Presanctified Liturgy:
Wednesday in the 6th Week
Venerable Basil the
Confessor, Bishop of Parium
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
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
8 (Special Melody: “O all-glorious wonder…”):
With
laudations /
is
thy memory splendidly celebrated, /
O
holy hierarch Basil; /
and
it hath filled with joy /
the
assemblies of the Orthodox, /
for
thou didst love righteousness, /
the
purity of chastity and meekness, /
and
didst ever honor stillness //
with
excellence and perfection. Twice
Imitating
the divine Paul /
in
exiles patiently endured, /
O
holy hierarch Basil, /
thou
didst reach the end of thy life /
in
need and tribulations, /
continually
oppressed, /
and
ever forced to move; /
but
now through God thou hast found habitation and delight //
which
is without care and immutable.
As
a God-pleasing hierarch /
thou
now lookest upon the never-waning beams /
of
a noetic habitation, /
and,
clothed in holiness /
and
clad in righteousness, /
thou
hast been vouchsafed to behold things which are above the earth; /
and,
face to face, O thou who art most rich, /
thou
seest the beauty //
of
the magnificence of noetic things.
Glory…
Both now… in the same tone and melody:
Save
me, O all-pure Mistress, /
who
ineffably gavest birth to Christ the Savior;
for
thee alone have I acquired as our intercessor, /
an
invincible rampart, /
protection
and joy, /
and
the divine consolation of my soul. /
Wherefore,
deliver me from the worm which sleepeth not /
and
from the everlasting fire, //
O
Mother of Christ God.
Prokimena
and Old Testament
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.