Presanctified Liturgy:
Wednesday in the 2nd Week
Tone
1:
Keeping
a spiritual fast, O brethren, /
let
us speak no lies with our tongue, /
not
giving our brother cause for scandal; /
but
through repentance /
let
us make the lamp of our soul burn brightly, /
and
let us cry with tears to Christ: //
Forgive
us our trespasses in Thy love for mankind.
(Twice)
O
Martyrs worthy of all praise, /
your bodies were not buried in the earth, /
yet
heaven has received you; /
the
gates of
and
entering within ye have eaten from the Tree of Life. //
Pray
to Christ that He may grant peace and mercy to our souls.
Tone
3:
At
the prayers of Thy divine apostles, /
grant in Thy love, O merciful Lord, /
that we may spend the time of the Fast with truly contrite minds; //
so
may we all be saved and glorify Thee.
Mighty
and terrible shall be Thy coming, O Lord, /
when Thou shalt sit in righteous judgment. /
Though
I deserve punishment, condemn me not, //
But
accept the prayers of Thine apostles and spare me, O God.
Tone
6:
O
apostles of Christ, /
shining lights to mortal men, /
treasuries of the wise knowledge of our God, /
filling the world with riches: /
through your holy prayers /
deliver us from temptation as we sing your praises, /
and
guide us through the season of the Fast, /
watchfully guarding our lives in peace. /
So
shall our prayers be acceptable to Christ /
as
we celebrate His Passion, //
and
with boldness we shall offer glory to our God.
Tone
5 (Special Melody: “Rejoice…”):
Rejoice,
O great and all-honorable hierarch, /
all-blessed Alexis, adorner of the Church, /
precious ornament of the holy hierarchs, /
who
helpest Orthodox Christians by thy supplications, /
O
great confirmation of the
help of the helpless, joyous consolation of the grieving, /
fervent advocate for all who sorrow, /
who
drivest away the darkness of ignorance! /
Thou
hast hastened to Christ at the calm havens, /
and,
standing among the choir of the incorporeal ones, /
dost delight in the beauteous comeliness of the Master, /
and
hast moved the hearts of the pious to hymnody. /
Pray
thou to Christ, that He grant peace //
and
great mercy unto our souls.
Rejoice,
O beacon of the whole metropolitan see of
For
thou hast blossomed forth splendidly in virtue, /
like a fruitful olive-tree in the house of God, /
and,
producing diverse fruits, /
thou dost distribute them in abundance among thy flock, /
and
amid the pastures of the Spirit /
thou givest drink to them with the downpouring of
thy prayers /
and
freely pourest forth healing /
upon those who with faith have recourse to the shrine of thy relics, /
O holy
hierarch Alexis. /
Thou
hast prepared thyself as a bright lamp, /
and,
making thine abode in the mansions of heaven, /
hast received crowns as the reward of thy labors; /
for
thou gavest no sleep to thine eyes, /
nor
slumbers to thine eyelids, /
until thou didst sleep the common sleep of all. /
O
venerable hierarch, pray to Christ, //
that He grant our souls peace and great mercy.
Rejoice
and be glad, O all-sacred Alexis, /
gracious preacher, steadfast intellect, /
grapes of the vine of life sprung forth in holiness, /
exuding wine which gladdeneth the hearts of the faithful /
with mellifluous teachings, /
O
head of hallowed anointing, our honored teacher! /
Come
thou and visit us, who are oppressed by sinful passions; /
cast down the audacity of the heathen; /
drive away the adversary; calm civil strife, /
and
ease all pain and illness, praying to Christ, //
that He grant peace and great mercy to our souls.
Rejoice,
O all-glorious city of
Adorn
thyself and be glad, /
possessing such an inexhaustible wellspring of grace, /
the
all-blessed and wondrous great hierarch Alexis, /
who
was adorned with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit /
and
from his youth, through fasting and prayer, /
and
because of his virtuous life, /
became the vessel of the Holy Spirit, /
anointed with the oil of the priesthood, /
and
received the gift of healing from Christ God, the King of all, /
and
even after his repose restored to health /
the
boy whose mother brought him, barely alive, to his precious shrine. /
And
he now poureth forth healing in abundance /
upon those who approach him with faith, /
and
prayeth to Christ, that He grant peace //
and
great mercy unto our souls.
Glory...
Tone 6:
Assembling, O ye who love the feasts of the Church, /
with songs of praise
let us hymn the adornment of hierarchs /
and ornament of the fathers, /
the wellspring of miracles,
the great helper of the Russian land, /
saying: Rejoice, O
Alexis, /
thou steadfast intelligence
imbued with the grace of truth! /
For, having become a receptacle of the all-holy
Spirit, /
thou hast received the
gift of miracles. /
And now, standing before the throne of Christ with
the first hierarchs, //
pray thou for thy
servants.
Both now… Tone 6:
Who doth not call thee
blessed, O all-holy Virgin? /
Who will not hymn thine all-pure
birthgiving? /
For the only-begotten Son /
Who shone forth timelessly
from the Father, /
came forth, ineffably incarnate, from thee, the pure one;
/
and being God by nature, /
He became man by nature for
our sake, /
not divided into two Persons, /
but known in two natures without confusion. /
Him do thou beseech, O pure
and most blessed one, //
that our souls find mercy!
Prokimenon
(Tone 6):
Be
glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous: And be joyful, all ye that are
upright of heart.
Stichos:
Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven.
Prokimenon
(Tone 1):
Let
Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have set our hope in Thee.
Stichos:
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous: It is fitting for the just to give
praise.
And the 3