.* She was ennobled through repentance,* while he was disgraced by his vile actions.* O Saviour, who suffered for us,* grant us Your forgiveness and save us.
- Let Your ears be attentive* to the voice of my prayer.
O the misery of Judas!* He saw the sinful woman kiss the feet of the Lord,* and he shamefully thought of his kiss of betrayal.* She loosened her hair,* while he let himself be bound up by passion;* instead of the fragrance of myrrh, he bore the odour of his perverse and evil ways;* for jealousy does not know how to seek what is good.* O the misery of Judas!* O Lord, keep our souls from falling like him.
In Tone 2
- If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
The sinful woman hastened to buy the precious myrrh,* in order to anoint her Saviour.* She said to the merchant:* Give me the myrrh that I might anoint the One* who washed me of all my sins.
In Tone 6
- I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Drowning in the abyss of sin,* the harlot found in You a harbour of salvation.* She poured out myrrh with her tears, and said:* O Lord, You can forgive sins,* but You await the repentance of sinners.* Behold me, O Master, for I am sinking in the storm of sin;* in Your great goodness, save me.
- From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Today Christ comes to the house of the Pharisee,* and the sinful woman falls at His feet.* She bows before Him and says:* Behold, I am drowning in the abyss of sin;* I have lost all hope because of my deeds.* In Your goodness, do not turn away from me;* but grant me forgiveness, O Lord, and save me.
- For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
The harlot loosened her hair for You, O Lord,* while Judas reached out his hand to the godless ones.* One acted to receive Your forgiveness, the other to gain money.* Therefore, we cry out to You:* O Lord, sold for our deliverance, glory to You.
- Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Filled with the odour of sin, the woman drew near to You, O Saviour;* she poured out her tears over Your feet and thus proclaimed Your Passion.* “O Master, how shall I dare to raise my eyes to You,” she cried.* Yet You came to save the fallen;* You raised Lazarus from the tomb;* so lift me also from the abyss of death.* O Lord, accept me in my misery and save me.
- Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
She who was rejected because of her life,* and who was accepted because of her conversion,* came to You, bearing myrrh, and saying:* Do not cast me out, O Son of the Virgin, for I am a wretched one;* O Joy of the angels do not despise my tears;* but receive me in repentance,* and in Your goodness, accept me a sinful one.
In Tone 8
Glory… Now…
O Lord, the woman who had fallen into a multitude of sins,* recognized Your divinity and thus joined the ranks of the myrrh-bearing women;* before Your burial, she offered You myrrh with her tears:* “Alas,” she said, “Woe is me!* The stinging night of pleasure seizes me;* the dark and moonless love of sin grasps me.* Accept the stream of my tears and my copious weeping, O Lord,* for You make the waters fall from the clouds into the sea.* Incline Your ear to the cry of my heart,* for You incline the heavens in Your ineffable condescension.* Allow me to kiss Your most pure feet,* and to dry them with the locks of my hair;* for these are the feet that Eve heard in Paradise,* and, trembling at their approach, she hid herself.* O Lord, who can search out the number of my sins?* Who shall search the depth of Your judgments, O Redeemer and Saviour of our souls?!* In Your infinite love, do not despise Your servant.”
Prokeimenon I, Tone 4
To the God of heaven give thanks* for His love endures forever.
verse: Give thanks to the God of gods, for His love endures forever.
Reading I
Exodus 2:11-22
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner* in a foreign land.”
Prokeimenon II, Tone 4
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,* do not discard the work of Your hands.
verse: I thank You, Lord, with all my heart.
Reading II
Job 2:1-10
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life.” So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and afflicted Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Gospel
Matthew 26:6-16
At that time, while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.