Saturday Evening

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PERIOD OF TONE 5

ON SATURDAY EVENING

AT SMALL VESPERS

At Lord, I have cried we insert 4 Stichera, and sing 3 Resurrection Stichera from the Oktoichos, doubling the 1st.

Glory. Both now. Dogmatic Theotokion. Tone 5.

Let us honour the Maiden, revered and worthy of God, in honour higher than the Cherubim, for the Creator of all things, when he wished to become man, made his dwelling ineffably in her. O strange deeds and wondrous mysteries! Who would not be amazed on hearing this, that God becomes man? There was no change in him. He passed through the gates of virginity and no diminution was left in her, as the Prophet says; No man will ever pass through it, except the Lord, the God of Israel, who has great mercy.

Aposticha. Prosomia of the Mother of God.
Hail, of ascetic struggles.

Verse: I shall remember your name in every generation and generation.

My hands I stretch out towards you, my sordid lips I open in supplication, I bend the knee of my heart and in spirit I now touch your most pure feet, pure Virgin, and I fall before you; Heal my pains and, in your loving-kindness, treat my many and incurable wounds. Deliver me from seen and unseen foes. Lighten the burden of my sloth, that I may praise and glorify you through whom the world has found God’s great mercy.

Verse: Listen, daughter, and see, and incline your ear; and forget your people and your father’s house.

Hail, All-blameless Virgin, beyond explanation who conceived and gave birth in the flesh to the Son of God, who from your blood truly took that which was ours, with a soul that was rational and possessed free will; for, having put on Adam without defect, he refashioned and saved mankind. Therefore Christ is proclaimed to us as being in two natures, showing in himself the activity of them both. Implore him that his great mercy be given to our souls.

Verse: The rich among the people of the land will entreat your favour.

Hail, beauty of Jacob, whom God chose and loved; door of the saved, flame-bearing tongs, abolition of the curse, all-blessed Maiden, womb that contained God, righting of the fallen, holier than the Cherubim, higher than creation, sight hard to look upon, strangest report, saying that cannot be expressed, chariot of the Word, cloud from which dawned the Sun that sheds his light even on me and grants to those in darkness his great mercy.

Glory. Both now. Theotokion.

The prophecies concerning you have been fulfilled, pure Virgin; for one of the Prophets foretold you as the Gate in Eden facing towards the east through which none had passed, except your Creator and that of all the world. Another saw you as a Bush aflame with fire, because in you there dwelt the fire of the Godhead and you remained unburned. Another as a holy Mountain from which was hewn without human hand a cornerstone and it crushed the image of the spiritual Nabuchodonosor. Truly great and wondrous is the mystery that is in you, Mother of God! Therefore we glorify you, for through you has come the salvation of our souls.

Resurrection Apolytikion and Dismissal.

AT GREAT VESPERS

After the Opening Psalm and the first Kathisma of the Psalter, at Lord I have cried, we insert 10 Stichera, and we sing 7 Resurrection Stichera and 3 from the Menaion.

Resurrection Stichera. Tone 5.

By your precious Cross, O Christ, you have shamed the devil, and by your Resurrection you have blunted the goad of sin, and you have saved us from the gates of death: we glorify you, O Only-begotten.

He who gives the Resurrection to the human race, was led as a sheep to the slaughter; all the princes of Hell trembled before him and the gates of pain were lifted up; for Christ the King of glory had come in, saying to those in bondage: Come forth! and to those in darkness: Reveal yourselves!

O great marvel! Having suffered in the flesh through love for mankind, the Creator of things invisible, the immortal has risen. Come families of nations, let us worship him; for delivered from error by his compassion, we have learned to hymn one God in three Persons.

Other Verses by Anatolios.

We offer you our evening worship, O Light that knows no evening, who at the end of the ages, as in a glass, shone through the flesh on the world, and descended as far as Hell, abolished the darkness there and showed the nations the light of the Resurrection; O Lord, Giver of light, glory to you!

Let us glorify Christ the author of our salvation; for by his rising from the dead, the world has been saved from error; the choir of Angels rejoices, the error of demons flees, fallen Adam arises, the devil has been overthrown.

O Lord, our Saviour, who despoiled Hell and trampled on death; who enlightened the world by the precious Cross, have mercy upon us.

The members of the guard were instructed by the lawless: Conceal Christ's Resurrection and take money and say that while we asleep the corpse was stolen from the grave. Who ever saw, who ever heard of a stolen corpse? Especially one anointed and naked, and even leaving its grave-clothes in the tomb? Do not be deceived, O Jews, learn the sayings of the Prophets, and know that he is truly the Redeemer of the world and All-powerful.

Glory. Both now. Theotokion.

In the Red Sea was once depicted an image of the Bride who knew not wedlock. There Moses the parter of the water, here Gabriel the servant of the marvel; then Israel marched dry shod through the deep, but now the Virgin has given birth to Christ without seed; the sea after Israel's passage remained untrodden; the Blameless one after bearing Emmanuel remained incorrupt. O God, who exists and pre-exists, and appeared as man, have mercy on us.

Entrance, O Joyful Light, and the Prokeimenon of the day.

Resurrection Stichera of the Aposticha.

With sounds of song we magnify you, O Christ, the Saviour incarnate, yet not parted from heaven, for you accepted cross and death for the sake of our race, for you are the Lord who loves mankind. When you had despoiled the gates of Hades, you rose on the third day and saved our souls.

Alphabetical.

Verse 1: The Lord is King: he has robed himself in majesty. The Lord has robed and girded himself with power.

When your side was pierced, O Giver of life, you poured out streams of forgiveness, of life and salvation for all; you accepted death in the flesh, so giving us immortality; by dwelling in a grave you freed us, raising us with yourself as God in glory; and so we cry out to you: O Lord, Lover of mankind, glory to you!

Verse 2: He has made the world firm; it will not be shaken.

Strange your crucifixion and your descent into Hades, O Lover of mankind; for having despoiled it and raised with yourself as God in glory those who were prisoners, you opened Paradise and bade it welcome them; so give us too, who glorify your Rising on the third day, forgiveness of sins, granting us to be inhabitants of Paradise, as you alone are compassionate.

Verse 3: Holiness befits your house, O Lord, to length of days.

O Lover of mankind, who for ours sakes accepted the passion in the flesh, and rose from the dead on the third day, heal the passions of our flesh, raise us from grievous offences, and save us.

Glory. Both now. Theotokion.

You are temple and gate, palace and throne of the King, All-honoured Virgin; through you Christ the Lord, my redeemer, appeared to those who sat in darkness, for he is the Sun of justice, who wishes to enlighten those whom he fashioned in his own image with his own hand. Therefore All-praised one, as you have a mother's boldness towards him, intercede unceasingly that our souls be saved.

Resurrection Apolytikion.

Let us believers praise and worship the Word who like the with Father and with Spirit is without beginning, born from a Virgin for our salvation; for he was well pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh and undergo death, and to raise those who had died, by his glorious Resurrection.

Theotokion.

Hail gate of the Lord, though which none may pass; hail wall and protection of those who flee to you; hail haven without storms, and who did not know wedlock, who bore in the flesh your Maker and God, do not cease to intercede for those who praise and worship your Offspring.

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This page was last updated on 10 February 2001