Available in Word document: 2026-03-05
Day 18 of the Great Fast. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
LITURGY OF THE PRESANCTIFIED GIFTS ON WEDNESDAY EVENING
At Psalm 140
Tone 4
Lead my soul forth from prison* that I may give thanks to Your name.
Like the prodigal I squandered my paternal inheritance,* and now I am in desolation.* I dwell in the land of the wicked.* In my folly, I became like the unreasoning beasts,* stripped of all divine grace.* So I return and cry out to You:* O merciful and compassionate Father,* I have sinned, O God.* Receive me as a penitent and have mercy on me.
The just shall gather around me* when You have been good to me.
Like the prodigal I squandered my paternal inheritance,* and now I am in desolation.* I dwell in the land of the wicked.* In my folly, I became like the unreasoning beasts,* stripped of all divine grace.* So I return and cry out to You:* O merciful and compassionate Father,* I have sinned, O God.* Receive me as a penitent and have mercy on me.
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord;* O Lord, hear my voice!
O martyrs of the Lord,* you are living sacrifices and spiritual offerings* and perfect incense burnt to God.* You are sheep that know God and are known to Him,* and wolves cannot break into His fold.* Pray that we may be led with you* to pasture beside the still waters.
Tone 6
Let Your ears be attentive* to the voice of my prayer.
O apostles who have seen God,* and who reflect the light of the spiritual Sun for us,* pray for the illumination of our souls* and deliver us from the gloomy darkness of suffering.* Intercede that we may behold the day of salvation.* Through your prayers and intercessions* cleanse our heart which the Evil One has wounded,* so that, saved by faith, we may ever honour you* who brought the world salvation through your all-wise preaching.
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Into an evil land I have wandered,* prodigal that I am;* the wealth You gave to me, O compassionate Father,* I have squandered in a life filled with vice.* And now in hunger I long for the good I lost;* I am clothed with the shame of my transgression.* I have been stripped of righteous deeds and of divine grace.* Now I cry out that I have sinned.* But I know Your righteousness, O Christ;* in Your kindness receive me as Your hired servant,* through the prayers of Your apostles who love You.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Apostles of the Lord and bright lights of the universe,* you made us the recipients of salvation,* and like the heavens you proclaim the glory of God;* you are adorned with wonders and bright miracles.* Intercede for us unceasingly before the Lord,* that He may receive our prayers as a pleasing aroma,* and grant that with love we may contemplate and kiss His life-giving Cross.* In Your love for humankind,* grant mercy to us who bow low before Your Cross, O Saviour.
Tone 8
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
O unwaning, divine ray, luminous radiance of the commandments of God,* ever-memorable athlete, most excellent of martyrs!* You have dispelled the gloom of darkness* like a brilliant star, O blessed one!* O good offering, and unblemished sacrifice!* Therefore, unceasingly entreat Christ, that He save our souls.
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
O unwaning, divine ray, luminous radiance of the commandments of God,* ever-memorable athlete, most excellent of martyrs!* You have dispelled the gloom of darkness* like a brilliant star, O blessed one!* O good offering, and unblemished sacrifice!* Therefore, unceasingly entreat Christ, that He save our souls.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
O proclaimer of the truth!* Showing yourself to be a sword-wielding opponent of ungodliness,* you felled the enemy with the suffering of your head, O all-wise one,* and clearly proclaimed the command of God,* saying good things to the unlearned people.* O Conon, dweller with the martyrs:* entreat the Deliverer, that He deliver from the passions* your servants who hymn you.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
O good change which the Lord of our fathers wrought upon you* by the right hand of the Most High, O most glorious athlete!* You were shown to be a fruit blossoming forth from the root of unbelief, O most blessed and all-praised Conon,* and, having Christ as your most excellent Leader,* you mightily overthrew the hordes of the demons.
Tone 5
Glory… Now…
Come, all faithful, and rejoice in the Holy Scriptures!* Rejoice in the preaching of the apostles!* Rejoice in the Virgin who gave birth to God!* She is the Queen of Heaven.* In her we exult with hymns and songs,* for she is our fervent intercessor before God.
Prokeimenon I, Tone 4
I trust in the goodness of God* forever and ever.
verse: I will thank You forevermore; for this is Your doing.
Reading I
Genesis 7:6-9
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. Then Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, entered the ark because of the flood waters. Also the clean and unclean birds, the clean and unclean cattle, and everything that creeps on the earth, entered with Noah into the ark, two by two, male and female, as God commanded him.
Prokeimenon II, Tone 4
When God delivers His people from bondage,* then Jacob will be glad and Israel rejoice.
verse: Fools have said in their hearts: There is no God above.
Reading II
Proverbs 9:12-18
My son, if you become wise in yourself,
you shall also be wise toward your neighbor;
But if you prove to be evil, you alone will go through troubles.
He who supports himself with lies will shepherd winds
And chase flying birds;
For he abandoned the ways of his own vineyard
And strayed from paths of his own farming;
And he will pass through a waterless desert,
A land assigned to drought,
And he gathers barrenness with his hands.
A woman in need of a morsel is without discernment and overbold;
She has no sense of shame.
She sits upon the doors of her own house,
Upon a seat openly in the streets,
Calling to those who pass by
And who go straight along their paths.
THURSDAY MORNING MATINS
Sessional Hymn I, Tone 5
With all mankind, in spiritual hymns and songs* let us glorify the wise apostles as eyewitnesses of the Word and servants of Christ.* For they pray fervently to Christ on our behalf,* as we praise their holy memory and venerate their relics.
Their voice is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
Let us glorify with one accord the apostles of Christ,* for they shine as torches throughout the inhabited earth.* They have caught the nations in the net of the true Faith;* and bringing us light they teach us to honour the Holy Trinity,* one in Essence yet divided in Persons.
God is wonderful in His saints, the God of Israel.
The powers of heaven greatly marvelled at the victory of the holy martyrs;* for, contending bravely in their mortal bodies,* invisibly they conquered the bodiless enemy by the power of the Cross.* And now they intercede before the Lord,* that He may have mercy on our souls.
Glory… Now…
O Bride unwedded and Ever-Virgin,* in the company of the angels we sing your praises without ceasing;* for your Son and God has done great things for us through you.* Begotten before all ages from the Father,* He was pleased to be contained within your womb* and to set us free from error.
Sessional Hymn II, Tone 6
O disciples of the Saviour, unwavering beacons illumining the world,* illumine my soul blinded by sin;* show me to be a participant in the Lord’s day,* keeping the salvific commandments,* and delivered from the darkness where no light shines,* that I may glorify you.
Glory… Now…
O holy Lady, pure Mother of our God,* who ineffably gave birth to the Creator of all;* with the sacred apostles ever entreat His goodness,* that He deliver us from the passions* and grant us the remission of sins.
Sessional Hymn III, Tone 6
O divine apostles, beacons shining upon all the world,* we pray you to illumine us who sing your praises,* that we may diligently observe the time of the Fast;* and be granted to look upon the Wood of the lifegiving Cross* and to adore it with pure eyes and lips,* crying aloud with joy:* O Lord, glory be to You.
Glory… Now…
O Virgin Theotokos, blessed hope of the world:* I beseech of you your only wondrous protection;* have compassion on your defenceless people:* entreat the merciful God that our souls may be delivered from every danger,* for you alone are blessed.
Canon
Ode 4
Irmos: Christ is my power, my God and my Lord,* the holy Church divinely sings,* crying with a pure mind,* keeping festival in the Lord.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
O faithful, let us give ourselves over to fasting, tears, and prayer, to works of compassion, to upright thoughts and to a life of purity, that we may be partakers of glory.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
O apostles, like radiant stars you illumine the firmament of the precious Church: illumine our hearts with the divine Spirit.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like divine coals kindled by the immaterial fire, O wise apostles of our God, burn up the material passions of our hearts.
Most holy Theotokos, save us.
O all-immaculate One, the inextinguishable lamp, the radiant bridal chamber, higher than the seraphim, the chariot of the cherubim, set me free from grievous sins and dangers.
Irmos: The prophet heard of Your coming, O Lord, and he was afraid. How were You to be born of a virgin and appear unto mankind?* and he said “I have heard report of You and I am afraid;”* glory to Your power, O Lord.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
The apostles of the Saviour have appeared like shining torches of God’s revelation, dispersing the night of ignorance, enlightening the Church and giving light to all the inhabited earth, by the fiery tongues of their divine teaching.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
Having journeyed throughout the world, each to a different country, the apostles gathered all mankind into the one faith; and sharing now in the rewards of heaven, you rejoice ceaselessly praying to Christ, that we all be saved.
Glory…
I glorify the Son and the Spirit who proceed forth from the Father like rays of light from the sun: the One begotten as Offspring, the Other proceeding and sent forth; divine and co-eternal Trinity, worshiped by all creation.
Now…
Having given birth to a child yet preserving your purity, O pure Virgin, you have given birth to both God and man, a single Person with a twofold Nature. This your miracle, O Virgin Mother, fills every ear and mind with wonder.
Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You.
By your holy intercessions, apostles of the Lord, may we be deemed worthy to venerate the lifegiving Cross with pure lips and eyes, for it is has been set forth in the world for all to venerate.
Katavasia: The prophet heard of Your coming, O Lord, and he was afraid. How were You to be born of a virgin and appear unto mankind?* and he said “I have heard report of You and I am afraid;”* glory to Your power, O Lord.
Ode 8
Irmos: You made flame bedew the holy children,* and burned the sacrifice of a righteous man with water.* For You alone, O Christ, do all as You will,* we exalt You throughout all ages.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Through fasting Moses was revealed as the seer of God, and Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire; make haste, O my soul, and abstain from harmful thoughts, that you may be delivered from delusion.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I fall into ever greater sins and inflict fresh wounds upon myself. By the prayers of Your apostles, O Christ, heal the stony hardness of my heart.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
O divinely effulgent stars illumining the world, scatter the clouds of our passions that we may worship at the radiant feast of the Resurrection, praising the Sun of glory.
Most holy Theotokos, save us.
All generations call you blessed, O godly-blessed One, as you yourself prophesied. For you alone have given birth to the blessed Word, who ineffably took flesh from you for the sake of mankind.
Irmos: Your venerable Children in the furnace* likened to the cherubim chanted the thrice-holy hymn* Bless, praise, and supremely exalt the Lord* throughout all ages.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
We swim in the deep waters of delusion, O apostles, catch us with the rod of faith, and we shall bless, praise, and supremely exalt the Lord throughout the ages.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
Great is the might which You have shown in Your apostles. For their shadows and their clothing brought healing to the sick; and they bless, praise, and supremely exalt the throughout all ages.
We bless the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Lord.
Without beginning is the birth of the Son, and the procession of the Spirit. I worship the Father who begets, I glorify the Son who is begotten, and I sing the praises of the Holy Spirit who shines forth with the Father and the Son.
Now…
To Him to whom you have ineffably given birth, O Virgin, cease not to entreat; that as the Lover of mankind, He may save from danger all those who flee to you for refuge.
Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You.
O holy company of the twelve apostles, grant that uncondemned I may venerate the precious Cross, that I may bless, praise, and supremely exalt the Lord throughout all ages.
We praise, we bless, and we worship the Lord, hymning and supremely exalting Him throughout all ages!
Katavasia: Your venerable Children in the furnace* likened to the cherubim chanted the thrice-holy hymn* Bless, praise, and supremely exalt the Lord* throughout all ages.
Magnificat
Ode 9
Irmos: It is impossible for mankind to see God* upon whom the ranks of Angels dare not gaze;* but through you, O all-pure one, the Word Incarnate became a man* and with the Heavenly Hosts we magnify Him and we call you blessed.
Refrain: Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me.
O abundantly merciful God and Lord, cleanse the wounds of my heart and heal them with the remedy of repentance. I have sinned, I have sinned against You: be compassionate with me and save me by the prayers of Your apostles, for You are plenteous in mercy.
Refrain: Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me.
Like the Prodigal, I have foolishly followed my unruly desires and have wandered far from my former self: I feed upon the roughage of pleasure and am deprived of the food of salvation. O Christ, have compassion upon me and save me.
Refrain: Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me.
O my soul, you have not cleansed yourself from evil nor turned away from the lusts that corrupt you. Why do you rejoice because you have observed the Fast? For such is not the fast chosen by the Lord, who desires true amendment.
Most holy Theotokos, save us.
Illumine me with divine light, O Virgin Theotokos, who have given birth to the Light, and drive away darkness from my soul, that I may bless you; for all generations of mankind, as you have prophesied, call you blessed.
Irmos: Ineffable is the birth-giving of a seedless conception,* from a mother who knew not a man;* an undefiled childbearing.* For the birth of God has renewed nature,* wherefore all generations rightly worship and magnify you* as the Bride and Mother of God.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
Simple in speech yet most wise in knowledge, you have destroyed the webs spun by philosophers, the cunning of the orators, and the divinations of astrologers: Wherefore, O apostles of Christ, you have been revealed as the only true teachers of the whole inhabited earth.
Holy Apostles of Christ, pray for us.
Peter orates, and Plato falls silent; Paul teaches, and Pythagoras is heard no more. The company of the apostles, preaching the mysteries of God, have buried the dead voice of the pagan Greeks and called the whole world to the worship of Christ.
Glory…
O Father, single only-Begetter of the only-Begotten Son; O only Light and Brightness from the one and only Light; and You, one and only Holy Spirit from the one God, true Lord from the Lord: O holy Three in One, save me as I theologize Your divinity.
Now…
The marvel of your childbearing fills me with wonder, O all-immaculate one. How can you conceive without seed Him whom none can comprehend? How have you remained a Virgin and yet given birth as a Mother? “Accept the miracle with faith, and worship the Child that is born, for all that He wills, He accomplishes.”
Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You.
By your prayers, O holy apostles of Christ, may we all be deemed worthy to see and venerate with pure lips and souls the precious Cross, the all-holy Tree that hath blossomed forth salvation upon the world.
Katavasia: Ineffable is the birth-giving of a seedless conception,* from a mother who knew not a man;* an undefiled childbearing.* For the birth of God has renewed nature,* wherefore all generations rightly worship and magnify you* as the Bride and Mother of God.
Aposticha
Tone 6
Like the Prodigal I have fallen from the Father’s sonship,* and as a slave I have eaten with swine,* yet their food did not satisfy me;* wherefore I have returned to You whom I wickedly forsook, O compassionately loving Father,* for rightly turning back in repentance, I cry aloud to You:* “O Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You;* grant me who has returned to You, Your great mercy.
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.
Like the Prodigal I have fallen from the Father’s sonship,* and as a slave I have eaten with swine,* yet their food did not satisfy me;* wherefore I have returned to You whom I wickedly forsook, O compassionately loving Father,* for rightly turning back in repentance, I cry aloud to You:* “O Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You;* grant me who has returned to You, Your great mercy.
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.
Great wonders has our God done for His elect.* Rejoice and be glad, all you His servants:* For He has prepared for you crowns of glory and His Kingdom.* We entreat you to not forget us.
Glory… Now…
O Theotokos, you are the true vine* that has budded forth for us the Fruit of life.* We entreat you: pray, O Sovereign Lady, with the holy apostles,* that He have mercy upon our souls.