From orthodox.cn, byzcath.org, rongolini.com, biblegateway.com, ogreatmystery.com, ewtn.com:
Daily Readings and Prayers:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Great Lent, Martyrs Sabinus (+ 287) and Papas (+ c. 305 - 311), Disciple from the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain) (I). PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome (+ 119). Martyr Julian of Anazauria (+ c. 305 - 311). PriestMartyrs Trophymos and Phalos, Presbyters of Laodiceia (+ c. 300). Martyrs Romanus and Parius. 10 Martyrs in Phoenicia. Monk John in Ruthianak. Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker (+ 1111). Saints Emelian, Paul and Dionysius. Monk Patricius (+ 567). Monk Pimen of Salossa, Enlightener of the Lezginians, and his co-worker Antonios Meskhos (XIII) (Gruzia), Sainted Serapion, ArchBishop of Novgorod (+ 1516).
Daily Prayers:
The Tenth Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 71(70)
I place my trust in you, O Lord; do not disappoint me, O eternal one! 2) In your justice rescue me and set me free. Turn your ear to me and deliver me; 3) be a rock of refuge for me to which I can always turn. You promised to come and save me at any time, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4) Save me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grip of the criminal and the thief. 5) For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O my God, from my youth. 6) I have leaned on you from the womb; from my mother's breast you have sustained me: I shall praise you forever! 7) I am an example for many, for you are my strong refuge. 8) My mouth is filled with your praise; I tell out your glory and your majesty throughout the day!
9) Do not cast me off in my old age; as my strength fails, do not forsake me. 10) My foes have their eye on me; with others they conspire for my life, saying: 11) God has deserted him; chase him and catch him, for no one will save him. 12) O God, be not far from me! My God, come quick to help me! 13) Let my accusers perish in frustration; let those who seek my ruin be covered with shame and disgrace. 14) As for me, I will continue to hope, and I will add to your praises day after day. 15) My mouth recounts your faithful deeds all day long, your saving acts, though I could never tell them all! 16) I shall approach your sanctuary, O Lord; I shall proclaim your faithfulness, O Lord, yours alone!
17) You have taught me from my youth, O God, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18) Now that I am old and gray, O God, do not desert me until I tell the next generation about your power, 19) all those yet to come, about your might.
Your faithfulness reaches to the sky, O God; you have done great things, O God; who is your equal? 20) Though you make me see misery after misery and wrong upon wrong, you will restore me to life and raise me, once more, from the depths of the earth. 21) Make my offerings acceptable, and reward me with your comfort. 22) I promise I will praise you on the harp for your faithfulness, O God; I will play to you on the lyre, O holy one of Israel. 23) My lips shall rejoice when I sing to you, my whole being, for you have redeemed me. 24) Throughout the day, my tongue shall recite your faithful acts -- O, that they who seek my ruin be shamed and disgraced!
Psalm 72(71)
Grant the king your own skill in judgment, O God, and the king's son your own sense of justice, 2) that he may rule your people rightly and your poor with justice. 3) May the mountains and the hills bring peace to your people! May he award the oppressed fair judgment 4) and protect the children of the needy, crushing those who do them wrong.
5) May he live as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon gives light, age after age. 6) May he be welcomed like rain on a newly cut field, as showers on thirsty soil. 7) May his days flourish with justice, with prosperity and peace until the moon shines no more.
8) May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. 9) May desert-dwellers kneel before him, and his enemies bite the dust. 10) May the kings of Tarshish and the islands pay him tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Arabia offer gifts. 11) May all kings prostrate before him, and all nations serve him.
12) If he rescues the oppressed when they cry for help, and the needy who have no one to help them; 13) if he takes pity on the poor and the afflicted and saves the lives of the lowly; 14) if he ransoms their lives from oppression and violence, and precious is their blood in his sight: 15) Then, long may he live! May he receive gold from Sheba, and may prayers be said for him always, and may blessings be invoked on him throughout the day. 16) May a surplus of grain rustle even on the tops of the mountains; may his fruit trees blossom like Lebanon, flourishing like the grass of the earth. 17) May his name be blessed forever! While the sun lasts, may his name also endure! May all the tries of the earth find their happiness in him, and may all nations call him blessed!
18) Praised be the Lord God, the God of Israel, for he has worked wonders! 19) Praised be his name and his glory forever, and unto ages of ages! May all the earth be filled with his glory! Amen, amen. 20) The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, end here.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 73(72)
In spite of everything, God is goodness itself for the pure of heart, O Israel! 2) Yet, my feet came close to stumbling; my steps were nearly led off course, 3) envying the arrogant as I did, watching the wicked get rich.
4) There is no pain for them; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5) Human sorrow never touches them, nor are they afflicted like others. 6) So, pride is their necklace, violence, the robe that clothes them. 7) Perversity oozes from their hearts, and their minds overflow with fantasy. 8) They scoff as they whisper their malice; their arrogance plans oppression. 9) Their mouths defy heaven, and their tongues challenge even the world below. 10) So people turn and follow them, lapping up their every word. 11) Then they say: How could God know? Does the most high know everything? 12) That is what the wicked are like: they ignore the eternal one, and yet they continue to grow in wealth.
13) So it was for nothing that I kept my heart pure, that I washed my hands in innocence! 14) For nothing was I afflicted all day long and punished anew every morning! 15) Had I said: That talk appeals to me! I would be a traitor to your people. 16) I tried to fathom all this, but it seemed a hopeless task. 17) Then I pierced the mystery; I perceived what their fate would be.
18) How slippery the paths you set them on; you make them slide to their destruction. 19) Sudden will their devastation be; their end will come, and they will disappear into the land of terrors. 20) Like a dream one disregards on waking, O Lord, so will you dismiss them as mere phantoms. 21) So it was that my mind had soured, that my feelings hardened. 22) In my stupidity, I failed to understand; I was like a brainless beast before you.
23) Yet, I shall always remain with you, so take hold of my hand; 24) guide me with your counsel and, in the end, receive me with glory. 25) For what else does heaven hold for me but you; and what do I want on earth but you? 26) My flesh and my heart waste away in longing, for God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! 27) Those who abandon you are doomed; you destroy those who betray you. 28) As for me, my joy lies in holding fast to my God, in placing my trust in the Lord God, forever proclaiming what he has done.
Psalm 74(73)
Why, O God, are you always angry? Why does your wrath smoulder against the sheep you tend? 2) Remember the flock you made your own so long ago: with your staff, rescue the tribe you chose for your own domain, and this Mount Sion, where you reside. 3) Pick your way through all these ruins, through this lasting destruction the enemy has wrought in your sanctuary. 4) The shouts and screams of their malice echo through the place where your people used to gather; 5) they set up their standards as trophies of victory high above the entrance. 6) With axes they hacked at the paneling, battering down the doors with hammer and hatchet. 7) They torched your holy place, utterly destroying the dwelling place of your name. 8) In their hearts, they conspired with one another: Once and for all let us finish them off! Let us destroy every shrine of their God in the land! 9) Our own standards are nowhere to be seen! Gone are prophets and counselors! 10) How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff at you, the foe, to revile your name, O conqueror? 11) Why do you hold back your left hand; and your right hand, why do you keep it hidden?
12) Destroy the kings from the east, O God! Work your victory in our very midst. 13) It was you who shattered the sea with your might, who smashed the heads of the monstrous Tannin; 14) it was you who crushed Leviathan's heads and gave him as food for the desert tribes; 15) it was you who released the springs and torrents, who made swollen waters run dry; 16) it was you who made day and night, who caused the moon and sun to be; 17) it was you who determined all the climates of the earth, who made summer and winter. 18) So now, remember, O Lord, the insults of the foes who blaspheme you, and the foolish people who revile your name. 19) Do not give the hawks your turtle-dove, nor forget the souls of the afflicted, O conqueror. 20) Look down on your temple; the city is smothered in darkness and the countryside rife with violence. 21) Let not he oppressed sit in shame, but let the poor and the needy praise your name. 22) Rise up, Lord, and champion your cause! Remember how the fool blasphemes you day after day. 23) Do not overlook the uproar of your adversaries nor the ever-rising din of those who hate you.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 75(74)
We praise you, O God, we praise you! Your wondrous works tell us that your name is near.
2) You say: First I choose the time; then I judge fairly. 3) The earth and all its inhabitants may tremble, but I make its pillars stand firm. 4) I say to the arrogant: Enough of your bragging! -- to the wicked: Do not flaunt your strength! 5) Do not flaunt your strength against the most high nor hurl defiance against the rock! 6) For what exalts a man comes not from the east, or the west, or the wilderness; but it is God who judges: One man he puts down; he exalts another. 7) In the hand of the Lord is a cup of foaming wine which is heavily drugged; 8) he pours from it, and all the wicked of the earth drink, draining it to the very last drop!
9) As for me, I proclaim the eternal one; I sing to the God of Jacob. 10) He says: It is mine to break the pride of the wicked, but the honor of the righteous I exalt!
Psalm 76(75)
In Judah God makes himself known; in Israel his name is great. 2) Salem became his den, and Sion, his lair. 3) There he broke the attack of the archers, the shields and swords and weapons of war.
4) O what awe you inspired, O God of brilliant light! 5) They tried to plunder the mountain of the lion, those stout-hearted men, but they slept their last sleep; they died, those soldiers of prowess; they perished. 6) At your roar, O God of Jacob, horse and chariot collapsed and lay stunned.
7) How awesome you are! Who can stand up to your fury, to your ancient wrath? 8) From heaven you shall thunder the sentence; the earth shall shudder with fright and lie still, 9) when God rises for judgement, to deliver the lowly of the earth.
10) They will rejoice and praise you; those who survive will be overjoyed; they will feast in your honor. 11) Make vows and fulfill them to the Lord, our God; let all those around him bring gifts to him who sees, 12) who fathoms the minds of princes, who strikes terror in the hearts of kings.
Psalm 77(76)
In despair I cry out to you, O God of gods! Listen at once to my cry, O God of gods! 2) By day I look for the Lord; by night I stretch out my hands tirelessly, but my soul refuses to be consoled. 3) I think of God, and I groan; I reflect, and my soul grows faint. 4) My eyes are used to wakefulness; I am so troubled, I cannot speak. 5) My thoughts turn to days gone by, to years long passed. 6) At night, I strum my lyre, but my soul keeps questioning. 7) Will the sovereign Lord be angry forever; will he show us his favor no more? 8) His unfailing love, has this vanished forever, has his promise failed? 9) Has the source of God's mercy dried up; has anger stifled his loving kindness? 10) I thought to myself: This is what troubles me: It has changed; the right hand of the Lord has changed! 11) I remember your wondrous works, the marvels you worked of old. 12) I ponder all your actions, reflecting on your mighty deeds.
13) O God, how holy are your ways! What God is great as our God? 14) You are a God who works wonders! You made the nations taste your might! 15) Now, with your arm, redeem your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph! 16) The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and they began to churn; the depth shuddered in terror. 17) The clouds burst forth in floods; storm clouds thundered; your arrows flashed to and fro. 18) The sound of your thunder rolled through the heavens; your lightning flashes lit up the world; the depths of the earth quaked and shook. 19) Your path led through the sea, your way through mighty waters; but no one could trace your footsteps! 20) Lead your people like a flock, by the hand of a Moses and an Aaron!
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Eleventh Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 78(77)
Listen, my people, to this teaching of mine; turn your ear to what I have to say. 2) I want to give a discourse in wisdom, to disclose the mysteries of our past, 3) things we have heard and come to know, things our fathers have told us. 4) We are not about to hide from their grandchildren, nor keep from the next generation 5) the magnificent works of the Lord and his conquests, the wonders he performed, 6) wonders he had done before their fathers' very eyes in the land of Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.
7) He had split the sea to let them through, water like a dike to left and to right, 8) guiding them by day with a cloud, with a pillar of fire throughout the night. 9) He struck hard the rock of the desert, watering even that vast and sandy waste, 10) making streams jet from the rock, causing fountains to gush forth as abundant as rivers. 11) He issued a decree in Jacob; in Israel he established a law, that what he commanded our fathers, they should make known to their sons; 12) that the next generation -- those yet unborn -- would know and, in turn, tell their own, 13) that they might trust in God, mindful of his divine works, ever loyal to his precepts, 14) rather than be like their ancestors, rebellious and unruly breed that they were; a generation of fickle hearts, unfaithful to God. 15) They broke their covenant with God and refused to walk in his ways. 16) They forgot what he did and the miracles he allowed them to see.
17) They went on sinning against him, in that desert, rebelling against the most high. 18) In their hearts they put God on trial, demanding food that they craved. 19) With bitter complaints they challenged God, demanding of God a feast then and there! 20) He struck at the rock so that waters gushed out, making gullies overflow; but what about bread -- can he give us that, too, and provide meat for his people? 21) Though they had no trust in God, no trust in his power to save, 22) yet, he ordered the clouds to part, the portals of heaven to open: 23) He rained down manna on them for food, filling them with grain from the heavens. 24) Everyone ate the bread of the angels that he provided for them in abundance. 25) He set the east wind moving in the heavens, and brought up the south wind by his power. 26) He rained down meat on them like dust, and birds as thick as the sands of the seashore, 27) making all of this fall right into their camp, on all sides, round about their tents. 28) So they ate their fill, and all they asked he granted them. 29) But still they failed to control their greed, and while yet this food was in their mouths, 30) God's anger flared at them again: he slew the sturdiest of them, striking down the flower of Israel.
31) And still they went on sinning, forgetting all his wondrous deeds. 32) So he made their days disappear like the mist, their years more quickly than a fleeting phantom. 33) When he struck them down they ran to him; then they would repent and long for God. 34) Then they would remember that God was their rock, that God the most high was their redeemer. 35) So, outwardly they flattered him, and with their tongues they lied to him, 36) but their hearts were far from loyal to him, and they betrayed their covenant with him. 37) Yet he is compassionate, so he forgave their guilt instead of killing them. He kept on turning back his anger, always holding back his rage, 38) for he remembered they were only flesh, nothing more than a breeze that flows by, never to return.
39) How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how often they grieved him in that wasteland! 40) Again and again they put God to the test; they provoked the holy one of Israel, 41) always failing to recall his power and the day he saved them from their foe, 42) when he worked his wonders in Egypt and his marvels on the plain of Zoan. 43) He turned the rivers into blood, to stop them from drinking their waters. 44) He sent swarms of insects to devour them, frogs to destroy them. 45) He consigned their crops to grubs, their hard-won fruit to locusts. 46) He killed their vines with hail and their berries with frost. 47) He condemned their cattle to the plague and their flocks to feverish pests. 48) He loosed his raging anger on them, all his wrath and indignation in the form of hardships! He sent them angels of destruction, 49) to level a path before him. Nor did he stop short of slaying them, but loosed on them a raging pestilence. 50) He struck down all the first-born of Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigor, born in the tents of Ham. 51) Then he led his people out like sheep, guiding them through the desert like a flock, 52) safe and unafraid, while the sea engulfed their enemies. 53) So he brought them into that holy land of his, the highlands his own right hand had won. 54) Expelling the nations before them, he let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents, allowing their inheritance to fall to them by lot.
55) Even so, they went on testing the most high; they rebelled against God and ignored his decrees. 56) They turned away and played him false like their fathers, treacherous as a bow with a warp. 57) They provoked him with their high-places; they aroused his jealousy with their graven images. 58) Now the Lord heard all this and he fumed; his anger raged against Jacob; his wrath blazed up against Israel, and he rejected Israel with bitter scorn. He rejected the clan of Joseph; the tribe of Ephraim he disowned. 60) He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh, that tent where once he lived with men. 61) He deserted the glorious ark of his might and let it fall into the hands of his enemies. 62) He condemned his own people to fall by the sword, in his fuming rage against his chosen. 63) Ephraim's sons were his archers -- treacherous bowmen -- on the day of battle they turned tail and ran! 64) So it was that their young men were fed to the flames, and their maidens went unwed. 65) Their priests fell by the sword, and there were no widows left to do the mourning.
66) Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior shaking off his wine. 67) He struck his enemies as they turned to flee, branding them with an everlasting shame. 68) In the end it was Judah's tribe he chose, and Mount Sion, which he loved, 69) where he built his sanctuary like the heights of the heavens themselves, as firm as the earth he had established from forever. 70) And he chose his servant, David, taking him from a sheepfold, 71) and from tending ewes; he brought him to shepherd his people Jacob, and Israel, his very own. 72) With a blameless heart did David tend them, leading them with his skillful hand.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 79(78)
O God, unbelievers have invaded your land! They have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins! 2) The bodies of your servants they have left as food for the birds of heaven, and the flesh of your devoted followers for the beasts of the earth. 3) Their blood has been spilled like water; and there is not a soul left in the city to bury them! 4) We have become the butt of scorn for our neighbors, something to make fun of, to laugh at.
5) How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy smoulder like fire? 6) Pour out your rage on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not invoke your name. 7) They have devoured Jacob; they have laid waste his homeland. 8) Do not hold the sins of our fathers against us; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need!
9) Help us, O God of our salvation! For the glory of your name, rescue us! Forgive us our sins, for your name's sake, lest unbelievers say: 10) Where is their God? Before our very eyes, let the nations see that you avenge the shedding of your servants' blood!
11) Let the groans of prisoners reach you; with your mighty hand, reprieve those condemned to death! 12) Strike at their hearts and pay back our neighbors sevenfold, for the insults they have flung at you, O Lord! 13) For we are your people, the flock you tend, and we will give thanks to you forever, recounting your praise from one generation to the next!
Psalm 80(79)
O Shepherd of Israel, give ear! Lead Joseph like a flock! O you who sit enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2) on Ephraim, on Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up your might, and come to our aid! 3) O God, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
4) How long, O God of power and might, how long will you frown on your people's plea? 5) You have fed us the bread of tears; you have given us tears to drink beyond measure. 6) You made us the laughing-stock of our neighbors, and our enemies laugh us to scorn. 7) O God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
8) You brought forth a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9) You cleared a place for it; it took root and spread through the land. 10) Mountains were covered by its shade, and its shoots climbed the towering cedars.
11) So why did you tear down its hedges? Now, every one who passes plucks at its fruit. 12) The boar of the forest ravages it, and the beasts of the field feed on it. 13) Men have burned it with full, blazing fire; at your angry rebuke may they perish!
14) O God of power and might, return to us, we beseech you! Look down from heaven and see! Visit this vine 15) and care for what your right hand has planted! 16) Make its branches stretch forth to the sea, and as far as the Euphrates, its shoots. 17) Rest your hand on the man you have chosen, on the man you have given your strength. 18) Give us life that we may call on your name; never again will we turn from you. 19) Lord God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
Psalm 81(80)
Cry out with joy to God, our fortress; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob! 2) Strike up a song and sound the timbrel, the pleasing melody of harp and lyre! 3) Blow the ram's horn for the new moon, and for the full moon, the solemn day of our festival! 4) Duty insists you do it, O Israel; it was decreed by Jacob's God, 5) a law imposed on Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt.
6) Things long forgotten were brought back to me: It was I who eased their burdens from your shoulders, freeing your hands of their load, and delivering you when you called out in distress. 7) From the hiding place of thunder I answered you, though you provoked me at Meribah's waters. 8) Listen, my people, as I speak: O Israel, as I testify against you! O, if you would only listen! 9) You shall have no foreign gods in your midst; nor shall you bow before an alien god, 10) for I am the Lord, your God who brought you here from the land of Egypt, who filled your mouths.
11) But my people would not hear my voice; Israel would not obey me. 12) So I rejected them for the hardness of their hearts; I let them follow their own bent. 13) If only my people would hear me, if Israel would walk in my ways, 14) at once would I subdue their foes, and turn my hand against their adversaries! 15) Those who hate the Lord would fawn upon them, but their punishment would one day come. 16) I would feed Israel with the finest wheat, and satisfy them with the choicest honey.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 82(81)
God stands in the divine assembly; in the midst of the gods he gives judgment:
2) How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked? 3) Be just for the weak and the orphan; for the unfortunate and for the needy, do justice! 4) Rescue the weak and the poor; from the hand of the wicked set them free!
5) Without knowledge, without understanding, they grope in the darkness; the order in the world is disturbed. 6) As for me, I have told you: You are gods, all of you; you are all sons of the most high. 7) And yet, like men shall you die, like any price shall you fall. 8) Rise up, O God! Judge the earth, for you are ruler over all the nations!
Psalm 83(82)
Who is like you, my God? O God, do not be silent and unmoved! 2) See how your enemies rage, how they assert themselves. 3) Against your people they make crafty plans; they plot against your treasured ones. 4) Come, they whisper, let us wipe them out as a nation; let Israel's name be mentioned no more! 5) Yes, they are all in agreement; your assailants form an alliance against you. 6) There Edom lies encamped, there Ishmael; Moab, too, and the Hagarites; 7) Byblos as well as Amalek, Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 8) Even Assyria has joined forces with them, lending her might to the children of Lot.
9) Deal with them as you did with Midian, as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrents of Kishon. 10) Let them perish like those at Endor! Let them rot like dung on the ground! 11) Make their leaders like Oreb and Ze'eb, all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna 12) who said: Let us take the finest meadows for ourselves! 13) Make them whirl like tumbleweed, my God, this way and that, like straw in the wind! 14) As a fire rages through the forest, as flames blaze across the hills, 15) so chase them with your whirlwind; torment them with your windstorm. 16) Cover their faces with chagrin! Avenge your name, O Lord! 17) Confusion and dismay be theirs forever! Let them be forever disgraced; then destroy them! 18) Let them know that your name is Lord, and that you alone are the most high over all the earth.
Psalm 84(83)
How lovely are your dwellings, Lord God of power and might! 2) My soul yearns and pines with longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh ring out their joy to the living God! 3) Even the sparrow finds a house, and the swallow, a nest for her young: near your altars, O Lord of power and might, O my king and my God! 4) Happy are they who live in your house; they sing your praises all day long.
5) Happy the pilgrims who find their strength in you, who set their hearts on reaching you. 6) Passing through the valley of the balsam trees they make it a place of blessing, as if the autumn rains had showered it; 7) from there they go from place to place, soon to stand before the God of gods on Sion.
8) O Lord God of power and might! Hear my prayer! Lend an ear to me, God of Jacob! 9) Turn your eyes, O God, our sovereign! Look on the face of the one you have anointed! 10) One day in your courts have I preferred to a thousand somewhere else, the threshold of the house of my God to the tent of the wicked. 11) For the Lord God will sustain us and help us! He will show us his favor, his glory. The Lord will never refuse anything to those who walk in innocence. 12) O Lord of power and might! Happy the man who trusts in you!
Psalm 85(84)
With your favor, Lord, grace your own land, turn the tide of Jacob's fortune. 2) Forgive your people their guilt; do away with all trace of their sins. 3) Turn away your wrath; master the heat of your anger.
4) Revive us, O God of our salvation; put an end to your resentment against us. 5) Must your anger with us last forever? Will it never end? 6) Will you not restore us to life, that your people may rejoice in you? 7) Let us see your loving kindness, Lord; give us your saving help.
8) Let me reveal what the Lord himself has to say: His voice is one that speaks peace: peace for his people, for his friends, for those who turn to him in their hearts. 9) His help is close at hand for those who revere him, and his glory shall dwell in our land. 10) Mercy and truth will meet; justice and peace will embrace. 11) Faithfulness shall spring forth from the earth, and justice shall look down from the heavens. 12) The Lord will give us prosperity, and the earth will yield its fruit. 13) Justice shall go forth before him, and peace shall follow in his footsteps.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Twelfth Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 86(85)
Lend an ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and miserable! 2) Look after my soul, for I am your friend; save your servant, O my God, for I trust in you. 3) Pity me, O sovereign Lord, for I cry to you all day long! 4) Give joy to your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift my soul! 5) Lord, you are forgiving and good, full of love for all who call on you. 6) Hear my prayer, O Lord; attend to the sound of my voice. 7) The day of my distress I call on you; if only you would answer me, O Lord!
8) Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor can their works compare with yours. 9) If you act, all nations will come to adore you, O Lord, to glorify your name, 10) for you are great and you work wonders, O you who alone are God!
11) Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; teach my heart to revere your name. 12) With all my heart will I praise you, Lord my God! I will glorify your name, O eternal one! 13) For great is your mercy toward me, O most high! You have rescued my soul from the depths of the grave! 14) O God the proud rise up to attack me; ruthless men hunt down my soul! Never do they give any thought to you! 15) But you, O Lord, God of tenderness and mercy, slow to anger, full of love and faithfulness, 16) turn to me and pity me: Give triumph to your servant, to your faithful son, victory. 17) Show me proof of your favor, O good one, that my foes may see and be shamed. O, that you yourself would help and console me, O Lord!
Psalm 87(86)
The city he founded stands on the holy mountain, and the Lord cherishes her. 2) He prefers the gates of Sion to all Jacob's dwellings, 3) and he speaks of you in glowing terms, O city of God:
4) I count Babylon and Egypt among those who know me; Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia -- they are all her children. 5) Sion will be called mother, for all are her children.
6) And it is he, the Lord most high, who assures each one a place; 7) in listing the peoples, he writes: These are her children, and all rejoice in having their home there.
Psalm 88(87)
O Lord, my God, my saviour! I call for help by day; by night I groan before you! 2) Let my prayer reach you; attend to my plea. 3) For I have had my fill of trouble, and my life is on the brink of the grave. 4) I count for no more than one of those who fall into the pit: helpless, finished, numbered with the dead, 5) with those who lie asleep in the grave, whom you no longer remember for they are of no concern to you anymore. 6) You have laid me in the depths of the tomb, in the darkest, deep abyss. 7) Your anger weighs heavily on me, and you bear down on me with the full weight of it. 8) You make my friends withdraw from me; because of you they find me loathesome.
9) I have been imprisoned; there is no escaping, and anguish dims my eyesight. 10) Still, all day long I call on you, Lord; I stretch out my hands to you in prayer. 11) Is it for the dead that you wait to work your miracles; those mere shadows, will they rise and praise you? 12) Are they about to boast of your love in the grave, of your saving help where life is no more? 13) How can they speak of your wonders in that world of darkness, of your justice where all is forgotten?
14) But I keep crying to you; at dawn my prayer comes before you. 15) Why do you push me aside; why do you turn your face away from me? 16) Misery and mortal suffering have been my lot since my youth; I have endured your terrors; I cower beneath your blows. 17) Your scorching wrath has swept over me, and your onslaughts have reduced me to silence. 18) All day long they overwhelm me like floodwaters; they engulf me completely. 19) Lover and friend you have taken from me; I am left with the company of darkness.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 89(88)
I will sing of your unfailing love forever, O Lord; age after age I will tell out your faithfulness. 2) With my mouth I declare it openly: Your love created the heavens, O eternal one, but your faithfulness outlasts even these. 3) I made a covenant with my chosen one; I gave my word to David, my servant: 4) I will set up your line to last forever; I will confirm your throne to last longer than time itself.
5) In the heavens they praise this promise of yours, O Lord, this faithfulness of yours, where your holy ones gather. 6) Who can compare with you in the skies above, O Lord; who resembles the Lord among the sons of God; -- 7) a God too dreadful for the council of holy ones, too awesome and great for all those around him? 8) Lord God of power and might, who is like you? Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you like a cloak. 9) You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves surge, you calm them. 10) It was you who reduced Rahab to a corpse; with your mighty arm you routed your enemies. 11) Yours are the heavens and yours is the earth; you established the earth and all it holds. 12) You it was who created Zaphan and Amana; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your presence. 13) Yours is a mighty arm, O warrior; your left hand triumphs and your right hand exults. 14) Justice and right are the foundation of your throne; love and truth herald your coming. 15) Happy the people who know your radiance; they walk in the light of your face, O Lord. 16) Day after day they rejoice in your presence; your generosity makes them wild with joy. 17) You are indeed our glorious triumph, and your good pleasure gave us victory. 18) Truly, God is our sovereign, the holy one of Israel, our king.
19) Once, long ago, you spoke in a vision; to one devoted to you, you said this: Rather than a warrior, I made a youth king; I exalted a young man above a hero. 20) I found my servant, David, and with my holy oil I anointed him. 21) My hand shall make him strong; my arm shall give him courage. 22) No enemy shall have his way with him, no vicious rival, overcome him. 23) I will hammer the enemies that confront him; I will strike down those who hate him. 24) My faithfulness and steadfast love shall stay with him, and in my name shall he find victory. 25) I will extend the might of his hand as far as the sea; the strength of his right hand to the Euphrates. 26) He shall cry out to me: You are my father, my God, my rock of deliverance! 27) For my part, I will make him my firstborn, the overlord of earthly kings. 28) I will maintain my favor toward him forever; and my covenant with him I shall never break. 29) I will put his sons on his throne; his throne shall last like heaven's days. 30) If his sons forsake my love, and refuse to walk as I decree, 31) if they violate my statutes and fail to do what I command them, 32) I will punish their rebellion with the rod, and scourge them for their sin. 33) But never will I withdraw my love from him or let my faithfulness prove false. 34) I will not break my covenant nor take back my word. 35) Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36) His dynasty shall last forever; his throne shall last like the sun before me, 37) eternal like the moon, an enduring witness in the heavens.
38) But now you are angry; you have rejected your anointed, and your rage at him knows no bounds. 39) You have canceled the covenant you made with your servant; his crown you have completely dishonored. 40) You have broken down his defenses, reducing his fortifications to ruins. 41) Everyone who passes plunders him, and his neighbors have taken to scoffing at him. 42) You let his enemies get the upper hand over him; they rejoice at his fate. 43) In your wrath you turned his sword back on him instead of supporting it. 44) You have ruined his reputation among his troops and toppled his throne to the ground. 45) You cut short the days of his youth, cursing his young manhood with sterility.
46) How long, O Lord, will you hide your face? How long, O conqueror, will your rage blaze like fire? 47) Remember my sorrow and the shortness of life; did you make men for nothing? 48) Is there anyone alive who will not see death, who can save himself from the grasp of the world beneath? 49) Where are your earlier acts of love, O Lord, which you promised David in your faithfulness? 50) Remember, O sovereign Lord, the insults to your servant, 51) how I take to heart all the jeers of the nations; for your enemies abuse me, O Lord, insulting your anointed at every step!
Praise the Lord forever! Amen, amen!
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 90(89)
Lord, you have been our refuge throughout the ages! 2) Before the mountains were born, before the earth or the world were brought forth, you are God, without beginning or end. 3) Do not turn men back into dust, saying: Go back, sons of Adam! 4) For a thousand years are but a day in your sight, like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. 5) You sweep them away like a dream in the night; they are like grass: 6) In the morning it springs up and flowers; by evening it withers and fades.
7) So your anger consumes us; your wrath terrifies us. 8) You lay bare our guilt in plain sight before you, our secrets, in the light of your face. 9) In view of your anger our days pass away; our years are no more than a sigh. 10) Our lives span seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong. 11) And most of these are emptiness and pain, for they go by quickly and we are gone. 12) Who can understand the power of your anger; who can understand your just and rightful indignation?
Make us know the shortness of our days, that we may reach some wisdom of heart. 13) Lord, relent! Must your anger last forever? Take pity on your servants. 14) Each morning fill us with your love, that we may jump for joy and gladness all our lives. 15) Give us joy; balance our affliction for the years we knew misfortune! 16) Show forth your work to your servants; let your glory shine on their children! 17) Let your favor rest on us, Lord, and give success to the work of our hands; yes, give success to the work of our hands!
Psalm 91(90)
He who lives in the shelter of the most high, who dwells in the shadow of the almighty 2) says to the Lord: My fortress and my refuge, my God, whom I trust! 3) He rescues you from the snare of the hunter who seeks to destroy you; 4) he covers you with the feathers of his wings, and under his wings you find refuge. 5) You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6) nor the pestilence that stalks about in darkness, nor the plague that devastates at high noon. 7) Let a thousand drop at your side and ten thousand at your right, but you, it will never touch you! 8) Your eyes have only to look; you will see what the wicked will get in return. 9) If you call the Lord your refuge and make the most high your stronghold, 10) evil can never touch you, nor can a plague approach your tent; 11) for he will command his angels to care for you, to care for you wherever you go. 12) They will carry you about in their hands, lest you knock your foot against a stone. 13) On the lion and the viper will you tread; you will trample the lion cub and the serpent.
14) If he loves me, I will rescue him; I will exalt him if he acknowledges my name. 15) When he calls, I will answer him. I will stay with him in time of trouble; I will rescue him and spread a feast for him. 16) With long life will I content him, and I will make him enjoy my saving power.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Psalter
Copyright © 1984 by the Monks of New Skete
BYZANTINE CATHOLIC PRAYERS
INTRODUCTORY PRAYERS
In the name of the Father + and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen. (Three times.)
-Glory be to You, our God; glory be to You!
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth! You are
everywhere present and fill all things. Treasury of
Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell within us,
cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O gracious
Lord.
-Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have
mercy on us (Three times.)
-Glory be to the Father +and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; O Lord, cleanse
us of our sins; O Master forgive our transgressions; O
Holy One, come to us and heal our infirmities for your
Names's sake.
-Lord, have mercy! (Three times.)
-Glory be to the Father + and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
GENERAL PRAYERS
OUR FATHER Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
-For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
Father + Son, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and forever. Amen. -Lord, have mercy!
(Twelve times) -Glory be to the Father +and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever.
Amen. -Come, let us adore the King, our God. -Come, let
us adore Christ, the King, our God. -Come, let us adore
and bow down to the only Lord, Jesus Christ, the King
and our God.
ANGELIC SALUTATION Hail, Mother of God, Virgin Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb; for
you gave birth to Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of
our souls.
HAIL MARY Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray
for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
THE NICENE CREED I believe in one God, the Father
Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things
visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, the only-begotten, born of the Father
before all ages. Light of light, true God of true God,
begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father,
through Whom all things were made. Who for us men, and
for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate from the Holy Spirit and Mary the virgin, and
became man. He was also crucified for us under Pontius
Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And He rose again
on the third day, according to the Scriptures. And He
ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the
Father. And He will come again with glory, to judge the
living and the dead, and of His kingdom there will be
no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of
life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with
the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who
spoke through the prophets. In one holy catholic, and
apostolic Church. I profess one Baptism for the
remission of sins. I expect the resurrection of the
dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen.
THE JESUS PRAYER O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy on me a sinner!+ (Bow)
PRAYER COMMENDING OURSELVES TO GOD O Lord, into your
most merciful hands I commend my body and soul,
thoughts and acts, desires and intentions. I commend
the needs of my body and soul, future and past, my
faith and hope, the end of my life, the day and hour of
my death, the burial and resurrection of my body. O
most merciful God, whose clemency the sins of the world
can never transcend, take me, a sinner, under the wings
of our protection and deliver me from every evil.
cleanse my iniquities, grant me a reformation of my
life, and protect me against future transgressions,
that I may in no manner ever anger You. Shelter my
weakness from passions and evil persons, guard me
against my visible and invisible enemies, lead me on
the road of salvation and to Yourself, the safe harbor
and haven of my desires. Grant me a happy, peaceful,
Christian death, and protect me from evil spirits. Be
merciful to me, your servant, at the great judgment,
and number me among the blessed flock who stand on your
right, that, together with them, I may forever glorify
You, my Creator. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ST. ANTIOCHUS O Holy
Spirit, most merciful Comforter: You proceed from the
Father in a manner beyond our understanding. Come, I
beseech You, and take up you abode in my heart. Purify
and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul.
Cleanse it from every impurity, water its dryness, melt
its coldness, and save it from sinful ways. Make me
truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to
You, and that You abide with me forever. Most blessed
Light, most amiable Light, enlighten me. O rapturous
Joy of Paradise, Fount of purest delight, my God, give
yourself to me, and kindle in my innermost soul the
fire of your love. My Lord, instruct, direct, and
defend me in all things. Give me strength against all
immoderate fears and against despondency. Bestow upon
me a true faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and perfect
love. Grant that I always do your most gracious will.
Amen.
PRAYER BEFORE WORK O Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten
Son of your eternal Father: You have said with your
holy lips: "Without Me, you can do nothing." My Lord, I
embrace your words with my heart and soul, and bow
before your goodness and say: Help me, your unworthy
servant, to complete this, my present undertaking, in
the name of the Father + and of the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER WORK O Most sweet Jesus, You are the
fulfillment of all blessings. Fill my soul with joy and
gladness and save me. Grant that your Name be
glorified: for not to us, but to your Name are forever
due honor, glory, and adoration. Amen
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE Remit, pardon and forgive, O God,
our sins committed voluntarily and involuntarily, by
word and deed, knowingly and in ignorance, by thought
and purpose, by day and night; forgive all these for
You are gracious and love mankind.
PRAYER OF THE PUBLICAN God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.+ (Bow) God, cleanse me of my sins and have
mercy on me.+ (Bow) I have sinned without number,
forgive me, O Lord.+ (Bow)
PRAYERS TO THE ANGELS AND SAINTS All you heavenly
powers, holy Angels and Archangels, beseech God for us
sinners. O, holy and glorious Apostles, Prophets,
Martyrs and all Saints, beseech God for us sinners.
PRAYER TO ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA O Saint Nicholas,
bountiful Father and special Patron of our Byzantine
Catholic Church. You are a shepherd and teacher to all
who invoke your protection, and who, by devout prayer,
call upon you for aid. Hasten and save the flock of
Christ from ravenous wolves; and by your holy prayers
protect all Christians and save them from worldly
disturbances, earthquakes, attacks from abroad, from
internal strife, from famine, flood, fire, sword, and
sudden death. As you had mercy on those three men in
prison and saved them from the king's wrath, now also
have mercy on me who by word, deed, and thought have
sunk into the darkness of sin, Save me from the just
anger of God, and from eternal punishment. Through your
intercession and aid as well as through his own mercy
and grace, may Christ our God allow me to lead a
tranquil and sinless life, and save me from standing at
"his left," but deem me worthy to stand at "his right"
with all the saints. Amen.
PRAYER TO STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS O Holy Saints Cyril
and Methodius: you led our forefathers, and us with
them, from the darkness of pagan error to the light of
the true Faith of Christ, and now you rejoice with
Christ in Heaven. Sincerely, we rejoice in your glory,
with which God has rewarded your untiring zeal, and we
humbly thank Him for the great gift of Christianity
which our heavenly Father has bestowed upon us through
your efforts. Intercede with God for us who are
unworthy descendants of Adam, that he may strengthen us
in the True Faith, which you preached to our
forefathers. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE GUARDIAN ANGEL BY ST. PETER THE STUDITE O
Guardian Angel, protector of my soul and body, to your
care I have been entrusted by Christ. Obtain for me the
forgiveness of the sins I have committed today. Protect
me from the snares of my enemy, that I may never again
offend God by sin. Pray for me, your sinful and
unworthy servant that, through your help, I may become
worthy of the grace and mercy of the most Holy Trinity
and of the immaculate Mother of our Lord God, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
HYMN OF THE EVENING O joyful Light! Light and Holy
Glory of the Father immortal, the heavenly, holy, the
Blessed One; O Jesus Christ. Now that we have reached
the setting of the sun, and see the evening light, we
sing to God, Father + Son, and Holy Spirit. It is
fitting at all times to raise a song of praise in
measured melody to You, O Son of God, the giver of
life. Behold the universe sings your glory.
PRAYER BEFORE MEALS O Christ God, bless + the food and
drink of Your servants for You are holy always, now and
ever, and forever. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER MEALS We thank You, Christ our God, for
You have satisfied us with the good things of Your
earth. Do not deprive us of Your heavenly kingdom but
as You appeared to Your disciples, O Saviour, granting
them peace-come also to us and save us. Lord have mercy
(Three times) Give the blessing. Blessed is our God
who, through His grace and loving kindness, is merciful
to us and nourishes us from the abundance of His gifts,
always, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
-------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
Web: http://www.ewtn.com
FTP: ewtn.com
Telnet: ewtn.com
Email address: sysop@ ewtn.com
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------
Scriptural Readings:
Isaiah 2:3-11
Isaiah 2:3-11 (King James Version)
3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
7Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
8Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
10Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Genesis 1:24-2:3
Genesis 1:24-2:3 (King James Version)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Proverbs 2:1-21
Proverbs 2:1-21 (King James Version)
Proverbs 2
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
The Synaxarion:
16 MARCH (III - 29)
Martyrs Sabinus (+ 287) and Papas (+ c. 305 - 311).
Disciple from the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain) (I). PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome (+ 119). Martyr Julian of Anazauria (+ c. 305 - 311). PriestMartyrs Trophymos and Phalos, Presbyters of Laodiceia (+ c. 300). Martyrs Romanus and Parius. 10 Martyrs in Phoenicia. Monk John in Ruthianak. Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker (+ 1111). Saints Emelian, Paul and Dionysius. Monk Patricius (+ 567). Monk Pimen of Salossa, Enlightener of the Lezginians, and his co-worker Antonios Meskhos (XIII) (Gruzia).
Sainted Serapion, ArchBishop of Novgorod (+ 1516).
The Holy Martyr Sabinus was governor of the Egyptian city of Hermopolis. During the time of persecution against christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), Saint Sabinus hid himself away with like-minded companions in a remote village. But his dwelling-place was revealed for two gold coins given to a certain ungrateful beggar, whom the saint had constantly fed and helped with money. Together with six other christians, Sabinus was seized, and after torture they were all drowned in the Nile (+ 287).
The Holy Martyr Papas lived in the city of Larandum (Asia Minor) during the reign of Maximian (305-311). They arrested and tortured him for belief in Christ, and afterwards, -- in boots with sharp nails hammered inside, they took him for further trial to the city of Diocaesarea and later to Isaurian Seleucia. Saint Papas died bound to a barren tree, which thereupon became fruitful.
The PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome, occupied the papal throne for ten years. He was burned alive on 3 May of the year 119 by order of the emperor Adrian (117-138).
The PriestMartyr Julian of Anazauria suffered for Christ in Syrian Antioch under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). His relics were glorified by miracles during the time of Sainted John Chrysostomos (+ 407). Sainted John Chrysostom speaks about the martyr in his 47th homily.
The Holy Martyrs Trophymos and Phalos, by birth brothers and presbyters, served in Carian Laodiceia. During the time of a persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and his co-emperor Maximian (284-305), the brothers were taken under guard and brought before the governor Asclepiodotos. He ordered the holy brothers to be beaten with stones, but the stones, which they threw at the saints, flew back again and struck those that threw them. After a second interrogation the holy brothers were sentenced to crucifixion. Going to execution, they glorified God in that they were found worthy of the Saviour's death on a cross. The wondrous witnesses to God hanging on crosses continued their preaching, and their brave mother stood at the foot of the crosses. A certain Jewess, having bowed to the saints, cried out: "Blessed is the mother, having given birth to such sons". When the martyrs gave up their spirits to God, the prison guard said that he saw the souls of the holy brothers being carried upwards to heaven in the company of three Angels. All night the people stayed with the bodies of the holy martyrs. And in the morning the wife of the torturer Asclepiodotos came to the place of execution with her perfumed bejeweled veil. She told the people, that she saw by night in a dream the holy martyrs and the Angels, sent for the punishment of her husband.
The mother of the martyrs and two christians, by the names of Zosima and Artemon, buried the holy brothers in their native city of Stratonika. The torturer Asclepiodotos soon fell ill and died an horrible death.
The Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker was a native of Bythnian Nicea. At first he pursued asceticism as a monk on Mount Latra in Bythnia, and afterwards he was hegumen of a monastery on the island of Cos. In the year 1089 the monk requested the emperor Alexis Comnena to grant his monastery the island of Patmos in return for the land on the island of Cos and at the shores of Caria. The monk established a monastery on a mountain near the cave where, according to tradition, the holy Apostle John the Theologian wrote the Apocalypse during the years 68-69. In the year 1110 the monk was forced to flee from Patmos together with his disciples to the island of Eubeios because of raidings by sea robbers. He died there in the year 1111. His disciples took his relics to the island of Patmos.
The Holy Disciple from among the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain), was born on Cyprus. Together with his brother, the holy Disciple from among the 70 -- Barnabus, he accompanied the holy Apostle Paul on his journeys. Saint Aristoboulus is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16: 10). The Apostle Paul made Saint Aristoboulus a bishop and sent him to preach the Gospel in Britanium, where he converted many to Christ, for which he suffered persecution by the pagans. Saint Aristoboulus died in Britain. His memory is on 31 October and on 4 January also amidst the Sobor / Assemblage of the 70 Disciples.
Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Great Lent: 6 weeks before the Pasch
Today we celebrate:
What's here
About this website
Resources
New Skete
About the EOC
What's New
Feedback
Tomorrow
Patrick, archbishop of Armagh and all Ireland
Thursday: The holy apostles and Nicholas
Yesterday
Aidan, Finan, and Colman, of Lindisfarne
Tuesday: John, the baptist
Today's psalter
Our venerable father, Alexis, man of God.
Wednesday: The holy and lifegiving cross
For Alexis
Troparion, Tone IV
Adorning yourself in purity of mind and heart, * and caught up in constant prayer like an angel, * you followed your conscience with intense fasting, * so that you advanced in virtue and attained your desire. * Thus, you appear as the sun itself to us here on earth, * O Alexis, man of God and holy father.
Kondakion, Tone II
Pretending to be a stranger in your parents' home, * you made it your own, and lived there in poverty. * When you departed this world for the next, * you were crowned with glory, * while here on earth your fame spread far and wide. * O holy Alexis, man of God, * your life brings joy to men and angels alike.
For the cross
Troparion, Tone I
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance. * Give victory to those who battle evil, * and with your cross protect us all.
Kondakion, Tone IV
Bestow your mercies on all who bear your name, * O you who freely let yourself be raised upon the cross. * In your power, gladden all who battle evil, * by gracing them with victory over every foe. * For as long as they have you as their ally, * they possess a weapon of peace, * unfailing trophy of victory.
Stavrotheotokion, Tone I
Surrounded by the grace of your son's holy cross, * we hasten to sing your praises, O lady most pure. * For we enjoy your constant intercession * that preserves us from every evil.
Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit both now and forever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
This page changes every day.
Copyright © 2001-2011 O Great Mystery Website Team
Hymn texts copyright © 1984 The Monks of New Skete
Used with permission
Daily Readings and Prayers:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Great Lent, Martyrs Sabinus (+ 287) and Papas (+ c. 305 - 311), Disciple from the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain) (I). PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome (+ 119). Martyr Julian of Anazauria (+ c. 305 - 311). PriestMartyrs Trophymos and Phalos, Presbyters of Laodiceia (+ c. 300). Martyrs Romanus and Parius. 10 Martyrs in Phoenicia. Monk John in Ruthianak. Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker (+ 1111). Saints Emelian, Paul and Dionysius. Monk Patricius (+ 567). Monk Pimen of Salossa, Enlightener of the Lezginians, and his co-worker Antonios Meskhos (XIII) (Gruzia), Sainted Serapion, ArchBishop of Novgorod (+ 1516).
Daily Prayers:
The Tenth Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 71(70)
I place my trust in you, O Lord; do not disappoint me, O eternal one! 2) In your justice rescue me and set me free. Turn your ear to me and deliver me; 3) be a rock of refuge for me to which I can always turn. You promised to come and save me at any time, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4) Save me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grip of the criminal and the thief. 5) For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O my God, from my youth. 6) I have leaned on you from the womb; from my mother's breast you have sustained me: I shall praise you forever! 7) I am an example for many, for you are my strong refuge. 8) My mouth is filled with your praise; I tell out your glory and your majesty throughout the day!
9) Do not cast me off in my old age; as my strength fails, do not forsake me. 10) My foes have their eye on me; with others they conspire for my life, saying: 11) God has deserted him; chase him and catch him, for no one will save him. 12) O God, be not far from me! My God, come quick to help me! 13) Let my accusers perish in frustration; let those who seek my ruin be covered with shame and disgrace. 14) As for me, I will continue to hope, and I will add to your praises day after day. 15) My mouth recounts your faithful deeds all day long, your saving acts, though I could never tell them all! 16) I shall approach your sanctuary, O Lord; I shall proclaim your faithfulness, O Lord, yours alone!
17) You have taught me from my youth, O God, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18) Now that I am old and gray, O God, do not desert me until I tell the next generation about your power, 19) all those yet to come, about your might.
Your faithfulness reaches to the sky, O God; you have done great things, O God; who is your equal? 20) Though you make me see misery after misery and wrong upon wrong, you will restore me to life and raise me, once more, from the depths of the earth. 21) Make my offerings acceptable, and reward me with your comfort. 22) I promise I will praise you on the harp for your faithfulness, O God; I will play to you on the lyre, O holy one of Israel. 23) My lips shall rejoice when I sing to you, my whole being, for you have redeemed me. 24) Throughout the day, my tongue shall recite your faithful acts -- O, that they who seek my ruin be shamed and disgraced!
Psalm 72(71)
Grant the king your own skill in judgment, O God, and the king's son your own sense of justice, 2) that he may rule your people rightly and your poor with justice. 3) May the mountains and the hills bring peace to your people! May he award the oppressed fair judgment 4) and protect the children of the needy, crushing those who do them wrong.
5) May he live as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon gives light, age after age. 6) May he be welcomed like rain on a newly cut field, as showers on thirsty soil. 7) May his days flourish with justice, with prosperity and peace until the moon shines no more.
8) May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. 9) May desert-dwellers kneel before him, and his enemies bite the dust. 10) May the kings of Tarshish and the islands pay him tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Arabia offer gifts. 11) May all kings prostrate before him, and all nations serve him.
12) If he rescues the oppressed when they cry for help, and the needy who have no one to help them; 13) if he takes pity on the poor and the afflicted and saves the lives of the lowly; 14) if he ransoms their lives from oppression and violence, and precious is their blood in his sight: 15) Then, long may he live! May he receive gold from Sheba, and may prayers be said for him always, and may blessings be invoked on him throughout the day. 16) May a surplus of grain rustle even on the tops of the mountains; may his fruit trees blossom like Lebanon, flourishing like the grass of the earth. 17) May his name be blessed forever! While the sun lasts, may his name also endure! May all the tries of the earth find their happiness in him, and may all nations call him blessed!
18) Praised be the Lord God, the God of Israel, for he has worked wonders! 19) Praised be his name and his glory forever, and unto ages of ages! May all the earth be filled with his glory! Amen, amen. 20) The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, end here.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 73(72)
In spite of everything, God is goodness itself for the pure of heart, O Israel! 2) Yet, my feet came close to stumbling; my steps were nearly led off course, 3) envying the arrogant as I did, watching the wicked get rich.
4) There is no pain for them; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5) Human sorrow never touches them, nor are they afflicted like others. 6) So, pride is their necklace, violence, the robe that clothes them. 7) Perversity oozes from their hearts, and their minds overflow with fantasy. 8) They scoff as they whisper their malice; their arrogance plans oppression. 9) Their mouths defy heaven, and their tongues challenge even the world below. 10) So people turn and follow them, lapping up their every word. 11) Then they say: How could God know? Does the most high know everything? 12) That is what the wicked are like: they ignore the eternal one, and yet they continue to grow in wealth.
13) So it was for nothing that I kept my heart pure, that I washed my hands in innocence! 14) For nothing was I afflicted all day long and punished anew every morning! 15) Had I said: That talk appeals to me! I would be a traitor to your people. 16) I tried to fathom all this, but it seemed a hopeless task. 17) Then I pierced the mystery; I perceived what their fate would be.
18) How slippery the paths you set them on; you make them slide to their destruction. 19) Sudden will their devastation be; their end will come, and they will disappear into the land of terrors. 20) Like a dream one disregards on waking, O Lord, so will you dismiss them as mere phantoms. 21) So it was that my mind had soured, that my feelings hardened. 22) In my stupidity, I failed to understand; I was like a brainless beast before you.
23) Yet, I shall always remain with you, so take hold of my hand; 24) guide me with your counsel and, in the end, receive me with glory. 25) For what else does heaven hold for me but you; and what do I want on earth but you? 26) My flesh and my heart waste away in longing, for God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! 27) Those who abandon you are doomed; you destroy those who betray you. 28) As for me, my joy lies in holding fast to my God, in placing my trust in the Lord God, forever proclaiming what he has done.
Psalm 74(73)
Why, O God, are you always angry? Why does your wrath smoulder against the sheep you tend? 2) Remember the flock you made your own so long ago: with your staff, rescue the tribe you chose for your own domain, and this Mount Sion, where you reside. 3) Pick your way through all these ruins, through this lasting destruction the enemy has wrought in your sanctuary. 4) The shouts and screams of their malice echo through the place where your people used to gather; 5) they set up their standards as trophies of victory high above the entrance. 6) With axes they hacked at the paneling, battering down the doors with hammer and hatchet. 7) They torched your holy place, utterly destroying the dwelling place of your name. 8) In their hearts, they conspired with one another: Once and for all let us finish them off! Let us destroy every shrine of their God in the land! 9) Our own standards are nowhere to be seen! Gone are prophets and counselors! 10) How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff at you, the foe, to revile your name, O conqueror? 11) Why do you hold back your left hand; and your right hand, why do you keep it hidden?
12) Destroy the kings from the east, O God! Work your victory in our very midst. 13) It was you who shattered the sea with your might, who smashed the heads of the monstrous Tannin; 14) it was you who crushed Leviathan's heads and gave him as food for the desert tribes; 15) it was you who released the springs and torrents, who made swollen waters run dry; 16) it was you who made day and night, who caused the moon and sun to be; 17) it was you who determined all the climates of the earth, who made summer and winter. 18) So now, remember, O Lord, the insults of the foes who blaspheme you, and the foolish people who revile your name. 19) Do not give the hawks your turtle-dove, nor forget the souls of the afflicted, O conqueror. 20) Look down on your temple; the city is smothered in darkness and the countryside rife with violence. 21) Let not he oppressed sit in shame, but let the poor and the needy praise your name. 22) Rise up, Lord, and champion your cause! Remember how the fool blasphemes you day after day. 23) Do not overlook the uproar of your adversaries nor the ever-rising din of those who hate you.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 75(74)
We praise you, O God, we praise you! Your wondrous works tell us that your name is near.
2) You say: First I choose the time; then I judge fairly. 3) The earth and all its inhabitants may tremble, but I make its pillars stand firm. 4) I say to the arrogant: Enough of your bragging! -- to the wicked: Do not flaunt your strength! 5) Do not flaunt your strength against the most high nor hurl defiance against the rock! 6) For what exalts a man comes not from the east, or the west, or the wilderness; but it is God who judges: One man he puts down; he exalts another. 7) In the hand of the Lord is a cup of foaming wine which is heavily drugged; 8) he pours from it, and all the wicked of the earth drink, draining it to the very last drop!
9) As for me, I proclaim the eternal one; I sing to the God of Jacob. 10) He says: It is mine to break the pride of the wicked, but the honor of the righteous I exalt!
Psalm 76(75)
In Judah God makes himself known; in Israel his name is great. 2) Salem became his den, and Sion, his lair. 3) There he broke the attack of the archers, the shields and swords and weapons of war.
4) O what awe you inspired, O God of brilliant light! 5) They tried to plunder the mountain of the lion, those stout-hearted men, but they slept their last sleep; they died, those soldiers of prowess; they perished. 6) At your roar, O God of Jacob, horse and chariot collapsed and lay stunned.
7) How awesome you are! Who can stand up to your fury, to your ancient wrath? 8) From heaven you shall thunder the sentence; the earth shall shudder with fright and lie still, 9) when God rises for judgement, to deliver the lowly of the earth.
10) They will rejoice and praise you; those who survive will be overjoyed; they will feast in your honor. 11) Make vows and fulfill them to the Lord, our God; let all those around him bring gifts to him who sees, 12) who fathoms the minds of princes, who strikes terror in the hearts of kings.
Psalm 77(76)
In despair I cry out to you, O God of gods! Listen at once to my cry, O God of gods! 2) By day I look for the Lord; by night I stretch out my hands tirelessly, but my soul refuses to be consoled. 3) I think of God, and I groan; I reflect, and my soul grows faint. 4) My eyes are used to wakefulness; I am so troubled, I cannot speak. 5) My thoughts turn to days gone by, to years long passed. 6) At night, I strum my lyre, but my soul keeps questioning. 7) Will the sovereign Lord be angry forever; will he show us his favor no more? 8) His unfailing love, has this vanished forever, has his promise failed? 9) Has the source of God's mercy dried up; has anger stifled his loving kindness? 10) I thought to myself: This is what troubles me: It has changed; the right hand of the Lord has changed! 11) I remember your wondrous works, the marvels you worked of old. 12) I ponder all your actions, reflecting on your mighty deeds.
13) O God, how holy are your ways! What God is great as our God? 14) You are a God who works wonders! You made the nations taste your might! 15) Now, with your arm, redeem your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph! 16) The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and they began to churn; the depth shuddered in terror. 17) The clouds burst forth in floods; storm clouds thundered; your arrows flashed to and fro. 18) The sound of your thunder rolled through the heavens; your lightning flashes lit up the world; the depths of the earth quaked and shook. 19) Your path led through the sea, your way through mighty waters; but no one could trace your footsteps! 20) Lead your people like a flock, by the hand of a Moses and an Aaron!
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Eleventh Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 78(77)
Listen, my people, to this teaching of mine; turn your ear to what I have to say. 2) I want to give a discourse in wisdom, to disclose the mysteries of our past, 3) things we have heard and come to know, things our fathers have told us. 4) We are not about to hide from their grandchildren, nor keep from the next generation 5) the magnificent works of the Lord and his conquests, the wonders he performed, 6) wonders he had done before their fathers' very eyes in the land of Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.
7) He had split the sea to let them through, water like a dike to left and to right, 8) guiding them by day with a cloud, with a pillar of fire throughout the night. 9) He struck hard the rock of the desert, watering even that vast and sandy waste, 10) making streams jet from the rock, causing fountains to gush forth as abundant as rivers. 11) He issued a decree in Jacob; in Israel he established a law, that what he commanded our fathers, they should make known to their sons; 12) that the next generation -- those yet unborn -- would know and, in turn, tell their own, 13) that they might trust in God, mindful of his divine works, ever loyal to his precepts, 14) rather than be like their ancestors, rebellious and unruly breed that they were; a generation of fickle hearts, unfaithful to God. 15) They broke their covenant with God and refused to walk in his ways. 16) They forgot what he did and the miracles he allowed them to see.
17) They went on sinning against him, in that desert, rebelling against the most high. 18) In their hearts they put God on trial, demanding food that they craved. 19) With bitter complaints they challenged God, demanding of God a feast then and there! 20) He struck at the rock so that waters gushed out, making gullies overflow; but what about bread -- can he give us that, too, and provide meat for his people? 21) Though they had no trust in God, no trust in his power to save, 22) yet, he ordered the clouds to part, the portals of heaven to open: 23) He rained down manna on them for food, filling them with grain from the heavens. 24) Everyone ate the bread of the angels that he provided for them in abundance. 25) He set the east wind moving in the heavens, and brought up the south wind by his power. 26) He rained down meat on them like dust, and birds as thick as the sands of the seashore, 27) making all of this fall right into their camp, on all sides, round about their tents. 28) So they ate their fill, and all they asked he granted them. 29) But still they failed to control their greed, and while yet this food was in their mouths, 30) God's anger flared at them again: he slew the sturdiest of them, striking down the flower of Israel.
31) And still they went on sinning, forgetting all his wondrous deeds. 32) So he made their days disappear like the mist, their years more quickly than a fleeting phantom. 33) When he struck them down they ran to him; then they would repent and long for God. 34) Then they would remember that God was their rock, that God the most high was their redeemer. 35) So, outwardly they flattered him, and with their tongues they lied to him, 36) but their hearts were far from loyal to him, and they betrayed their covenant with him. 37) Yet he is compassionate, so he forgave their guilt instead of killing them. He kept on turning back his anger, always holding back his rage, 38) for he remembered they were only flesh, nothing more than a breeze that flows by, never to return.
39) How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how often they grieved him in that wasteland! 40) Again and again they put God to the test; they provoked the holy one of Israel, 41) always failing to recall his power and the day he saved them from their foe, 42) when he worked his wonders in Egypt and his marvels on the plain of Zoan. 43) He turned the rivers into blood, to stop them from drinking their waters. 44) He sent swarms of insects to devour them, frogs to destroy them. 45) He consigned their crops to grubs, their hard-won fruit to locusts. 46) He killed their vines with hail and their berries with frost. 47) He condemned their cattle to the plague and their flocks to feverish pests. 48) He loosed his raging anger on them, all his wrath and indignation in the form of hardships! He sent them angels of destruction, 49) to level a path before him. Nor did he stop short of slaying them, but loosed on them a raging pestilence. 50) He struck down all the first-born of Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigor, born in the tents of Ham. 51) Then he led his people out like sheep, guiding them through the desert like a flock, 52) safe and unafraid, while the sea engulfed their enemies. 53) So he brought them into that holy land of his, the highlands his own right hand had won. 54) Expelling the nations before them, he let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents, allowing their inheritance to fall to them by lot.
55) Even so, they went on testing the most high; they rebelled against God and ignored his decrees. 56) They turned away and played him false like their fathers, treacherous as a bow with a warp. 57) They provoked him with their high-places; they aroused his jealousy with their graven images. 58) Now the Lord heard all this and he fumed; his anger raged against Jacob; his wrath blazed up against Israel, and he rejected Israel with bitter scorn. He rejected the clan of Joseph; the tribe of Ephraim he disowned. 60) He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh, that tent where once he lived with men. 61) He deserted the glorious ark of his might and let it fall into the hands of his enemies. 62) He condemned his own people to fall by the sword, in his fuming rage against his chosen. 63) Ephraim's sons were his archers -- treacherous bowmen -- on the day of battle they turned tail and ran! 64) So it was that their young men were fed to the flames, and their maidens went unwed. 65) Their priests fell by the sword, and there were no widows left to do the mourning.
66) Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior shaking off his wine. 67) He struck his enemies as they turned to flee, branding them with an everlasting shame. 68) In the end it was Judah's tribe he chose, and Mount Sion, which he loved, 69) where he built his sanctuary like the heights of the heavens themselves, as firm as the earth he had established from forever. 70) And he chose his servant, David, taking him from a sheepfold, 71) and from tending ewes; he brought him to shepherd his people Jacob, and Israel, his very own. 72) With a blameless heart did David tend them, leading them with his skillful hand.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 79(78)
O God, unbelievers have invaded your land! They have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins! 2) The bodies of your servants they have left as food for the birds of heaven, and the flesh of your devoted followers for the beasts of the earth. 3) Their blood has been spilled like water; and there is not a soul left in the city to bury them! 4) We have become the butt of scorn for our neighbors, something to make fun of, to laugh at.
5) How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy smoulder like fire? 6) Pour out your rage on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not invoke your name. 7) They have devoured Jacob; they have laid waste his homeland. 8) Do not hold the sins of our fathers against us; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need!
9) Help us, O God of our salvation! For the glory of your name, rescue us! Forgive us our sins, for your name's sake, lest unbelievers say: 10) Where is their God? Before our very eyes, let the nations see that you avenge the shedding of your servants' blood!
11) Let the groans of prisoners reach you; with your mighty hand, reprieve those condemned to death! 12) Strike at their hearts and pay back our neighbors sevenfold, for the insults they have flung at you, O Lord! 13) For we are your people, the flock you tend, and we will give thanks to you forever, recounting your praise from one generation to the next!
Psalm 80(79)
O Shepherd of Israel, give ear! Lead Joseph like a flock! O you who sit enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2) on Ephraim, on Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up your might, and come to our aid! 3) O God, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
4) How long, O God of power and might, how long will you frown on your people's plea? 5) You have fed us the bread of tears; you have given us tears to drink beyond measure. 6) You made us the laughing-stock of our neighbors, and our enemies laugh us to scorn. 7) O God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
8) You brought forth a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9) You cleared a place for it; it took root and spread through the land. 10) Mountains were covered by its shade, and its shoots climbed the towering cedars.
11) So why did you tear down its hedges? Now, every one who passes plucks at its fruit. 12) The boar of the forest ravages it, and the beasts of the field feed on it. 13) Men have burned it with full, blazing fire; at your angry rebuke may they perish!
14) O God of power and might, return to us, we beseech you! Look down from heaven and see! Visit this vine 15) and care for what your right hand has planted! 16) Make its branches stretch forth to the sea, and as far as the Euphrates, its shoots. 17) Rest your hand on the man you have chosen, on the man you have given your strength. 18) Give us life that we may call on your name; never again will we turn from you. 19) Lord God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!
Psalm 81(80)
Cry out with joy to God, our fortress; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob! 2) Strike up a song and sound the timbrel, the pleasing melody of harp and lyre! 3) Blow the ram's horn for the new moon, and for the full moon, the solemn day of our festival! 4) Duty insists you do it, O Israel; it was decreed by Jacob's God, 5) a law imposed on Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt.
6) Things long forgotten were brought back to me: It was I who eased their burdens from your shoulders, freeing your hands of their load, and delivering you when you called out in distress. 7) From the hiding place of thunder I answered you, though you provoked me at Meribah's waters. 8) Listen, my people, as I speak: O Israel, as I testify against you! O, if you would only listen! 9) You shall have no foreign gods in your midst; nor shall you bow before an alien god, 10) for I am the Lord, your God who brought you here from the land of Egypt, who filled your mouths.
11) But my people would not hear my voice; Israel would not obey me. 12) So I rejected them for the hardness of their hearts; I let them follow their own bent. 13) If only my people would hear me, if Israel would walk in my ways, 14) at once would I subdue their foes, and turn my hand against their adversaries! 15) Those who hate the Lord would fawn upon them, but their punishment would one day come. 16) I would feed Israel with the finest wheat, and satisfy them with the choicest honey.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 82(81)
God stands in the divine assembly; in the midst of the gods he gives judgment:
2) How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked? 3) Be just for the weak and the orphan; for the unfortunate and for the needy, do justice! 4) Rescue the weak and the poor; from the hand of the wicked set them free!
5) Without knowledge, without understanding, they grope in the darkness; the order in the world is disturbed. 6) As for me, I have told you: You are gods, all of you; you are all sons of the most high. 7) And yet, like men shall you die, like any price shall you fall. 8) Rise up, O God! Judge the earth, for you are ruler over all the nations!
Psalm 83(82)
Who is like you, my God? O God, do not be silent and unmoved! 2) See how your enemies rage, how they assert themselves. 3) Against your people they make crafty plans; they plot against your treasured ones. 4) Come, they whisper, let us wipe them out as a nation; let Israel's name be mentioned no more! 5) Yes, they are all in agreement; your assailants form an alliance against you. 6) There Edom lies encamped, there Ishmael; Moab, too, and the Hagarites; 7) Byblos as well as Amalek, Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 8) Even Assyria has joined forces with them, lending her might to the children of Lot.
9) Deal with them as you did with Midian, as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrents of Kishon. 10) Let them perish like those at Endor! Let them rot like dung on the ground! 11) Make their leaders like Oreb and Ze'eb, all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna 12) who said: Let us take the finest meadows for ourselves! 13) Make them whirl like tumbleweed, my God, this way and that, like straw in the wind! 14) As a fire rages through the forest, as flames blaze across the hills, 15) so chase them with your whirlwind; torment them with your windstorm. 16) Cover their faces with chagrin! Avenge your name, O Lord! 17) Confusion and dismay be theirs forever! Let them be forever disgraced; then destroy them! 18) Let them know that your name is Lord, and that you alone are the most high over all the earth.
Psalm 84(83)
How lovely are your dwellings, Lord God of power and might! 2) My soul yearns and pines with longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh ring out their joy to the living God! 3) Even the sparrow finds a house, and the swallow, a nest for her young: near your altars, O Lord of power and might, O my king and my God! 4) Happy are they who live in your house; they sing your praises all day long.
5) Happy the pilgrims who find their strength in you, who set their hearts on reaching you. 6) Passing through the valley of the balsam trees they make it a place of blessing, as if the autumn rains had showered it; 7) from there they go from place to place, soon to stand before the God of gods on Sion.
8) O Lord God of power and might! Hear my prayer! Lend an ear to me, God of Jacob! 9) Turn your eyes, O God, our sovereign! Look on the face of the one you have anointed! 10) One day in your courts have I preferred to a thousand somewhere else, the threshold of the house of my God to the tent of the wicked. 11) For the Lord God will sustain us and help us! He will show us his favor, his glory. The Lord will never refuse anything to those who walk in innocence. 12) O Lord of power and might! Happy the man who trusts in you!
Psalm 85(84)
With your favor, Lord, grace your own land, turn the tide of Jacob's fortune. 2) Forgive your people their guilt; do away with all trace of their sins. 3) Turn away your wrath; master the heat of your anger.
4) Revive us, O God of our salvation; put an end to your resentment against us. 5) Must your anger with us last forever? Will it never end? 6) Will you not restore us to life, that your people may rejoice in you? 7) Let us see your loving kindness, Lord; give us your saving help.
8) Let me reveal what the Lord himself has to say: His voice is one that speaks peace: peace for his people, for his friends, for those who turn to him in their hearts. 9) His help is close at hand for those who revere him, and his glory shall dwell in our land. 10) Mercy and truth will meet; justice and peace will embrace. 11) Faithfulness shall spring forth from the earth, and justice shall look down from the heavens. 12) The Lord will give us prosperity, and the earth will yield its fruit. 13) Justice shall go forth before him, and peace shall follow in his footsteps.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Twelfth Kathisma
Antiphon One
Psalm 86(85)
Lend an ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and miserable! 2) Look after my soul, for I am your friend; save your servant, O my God, for I trust in you. 3) Pity me, O sovereign Lord, for I cry to you all day long! 4) Give joy to your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift my soul! 5) Lord, you are forgiving and good, full of love for all who call on you. 6) Hear my prayer, O Lord; attend to the sound of my voice. 7) The day of my distress I call on you; if only you would answer me, O Lord!
8) Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor can their works compare with yours. 9) If you act, all nations will come to adore you, O Lord, to glorify your name, 10) for you are great and you work wonders, O you who alone are God!
11) Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; teach my heart to revere your name. 12) With all my heart will I praise you, Lord my God! I will glorify your name, O eternal one! 13) For great is your mercy toward me, O most high! You have rescued my soul from the depths of the grave! 14) O God the proud rise up to attack me; ruthless men hunt down my soul! Never do they give any thought to you! 15) But you, O Lord, God of tenderness and mercy, slow to anger, full of love and faithfulness, 16) turn to me and pity me: Give triumph to your servant, to your faithful son, victory. 17) Show me proof of your favor, O good one, that my foes may see and be shamed. O, that you yourself would help and console me, O Lord!
Psalm 87(86)
The city he founded stands on the holy mountain, and the Lord cherishes her. 2) He prefers the gates of Sion to all Jacob's dwellings, 3) and he speaks of you in glowing terms, O city of God:
4) I count Babylon and Egypt among those who know me; Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia -- they are all her children. 5) Sion will be called mother, for all are her children.
6) And it is he, the Lord most high, who assures each one a place; 7) in listing the peoples, he writes: These are her children, and all rejoice in having their home there.
Psalm 88(87)
O Lord, my God, my saviour! I call for help by day; by night I groan before you! 2) Let my prayer reach you; attend to my plea. 3) For I have had my fill of trouble, and my life is on the brink of the grave. 4) I count for no more than one of those who fall into the pit: helpless, finished, numbered with the dead, 5) with those who lie asleep in the grave, whom you no longer remember for they are of no concern to you anymore. 6) You have laid me in the depths of the tomb, in the darkest, deep abyss. 7) Your anger weighs heavily on me, and you bear down on me with the full weight of it. 8) You make my friends withdraw from me; because of you they find me loathesome.
9) I have been imprisoned; there is no escaping, and anguish dims my eyesight. 10) Still, all day long I call on you, Lord; I stretch out my hands to you in prayer. 11) Is it for the dead that you wait to work your miracles; those mere shadows, will they rise and praise you? 12) Are they about to boast of your love in the grave, of your saving help where life is no more? 13) How can they speak of your wonders in that world of darkness, of your justice where all is forgotten?
14) But I keep crying to you; at dawn my prayer comes before you. 15) Why do you push me aside; why do you turn your face away from me? 16) Misery and mortal suffering have been my lot since my youth; I have endured your terrors; I cower beneath your blows. 17) Your scorching wrath has swept over me, and your onslaughts have reduced me to silence. 18) All day long they overwhelm me like floodwaters; they engulf me completely. 19) Lover and friend you have taken from me; I am left with the company of darkness.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Antiphon Two
Psalm 89(88)
I will sing of your unfailing love forever, O Lord; age after age I will tell out your faithfulness. 2) With my mouth I declare it openly: Your love created the heavens, O eternal one, but your faithfulness outlasts even these. 3) I made a covenant with my chosen one; I gave my word to David, my servant: 4) I will set up your line to last forever; I will confirm your throne to last longer than time itself.
5) In the heavens they praise this promise of yours, O Lord, this faithfulness of yours, where your holy ones gather. 6) Who can compare with you in the skies above, O Lord; who resembles the Lord among the sons of God; -- 7) a God too dreadful for the council of holy ones, too awesome and great for all those around him? 8) Lord God of power and might, who is like you? Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you like a cloak. 9) You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves surge, you calm them. 10) It was you who reduced Rahab to a corpse; with your mighty arm you routed your enemies. 11) Yours are the heavens and yours is the earth; you established the earth and all it holds. 12) You it was who created Zaphan and Amana; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your presence. 13) Yours is a mighty arm, O warrior; your left hand triumphs and your right hand exults. 14) Justice and right are the foundation of your throne; love and truth herald your coming. 15) Happy the people who know your radiance; they walk in the light of your face, O Lord. 16) Day after day they rejoice in your presence; your generosity makes them wild with joy. 17) You are indeed our glorious triumph, and your good pleasure gave us victory. 18) Truly, God is our sovereign, the holy one of Israel, our king.
19) Once, long ago, you spoke in a vision; to one devoted to you, you said this: Rather than a warrior, I made a youth king; I exalted a young man above a hero. 20) I found my servant, David, and with my holy oil I anointed him. 21) My hand shall make him strong; my arm shall give him courage. 22) No enemy shall have his way with him, no vicious rival, overcome him. 23) I will hammer the enemies that confront him; I will strike down those who hate him. 24) My faithfulness and steadfast love shall stay with him, and in my name shall he find victory. 25) I will extend the might of his hand as far as the sea; the strength of his right hand to the Euphrates. 26) He shall cry out to me: You are my father, my God, my rock of deliverance! 27) For my part, I will make him my firstborn, the overlord of earthly kings. 28) I will maintain my favor toward him forever; and my covenant with him I shall never break. 29) I will put his sons on his throne; his throne shall last like heaven's days. 30) If his sons forsake my love, and refuse to walk as I decree, 31) if they violate my statutes and fail to do what I command them, 32) I will punish their rebellion with the rod, and scourge them for their sin. 33) But never will I withdraw my love from him or let my faithfulness prove false. 34) I will not break my covenant nor take back my word. 35) Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36) His dynasty shall last forever; his throne shall last like the sun before me, 37) eternal like the moon, an enduring witness in the heavens.
38) But now you are angry; you have rejected your anointed, and your rage at him knows no bounds. 39) You have canceled the covenant you made with your servant; his crown you have completely dishonored. 40) You have broken down his defenses, reducing his fortifications to ruins. 41) Everyone who passes plunders him, and his neighbors have taken to scoffing at him. 42) You let his enemies get the upper hand over him; they rejoice at his fate. 43) In your wrath you turned his sword back on him instead of supporting it. 44) You have ruined his reputation among his troops and toppled his throne to the ground. 45) You cut short the days of his youth, cursing his young manhood with sterility.
46) How long, O Lord, will you hide your face? How long, O conqueror, will your rage blaze like fire? 47) Remember my sorrow and the shortness of life; did you make men for nothing? 48) Is there anyone alive who will not see death, who can save himself from the grasp of the world beneath? 49) Where are your earlier acts of love, O Lord, which you promised David in your faithfulness? 50) Remember, O sovereign Lord, the insults to your servant, 51) how I take to heart all the jeers of the nations; for your enemies abuse me, O Lord, insulting your anointed at every step!
Praise the Lord forever! Amen, amen!
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
Antiphon Three
Psalm 90(89)
Lord, you have been our refuge throughout the ages! 2) Before the mountains were born, before the earth or the world were brought forth, you are God, without beginning or end. 3) Do not turn men back into dust, saying: Go back, sons of Adam! 4) For a thousand years are but a day in your sight, like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. 5) You sweep them away like a dream in the night; they are like grass: 6) In the morning it springs up and flowers; by evening it withers and fades.
7) So your anger consumes us; your wrath terrifies us. 8) You lay bare our guilt in plain sight before you, our secrets, in the light of your face. 9) In view of your anger our days pass away; our years are no more than a sigh. 10) Our lives span seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong. 11) And most of these are emptiness and pain, for they go by quickly and we are gone. 12) Who can understand the power of your anger; who can understand your just and rightful indignation?
Make us know the shortness of our days, that we may reach some wisdom of heart. 13) Lord, relent! Must your anger last forever? Take pity on your servants. 14) Each morning fill us with your love, that we may jump for joy and gladness all our lives. 15) Give us joy; balance our affliction for the years we knew misfortune! 16) Show forth your work to your servants; let your glory shine on their children! 17) Let your favor rest on us, Lord, and give success to the work of our hands; yes, give success to the work of our hands!
Psalm 91(90)
He who lives in the shelter of the most high, who dwells in the shadow of the almighty 2) says to the Lord: My fortress and my refuge, my God, whom I trust! 3) He rescues you from the snare of the hunter who seeks to destroy you; 4) he covers you with the feathers of his wings, and under his wings you find refuge. 5) You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6) nor the pestilence that stalks about in darkness, nor the plague that devastates at high noon. 7) Let a thousand drop at your side and ten thousand at your right, but you, it will never touch you! 8) Your eyes have only to look; you will see what the wicked will get in return. 9) If you call the Lord your refuge and make the most high your stronghold, 10) evil can never touch you, nor can a plague approach your tent; 11) for he will command his angels to care for you, to care for you wherever you go. 12) They will carry you about in their hands, lest you knock your foot against a stone. 13) On the lion and the viper will you tread; you will trample the lion cub and the serpent.
14) If he loves me, I will rescue him; I will exalt him if he acknowledges my name. 15) When he calls, I will answer him. I will stay with him in time of trouble; I will rescue him and spread a feast for him. 16) With long life will I content him, and I will make him enjoy my saving power.
Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:
The Psalter
Copyright © 1984 by the Monks of New Skete
BYZANTINE CATHOLIC PRAYERS
INTRODUCTORY PRAYERS
In the name of the Father + and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen. (Three times.)
-Glory be to You, our God; glory be to You!
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth! You are
everywhere present and fill all things. Treasury of
Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell within us,
cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O gracious
Lord.
-Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have
mercy on us (Three times.)
-Glory be to the Father +and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; O Lord, cleanse
us of our sins; O Master forgive our transgressions; O
Holy One, come to us and heal our infirmities for your
Names's sake.
-Lord, have mercy! (Three times.)
-Glory be to the Father + and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
GENERAL PRAYERS
OUR FATHER Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
-For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
Father + Son, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and forever. Amen. -Lord, have mercy!
(Twelve times) -Glory be to the Father +and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever.
Amen. -Come, let us adore the King, our God. -Come, let
us adore Christ, the King, our God. -Come, let us adore
and bow down to the only Lord, Jesus Christ, the King
and our God.
ANGELIC SALUTATION Hail, Mother of God, Virgin Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb; for
you gave birth to Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of
our souls.
HAIL MARY Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray
for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
THE NICENE CREED I believe in one God, the Father
Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things
visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, the only-begotten, born of the Father
before all ages. Light of light, true God of true God,
begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father,
through Whom all things were made. Who for us men, and
for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate from the Holy Spirit and Mary the virgin, and
became man. He was also crucified for us under Pontius
Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And He rose again
on the third day, according to the Scriptures. And He
ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the
Father. And He will come again with glory, to judge the
living and the dead, and of His kingdom there will be
no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of
life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with
the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who
spoke through the prophets. In one holy catholic, and
apostolic Church. I profess one Baptism for the
remission of sins. I expect the resurrection of the
dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen.
THE JESUS PRAYER O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy on me a sinner!+ (Bow)
PRAYER COMMENDING OURSELVES TO GOD O Lord, into your
most merciful hands I commend my body and soul,
thoughts and acts, desires and intentions. I commend
the needs of my body and soul, future and past, my
faith and hope, the end of my life, the day and hour of
my death, the burial and resurrection of my body. O
most merciful God, whose clemency the sins of the world
can never transcend, take me, a sinner, under the wings
of our protection and deliver me from every evil.
cleanse my iniquities, grant me a reformation of my
life, and protect me against future transgressions,
that I may in no manner ever anger You. Shelter my
weakness from passions and evil persons, guard me
against my visible and invisible enemies, lead me on
the road of salvation and to Yourself, the safe harbor
and haven of my desires. Grant me a happy, peaceful,
Christian death, and protect me from evil spirits. Be
merciful to me, your servant, at the great judgment,
and number me among the blessed flock who stand on your
right, that, together with them, I may forever glorify
You, my Creator. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ST. ANTIOCHUS O Holy
Spirit, most merciful Comforter: You proceed from the
Father in a manner beyond our understanding. Come, I
beseech You, and take up you abode in my heart. Purify
and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul.
Cleanse it from every impurity, water its dryness, melt
its coldness, and save it from sinful ways. Make me
truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to
You, and that You abide with me forever. Most blessed
Light, most amiable Light, enlighten me. O rapturous
Joy of Paradise, Fount of purest delight, my God, give
yourself to me, and kindle in my innermost soul the
fire of your love. My Lord, instruct, direct, and
defend me in all things. Give me strength against all
immoderate fears and against despondency. Bestow upon
me a true faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and perfect
love. Grant that I always do your most gracious will.
Amen.
PRAYER BEFORE WORK O Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten
Son of your eternal Father: You have said with your
holy lips: "Without Me, you can do nothing." My Lord, I
embrace your words with my heart and soul, and bow
before your goodness and say: Help me, your unworthy
servant, to complete this, my present undertaking, in
the name of the Father + and of the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER WORK O Most sweet Jesus, You are the
fulfillment of all blessings. Fill my soul with joy and
gladness and save me. Grant that your Name be
glorified: for not to us, but to your Name are forever
due honor, glory, and adoration. Amen
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE Remit, pardon and forgive, O God,
our sins committed voluntarily and involuntarily, by
word and deed, knowingly and in ignorance, by thought
and purpose, by day and night; forgive all these for
You are gracious and love mankind.
PRAYER OF THE PUBLICAN God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.+ (Bow) God, cleanse me of my sins and have
mercy on me.+ (Bow) I have sinned without number,
forgive me, O Lord.+ (Bow)
PRAYERS TO THE ANGELS AND SAINTS All you heavenly
powers, holy Angels and Archangels, beseech God for us
sinners. O, holy and glorious Apostles, Prophets,
Martyrs and all Saints, beseech God for us sinners.
PRAYER TO ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA O Saint Nicholas,
bountiful Father and special Patron of our Byzantine
Catholic Church. You are a shepherd and teacher to all
who invoke your protection, and who, by devout prayer,
call upon you for aid. Hasten and save the flock of
Christ from ravenous wolves; and by your holy prayers
protect all Christians and save them from worldly
disturbances, earthquakes, attacks from abroad, from
internal strife, from famine, flood, fire, sword, and
sudden death. As you had mercy on those three men in
prison and saved them from the king's wrath, now also
have mercy on me who by word, deed, and thought have
sunk into the darkness of sin, Save me from the just
anger of God, and from eternal punishment. Through your
intercession and aid as well as through his own mercy
and grace, may Christ our God allow me to lead a
tranquil and sinless life, and save me from standing at
"his left," but deem me worthy to stand at "his right"
with all the saints. Amen.
PRAYER TO STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS O Holy Saints Cyril
and Methodius: you led our forefathers, and us with
them, from the darkness of pagan error to the light of
the true Faith of Christ, and now you rejoice with
Christ in Heaven. Sincerely, we rejoice in your glory,
with which God has rewarded your untiring zeal, and we
humbly thank Him for the great gift of Christianity
which our heavenly Father has bestowed upon us through
your efforts. Intercede with God for us who are
unworthy descendants of Adam, that he may strengthen us
in the True Faith, which you preached to our
forefathers. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE GUARDIAN ANGEL BY ST. PETER THE STUDITE O
Guardian Angel, protector of my soul and body, to your
care I have been entrusted by Christ. Obtain for me the
forgiveness of the sins I have committed today. Protect
me from the snares of my enemy, that I may never again
offend God by sin. Pray for me, your sinful and
unworthy servant that, through your help, I may become
worthy of the grace and mercy of the most Holy Trinity
and of the immaculate Mother of our Lord God, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
HYMN OF THE EVENING O joyful Light! Light and Holy
Glory of the Father immortal, the heavenly, holy, the
Blessed One; O Jesus Christ. Now that we have reached
the setting of the sun, and see the evening light, we
sing to God, Father + Son, and Holy Spirit. It is
fitting at all times to raise a song of praise in
measured melody to You, O Son of God, the giver of
life. Behold the universe sings your glory.
PRAYER BEFORE MEALS O Christ God, bless + the food and
drink of Your servants for You are holy always, now and
ever, and forever. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER MEALS We thank You, Christ our God, for
You have satisfied us with the good things of Your
earth. Do not deprive us of Your heavenly kingdom but
as You appeared to Your disciples, O Saviour, granting
them peace-come also to us and save us. Lord have mercy
(Three times) Give the blessing. Blessed is our God
who, through His grace and loving kindness, is merciful
to us and nourishes us from the abundance of His gifts,
always, now and ever, and forever. Amen.
-------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
Web: http://www.ewtn.com
FTP: ewtn.com
Telnet: ewtn.com
Email address: sysop@ ewtn.com
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------
Scriptural Readings:
Isaiah 2:3-11
Isaiah 2:3-11 (King James Version)
3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
7Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
8Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
10Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Genesis 1:24-2:3
Genesis 1:24-2:3 (King James Version)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Proverbs 2:1-21
Proverbs 2:1-21 (King James Version)
Proverbs 2
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
The Synaxarion:
16 MARCH (III - 29)
Martyrs Sabinus (+ 287) and Papas (+ c. 305 - 311).
Disciple from the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain) (I). PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome (+ 119). Martyr Julian of Anazauria (+ c. 305 - 311). PriestMartyrs Trophymos and Phalos, Presbyters of Laodiceia (+ c. 300). Martyrs Romanus and Parius. 10 Martyrs in Phoenicia. Monk John in Ruthianak. Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker (+ 1111). Saints Emelian, Paul and Dionysius. Monk Patricius (+ 567). Monk Pimen of Salossa, Enlightener of the Lezginians, and his co-worker Antonios Meskhos (XIII) (Gruzia).
Sainted Serapion, ArchBishop of Novgorod (+ 1516).
The Holy Martyr Sabinus was governor of the Egyptian city of Hermopolis. During the time of persecution against christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), Saint Sabinus hid himself away with like-minded companions in a remote village. But his dwelling-place was revealed for two gold coins given to a certain ungrateful beggar, whom the saint had constantly fed and helped with money. Together with six other christians, Sabinus was seized, and after torture they were all drowned in the Nile (+ 287).
The Holy Martyr Papas lived in the city of Larandum (Asia Minor) during the reign of Maximian (305-311). They arrested and tortured him for belief in Christ, and afterwards, -- in boots with sharp nails hammered inside, they took him for further trial to the city of Diocaesarea and later to Isaurian Seleucia. Saint Papas died bound to a barren tree, which thereupon became fruitful.
The PriestMartyr Alexander, Pope of Rome, occupied the papal throne for ten years. He was burned alive on 3 May of the year 119 by order of the emperor Adrian (117-138).
The PriestMartyr Julian of Anazauria suffered for Christ in Syrian Antioch under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). His relics were glorified by miracles during the time of Sainted John Chrysostomos (+ 407). Sainted John Chrysostom speaks about the martyr in his 47th homily.
The Holy Martyrs Trophymos and Phalos, by birth brothers and presbyters, served in Carian Laodiceia. During the time of a persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and his co-emperor Maximian (284-305), the brothers were taken under guard and brought before the governor Asclepiodotos. He ordered the holy brothers to be beaten with stones, but the stones, which they threw at the saints, flew back again and struck those that threw them. After a second interrogation the holy brothers were sentenced to crucifixion. Going to execution, they glorified God in that they were found worthy of the Saviour's death on a cross. The wondrous witnesses to God hanging on crosses continued their preaching, and their brave mother stood at the foot of the crosses. A certain Jewess, having bowed to the saints, cried out: "Blessed is the mother, having given birth to such sons". When the martyrs gave up their spirits to God, the prison guard said that he saw the souls of the holy brothers being carried upwards to heaven in the company of three Angels. All night the people stayed with the bodies of the holy martyrs. And in the morning the wife of the torturer Asclepiodotos came to the place of execution with her perfumed bejeweled veil. She told the people, that she saw by night in a dream the holy martyrs and the Angels, sent for the punishment of her husband.
The mother of the martyrs and two christians, by the names of Zosima and Artemon, buried the holy brothers in their native city of Stratonika. The torturer Asclepiodotos soon fell ill and died an horrible death.
The Monk Christodoulos the WonderWorker was a native of Bythnian Nicea. At first he pursued asceticism as a monk on Mount Latra in Bythnia, and afterwards he was hegumen of a monastery on the island of Cos. In the year 1089 the monk requested the emperor Alexis Comnena to grant his monastery the island of Patmos in return for the land on the island of Cos and at the shores of Caria. The monk established a monastery on a mountain near the cave where, according to tradition, the holy Apostle John the Theologian wrote the Apocalypse during the years 68-69. In the year 1110 the monk was forced to flee from Patmos together with his disciples to the island of Eubeios because of raidings by sea robbers. He died there in the year 1111. His disciples took his relics to the island of Patmos.
The Holy Disciple from among the 70 -- Aristoboulus, Bishop of Britanium (Britain), was born on Cyprus. Together with his brother, the holy Disciple from among the 70 -- Barnabus, he accompanied the holy Apostle Paul on his journeys. Saint Aristoboulus is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16: 10). The Apostle Paul made Saint Aristoboulus a bishop and sent him to preach the Gospel in Britanium, where he converted many to Christ, for which he suffered persecution by the pagans. Saint Aristoboulus died in Britain. His memory is on 31 October and on 4 January also amidst the Sobor / Assemblage of the 70 Disciples.
Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Great Lent: 6 weeks before the Pasch
Today we celebrate:
What's here
About this website
Resources
New Skete
About the EOC
What's New
Feedback
Tomorrow
Patrick, archbishop of Armagh and all Ireland
Thursday: The holy apostles and Nicholas
Yesterday
Aidan, Finan, and Colman, of Lindisfarne
Tuesday: John, the baptist
Today's psalter
Our venerable father, Alexis, man of God.
Wednesday: The holy and lifegiving cross
For Alexis
Troparion, Tone IV
Adorning yourself in purity of mind and heart, * and caught up in constant prayer like an angel, * you followed your conscience with intense fasting, * so that you advanced in virtue and attained your desire. * Thus, you appear as the sun itself to us here on earth, * O Alexis, man of God and holy father.
Kondakion, Tone II
Pretending to be a stranger in your parents' home, * you made it your own, and lived there in poverty. * When you departed this world for the next, * you were crowned with glory, * while here on earth your fame spread far and wide. * O holy Alexis, man of God, * your life brings joy to men and angels alike.
For the cross
Troparion, Tone I
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance. * Give victory to those who battle evil, * and with your cross protect us all.
Kondakion, Tone IV
Bestow your mercies on all who bear your name, * O you who freely let yourself be raised upon the cross. * In your power, gladden all who battle evil, * by gracing them with victory over every foe. * For as long as they have you as their ally, * they possess a weapon of peace, * unfailing trophy of victory.
Stavrotheotokion, Tone I
Surrounded by the grace of your son's holy cross, * we hasten to sing your praises, O lady most pure. * For we enjoy your constant intercession * that preserves us from every evil.
Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit both now and forever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
This page changes every day.
Copyright © 2001-2011 O Great Mystery Website Team
Hymn texts copyright © 1984 The Monks of New Skete
Used with permission
No comments:
Post a Comment