Elevation of the Precious Cross of the Lords

In place of; My soul doth magnify the Lord : the Refrains : . < y [>;-’ .

Magnify, O my soul, the all-precious Cross of the Lord.

Magnify, O my soul, the Elevation of the life-giving Cross of the Lord.

IX. Thou art the mystical Paradise, O Birth-giver of God, who though untilled didst bud forth Christ, by whom the life-bearing Tree of the Cross was planted upon earth. For which cause, now, at its Elevation, adoring it, we magnify thee.

While the Canon is being sung, the Senior Priest putteth on all his vestments, and after the Great Glory (Glory be to God on high) hath been sung slowly and melodiously, and he hath censed all about the Altar whereon lieth the precious Cross, while; O Holy God, Holy Mighty: is being chanted; he placeth the Cross on his head, ana making the circuit of the Altar therewith, preceded by a Taper-bearer, he halteth in front of the Holy Door, and having proclaimed: Wisdom, O believers ! he goeth to the folding-stand, which is tn the middle of the Temple, while the Choir chanteth the Hymn ; O Lord, save thy people : After this, the Priest censeth round about the Cross, and having made the customary reverences, he beginneth ; Thy Cross do we adore, O Master, and thy holy Resurrection do we glorify. (Thrice.) The Choir also singeth this thrice; and the Stansa, in Tone VIII :

To-day is the Master of creation and the Lord of glory nailed upon the Cross, and is pierced in the side, and of gall and vinegar doth the Sweetness of the Church partake. With a crown of thorns is he invested who covereth the heavens with clouds, and with the robe of scorn is he endued ; and he who with his hand did fashion man is smitten by a human hand. He who clotheth the heavens with clouds is beaten upon his shoulders, and receiveth spitting and wounds, indignities and bufferings in the face; and he, my Redeemer and my Saviour, doth endure all these things for the sake of me, the accursed, that He may save the world from guile, forasmuch as he is compassionate.

Then the Litanies ; and the Benediction : May Christ, our true God, through the prayers of his most pure Mother ; through the might of the precious and life-giving Cross : and so forth, as usual.

At the Liturgy,

In place of; Bless the Lord, O my soul :

Antiphon I, Tone II

Verse I : O God, my God, hear me : why hast thou forsaken me ?

Refrain. Through the prayers of the Birth-giver of God, O Saviour, save us.

Verse 2 : Far from my salvation are the words of my transgression : IJ>

Verse 5 : O my God, I cry in the daytime and thou hearest not, and in the night-season also I take no rest : 1£

Verse 4 : And thou continuest holy, O thou Worship of Israel : Tjc