February 23, 2014 Specials

Divine Liturgy Specials on Sunday, February 23, 2014

Tone 2 / Eothinon 2, Sunday of Meatfare: The Last Judgment

Polycarp of Smyrna (†167); John and 7 Ascetics (†5^th c.); Alexander, Monk (†c.420) 

Ἀντίφωνον α´ – Ἦχος β´ 1 Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐντός μου τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ. 2 Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον, καὶ μὴ ἐπιλανθάνου πάσας τὰς ἀνταποδόσεις αὐτοῦ. 3 Κύριος ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἡτοίμασε τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ πάντων δεσπόζει.     Ταῖς πρεσβείαις τῆς Θεοτόκου, Σῶτερ, σῶσον ἡμᾶς. Ἀντίφωνον β´ – Ἦχος ὁ αὐτός 1 Αἴνει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον, αἰνέσω Κύριον ἐν τῇ ζωῇ μου, ψαλῶ τῷ Θεῷ μου ἕως ὑπάρχω. 2 Μὴ πεποίθατε ἐπ' ἄρχοντας, ἐπὶ υἱοὺς ἀνθρώπων, οἷς οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρία. 3 Μακάριος, οὗ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακὼβ βοηθὸς αὐτοῦ, ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν αὐτοῦ.     Σῶσον ἡμᾶς, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ψάλλοντάς σοι· Ἀλληλούϊα. Δόξα... Καὶ νῦν... Ὁ Μονογενὴς Υἱός... Ἀντίφωνον γ´ –  Ἦχος β' 1 Αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα, ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ Κύριος, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα, καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ. 2 Αἰνεσάτωσαν αὐτὸν οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ, θάλασσα καὶ πάντα τὰ ἕρποντα ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἀπολυτίκιον –  Ἦχος β' Ὅτε κατῆλθες πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, ἡ Ζωὴ ἡ ἀθάνατος, τότε τὸν Ἅδην ἐνέκρωσας τῇ ἀστραπῇ τῆς θεότητος, ὅτε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τεθνεώτας ἐκ τῶν καταχθονίων ἀνέστησας, πᾶσαι αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἐκραύγαζον, Ζωοδότα Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν δόξα σοι. Εἰσοδικόν – Ἦχος β´ Δεῦτε προσκυνήσωμεν καὶ προσπέσωμεν Χριστῷ. Σῶσον ἡμᾶς, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ψάλλοντάς σοι· Ἀλληλούϊα. Ἀπολυτίκιον –  Ἦχος β' Ὅτε κατῆλθες πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, ἡ Ζωὴ ἡ ἀθάνατος, τότε τὸν Ἅδην ἐνέκρωσας τῇ ἀστραπῇ τῆς θεότητος, ὅτε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τεθνεώτας ἐκ τῶν καταχθονίων ἀνέστησας, πᾶσαι αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἐκραύγαζον, Ζωοδότα Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν δόξα σοι. Ἀπολυτίκιον – Ἦχος πλ. δ' Εὐλογητὸς εἶ, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ πανσόφους τοὺς ἁλιεῖς ἀναδείξας, καταπέμψας αὐτοῖς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην σαγηνεύσας, φιλάνθρωπε, δόξα σοι. Ἀπολυτίκιον – Ἦχος δ' Κανόνα πίστεως καὶ εἰκόνα πραότητος, ἐγκρατείας Διδάσκαλον, ἀνέδειξέ σε τῇ ποίμνῃ σου, ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀλήθεια· διὰ τοῦτο ἐκτήσω τῇ ταπεινώσει τὰ ὑψηλά, τῇ πτωχείᾳ τὰ πλούσια, Πάτερ Ἱεράρχα Νικόλαε· πρέσβευε Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, σωθῆναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν. Κοντάκιον –  Ἦχος α' Ὅταν ἔλθης ὁ Θεός ἐπὶ γῆς μετὰ δόξης, καὶ τρέμωσι τὰ σύμπαντα, ποταμὸς δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς πρὸ τοῦ Βήματος ἕλκη, καὶ βίβλοι ἀνοίγωνται, καὶ τὰ κρυπτὰ δημοσιεύωνται,  τότε ῥύσαί με, ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ ἀσβέστου, καὶ ἀξίωσον ἐκ δεξιῶν σου μὲ στῆναι, Κριτὰ δικαιότατε. Τρισάγιον. Εἰς τό ᾽Εξαιρέτως:  ῎Αξιόν ἐστιν.... Κοινωνικόν: Αἰνεῖτε.... Εἴδομεν τό φῶς... Εἴη τό ὄνομα Κυρίου… Ἀπόλυσις·   Ὁ ἀναστάς ἐκ νεκρῶν.... Κατὰ τὴν ἑβδομάδα τῆς Τυροφάγου γίνεται ἀποχὴ κρέατος καὶ κατάλυσις τυροῦ, ὠῶν καὶ ἰχθύος.	Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 16:  ANTIPHON I – Tone 2 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me bless His holy name.  [Psalm 102:1] 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.  [Psalm 102:2] 3 The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.   [Psalm 102:19]     Through the intercessions of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us. Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 18:  ANTIPHON II – Same tone 1 Praise the Lord, O my soul, I shall praise the Lord all my life, I shall sing to my Lord as long as I exist.  [Psalm 145:1-2] 2 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.  [Psalm 145:3] 3 Happy is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is upon the Lord his God.  [Psalm 145:5]     Save us, O Son of God, Who is risen from the dead; who sing to You.  Alleluia. Glory… Both now… O, only begotten Son… Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 24:  ANTIPHON III – Tone 2 1 This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad therein.  [Psalm 117:24] 2 Let the heavens and the earth praise Him, the sea and every creature crawling in it.  [Psalm 68:35] APOLYTIKION resurrectional of the Tone of the day, Tone 2 When You descended to the realm of death You as life immortal, rendered to Hades a mortal blow by Your all radiant divinity.  And when You from infernal depths and the darkness below did raise the dead, all the hosts of heavens’ powers did proclaim and cry out: O life giving Christ and our God we give glory.                          (DLH, p. 81) EISODIKON –Tone 2 Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. Save us, O Son of God, Who are risen from the dead; who sing to You. Alleluia. APOLYTIKION resurrectional of the Tone of the day, Tone 2 When You descended to the realm of death You as life immortal, rendered to Hades a mortal blow by Your all radiant divinity.  And when You from infernal depths and the darkness below did raise the dead, all the hosts of heavens’ powers did proclaim and cry out: O life giving Christ and our God we give glory.                          (DLH, p. 81) APOLYTIKION of our Church (Holy Trinity) – Tone 8 O Blessed are you, O Christ our God, who by sending down the Holy Spirit upon them, made the fishermen wise and through them illumined the world.  And unto you, the universe was ever drawn, all glory to you, O God.   (DLH, p. 115) APOLYTIKION of our Church (St. Nicholas) – Tone 4    (DLH, p. 110) As a yardstick of faith and an icon of gentleness; as a teacher of temperance, your actual deeds have declared you as being among your flock.  In this manner you gained by humility, things most sublime, and through poverty earned true wealth.  Father and our hierarch St. Nicholas intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved. KONTAKION – Tone 1 When You come down to the earth, O God, in Your glory, all things will cower tremulous, and a river of fire will draw before Your judgment seat; the books shall be opened up, and public knowledge will things hidden be.  Rescue me then, I pray, from unquenchable fire, and count me worthy to stand at Your right hand, O You, the most righteous judge.                                                          (FSD) Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 26:  TRISAGION. DLH, p. 54:  AT THE Especially…, It is truly meet… DLH, p. 66: KOINONIKON:  Praise the Lord…[Psalm 148:1] DLH, p. 70:  After Communion, We have seen the true light… DLH, p. 74: Blessed be the Name of the Lord… DLH, p. 78:  THE DISMISSAL: May He Who is risen from the dead, Christ... During the week of Cheesefare, we abstain from meat, and partake of cheese, eggs, and fish.
“The time for communion,” laments Prof. Alexander Lingas (2003), “has in some Greek churches become effectively an excuse for the performance of a sacred concert related only tangentially to the liturgical action, a stage of disintegration reached approximately two centuries before in Russia with the rise of the sacred Choral Concerto. Despite differences of detail in liturgical and musical usage, modern Greek Orthodox psalmody has clearly been afflicted by the same problems that Alexander Schmemann (1986) diagnosed in contemporary Russian worship: tokenism, indifference, and ignorance contributing to structural and ultimately spiritual incoherence.” An acute symptom of this disintegration and affliction is the neglect of “the received repertory of melismatic settings of twenty-two scriptural and two nonscriptural proper communion texts,” in place of which “one may hear festal psalms from the All-Night Vigil, and paraliturgical songs. Probably the most common paraliturgical song heard today is the Marian carol “Ἁγνὴ Παρθένε” [O Pure Virgin] on a text by Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920) set to music by Fr. Gregorios Simonopetrites (1991).”  Interestingly enough, the Athonite monastery of Simonos Petra has been “among the first [monastic] communities to promote the renewal of liturgical psalmody [along with] its dependent convent [at]	Ormylia, Chalkidiki [Greece]. These communities have generally sought to deepen appreciation of received psalmodic traditions while also seeking to restore certain other ancient customs, most notably through the setting to music of full psalms with Alleluia refrains for use at communion.” Nonetheless, observes Dr Lingas, “the renewal of psalmody in actual Greek Orthodox worship has proven to be a painfully slow process.  The decentralized nature of Orthodox church administration, the low level of training (if any) given to most church musicians, and the sheer force of inertia in a church that continues to suffer dissension from a partial shift away from the Julian calendar in the 1920s have until recently precluded the emergence of anything but isolated initiatives.” Notable efforts mentioned are those by master chanter Konstantinos Psachos (ca. 1866-1949), priest George Rigas of Skiathos (1884-1961), and music scholar Simon Karas (1905-99).  The latter “taught students at his Society for the Dissemination of National Music strict adherence to the received traditions of chanting, including the singing at communion of only the appointed melismatic verse.” It may be anticipated that “the renewal of psalmody in Greece will continue to follow its current trajectory, emphasizing revitalization of the received tradition and greater respect for its forms of biblical psalmody.”
This insert is a gift from our Byzantine School.  We invite you to join us on the last Wednesday of each month at 6 pm, as we explore the selection of liturgy “specials” for each week, and other issues related to the liturgical services of our Church. Next mtg – 2/26/14. Please consult the Sunday Bulletin for our regular announcements, or contact Tasos Ioannides, ioanniam@uc.edu or (513)556-3137.  Translation Sources: DLH= Divine Liturgy Hymnal; FSD=Fr Seraphim Dedes; KL=Kevin Lawrence; FEH =Fr Edward Hughes; FEL=Fr Ephraim Lash.