According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.

VESPERS ON THURSDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 2, Podoben “When from the Tree…”

If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.

When You were nailed to the Cross, О Saviour,* the sun beheld and dimmed its rays in fear of You,* and the veil of the temple was rent in two;* the earth quaked, and the stones likewise split asunder with trembling,* unable to bear the sight of their Creator and God willingly suffering unjustly upon the Tree,* and reviled by men.

I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.

When the Cross was set up and You were pierced in the side with the spear, О Sinless Saviour,* the sun hid itself, unable to bear the sight;* the earth trembled, and when You were reviled, the rocks split asunder in fear;* and all creation cried out to You:* Glory be to Your crucifixion whereby You have saved all,* О Word and Lover of mankind!

From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.

Wholly cast down to the ground, wholly wounded,* the most wicked serpent was brought low by a strange fall* when You were uplifted upon the Tree, О Lover of mankind.* And Adam who before was condemned* was loosed from the curse and became saved.* Therefore, we also pray: Save us all, О Compassionate One,* and grant us Your kingdom!

Tone 2

For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Come and with hymns let us crown the athlete of Christ, the Lamb of the Orthodox,* as with lilies of the field and the full-grown blossoms of the paradise of God;* for he has been manifestly revealed to the world as the beauty of purity,* the sacrifice of faith, the glory of abstinence.* Wherefore, he has received the immutable crown of the kingdom.

Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.

Having the fire of the divine Spirit within your heart, O Martinian blessed of God,* you were found to have burned up the image of the impure woman* and wounded the adversary with his own sword,* without sustaining injury yourself,* truly putting the most vile one to shame* and making him an object of derision.

Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.

You kindled a material fire against the attacks of the enemy, O all-blessed one,* having acquired the constant remembrance of the everlasting fire;* and you caused the burning of the pleasures to wither utterly away.* Setting your feet upon a rock, O venerable one, you built a hut for yourself thereon;* and wandering about many lands,* you received a crown for your endurance.

Tone 2, Glory…

Rejoice, O honoured and most wondrous boast of Palestine,* for you have shone forth upon us like an all-radiant sun!* Burning up all the power of the enemy,* you consumed your members with fire, O blessed one;* for in the mountains and the wastelands, and among the islands,* he brought every temptation to bear upon you.* In the desert, he set a woman before you;* and even on a rock in the midst of the sea, the tempter assayed to test you, O wise one.* O thrice-blessed Martinian, never cease to entreat Christ without fail in behalf of us* who keep your memory with faith.

Now…

O pure one, when you beheld the mature Vine,* whom you bore in your womb without being cultivated by man, suspended upon the Tree,* you exclaimed, lamenting:* “O my Child and Benefactor, as You are compassionate,* with Your divine consolations pour forth the sweetness which takes away the drunkenness of the passions,* for the sake of me who gave birth to You!”

Prokeimenon, Tone 6

My help is from the Lord,* Who made heaven and earth.

verse: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help shall come.

Aposticha

Tone 2

О Christ God my Saviour, who saved Peter in the sea,* save me by the power of the Cross,* and have mercy on me.

In the morning, fill us with Your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days. Give us joy to balance our affliction for the years when we knew misfortune. Show forth Your work to Your servants; let Your glory shine on their children.

They who ever enjoyed Your gifts cried aloud, “Crucify Him!”;* they who slew the righteous ones asked that a malefactor be released to them in place of the Benefactor.* But You kept silence, О Christ, enduring their savagery,* desiring to suffer and thus save us,* in that You love mankind.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands, give success to the work of our hands.

Having hated the pleasures of life,* the passion-bearers were deemed worthy of the good things of heaven* and have made their abode together with the angels.* By their prayers, О Lord, have mercy and save us.

Tone 2, Glory… Now…

When iniquitous men raised You, the Life of all, up upon the Tree, О Saviour,* Your pure and most immaculate Mother,* standing forth and lamenting, exclaimed:* “O my sweet Child, light of my eyes, woe is me!* How have You suffered to be nailed to the Cross between two evildoers,* О You who have suspended the earth upon the waters?”

Troparia

Tone 8

You quenched the flames of passion, blessed one, with abundant tears; * you calmed the waves of the sea and checked the assaults of wild beasts, saying:* Most blessed are You, almighty God, for You have saved me from the flame and storm!

Glory… Now…

When the Mother beheld upon the cross* the Lamb, the Shepherd, and the Saviour of the world,* she exclaimed tearfully:* The world rejoices at the sight of its redemption,* but my heart is afire as I see Your pain on the cross,* which You accept for the sake of all, O my Son and my God!