1st Sunday of Great Lent – Orthodoxy. Tone 4. Mat. Gos. 4. Combine Triodion and Octoechos. Great Vespers. Entrance. Tropar of Resurrection and of Holy Icons. Matins: After Ps. 50, “Open the doors of repentance.” Katavasia from Triodion. Liturgy of St. Basil: Epis. Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-40. Gos. John 1:43-51. Axion: “In you o woman full of grace.”
Sts. Timothy; Eustathios, bishop of Antioch (Oil & wine permitted)
Tone 4
Tropar
Having learned the joyful proclamation of the resurrection and the abolition of the ancestral curse from the angel, the women disciples of the Lord elatedly told the Apostles: Death is despoiled! Christ God has risen, granting great mercy to the world.
Thy pure image do we venerate, O good One, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God; for by thine own will thou didst ascend the Cross in thy body, to save thy creatures from the bondage of the enemy. Thou hast verily filled all with joy, since thou didst come, O our Savior, to save the world.
Kontak
My Savior and Redeemer lay in the tomb, but being God, he was delivering mortal men from their bonds. He shattered the gates of Hades, and being Master rose on the third day!
To thee the champion leader, I thy servant offer thanks for victory, O Theotokos, thou who hast delivered me from terror. As thou hast power invincible, free me from every danger that I may cry unto thee: Rejoice, O bride without bridegroom.
Epistle Reading
Deacon: Let us be attentive!
Priest: Peace be to all.
Choir: And to your spirit.
Deacon: Wisdom! (DYNAMIS)
Reader: The Prokeimenon is in the 4th tone.
Reader: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our Fathers: and praised and glorified is Thy Name unto the ages
People: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our Fathers: and praised and glorified is Thy Name unto the ages
Reader: For Thou art righteous in all the things that Thou hast done to us
People: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our Fathers: and praised and glorified is Thy Name unto the ages
Reader: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our Fathers
People: and praised and glorified is Thy Name unto the ages
The Reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews
Deacon: Let us be attentive!
BRETHREN, by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, thy were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Priest: Peace be to you, reader
Reader: And to your spirit. – Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Choir/People: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Reader: (first alleluia verse) Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His Name.
Choir/People: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Reader: (second alleluia verse) They called upon the Lord, and He heard them
Choir/People: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
During the Alleluia Verses, the priest stands at the holy table and says the PRAYER BEFORE THE GOSPEL:
Priest: Enkindle in our hearts the pure light of your divine knowledge, O master, Lover of mankind, and open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of your evangelical proclamations. Instill the fear of your blessed commandments in us, so that trampling down all bodily desires, we may practice a spiritual life, thinking and doing all which pleases you. For you are the illumination of our souls and bodies, Christ God, and we offer glory to you, together with your Father who is without beginning and your All-Holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Deacon: Wisdom. Arise. Let us listen to the holy Gospel.
Priest: Peace be to all.
People: And with your spirit.
Deacon: The Reading of the Holy Gospel according to St. John
People: Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You.
Priest: Let us be attentive.
John 1:43-51 (Sunday of Orthodoxy)
At that time, Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
People: Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You.
The Megalynarion:
Tone 8
In thee rejoiceth all creation, O thou who art full of grace, the hierarchy of the angels, and all mankind, O consecrated temple and paradise endowed with speech, glory of virginity, of whom god, who is our god before the ages, was incarnate and became a little child.
The Koinonikon
Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens; praise ye Him in the highest. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Post-Communion
We have seen the true light; we have received the heavenly Spirit. We have found the true Faith. Worshipping the undivided Trinity; for he hath saved us.
Great Dismissal
“May He Who rose again from the dead, Christ our true God, through the intercessions of His all-immaculate and all-blameless holy Mother, … Through the prayers…”.
Procession of the Holy Icons – Sunday of Orthodoxy
It is customary for the procession of the Holy Icons to take place immediately after the Prayer behind the Ambon in the following order:
a. The Priest assigns laymen to carry the icons of Christ, the Theotokos and the Saints, preceded by the Altar boys who carry candles and the Cross, proceed from the Altar area as in the Great Entrance while the Choir sings “Holy God…” repeatedly.
b. When the Priest reaches the Solea, the Choir sings the Troparion of the First Sunday of Lent: “Thy pure image we venerate…”
c. Then the Priest leads the faithful in reciting in a loud voice the excerpt from the Synodikon (Confession of Faith) of the Day of Orthodoxy as follows:
As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught,…as the Church has received… as the teachers have dogmatized,…as the Universe has agreed,… as Grace has shown forth,…as Truth has revealed,…as falsehood has been dissolved,…as Wisdom has presented,…as Christ Awarded,…thus we declare,…thus we assert,…thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor as Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.
(Louder) This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe.
d. The Choir sings the Prokeimenon (three times): “Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art our God, who alone doest wonders.”
e. Troparion of the First Sunday in Lent: “Thy pure image do we venerate..”
f. Dismissal as usual.
