Presanctified Liturgy: Wednesday in the 6th Week
The Holy Fathers Slain in the Monastery of St. Sabbas
Tone 5:
I am rich in passions and clothed in the deceitful robe of hypocrisy, /
and I rejoice in the sins of self-indulgence. /
There is no limit to my lack of love. /
I neglect my spiritual understanding, /
that lies at the gate of repentance, /
starved of all good things, sick through want of care. /
O Lord, make me like Lazarus poor in sin, /
that I be not tormented in the flame /
that never shall be quenched, /
and pray in vain for a finger to be dipped in water /
and laid upon my tongue. /
But in Thy love for mankind //
make me dwell with the Patriarch Abraham. Twice
Your souls, O holy martyrs, /
were filled with an insatiable love; /
not denying Christ ye endured great sufferings and torment, /
and ye cast down the tyrants’ pride. /
Ye kept the faith unaltered and unharmed, /
and now ye have gone to dwell in heaven. /
Since ye have boldness before Christ, //
pray that peace be given to the world, and to our souls great mercy.
When Thou wast journeying in the flesh, O Jesus, /
on the other side of the Jordan, /
Thou hast said to Thy companions:
“My friend Lazarus is already dead, /
and now has been committed to the tomb. /
And so for your sakes I rejoice, my friends, /
for by this ye shall learn that I know all things, /
since I am God, inseparable from the Father, /
though in my visible appearance I am man. /
Let us go then, to bring him back to life, /
that death may feel the defeat /
and utter destruction that I bring upon it, //
bestowing my great mercy on the world.
O ye faithful, let us follow the example of Martha and Mary, /
and as intercessors let us send to the Lord our acts of righteousness, /
that He may come to raise up from the dead our spiritual understanding, /
which lies insensible within the tomb of negligence, /
lacking all feeling of the fear of God /
and having no vital energy. /
So let us cry: As once by Thy dread authority, O merciful Lord, /
Thou hast raised up Thy friend Lazarus, /
so now give life to all of us, //
and grant us Thy great mercy.
Tone: 6:
Lazarus has now been two days in the tomb, /
and He sees the dead from all the ages. /
There he beholds strange sights of terror, /
a multitude that none can number, the prisoners of hell. /
His sisters bitterly lament, looking upon his tomb. /
But Christ comes to bring His friend to life, /
that a single hymn of praise may be offered up with one accord by all: //
Blessed art Thou, O Savior, have mercy upon us.
Tone 4 (Special Melody: “As Valiant among the martyrs…”):
Loving the ultimate Goal of desire utterly, /
O venerable ones, /
ye did account the beauties of life to be but dung; /
and through vigil and prayer, /
through rain and burning heat, /
ye acquired those things which alone are lasting; /
and having dwelt together as one, /
by grace were ye shown to be //
dwellers with the angels. Twice
Beaten with staves, /
stone with rocks, /
cut down with swords, /
ye did not break your oneness of mind, O martyrs, /
bound together by love and fraternal desire; /
yet, slain together, /
your members cut off, O passion-bearers, /
ye have set yourselves upon the altar of God //
as unblemished sacrifices.
Consumed by fire, /
laid waste by suffocation, /
ye committed your souls into the hands of the King of all /
as unblemished sacrifices, O glorious martyrs; /
ye have joined yourselves to the choirs of the incorporeal powers, /
and inherited everlasting glory. /
Pray ye unceasingly, /
that they that praise you //
may also have a share therein.
Glory… Both now… in the same tone and melody:
O Virgin who gavest birth unto God my Savior, /
grant me the chosen and saving remedy of repentance /
-- a torrent of tears, and mindfulness of the dread and awesome hour of the impartial judgment /
-- that by thy supplications I may escape //
0fearsome torment and receive grace divine.
Prokimena and Old Testament Readings
Tone 4: I will be well-pleasing before the Lord * in the land of the living.
Stichos: I am filled with love, for the Lord will hear the voice of my supplication.
Tone 4: My vows unto the Lord will I pay * in the presence of all His people.
Stichos: I believed, wherefore I spake; I was humbled exceedingly.