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Event Information:
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Fri12Apr2024
Our Venerable Father and Confessor Basil, Bishop of Parios (741-75).
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
VESPERS ON THURSDAY EVENING
Paschal Beginning
Kathisma Reading
The assigned psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 1
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Clothed in a garb of righteousness* whose whiteness transcends that of snow,* let us all exult in this Pascha,* whereon Christ, the Sun of Righteousness,* has dawned forth from among the dead,* brightening us all with incorruption.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
This present day is the King and Lord;* the feast of feasts;* which in all truth the Lord has made.* Wherefore, as the Prophet David hymns *, let us mystically rejoice, O peoples;* for while the doors were shut,* He granted peace to the disciples.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
With his probing right hand Thomas felt the Word’s wounded hands and feet,* and through his unbelief confirmed the world-saving arising;* for the God-man arose from Hades’ dungeons,* and thus destroyed all its strength as One Almighty.
Tone 8
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Your memory is splendidly celebrated with praies, O holy hierarch Basil;* and it filled with joy the assemblies of the Orthodox,* for you loved righteousness, the purity of chastity and meekness,* and ever honoured stillness with excellence and perfection.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Emulating the divine Paul in exiles patiently endured, O holy hierarch Basil,* you reached the end of your life in need and tribulations,* continually oppressed, and ever forced to move;* but now through God you have found habitation and delight* which is without care and immutable.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
As a God-pleasing hierarch* you now look upon the never-waning beams of a noetic habitation,* and, clothed in holiness and clad in righteousness,* you have been vouchsafed to behold things which are above the earth;* and, face to face, O you who are most rich,* you see the beauty of the magnificence of noetic things.
Tone 2, Glory… Now…
Jesus came to the disciples while the doors were shut,* and granted them peace and fearlessness.* Whereupon He says to Thomas:* Why do you not believe that I have arisen from the dead?* Bring your hand here and place it in My side, and see;* because you have disbelieved, all have learned of My Passion and Resurrection,* and they shall all cry out with you:* O my Lord and my God, glory be to You.
Aposticha
Tone 1
The venerable Cross of the Saviour* is an invincible wall for us;* for setting our hopes thereon, we are all saved.
I have lifted up my eyes to You enthroned in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord our God until He has mercy on us.
Receive our evening prayers, O Holy Lord,* and grant us remission of sins;* because You alone have revealed the Resurrection to the world.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been filled with shame; our soul is all too full of the mockery of the rich, of the contempt of the proud.
O Lord, by the intercession of all the Saints and the Theotokos,* grant us Your peace, and have mercy upon us,* since You alone are compassionate.
Tone 8, Glory… Now…
O Thomas, touch My side with your hand, says Christ,* and come, feel the imprints of the nails.* Examine them in faith;* believe in Me, and be not unbelieving.* And when Thomas touched the Master with his finger, he cried out with a great voice:* You are my God and Lord; O compassionately loving One, glory be to You.
Troparion
Tone 8
Guide of orthodoxy, teacher of piety and purity,* luminary of the world, inspired adornment of hierarchs, O wise Basil,* you have enlightened all by your teachings, O spiritual trumpet.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Tone 7, Glory… Now…
While the tomb was sealed, O Christ God, You dawned as life from the sepulchre, and while the doors were shut, You came to Your disciples, the Resurrection of all, renewing a right spirit in us through them, according to Your great mercy.
DIVINE LITURGY ON FRIDAY MORNING
After the priest has exclaimed, Blessed be the Kingdom… and the people have responded, Amen, the clergy sing the Paschal Troparion once and the people repeat it. Then, the clergy sing the first half, and the people conclude it.
Paschal Troparion
Christ is risen from the dead,* trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs* giving life.
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 7: While the tomb was sealed, O Christ God, You dawned as life from the sepulcher, and while the doors were shut, You came to Your disciples, the Resurrection of all, renewing a right spirit in us through them, according to Your great mercy.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 8: With his searching hand, Thomas explored Your life-giving side, O Christ God. For when You entered while the doors were shut, he called out to You with the rest of the Apostles: You are my Lord and my God!
Prokeimenon, Tone 3
Great is our Lord and great is His strength;* and of His knowledge there is no end.
verse: Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; may praise be sweet to our God. (Psalm 146:5,1)
Epistle
Acts 5:1-11
Alleluia, Tone 8
verse: Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord, let us acclaim God our Saviour.
verse: For God is the great Lord and the great king over all the earth. (Psalm 94:1,3)
Gospel
John 5:30-6:2
Hymn to the Mother of God
The Angel cried out to the One full of Grace: O chaste Virgin, rejoice! And again I say, Rejoice! Your Son has risen from the tomb on the third day, and raised the dead. Let all people rejoice! Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Exult now and be glad, O Sion! And you, O chaste Mother of God, take delight in the resurrection of your Son.
Communion Hymn
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem.* Praise your God, O Sion.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm147:1)
Instead of Blessed is He Who comes… we sing:
Christ is risen from the dead,* trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs* giving life.
Instead of We have seen the true light… we sing:
Christ is risen from the dead,* trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs* giving life.
Instead of May our mouths be filled… we sing three times:
Christ is risen from the dead,* trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs* giving life.
Instead of Blessed be the name of the Lord… we sing three times:
Christ is risen from the dead,* trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs* giving life.
At the dismissal, instead of Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen. we chant:
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death,* and to those in the tombs giving life.
After the final Amen, the Troparion Christ is risen is sung as at the beginning of the Liturgy, but with the addition:
And to us He has granted life eternal;* we bow down before His resurrection on the third day.