Daily texts will return after June 20, 2024!
Event Information:
-
Mon22Jul2024
🕃 The Holy Myrrhbearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene; Return of the Relics of the Hieromartyr Phocas.
VESPERS ON SUNDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
There are no psalms appointed to be chanted tonight.
At Psalm 140
Tone 8
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Bearing myrrh with tears, O Mary Magdalene,* on reaching the divine sepulchre you saw an angel of glory* who proclaimed the divine resurrection of the Bestower of life* and the deliverance of all.* Wherefore, you hastened to make announcement to the eleven, saying joyfully:* Leap up, for Christ has risen!
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Serving Christ God, who had become like to us for our sake, O all-lauded one,* and setting your soul and mind afire with continual radiance, you became light.* And, beholding the strange vision of Him hanging upon the Cross,* you said, weeping:* “How is it that Life now accepts a voluntary death?”
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
We celebrate your sacred memory, O you who learned of Christ* and who preached His precepts for the deliverance of men’s souls, O most glorious Mary;* and we venerate with faith the shrine of your relics,* which pours forth inexhaustible grace and enlightenment* upon those who have recourse to it with love, O blessed of God.
Tone 4
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
You offered yourself wholly to Him* who, for your sake, endured His salvific suffering, O all-lauded father,* and you made haste with diligence* to be well-pleasing to Him in the blood of martyrdom* and to cleave to Him.* Hence, crowned by Him, you have been glorified* and enriched by the working of miracles, O all-wise one.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
By your endurance of suffering, O Phocas,* you cast down the arrogance of the iniquitous and the worship of the demons,* manifestly proclaiming the Saviour of all,* illumining the thoughts of the faithful* and dispelling the darkness of the vanity of idolatry* with the enlightenment of your miracles* and the splendour of your struggles, O blessed of God.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
We who are beset by misfortunes,* by the waves of life and the abyss of transgressions,* and are assailed by the tempest of grief,* having you as a haven of salvation, pray with faith:* by your supplications save us who honour your holy memory* from every evil circumstance,* entreating the Lord and Master, who loves mankind.
Tone 6, Glory…
Being the first to behold the divine resurrection of the First Cause of good things,* who in the goodness of His heart has deified our nature,* O Mary Magdalene, you showed yourself to be also the first evangelist,* crying out to the apostles:* “Setting aside your grief, take courage!* Come and behold the risen Christ* who grants the world great mercy!”
Now…
О Theotokos, who at the sound of the archangel’s voice* conceived in your womb the Word,* who with the Father and the Spirit is equally beginningless,* you have been revealed to be more exalted than the cherubim, seraphim, and thrones.
Prokeimenon, Tone 8
And now bless the Lord,* all you servants of the Lord.
verse: Who stand in the temple of the Lord, in the courtyards of the house of our God.
Aposticha
Tone 8
The angels unceasingly hymn You, the King and Master;* and I fall down before You, crying like the publican:* Cleanse me, О God, and have mercy upon me!
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.
As you are immortal, О my soul,* let not the waves of life cover you,* but rise up, crying out to your Benefactor:* Cleanse me, О God, and save me!
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.
О martyrs of the Lord, you sanctify every place and heal every infirmity.* Pray now, we beseech you,* that our souls be delivered from the snares of the enemy.
Tone 8, Glory…
As a disciple who faithfully ministered to Christ God,* who in the excess of His compassion willingly assumed my poverty,* Mary Magdalene, when she beheld Him stretched out upon the Tree and enclosed in the sepulchre,* cried aloud, shedding tears:* “What strange sight is this, O You who give life to the dead?* How is it that You are reckoned among the dead?* What myrrh shall I bring to You who have removed from me the stench of the demons?* What tears shall I shed for You who have wiped away the tears of our first mother?”* Yet, O King of all, You appeared as a gardener,* taking away the burning heat with the dew of Your words,* and said to her:* “Go to My brethren and declare to them the joy of glad tidings;* for I shall ascend to the Father, My God and your God,* that I may bestow great mercy upon the world!”
Now…
Taking up the cry of the Archangel Gabriel, let us say:* Rejoice, O Mother of God, who has given birth to Christ,* the bestower of life upon the world!
Troparia
Tone 1
The honourable Mary Magdalen followed after Christ,* who for our sake was born of the Virgin,* keeping His precepts and laws.* Wherefore, celebrating your most holy memory today,* through your supplications we receive remission of sins.
Tone 4, Glory…
As you shared in the ways of the apostles and occupied their throne,* you found your activity to be a passage to divine vision,* O divinely inspired one.* Wherefore, ordering the word of truth,* you suffered for the faith even to the shedding of your blood.* O hieromartyr Phocas, entreat Christ God,* that our souls be saved.
Now…
To the One who was reared in the Temple,* close to the Holy of Holies,* and who was full of faith, wisdom, and perfect virginity,* Gabriel, the captain and leader,* offered esteem and greetings from heaven when he said:* Rejoice, O blessed One! Rejoice, O glorified One!* The Lord is with you.
DIVINE LITURGY ON MONDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion Tone 1: In keeping His commandments and laws, holy Mary Magdalene,* you followed Christ, Who for our sake was born of a Virgin,* and in celebrating your most holy memory today,* we receive forgiveness of sins by your prayers!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion Tone 4: When God, Who is transcendent in Essence,* came with flesh into the world, Myrrhbearer,* He received you as a true disciple for you turned all your love toward Him;* henceforth you would yourself work many healings.* Now that you have passed into heaven, never cease to intercede for the world!
Prokeimenon, Tone 4
God is wonderful in His saints,* the God of Israel.
verse: In the churches bless God, the Lord from the fountains of Israel. (Psalm 67:36,27)
Epistle
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Alleluia, Tone 1
verse: With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and He was attentive to me, and He heard my prayer.
verse: He brought me out of the pit of misery and the mud of the swamp. (Psalm 39:2,3)
Gospel
Matthew 21:18-22
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear*. Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)