Presanctified Liturgy:
Wednesday in the 6th Week
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 dead 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
2 (to the special melody “When from the Tree…”):
Thou
didst take thy cross upon thy shoulder, /
and
crucify thyself to the world, /
and
didst follow in the steps of God the Word, /
Who
created all things out of nothingness, as He said, /
and
didst shake off the love of the world /
and
every passionate attachment. /
Wherefore,
shining forth in the virtues, O father, /
through divine works //
thou didst receive an eternal inheritance. Twice
Thou
wast shown to be a mystic clarion /
rousing all to spiritual hymnody, /
and
a harp sounded by God, /
praising the regiments of God, /
glorifying all the saints and proclaiming their victories. /
For
thou didst draw forth an abyss of words /
from the springs of salvation, //
giving drink to the house of God.
Crucified
with love, thou wast shown to be a treasury of the virtues, /
and,
chanting sacred hymns, /
thou didst seek out all who were well pleasing to God in their lives,/
emulating with faith their divine corrections; /
and
sharing therein in godly manner, //
thou wast shown to be a partaker of sweetness.
Glory…
Both now… Tone 2:
Like
a great Sun, the Word, /
Who
is equal in honor with the Father and the Spirit, /
and
Who in latter times shone forth upon the earth /
through the divine Virgin Maiden, /
emitted you, O glorious apostles, /
like rays illumining with the light of Faith /
all
men who languish in the darkness of deception, //
with divine teachings lead them unto Him.
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.