The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos
Beatitudes on 8: Feast: 4, from the First Canon of Ode 3; Feast: 4, from Second Canon of Ode 6.
1. To the Son who
was begotten of the Father without change before all ages, and in the
last times was without seed made flesh of the Virgin, to Christ our God let
us cry aloud:
Thou hast raised up our horn, holy art Thou, O Lord.
2. Adam who, though
fashioned of dust, partook of higher inspiration, yet was led to
stumble into corruption through a woman’s deceit, seeing Christ
born of a woman, crieth
out:
O Lord Who for my sake hast become like me, holy art Thou!
3. O Lord Christ,
Who, mingling with clay, madest Thyself conformable
thereto,
imparting Thy divine essence by participating in vile flesh,
becoming earthly, yet
remaining God, and Who hast lifted up our horn: holy art Thou!
4. O Bethlehem, thou
king of the princes of
and,
having lifted up our horn, hath established His reign over all.
5 & 6. Enclosed in the
uttermost depths of the sea, Jonah entreated Thee to come and
still the storm. And I, O
Christ, pricked by the dart of the tyrant, call upon Thee, the
Slayer of evil, beseeching Thee to come
quickly and deliver me from my slothfulness.
7. God the Word, Who
from the beginning was with God, intending to preserve the
nature which He Himself shareth with us, now strengtheneth it,
which from of old was
weak, by another fellowship with it, straightway showing it to be free from
the passions.
8. He Who dwelleth in light, and, contrary to His dignity, hath
now been well pleased to
dwell in a manger, cometh forth for our sake from the loins of
Abraham for us who have
benightedly fallen into the darkness of transgressions, that, for the
salvation of men, He
might raise up His children who have fallen low.
At “O come let us worship”: O come let us worship and fall down before Christ. O Son of God, who wast born of the Virgin, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Troparia
Tone 4: Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, /
hath shined upon the world the light of knowledge; /
for thereby, they that worshipped the stars /
were taught by a star /
to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, /
and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. //
O Lord, glory be to Thee.
The Epistle
Reader: The Prokimenon in the 3rd Tone: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Choir: My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Reader: For He hath looked upon the lowliness of
His handmaiden; for behold, from
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Choir: My
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Reader: My soul doth
magnify the Lord.
Choir: And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior
Reader: The
[Hebrews 2:11-18 (§306)]
Reader: Alleluia in the 8th Tone.
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy holiness.
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David,
and He will not annul it.
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Gospel [Matthew 2:13-23 (§4)]
Kontakia
Tone 6: He that was born before the morning star /
of the Father without mother, /
is today on earth incarnate of thee without father. /
A star calleth the glad tidings to the Magi; /
while angels and shepherds praise thy seedless childbirth, //
O thou who art full of grace..
Instead of “It is truly meet…” we chant
the Irmos of the 9th Ode of the
Second Canon of the feast, First Tone:
Refrain: Magnify, O my soul, her who is more honorable and more glorious
than the hosts on high, the most pure Virgin Theotokos.
Irmos: Better would it be for us to keep silence in fear, for it is without peril;
and it is difficult, O Virgin, to weave complex hymns harmoniously with love. But grant
us, O Mother, the strength to fulfill our intent.
Or
according to the current practice of some, the following Irmos is used (with
the same
refrain, and in the same tone):
A strange and most wonderful mystery do I see: the cave is heaven; the Virgin the throne
of the cherubim; the manger a room, in which Christ, the God whom nothing can contain,
is laid. Him do we praise and magnify.