8/01/2021 - Divine Liturgy
Special Hymns for Today
Troparion - Tone 5 (Resurrection)
Let us, the faithful, praise and worship the Word, / co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, / born for our salvation from the Virgin; / for He willed to be lifted up on the Cross in the flesh, / to endure death, / and to raise the dead//by His glorious Resurrection.
Troparion - Tone 1 (Cross)
O Lord, save Your people, / and bless Your inheritance! / Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians / over their adversaries; / and by virtue of Your Cross,//preserve Your habitation!
Troparion — Tone 1 (Maccabees)
We beseech You, O Lover of mankind, / to accept in supplication / the suffering which the Saints endured for You, O Lord,//and heal all our infirmities!
Kontakion – Tone 5 (Resurrection)
You descended into hell, O my Savior, / shattering its gates as Almighty, / resurrecting the dead as Creator, / and destroying the sting of death. / You have delivered Adam from the curse, O Lover of man,//and we cry to You: “O Lord, save us!”
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit . . .
Kontakion - Tone 2 (Maccabees)
Seven pillars of the Wisdom of God / and seven lampstands of the divine Light, / all-wise Maccabees, greatest of the martyrs before the time of the martyrs,//with them ask the God of all to save those who honor you!
. . . both now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen.
Kontakion - Tone 4 (Cross)
As You were voluntarily raised upon the Cross for our sake, / grant mercy to those who are called by Your Name, O Christ God; / make all Orthodox Christians glad by Your power, / granting them victories over their adversaries//by bestowing on them the invincible trophy, Your weapon of peace!
Reader: The Prokeimenon in the 6th Tone: O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance!
Congregation: O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance!
Reader: v: To You, O Lord, will I call. O my God, be not silent to me! (Ps. 27:1a)
Congregation: O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance!
Reader: O Lord, save Your people . . .
Congregation: . . . and bless Your inheritance!
The Reading is from the Holy Epistle of Paul to the Romans (12:6-14) and Corinthians (1:18-24) (Cross)
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Reader: The Prokeimenon in the 4th Tone: The Lord has shown the wonders of His will to the saints who are in His land. (Ps. 15:3a)
Congregation: The Lord has shown the wonders of His will to the saints who are in His land.
The Reading is from the Holy Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews (11:33-12:2) (Maccabees)
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Remember Your congregation, which You have gotten of old! (Ps. 73:2)
God is our King before the ages; He has worked salvation in the midst of the earth. (Ps. 73:13)
The righteous cried and the Lord heard them, and He delivered them from all their afflictions. (Ps. 33:17)
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew (9:1-8) and St John (19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30-38) (Cross)
So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.
Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew (10:32-36; 11:1) (Maccabees)
Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
Sunday Communion Hymn
The light of Your countenance has shone on us, O Lord. (Ps. 4:7a)
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; praise befits the just! (Ps. 32:1)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!