Second Wednesday in Lent

From the Morning Office
Psalm 144-150 (after the Hebrew Numbering)

SESSIONAL HYMN, TONE 1

STRETCHED OUT AND KILLED UPON THE CROSS, O CHRIST, YOU KILLED OUR ENEMY, THE SERPENT, SOURCE OF EVIL! YOU HAVE RESTORED TO LIFE THOSE KILLED BY HIS STING, THEREFORE, I ENTREAT YOU, SAVIOR: GIVE LIFE TO MY DEADENED SOUL, FOR I TURN TO YOU IN PRAYER AND FASTING.

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

STRETCHED OUT AND KILLED UPON THE CROSS, O CHRIST, YOU KILLED OUR ENEMY, THE SERPENT, SOURCE OF EVIL! YOU HAVE RESTORED TO LIFE THOSE KILLED BY HIS STING, THEREFORE, I ENTREAT YOU, SAVIOR: GIVE LIFE TO MY DEADENED SOUL, FOR I TURN TO YOU IN PRAYER AND FASTING.

            Now and forever and ever. Amen.

WHEN THE EWE BEHELD, O CHRIST, HER LAMB HANGING ON THE CROSS BETWEEN TWO EVILDOERS, SHE CRIED OUT TO YOU, WEEPING AND LAMENTING BITTERLY: DEAREST CHILD, WHAT IS THIS WONDER I SEE? YOU REPLIED: MOST PURE MOTHER, THIS WONDER SHALL BRING LIFE TO ALL THE WORLD!



Psalm 1-8

SESSIONAL HYMN, TONE 3

AS WE PASS THROUGH THE SOLEMN TIME OF ABSTINENCE, LET US SOUND THE TRUMPET AND CRY ALOUD: LIFE HAS BLOSSOMED IN THE WORLD THROUGH THE FAST! THE DEATH THAT COMES FROM SELF-INDULGENCE IS DESTROYED! GUARD YOUR SERVANTS IN THE FAST BY THE POWER OF YOUR CROSS, O CHRIST THE WORD!

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

AS WE PASS THROUGH THE SOLEMN TIME OF ABSTINENCE, LET US SOUND THE TRUMPET AND CRY ALOUD: LIFE HAS BLOSSOMED IN THE WORLD THROUGH THE FAST! THE DEATH THAT COMES FROM SELF-INDULGENCE IS DESTROYED! GUARD YOUR SERVANTS IN THE FAST BY THE POWER OF YOUR CROSS, O CHRIST THE WORD!

            Now and forever and ever. Amen.

BY YOUR OWN FREE CHOICE, COMPASSIONATE CHRIST, YOU ENDURED A SHAMEFUL DEATH ON THE CROSS. WHEN YOUR MOTHER SAW YOU SHE WAS WOUNDED IN HEART AND BEATING HER BREAST, LAMENTED WITH A MOTHER'S SORROW. AT HER PRAYERS, THROUGH YOUR TENDER MERCY, HAVE PITY ON THE WORLD AND SAVE IT, FOR YOU TAKE AWAY ITS SIN.


                              APOSTIKHA

                TONE 7
DEATH CAME INTO THE WORLD THROUGH THE TREE FORBIDDEN IN PARADISE, BUT BY YOUR CROSS, YOU DESTROYED DEATH, LORD! THROUGH THIS FAST, DELIVER US FROM EVERY PLEASURE THAT CORRUPTS THE SOUL; ENABLE US TO BEAR THE FOOD THAT NOURISHES ETERNAL LIFE, SO THAT WE MAY RECEIVE THE INCORRUPTIBLE SWEETNESS OF HEAVENLY CROWNS WHICH YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO TRULY FAST; WE BESEECH YOU.

DEATH CAME INTO THE WORLD...

YOU WERE LIGHTS FOR THE UNIVERSE ALL-LAUDABLE, SUFFERING SAINTS, CRYING TO CHRIST: O LORD, GLORY TO YOU!

            Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen.
WHEN THE BLAMELESS VIRGIN SAW YOU VOLUNTARILY NAILED TO THE WOOD, SHE WEPT, SINGING PRAISE TO YOUR MAJESTY.

At the Noon office

TROPARION OF THE PROPHECY, TONE 6

MOST HIGH GOD, WHO DWELL IN THE HEAVENS, WHO CREATED ALL THAT HAS BREATH, SAVE US, FOR WE HAVE HOPED IN YOU, OUR SAVIOR!


PROKEIMENON OF THE PROPHECY, TONE 5

TO YOU, LORD, WILL I CRY  *  AND TO MY GOD I WILL MAKE SUPPLICATION.
VERSE: I will extol You, Lord, for You have drawn me up.

PROPHECY OF ISAIAH 5: 16-25
And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.  And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.  Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart. That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it. Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
Woe to you that rue wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits. Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness. That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him. Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the dame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
PROKEIMENON, TONE 6

IN YOU, LORD, HAVE I HOPED  *  LET ME NEVER BE PUT TO SHAME.
VERSE: Deliver me in Your righteousness and rescue me.