Presanctified Liturgy:
Friday in the 4th Week
St. Sophronius, Patriarch of
Jerusalem
Tone
7:
My
soul’s dignity I have enslaved to the passions; /
I
am become like the beasts, /
and
have no power to lift mine eyes to Thee, Most High. /
But
with my head bowed like the publican, /
I
pray to Thee, O Christ, and cry aloud: //
God
be merciful to me and save me.
Twice
Tone
7:
Glory
be to Thee, O Christ our God, /
boast of the apostles, joy of the martyrs, //
whose preaching was the consubstantial Trinity.
O
holy martyrs, /
who
have fought the good fight and received your crowns, //
pray to the Lord for mercy on our souls.
Despising
every earthly thing, O holy martyrs, /
and
bravely preaching Christ in the arena, /
ye received from Him the due
reward for all your sufferings. /
Since
He is almighty God /
and
ye have boldness in His presence, /
to
you we run for help; /
we
entreat you, pray to Him //
for
the salvation of our souls.
O
martyrs worthy of all praise, /
sheep of Christ’s spiritual flock, /
ye
are a living offering /
and
a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. /
Earth
did not cover you, but heaven has received you. /
Ye
have become companions of the angels: /
we
entreat you, pray with them to God our Savior, /
that peace be given to the world, //
and
salvation to our souls.
Tone
4 (Special Melody: “As valiant among the martyrs…”):
Called
the namesake of chastity /
by
divine foreknowledge, O Sophronius, /
thou wast righteous and chaste in thy deeds, /
manly and wise and wholly crowned with native virtues. /
And
thou didst remain flourishing in both soul and body //
as
a most eminent arbiter. (Twice)
From
thy theological mouth, /
O
most blessed Sophronius, /
thou didst thunder forth the teachings of theology, /
having clearly expounded the theology /
of
the unoriginate Father, /
and
the Son Who is equally without beginning, /
and
the co-eternal Holy Spirit -- /
the
Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity,
//
God
One in essential identity.
Wisely
didst thou, O most wise one, /
teach that the Word Who is with the Father /
is
equally without beginning, /
and
Who, though incorporeal, /
united flesh to His Hypostasis without change or confusion, /
Whose
actions are two-fold, /
for
both natures of which He is composed /
and
wherein He is beheld, /
being One, undivided in essence, //
apprehended in the one and the other.
Glory… Tone 7:
O Life-giver and Savior, /
give rest to our brethren /
whom Thou hast taken from this
temporary life, /
for unto Thee they cry: //
O Lord, glory to Thee.
Both
now… Tone 7:
Thou hast been known to have
become a Mother /
in supernatural manner, O Theotokos, /
and hast remained a Virgin /
in manner past recounting and understanding; /
and no tongue can describe the wonder of thy birthgiving.
/
For as thy conceiving is
all-glorious, /
so is the manner of thy birthgiving beyond
comprehension; /
for where God so willeth, the order of nature is
over-ruled. /
Wherefore, knowing thee to be
the Mother of God, /
we all earnestly entreat thee: //
Pray thou that our souls be
saved!
Tone
4: O
Shepherd of Israel, attend, * Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.
Stichos:
Thou
that sittest on the cherubim, manifest Thyself.
Lesson:
Genesis 12:1-7
Tone
4: Rejoice
in God * our helper.