Presanctified Liturgy: Great and Holy Monday

 

Tone 1:  As the Lord went to His voluntary Passion, /

He said to His apostles on the way: /

“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, /

and the Son of man shall be betrayed, as it is written of Him.” /

Come, then, and let us also journey with Him, /

purified in mind; let us be crucified with Him /

and die for His sake to the pleasures of this life, /

that we may also live with Him and hear Him say: /

“No longer do I ascend to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, /

but I ascend to My Father and your Father, /

and to My God and your God; /

and I shall raise you up to the Jerusalem on High //

in the Kingdom of heaven.”                 Twice.

 

Tone 5:  We have come, O faithful, /

to the saving Passion of Christ our God: /

let us glorify His ineffable forbearance, /

that in His tender mercy He may also raise us up /

who have been slain by sin, //

for He is good and loves mankind.                Twice.

 

O Lord, as Thou camest to Thy Passion, /

Thou hast strengthened the faith of Thy disciples, /

taking them aside and saying to them: /

“How have ye forgotten what I told you before?  /

According to the Scriptures, /

it cannot be that a prophet should be killed save in Jerusalem.  /

Now is the time at hand, of which I spake to you: /

for see, I am betrayed into the hands of sinners; /

they shall mock Me and nail Me to the Cross /

and deliver Me up for burial, /

with loathing looking on Me as a corpse.  /

Yet be of good courage: /

for on the third day I shall rise, //

bringing joy and life eternal to the faithful.”            Twice.

 

O Lord, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, /

not understanding the hidden mystery of Thy dispensation, /

asked Thee to give the honors of a temporal kingdom to her sons.  /

But instead of this Thou hast promised to Thy friends /

that they should drink the cup of death; /

and Thou hast said that Thou wouldest drink this cup before them, /

to cleanse men from their sins.  /

Therefore we cry aloud to Thee: //

O salvation of our souls, glory to Thee.                   Twice.

 

O Lord, teaching Thy disciples to think perfect thoughts, /

Thou hast said to them: /

“Be not like the Gentiles, /

who exercise dominion over those who are less strong.  /

But it shall not be so among you, My disciples, /

for I of mine own will am poor.  /

Let him, then, who is first among you be the minister of all.  /

Let the ruler be as the ruled, /

and let the first be as the last.  /

For I Myself have come to minister to Adam in his poverty, /

and to give my life as a ransom //

for the many who cry aloud to Me: Glory to Thee.”

 

Tone 8:  O brethren, let us fear the punishment of the fig tree, /

withered because it was unfruitful; /

and let us bring worthy fruits of repentance unto Christ, //

who grants us His great mercy.

 

Glory… Both now… Same Tone: 

The serpent found a second Eve in the Egyptian woman, /

and with words of flattery he sought to make Joseph fall.  /

But, leaving his garments behind him, /

Joseph fled from sin; /

and like the first man before his disobedience, /

though naked he was not ashamed.  //

At his prayers, O Christ, have mercy upon us.

 

Prokimena and Old Testament Readings

 

Tone 6: The Lord bless thee out of Zion, * and mayest Thou see the good things of Jerusalem.

 

Stichos: Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, that walk in His ways.

 

Reading: Exodus 1:1-20.

 

Tone 6:

We have blessed you * in the name of the Lord.

 

Stichos: Many a time have they warred against me from my youth, let Israel now say.

 

Reading: Job 1:1-12.

 

Gospel: Matthew 24:3-35.

 

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