The
Apodosis of the Dormition of the Theotokos
Beatitude
Verses: Feast 8 from Ode 9.
1 & 2. In thee, O Virgin without spot, the
bounds of nature are overcome: for childbirth remains virgin and death is
betrothed to life. O Theotokos, Virgin after bearing child and alive after
death, do thou ever save thine inheritance.
3. The angelic hosts were amazed, seeing their
Master in Sion, bearing in His arms a woman’s soul; for as befitteth a Son, He
exclaimed to her in all-pure manner:
Come, O pure one, and be glorified with thy Son and God!
4. The choir of angels buried thy body, which had
received God, gazing upon it with fear, and exclaiming with a loud voice: O Theotokos who ascendest to thy Son in the
heavenly mansions, thou ever savest thine inheritance!
5. Let every mortal born on earth, carrying his
torch, in spirit leap for joy; and let the order of the angelic powers
celebrate and honor the holy feast of the Mother of God, and let them cry:
Rejoice! Pure and all-blessed
Ever-Virgin.
6. Come ye to Zion, the divine and fertile mountain
of the living God, and let us behold the Theotokos; for Christ hath translated
her, as His Mother, to the Holy of Holies of a far better and divine
tabernacle.
7. Come, ye faithful, let us approach the tomb of
the Mother of God and kiss it with hearts and lips, touching to it your eyes
and faces, and drawing gifts of abundant healings from the ever-flowing
fountain.
8. Accept from us a hymn of parting, O Mother of the
living God, and with thy light-bearing and divine grace overshadow us, granting
victory to Orthodox hierarchs over heresies, and forgiveness to all Christian
people who hymn thee, and salvation to their souls.
Troparion
& Kontakion
Tone 1: In
giving birth thou didst preserve thy virginity; /
in thy dormition thou didst
not forsake the world, O Theotokos. /
Thou wast translated unto
life, /
since thou art the Mother of
Life; //
and by thine intercessions
dost thou deliver our souls from death.
Glory… Both now… Tone 2:
The grave and death could not
hold the Theotokos, /
who is sleepless in her
intercessions and an unfailing hope in her mediations. /
For as the Mother of Life she
was translated unto life //
by Him Who dwelt in her
ever-virgin womb.
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 Reading is
from the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Philippians: [Phil. 2:5-11 (§240); I Cor. 2:6-9 (§126)]
Reader: Alleluia in the 2nd 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 [Luke 10:38-42,11:27-28 (§54); Matt. 22:15-22 (§90)]
Instead of “It is truly
meet…” we chant the Irmos of the 9th Ode of the First Canon of the
feast, First Tone:
Refrain: The angels, having beheld the Dormition of
the Most pure One, /
were struck with
wonder, //
at how the Virgin
went up from earth to heaven.
Irmos: In thee, O
Virgin without spot, /
the bounds of nature are
overcome: /
for childbirth remains virgin
/
and death is betrothed to
life. /
O Theotokos, Virgin after
bearing child and alive after death, //
do thou ever save thine
inheritance.
Communion Verse: I will take the cup of salvation,
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!