Presanctified Liturgy: Wednesday in the 1st Week
St. Timothy of Symbola
Tone 8:
While fasting with the body, brethren, let us also fast in spirit. /
Let us loose every bond iniquity; /
let us undo the knots of every contract made by violence; /
let us tear up all unjust agreements; /
let us give bread to the hungry /
and welcome to our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, //
that we may receive great mercy from Christ our God. (Twice)
If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, /
rightly are these things ascribed to the saints. /
They bowed their necks beneath the sword, /
for Thy sake who hast bowed the heavens and come down. /
They shed their blood for Thee, /
who hast emptied Thyself and taken the form of a servant; /
they humbled themselves even unto death, /
following the example of Thy poverty. /
At their prayers have mercy upon us, O God, //
according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.
Tone 2:
Jesus, the true spiritual Sun, /
sent you out as lightning into all the world, /
and by the brightness of your divine preaching. /
O ye apostles and eyewitnesses of God, /
He has dispersed the darkness of error /
and given light to those held fast in the evil gloom of ignorance. /
Entreat Him to send down upon us also //
His illumination and great mercy.
Elijah, glorified by fasting, /
rode in the divine chariot of the virtues /
and was carried up to the height of heaven. /
Eagerly follow his example, O my humble soul, /
and fast from every evil, /
from envy, strife and passing pleasure. /
So shalt thou escape the harsh and everlasting agony of Gehenna, /
crying out to Christ: //
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Tone 5:
Apostles of God, fervent intercessors for the world, /
defenders of the Orthodox, /
ye who have the power to draw near with boldness unto Christ our God: /
we beseech you, intercede on our behalf, /
that unhindered we may keep the holy season of the Fast /
and receive the grace of the consubstantial Trinity. /
O great and glorious preachers, //
worthy of all reverence, pray for our souls.
Tone 8 (to the special melody “O most glorious wonder…”):
O divinely wise father Timothy, /
by great abstinence /
and frequent prayer /
thou didst utterly ally the movements of the passions; /
and receiving the grace of dispassion, /
thou wast shown to be a receptacle of the divine Spirit. /
Wherefore, as thou livest even after death, /
O divinely blessed one, //
thou dost ever drive away evil spirits. Twice
O divinely wise father Timothy, /
thou wast a true emulator of Abraham, /
everywhere healing those who have recourse unto thee. /
In thy pangs thou didst acquire the strength of job; /
and, possessing the meekness of David, /
thou didst live on earth a life /
equal to that of the angels,/
and hast receive thine ultimate desire, //
praying for us all.
O divinely wise father Timothy, /
a model of chastity, an example of abstinence, /
an image of piety, and a wellspring of compunction, /
an unshakable foundation of Orthodoxy, /
an ever-flowing stream of healings, /
a never-setting sun, a child of divine grace, /
and the adornment of monastics /
wast thou shown to be, //
O all-honored one.
Glory... Now and ever... Same Tone and Melody:
The preëternal God, /
taking flesh of thy blood, /
hath shown thee forth, O pure one, /
as an intercessor for men. /
Wherefore, deliver thy servants from all misfortune /
and every evil circumstance, /
and vouchsafe that all who glorify and bow down before thee /
may be accounted worthy //
of the splendor of the elect.
Prokimena and Old Testament Readings
Tone 5: Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us and shalt preserve us * from this generation, and forevermore.
Stichos: Save me, O Lord, for a righteous man there is no more.
Reading: Genesis 1:24-2:3
Tone 6: Look upon me, hear me, * O Lord my God.
Stichos: How long, O Lord, wilt Thou utterly forget me? How long wilt Thou turn Thy face away from me?
Reading: Proverbs 2:1-22