Upcoming Days

Event Information:

• Tue

  22

  Oct

  2024

  Holy Father John Paul II, Pope; The Holy Wonderworker and Equal-to-the-Apostles Abercius, Bishop of Hieropolis; Holy Seven Youths of Ephesus.

  VESPERS ON MONDAY 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.

  Woe to me who have angered You, my merciful God and Lord!* How many times have I promised to repent, О Christ,* and have been found to be a senseless liar?* I have soiled my first baptismal raiment, and have forsaken my covenant with You,* and this second commandment, which I confessed before You in the presence of men and angels,* have I also abandoned, clad in a lamentable form.* Setting this aside, О Saviour, leave me not to perish utterly.

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

  What answer shalt you find on the day of judgment, О wretched soul?* Who will deliver you from condemnation to everlasting fire and other torments?* No one, if you yourself do not placate the Compassionate One,* forsaking your evil deeds and acquiring a right pleasing life,* every day weeping over your countless transgressions,* which you commit at every hour in deed, word, and thought,* and beseeching Christ to grant you the complete forgiveness of them.

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

  Let sinful habit not seize me, dragging me down, О Saviour,* nor let the demon, which ever wages war on me and subjects me to his will, gain dominance over me;* but rescue me from his dominion with Your mighty hand,* О Almighty One who loves mankind, and reign within me.* Grant that I may be wholly Yours,* and living according to Your will, О Word, may find rest in You,* and cleansing, salvation, and great mercy for myself.

  Tone 2

  For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

  Completely consecrated to God, O holy Abercius,* you were seen to be a keeper of His divine commandments.* Having received grace from on high,* you turned away various sicknesses from men,* expelled demons and cast down their altars.* O blessed one, you implanted the knowledge of God* in those whom, to their shame, ignorance had once placed in danger.

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

  With the light of your divine teachings, O father Abercius,* you brought an end to the night of the many false gods.* You rose like the dawn, making children of the day* of those who once lay in darkness,* as you worked great miracles among them.* Thus, in faith, we celebrate your sacred memory as a feast,* and we all sing together a hymn in your honor.

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

  In the same vessel, O Abercius,* you miraculously joined oil wine and another substance,* so that they could be all served from it,* although by divine grace they were kept separate without being mixed.* By your prayer, you caused a spring of warm water* to flow that healed the sicknesses* of those who draw near to you in faith, O holy Abercius, calling you blessed.

  Tone 3, Glory…

  Venerable hierarch and blessed father,* servant of Christ and wonderworker, Abercius,* you shone with a prophetic life* and were adorned with the charisms of the Apostles.* Now you ceaselessly celebrate the Savior in heaven;* entreat Him, together with the angels,* that our souls be saved from all the dangers that threaten them.

  Now…

  О blessed Mary, divinely joyous Maiden, cloud of the never-waning Light:* Shine the light of repentance upon me who am mindlessly stuck fast in the darkness of sin;* and by your supplications deliver me* from the fire of Gehenna and the unremitting darkness, О most pure Virgin,* and show me to share in the never-setting day,* for I flee beneath your protection.

  Prokeimenon, Tone 4

  The Lord hears me* when I cry out to Him.

  verse: Whenever I called, the God of my justice heard me.

  Aposticha

  Tone 5

  O Lord, I cease not to sin,* nor do I perceive Your love for mankind which You have granted me.* Vanquish my lack of discernment, O You who alone are good,* 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.

  O Lord, from reverent fear of You I tremble,* yet I cease not from committing sins.* Who, when called to trial, does not fear the judge?* Or who, desiring to be healed, angers the physician, as I do?* O longsuffering Lord, have compassion upon my weakness,* and have mercy upon 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.

  Having put on the breastplate of faith and armed themselves with the image of the Cross,* Your saints, О Lord, manfully gave themselves over to torments* and cast down the pride and deception of the devil.* As God almighty, send down peace upon the world through their entreaties,* and great mercy upon our souls.

  Glory… Now…

  Assuage the sufferings of my much-sighing soul,* O you that wipe every tear from the face of the earth;* for you banish the sufferings of mankind,* and dispel the sorrows of the sinful.* For in you do we all have our hope and confirmation,* O most holy Virgin Mother.

  Troparia

  Tone 4

  The truth of your deeds made you for your flock a rule of faith* and an image of meekness,* a teacher of continence.* And so you gained the heights through humility,* riches through poverty,* father and bishop, Abercius* Intercede with Christ, our God,* for the salvation of our souls.

  Glory… Now…

  Let us poor sinners hasten with fervour to the Mother of God;* let us humbly kneel before her and say from the depth of our hearts:* O Lady, be kind to us and help us.* Hasten, for we are perishing under a multitude of sins.* Do not turn away your servants empty-handed,* for you are their only hope and protection.

   

  DIVINE LITURGY ON TUESDAY MORNING

  Troparia and Kontakia

  Troparion, Tone 4: The truth of your deeds made you for your flock a rule of faith* and an image of meekness,* a teacher of continence.* And so you gained the heights through humility,* riches through poverty,* father and bishop, Abercius* Intercede with Christ, our God,* for the salvation of our souls.

  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

  Kontakion, Tone 2: O thunder of justice, spiritual trumpet,* planter of faith and destroyer of heresies,* servant of the Trinity, great hierarch Abercius,* forever standing in the company of the angels,* pray without ceasing for all of us.

  Prokeimenon, Tone 1

  My mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditation of my heart understanding.

  verse: Hear these things, all you nations; give ear all you inhabitants of the world. (Psalm 28:4,2)

  Epistle

  1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

  Alleluia, Tone 2

  verse: The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom and his tongue shall speak judgment.

  verse: The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps will not falter. (Psalm 36:30,31)

  Gospel

  Luke 11:1-10

  Communion Hymn

  The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)