VESPERS ON WEDNESDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 6, Podoben “On the third day…”

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

You became ministers of the great mysteries of God,* О theologians and disciples who beheld God,* and have received the grace of healings;* curing the diseases of all.

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

You are the great refuge and protection of our souls* and the expulsion of evil spirits, О apostles of the Lord who beheld God;* wherefore, we ever honour you.

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

From every evil circumstance, from harm wrought by the demons,* from transgressions and wretched captivity,* deliver those who honour you with faith,* О divine and blessed apostles.

Tone 8

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

Nurtured on the milk of faith, you attained maturity in Christ,* for the sake of your many torments and tribulations, O Galaction,* having become an acceptable sacrifice and a perfect immolation* through your voluntary onslaught, O you who are most rich.* O your firm and steadfast faith, whereby you received God,* O you who are now deified most perfectly!

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

Artfully did you seek out the Wellspring of good things most earnestly desired,* and with the splendours thereof you illumined soul and mind, O you who are blessed of God;* and with mighty opposition you cast down the ancient tyrant of great craft, much suffering martyr Epistemis,* O divine adornment of monastics.

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

The two all-radiant luminaries of the noetic East* shine forth with grace and piously illumine all creation* with the transcendent splendours of their sufferings and the divine flames of healings.* And honouring their most splendid feast, we glorify Christ* who illumines all for their sake.

Tone 8, Glory… Now…

Rejoice, enlightenment of souls,* forgiveness of sinners, correction of the negligent!* Rejoice, consolation and joy, and helper of the sorrowful!* Rejoice, O good one, healing of the souls of the weak!* Rejoice, reconciliation with God and mediatrix,* O pure one who are more holy than all the seraphim!

Aposticha

Tone 6

Once, the apostles trolled the depths of the sea with nets, О Lord,* and likewise the heights of the kingdom for the sake of their doctrines.* In the first, they skilfully tested the unfathomable depths;* and in the other they attained through faith Your infinite bosom,* and they proclaimed Your timeless Son to the world.* By their supplications and those of all the saints,* have mercy on us.

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.

Once, when Your disciples were tempest-tossed in a boat, О Christ,* they cried out: “O Master, save us! For we are perishing!” *And we now cry aloud:* We pray You, О our Saviour and Lover of mankind,* deliver us from our tribulations!

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 Cross was the invincible weapon of the martyrs, О Lord;* for they looked upon imminent death, foreseeing the life which is to come,* and they were strengthened by hope in You.* By their prayers have mercy upon us!

Glory… Now…

The eye of my heart longingly seeks you, O Lady;* disdain not my feeble sigh.* At the hour when your Son shall judge the world,* be my protection and helper.

Troparia

Tone 4

Your holy martyrs, O Lord,* by their passions acquired the crowns of incorruptibility from You, our God.* For possessing Your power they overcame the torturers* and shattered the feeble insolence of demons.* By their supplications, save our souls.

Glory… Now…

O Virgin Mother of God,* we acknowledge that the Word of the Father, Christ our God,* was incarnate of you, the only pure one and the only blessed one.* Therefore, we sing to you a hymn of praise and we exalt you.

AT DIVINE LITURGY ON THURSDAY MORNING

Troparia and Kontakia

Troparion, Tone 4: Your holy martyrs, O Lord,* by their passions acquired the crowns of incorruptibility from You, our God.* For possessing Your power they overcame the torturers* and shattered the feeble insolence of demons.* By their supplications, save 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: As bright and unerring stars you appeared to the world* proclaiming with your rays the Sun, that is, Christ, O martyrs,* and you have extinguished all error.* But to us you give light, praying without ceasing for 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 always in my sight, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. (Psalm 15:3,8)

Epistle

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8

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 11:47-12:1

Communion Hymn

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