First
Sunday of Great Lent/ the Triumph of Orthodoxy / Tone 1
Beatitudes on 10: Octoechos 6; Triodion 4, from Ode 6.
1. Believing
Thee to be God, O Christ, the thief on the cross confessed Thee in a pure
manner, crying out from
the depths of his heart: Remember me in
Thy kingdom, O Lord!
2. Together
let us hymn as Savior and Creator, Him Who on the Cross budded forth life
for our race and caused the
curse which originated from the tree to wither up.
3. By Thy
death hast Thou destroyed the power of death, O Christ, and Thou didst raise
up with Thyself the dead of
ages past, who now hymn Thee as our true God and Savior.
4. Arriving
at Thy tomb, O Christ, the honorable women sought to anoint Thee with
myrrh, O Bestower of
life; but an angel appeared to them, crying out: The Lord is risen!
5. When Thou
wast crucified between two condemned thieves, O Christ, one of them
blasphemed
Thee and was justly damned, while the other confessed Thee and dwelleth
now in paradise.
6. When they
had come to the choir of the apostles, the honorable women cried out:
Christ is risen! Let us worship Him as Master and Creator.
7. Once more
the Master’s countenance is depicted, honored with faith and venerated;
once more the Church
regains her boldness of approach to God, reverently glorifying the
Savior.
8. The Church
of Christ is delivered from the dark despondency of heresy: she puts on a
robe of gladness, and
is clothed in the light of divine grace.
9. The
Orthodox people has regained the light and glory which it had of old, through
the
decision of the Empress
Theodora and her pious son the Emperor Michael.
10. He who of
old commanded Moses to set up the ark of the testimony,
came to dwell
in thee, O Virgin, as in a
spiritual ark: He alone is glorified, and he makes thy temple
glorious with miracles.
Troparia
Tone 5: Let us, O faithful, praise and worship the
Word /
Who is co-unoriginate with
the Father and the Spirit, /
and Who was born of the Virgin for our salvation; /
for He was pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh /
and to endure death, //
and to raise the dead by His glorious Resurrection.
Glory… Tone 2: We venerate Thine
immaculate Icon, O Good One, /
asking the forgiveness of
our failings, O Christ God; /
for of Thine Own will Thou
was well-pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh /
that Thou mightest
deliver from slavery to the enemy those whom thou hadst fashioned. /
Wherefore, we cry to Thee thankfully: //
Thou didst fill all things with joy, O our Savior, when
Thou camest to save the world.
Both now… Tone 2: All of thy most glorious
mysteries are beyond comprehension, O
Theotokos; /
for, thy purity sealed and
thy virginity intact, /
thou art known to be a
true
Mother, /
having given birth unto
God. //
Him do thou entreat, that our souls be saved.
The Epistle
Reader: The Prokimenon in the 4th Tone:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our
fathers, and praised and glorified is Thy name unto the ages.
Choir: Blessed art
Thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is
Thy name unto the ages.
Reader: For righteous art Thou in all which Thou
hast done for us.
Choir: Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our
fathers, and praised and glorified is Thy
name unto the ages.
Reader: Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our
fathers
Choir: and praised and glorified
is Thy name unto the ages.
Reader: The
[Hebrews
11:24-26;32-12:2 (§329 ctr)]
Reader: Alleluia in the 4th Tone
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: Moses
and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon
His name.
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Reader: They
called upon the Lord, and He hearkened unto them.
Choir: Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Gospel [John 1:43-51 (§5)]
Kontakion
Tone 8: The
uncircumscribable Word of the Father was circumscribed /
when He took flesh of thee, O Theotokos; /
and when He had restored the defiled image to its ancient state, /
He suffused it with divine beauty. //
As for us, confessing our salvation, we
record it in deed and word.
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!