The Katavasia of the Sunday of the Cross

Tone 1

Ode 1: Moses the servant of God prefigured Thy Cross /

in days of old, when he divided the Red Sea with his rod /

and led Israel across on dry land; /

and he sang a song of deliverance unto Thee, //

O Christ our God.

Ode 3: Through Thy Cross, O Christ my Master, /

set me firmly on the rock of the faith: /

let not my mind be shaken /

by the assaults of the malicious enemy; //

for Thou alone art holy.

Ode 4: Seeing Thee, O mighty Lord, upon the Cross, /

the sun was seized with fear and hid its rays, /

with dread the whole creation glorified Thy longsuffering, //

and the earth was filled with Thy praise.

Ode 5: Rising early in the morning we sing Thy praises, /

O Savior of the world, /

for we have found peace through Thy Cross. /

By it Thou hast renewed mankind, //

and led us to the light that knows no evening.

Ode 6: Jonah in the belly of the whale /

foreshadowed with his outstretched hands the figure of the Cross; /

and he leapt out from the monster, //

saved by Thy power, O Word.

Ode 7: The Lord who delivered the Children from the flames /

took flesh and came upon the earth: /

nailed to the Cross, He has granted us salvation, /

the God of our fathers, //

who alone is blessed and greatly glorified

Ode 8: Daniel, great among the prophets, /

was cast into the lions’ den; /

but, stretching out his hands in the form of the Cross, /

he was delivered from their mouths and kept unharmed, //

blessing Christ our God forever.

Ode 9: O Virgin Mother and true Theotokos, /

without seed thou hast borne Christ our God, /

who was lifted in the flesh upon the Cross. /

We and all the faithful, as is right, //

magnify thee with thy Son.