ON THURSDAY EVENING

At, Lord, I have cried, Prosomoia.

Stichera for the Cross.

Mode pl. 1. N/M (Rejoice.)

Lord supremely good, my Saviour, wishing to put an end to the toils and shames of mortals, you endure crucifixion. You tasted shameful slaughter and gall in your forbearance, taking away all our bitterness. You were pierced in your immaculate side by a lance, as Master healing our wounds. Therefore we now sing the praise of your glorious crucifixion, and bowing down we honour the lance, sponge and reed, through which you granted your world your peace and great mercy.

Foreshadowing your passion, O Christ, Moses, your great servant, lifted up the serpent of bronze, rescuing mortals from the harm of the poisonous bite of serpents, and now when you were crucified, O Long-suffering, you redeemed the world from the harm of the serpent and raised it up from earth to things of heaven. Therefore rejoicing we sing the praise of your might, Lover of mankind, and we honour and bow down to your Cross, through which all creation has found worth without toil and your great mercy.

Wishing to unfasten the condition of Adam, the first-formed, in the end every pain, O sinless Christ, Lover of mankind, Adam''s Fashioner, you were pierced with nails; and wounded in your divine side by the lance for our sake, you prevent the flaming sword from barring the entrance to us, your servants. Therefore as we glorify you, we sing the praise of your might, Lover of mankind, and we honour and bow down to your Cross, through which all creation has found worth without toil and your great mercy.

Additional Stichera. For the Theotokos. Same Melody.

Having the yoke of my soul burdened with a multitude of sins and dread disasters, Sovereign Lady, I dare not raise my eyes on high, and so, bowed low to earth, I cry to you, ''Have mercy on me, who made God, the greatly compassionate, dawn from your womb, show me the limitless multitude of your wonders and stretching out your immaculate and godly hands to your Son, grant me salvation, O Virgin, by your intercessions.

A fierce storm of sins has seized my on the ocean of life, and a tempest and billow of despair pushes my heart down to the deep. Pure Maiden, by your prayers pilot my life to the calm harbour of life, to repentance, to perfect correction. See my weakness, attend to my judgement, give me hand of help as I lie sick, All-praised Virgin, who gave birth to Christ, who grants the world his great mercy.

Having amassed the matter of grievous sins, I have treasured them up for myself and I tremble before the face of your Son. How shall I endure the tribunal then? For river of fire draws me before the judgement seat and tens of thousands of Angels stand around it, casting away those who have done wrong. Therefore, before my departure from life, All-Immaculate, I implore you to intercede for me to the Judge who loves mankind to have mercy and grant me pardon and great mercy.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion. Same Melody.

Taking up my whole form, the Fashioner and God clothed himself, wishing to give form to Adam''s fallen form of old. He was lifted up on a Cross, as though guilty, and, willingly nailed by his hands, he heals the hands weakened of old by the tree from which they ate. When the All-pure saw him she cried with loud lament, ''What is this great, long-suffering beyond imagination, my Son? I cannot bear to see you raised on a cross, my Christ, who hold the whole universe in the hollow of your hand''.

At the Aposticha.

Aposticha. Mode pl. 1. For the Cross.

Your Cross, O Christ, though in essence it appears as wood, is wrapped round with divine power, and though visible perceptibly to the world, spiritually it works the wonder of our salvation. As we worship it we glorify you, O Saviour. Have mercy on us.

Verse: I lift my eyes to You, who dwell in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of the maidservant look to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God until He shall have compassion on us. [SAAS]

No sooner had the tree of your Cross been fixed, O Christ, than error took to flight and grace flowered; for it was revealed not as punishment of condemnation but as a trophy of salvation for us. The Cross is our strength, the Cross our boast, the Cross our joy.

Verse: Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we are greatly filled with contempt; our soul is greatly filled with it. We are a disgrace to those who prosper, and a contempt to the arrogant. [SAAS]

For the Martyrs.

Despising all the things of earth and bravely facing torments, you did not fail in your blessed hopes, but have become heirs to the Kingdom of heaven, all-praised Martyrs. As you have freedom to speak before the God who loves humankind, ask peace for the world, and for our souls his great mercy.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion. N/M (Rejoice.)

When I see your side pierced by a lance, my Son, I am wounded by the fearful sword of grief, and I have been wholly unable to abandon the lament from my soul, said the All-pure, as I stand in the presence of your suffering and watch your unjust slaughter, O supremely good, long-suffering Lord. Where for me are the good news, I cry amid my tears? Where is the one whose greeting to me was ''Rejoice!'' Where the ineffable child-bearing? Where is your friend Peter? But glory to your ineffable long-suffering.

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ON FRIDAY MORNING

MATINS

After the first Psalter reading, Kathismata. For the Cross.

Mode pl. 1.

The Place of the Skull became Paradise; for once the tree of the Cross was planted there, immediately it blossomed the grape cluster of life, namely You, O Savior, to gladden our hearts. Glory to You.

O Savior, the tree of Your Cross became the salvation of the world. For You were willingly nailed to it, and thus You delivered us born on earth from the curse, O Life of all. Glory to You, O Lord.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion. N/M (Let us worship the Word.)

Standing beside the Cross of the Lord, ⁄ the Theotokos cried aloud, lamenting: ⁄ "Woe is me, O my Son. Woe is me, the light of my eyes. ⁄ How are you stretched upon a cross, ⁄ who, in Your divine power, stretched out the heavens as a curtain, ⁄⁄ and, at Your command, called up the fountains of water from the sea?"

After the second Psalter reading, Kathismata.

For the Cross. N/M (Let us worship the Word.)

O believers, let us extol and worship our Savior and Redeemer, who was voluntarily crucified, as He knew how and was well pleased to do. For He delivered the human race from error, and He nailed the sins of humanity to the Cross, and granted us the kingdom.

Same Melody.

O Lord, who endured crucifixion of Your own will, and freed mankind from corruption, we believer extol You and worship You, for by the power of the Cross You illumined us. And now with fear we glorify You, the compassionate Giver of life who loves humanity.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion. Same Melody.

When Your Mother beheld You, O Christ, ⁄ hanging, by Your own free choice, upon the Cross between two thieves, ⁄ her heart was pierced with a mother’s grief, and she cried out: ⁄ O Son: how are You, the sinless one, ⁄ nailed unjustly to the Cross as an evildoer? ⁄⁄ It is because You will to restore mankind to life, in Your surpassing love.

After the third Psalter reading, Kathismata.

For the Cross. N/M (Let us worship the Word.)

Adam tasted bitterness from the forbidden tree ⁄ when the envy of the serpent led him to his fall. ⁄ But, when you were crucified, he gained life. ⁄ Through the tree of the Cross, he entered the heavenly homeland again. ⁄ The serpent was crushed, death was swallowed up, ⁄⁄ and we give you glory, O Lord our God.

For the Martyrs.

The memory of the Champions shines today, for it takes its radiance from heaven; the choir of Angels keeps festival, and the human race feasts with them, and so they intercede with the Lord to have mercy on our souls.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion. N/M (Let us worship the Word.)

In tears, the Mother of God wept and said: ⁄ Gabriel brought me the announcement of salvation, ⁄ saying that you would be with me, O Lord. ⁄ How, then, can my joy be changed to sorrow? ⁄ How can I appear childless, ⁄ for, without knowing a man, ⁄⁄ I brought you into the world, O my Son, as the Savior of our souls.

Canon for the Cross.

Mode pl. 1. Ode i. Heirmos.

To God the Saviour who guided the people in the sea dry-shod, and drowned Pharao with all his host, to him alone let us sing: for he has been glorified. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos.

Christ, who brings wars. (NM)

Ode iii. Heirmos.

By the power of your Cross, O Christ, establish my understanding to hymn and glorify your saving Assumption. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. You fixed the earth. (NM)

Ode iv. Heirmos.

I have heard, Lord, the report of the might of your Cross, how Paradise was opened through it, and I cried out: Glory to your power, O Lord. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. Habakkuk as a prophet.

Ode v. Heirmos.

Rising at dawn, we cry to you, O Lord: Save us; for you are our God; we know no other but you. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. To you, clothed with light. (NM)

Ode vi. Heirmos.

The deep closed round me, the whale became my burial; but I cried out to you, Lover of humankind, and your right hand saved me, O Lord. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. Calm the raging sea. (NM)

Ode vii. Heirmos.

You saved the Youths who sang your praise in the furnace of fire; blessed are you, the God of our fathers. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. The highly exalted Lord. (NM)

Ode viii. Heirmos.

The Son and God, begotten of the Father before the ages, and incarnate in the last times of a Virgin Mother, you priests praise, people highly exalt to all the ages. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. The Youths in the furnace. (NM)

Ode ix. Heirmos.

As Mother of God, who beyond understanding and reason ineffably bore in time the timeless, we faithful magnify you with one accord. [EL]

Troparia.

For the Martyrs.

Stavrotheotokion.

Canon for the Theotokos. O Isaias, dance! (NM)

At the Aposticha of Lauds.

Aposticha. Mode pl. 1. For the Cross.

Once, in the days of Moses the Prophet, ⁄ a figure of your Cross was made manifest, ⁄ conquering your enemies. ⁄ Now that we have your Cross itself, we beseech your help: ⁄ Strengthen your Church, O Lover of mankind, ⁄⁄ for the sake of your great mercy.

Verse: We were filled with Your mercy in the morning, and in all our days we greatly rejoiced and were glad; gladden us in return for the days You humbled us, for the years we saw evil things. And behold Your servants and Your works, and guide their sons. [SAAS]

Your Cross, O Christ, voided the power of hades, ⁄ but it saved the human race. ⁄ Redeeming the world from corruption, ⁄ it opened Paradise to the thief. ⁄ Falling down in worship before it, we glorify you: ⁄⁄ O Savior, have mercy on us.

Verse: And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the works of our hands. [SAAS]

For the Martyrs.

Blessed is the army of the King of heaven. Even though they were but human, the medaled Martyrs strove to attain angelic rank, by disregarding their bodies. Through suffering, they were granted the honor of the bodiless hosts. By their prayers, O Lord, send down to us Your great mercy.

Glory. Both now. Stavrotheotokion.

The blameless one cried out to Christ, as she lamented: ⁄ End the grief of my much-afflicted soul. ⁄ For, although you are saving mortals by your passion, ⁄ yet, you are wounding my soul, O Word. ⁄ You are my light, you are my sweetest child, who fashioned me. ⁄⁄ I sing in praise of your long-suffering.

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LITURGY

The Beatitudes. Mode pl. 1.

The Thief on the cross, believing you to be God, O Christ, confessed you sincerely from his heart, crying, ''Remember me, Lord, in your kingdom!''

When You died upon the Cross, * O good Savior and the Giver of Life, * You revived us who had fallen through eating, * and You made us citizens again * of Paradise, O loving Lord.

You were nailed upon the Cross, * You who called yourself the true vine, O Christ; * and from You was distilled the drink of salvation, * that wine that gladdens the hearts of all * the faithful who sing Your praise.

For the Martyrs.

As you were beaten to death, * and your bodies were dismembered limb by limb, * you became an image of the Master''s slaughter. * Hence we call you blessed evermore, * O wise holy Martyrs of Christ.

Glory.

On the Cross, the Son of God, * from the Father and the Holy Spirit * inseparable, endured His voluntary Passion, * whereby He delivered us from all * the passions that corrupted us.

Both now. Stavrotheotokion.

Lady, you watched as our Life * willingly died on the tree of the Cross, * and you beat our breasts as your wept and lamented. * Therefore we all sing you sacred hymns * and call you blessed evermore.