The Falling-asleep of the Most Holy Birth-giver

THE CANON.

The First Canon. Tone I. (St. Cosmos of Afaium.)

Theme-Songs {Irmosi). I. Adorned with glory divine thy holy and illustrious memory, O Virgin, hath gathered together all the faithful unto joy ; that under the leadership of Miriam, with choirs and cymbals, they may sing thine Only-born : For gloriously hath he been glorified.

III. O Christ, the Wisdom and the Power of God, who createth and maintaineth all things, establish thou the Church steadfast and immovable. For thou only art holy who restest in the Saints.

IV. The predictions and dark sayings of the Prophets proclaimed beforehand thine incarnation of a Virgin, O Christ : The splendour of thy flashing forth shall come for the enlightenment of the nations ; and the deep with joy shall cry unto thee : Glory to thy might, O thou who lovest mankind.

V. The beauty divine and ineffable of thy perfection will I declare, O Christ ; for thou who didst shine forth from the Glory eternal, as an effulgence coetemal and one in Essence, when thou didst become incarnate of a Virgin’s womb, didst shine as the sun upon those who sat in darkness and the shadow.

VI. The fire within the whale of the sea, the denizen of the deep, in which the Prophet Jonah was found, was the prototype of thy three days’ burial ; for remaining unscathed, as before the swallowing, he cried aloud : With the voice of praise will I sacrifice unto thee, O Lord.

VII. Love divine, resisting the wrath audacious and the fire, did sprinkle the fire with dew, but laughed to scorn the wrath, resounding above the instruments of music upon the God-inspired, supersensual and triple-stringed lyre of the Righteous Ones amid the flame : Blessed be thou, O God of our fathers, and our God, exceeding glorious!

VIII. As dew-dropping for the Godly Ones, but as consuming to the impious, did the all-powerful Angel of God manifest forth the flame to the Children. And the Birth-giver of God did he make a life-originating Fountain, pouring forth destruction to Death and life to those who

sing : The only Creator do we, who have been delivered, praise in song and magnify unto all the ages.

In place of: My soul doth magnify the Lord : The Refrain : We, even all the nations, do bless thee, the only Birth-giver of God. Or: When the all-holy Angels beheld thine Assumption they marvelled how a Virgin should ascend from earth into heaven.

IX. The laws of Nature were conquered in thee, O Virgin pure; for in birth-giving was virginity preserved, and with death is life conjoined. Thou who, after birth-giving, a Virgin didst remain, though dead, art yet aJive, O Birth-giver of God, and savest always thine inheritance.

At the Liturgy,

The Gradual (Proktnten), in the Third Tone. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Verse: For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

The Epistle. Phil. ii. 5-1 1.

Alleluia. {Tone II) Arise, O Lord, in thy rest, thou, and the tabernacle of thy holiness.

Verse: The Lord sware truth unto David, and he shall not abjure it

The Gospel. Luke x. 38-42, xL 27, 28.

The Hymn in place of: Meet is it : The Ninth Theme-Song of the Canon: The laws of Nature were conquered in thee, … {See above.)

The Communion Hymn. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.

PRAYERS

TO A CHILD

Priest. Let us pray to the Lord.

O Master, Lord Almighty, who healest every infirmity and every weakness : Heal thou also this thy servant, N., who this day hath given birth to a child, and raise her up from the bed whereon she lieth. For, according to the words of the Prophet David, in sin are we conceived, and we are all vile in thy sight. Preserve her and this child which she hath borne. Cover her with the shadow of thy wings, from the day that now is even unto her last end ; through the prayers of the all-pure Birth-giver of God, and of all the Saints. For blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

Let us pray to the Lord.

O Master, Lord our God, who wast born of our all-pure Lady, the Birth-giver of God, and as a babe didst lie in a manger, and as a little child wast held in arms : Show mercy also upon this thy servant, who to-day hath borne a child ; and forgive her sins, both voluntary and involuntary ; and preserve her from every oppression of the Devil ; and preserve the child which hath been bqrn of her from every poison and perplexity, from every storm of adversity, and from evil spirits, whether of the day or of the night. Keep her under thy mighty hand, and grant that she may speedily arise, and purify her from uncleanness, and heal her sickness ; and vouchsafe unto her health and strength both of soul and body ; and hedge her round about with bright and shining Angels ; and preserve her from every invasion of invisible spirits. Yea, Lord, and from infirmity and weakness, from jealousy and envy, and from the evil eye; and have mercy upon her and upon the child, according to thy great mercy ; and purify her from bodily uncleanness, and from the divers inward troubles which assail her. And lead her forth by thy speedy mercy, in submissiveness of her body, unto recovery. And grant that the child that hath been born of her may do reverence to the earthly temple which thou hast prepared to glorify thy holy Name.

For unto thee are due all glory, honour and worship, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Let us pray to the Lord.

O Lord our God, who wast graciously pleased to come down from heaven, and to be born of the holy Birth-giver of God and ever-virgin Mary, for the salvation of us sinners, and who knowest the frailty of

man’s nature : Forgive thy servant, N., who to-day hath given birth, according to the multitude of thy bounties. For thou hast said, O Lord : Increase* and multiply, and fill the earth, and possess it. For which cause also do we, thy servants, pray, and emboldened by thy long-suffering love towards mankind, with awe do cry aloud to the kingdom of thy holy Name : Look down from heaven and behold the weakness of us who are condemned ; and pardon this thy servant, and all the house wherein the child hath been born, and those who have touched her, and all those who are here present; inasmuch as thou art a good God and lovest mankind ; for thou only hast power to remit sins. Through the prayers of the all-holy Birth-giver of God and of all the Saints.