The Sunday of Pentecost

Great Vespers: Blessed is the man.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 1: Feast 10 (We celebrate Pentecost); G/N: Feast (Come, O ye peoples).

Entry; O Gladsome Light; Prokimenon of the day, Tone 6: The Lord is King.

3 Readings for the Feast.

Litia stichera: Feast (In the Prophets Thou didst proclaim); G/N: Feast (When Thou didst send down Thy Spirit).

Aposticha: Feast (Being ignorant of the power of Thine All-holy Spirit); G/N: Feast (Of old the tongues were confounded).

Troparia: Feast (Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God) x3.

Matins: God is the Lord, Tone 8; Troparia: Feast x2; G/N Feast.

After each Kathisma: Sessional hymns of the Feast.

Polyeleos and Magnification of the Feast: We magnify Thee, O Christ the Giver of life, and we honor Thine All-Holy Spirit, Whom Thou didst send from the Father to Thy divine disciples. Psalm verse: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaimeth the work of His hands.

Sessional hymns of the Feast (After Thine arising from the tomb, O Christ).

Hymns of Ascents, First Antiphon, Tone 4: From my youth.

Prokimenon of the Feast, Tone 4: Thy good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness.

Matins Gospel: John 20:19-23 (§65).

We do not sing Having beheld the resurrection.

Psalm 50; G: Through the prayers of the apostles; N: Through the prayers of the Theotokos; Have mercy on me, O God; and the Sticheron of the Feast (O Heavenly King). Save, O God, Thy people.

Canon: Feast (2 canons) 12 O Most Holy Trinity, our God, glory to Thee.

Irmoi of the feast: He Who quencheth wars with a lofty arm. & Covered by the divine cloud (each Irmos is sung twice).

Katavasia: The Irmoi of both canons.

After Ode 3, Sessional hymn of the Feast (The ardent followers of the Savior were filled with joy).

After Ode 6, Kontakion (Once, when He descended and confounded the tongues) and Ikos of the Feast.

At Ode 9, we do not sing More Honorable. We instead chant Ode 9 immediately.

Exapostilarion: Feast (O Thou All-holy Spirit) x2; G/N: Feast (The Father is Light).

Praises, Tone 4: Feast 6 (Today all the nations); G/N: Feast (O Heavenly King). After the Great Doxology: Troparion of the Feast; the two remaining Litanies and Festal Dismissal: May Christ our true God, Who sent down from heaven the Most Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon His holy disciples and apostles; First Hour.

Hours: Troparion: Feast; Kontakion: Feast.

Liturgy: The Festal Antiphons are sung in place of the usual Typical Psalms and Beatitudes.

At the entrance, the deacon (or priest if there is no deacon) says the Festal Introit in place of the usual O come, let us worship: Be Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy strength; we will sing and chant of Thy mighty acts. And immediately the Troparion of the feast (Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God), G/N: Kontakion of the feast (Once, when He descended and confounded the tongues).

Instead of the Trisagion: As many as have been baptized.

Prokimenon, Tone 8: Their sound hath gone forth.

Epistle: Acts 2:1-11 (§3).

Alleluia, Tone 1.

Gospel: John 7:37-52; 8:12 (§27).

Instead of It is truly meet, we sing the Irmos of the second canon of the ninth Ode (Rejoice, Thou, O Queen, the glory of both mothers and virgins).

Communion Hymn: Thy good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness.

Festal Dismissal: May Christ our true God, Who sent down from heaven the Most Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon His holy disciples and apostles.

Vespers with the kneeling prayers: Priest: Blessed is our God. Reader: Amen. O Heavenly King. The Trisagion to Our Father. Psalm 103. Great Litany, with special petitions added (from the Pentecostarion) for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the faithful.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 4 on 6: Feast 6 (Wonderful things today); G/N: Feast (O Heavenly King).

Entry; O Gladsome Light; The Great Prokimenon, Tone 7: What God is as great as our God? Thou art God Who workest wonders. Deacon or priest: Again and again on bended knee, let us pray to the Lord. Choir: Lord, have mercy x3 (This is done before each kneeling prayer) and all the people and clergy bow their knees, and the priest reads the prayer from the Royal Doors, facing the people: O Most Pure, Spotless, unoriginate.

At the conclusion of the first prayer: the deacon or priest says: Help us, save us, have mercy on us, raise us up, and keep us, O God, by Thy grace. And the priest gives the exclamation: For Thine it is to show mercy and to save us, O Lord our God, and unto Thee do we send up glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Then the litany, Let us all say; and after the exclamation: Again and again, on bended knee. And the second kneeling prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ our God.

At the conclusion of the second prayer: Help us, save us, have mercy on us, raise us up, and the exclamation: Through the benevolence and goodness of Thine Only-begotten Son, with Whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy most holy, and good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

Vouchsafe, O Lord. Then: Again and again, on bended knee. And the third kneeling prayer: O Ever-flowing, Living and Illumining Fountain.

At the conclusion of the third prayer: Help us, save us, have mercy on us, raise us up, and the exclamation: For Thou art the repose of our souls and bodies, and unto Thee do we send up glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. The Royal Doors are shut. Then the Litany, Let us complete our evening prayer.

Aposticha: Feast (Now the tongues have openly become a sign); G/N: Feast (Come, O ye people).

Now lettest Thou Thy servant. Troparion: Feast (Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God – according to custom, the Royal Doors are opened at the singing of the Troparion); Festal dismissal: May Christ our true God, Who did empty Himself from the divine bosom of the Father, and come down from the heavens to the earth, and take upon Himself all our nature, and deify it; and afterwards did ascend again into the heavens and sit at the right hand of God the Father, and did send down upon His holy disciples and apostles the Divine and Holy Spirit, one in essence, one in power, one in glory, and co-everlasting, and through Him did enlighten them, and through them the whole world: through the intercessions of His most pure and most blameless Mother; of the Holy, glorious, most-praised preachers of God, the Spirit-bearing apostles; and of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, for He is good and the Lover of mankind.