32nd Sunday After Pentecost / The Circumcision of the Lord / St Basil the Great
Beatitude
Verses: Octoechos: 4; Ode 3 of the Feast: 4; Ode 6 of the Saint: 4
1. The fruit which slew me was beautiful and good to eat; but Christ is the Tree of life, and eating of Him I do not die, but cry out with the thief: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!
2. O Compassionate One, Who wast lifted up upon the Cross, Thou hast erased the record of Adam’s ancient sin, and hast saved the whole human race from deception. Wherefore, we hymn Thee, O Lord and Benefactor.
3. Thou didst nail our sins to the Cross, O compassionate Christ, and by Thy death Thou didst slay death, O Thou who didst raise up the dead from among the dead. Wherefore, we worship Thy holy resurrection.
4. The serpent once poured its venom into the ears of Eve; but on the tree of the Cross, Christ poured forth the sweetness of life upon the world. Wherefore, we cry out: Remember us, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!
5&6. Having been
made flesh, the transcendent Word was circumcised unto the ceasing of the law.
And He gave us divine first fruits of grace and of life incorruptible.
7&8. Christ
incarnate showed Himself fulfiller of the law as not being contrary to God, and
He vouchsafed of His own will to be circumcised on the eighth day.
9. Thou, O Basil,
hast bountifully fed the souls of the poor wasted with hunger and hast filled
with every kind of divine gladness the hearts of the famished.
10. Thou hast fed
the souls of the hungry with heavenly food; for thy word, O Basil, is the bread
of angels. Thereby hast thou been an excellent dispenser of corn.
11. O Basil, thou
hast gathered with the love of labor of the bees the flowers of every virtue
and, grown very skilful, thou hast therefore been
pronounced blessed.
12. The bush on
Sinai communing with fire depicted Thee, Mother Ever-Virgin, O unwedded
Theotokos Mary.
Troparia
Tone 7: Thou didst destroy death by Thy Cross, /
Thou didst open paradise to the thief. /
Thou didst change the lamentation of the Myrrh-bearers, /
and Thou didst command Thine Apostles to proclaim /
that Thou didst arise, O Christ God, //
and grantest to the world great mercy.
Glory… Tone 1:
Thy fame hath gone forth into all the earth, which hath received thy word. /
Thereby thou hast divinely taught the Faith; /
thou hast made manifest the nature of created things; /
thou hast made the moral life of men a royal priesthood. /
O Basil, our righteous father, //
intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.
Both now…Tone 1:
Thou Who sittest with the Eternal Father on a fiery throne in the heights, /
wast pleased through the Divine Spirit /
to be born on earth of a Virgin Maiden, Thy Mother, O Jesus. /
Wherefore, Thou wast circumcised as a man on the eighth day. /
Glory to Thine all-gracious will. /
Glory to Thy providence. /
Glory to Thy condescension, //
O only Lover of mankind.
The Epistle
Reader: The
Prokimenon in the 6th Tone: Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless
Thine inheritance.
Choir:
Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance.
Reader: Unto
Thee, O Lord, Will I cry; O my God, be not silent unto me.
Choir:
Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance.
Reader: In
the 1st Tone: My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation
of my heart shall be of understanding.
Choir:
My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of
understanding.
Reader: The
[II Tim. 4:5-8 (§298); Col. 2:8-12 (§254); Heb.
7:26-8:2 (§318)]
Reader: Alleluia in the 8th Tone: God be gracious
unto us and bless us.
Choir:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: Cause His face to shine upon us and have
mercy on us.
Choir:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: O
Shepherd of
Choir:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Gospel [Mark 1:1-8 (§1); Luke 2:20-21,40-52 (§6); Luke
6:17-23 (§24)]
Kontakia
Glory… Tone 4: Thou didst prove to be an unshakable foundation of the church, /
giving to all mortals an inviolate lordship, /
and sealing it with thy doctrines, /
O righteous Basil, //
revealer of heavenly things.
Both now... Tone 3: The Lord of all undergoeth circumcision, /
and in His goodness hath
circumcised the sins of mortals. /
On this day, He giveth the world
salvation. /
And Basil, the hierarch, the
Creator’s light-bearer /
and Christ’s divine mystic, //
rejoiceth in the highest.
Instead of “It
is truly meet…”[Tone 8 in the Octoechos, but usually sung to one of
many special
melodies]:
All creation – the assembly of angels and the race
of man – rejoiceth in thee, O thou who
art full of grace, O sacred temple and noetical paradise, boast of virgins, from whom
God, Who existeth from
before time, was incarnate and became a child; for He made thy
body a throne, and thy womb He made more spacious
than the heavens. All creation
rejoiceth in thee, O thou who art full of grace.
Glory to thee!