Father, we thank Thee who hast planted
Thy holy name within our hearts.
Knowledge and faith and life immortal
Jesus, Thy Son, to us imparts.
Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
Didst give us food for all our days,
Giving in Christ the Bread eternal;
Thine is the pow'r, be Thine the praise.
Watch o'er Thy Church, O Lord, in mercy,
Save it from evil, guard it still,
Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
Cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.
As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
Was in this broken bread made one,
So from all lands Thy Church be gather'd
Into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.
He who would valiant be
'gainst all
disaster,
let him in
constancy
follow the
Master.
There's no
discouragement
shall make
him once relent
his first
avowed intent
to be a
pilgrim.
Who so
beset him round
with dismal
stories
do but
themselves confound
his
strength the more is.
No foes
shall stay his might;
though he
with giants fight,
he will
make good his right
to be a
pilgrim.
Since,
Lord, thou dost defend
us with thy
Spirit,
We know we
at the end,
shall life
inherit.
Then
fancies flee away!
I'll fear
not what men say,
I'll labor
night and day
to be a
pilgrim.
1 comment:
Sexagesima on the TL calendar = Meatfare Sunday on the Byzantine calendar, aka the Sunday of the Last Judgement.
Here are some excerpts from Vespers:
The books will be opened
and the acts of men will be revealed
before the unbearable judgment-seat;
and the whole vale of sorrow
shall echo with the fearful sound of lamentation,
as all the sinners, weeping in vain, are sent by Your just judgment to everlasting torment.
Therefore, we beseech You,
O compassionate and loving Lord:
spare us who sing Your praise,
for You alone are rich in mercy.
Praise the Lord, all the nations;* proclaim His glory, all you people.
The trumpets shall sound and the tombs shall be emptied,
and all mankind in trembling shall be raised.
Those that have done good shall rejoice in gladness, awaiting their reward;
those that have sinned shall tremble and bitterly lament,
as they are sent to punishment and parted from the chosen.
O Lord of glory, take pity on us in Your goodness,
and count us worthy of a place with them that have loved You.
Strong is the love of the Lord for us;* eternally will His truth endure.
I lament and weep when I think of the eternal fire,
the outer darkness and the nether world, the dread worm and the gnashing of teeth,
and the unceasing anguish that shall befall those who have sinned without measure,
by their wickedness arousing You to anger,
O Supreme in love.
Among them in misery I am first:
but O Judge compassionate, in Your mercy save me.
In Tone 8, Glory…
When the thrones are set up and the books are opened,
and God sits in judgment,
O what fear there will be then!
When the angels stand trembling in Your presence and the river of fire flows before You,
what shall we do then, guilty of many sins?
When we hear Him call the blessed of His Father into the Kingdom,
but send the sinners to their punishment,
who shall endure His fearful condemnation?
But Saviour, who alone love mankind, King of the ages,
before the end comes turn me back through repentance
and have mercy on me.
Source:
http://lit.royaldoors.net/2017/01/28/february-19-2017-sunday-of-the-last-judgment-meatfare-octoechos-tone-7-the-holy-apostle-archippus/
+ O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
+ O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
+ I have sinned without number; forgive me, O Lord.
Margaret
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