AT VESPERS ON MONDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

At Psalm 140

Tone 3

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

Perceiving in me a slothfulness toward profitable works,* the serpent of many shapes transforms itself,* luring me towards ever more bitter evils,* showing me the sweetness of sin,* by his own bitter activity,* which is opposed to the commandments of God.* And taking advantage of my wicked character,* forcing me to accept evils as good.

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

Having eagerly trodden the whole path of iniquity and sin,* and utterly departed from that which is straight,* I have now drawn nigh to the gates of death;* and, hemmed in, I cry aloud: О my supremely good Jesus, O path of our life,* turn me to the broad expanse of true repentance;* save and grant me correction;* and before my death, grant me divine forgiveness!

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

I have been slain by diverse sins, by multitudes of transgressions and great misdeeds;* and I lie dead, truly helpless.* Only my hope in Your tender compassion remains alive, О Christ,* who grants both breath and life to the dead and slays the passions which kill us.* Wherefore, going before me, rescue me from everlasting death.

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.

Bound with chains, immured in prison,* given as food for wild beasts, hung aloft and mangled,* yet, receiving divine help from heaven, you remained unshaken* through the love of the Master and Saviour of all,* O most wise Carpus and Papylus.

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

Grounding your thought through wisdom on the rock of faith, O steadfast martyr Papylus,* you rejoiced when you were stoned,* likening yourself to the divine leader of martyrs, the archdeacon Stephen,* as a minister and servant of the mysteries of God,* as one numbered among the martyrs* and a converser with angels.

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

Unswervingly walking the path of witness, your feet nailed to iron sandals,* you steadfastly destroyed the sting of the enemy and destroyer, O all-praised ones,* and were crowned with victories.* Therefore, all the Church of Christ celebrates* your holy, luminous, and renowned commemoration.

Tone 6, Glory…

In that you were worthy among godly seers, O venerable one,* you beheld the heavens opened, and the Lord seated upon the throne,* and the cherubim and seraphim round about Him;* and we, your sacred flock, enlightened by you, O Carpus, cry out to you:* Ask for peace for the world and great mercy for our souls.

Now…

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

Aposticha

Tone 3

Our evening hymn do we bring to You, O Christ,* with incense and spiritual songs,* have mercy on us and save our souls.

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.

Save me, O Lord my God for You are the salvation of all:* The storm of the passions disquiets me,* and the yoke of my transgressions weighs heavily upon me.* Stretch out Your helping hand and lead me up to the light of compunction,* for You alone are compassionate and the Lover of mankind.

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.

Great is the power of Your martyrs, О Christ;* for while lying in their graves they drive evil spirits away;* and, having struggled for piety with their faith in the Trinity,* they abolished the authority of the enemy.

Tone 3, Glory… Now…

O Theotokos, holy among women, O Mother unwedded:* entreat the King and God whom you bore,* that He save us, insofar as He is the Lover of mankind.

Troparia

Tone 4

O Lord our God, Your holy martyrs* have deserved the crown of immortality* on account of their good fight.* Armed with Your strength, they have vanquished their persecutors* and crushed Satan’s dreadful might.* Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save 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.

AT DIVINE LITURGY ON TUESDAY MORNING

Troparia and Kontakia

Troparion, Tone 5: The hosts of heaven marvelled at the corrections of the holy martyrs,* how in their mortal bodies they invisibly vanquished the incorporeal foe,* contending well with the power of the Cross*. And they pray to Christ, that our souls find mercy.

Troparion, Tone 8: Instructor in orthodoxy, teacher of piety and purity, beacon to the whole world,* divinely inspired adornment of hierarchs, O Cosmas most wise,* You have enlightened all by your teachings.* Entreat Christ God that our souls be saved, O harp of the Spirit.

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

Kontakion, Tone 8: You were adorned with virtue, O blessed Cosmas,* and you adorned the Church with wonderful music.* Pray for our deliverance from the warlike enemy;* for we appeal to you, O truly blessed father.

Now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Kontakion, Tone 2: The soldiers of Christ, the holy martyrs Probus, Tarachus, and Andronicus,* have shown us the glory of the Holy Trinity* by refuting the error of their persecutors* and fighting courageously for the faith.

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

Philippians 4:10-23

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 7:36-50

Communion Hymn

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