VESPERS ON TUESDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 8

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, Your hands and feet run through,* Your holy side was pierced, pouring forth drops of blood and water,* divine salvation, supremely good One,* that You might wash away my defilement and pollution.* Glory to Your goodness, О all-Compassionate One!

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

You endured suffering, О Master,* that You might bestow dispassion upon all who worship Your sufferings and voluntary sacrifice:* the spear, nails and reed, which You willingly endured with long-suffering:* that for the sake of Your sufferings, О Lord, You might win dispassion for me.

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

The unblemished heifer, beholding her Bullock willingly lifted up upon the Tree,* cried out with compunction, lamenting:* “Woe is me, О my most beloved Child!* How have the ungrateful assembly of the Jews rewarded You,* desiring to leave me bereft of You, О all-Beloved!”

Tone 8, Podoben “O all-glorious wonder…”

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

O all-glorious wonder!* Showing courage, a woman has trampled the enemy underfoot* and quenched the passions of the body through great abstinence.* Zealously taking the Cross of the Lord upon her shoulders,* Pelagia put off the burden of life’s possessions and followed after Christ* through the teachings of the wise Nonus.

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

You have been revealed to us as a new Thecla!* For, finding your teacher Nonus to be another Paul,* you accepted his teachings, O glorious one,* having fervently embraced repentance,* and through abstinence you joined yourself to Christ,* O all-blessed and most honoured Pelagia.* Therefore, never cease to pray to Christ that we be saved.

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

Rejoice, O most honoured Pelagia!* For, most honourably enkindled by zeal divine,* you cast aside the pleasure of fornication, O all-blessed one,* and hastening to Nonus, cried aloud:* You must give answer for my deeds* if you will not seal me with the sign of Christ, O glorious one,* investing me through baptism with pure raiment!

Tone 4, Glory…

Where sin has increased, there grace abounds, as the Apostle teaches;* for in prayers and tears you dried up the abyss of many offenses, O Pelagia,* and finally brought to the Lord right acceptable repentance,* and therein pray for our souls.

Now…

When she beheld You, the Lamb and Shepherd, upon the Tree,* the ewe-lamb who gave You birth lamented and exclaimed to You maternally:* O my beloved Son, how is it that You have been suspended upon the tree of the Cross, O Longsuffering One?* How have Your hands and feet been nailed by the iniquitous, O Word?* How have You shed Your blood, O Master?

Prokeimenon

Tone 1

Your mercy, O Lord, shall follow me* all the days of my life.

verse: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In green pastures He gives me repose.

Aposticha

Tone 8

О Christ God who was lifted up upon the Cross,* You saved the race of mankind.* We glorify Your sufferings!

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.

You were nailed to the Cross, О Christ God,* opening the gates of paradise.* We glorify Your divinity!

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.

Your martyrs, О Lord, were no longer mindful of the things of life,* but ignored their tortures for the sake of the life which is to come,* and were shown to be inheritors thereof;* therefore, they rejoice with the angels.* By their supplications grant great mercy to Your people.

Glory… Now…

O Lord, when the sun beheld You the Sun of righteousness, hanging upon the Tree,* it hid its rays, and the light of the moon was changed to darkness;* and Your all-immaculate Mother was pierced in the depths of her soul.

Troparia

Tone 8

The divine image was faithfully preserved in you, O mother,* for taking up the Cross you followed Christ.* By your deeds you have taught us to see beyond flesh which passes* and care for the soul, a thing immortal.* And so, O venerable woman, Pelagia,* your spirit rejoices with the angels.

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!

DIVINE LITURGY ON WEDNESDAY MORNING

Troparia and Kontakia

Troparion, Tone 8: The divine image was faithfully preserved in you, O mother,* for taking up the Cross you followed Christ.* By your deeds you have taught us to see beyond flesh which passes* and care for the soul, a thing immortal.* And so, O venerable woman, Pelagia,* your spirit rejoices with the angels.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Kontakion, Tone 2: For love of the Lord, O venerable woman,* you scorned the desire for rest and enlightened your soul through fasting,* for you have mightily conquered the beasts.* Through your prayers thwart the rage of fiends.

Prokeimenon, Tone 4

God is wonderful in His saints,* the God of Israel.

verse: Bless God in the churches, the Lord from the fountains of Israel. (Psalm 67:36,27)

Epistle

Ephesians 5:25-33

Alleluia, Tone 1

verse: With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me, and He heard my prayer.

verse: He brought me out of the pit of misery and the mud of the swamp. (Psalm 39:2,3)

Gospel

Luke 4:1-15

Communion Hymn

The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear*. Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)