VESPERS ON MONDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 5, Podoben “Rejoice…”

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 4, Podoben “As one mighty among the martyrs…”

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

Torn by iron claws, beaten with a scourge of cords, your body burned with fire,* you did not deny the saving name of Christ,* nor were you vanquished in mind, nor did you sacrifice to graven images,* but you were a willing whole-burnt offering,* a pure and perfect sacrifice to your Master, O martyr Menas.

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

Your eyes put out, hung upon a tree, burned all over by candles,* scourged with thongs by the cruelty of the judge,* your head cut off by the sword,* you rejoiced, O glorious Victor, passion-bearer of the Saviour,* vanquishing legions of the enemy by the activity of the Holy Spirit.

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

The Lord has crowned you with a diadem of grace, O much suffering Stephanida,* for willingly you gave yourself over to torments with spiritual valour;* bound between two palm trees, you were torn asunder,* and like a sparrow took flight to God,* leaving your flesh in the hands of your tormenters, O right glorious martyr.

Tone 4, Glory…

Again the yearly commemoration of the beacons of the world has dawned for us:* Menas, Victor, and Vincent,* who enlighten the hearts of the faithful by their struggles for Christ and His Cross.* Therefore, in hymns let us honour Christ our God,* who has crowned them with glory and honour.

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.

Glory… Now…

Assuage the sufferings of my much-sighing soul,* O you that wipe every tear from the face of the earth;* for you banish the sufferings of mankind,* and dispel the sorrows of the sinful.* For in you do we all have our hope and confirmation,* O most holy Virgin Mother.

Troparia

Tone 4

O Lord and Master, You have made those martyrs who shared in your passion* ornaments of glory for the world.* Therefore, we have an invincible advocate in them.

Tone 8, Glory…

O guide of the true faith, mirror of piety and commendable behaviour,* bright star of the universe, and adornment of pontiffs,* you enlightened us all by our teachings.* O wise Theodore, inspired by God and lyre of the Holy Spirit,* intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.

Now…

With hymns of praise let us, the faithful, exalt the Mother of God,* the solid foundation of our faith* and the precious gift to our souls:* Rejoice, O woman who contained in your womb the Rock of life!* Rejoice, O hope of the world and helper of those who are in trouble!* Rejoice, O bride and Virgin forever!

DIVINE LITURGY ON TUESDAY MORNING

Troparia and Kontakia

Troparion, Tone 4: O Lord and Master, You have made those martyrs who shared in your passion* ornaments of glory for the world.* Therefore, we have an invincible advocate in them.

Troparion, Tone 8: O guide of the true faith, mirror of piety and commendable behaviour,* bright star of the universe, and adornment of pontiffs,* you enlightened us all by our teachings.* O wise Theodore, inspired by God and lyre of the Holy Spirit,* intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Kontakion, Tone 4: Christ our God summoned you from an earthly army,* and enlisted you in the army of heaven, O martyr Menas.* You have been given the untarnishing crown of the martyrs.

Now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Kontakion Tone 2: You surrounded yourself with every ascetic practice* in order to protect your angelic life.* With the grace of God you became like the angels.* Together with them, O Theodore,* never cease to intercede with Christ our God for the sake of all of us.

Prokeimenon, Tone 4

To the saints who are in His land, the Lord has made wonderful all His desires in them.

verse: I foresaw the Lord in my sight, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. (Psalm 15:3,8)

Epistle

1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Alleluia, Tone 4

verse: The just cried out and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of their afflictions.

verse: The afflictions of the just are many, and out of them all will the Lord deliver them. (Psalm 33:18,20)

Gospel

Luke 11:1-10

Communion Hymn

Rejoice in the Lord, O you just;* praise befits the righteous.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 32:1)