Presanctified Liturgy: Wednesday in the 1st Week
St. Martinian
Tone 8:
While fasting with the body, brethren, let us also fast in spirit. /
Let us loose every bond iniquity; /
let us undo the knots of every contract made by violence; /
let us tear up all unjust agreements; /
let us give bread to the hungry /
and welcome to our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, //
that we may receive great mercy from Christ our God. (Twice)
If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, /
rightly are these things ascribed to the saints. /
They bowed their necks beneath the sword, /
for Thy sake who hast bowed the heavens and come down. /
They shed their blood for Thee, /
who hast emptied Thyself and taken the form of a servant; /
they humbled themselves even unto death, /
following the example of Thy poverty. /
At their prayers have mercy upon us, O God, //
according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.
Tone 2:
Jesus, the true spiritual Sun, /
sent you out as lightning into all the world, /
and by the brightness of your divine preaching. /
O ye apostles and eyewitnesses of God, /
He has dispersed the darkness of error /
and given light to those held fast in the evil gloom of ignorance. /
Entreat Him to send down upon us also //
His illumination and great mercy.
Elijah, glorified by fasting, /
rode in the divine chariot of the virtues /
and was carried up to the height of heaven. /
Eagerly follow his example, O my humble soul, /
and fast from every evil, /
from envy, strife and passing pleasure. /
So shalt thou escape the harsh and everlasting agony of Gehenna, /
crying out to Christ: //
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Tone 5:
Apostles of God, fervent intercessors for the world, /
defenders of the Orthodox, /
ye who have the power to draw near with boldness unto Christ our God: /
we beseech you, intercede on our behalf, /
that unhindered we may keep the holy season of the Fast /
and receive the grace of the consubstantial Trinity. /
O great and glorious preachers, //
worthy of all reverence, pray for our souls.
Tone 2 (to the special melody “When from the Tree …”):
Come ye, and with hymns let us crown the athlete of Christ, /
the Lamb of the Orthodox, /
as with lilies of the field and the full-grown blossoms of the paradise of God; /
for he hath been manifestly revealed to the world /
as the beauty of purity, the sacrifice of faith, /
the glory of abstinence. //
Wherefore, he hath received the immutable crown of the kingdom. Twice
Having the fire of the divine Spirit within thy heart, /
O Martinian blessed of God, /
thou wast found to have burned up the image of the impure woman /
and wounded the adversary with his own sword, /
without sustaining injury thyself, /
truly putting the most vile one to shame //
and making him an object of derision.
Thou didst kindle a material fire /
against the attacks of the enemy, O all-blessed one, /
having acquired the constant remembrance of the everlasting fire; /
and thou didst cause the burning of the pleasures to wither utterly away. /
Setting thy feet upon a rock, O venerable one, /
thou didst build a hut for thyself thereon; /
and wandering about many lands, //
thou didst receive a crown for thine endurance.
Glory... Tone 2:
Rejoice, O honored and most wondrous boast of Palestine, for thou hast shone forth upon us like an all-radiant sun! Burning up all the power of the enemy, thou didst consume thy members with fire, O blessed one; for in the mountains and the wastelands, and among the islands, he brought every temptation to bear upon thee. In the desert, he set a woman before thee; and even on a rock in the midst of the sea, the tempter assayed to test thee, O wise one. O thrice-blessed Martinian, cease thou never to entreat Christ without fail in behalf of us who keep thy memory with faith.
Both now... Same Tone:
Like a fruitful olive tree, /
the Virgin put Thee forth as the Fruit of Life, /
to bring forth as fruit for the world //
great and rich mercy.
Prokimena and Old Testament Readings
Tone 5: Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us and shalt preserve us * from this generation, and forevermore.
Stichos: Save me, O Lord, for a righteous man there is no more.
Reading: Genesis 1:24-2:3
Tone 6: Look upon me, hear me, * O Lord my God.
Stichos: How long, O Lord, wilt Thou utterly forget me? How long wilt Thou turn Thy face away from me?
Reading: Proverbs 2:1-22