January 24, 2016 Specials

Divine Liturgy Specials on Sunday, January 24, 2016

Tone 1 / Eothinon 1, 14^th Sunday of Luke (Blind Beggar in Jericho)

 Xenia, Deaconess (†5^th c.); Paul, Pafsirion, Theodotion, Mm and Babylas Hm (†3^rd c.)

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 Μακάριος οὗ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακὼβ βοηθὸς αὐτοῦ, ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν αὐτοῦ. 3 Βασιλεύσει Κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὁ Θεός σου, Σιών, εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν.     Σῶσον ἡμᾶς, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ψάλλοντάς σοι· Ἀλληλούϊα. Δόξα... Καὶ νῦν... Ὁ Μονογενὴς Υἱός... Ἀντίφωνον γ´ –  Ἦχος α' 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 α' Τοῦ λίθου σφραγισθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλασσόντων τὸ ἄχραντόν σου Σῶμα, ἀνέστης τριήμερος Σωτήρ, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ζωήν, διὰ τοῦτο αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐβόων σοι ζωοδότα. Δόξα τῇ Ἀναστάσει σου Χριστέ, δόξα τῇ βασιλεία σου, δόξα τῇ οἰκονομία σου, μόνε φιλάνθρωπε. Εἰσοδικόν – Ἦχος β´ Δεῦτε προσκυνήσωμεν καὶ προσπέσωμεν Χριστῷ. Σῶσον ἡμᾶς, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ψάλλοντάς σοι· Ἀλληλούϊα. Ἀπολυτίκιον –  Ἦχος α' Τοῦ λίθου σφραγισθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλασσόντων τὸ ἄχραντόν σου Σῶμα, ἀνέστης τριήμερος Σωτήρ, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ζωήν, διὰ τοῦτο αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐβόων σοι ζωοδότα. Δόξα τῇ Ἀναστάσει σου Χριστέ, δόξα τῇ βασιλεία σου, δόξα τῇ οἰκονομία σου, μόνε φιλάνθρωπε. 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' Ὁ μήτραν παρθενικὴν ἁγιάσας τῷ τόκῳ σου, καὶ χεῖρας τοῦ Συμεὼν εὐλογήσας ὡς ἔπρεπε, προφθάσας καὶ νῦν ἔσωσας ἡμᾶς Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός. Ἀλλ' εἰρήνευσον ἐν πολέμοις τὸ πολίτευμα, καὶ κραταίωσον Βασιλεῖς οὓς ἠγάπησας, ὁ μόνος φιλάνθρωπος. Τρισάγιον. Εἰς τό ᾽Εξαιρέτως:  ῎Αξιόν ἐστιν.... Κοινωνικόν: Αἰνεῖτε.... Εἴδομεν τό φῶς... Εἴη τό ὄνομα Κυρίου… Ἀπόλυσις·    Ὁ ἀναστάς ἐκ νεκρῶν....	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]                                                 [Psalm 102:2] 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.  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 Happy is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is upon the Lord his God.  [Psalm 145:5] 3 The Lord will reign unto the age, your God, O Zion, unto generation and generation.  [Psalm 145:10]     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 1 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 tone of the day – Tone 1 (DLH, p. 80) The stone that had been sealed before your tomb by the Jews, and the soldiers guarding did watch o’er Your pure and sacred body, O Savior the third day You arose and unto the world did You give life.  Whereby all the heavenly powers did proclaim that You are the giver of life.  Glory unto our resurrected Christ.  Glory unto Your Kingdom.  Glory to Your dispensation O You alone who loves all.                                                                  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 tone of the day – Tone 1 (DLH, p. 80) The stone that had been sealed before your tomb by the Jews, and the soldiers guarding did watch o’er Your pure and sacred body, O Savior the third day You arose and unto the world did You give life.  Whereby all the heavenly powers did proclaim that You are the giver of life.  Glory unto our resurrected Christ.  Glory unto Your Kingdom.  Glory to Your dispensation O You alone who loves all.                                                                            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 of the feast of Hypapante – Tone 1 The womb of a virgin you did hallow at your birth, and as it befitted you blessed elder Symeon’s arms.  You also reached out and saved us all, O Christ our God.  Now, bring peace to our nation tangled in a war, and make firm our leaders whom you dearly love, for you are the only lover of man. Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 26:  TRISAGION. DLH, p. 54: AT THE Especially…, It is truly meet… DLH, p. 66: KOINONIKON:  Praise the Lord… DLH, p. 70: After Communion, We have seen the true light… DLH, p. 74: Blessed be the Name of the Lord… Divine Liturgy Hymnal, p. 78:  THE DISMISSAL: May He Who is risen from the dead, Christ...
Our spiritual vision is often obscured by a measure of darkness.  We look at other people with self-righteous judgment, envy, lust, and other bad attitudes.  We make hateful, profane, and other unedifying comments that make faithfulness harder for ourselves and other people.   We drift off to spiritual sleep thinking that we will find fulfillment in pleasure, possessions, and the praise of others.  We are lured powerfully back to the darkness in many ways. So we continue to need therapy to help us keep our eyes open to the brilliant light of Christ, to the salvation that He has brought to the world. That’s why it’s good that we have seasons like Advent to wake us up from our slumbers, to switch on the lights and tell us it’s time to wake up.  In these weeks of preparation for Christmas, all of us need to gain strength in resisting our self-centered desires by fasting or some other form of self-denial.  All of us need to place greater focus on prayer. All of us need to confess our sins and turn away from them through repentance.  All of us need to give alms and become more generous to the needy with our time and resources.  All of us need to love and forgive our enemies.  In these ways, we all need to open our lives more fully to the light of Christ.    At the same time, we also need to do everything that we	can to shut out the darkness that so easily overtakes us.  Most of us probably do not have to look very closely at our lives to identify habits, weaknesses, relationships, or social settings that can dim the spiritual light pretty quickly.  We have to be prudent and persistent in discerning how to respond to those temptations, but it’s not our intelligence or will power that is our hope.  It’s the mercy of the Lord, the same One who responded to the plea of that blind beggar.  So when we are tempted to wallow in the darkness, we need to follow his example of calling out to Christ persistently with humility, asking for His forgiveness and healing.  That fellow would not shut up even when his pleas disturbed others, and we must learn not to abandon our spiritual disciplines, mindfulness, and prayers even when our thoughts, feelings, and friends want to lead us away from the light. Sometimes we feel like it will kill us to resist certain temptations.  Of course, that’s not true, but it is often how we feel.  We all need to cultivate the faith that Christ comes to heal and strengthen us, not to frustrate and destroy us.  The disciplines of Advent are not about legalism or causing inconvenience.  Instead, they are tools for our healing, ways for us to turn away from the darkness.   FR PHILIP LEMASTERS (2012) Antiochian
This insert is a gift from our Byzantine School.  We invite you to join us on the last Thursday 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 – 1/28/16! Please consult the Sunday Bulletin for our regular announcements, or contact Tasos, ioanniam@yahoo.com or (937)232-9665.  Translation Sources: DLH= Divine Liturgy Hymnal; FSD=Fr Seraphim Dedes; KL=Kevin Lawrence; FEH =Fr Edward Hughes; FEL=Fr Ephraim Lash.