Great Martyr George

Friday of the 2^nd Week after Pascha

Vespers: Priest: Glory to the Holy. Choir: Amen. Priest: Christ is risen from the dead. 2 ½ times. The Choir sings: And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Blessed is the man.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 1, on 8: Feast: 3 (Clothed in a vesture of righteousness – Pentecostarion, p.77); Great Martyr 5 (As one valiant among the martyrs); G: Great Martyr (Thou didst live thy life in accordance with thy name); N: Feast (When the doors were shut).

Entry; O Gladsome Light; Prokimenon of the day, Tone 6: My help cometh from the Lord. 3 Readings for the Great Martyr.

Litia: Temple; Great Martyr (In his glorious suffering); G: Great Martyr (Springtime hath arrived); N: Feast (Touch My side with thy hand – from the Matins Aposticha, Pentecostarion, p. 80).

Aposticha: Great Martyr (With psalms and hymns); G: Great Martyr (O brethren, let us spiritually praise); N: Feast (Touch My side with thy hand).

Troparia: Great Martyr (As a liberator of captives) x2; O Theotokos and Virgin x1.

Matins: Choir: Christ is risen from the dead x3. Reader: Glory to God in the highest; and the 6 psalms as usual.

God is the Lord, Tone 7; Troparia: Feast (Whilst the tomb was sealed) x2; G: Great Martyr (As a liberator of captives); N: Feast.

After the first Kathisma: Sessional hymns of the Feast (Blessed art thou – written as Sessional hymn after second reading in the Pentecostarion, p. 79); G/N: repeat.

After the second Kathisma: Sessional hymns of the Great Martyr (Behold! the springtime of grace).

Polyeleos and Magnification of the Great Martyr: We magnify thee, O holy and victorious great martyr George, and we honor thy venerable sufferings, which thou didst endure for Christ. Psalm verse: Our God is refuge and strength, a helper in afflictions which mightily befall us.

Sessional hymns of the Great Martyr (Afire with the burning love of the Master); G: Great Martyr (Zealously cultivating the seed); N: Feast (Blessed art thou – written as Sessional hymn after second reading in the Pentecostarion, p. 79). Hymns of Ascents, First Antiphon, Tone 4: From my youth. Prokimenon of the Great Martyr, Tone 4: The righteous man shall flourish like a palm tree. Matins Gospel: Luke 12:2-12 (§63).

Having beheld the resurrection x1; Psalm 50; G: Through the prayers of the passion-bearer George; N: Through the prayers of the Theotokos; Have mercy on me, O God; Sticheron of the Great Martyr in the Menaion (Today the whole world is enlightened). Save, O God, Thy people.

Canon: Feast (St. Thomas Sunday) 6 Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Great Martyr 8 Holy Great Martyr and Trophy-bearer George, pray to God for us.

Irmos of Feast (twice): Let us all sing a song of victory.

Katavasia: It is the day of resurrection.

After Ode 3, Kontakion (With his searching right hand) and Ikos of Feast; Sessional hymn of the Great Martyr (Manfully contending in every manner of piety); G: Great Martyr (Having distributed thine earthly riches); N: Feast (Even as Thou camest in the midst of Thy disciples – see the Hypakoe for St. Thomas Sunday).

After Ode 6, Kontakion (Cultivated by God) and Ikos of the Great Martyr.

At Ode 9, More Honorable.

Exapostilarion: Great Martyr (Springtime hath shone forth); G: Great Martyr (Springtime hath shone forth); N: Feast (On this day Spring is fragrant – from the service of St. Thomas Sunday).

Praises, Tone 2, Great Martyr 4 (Come, all ye who have celebrated); G: Great Martyr (Let the eye-lids of men assent); N: Feast (When the doors were shut). After the Great Doxology: Troparion of the Great Martyr; G/N Feast; the two remaining Litanies and Resurrectional Dismissal; First Hour.

Hours: Troparion: Feast; G: Great Martyr; Kontakion: Feast & Great Martyr, alternating.

Liturgy: The beginning, as on St. Thomas Sunday. Beatitudes on 8, from the First Canon of Feast: 4, from Ode 8; and Great Martyr: 4, from Ode 3, first canon.

After the entrance, the Troparion of Feast; Great Martyr; G: Kontakion of the Great Martyr; N: Feast.

In a Temple of the Theotokos: Troparion of Feast; Troparion of the Temple; Great Martyr; G: Kontakion of the Great Martyr; N: Feast.

Prokimenon, Tone 3: Great is our Lord, and great is His strength. & Tone 7: The righteous man shall be glad in the Lord. Epistle: Acts 5:1-11 (§13); Acts 12:1-11 (§29). Alleluia, Tone 8 & Tone 4. Gospel: John 5:30-6:2 (§17); John 15:17-16:2 (§52).

Instead of It is truly meet, we sing the refrain The angel cried, with the Irmos of the Ninth Ode of Pascha (Shine, shine).

Communion Hymn: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. & In everlasting remembrance shall the righteous be. And the rest as on St. Thomas Sunday.