AT VESPERS ON THURSDAY EVENING
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…
The all-pure one cried: Pondering Your seedless conception and Your painless nativity,* I marvel exceedingly.* How is it, O my Son, that it is Your will to die like a malefactor?
Aposticha
Tone 5
О Lord, in the time of Moses the Prophet,* the form of Your Cross was once precisely revealed, and vanquished Your enemies;* and now, possessed of that same Cross, we ask Your help:* Strengthen Your Church, for the sake of Your great mercy, О Lover of mankind!
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.
Though a tree visible by nature, Your Cross, О Christ,* is invested with divine power;* and tangibly revealed to the world,* it wondrously and noetically works our salvation.* Bowing down before it, we glorify You, О Saviour.* Have mercy on us!
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.
Despising all the things of earth, and manfully braving tortures,* you did not fail to attain your divine hopes,* but became heirs to the kingdom of heaven, О most lauded martyrs.* And as you have boldness before God who is the Lover of mankind,* ask peace for the world and great mercy 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…
Beholding the most iniquitous people who unjustly nailed You to the Tree,* the pure Virgin, Your Mother, was wounded in her womb,* as Symeon had foretold, O Saviour.
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 Virgin and all-glorious Mother of God,* we sing to you a hymn of praise,* for Hades has been destroyed by your Son’s cross;* Death has been put to death,* and we, the dead, have been made to rise and become worthy of life.* We have obtained paradise, the original bliss.* Therefore, we glorify you by giving thanks to Christ our God,* for He alone is almighty and all-merciful.
AT DIVINE LITURGY ON FRIDAY 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
Galatians 4:8-21
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 6:45-53
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear. (Psalm 111:6)