Daily texts will return after June 20, 2024!
Event Information:
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Fri30Aug2024
Our Holy Fathers and Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexander, John, and Paul the Younger.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
VESPERS ON THURSDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
The appointed psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 5
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Let all the groves of trees rejoice,* beholding the most precious Tree which was made joyous by the suffering of the Master,* shining forth grace like a flame of fire,* pouring forth gifts upon all like water,* and enlightening the thoughts of our souls,* washing away infirmities and driving away invisible passions,* and manifestly vanquishing foreign nations,* ever granting to the faithful victories, blessing 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.
Worshipping with faith the place where the feet of the Lord stood,* as the prophet said, let us glorify Christ who was crucified, and with Himself crucified our transgressions,* who abolished the curse which originated with a tree,* and reconciled with the Father those who had withdrawn far from Him through evil thoughts;* and venerating the nails of his hands and feet, the spear and the reed,* the sponge and the crown of thorns, and the insults and mockery,* and all else He endured, let us venerate them with honour,* for by them we are saved.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Let us crucify all our members with Christ, and let us die to the world;* and desiring to walk in the footsteps of Christ, the Ruler of this world,* let us take His divine Cross upon our shoulder* by rejecting the uprisings of the flesh and the evil lusts which draw our souls into sin,* thinking to stand before Him and to behold Him nailed to the Cross,* breathing His last and surrendering His soul into the hands of the Father,* that we may never be separated from Him.
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.
Most blessed Alexander,* you were a shepherd of the Church;* a champion of orthodoxy wisely casting down the Arian heresy!* You prayed with supplications, all-wise and glorious one,* that his wickedness be cast out of the Church!* Therefore, together we honour you!
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Honourable John,* you disdained the corruption of the flesh,* and in your abstinence and faith, vigilance and confession,* you were found to be an earthly angel and heavenly man!* Entreat Christ that He may grant our souls great mercy!
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You truly submitted to the divine teachings of your namesake!* You hastened to the heights of the virtues,* as to the third heaven, glorious one!* You heard the ineffable and divine words of the Spirit!* As an unshakable foundation of the Orthodox,* by your prayers may the Saviour be merciful to us!
Tone 5, Glory… Now…
Desiring that all receive salvation, O my sinless Christ,* You were pleased to pay a great price, Your precious blood, for our deliverance. *Wherefore, beholding You nailed, Your Mother, lamenting, rent her hair, saying:* O Child, my all-immaculate Lamb,* who desires to deliver the world by Your precious blood,* how have You set to where I cannot see, O never-setting Sun,* who grants to all enlightenment, peace, and great mercy?
Prokeimenon, Tone 6
My help is from the Lord,* Who made heaven and earth.
verse: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help shall come.
Aposticha
Tone 5
О Lord, in the time of Moses the Prophet,* the form of Your Cross was once precisely revealed, and vanquished Your enemies;* and now, possessed of that same Cross, we ask Your help:* Strengthen Your Church, for the sake of Your great mercy, О Lover of mankind!
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.
Though a tree visible by nature, Your Cross, О Christ,* is invested with divine power;* and tangibly revealed to the world,* it wondrously and noetically works our salvation.* Bowing down before it, we glorify You, О Saviour.* Have mercy on us!
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.
Despising all the things of earth, and manfully braving tortures,* you did not fail to attain your divine hopes,* but became heirs to the kingdom of heaven, О most lauded martyrs.* And as you have boldness before God who is the Lover of mankind,* ask peace for the world and great mercy for our souls.
Glory… Now…
Of old, the Virgin Mother, the all-blessed Maiden,* beholding the Lamb, her Son, lifted up upon the Cross, cried out, weeping:* 'Woe is me, O my Son!* How is it that You die who are in essence God immortal?
Troparia
Tone 4
God of our fathers, You always treat us fairly.* Deprive us not of Your mercy,** but by their prayers direct our lives in peace
Glory… Now…
O Virgin, all immaculate Mother of Christ God,* a sword pierced your all-holy soul* when you saw your Son and God willingly crucified.* Therefore, O blessed One,* never cease to pray to Him* that He may grant us forgiveness of our sins.
DIVINE LITURGY ON FRIDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 4: God of our fathers, You always treat us fairly.* Deprive us not of Your mercy,* but by their prayers direct our lives in peace.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 8: As teachers of virtue and the adornment of hierarchs,* the church sings your praises:* By your prayers grant to those who venerate you with love* the achievement of virtues and deliverance from temptations,* for you are invincible.
Prokeimenon, Tone 7
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His venerable ones.
verse: What shall I render to the Lord for all the things He has rendered to me? (Psalm 115:15,12)
Epistle
Galatians 4:8-21
Alleluia, Tone 2
verse: Your priests shall clothe themselves with justice, and Your venerable ones shall rejoice.
verse: For the Lord has chosen Sion; he has chosen it for His dwelling. (Psalm 131:9,13)
Gospel
Mark 6:45-53
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)