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Sun19Feb2023
The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (321-23) - Presanctified
LITURGY OF THE PRESACNCTIFIED GIFTS
At Psalm 140
In Tone 5
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Saviour, our true sweetness!* Of old, You sweetened the bitter waters of Mara* with the wood that prefigured Your divine Cross.* On it You freely willed to be crucified.* You tasted gall, and Your side was pierced by a lance* releasing the water of redemption* for the renewal of the man of earth!* Therefore, we glorify Your ineffable power.* We beseech You, Lord: Grant us the fear of You in the fast,* forgiveness of sins, and great mercy!
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Word, crucified upon the Cross,* gathering together those who had departed from You:* You have lifted up my reason from the poisoning of passion.* Enrich me now with every good work,* instilling in my heart the purest fear of You;* in my soul, perfect love for You.* By abstinence, prayer and petition may I please You* and receive great mercy,* beholding the day of Your Resurrection in joy!
In Tone 1
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
We are completing the third week of the precious fast.* Enable us, Christ the Word, * to behold the wood of Your life-bearing Cross, * to bow before it worthily,* to praise and glorify Your majesty,* to exalt and magnify Your passion,* to attain in purity the holy, glorious Resurrection* through which Adam re-enters Paradise:* the mystical Pascha!
In Tone 1
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Let us in faith raise a magnificent song as is fitting* to the all-praised Codratus and the great Cyprian,* with the two named Dionysius and Anectus,* together with Crescens and the glorious Paul!* They are divinely crowned athletes of the Lord* and our most fervent intercessors!
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Today another choir of holy martyrs appears: victorious and triumphant!* A brilliant assembly of divine passion-bearers,* a steadfast regiment, a chosen army!* Codratus is its captain.* He is revealed as an all-glorious conqueror!
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
All-praised Codratus, with your cutting words* you slashed through the twisted webs of the philosophers’ wisdom like fog!* You taught in faith and suffered in patience for Christ.* Well-adorned in both teaching and suffering,* you have been crowned with the passion bearers!
In Tone 6, Glory… Now…
When the Mother beheld her Lamb nailed to the cross,* she broke into tears and cried out:* O my sweet Child, once I gave birth to You without pain;* today my heart is filled with sorrow,* for I cannot bear to see You crucified, O Christ,* my most merciful Son.
Prokeimenon I, Tone 6
Have mercy on me, O God* for men trample upon me!
verse: All day long my foes oppress me!
Vespers Reading I
Genesis 7:11-8:3
In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the floodgates of heaven were opened. Then it rained on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his wife, his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives entered the ark. Also, all the wild animals after their kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing moving upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, entered the ark with Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God commanded him. Then the Lord God shut him in the ark.†
Now the flood was on the earth forty days and forty nights. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. So the waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and covered all the high mountains. And all flesh died that moves on the earth: birds and cattle, wild animals, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth, and every man. Thus all things in whose nostrils was the breath of life, and everything on dry land, died. So He blotted out all living things on the face of the earth: both man and cattle, creeping things and the birds of heaven. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark remained alive. Now the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Then God remembered Noah, and whatever was with him in the ark: all the wild animals, all the cattle, all the birds, and all the creeping things. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
Prokeimenon I, Tone 7
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,* for in You my soul takes refuge.
verse: In the shadow of Your wings I will seek refuge!
Vespers Reading II
Proverbs 10:1-22
A wise son makes his father glad,
But a son without discernment is a grief to his mother.
Treasures do not benefit lawless men,
But righteousness delivers from death.
The Lord will not let the soul of the righteous man starve,
But He overthrows the life of the ungodly.
Poverty humbles a man,
But the hands of courageous men enrich others.
A son who is instructed will be wise,
And he will use a man without discernment as a servant.
A son with understanding is kept safe from the heat,
But a lawless son is blasted by the wind at harvest time.
The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of a righteous man,
But untimely grief will cover the mouth of the ungodly.
The remembrance of the righteous is with eulogies,
But the name of an ungodly man is extinguished.
The wise man in heart will receive the commandments,
But the man unguarded in speech will be overthrown in his perverseness.
He who walks in sincerity walks confidently,
But he who perverts his ways will be known.
He who winks his eyes deceitfully gathers grief for men,
But he who reproves boldly is a peacemaker.
A fountain of life is in the hand of a righteous man,
But the mouth of an ungodly man will hide destruction.
Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all who are not lovers of strife.
He who brings forth wisdom from his lips
Beats a heartless man with a rod.
The wise will hide perception,
But the mouth of a rash man approaches destruction.
The acquisition of riches is a fortified city,
But poverty is the destruction of the ungodly.
The works of the righteous produce life,
But the fruits of the ungodly produce sins.
Instruction guards righteous ways of life,
But instruction incapable of criticism goes astray.
Righteous lips cover hatred,
But those who bring forth abuse are very lacking in discernment.
You will not escape sin by a multitude of words,
But you of discreet lips will be forbearing.
The tongue of a righteous man is silver tried in the fire,
But the heart of an ungodly man shall fail.
The lips of righteous men understand lofty things,
But men without discernment die in want.Prokeimenon, Tone 5
You, O Lord, will guard and will keep us, from this generation and for ever.
verse: Save me, O Lord, for there is no longer left a just man. (Psalm 11:8,2)
Epistle
Hebrews 12:1-10
A reading from the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Hebrews.
Brethren, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Alleluia, Tone 4
verse: Shout to the Lord, all the earth, sing now to His name, give glory to His praise.
verse: For You, O God, have tested us, You have tried us by fire as silver is tried. (Psalm 65:2,10)
Gospel
Matthew 20:1-16
The Lord told this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”
Communion Hymn
Rejoice in the Lord, O you just;* praise befits the righteous.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 32:1)