Event Information:
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Sat23Nov2024
Our Holy Fathers Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, and Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum.
Post-feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God. Nativity Fast.
VESPERS ON FRIDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
The appointed psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 4
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Having inherited a mind with free will* and an intellect with absolute power over the passions,* O most blessed father, you imparted intelligent mastery to your higher part,* that, weighed with a scale most true, it might go higher.* You are admitted to divine vision and the knowledge of God,* O divinely inspired hierarch.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
You broke asunder the snares and foiled the pursuit of the heretics, O venerable father,* avoiding division and most wicked contraction* by the rightness of your dogmas and most excellent theology;* and, remaining within the bounds of our pious faith,* you preached the Trinity in the unity of the Godhead.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Skillfully instructing him who reigned on earth,* you passed over his son without rendering him homage,* teaching him sensibly that when the Son is ignored as unworthy of worship* the Father is exceedingly displeased,* who, in manner past understanding, begat Him before time dispassionately as One incorporeal,* as He Himself knows, O venerable one.
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.
O sacred father Gregory, you were offered to God,* cleaving from your earliest infancy to Him who with His mighty hands created all things,* and illumined by Him, you passed through the night of the passions* and shone forth the light of healings and miracles of grace,* dispelling lingering ailments and the spirits of deception.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
O wondrous father Gregory,* in purity you illumined your mind with manifestations of light,* stilled the raging sea of the passions,* and taking wing with dispassion on pinions most precious,* you attained to where there is ineffable and inconceivable beauty,* ever praying for us who praise you.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
O Gregory, father of fathers,* you were a standard of the priesthood,* model of chastity, beacon of love, throne of sensibility,* wellspring of miracles, tongue of fiery inspiration, mouth of sweet discourse,* vessel of the divine Spirit and noetic garden of paradise,* O blessed of God.
In Tone 1, Glory… Now...
Let us sing a hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary,* glory of the whole world!* She was herself formed by human seed,* yet she became the Mother of the Master, the Gate of heaven,* the theme of the angels’ hymn and beauty of the faithful.* She was seen as being heavenly* and the Tabernacle of the Godhead.* She indeed tore down the wall of enmity between God and man,* and brought peace in its place.* She opened up the kingdom of heaven.* Let us therefore cling fast to her for she is the anchor of faith,* and let us receive as our stronghold the Lord Who was born of her.* Be of good cheer, then, and have confidence, O people of God,* for He will fight our enemies for us,* He is all-powerful!
Prokeimenon, Tone 7
O God, You are my defender* and Your mercy goes before me.
verse: Deliver me from my enemies, O God; save me from those who rise up against me.
Aposticha
Tone 1
Let the virgins be brought to the King in the temple of the Lord,* following you, O Virgin,* joining chorus with radiant lamps,* preceding you into the holy place, O pure one,* as you were the holy ark of God,* says David, the ancestor of God.
The virgins that follow after her shall be brought to the King,* those near her shall be brought to You.
Let the gates of the temple of the Lord be made ready,* and let the house of glory be opened wide,* and, rejoicing, let them receive her who alone is far greater than the heavens* and surpasses understanding,* and let them hymn Christ the Saviour.
They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing,* they shall be brought into the temple of the King.
Let the portals of the most divine temple be opened,* let them receive the gate of heaven within themselves;* let human nature keep festival, and let the angels leap up,* all of them celebrating with us* the entry of the Mother of God.
Tone 5, Glory… Now…
The day of joy and the most honored feast has shone forth!* For today she who remained Virgin after giving birth, as she was before birthgiving,* is led into the temple of the Lord,* and the elder Zachariah, the father of the forerunner,* rejoices and cries out in gladness:* “The intercessor for the sorrowful draws nigh to the holy temple, in that she is holy,* to be hallowed in the habitation of the King of all!* Let Joachim, her forebearer, be glad, and let Anna rejoice!* For they have offered to God the unblemished Mistress like a heifer three years of age.* Rejoice, you mothers! Leap up, O virgins!* You barren women, join chorus!* For the Queen of all, who has been foretold,* has opened to us the kingdom of heaven!* Rejoice, you people, and be glad!”
Troparia
Tone 4
Today is the prelude of the good pleasure of God,* and the proclamation of salvation for the human race.* In the Temple of God* the Virgin is clearly revealed,* and beforehand announces Christ to all.* To her, then, let us cry aloud with a mighty voice:* Rejoice, fulfilment of the Creator’s plan.
Glory… Now…
God of our fathers, You always treat us fairly.* Deprive us not of Your mercy,* but by their prayers direct our lives in peace.
DIVINE LITURGY ON SATURDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 4: Today is the prelude of the good pleasure of God,* and the proclamation of salvation for the human race.* In the Temple of God* the Virgin is clearly revealed,* and beforehand announces Christ to all.* To her, then, let us cry aloud with a mighty voice:* Rejoice, fulfilment of the Creator’s plan.
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.
Kontakion, Tone 2: You are thunder in the sky and a heavenly trumpet,* a hatchet against heresy, a labourer in the vineyard,* a great teacher of the dogma of the Trinity, and a bishop.* O Amphilochius, pray unceasingly with the angels for all of us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Kontakion, Tone 4: The Church shines with the splendour of the Holy Spirit* upon those who celebrate your joyful passage into eternal life,* O most blessed father Gregory.
Now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 4: The Saviour’s pure temple,* the precious bridal chamber and Virgin,* the sacred treasury of the glory of God,* is brought today into the house of the Lord;* and with her she brings the grace of the divine Spirit.* God’s angels sing in praise of her:* She is indeed the heavenly dwelling-place.
Prokeimenon, Tone 3
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
verse: Because he has regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold, all generations shall call me blessed. (Luke 1:46-48)
Epistle
Galatians 5:22-6:2
Alleluia, Tone 8
verse: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear.
verse: The rich among the people shall entreat your countenance. (Psalm 44:11,13)
Gospel
Luke 10:19-21
Hymn to the Mother of God
Seeing the entrance of the pure one, angels marvel in wonder how the Virgin could enter the holy of holies
And the Irmos, Tone 4: Let no hand of the profane touch God’s living ark,* but instead let the lips of those who are believers* sing out ceaselessly in the words of the angel,* crying out with great joy to the Mother of God:* O pure Virgin,* you are truly higher than all.
Communion Hymn
I will take the cup of salvation;* and I will call upon the name of the Lord.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 115:13)