Fast-free week.

VESPERS ON MONDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 5

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

Woe to me who have angered You, my merciful God and Lord!* How many times have I promised to repent, О Christ,* and have been found to be a senseless liar?* I have soiled my first baptismal raiment, and have forsaken my covenant with You,* and this second commandment, which I confessed before You in the presence of men and angels,* have I also abandoned, clad in a lamentable form.* Setting this aside, О Saviour, leave me not to perish utterly.

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

What answer shalt you find on the day of judgment, О wretched soul?* Who will deliver you from condemnation to everlasting fire and other torments?* No one, if you yourself do not placate the Compassionate One,* forsaking your evil deeds and acquiring a right pleasing life,* every day weeping over your countless transgressions,* which you commit at every hour in deed, word, and thought,* and beseeching Christ to grant you the complete forgiveness of them.

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

Let sinful habit not seize me, dragging me down, О Saviour,* nor let the demon, which ever wages war on me and subjects me to his will, gain dominance over me;* but rescue me from his dominion with Your mighty hand,* О Almighty One who loves mankind, and reign within me.* Grant that I may be wholly Yours,* and living according to Your will, О Word, may find rest in You,* and cleansing, salvation, and great mercy for myself.

Tone 1

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

The summit of the virtues and foundation of the faithful,* the glory of hierarchs and the boast of the martyrs* with splendour summon all the faithful to his holy memorial,* to chant to him as a victor* who glorified God on earth.

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

Moved by a vision of Christ,* the Angel of Great Counsel,* when you beheld behold the council of the iniquitous, O wise martyr,* you proceeded straightway to the tribunal,* taking the trophies of victory in your hand;* and you dwell now in the heavens,* O all-sanctified one.

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

Tone 4, Glory…

As a good tutor of children and a teacher of piety,* by the divine power of your godly words* you led the God-loving women to the struggle of martyrdom,* thereby strengthening for Christ the weakness of their nature;* and with them having finished well the course of sufferings,* you rejoiced with splendour in the bridal chamber of heaven,* adorned with a twofold crown of divine glory,* and making entreaty with them,* that peace and great mercy be imparted to us.

Now…

Grant me tears from the depths of my heart,* sighing from the depths of my soul, О Maiden,* and contrition and confession of the transgressions I have committed in this life,* that by your help, О all-pure one*, I may pass my life in repentance and receive remission.

Prokeimenon, Tone 4

The Lord hears me* when I cry out to Him.

verse: Whenever I called, the God of my justice heard me.

Aposticha

Tone 5

O Lord, I cease not to sin,* nor do I perceive Your love for mankind which You have granted me.* Vanquish my lack of discernment, O You who alone are good,* and have mercy upon me.

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.

O Lord, from reverent fear of You I tremble,* yet I cease not from committing sins.* Who, when called to trial, does not fear the judge?* Or who, desiring to be healed, angers the physician, as I do?* O longsuffering Lord, have compassion upon my weakness,* and have mercy upon me.

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.

Having put on the breastplate of faith and armed themselves with the image of the Cross,* Your saints, О Lord, manfully gave themselves over to torments* and cast down the pride and deception of the devil.* As God almighty, send down peace upon the world through their entreaties,* and great mercy upon our souls.

Tone 6, Glory…

Blossoming forth in the exercise of the divine virtues* in accordance with your name, O Blaise,* you flourished like a palm-tree in the courts of the Lord, as David said,* and like a cedar did you increase through chastisements.* Like a fruitful vine in the house of God,* pruned during torment by the application of tortures,* you have poured forth upon us a noetic wine from the fruit of your struggles.* Drinking thereof, we fill our hearts with divine gladness;* and assembling together for the honoured memorial of your repose,* we praise you, calling you blessed,* and asking that, through you, we may receive peace and great mercy.

Now…

No one that flees to you, O most pure Virgin Theotokos,* departs from you ashamed;* for those that ask grace of you,* ever receives a gift for their profitable petition.

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, Blaise.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.

Glory…. Now…

Let us poor sinners hasten with fervour to the Mother of God;* let us humbly kneel before her and say from the depth of our hearts:* O Lady, be kind to us and help us.* Hasten, for we are perishing under a multitude of sins.* Do not turn away your servants empty-handed,* for you are their only hope and protection.

DIVINE LITURGY ON TUESDAY 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, Blaise.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.

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

Kontakion, Tone 2: O God-bearing Blaise, you were a holy plant,* an unfading flower, and a fertile vine in the vineyard of Christ.* Fill with joy the hearts of those who celebrate your memory with fervour* and never cease to intercede for all of us.

Prokeimenon, Tone 7

The venerable ones will exult in glory* and they shall be joyful in their beds.

verse: Sing to the Lord a new song; let His praise be in the assembly of the venerable ones. (Psalm 149:5,1)

Epistle

2 Peter 2:9-22

Alleluia, Tone 2

verse: Your priests shall clothe themselves with justice, and Your venerable ones shall rejoice.

verse: For the Lord has chosen Sion; He has chosen it for His dwelling. (Psalm 131:9,13)

Gospel

Mark 13:14-23

Communion Hymn

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