Daily Reading:

Tuesday

SIXTH HOUR

Isaih 1:19-2:3

     If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

VESPERS

Genesis 1:14-23

     And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Proverbs 1:20-33

     Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.


NO LITURGY

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ST LEO, POPE OF ROME
ST COLMAN

Troparion of St Leo    Tone 3
Thou wast the Church's instrument/ in strengthening the Church's teaching of true doctrine;/ thou didst shine forth from the West like a sun/ and didst dispel the heretics' error./ O righteous Leo, entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Troparion of St Colman    Tone 4
As an upholder of Orthodox discipline,/ thou didst show forth in thy life the pre-eminence of holy Tradition,/ O all-praised Hierarch Colman./ With great personal sacrifice, thou wast true to thy teachers,/ wherefore we pray that we may unhesitatingly follow our fathers in the Faith/ with loyalty and devotion/ and thereby be guided into the way of salvation.

Kontakion of St Leo    Tone 3
From the throne of thy priesthood, O glorious one,/ thou didst stop the mouths of the spiritual lions;/ thou didst illumine thy flock with the light of the knowledge of God/ and with the inspired doctrines of the Holy Trinity./ Thou art glorified as a divine initiate of the grace of God.

Kontakion of St Colman    Tone 2
By the mercy of our God,/ thy very life was a sermon, O Father Colman,/ light of the true Faith and example of constancy and piety,/ teaching all by thy selfless devotion./ Praising thee we pray that, withstanding novelty and innovation,/ we may always give glory to Christ our God.

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TRIODION
FIRST WEEK OF LENT 

TUESDAY MATINS

(After the 2nd reading of the Psalter):

SESSIONAL HYMN TONE 2

THE GRACE OF THE HOLY FAST IS MOST BLESSED:
FOR THROUGH FASTING MOSES WAS GLORIFIED,
RECEIVING THE LAW WRITTEN UPON TABLETS.
THROUGH FASTING THE THREE CHILDREN WERE MADE STRONGER THAN THE FIRE!
LET US, THEN, QUENCH THE BURNING PASSIONS OF THE FLESH.
LET US CRY OUT TO CHRIST THE SAVIOR://
GRANT US ALL CONVERSION AND DELIVER US FROM GEHENNA!

               GLORY...

THE SEASON OF REPENTANCE IS AT HAND:
SHOW THE FRUITS OF ABSTINENCE, O MY SOUL!
CONSIDER THOSE WHO REPENTED IN THE PAST
AND CRY ALOUD TO CHRIST:
I HAVE SINNED, O LOVING MASTER; SAVE ME,
AS YOU SAVED THE PUBLICAN WHO SIGHED WITH SORROW FROM HIS HEART,//
FOR YOU ALONE ARE RICH IN MERCY!

               NOW AND EVER... (Theotokion)

THEOTOKOS, THE FERVENT ADVOCATE OF CHRISTIANS,
EVER ENTREAT YOUR SON,
THAT HE MAY DELIVER US FROM ALL THE MALICE AND CUNNING OF THE ENEMY,
AND IN HIS TENDER MERCY, GRANT US THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS,//
AT YOUR INTERCESSIONS, MOTHER AND VIRGIN!

(After the 3rd reading of the Psalter):

SESSIONAL HYMN TONE 5

AS WE BEGIN THE SECOND DAY OF SAVING ABSTINENCE,
WE CRY TO YOU, O LORD:
PIERCE OUR HEARTS WITH COMPUNCTION
FOR WE ARE YOUR SERVANTS
AND ACCEPT THE PRAYERS WE OFFER YOU IN FEAR.
ALLOW US TO COMPLETE THE COURSE OF THE FAST WITHOUT STUMBLING,//
GRANTING US CLEANSING AND GREAT MERCY!

               GLORY...

AS WE BEGIN THE SECOND DAY...

               NOW AND EVER... (Theotokion)

FIRST TUESDAY OF LENT, MATINS SESSIONAL HYMNS   page two


               NOW AND EVER... (Theotokion)

ROOT THAT HAS PUT FORTH THE DIVINE FLOWER,
TABERNACLE AND CANDLESTICK,
GOLDEN VESSEL OF MANNA,
HOLY TABLE BEARING THE BREAD OF LIFE:
WITH JOHN THE FORERUNNER, INTERCEDE BEFORE HIM
SINCE HE IS YOUR SON AND GOD,
THAT HE MAY GRANT MERCY AND SALVATION TO US ALL//
WHO ACKNOWLEDGE YOU TO BE THE THEOTOKOS!

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THE CANON

CANTICLE TWO:

                             FIRST CANON

                TONE 2 (By Joseph the Hymnographer)

IRMOS: BEHOLD; BEHOLD! I AM HE
WHO SAVED THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL IN THE SEA
AND NOURISHED THEM IN THE WILDERNESS.
I DREW WATER FROM A ROCK FOR MORTAL MEN
SO THAT I MIGHT RAISE UP THE ONE WHO HAD FALLEN INTO CORRUPTION,
AND DRAW HIM TO ME BY MY MERCY.

Soul, be temperant;
be vigilant, sigh and weep.
Reject all the burden of sin by fasting.
Flee from the fire of passions by true and fervent repentance,
and rending the garments of mourning with tears, be clothed anew.

Woe is me!  Who will I become?
And what shall I do?
I have committed sins without conscience,
and have not feared the Master.
Therefore, even before the Judgment, I stand condemned.
Save me and bring me back, O righteous and gracious Judge,
though I have angered You more than all other men.

                (Theotokion)

Unsown earth, which brought forth the Nourisher of all:
He who opened His hands, and of His own good will
satisfies every living thing by His power:
strengthen with the Living Bread
the hearts weakened by satisfaction with wicked transgression.

(Click for the rest of the canon)