Presanctified Liturgy: Monday in the 3rd Week
The 1st and Second Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist
Tone 2:
O loving Father, my folly has stripped me bare of all Thy gifts. /
I have gone far from Thee and have enslaved myself to a strange citizen. /
I led unclean beasts to pasture, /
and eating from their food I was not filled. /
But knowing Thy tender mercy, I have run to Thee: //
in Thy love for man, cover my nakedness and save me. Twice
Because the holy martyrs intercede for us /
and sing in praise of Christ, /
all error is destroyed //
and mankind is saved by faith.
Tone 1:
With grateful souls let us accept the Fast: /
for by the power of the Spirit it makes the stubborn passions wither, /
and gives us strength to do the works of God; /
it makes our mind ascend to heaven, /
and gains for us the forgiveness of our sins //
from the God of all mercy.
Shamefully in my wretchedness /
I have wasted all my life with harlots, /
but like the Prodigal with compunction /
I cry out to Thee, O Lord: /
I have sinned, O heavenly Father; /
be merciful and save me. /
I have departed far from Thee /
and now am destitute of righteous actions: //
O reject me not.
Tone 3: Come, let us all greet the time of holy abstinence /
with cymbals and with songs of praise; /
for through the Father spiritually we trample underfoot the serpent, /
from whom evil takes its origin. /
Therefore let us cry with boldness unto Christ: /
Grant us, Savior, without condemnation /
to look upon Thy precious Cross and to venerate it, //
keeping joyful feast with psalms and hymns.
Tone 5:
Rejoice, O sacred and light-bearing head, /
venerated by the angels, /
which of old was severed by a sword /
and cut down the shame of impurity with sharp reproofs, /
wellspring of miracles which giveth drink unto the faithful, /
and which proclaimeth the saving advent of the Savior /
and of old perceived the coming of the Spirit, /
which took up His abode in thee /
who didst stand between the grace of the Old and New Covenants. //
Entreat Christ God to grant our souls great mercy! Twice.
The head of the Forerunner, /
which once was concealed in an earthen vessel, /
hath appeared, manifestly given up from the bosom of the earth /
and pouring forth streams of healing; /
for in the waters did he wash the head of Him /
Who even now covereth the chambers of the firmament with waters /
and raineth down divine remission upon men. /
Wherefore, let us bless it as truly most glorious, /
and in its discovery let us joyously keep festival, //
entreating Christ to grant our souls great mercy.
The head which proclaimed the Lamb of God /
Who hath appeared in the flesh, /
which with divine commands /
hath declared to all the ways of saving repentance, /
which of old denounced the iniquity of Herod /
and was therefore severed from its body /
and endured concealment for a time, /
hath shone forth upon us like a radiant sun, crying out: /
Repent ye, and in compuction of soul submit now to Christ //
Who granteth the world great mercy!
Glory… Tone 6: The divinely preserved head, /
a treasury of divine gifts, O Forerunner, /
hath shone forth from the bosom of the earth; /
and we, faithfully receiving and bowing down before it, O glorious one, /
are enriched by thee with most glorious miracles //
and the forgiveness of our offenses, O Baptist of Christ!
Both now… Tone 6:
No one who hath recourse to thee, O all-pure Virgin Theotokos, departeth from thee ashamed; for he asketh grace and receiveth a gift for his profitable petition.
Tone 4: In God we will boast all the day long, / and in Thy name will we give praise in the age to come.
Stichos: O God, with our ears have we heard, for our fathers have told us.
Lesson: Genesis 6:10-22
Tone 6: I shall commemorate thy name / in every generation and generation.