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Event Information:
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Fri10Mar2023
Friday of the Third Week of the Great Fast - Presanctified
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 Your 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.
You were called Sophronius by divine foreknowledge: a name meaning chastity.* You were righteous and chaste in your deeds, courageous and wise.* As a most eminent administrator,* you were crowned nobly with natural virtues of both soul and body* and you grew in them with steadfastness.
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
You were called Sophronius by divine foreknowledge: a name meaning chastity.* You were righteous and chaste in your deeds, courageous and wise.* As a most eminent administrator,* you were crowned nobly with natural virtues of both soul and body* and you grew in them with steadfastness.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Your mouth thundered forth the teachings of theology, all-blessed Sophronius!* You clearly expounded the theology of the Unoriginate Father, the Co-Unoriginate Son* and the equally everlasting Holy Spirit:* the Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity;* one God in essence!
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You wisely taught that the Word is equally unoriginate with the Father, most wise one;* that though incorporeal, He united flesh to His Person, without change or confusion;* that His actions are two-fold,* for both natures from which he acts and is beheld are revealed as contained, one in the other,* for He is one, undivided in essence.
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
The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself in the ark. Then he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and again sent out the dove; however, she did not return to him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed, the surface of the ground was dry. Now in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then the Lord God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and their wives with you. Also, bring out with you every living thing of all flesh: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth, so they may abound on the earth, and increase and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, along with his wife and his sons and their wives. Every animal, every bird, and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth, according to their kind, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to God, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered whole burnt offerings on the altar. So the Lord God smelled a sweet aroma. Then the Lord God thought it over and said, “I will never again curse the earth because of man’s works, although the mind of man is diligently involved with evil things from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing 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
A righteous man will never fail,
But the ungodly shall not inhabit the earth.
The mouth of a righteous man distills wisdom,
But the tongue of an unrighteous man utterly destroys.
The lips of righteous men distill grace,
But the mouth of the ungodly is perverse.
Deceitful scales are an abomination before the Lord,
But a righteous weight is acceptable to Him.
Wherever arrogance enters, there also is dishonor,
But the mouth of the humble meditates on wisdom.
When a righteous man dies, he leaves regret,
But the destruction of the ungodly is immediate and brings joy.
Righteousness cuts straight and blameless paths,
But ungodliness embraces wrongdoing.
The righteousness of upright men delivers them,
But lawless men are taken to their destruction.
When a righteous man dies, his hope does not perish,
But the boast of the ungodly perishes.
A righteous man escapes from a snare,
But the ungodly man is handed over in his place.
There is a snare for citizens in the mouth of the ungodly,
But the perception of the righteous is prosperous.
A city stays upright in the good things of the righteous,
But it is razed to the ground by the mouths of the ungodly.
A man in need of discernment treats citizens with contempt,
But a man of discernment keeps quiet.
A double-tongued man reveals deliberations heard in council,
But a man faithful in spirit conceals matters.
Those for whom there is no leadership fall like leaves,
But there is salvation in much counsel.