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Triodion - Holy Week

Presanctified Liturgy on Holy Wednesday

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PRESANCTIFIED

From Triodion - - -

Idiomelon 1. Mode 1.

Bring my soul out of prison to give thanks to Your name, O Lord. [SAAS]

When the harlot became aware that You, the Son of the Virgin, were God, she began to weep as one who had done things deserving tears, and imploring You she said, “Undo my debt, I pray You, as I undo my braids. Love me who am kissing You, though rightly I am hated; and alongside the publicans I will proclaim You, benevolent Benefactor.” [SD]

Idiomelon 2. Mode 1.

The righteous shall wait for me, until You reward me. [SAAS]

The harlot mingled the very costly fragrant oil with her tears, and she poured it out on Your immaculate feet and kissed them profusely. You immediately justified her. To us, also, grant forgiveness, O Lord who suffered for us, and save us. [SD]

Idiomelon 3. Mode 1.

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. [SAAS]

When the sinful woman offered the fragrant oil, then the disciple made his agreement with the transgressors of the Law. She rejoiced in pouring out the costly oil, and he lost no time in selling off the priceless One. She acknowledged the Master, and he was becoming estranged from the Master. She was emancipated, while Judas became a slave of the enemy. How dreadful was his rashness! How great was her repentance! Grant me this repentance, O Savior who suffered for us, and save us. [SD]

Idiomelon 4. Mode 1.

Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. [SAAS]

Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! He watched as the harlot was kissing Your feet, all the while with guile thinking about the kiss of betrayal. As she untied her braided hair, he was knotted up in anger, bringing rancid wickedness instead of fragrant oil. For envy does not know where there is profit. Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! From this deliver our souls, O God. [SD]

Idiomelon 5. Mode 2.

If You, O Lord, should mark transgression, O Lord, who would stand? For there is forgiveness with You. [SAAS]

The sinful woman ran to purchase ointment, costly ointment, to anoint her Benefactor; and to the perfumer she cried out, “Give me the ointment, so that I in turn may anoint the One who wiped away all my sins.” [SD]

Idiomelon 6. Mode pl. 2.

Because of Your law, O Lord, I waited for You; my soul waited for Your word. My soul hopes in the Lord. [SAAS]

She who was submerged in sin found in You a harbor of salvation. She poured out the fragrant oil along with her tears, and she cried out to You, “Behold, the One who has authority to forgive sins! Behold, the One who waits for the repentance of sinners!” O Master, I implore You, save me from the tempest of sin, in Your great mercy. [SD]

Idiomelon 7. Mode pl. 2.

From the morning watch until night; from the morning watch until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. [SAAS]

Today, Christ is at the house of the Pharisee. A sinful woman approaches and grovels at His feet, and she cries to Him, “See me, a woman submersed in sin. I have given up in despair because of what I have done. And yet Your goodness does not abhor me. Grant me forgiveness for my wicked deeds, O Lord, and save me.” [SD]

Idiomelon 8. Mode pl. 2.

For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption; and He shall redeem Israel from all his transgressions. [SAAS]

The harlot let out her hair for You the Master; Judas put out his hand to the transgressors of the Law. She, in order to receive forgiveness, and he to receive the silver. And so we cry out to You who were sold and who set us free: O Lord, glory to You! [SD]

Idiomelon 9. Mode pl. 2.

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; praise Him, all you peoples. [SAAS]

A woman, reeking and defiled, approached You, O Savior. She drenched Your feet with her tears, and thus announced Your Passion. “How can I look at You the Master? For You have come to save a harlot. Dead that I am, raise me up from the depths, You who raised Lazarus from the tomb after four days. Accept me, wretch that I am, O Lord, and save me.” [SD]

Idiomelon 10. Mode pl. 2.

For His mercy rules over us; and the truth of the Lord endures forever. [SAAS]

That woman, who was spurned because of her way of life, for which she had earned ill repute as a harlot, came to You with the fragrant oil in hand, and she cried out, “Please, do not throw me out for being a harlot, O Savior, born of the Virgin. Please, do not dismiss my tears and weeping, O Master, the joy of the Angels. You did not reject me when I was sinning, so now accept me as I am repenting, O Lord, because of Your great mercy.” [SD]

Glory. Both now.

From Triodion - - -

Mode pl. 4.

Lord, when the woman who had fallen into many sins perceived Your divinity, she assumed the role of a myrrh-bearing woman, and lamenting brought fragrant oils to anoint You before Your burial. “Woe is me,” she says. “Night for me is a frenzy without restraint, very dark and moonless, a sinful love-affair. Accept the fountains of my tears, You who draw out from the clouds the water of the sea. Take pity on me, and incline to the sighing of my heart, You who bowed the heavens by Your ineffable self-emptying. I shall cover Your unstained feet with kisses, and wipe them dry again with the locks of my hair; those feet, whose sound at twilight in Paradise echoed in Eve’s ears, and she hid in fear. Who can reckon the multitude of my sins, or fathom the depths of Your judgments, O my life-saving Savior? Do not despise me, Your servant, since without measure is Your mercy.” [SD]

DEACON

Wisdom. Arise.

READER

Gladsome light of holy glory of the holy, blessed, heavenly, immortal Father, O Jesus Christ: arriving at the hour of sunset and having seen the evening light, we praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God. It is worthy for You to be praised at all times with happy voices, O Son of God and Giver of life; * and therefore the world glorifies You.

The Readings

DEACON

The evening…

From Triodion - - -

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 135 (136).

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Give thanks to the God of gods. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Exodus.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Ex 2:11 – 22; 18:4

Thus it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and saw their burdens. He also saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren of the sons of Israel. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the second day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you hitting your neighbor?” He replied, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses was alarmed and said, “Surely this thing is known.” Thus when Pharaoh heard this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, who fed the sheep of their father Jethro; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said to them, “How is it you came so soon today?” They replied, “An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds; and he also drew enough water for us and watered our sheep.” So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” Then Moses dwelt with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. So the woman conceived and bore Moses a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” She again conceived and bore a second son, and he called his name Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father is my help, and He rescued me from the hand of Pharaoh”). [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 137 (138).

O Lord, Your mercy endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all my heart. [SAAS]

READER (sung)

Command!

The Priest holds a lit candle in his right hand with the censer hanging below it, stands before the holy Table, gestures crosswise and says:

PRIEST

Wisdom. Arise.

Then he turns to face the people, blesses them crosswise with the candle, and says:

The light of Christ shines on all.

Then he hands the candle and the censer to the acolyte.

READER

The reading is from the book of Job.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Job 2:1 – 15

Then again as it so happened another day, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the devil also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to the devil, “Where did you come from?” Then the devil said before the Lord, “I came here from walking around under heaven and going about all the earth.” Then the Lord said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, since there is none like him on the earth: an innocent, true, blameless, and God-fearing man, and one who abstains from every evil thing? Moreover he still holds fast to his integrity, though you told me to destroy his possessions without cause.” Then the devil answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin. Whatever a man has he will pay in full for his life. Yet truly, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he will bless You to Your face.” So the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give him over to you; only spare his life.” Thus the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with malignant sores from head to foot. So he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge and sat on a dunghill outside the city. When a period of time passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying, ‘Behold, I will wait a little longer, looking for the hope of my salvation’? Listen, your memory is wiped out from the earth: your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, which I suffered in vain and with hardships. You yourself are sitting down, spending the nights in the open air among the rottenness of worms; and I go about as a wanderer and a handmaid from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, so as to rest from my labors and pains that now beset me. But say a word against the Lord and die!” Then Job looked at her and said, “You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks. If we accepted good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not endure evil things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God. [SAAS]

PRIEST

Peace be with you.

(Go back to the Presanctified Liturgy booklet. After “Let my prayer…” find the Gospel reading here.)

The Gospel

DEACON

Wisdom. Arise. Let us hear the holy Gospel.

PRIEST

Peace be with all.

( And with your spirit. )

DEACON

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.

PRIEST

Let us be attentive.

( Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You. )

DEACON

Mt. 26:6–16

When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. [RSV]

PRIEST

Peace be with you who read the Gospel.

CHOIR

Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You.

(Go back to the Presanctified Liturgy booklet.)

DISMISSAL

May He who is coming to His voluntary Passion for our salvation, Christ our true God, through the intercessions of His all-pure and all-immaculate holy Mother, the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, the protection of the honorable, bodiless powers of heaven, the supplications of the honorable, glorious prophet and forerunner John the Baptist, of the holy, glorious, and praiseworthy apostles, of the holy, glorious, and triumphant martyrs, of our righteous and God-bearing fathers, (local patron saint); of the holy and righteous ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, and of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, as He is good, benevolent, and merciful God.