Nativity Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
VESPERS ON THURSDAY 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 You were nailed to the Cross, О Saviour,* the sun beheld and dimmed its rays in fear of You,* and the veil of the temple was rent in two;* the earth quaked, and the stones likewise split asunder with trembling,* unable to bear the sight of their Creator and God willingly suffering unjustly upon the Tree,* and reviled by men.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
When the Cross was set up and You were pierced in the side with the spear, О Sinless Saviour,* the sun hid itself, unable to bear the sight;* the earth trembled, and when You were reviled, the rocks split asunder in fear;* and all creation cried out to You:* Glory be to Your crucifixion whereby You have saved all,* О Word and Lover of mankind!
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Wholly cast down to the ground, wholly wounded,* the most wicked serpent was brought low by a strange fall* when You were uplifted upon the Tree, О Lover of mankind.* And Adam who before was condemned* was loosed from the curse and became saved.* Wherefore, we also pray: Save us all, О Compassionate One,* and grant us Your kingdom!
Tone 4
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Manifestly illumined by the brightness of the Spirit of God,* most blessed Paramon,* you despised the total darkness of idolatry.* When your time had come, most blessed one,* you approached the suffering before you with a courageous mind!* Revealed as victorious, you cast down the prideful enemy of all mortals,* as you magnified Christ!* Entreat Him to save and enlighten our souls!
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Witnessing a great multitude slaughtered for the King and God of all, * you burned with divine zeal, Paramon, crying out:* I am ever a true servant of Christ!* Understand, evil tyrants,* for behold, I was summoned and now I come* to be slain like an innocent lamb!* Therefore, do not be deceived:* I am forced to become an acceptable sacrifice to Him* Who for my sake was freely slain in the flesh!
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
The honoured choir of athletes,* three hundred seventy in number,* with faith cast down the falsehood of the evil-doers’ idolatry.* You also were crowned with them,* having struggled with a courageous mind, Paramon,* and rejoicing, you joined the choirs of the bodiless hosts!* Ever pray with them that we who honour and bless you* may be delivered from all sorrow and dangers!
Tone 2, Glory… Now…
When the unblemished ewe-lamb beheld her Lamb* willingly led as a man to the slaughter,* she said, weeping:* “Do You now hasten to leave me childless who gave You birth, O Christ,?* What is this that You have done, O Redeemer of all?* Even so I will hymn and glorify Your extreme goodness,* which is beyond understanding and all telling,* O Lover of mankind!”
Prokeimenon, Tone 6
My help is from the Lord,* Who made heaven and earth.
verse: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help shall come.
Aposticha
Tone 2
О Christ God my Saviour, who saved Peter in the sea,* save me by the power of the Cross,* and have mercy on me.
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.
They who ever enjoyed Your gifts cried aloud, “Crucify Him!”;* they who slew the righteous ones asked that a malefactor be released to them in place of the Benefactor.* But You kept silence, О Christ, enduring their savagery,* desiring to suffer and thus save us,* in that You love mankind.
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.
Having hated the pleasures of life,* the passion-bearers were deemed worthy of the good things of heaven* and have made their abode together with the angels.* By their prayers, О Lord, have mercy and save us.
Tone 2, Glory… Now…
When iniquitous men raised You, the Life of all, up upon the Tree, О Saviour,* Your pure and most immaculate Mother,* standing forth and lamenting, exclaimed:* “O my sweet Child, light of my eyes, woe is me!* How have You suffered to be nailed to the Cross between two evildoers,* О You who have suspended the earth upon the waters?”
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 FRIDAY 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
Titus 1:15-2:10
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
Luke 20:19-26
Communion Hymn
Rejoice in the Lord, O you just;* praise befits the righteous.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 32:1)