VESPERS ON WEDNESDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
The appointed psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 6, Podoben “Having set all aside…”
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Having dyed your sacred vestments in your blood,* you entered into the Holy of holies,* in that you were holy, O glorious Babylas, ever manifestly enjoying deification,* adorned and resplendent in martyrdom,* and showing yourself to be an angel through most pure communion.* Therefore, we honour you* and lovingly celebrate your most sacred solemnity,* O right blessed one.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Fettered with irons, O venerable one,* you walked without stumbling the path which leads to the city of heaven,* arrayed in honourable wounds as with ornaments, O Babylas most wise.* And entering it as a victor most true, an invincible martyr,* and a most sacred performer of sacred acts,* in a pure manner you offered up with the angels the divine hymn:* Holy, Holy, Holy are You, O consubstantial Trinity!
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
Tending the reason-endowed flock, O hierarch, with the staff of understanding,* you nourished it with the verdure of faith,* saved it from wild beasts and gladdened God who shepherds you from on high.* Proclaiming Him before the ungodly, O blessed one,* you were slaughtered, rejoicing, like an innocent lamb, with the guileless youths,* and with them were offered up as a fragrant and unblemished sacrifice,* O most wondrous Babylas.
Tone 4, Podoben “Called from on high…”
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Having studied the mysteries of God* and the wonders of His ineffable beauty and glory,* O most lauded God-seer Moses,* you proclaimed them in images through shadows and indistinct forms.* Therefore, through immaterial things and shadowy images* you bring to us the concepts of the primal origin of the divine brilliant Radiance.* Having acquired deification through the promise and grace, as a god, O blessed one,* you triumphed over Pharaoh.* Pray in behalf of all who honour you.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Having excelled in the virtues, in a vision you found yourself close to God.* And having been amid the whirlwind and the darkness* and in the midst of the cloud, you were wholly glorified.* Hence, you received the tablets of the writing of God,* and like an angel clearly shine forth with grace* through the eyes of your spirit and those of your body,* and cover the blindness of false faith;* and, revealing God’s revelation to the faithful, you transmit it by your words.* Pray that we be saved.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You were conversant with the fiery and divinely wrought love of God,* O thrice blessed Moses,* beholding Him face to face, one upon the other.* And, gazing upon your own Creator,* you manifestly beheld His back in His splendour,* learning through a crevice in the rock of the future divine manifestation of the Word in the flesh.* Therefore, like the all-wondrous pillar which all-gloriously went before the divinely wise people* you go before and save those who praise you with faith.
Tone 6, Glory…
The Church has acquired your struggles as a stairway which mounts on high, O hieromartyr Babylas,* and you preserve it unharmed and unassailed by mighty wolves;* it proclaims your mighty deeds and magnifies you and the children* who were slain with you for Christ, O blessed one.
Now…
Envying your flock, О most pure one,* the wicked adversary ever strives to make it his food;* but, О Theotokos, deliver us from his harm.
Prokeimenon, Tone 5
O Lord, save me by Your name,* and in Your power be a judge for me.
verse: O God, hear my prayer; listen to the words of my mouth.
Aposticha
Tone 3
Your sound went forth into all the earth, О holy apostles,* destroying the deception of the idols,* and preaching the knowledge of God.* Behold, your struggle is good, О blessed ones;* wherefore, we hymn and glorify your memory.
I have lifted up my eyes to You enthroned in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord our God until He has mercy on us.
As branches of the life-bearing Vine, О glorious apostles,* you brought yourselves to God as the fruit of piety;* wherefore, as you have boldness before Him,* ask that He grant peace and great mercy to our souls.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been filled with shame; our soul is all too full of the mockery of the rich, of the contempt of the proud.
Rendered steadfast by faith, strengthened by hope,* and spiritually united by the love of Your Cross, О Lord,* Your martyrs abolished the tyranny of the enemy;* and having received crowns, with the incorporeal ones, they pray for our souls.
Tone 6, Glory…
Standing before the tribunal of the tyrant and holding forth for piety, you cried out: * “Behold, here am I and the children which God hath given me!”* Crowned with them in the heavens, O hieromartyr Babylas,* pray unceasingly, that our souls be delivered* from the snares of the enemy.
Now…
The eye of my heart longingly seeks you, O Lady;* disdain not my feeble sigh.* At the hour when your Son shall judge the world,* be my protection and helper.
Troparia
Tone 4
Having shared the way of life of the apostles,* and having become a successor to their thrones,* labouring you found the divinely inspired way to contemplation.* Therefore, forthrightly ministering the word of truth,* you shed your blood for the faith, O hieromartyr, Babylas.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Tone 2, Glory…
As we celebrate the memory of Your prophet, Moses.,* O Lord, we beseech You through him: “Save our souls!”
Now…
O Mother of God and virgin forever,* through you we have been made to share the divine nature;* you have given birth for us to the incarnate God.* Therefore, we all exalt you with great devotion.
DIVINE LITURGY ON THURSDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 4: Having shared the way of life of the apostles,* and having become a successor to their thrones,* labouring you found the divinely inspired way to contemplation.* Therefore, forthrightly ministering the word of truth,* you shed your blood for the faith, O hieromartyr, Babylas.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
Troparion, Tone 2: As we celebrate the memory of Your prophet, Moses.,* O Lord, we beseech You through him: “Save our souls!”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Kontakion, Tone 4: Having piously lived among the hierarchs,* and having trod the path of suffering,* you extinguished the sacrifices to idols* and were a defender for your flock, O godly one.* Therefore, venerating you, we sincerely cry to you:* “Rescue us from dangers by your prayers, O our father, Babylas.
Now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 4: Enlightened by the spirit* your pure heart, having seen the distant in the present* became a vessel of brilliant prophecy;* and so we honour you, O blessed and glorious prophet, Moses.
Prokeimenon, Tone 7
The venerable ones will exult in glory* and they shall be joyful in their beds. (Psalm 149:5)
verse: Sing to the Lord a new song; let His praise be in the assembly of the venerable ones. (Psalm 149:1)
Epistle
2 Corinthians 10:7-18
Alleluia, Tone 2
verse: Your priests shall clothe themselves with justice, and Your venerable ones shall rejoice. (Psalm 131:9)
verse: For the Lord has chosen Sion; He has chosen it for His dwelling. (Psalm 131:13)
Gospel
Mark 3:28-35
The Lord said, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear. (Psalm 111:6)