Great and Holy Pascha - Agape Vespers

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

Today Christ, our saving Pascha, hath been revealed unto us a noble Pascha; the Pascha new and holy; the mystical Pascha; the Pascha all august; the blameless Pascha; the great Pascha; the Pascha of the faithful; the Pascha which openeth unto us the gates of paradise; the Pascha which sanctifieth all the faithful.

As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish; as wax melteth before the fire.

O come from the vision, ye women, heralds of good tidings, and say ye unto Zion, Receive from us the glad tidings of the joy of the Resurrection of Christ. Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and leap for joy, in that thou beholdest Christ the King like a bridegroom come forth from the grave.

So let sinners perish at the presence of God, and let the righteous be glad.

When the ointment-bearing women stood, very early in the morning, before the tomb of the Life- giver, they found an angel sitting upon the stone. And he cried out unto them, saying, Why seek ye the Living among the dead? Why mourn ye the Incorruptible amidst corruption? Go, proclaim the glad tidings to His Disciples.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein.

The joyful Pascha, the Pascha of the Lord, the Pascha all majestic hath shone upon us! The Pascha in which we embrace one another with joy! O what a Pascha, delivering from sorrow! For today from the tomb, as from a chamber Christ shone, and hath filled the women with joy, saying: Proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Today is the Day of Resurrection! Let us shine with the Feast! Let us embrace one another. Let us say, Brethren! And because of the Resurrection, let us forgive all things to those who hate us, and in this wise, exclaim: Christ is risen from the dead; trampling Death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! 

Great and Holy Pascha! Christ is Risen!

You went down to the deepest parts of the earth, and you shattered the everlasting bars of those that those that were fettered, O Christ. 

And on the third day, like Jonas from the whale, you arose from the tomb.

Keeping the seals intact, O Christ, you rose from the tomb, you who did not harm the locks of the Virgin’s womb at your birth, and you have opened to us the gates of Paradise.

O my Saviour, the living Victim unsuitable for sacrifice, as God offering yourself willingly to the Father, you raised with yourself all Adam’s race, in rising from the tomb. 

Paschal Canon - Ode 6

Holy Saturday - Lamentations

Once a Joseph brought You

into exile, Savior;

another one now buries You.

Holy Friday Lamentations - Third Stasis

Holy Friday - Today He Who suspended the earth upon the waters is suspended on a tree

Today he who suspended the earth upon the waters is suspended on a tree.

A Crown of thorns is placed on the head of the King of angels.

He who wore a false purple robe covered the heavens with clouds.

He is smitten who, in the Jordan, delivered Adam.

The Bridegroom of the Church is fastened with nails, and the son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.

Thy sufferings we adore, O Christ!

Thy sufferings we adore, O Christ!

Thy sufferings we adore, O Christ!

Make us to behold thy glorious Resurrection.

Holy Wednesday - Woe is me, for night surrounds me

O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy divinity, fulfilled the part of a myrrh-bearer; and with lamentations she brought sweet-smelling oil of myrrh to Thee before Thy burial. "Woe is me," she said, "for night surrounds me, dark and moonless, and stings my lustful passion with the love of sin. Accept the fountain of my tears, O Thou who drawest down from the clouds the waters of the sea. Incline to the groanings of my heart, O Thou who in Thine ineffable self-emptying hast bowed down the heavens. I shall kiss Thy most pure feet and wipe them with the hairs of my heads, those feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise and hid herself for fear. Who can search out the multitude of my sins and the abyss of Thy judgments, O Saviour of my soul? Despise me not, Thine handmaiden, for Thou hast mercy without measure."

Hymn of St. Kassiane, Holy Wednesday Bridegroom Matins

Holy Tuesday - Behold the Bridegroom

Behold the Bridegroom cometh at midnight
And blessed is he whom He shall find watching
But unworthy is he whom He shall find heedless
Beware therefore, O my soul!
Be not weighed down with sleep
Lest you be given up to death and shut out from the Kingdom
But rouse yourself, crying, Holy Holy Holy art Thou O God

Through the intercessions of the Theotokos, have mercy on us.

Saint Mary of Egypt

Troparion (Tone 8)

The image of God was truly preserved in you, O mother,
For you took up the Cross and followed Christ.
By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away;
But to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal.
Therefore your spirit, O holy Mother Mary, rejoices with the Angels.

Kontakion (Tone 3)

Having been a sinful woman,
You became through repentance a Bride of Christ.
Having attained angelic life,
You defeated demons with the weapon of the Cross;
Therefore, O most glorious Mary you are a Bride of the Kingdom!