Post-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Saint with Six Stichera.
VESPERS ON FRIDAY EVENING
Kathisma Reading
The appointed psalms are chanted.
At Psalm 140
Tone 4, Podoben “You have given a sign…”
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Today Your precious Cross has shone forth radiantly like the sun, O Saviour Christ,* set up and elevated on the all-glorious place of the skull,* on Your all-holy mountain,* showing forth most manifestly that it is by the Cross, O Omnipotent One,* that You have raised our nature up to the heavens,* in that You love mankind.
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Today, O Unapproachable One,* the heavens have declared Your glory to men;* for the image of the Cross, shining forth in radiance* with unapproachable light, has denounced the savage and cruel nature of those who slew God.* Therefore, we glorify Your loving dispensation,* O almighty Jesus, Saviour of our souls.
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
By stretching forth his arms Moses vanquished Amalek,* prefiguring the image of the Cross;* and we now, bowing down before the tree of the Cross,* trample the wiles and machinations of the enemy underfoot,* having Christ as our champion,* who was lifted up upon it in the flesh,* slew the serpent, and saved man.
Tone 4
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Your calling was from on high, and not from men, O Eustathius;* for Christ, who loves mankind,* Himself appeared to you and ensnared you, O blessed one, in the nets of faith,* washing away your sins with your baptism and the trials of life,* and, as Master, He extends patience to you* and shows you to be a victor renowned.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
Rejoicing, O Eustathius,* in your youth you received instruction in the virtues,* and, bereft of your children and your spouse,* you valiantly endured captivity,* suffering ignominious slavery.* But your courage in battle made you loving and rendered you radiant,* O ever-memorable one.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
You offered yourself to God as divine incense* rendered most fragrant in the fire,* a beautiful holocaust, a right acceptable sacrifice,* a living and most perfect offering,* fruitful with all your household.* Therefore, the mansions of heaven and the armies of the saints* have now received you and yours,* O right wondrous Eustathius.
Tone 2, Glory…
Eustathius sets himself before us as a second Job in life, sufferings, and struggles,* a model of the virtues and a tower of patience* truly surpassing Job in that virtue with his spouse and children,* faithful in life and unshaken amid trials,* a victor amid sufferings.* Him do we set forth in supplication before Christ,* that He grant to our souls enlightenment* and cleansing of transgressions.
Tone 5, Glory… Now…
A symbol of the undefiled Virgin and bride* was revealed in the Red Sea.* There, Moses divided the waters;* here, Gabriel is the messenger of the miracle.* There, the Israelites crossed the deep and their feet were not even wet;* here, the Virgin gives birth to Christ without human seed.* There, the sea remained uncrossed after the passing of Israel;* here, the immaculate remained incorrupt after giving birth to Emmanuel.* Therefore, O immortal God, who appeared in the flesh as true Man,* have mercy on us!
Prokeimenon, Tone 7
O God, You are my defender* and Your mercy goes before me.
verse: Deliver me from my enemies, O God; save me from those who rise up against me.
Aposticha
Tone 2, Podoben “O house of Ephratha…”
With Your divinely created water and Your blood, O Word* the Church is splendidly adorned like a bride,* and it sings the glory of the Cross.
Exalt the Lord our God; and worship the footstool of His feet, for it is holy.
Lifting high the spear and the Cross, the nails and the other things* by which the life-bearing body of Christ was pierced,* let us bow down before them.
God is our King before the ages; He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
When, lifting up his arms in the form of the Cross,* Moses vanquished Amalek,* he portrayed the all-pure suffering of Christ.
Tone 6, Glory…
O you who are as firm as adamant in soul,* how can we praise you as is meet?* For, deprived of your spouse, you transcended nature, possessions and children,* and uttered the blessed and ever-memorable cry of Job:* “The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away!* As the Lord has willed, so has it been!”* But God whom you loved and whom you fervently desired again* gave you most cherished things,* O you who took thought beforehand concerning those who suffered with you.* And having reached the end of diverse torments with them,* receiving them as your fellow supplicants, O blessed Eustathius, patient of soul,* pray that we be delivered from our iniquities.
Now…
O Cross of Christ, hope of Christians,* guide of the lost, haven of the tempest-tossed,* victory amid battles, confirmation of the whole world,* physician of the ill, resurrection of the dead:* Have mercy upon us!
Troparia
Tone 4
Your holy martyrs, O Lord,* through their sufferings have received their incorruptible crowns from You, our God.* For having Your strength they laid low their adversaries,* and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.* Through their intercessions, save our souls!
Tone 4, Glory…
O Lord our God, Your holy martyrs* have deserved the crown of immortality* on account of their good fight.* Armed with strength, they have vanquished their persecutors* and crushed Satan’s dreadful might.* Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Tone 1, Now…
Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance.* Grant victory to Your faithful people against enemies,* and protect Your community by Your cross.
DIVINE LITURGY ON SATURDAY MORNING
Antiphon 1
O God, my God, hear me; why have You forsaken me? The words of my transgressions put salvation far from me.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Saviour, save us.
O God, I will call to You by day but You will not listen; and by night, yet it will not be foolish of me.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Saviour, save us.
But You, the praise of Israel, dwell in the holy place.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Saviour, save us.
Glory… Now… Only-begotten Son…
Antiphon 3
Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord, let us acclaim God, our Saviour.
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.
Let us come before His face with praise, and acclaim Him in psalms.
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.
For God is the great Lord, and the great king over all the earth.
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.
Entrance
Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ.
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion, Tone 1: Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance.* Grant victory to Your faithful people against enemies,* and protect Your community by Your cross.
Troparion, Tone 1: Be swayed by the pains that the saints have suffered for You, O Lord,* and heal all our pains,* O Lover of mankind, for this we pray.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Kontakion, Tone 2: Appearing as radiant lights, O godly martyrs,* you illumine all creation with the brilliance of your miracles,* healing infirmities, always dispelling deep darkness* and praying unceasingly to Christ our God for all of us.
Now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone 4: By Your own choice, O Christ our God,* You were lifted on the cross.* Grant Your mercies to Your new community* that bears Your Name.* By Your power gladden the faithful people,* and grant them victory against enemies.* May they have the help of Your instrument of peace,* the invincible sign of victory.
Prokeimenon, Tone 7
Exalt the Lord our God,* and bow in worship at the footstool of his feet, for it is holy.
verse: The Lord reigns, let the people tremble. (Psalm 98:5,1)
Epistle
1 Corinthians 1:26-29
Alleluia, Tone 1
verse: Remember Your congregation which You acquired from the beginning.
verse: But God is our king before the ages; He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. (Psalm 73:2,12)
Gospel
John 8:21-30
Hymn to the Mother of God
O my soul, magnify the most precious cross of the Lord.
And the Irmos, Tone 8: You are a mystical Paradise, O Mother of God, who though untilled, have brought forth Christ. He has planted upon earth the life-giving Tree of the Cross. Therefore today as we raise it on high we bow low and we magnify you.
Communion Hymn
Let the light of Your countenance, O Lord,* shine upon us.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 4:7)
At the end of Liturgy we sing:
To Your Cross, O Master, we bow in veneration, and we glorify Your holy Resurrection. (3)