AT VESPERS ON TUESDAY EVENING
At Psalm 140
Tone 8, Podoben “O all-glorious wonder…”
If You mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?* But with You forgiveness is that You may be revered.
Bearing myrrh with tears, O Mary Magdalene,* on reaching the divine sepulchre you saw an angel of glory* who proclaimed the divine resurrection of the Bestower of life* and the deliverance of all.* Wherefore, you hastened to make announcement to the eleven, saying joyfully:* Leap up, for Christ has risen!
I have waited for You as You have commanded; my soul patiently relies on Your promise,* for it has trusted in the Lord.
Serving Christ God, who had become like to us for our sake, O all-lauded one,* and setting your soul and mind afire with continual radiance, you became light.* And, beholding the strange vision of Him hanging upon the Cross,* you said, weeping:* “How is it that Life now accepts a voluntary death?”
From the morning watch until night* let Israel trust in the Lord.
We celebrate your sacred memory, O you who learned of Christ* and who preached His precepts for the deliverance of men’s souls, O most glorious Mary;* and we venerate with faith the shrine of your relics,* which pours forth inexhaustible grace and enlightenment* upon those who have recourse to it with love, O blessed of God.
Tone 4, Podoben “You have given a sign…”
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plentiful redemption;* and He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
You offered yourself wholly to Him* who, for your sake, endured His salvific suffering, O all-lauded father,* and you made haste with diligence* to be well-pleasing to Him in the blood of martyrdom* and to cleave to Him.* Hence, crowned by Him, you have been glorified* and enriched by the working of miracles, O all-wise one.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
By your endurance of suffering, O Phocas,* you cast down the arrogance of the iniquitous and the worship of the demons,* manifestly proclaiming the Saviour of all,* illumining the thoughts of the faithful* and dispelling the darkness of the vanity of idolatry* with the enlightenment of your miracles* and the splendour of your struggles, O blessed of God.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
We who are beset by misfortunes,* by the waves of life and the abyss of transgressions,* and are assailed by the tempest of grief,* having you as a haven of salvation, pray with faith:* by your supplications save us who honour your holy memory* from every evil circumstance,* entreating the Lord and Master, who loves mankind.
Tone 6, Glory…
Being the first to behold the divine resurrection of the First Cause of good things,* who in the goodness of His heart has deified our nature,* O Mary Magdalene, you showed yourself to be also the first evangelist,* crying out to the apostles:* “Setting aside your grief, take courage!* Come and behold the risen Christ* who grants the world great mercy!”
Now…, Podoben “Having set all aside…”
The unblemished ewe-lamb, the immaculate Mistress,* when of old she beheld her Lamb upon the tree of the Cross,* exclaimed maternally and, marvelling, cried aloud:* “O my Child most sweet!* What is this new and all-glorious sight?* How have the thankless assembly betrayed You to the tribunal of Pilate?* How does he condemn You to death, who are the life of all?* Yet I hymn Your ineffable condescension, O Word!”
Aposticha
Tone 7
No longer are we forbidden the Tree of life,* for we have Your Cross as our hope.* О Lord, glory be to You!
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.
Suspended upon the Tree, О Immortal One,* You broke the snares of the devil.* О Lord, glory be to You!
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.
Caring nothing for all the things of earth, О holy martyrs,* and having manfully preached Christ at the tribunal,* you received from Him rewards for your torments;* but as you have boldness, beseech Him,* as the almighty God, that He save the souls of us who flee to you, we pray.
Tone 8, Glory…
As a disciple who faithfully ministered to Christ God,* who in the excess of His compassion willingly assumed my poverty,* Mary Magdalene, when she beheld Him stretched out upon the Tree and enclosed in the sepulchre,* cried aloud, shedding tears:* “What strange sight is this, O You who give life to the dead?* How is it that You are reckoned among the dead?* What myrrh shall I bring to You who have removed from me the stench of the demons?* What tears shall I shed for You who have wiped away the tears of our first mother?”* Yet, O King of all, You appeared as a gardener,* taking away the burning heat with the dew of Your words,* and said to her:* “Go to My brethren and declare to them the joy of glad tidings;* for I shall ascend to the Father, My God and your God,* that I may bestow great mercy upon the world!”
Now…, Podoben “O all-glorious wonder…”
Seeing You nailed to the Cross, O Jesus,* and voluntarily accepting suffering,* the Virgin, Your Mother, O Master, cried aloud:* “Woe is me, O my sweet Child!* How is it that You unjustly endure wounds, O Physician who heals human weakness* and has delivered all from corruption* in Your lovingkindness?”
Troparia
Tone 1
The honourable Mary Magdalen followed after Christ,* who for our sake was born of the Virgin,* keeping His precepts and laws.* Wherefore, celebrating your most holy memory today,* through your supplications we receive remission of sins.
Tone 4, Glory…
As you shared in the ways of the apostles and occupied their throne,* you found your activity to be a passage to divine vision,* O divinely inspired one.* Wherefore, ordering the word of truth,* you suffered for the faith even to the shedding of your blood.* O hieromartyr Phocas, entreat Christ God,* that our souls be saved.
Now…
O Virgin, all immaculate Mother of Christ God,* a sword pierced your all-holy soul* when you saw your Son and God willingly crucified.* Therefore, O blessed One,* never cease to pray to Him* that He may grant us forgiveness of our sins.
AT DIVINE LITURGY ON WEDNESDAY MORNING
Troparia and Kontakia
Troparion Tone 1: In keeping His commandments and laws, holy Mary Magdalene,* you followed Christ, Who for our sake was born of a Virgin,* and in celebrating your most holy memory today,* we receive forgiveness of sins by your prayers!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Kontakion Tone 4: When God, Who is transcendent in Essence,* came with flesh into the world, Myrrhbearer,* He received you as a true disciple for you turned all your love toward Him;* henceforth you would yourself work many healings.* Now that you have passed into heaven, never cease to intercede for the world!
Prokeimenon, Tone 4
God is wonderful in His saints,* the God of Israel.
verse: In the churches bless God, the Lord from the fountains of Israel. (Psalm 67:36,27)
Epistle
1 Corinthians 13:4-14:5
Alleluia, Tone 1
verse: With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and He was attentive to me, and He heard my prayer.
verse: He brought me out of the pit of misery and the mud of the swamp. (Psalm 39:2,3)
Gospel
Matthew 20:1-16
Communion Hymn
The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear*. Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)