Event Information:
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Wed15Jan2025
🕃 Our Venerable Fathers Paul of Thebes and John the Hut-Dweller.
Saint with Six Stichera.
VESPERS ON TUESDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
The appointed psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 2
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
When by divine inspiration you wisely left the cares of life* and set out on the labours of asceticism,* you went out with joy into the inaccessible wilderness,* inflamed with love of the Lord.* Having overcome the passions,* you lived like an angel by your perseverance in the good, O holy father.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Having renounced all human companionship from your youth, O holy father,* you were the first to seek the absolute solitude of the wilderness.* You surpassed all hermits, O holy Paul,* remaining unknown throughout your whole life.* But at the command of God, Anthony found you like a hidden treasure* and made you known throughout the world.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
O holy Paul, as you lived your earthly life,* you dwelt with the wild beasts* and were served by a bird at the command of God.* Seeing this when he found you,* Anthony the Great was filled with amazement,* and he ceaselessly magnified the divine Providence of the Master of all.
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
O blessed Father, when by divine inspiration* you joyfully fled from the pleasures of this world,* you renounced the broad way and chose the narrow, straight, and rugged road.* You went into a spiritual refuge where you put on the divine habit,* denying yourself and stripping yourself of all passions.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
You conceived the amazing plan of your life,* your wondrous behaviour, in your love for Christ,* whose ineffable poverty you cherished.* Without a home, living before the threshold of your parents* you endured need and tribulations.* But you were filled with divine graces and you inherited heaven* and the treasure which no one can ever take away.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
Having the Holy Gospel before you, O father John,* you fulfilled It when you renounced your family inheritance* and spent your whole life in hardship and repentance.* Thus you now rejoice, O venerable father, since God has glorified you* with divine consolation and endless happiness.
Tone 2, Glory…
Renouncing the world and all it contains, O venerable father,* you took up the Gospel of Christ and lived it completely.* In the hut where you dwelt as though in a mystic paradise,* treating your body with the utmost severity,* you put to death the murderous dragon.* Now you dwell in heaven, O holy John:* ask great mercy for us.
Tone 1, Now…
Of old, when you beheld your Son and Master* stretching forth His hands upon the Cross,* His side pierced by the spear,* О pure Mother, you cried out, lamenting:* “Woe is me! How is it that You suffer, ridding men of their suffering,* О Lover of mankind?”
Prokeimenon, Tone 1
Your mercy, O Lord, shall follow me* all the days of my life.
verse: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In green pastures He gives me repose.
Aposticha
Tone 1
The Cross was set up on Golgotha,* and has blossomed forth immortality for us from the ever-flowing fountain* of the Saviour’s side.
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.
The precious Cross of the Saviour is for us an indestructible rampart;* for, placing our trust therein,* we all are saved.
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 how good was your barter, О saints!* For you traded your blood and inherited heavenly things;* and having undergone trials for a time, you rejoice everlastingly.* Of a truth your commerce was good!* For, having forsaken corruptible things, you received those things which were incorrupt;* and joining chorus with the angels, you unceasingly hymn* the consubstantial Trinity.
Glory… Now…
Upon beholding the Lamb lifted up upon the Cross,* the immaculate Virgin cried aloud, weeping:* “O my Child most sweet, what is this new and most glorious sight?* How is it that You who hold all things in Your hand* have been nailed to the Tree in the flesh?”
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…
Since your early youth, you have longed with fervour for the things of the Lord:* leaving the world and its pleasures, you became an example of the monastic life.* John most blessed, you built your hut at the door of your parents' house* and overcame the devil’s guiles.* Wherefore Christ Himself has glorified you as you deserve.
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 WEDNESDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 8: The divine image was faithfully preserved in you, O fathers,* for taking up the Cross you followed Christ.* By your deeds you have taught us to see beyond flesh, which passes,* and care for the soul, a thing immortal.* and so, O Venerable Paul and John,* your spirits rejoices with the angels.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 2: Divinely armed with purity of spirit* and mightily wielding the lance of unceasing prayers,* you overcame the powers of demons,* Venerable Paul and John, pray without ceasing for all of us.
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
Hebrews 10:1-18
Alleluia, Tone 6
verse: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in His commandments.
verse: His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth. (Psalm 111:1,2)
Gospel
Mark 8:30-34
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)