Nativity Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients

AT VESPERS ON TUESDAY EVENING

Kathisma Reading

The appointed psalms are chanted.

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.

Full of valiant wisdom,* with a most courageous resolve endured the severing of your limbs and the dismemberment of your body,* unbearable fire, starvation and death,* in expectation of the glory which ages not with time,* which lies eternally before you,* and foreseeing everlasting blessedness.

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

Having transcended every sense and directed your mind toward life on high,* with divinely wise thought and great wisdom of soul* you spurned the baseness and lowliness of visible things.* Wherefore, lacerated and burned with fire for Christ, O martyr,* you endured valiantly.

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

By grace you set at nought every assault of the enemy* and the onslaughts of the persecutors;* and you were crowned with the wreath of victory,* O you who are most rich,* being vouchsafed incorruptible gladness and ineffable and divine radiance.* And as you are now in the midst thereof,* ask remission of sins for those who praise you well.

Tone 4, Podoben “As one valiant 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.

Consumed by fasting, hardened by ascetic endeavour,* and tormented with manifold tortures,* you became a two-edged sword, cutting down hordes of demons, O Roman,* adornment of athletes, divine boast, precious ornament of the Church* of those who died shedding their own blood, O most lauded one.

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

Lacerated and rent asunder, imprisoned in a dungeon,* your tongue cut out, O glorious athlete,* your jaw broken, receiving a blessed end through violent suffocation,* you were shown to be unshakable and steadfast* through the activity of the divine Spirit, O Roman;* wherefore, we praise you with faith.

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

A child speaks eloquently and amazes the mindless:* he is adorned with honourable opposition and is illumined by his death;* he is enriched by the goodly fame of the holy athletes, whose zeal he acquired.* O right wise Roman, pray with them, that remission of debts be sent down upon us all.

Tone 6, Glory…

Awesome and all-glorious are the victories of Your martyr, O Lord!* For, emulating the boldness of the fishermen, by his words and deeds he rent asunder* the mythology and historical blasphemy of Plato with the nets of theology;* and when his skin was flayed and his head cut off,* he choked the enemy with the outpouring of his blood.* O most blessed wonderworker Plato, adornment of the martyrs,* who preached the great name of Christ with boldness,* ask that great mercy be given our souls.

Now…

Seeing You crucified, O Christ, she who gave You birth cried aloud:* What is this strange mystery which I behold, O my Son?* How is it that You die, suspended in the flesh upon the Tree,* O Bestower of life?

Aposticha

Tone 8

О Christ God who was lifted up upon the Cross,* You saved the race of mankind.* We glorify Your sufferings!

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.

You were nailed to the Cross, О Christ God,* opening the gates of paradise.* We glorify Your divinity!

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 martyrs, О Lord, were no longer mindful of the things of life,* but ignored their tortures for the sake of the life which is to come,* and were shown to be inheritors thereof;* therefore, they rejoice with the angels.* By their supplications grant great mercy to Your people.

Glory… Now…

O Lord, when the sun beheld You the Sun of righteousness, hanging upon the Tree,* it hid its rays, and the light of the moon was changed to darkness;* and Your all-immaculate Mother was pierced in the depths of her soul.

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…

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

Kontakion, Tone 4: Your holy memory delights the universe* and brings us together in your holy temple.* Since we are now gathered together in our joy,* praise your great deeds with hymns, O Plato and Roman,* and we cry out to you with faith:* O holy ones, save your city from its enemies.

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 Timothy 1:18-20; 2:8-15

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 15:1-10

Communion Hymn

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