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Menaion - August 16

Commemoration of the Transfer of the Holy Napkin

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MATINS

CHOIR

Mode 2.

God is the Lord, and He revealed Himself to us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. [SAAS]

Verse 1: Give thanks to the Lord and call upon His holy name.

Verse 2: All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I defended myself against them.

Verse 3: And this came about from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes.

Apolytikion.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 2.

We venerate Your immaculate icon, O good Lord, and entreat You to forgive our offenses, O Christ our God. By Your own choice you were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, to deliver us, whom You created, from our slavery to the foe. Therefore we cry to You with gratitude: You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world. [SD]

Glory. Repeat.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 2.

We venerate Your immaculate icon, O good Lord, and entreat You to forgive our offenses, O Christ our God. By Your own choice you were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, to deliver us, whom You created, from our slavery to the foe. Therefore we cry to You with gratitude: You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world. [SD]

Both now.

Apolytikion of the Feast.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 1.

You gave birth yet preserved your virginity. You fell asleep in death yet did not desert the world, O Theotokos. You were transported to life, as you are Mother of Life and, by virtue of your intercessions, deliver our souls from death. [SD]

PRIEST

Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord.

CHOIR: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST

Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and protect us, O God, by Your grace.

CHOIR: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST

Remembering our all-holy, immaculate, most blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.

CHOIR: To You, O Lord.

PRIEST

For Yours is the dominion, and Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages.

CHOIR: Amen.

CHOIR

Kathisma I.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 4. Joseph marveled.

Κατεπλάγη Ἰωσήφ.

The angelic regiments * of heaven truly saw * your translation from the earth, * O all-immaculate, * all-holy, all-extolled, blessed Mother of God; * and the sacred band of Disciple convened * summoned by the One who was born of you; * and they escorted you as your precious body * was taken to Paradise, * and they extolled Christ, who is the Giver-of-Life * forever and to the ages. [SD]

Glory. Both now. Repeat.

The angelic regiments * of heaven truly saw * your translation from the earth, * O all-immaculate, * all-holy, all-extolled, blessed Mother of God; * and the sacred band of Disciple convened * summoned by the One who was born of you; * and they escorted you as your precious body * was taken to Paradise, * and they extolled Christ, who is the Giver-of-Life * forever and to the ages. [SD]

Kathisma II.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 4. Joseph marveled.

Κατεπλάγη Ἰωσήφ.

You have given up your soul into the hands of your God * and Creator who for us became incarnate from you. * And He transported it from earth to immortal life. * Thus with due respect we pronounce you blest, * for you alone are pure and immaculate. * And as we all confess that you are truly * the Theotokos, we cry aloud: * To Christ, to whom you have been transported, * pray that He will save our souls. [SD]

Glory. Both now. Repeat.

You have given up your soul into the hands of your God * and Creator who for us became incarnate from you. * And He transported it from earth to immortal life. * Thus with due respect we pronounce you blest, * for you alone are pure and immaculate. * And as we all confess that you are truly * the Theotokos, we cry aloud: * To Christ, to whom you have been transported, * pray that He will save our souls. [SD]

READER

Psalm 50 (51).

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy; and according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my lawlessness, and my sin is always before me. Against You only have I sinned and done evil in Your sight; that You may be justified in Your words, and overcome when You are judged. For behold, I was conceived in transgressions, and in sins my mother bore me. Behold, You love truth; You showed me the unknown and secret things of Your wisdom. You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; You shall wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow. You shall make me hear joy and gladness; my bones that were humbled shall greatly rejoice. Turn Your face from my sins, and blot out all my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your guiding Spirit. I will teach transgressors Your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall greatly rejoice in Your righteousness. O Lord, You shall open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For if You desired sacrifice, I would give it; You will not be pleased with whole burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. Do good, O Lord, in Your good pleasure to Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built; then You will be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with offerings and whole burnt offerings; then shall they offer young bulls on Your altar. [SAAS]

READER

From Menaion - - -

Kontakion of the Feast.

Mode pl. 2. Automelon.

Τὴν ἐν πρεσβείαις.

The Theotokos is undying in intercession.* Immovable is our hope in her for protection. * Neither death nor burial prevailed over her. * As she is Mother of Life, she was removed to life by Him, * the Lord who lived in her ever-virgin womb. [SD]

Kontakion. For the Holy Napkin.

From Menaion - - -

Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On August 16 we commemorate the holy Martyr Diomedes.

On this day devout Saint Chaeremon died in peace.

On this day we also commemorate the holy 33 Martyrs from Palestine who died by the sword.

On this day we commemorate the entry of the Icon of the Face of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, which was not made by hands, from the city of Edessa into that God-protected Queen of Cities, Constantinople.

On this day we remember God’s immense and unsurpassed benevolence, which He demonstrated when He routed and put to shame the godless Hagerenes, by the mediation of our all-holy Lady the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary.

On this day we remember when the water of the Life-giving Spring stopped and then started flowing again.

On this day we also remember when at that time our humane God delivered us, against all hope, from the threat of earthquake, which was fearful and yet tempered by tender mercy.

On this day we commemorate our devout father St. Gerasimos the New Ascetic from the island of Kefallinia.

The holy Neo-martyr Stamatios of Volos, who witnessed in Constantinople in the year 1680, died by the sword.

Our devout father St. Timothy, Archbishop of Evripos, the founder of the Holy Monastery of Pendeli, reposed in peace.

By the intercessions of Your Saints, O God, have mercy and save us. Amen.

Katavasias Odes 1-8

CHOIR

Katavasias of Dormition

Ode i. Mode 1.

Adorned with glory divine, O Virgin, * is your most sacred and illustrious memorial, * gathering the faithful all together joyfully to sing * in processions led by Mariam, with timbrels and dancing, * to your Only-begotten Son. * For He has been greatly glorified. [GOASD]

Ode iii.

O Wisdom of our God and His Power that has created * and is sustaining the universe, * reinforce Your Church, O Christ, * preserving her unshaken and unmoved. * For You alone are holy, * O Lord, and You repose in Your holy ones. [GOASD]

Ode iv.

Sayings of the Prophets and mysteries * revealed Your incarnation from a Virgin mystically, O Christ: * that Your lightning’s brightness as light for Gentiles would emanate. * The abyss calls out to You with a voice of gladness: * To Your strength be glory, benevolent Lord! [GOASD]

Ode v.

O Christ, I shall tell of Your virtues * and of their beauty, divine and ineffable: * As coeternal and hypostatic radiance * you shone from glory eternal; and coming forth * incarnate from the Virgin’s womb, * You have risen as a Sun * on those in darkness and in the shadow of death. [GOASD]

Ode vi.

Briny and born of the deep, * the fire in the maw of the whale * was a prefiguring of Your three-daylong burial; * and of this figure was Jonah the interpreter. * For, preserved unscathed as before he was swallowed up, he cried out: * I shall sacrifice to You with a voice of praise, O Lord. [GOASD]

Ode vii.

Counterposed against audacious ire * and the furnace’s fire, the love for God * made the fire cool as dew, * while the ire it derided, * counteracting in the midst * of flames the musical organs with the three-toned, rational, * God-inspired lyre, * the three holy Servants chanting: Lord our God, * You are glorified, O God * of our fathers, You are blessed. [GOASD]

Ode viii.

We praise and we bless and we worship the Lord.

Unto the Servants in the furnace, * God’s almighty Angel showed a flame * burning the impious, but the saints * cooling as with dew. * Into a life-welling fountain He has made the Theotokos, * gushing destruction upon death, but life to those who sing the hymn: * We who have been redeemed chant in praise of the only Creator, * exalting Him supremely unto all the ages. [GOASD]

Stand for the singing of Ode ix.

DEACON

Let us honor and magnify in song the Theotokos and the Mother of the light.

CHOIR

Ode ix.

The Magnificat. Mode 1.

Verse: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Verse: For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Verse: For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Verse: He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Verse: He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Verse: He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. [NKJV]

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify. [GOASD]

Ode 9: Katavasia

Ode ix. Katavasia. Mode 1.

Now all generations call you blessed, O only Theotokos.

In you the laws of nature are defeated,* O undefiled Virgin pure. * In virginity childbirth was accomplished, and death introduces life. * You, after bearing, are virgin, and after dying are living. * Mother of God, * ever save your inheritance. [GOASD]

PRIEST

Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord.

CHOIR: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST

Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and protect us, O God, by Your grace.

CHOIR: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST

Remembering our all-holy, immaculate, most blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.

CHOIR: To You, O Lord.

PRIEST

For all the powers of heaven praise You, and to You they offer up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages.

CHOIR: Amen.

CHOIR

Exaposteilarion.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 3. Having embellished heaven.

Ὁ οὐρανὸν τοῖς ἄστροις.

When the distinguished Apostles * were brought on clouds and assembled, * they dutifully buried * the Mother of Christ the Master. * The Savior was also present * with a great host of the Angels. (2) [SD]

Lauds. Mode 2.

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest. It is fitting to sing a hymn to You, O God. [SAAS]

Praise Him, all you His angels; praise Him, all you His hosts. It is fitting to sing a hymn to You, O God. [SAAS]

Show Stichologia

Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars and light.

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the Lord’s name.

For He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.

He established them forever and unto ages of ages; He set forth His ordinance, and it shall not pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all the deeps.

Fire and hail, snow and ice, stormy wind, which perform His word.

Mountains and all the hills, fruitful trees and all cedars.

Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds.

Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth.

Young men and maidens, elders with younger, let them praise the Lord’s name, for His name alone is exalted.

His thanksgiving is in earth and heaven. And He shall exalt the horn of His people.

A hymn for all His saints, for the children of Israel, a people who draw near to Him.

Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of His holy ones.

Let Israel be glad in Him who made him, and let the children of Zion greatly rejoice in their King.

Let them praise His name with dance; with tambourine and harp let them sing to Him.

For the Lord is pleased with His people, and He shall exalt the gentle with salvation.

The holy ones shall boast in glory, and they shall greatly rejoice on their beds.

The high praise of God shall be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand.

To deal retribution to the nations, reproving among the peoples.

To shackle their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron.

To fulfill among them the written judgment: this glory have all His holy ones.

Praise God in His saints; praise Him in the firmament of His power.

Hide Stichologia

From Menaion - - -

From Vespers.

Mode 2. N/M (Are there any worthy crowns.)

Ποίοις εὐφημιῶν στέμμασιν.

Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness. [SAAS]

With what eyes shall we earth-dwellers gaze upon Your image, O Christ? ⁄ The hosts of angels cannot look upon it without fear; ⁄ it flashes with rays of divine lightning. ⁄ It triumphs over the assaults of godlessness today. ⁄ It sojourns among a royal priesthood, a pious people. ⁄ Its coming brings joy to all Orthodox Christians, ⁄⁄ who fall before it in faith and fear! [OCA]

Praise Him with the sound of trumpet; praise Him with the harp and lyre. [SAAS]

With what eyes shall we earth-dwellers gaze upon Your image, O Christ? ⁄ The hosts of angels cannot look upon it without fear; ⁄ it flashes with rays of divine lightning. ⁄ It triumphs over the assaults of godlessness today. ⁄ It sojourns among a royal priesthood, a pious people. ⁄ Its coming brings joy to all Orthodox Christians, ⁄⁄ who fall before it in faith and fear! [OCA]

Praise Him with timbrel and dance; praise Him with strings and flute. [SAAS]

How shall we creatures of dust look upon Your image, Word? ⁄ How shall we, polluted in sin, dare to gaze upon the face of our sinless God? ⁄ How shall we, paralyzed in corruption, ⁄ come before the unapproachable One? ⁄ The cherubim veil their faces, not daring to look upon You; ⁄ the seraphim who carry You cannot gaze upon Your glory! ⁄ In fear they serve You, Creator! ⁄ Do not condemn us, merciful Christ, ⁄⁄ for we embrace Your image in faith. [OCA]

Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with triumphant cymbals; let everything that breathes praise the Lord. [SAAS]

The praiseworthy day of the Master has come again! ⁄ He Who is enthroned on high now looks down upon us, ⁄ through the eyes of His most pure image. ⁄ He Who is above the cherubim, upon Whom none may gaze, ⁄ is made visible, as the scriptures say, ⁄ to those with whom He shares His own likeness, ⁄ for You wondrously fashioned us in Your image, ⁄ by the most pure finger of the Father, ⁄⁄ and by worshiping You in faith, we are made pure. [OCA]

Glory. Both now. For the Feast.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 2.

She who is higher than the heavens, and more glorious than the Cherubim, and is held in greater honor than all creation; she who for surpassing purity became the vessel of the eternal Essence, today commits her all-holy soul into the hands of her Son. Along with her, the universe is filled with joy, and to us is given the great mercy. [SD]

Stand for the Great Doxology.

Great Doxology

Glory be to You who showed the light. Glory in the highest to God. His peace is on earth, His good pleasure in mankind. [SD]

We praise You, we bless You, we worship You, we glorify You, we give thanks to You for Your great glory.

Lord King, heavenly God, Father, Ruler over all; Lord, only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and You, O Holy Spirit.

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us, You who take away the sins of the world.

Accept our supplication, You who sit at the right hand of the Father, and have mercy on us.

For You alone are holy, You alone are Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Every day I will bless You, and Your name will I praise to eternity, and to the ages of ages.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day, that we be kept without sin.

Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your name to the ages. Amen.

Let Your mercy be on us, O Lord, as we have set our hope on You.

Blessed are You, O Lord. Teach me Your statutes.

Blessed are You, O Lord. Teach me Your statutes.

Blessed are You, O Lord. Teach me Your statutes.

Lord, You have been our refuge from generation to generation. I said: Lord, have mercy on me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.

Lord, I have fled to You. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.

For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light.

Continue Your mercy to those who know You.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3)

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

Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Apolytikion.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 2.

We venerate Your immaculate icon, O good Lord, and entreat You to forgive our offenses, O Christ our God. By Your own choice you were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, to deliver us, whom You created, from our slavery to the foe. Therefore we cry to You with gratitude: You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world. [SD]