Presanctified Liturgy: Friday in the 4th Week
St. Theophylact the Confessor
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 1 (to the special melody “O all-praised martyrs…”):
Watched over by divine guardians, /
thou wast preserved unharmed, O father Theophylact; /
and thou didst show thyself to be an unshaken pillar of the Church, /
undaunted by the trials of the snares of the heretics. /
And now do thou pray, //
that peace and great mercy be granted to our souls. Twice
O blessed father Theophylact, /
beholding God accessibly and visibly, /
and delighting in Him through a higher union, /
and deified by this communion, /
rejoicing, thou didst receive the Blessed One Whom alone thou didst desire,/
O most honored hierarch, //
making thine abode now with the angels.
Having departed the earth, O father Theophylact, /
thou didst soar aloft to heaven, O blessed one, /
and wast vouchsafed to live in the heavenly mansions, /
because of the persecution which thou didst endure for Christ. /
Him do thou now beseech, //
that He grant peace and great mercy to our souls.
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.