Event Information:
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Fri24Jan2025
Our Venerable Mother Xenia the Roman.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
VESPERS ON WEDNESDAY 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.
Like spiritual rivers issuing forth separately from Eden, О wise ones,* you have watered the whole earth and, having ploughed it,* have sown the preaching of salvation and reaped right fruitful grain, the souls of the saved,* laying them up in the noetic granaries like riches of great price,* О disciples of the Lord.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
From the darkness of passions and pleasures free my heart,* which is sorely distressed by the passions,* О you who are luminaries of the noetic East, most radiant heralds of the Sun,* who announce to all Him who has banished the night of unbelief.* Him do you entreat, that He enlighten also our minds,* in that you were eyewitnesses to Him.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Bearing the saving Word* which was written by the Spirit through the finger of the Father,* you were truly shown to be divinely inscribed tablets of the new grace,* initiates of His mysteries and animate scrolls;* wherefore, you traversed all the ends of the earth,* manifestly showing all mankind the orthodox faith* and the path which leads to the heavens.
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.
First, you transformed your love:* You made yourself faithful by the higher action of your mind.* You departed from the crookedness of pleasure's vanity* and becoming a stranger, blessed one,* you rightly walked by the hard ascent of virtue.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
You hastened to the godly haven,* calmly passing through the waves of the storm of life.* You steered the ship of your soul without foundering* through the bitterness of pleasures, most honoured one,* loaded with spiritual cargo!
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You became a stranger in godly emulation* of Him Who for our sake came from on high to raise up the fallen. * Unknown, you lived among your relatives, wise one!* You ever pray to God, Xenia, on behalf of the faithful.
Tone 2, Glory… Now…
Like a great Sun, the Word, who is equal in honour with the Father and the Spirit,* and who in latter times shone forth upon the earth through the divine Virgin Maiden,* emitted you, О glorious apostles,* like rays illumining with the light of Faith all mankind* which languishes in the darkness of delusion,* leading them to Him with divine teachings.
Prokeimenon, Tone 5
O Lord, save me by Your name,* and in Your power be a judge for me.
verse: O God, hear my prayer; listen to the words of my mouth.
Aposticha
Tone 2
Throughout the whole world You magnified the names of Your preeminent apostles, О Saviour,* for they learned heavenly things and imparted ineffable healings to mortals.* They who were fishermen healed diseases by their handkerchiefs alone;* they who were Jews theologized the doctrines of grace.* For their sake, О You who are full of loving-kindness,* grant us great mercy.
In the morning, fill us with Your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days. Give us joy to balance our affliction for the years when we knew misfortune. Show forth Your work to Your servants; let Your glory shine on their children.
We, who are ever assailed by the actions of the unrighteous,* yet truly find refuge in You, who are God,* offer to You the voice of Your disciples, saying:* Save us, О our Instructor, for we are perishing!* And we pray: Show now to our enemies that You protect and save from misfortunes* those who have recourse to the supplications of the apostles,* overlooking their sins in Your great goodness.* О Lord, glory be to You!
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands, give success to the work of our hands.
Great is the glory you have acquired by faith;* for you not only vanquished the enemy in your sufferings,* but in death you drive away evil spirits and heal the infirm, О physicians of souls and bodies.* Pray to the Lord, that our souls may find mercy.
Tone 2, Glory… Now…
Like a fruitful olive tree,* the Virgin brought You forth as the Fruit of life,* bearing to the world, the fruit of rich and great mercy.
Troparia
Tone 8
The divine image was faithfully preserved in you, O mother,* 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 woman, Xenia,* your spirit rejoices with the angels.
Glory… Now…
When the Mother beheld upon the cross* the Lamb, the Shepherd, and the Saviour of the world,* she exclaimed tearfully:* The world rejoices at the sight of its redemption,* but my heart is afire as I see Your pain on the cross,* which You accept for the sake of all, O my Son and my God!
DIVINE LITURGY ON FRIDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 8: The divine image was faithfully preserved in you, O mother,* 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 woman, Xenia,* your spirit 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: For love of the Lord, O venerable woman,* you scorned the desire for rest and enlightened your soul through fasting,* for you have mightily conquered the beasts.* Through your prayers thwart the rage of fiends.
Prokeimenon, Tone 4
God is wonderful in His saints,* the God of Israel.
verse: Bless God in the churches, the Lord from the fountains of Israel. (Psalm 67:36,27)
Epistle
James 2:1-13
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
Mark 10:23-32
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear*. Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)