Variable Portions of the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts
3rd Wednesday in Great Lent
“Lord I Call” Stichera
Begin “Lord, I Call” in Tone 4
The following are chanted at the end of Psalm 142:
Reader: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may confess Thy name.
The righteous shall await me for Thou wilt recompense me.
Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If Thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with Thee, there is forgiveness.
Because of Thy name, I have waited for Thee, O Lord; my soul has waited for Thy word; my soul has hoped on the Lord.
Tone 4 I have blindly squandered my father’s riches.
I am now empty, living in a land of evil men.
In my foolishness, I have become like the senseless beasts,
and am now stripped of every divine grace.
So in my return I cry to Thee,
O merciful and compassionate Father:
I have sinned, O God, receive me in repentance
and have mercy on me.
Reader: From the morning watch until night, from the morning watch,
let Israel hope on the Lord.
Tone 4 O Martyrs of the Lord,
inspired sacrifices, rational offerings,
perfect victims for God,
sheep who know God and are known by Him,
whose pasture cannot be trespassed by wolves,
pray that we too may graze with you near peaceful waters.
Reader: For with the Lord there is mercy and with Him is plentious redemption, and He will deliver Israel from all his iniquities.
Tone 6 You were revealed as the rays of the spiritual Sun,
O apostles who beheld our God,
entreat Him to illumine our souls,
and deliver us from the darkness of passions,
so that we may behold the saving day.
By your intercessions and prayers may our hearts be purified,
the hearts wounded by the evil one.
And we will honor you in faith forever,
for you saved the world by your wise preaching.
Reader: Praise the Lord, all nations. Praise Him, all peoples.
Tone 6 I, the prodigal, have wandered away into a land of evil,
and I have squandered the riches which Thou hast given me.
Now I am pining with hunger, O compassionate Father.
Clothed in the shame of transgression,
I am now stripped of righteous deeds and grace
I cry to Thee: I have sinned but I know Thy goodness.
Receive me as one of Thy servants, O compassionate Christ,
through the prayers of the apostles who loved Thee.
Reader: For His mercy is confirmed on us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Tone 6 O apostles of the Savior,
lights and benefactors and saviors of the world.
Seers of God’s glory and heaven,
adorned with miracles and signs of healing,
fervently pray to the Lord for us
so that our prayers may be accepted.
May we all be made worthy of seeing and kissing the
Life-bearing Cross with fear.
In worshipping it, send down on us Thy mercy, O Savior,
as the Lover of man.
Reader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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Theotokion in the tone of the week
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The Readings from Holy Scripture
3rd Wednesday in Great Lent
Priest: Let us attend! Peace be unto all!
Reader: And to your spirit!
Priest: Wisdom!
Reader: The Prokeimenon in the 4th Tone: I trust in the mercy of God, forever and ever.
People: I trust in the mercy of God, forever and ever.
Reader: Why do you boast, O mighty man of mischief done against the godly?
People: I trust in the mercy of God, forever and ever.
Reader: I trust in the mercy of God.
People: Forever and ever.
Priest: Wisdom!
Reader: The Reading is from Genesis.
Priest: Let us attend!
Genesis 7:6-9
Reader: Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
Priest: Wisdom!
Reader: The Prokeimenon in the 4th Tone: When the Lord turns back the capitivity of His people.
People: When the Lord turns back the capitivity of His people.
Reader: The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
People: When the Lord turns back the capitivity of His people.
Reader: When the Lord turns back.
People: The capitivity of His people.
The priest comes forth with the candle and censer.
All make a prostration or kneel.
Priest: Wisdom! Let us attend!
The Light of Christ illumines all!
Reader: The Reading is from Proverbs.
Priest: Let us attend!
Proverbs 9:12-18
Reader: If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone."
A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city, To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way: "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here"; And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, "Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant." But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Priest: Peace be unto you. Wisdom!
Let My Prayer Arise follows
This content has been generously provided by Fr. Jerome Cwiklinski, CAPT, CHC, USN