Event Information:
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Wed18Dec2024
The Holy Martyr Sebastian and those with him.
Nativity Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
VESPERS ON TUESDAY 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.
You were lifted up like a lamb upon the Cross,* and laid low the uprisings of the deceiver;* and when You were slaughtered You sanctified the whole earth with Your blood.* Pierced by the spear, You commanded the flaming sword to turn away from me,* that I might dwell in paradise and partake without fear of the tree of life.* Wherefore, saved by Your sufferings, I cry out, rejoicing:* Glory be to Your divine Cross, whereby we have been delivered from the ancient curse* and receive from the Tree 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.
Desiring to bring an end to the pain and afflictions of all, О supremely good Lord, my Saviour,* You endured vile crucifixion;* You tasted of gall, О Innocent One, removing the bitter taste of evil;* and wounded, О Word, by the thrust of the spear,* You heal our wounds, in that You are Master.* Wherefore, we hymn Your glorious will,* and bowing down, we honour the spear, the sponge, and the reed,* whereby You have imparted to Your world peace and great mercy.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
“How did the iniquitous multitude of the Jews condemn You to be crucified on the Cross, О Jesus,* taking no pity on You, the Compassionate One?”,* exclaimed the Virgin, weeping, when she beheld lifted up upon the Cross* Him who was born from her womb without suffering;* “and what has the iniquitous council done to You, О my Child most desired, my most beloved Son?* Make haste and save those who glorify Your crucifixion with faith,* and those who magnify me, as You promised,* in that You alone are most good!”
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.
With the dye of your precious blood* you made make for yourself a costly robe of purple,* and, having arrayed yourself therein,* you truly dwell in the kingdom on high, standing before God, the King of all.* Entreat Him that He grant to our souls peace and great mercy.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
With Sebastian there suffered Zoe, Mark and Marcellinus,* and the divinely wise Tiburtius,* enduring threefold waves of torments;* and they have now made their abode in divine peace devoid of pain,* wherein they pray that peace and great mercy be granted to our souls.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
O blessed invincible martyrs,* having forsaken earthly things,* you have hastened to the heavens,* adorned with your wounds and splendidly arrayed in your honoured sufferings.* Pray that peace and great mercy be granted to our souls.
Tone 1, Glory… Now…
In your womb you bore Christ, the Fire of divinity, O all-pure one.* Beseech Him now that He quench the easily kindled matter of my passions,* deliver me from everlasting fire,* and vouchsafe me the splendour of the righteous* when He comes to judge all things.
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 5
О Lord, of old, in the time of Moses the Prophet,* the image of Your Cross, precisely revealed, 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.
Pray for us, О holy martyrs,* that we may be delivered from our iniquities;* for to you have been given the grace* to make supplication on our behalf.
Glory… Now…
Taking upon Himself my whole form, God the Creator clad himself therein,* desiring to refashion the fallen form of Adam;* and was willingly lifted up upon the Cross as one guilty.* But now stretching forth His hands, He heals our hands,* which of old were rendered weak by stretching forth to pluck the fruit of the tree.* And the all-pure one, beholding Him, exclaimed:* What is this Your ineffable long-suffering, О my Son?* I cannot bear to see You who holds the ends of the whole earth in the palm of Your hand,* lifted up upon the Cross!
Troparia
Tone 4
O Lord our God, your holy martyrs* have deserved the crown of immortality* on account of their good fight.* Armed with your strength, they have vanquished their persecutors* and crushed Satan’s dreadful might.* Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
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 WEDNESDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 1: Be swayed by the pains that the saints have suffered for You, O Lord,* and heal all our pains,* O Lover of mankind, for this we pray.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 2: Appearing as radiant lights, O godly martyrs,* you illumine all creation with the brilliance of your miracles,* healing infirmities, always dispelling deep darkness* and praying unceasingly to Christ our God for all of us.
Prokeimenon, Tone 4
To the saints who are in His land, the Lord has made wonderful all His desires in them.
verse: I foresaw the Lord in my sight, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. (Psalm 15:3,8)
Epistle
James 1:1-18
Alleluia, Tone 4
verse: The just cried out and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of their afflictions.
verse: The afflictions of the just are many, and out of them all will the Lord deliver them. (Psalm 33:18,20)
Gospel
Mark 10:11-16
Communion Hymn
Rejoice in the Lord, O you just;* praise befits the righteous.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 32:1)