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Horologion - Midnight Office

For a Weekday

Menaion - September 8

The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos

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MIDNIGHT OFFICE

PRIEST

Blessed is our God always, now and ever and to the ages of ages.

READER: Amen.

PRIEST

Glory to You, our God, glory to You.

Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all things, treasury of good things and giver of life: come; take Your abode in us; cleanse us of every stain, and save our souls, O Good one. [GOA]

READER

Trisagion Prayers.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, forgive our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Your name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [GOA]

PRIEST

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to ages of ages.

READER

Amen. Lord, have mercy. (12)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Come, let us worship and bow down before God our King.

Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ God our King.

Come, let us worship and bow down before Him, Christ our King and God.

Psalm 50 (51).

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy; and according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my lawlessness, and my sin is always before me. Against You only have I sinned and done evil in Your sight; that You may be justified in Your words, and overcome when You are judged. For behold, I was conceived in transgressions, and in sins my mother bore me. Behold, You love truth; You showed me the unknown and secret things of Your wisdom. You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; You shall wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow. You shall make me hear joy and gladness; my bones that were humbled shall greatly rejoice. Turn Your face from my sins, and blot out all my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your guiding Spirit. I will teach transgressors Your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall greatly rejoice in Your righteousness. O Lord, You shall open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For if You desired sacrifice, I would give it; You will not be pleased with whole burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. Do good, O Lord, in Your good pleasure to Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built; then You will be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with offerings and whole burnt offerings; then shall they offer young bulls on Your altar. [SAAS]

If the Lity was not sung at Vespers, sing the following:

CHOIR

Idiomela. For the Feast.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 1.

Today, people, the first fruit of our salvation is here! ⁄ For behold, she who was foreordained from generations of old ⁄ as Mother and Virgin and receiver of God, ⁄ comes forth in birth from a barren woman: ⁄ A flower has blossomed from Jesse, ⁄ and from his root a branch has sprung. ⁄ Let Adam our forefather be glad ⁄ and let Eve rejoice with exultation! ⁄ For behold, she who was made from the rib of Adam ⁄ plainly declares her daughter and descendant blessed. ⁄ For, she says, deliverance is born to me, ⁄ through which I shall be set free from the bonds of hell. ⁄ Let David rejoice, striking upon the harp, ⁄ and let him bless God: ⁄ For behold, the Virgin comes forth from a barren rock, ⁄⁄ for the salvation of our souls! [OCA]

Mode 2.

Come, all who love virginity, ⁄ who are friends of purity; ⁄ come, and welcome with love the boast of virgins. ⁄ She is the fountain of life that flows from the rock; ⁄ she is the bush that springs from barren ground ⁄⁄ and burns with the spiritual fire that cleanses and enlightens our souls. [OCA]

Mode 2.

What is this sound of feasting we hear? ⁄ Joachim and Anna keep mystic festival. ⁄ Adam and Eve cry: Rejoice with us today! ⁄ For if by your transgression you closed the gate of Paradise to those of old, ⁄ we have now been given a glorious fruit, ⁄ Mary, the child of God ⁄⁄ who opens its entrance to us all! [OCA]

Mode 2.

She who was destined to become the Queen of all, the dwelling place of God, and the divine shrine of the eternal essence, has come forth today from the womb of Anna, who is delighted. Voracious Hades has been trampled through her; and Eve and her whole race are given entrance to life, safe and secure. Let us worthily sing to her, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” [SD]

Glory. Both now.

From Menaion - - -

Idiomelon. Mode pl. 4.

On this solemn day of our feast, let us proclaim, with a spiritual lyre, that from the seed of David, the mother of Life, who dispelled the darkness, is born today. She is the recreation of Adam and restoration of Eve, the spring of incorruption and the deliverance from corruption. Through her we have been deified and have been freed from death. Let us, the faithful, cry out to her with Gabriel: “Rejoice, O Lady full of grace, the Lord is with you, and through you He grants us the great mercy.” [VPA]

READER

Trisagion Prayers.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, forgive our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Your name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [GOA]

PRIEST

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to ages of ages.

READER: Amen.

Apolytikion.

From Menaion - - -

Mode 4.

Your Nativity, O Theotokos, imparted joy to the entire earth, for out of you has risen the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God. He nullified the curse and instead gave His blessing; and causing death to be neutralized, He granted us eternal life. [SD]

Lord, have mercy. (40)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Word, and are truly Theotokos. You do we magnify.

In the name of the Lord, Father, bless!

PRIEST

May God have compassion on us and bless us; may his face shine upon us and have mercy on us.

READER

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Holy father, give the blessing!

PRIEST

May Christ our true God, through the intercessions of His all-pure and all-immaculate holy Mother, (local patron saint); of the holy and righteous ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, and of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, as He is good, benevolent, and merciful God.

Let us pray for the peace of the world.

READER (intoned after each petition)

Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST

For the pious and Orthodox Christians.

For our our Archbishop (name).

For our nation.

For the armed forces.

For our absent fathers, brothers and sisters.

For those who help us and those who serve us.

For those who hate us and those who love us.

For those who have asked us, the unworthy, to pray for them.

For the release of the captives.

For those sailing the seas.

For those laid up with illnesses.

Let us also pray for the abundance of the fruits of the earth.

And for all our fathers and brethren departed this life, those who lie here in peace, and the Orthodox everywhere.

Let us say for ourselves, also: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.

READER: Amen.