Upcoming Days

Event Information:

• Fri

  05

  Jan

  2024

  Theophany Eve. Holy Martyrs Theopemptus and Theonas (284-305). Venerable Syncletica.

  The Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today (aliturgical). The Royal Hours are prayed this day. It is a day of fast and abstention from meat and foods that contain these meat.

  VESPERS

  At Psalm 140

  Tone 4

  If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.

  Let us hymn the wise Theonas and Theopemptus* for, submitting to the dogmas of Christ,* and having splendidly set at nought all ungodly worship,* they worshiped the one Lord and God* in holiness, honour and goodly hope,* confessing Him right boldly before the tyrants;* and they have been crowned from on high.

  I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.

  Having forsaken as fleeting those things of life which drag men downwards,* delight in food and glory which fades like a flower, O most lauded ones,* you cleaved unto Christ, enkindled by His comely beauty,* and you offered yourselves to Him as sweet-smelling roses,* and have been divinely crowned with the diadem of the incorrupt kingdom.

  From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.

  Having hated the world you have been shown to transcend the world,* and have joined the Church of the firstborn;* and with the angels you chant incorrupt hymnody, standing together before God.* And having rejected the vile falsehood of idolatry,* as martyrs you have put to shame the mindlessness of the tyrants.

  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.

  Having truly desired the glory of the fathers, you loved incorrupt glory;* wherefore, forsaking that which is sweet,* you gave your body over to all manner of pain.* And, reigning with Christ, you now receive the reward of your pangs.

  Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.

  He Who permitted the devil when he asked to tempt Job,* desiring to try you like gold,* left thy body to the violence of the evil one;* but having put the tempter to shame by the patient endurance of infirmities,* you have been crowned with a wreath of victory.

  Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.

  Yearning for the comely beauty of Christ the Bridegroom,* and desiring to wed yourself to Him by all manner of good works,* you adorned yourself with the pangs of abstinence;* wherefore, you now reign with Him in His bridal-chamber.

  Tone 4, Glory… Now…

  Make ready, O River Jordan!* For, lo! Christ God comes to be baptized by John,* that in your waters He might crush the heads of the invisible serpents by His divinity!* Rejoice, O desert of Jordan!* You mountains, leap up with gladness;* for our eternal Life comes to restore Adam!* O forerunner John, you are the voice of one crying in the wilderness:* “Prepare the ways of the Lord and make straight His paths!”

  Aposticha

  Tone 4

  O earth, and you that are above the earth,* leap up and rejoice!* the Torrent of sweetness is baptized in the river,* drying up the outpouring of malice;* and He pours forth divine remission.

  Therefore will I remember You from the land of Jordan and Hermon.

  As the Bestower of light Jesus has no need to be baptized,* yet He comes in the flesh to the streams of the Jordan,* desiring to enlighten those who are in darkness.* With fervour let us greet Him with faith!

  The waters saw You, O God, the waters saw You and were afraid.

  Having assumed the guise of a servant,* you come to be baptized by a servant, in the streams of the Jordan, O Christ,* delivering us from bondage to the ancient sin,* sanctifying and illumining us.

  Tone 6, Glory… Now…

  Let the desert of Jordan rejoice, and let it blossom like a lily;* for therein has been heard the voice of one crying in the wilderness:* “Prepare the way of the Lord!"* For He Who set forth the mountains with a measure* and the forested places with His scales,* Who as God fills all things, is baptized by a servant,* granting rich gifts at the beginning of His impoverishment.* Eve once heard: “In pain you shall give birth to children;”* but now the Virgin has heard:* “Rejoice, O you who are full of grace! The Lord is with you,* Who has great mercy!”

  Troparion

  Tone 4

  After Elijah had gone up to heaven,* Elisha threw his mantle in the Jordan River which parted,* opening a way, a dry path between two walls of water, where he could pass,* a true symbol of our baptism by which we pass through this fleeting life.* Christ has been seen at the Jordan River* to sanctify the waters.