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NOTE The translation of this office is not yet complete, only the first canon of the Saints having been translated so far. NOVEMBER HAVING THIRTY DAYS ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH Commemoration of the holy Unmercenary Physicians, Cosmas and Damian. AT VESPERS At Lord, I have cried we insert 6 Stichera and sing 3 Prosomia of the Saints, doubling them. Tone 6. Model melody. Placing all their hope in heaven, the Saints treasured up for themselves an inviolable treasure; freely they received, freely they give remedies to the sick; in accordance with the Gospel they possessed neither gold nor silver; their kind deeds they shared out to humans and beasts alike; that being in all things obedient to Christ they might intercede with confidence on behalf of our souls. They spurned all perishable matter on earth, while like Angels in the flesh they were declared citizens of heaven, the united comradeship, the like-minded and harmonious pair of saints. And so to all who suffer they award healings, granting their kindness without payment for the needy. Let us worthily sing their praise with yearly feasts as they intercede with confidence on behalf of our souls. Bringing all the Trinity to dwell in them, the holy pair, inspired Cosmas and Damian, like fountains pour out waters of healings from a life-bearing source; whose relics too heal passions through a touch; and their names alone drive sicknesses from mortals; they are saviours for all who flee to them as they intercede to Christ with boldness on behalf of our souls. Glory. Tone 6. By Anatolios.Unlimited is the grace of the Saints, which they obtained from Christ; therefore their relics too, by divine power, unceasingly act by wonders; whose names alone too, when invoked with faith, drive away incurable pains; through them, Lord, free us too from the passions of soul and body, as you love mankind. Both now. Theotokion. Placing all their hope.By my own will I have slipped and become enslaved to the tyrant by deception; in my wretchedness I flee to your most wondrous compassion, Bride of God, All-holy Maiden. And so rescue me from trials and tribulations, and save me, O All-blameless, from the attacks of the demons, that I may glorify you and worship you with love, and praise and magnify you, Lady ever-blest. Or Cross-Theotokion. A sword passed through your heart, All-holy Lady, when you saw him, who had shone from you by an ineffable word, lifted up on a Cross as one condemned by lawless men, given vinegar and gall to drink, pierced in his side, nailed by his hands and feet; and grieving she bewailed him and cried out as a mother: What is this new mystery, my Child? At the Aposticha. Idiomel Stichera. Tone 2. The source of remedies cured one and only one each year; the tabernacle of the Unmercenary Saints cures the whole multitude of the sick; for the wealth of the Saints lacks nothing, is never exhausted. At their intercessions, O Christ, have mercy on us. Same Tone. By Theophanes. Verse: God is wonderful in his Saints: the God of Israel.With divine longing and love for things to come, your way of life was by practice and you passed through the roads of salvation. Therefore having kept your purity of soul unsullied, it left behind completely material things. While gilded by the divine Spirit, Unmercenary Saints, you grant healings to the sick, sacred pair, radiant couple, godlike enlightened twosome, visiting us in troubles and diseases and healing for no money the diseases of our souls. Same Tone. By Germanos. Verse: For his Saints who are on earth, the Lord has worked wonders.Made worthy of great gifts, O All-praised, by the lowliness of your way of life; passing through all places healing the sufferings of the diseased freely, you appeared as companions of the Angels, Cosmas with wise Damian, kind brothers, and you heal our sufferings by your prayers. Glory. Tone. 6Always having Christ active in you, Unmercenary Saints, you work wonders in the world, curing the sick; for your surgery is an inexhaustible source; when drawn on, it overflows yet more; when poured out, it still runs over; emptied each day, each day filled up; giving to all, yet not failing; and those who draw receive their fill of remedies, and it remains unexhausted. What then shall we call you? Healing physicians of souls and bodies, healers of incurable sufferings, freely curing all, who have received gifts of grace from the Saviour Christ, who grants us his great mercy. Both now. Theotokion.Mother of God, you are the true vine who gave bud to the fruit of life; we implore you, Sovereign Lady, intercede, together with the Unmercenary ones and all the saints that he have mercy on our souls. Or Cross-Theotokion. You rose on the third day. When the Virgin and your pure Mother saw a lawless people nailing you to a Tree, as Symeon had foretold, O Saviour, your heart was wounded. Apolytikion. Tone 8. Holy Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers, visit our weaknesses; freely you have received, freely give to us. AT MATINS After the usual reading from the Psalter, we read one Canon from the Octoichos, and the following of the Saints. First Canon, of which the Acrostic is: With hymns I honour the wise Unmercenaries. A composition of John of Damascus. [‘All peoples, let us sing a hymn of victory to him who rescued Israel from the bitter slavery of Pharaoh, and guided them in the depth of the sea dryshod, for he has been glorified’.] The wondrous and honoured pair, enlightened by the grace of the sovereign Trinity, gushing forth unending streams, grants remedies to all those who approach with faith. Initiated by the life-bearing words, the All-blest saints shone out like beacons in the world, easily dispersing the fog of the passions with the fervour of the faith. Obedient to the Saviour’s law, the holy saints laid aside all sensuality of the flesh, while making their souls most clearly radiant with virtues; and were famed in the world. Theotokion. Dwelling in your womb, Mother of God, the Son, who shone from the Father and beyond time is above all gods, clothed himself in entire humanity; let us sing his praise, for he has been glorified. Ode 3. [‘Establish me, O Christ, on the unshakeable rock of your commandments, and enlighten me with the light of your face; for none is holy but you, O Lover of mankind’.] The springs of healings, and the channels of divine gifts, the shining vessels of the immaterial light, let us fittingly sing their praise. As ones who heal the passions of souls and bodies, O All-revered, as benefactors now cure the maladies of those who eagerly approach you. Adorned with fertile virtues, you clearly beat off every corrupted delight of life, as you bent your gaze unswervingly on the divine beauty. Theotokion. He who before was without form appeared in a form like ours, Mother of God, when the Godhead came together with flesh in your womb, all-holy Bride of God. Irmos. ‘Not in wisdom and power and wealth let us boast, but in you, O Christ, the empersonned Wisdom of the Father; for none is Holy, but you, O Lover of mankind’. Kathisma. Tone 8. The Wisdom and Word. From heaven you marvellously received the gift of wonders from Christ, and you unendingly cure all the passions; for the grace of the Spirit appeared in you, giving the power of divine healings; therefore with unmercenary thought, God-bearing Unmercenaries, You have gained also abundance of incorruptible good things; intercede with Christ God to bestow forgiveness of faults on those who feast with love your holy memory. Glory. Same Tone.You have been revealed by the grace of the Spirit as wonderworking givers of remedies, light-bringing lampstands of wonders; for bedewing the flame of the passions with the faith, by it you warm the thought of believers; therefore, having gained your divine temple as a surgery for souls, we take refuge in it, God-bearing Unmercenaries; intercede with Christ God to bestow forgiveness of faults on those who feast with love your holy memory. Both now. Theotokion.Come all believers, let us magnify with our voices the Queen, the Mother of the Creator of all things, and with hymns of praise let us shout: Cause of joy, All-praised Virgin, save those who honour you, and protect them by your prayers; for as Mother of God you have boldness to take pity and to adjudge healing of diseases; and so we cry to you: Intercede with your Son and God to grant forgiveness to your servants, who devoutly worship your child-bearing without seed. Or Cross-Theotokion. When the Ewe-lamb saw the Lamb and Shepherd hanging on the Cross, her inward parts were in agony and she lamented as a mother: Alas! Light of the world, my God and Lord, for what reason do you now willing endure all this? Because you wish to save entirely those born of earth and for your corrupted image to change its dwelling to divine life. I magnify your sufferings; you endured them through the compassion of your pity, completely curing the pains of all by your own. Ode 4. [‘I have learned of your dispensation, O All-powerful, and with fear I have glorified you, O Saviour’.] Clearly following the divine word, you did not gain lamps of gold or silver, godlike Saints. The Unmercenaries, blazing with divine wonders, grant benefits to all, crowning them with grace. You were declared wise physicians, bringing healing hands to the pains of the passions. Theotokion. Let the faces now be struck of those who do not confess you to be Mother of God, O All-pure Lady. Ode 5. [‘Rising in the night we hymn you, Christ God, who made yourself poor for us and underwent both cross and death in your flesh’.] As streams that flow from God, you are a source of waters of deeds of kindness for the faithful, as you heal diseases of soul and body, glorious Unmercenaries. Revered Unmercenaries, unstopping the source of grace you distribute good health to those who now have recourse to you in faith and love. The bright and all-wise stars, who openly raise the earth to heaven, in imitation of the radiance of the Angels, ceaselessly shine on us. Theotokion. You were shown to be higher, Virgin Mother, in conceiving the Maker of all things, like the Father without beginning, and in giving birth for the world to the Saviour and Lord. Ode 6. [‘You saved the Prophet from the whale, Lover of mankind; bring me too up from the deep of faults, I beg’.] Let us eagerly honour the saving healers, the inspired benefactors, godlike Cosmas and Damian. Having guarded sobriety and adorned with wisdom, godlike Cosmas and Damian rejoice together with Christ. As you lived with one mind and practised asceticism with one soul, as one you were entrusted with awarding us with healings. Theotokion. You gave birth to the unapproachable light with a body, O All-pure, which enlightens all the world with the rays of the Godhead. Irmos. ‘I will sacrifice to you with a voice of praise, O Lord, the Church cries to you, cleansed from the filth of demons by the blood which flowed with pity from your side’. Kontakion. Tone 2. You have received the grace of remedies, spread strength over those in need, glorious, wonderworking Physicians; but by your visitation, cast down the insolence of enemies, healing the world by wonders. The Ikos. The word of the wise Physicians surpasses all understanding and wisdom; for having received grace from the Most High, they invisibly bestow strength on all; therefore on me too they have bestowed the grace of narration, to sing their praise as God-bearing, well-pleasing to God and healers, who grant multitudes of cures; for they rescue all from pains, healing the world by wonders. Synaxarion. The Month of November, with 30 days. The day has 10 hours and the night 14. On the 1st of the same month, Commemoration of the holy and Unmercenary Wonderworkers, Cosmas and Damian, the sons of Theodoti from Asia . Verses. They fill the earth with wonders now as then. Two healing lights from the earth fly up on the first of November. On the same day Commemoration of the holy Martyrs Kyriaina and Juliani. Verses. So honoured the great Lord of all that breathes. Aflame, O Saviour, with her love for you, On the same day Commemoration of the holy Martyrs Caesarius, Dasios, and five others. Verses. Lovers of falsehood slay Caesarius. On the same day Commemoration of the holy Priest Martyrs, John the Bishop and James the Presbyter. Verses. John brought, himself a Priest of Christ. On the same day Commemoration of the holy Martyr Hermingeld. Verse. Slaughtered is dyed in purple of his gore. The holy Martyrs Cyprian and Juliani attained perfection by fire. Commemoration of the holy Bishop and New Martyr James and his two disciples, James the deacon and Dionysios, a monk, who attained perfection by the axe in 1520. Our venerable father David, who was a monk in Evoia, attained perfection in peace. At their holy intercessions, O God, have mercy and save us. Amen. Ode 7. [‘We the faithful recognise you, Mother of God, as the furnace; for as he, the highly exalted, saved the Three Young Men, so he wholly refashioned me, humanity, in your womb, the God of our fathers, praised and glorified above all’.] By inspiration you appeared wholly God’s, wholly able to contain God; for you abandoned all the world for God, All-glorious, following in the footsteps of the Saviour, in a manner fitting God honouring the God of the fathers. Beyond nature, All-noble Physicians, you heal all the maladies of the infirm by mystical surgery, drawing saving remedies from the divine treasuries, as you hymn the God, who is glorified above all. With a garland of your kingdom, Master, and a shining diadem you have fairly adorned the ones who greatly longed for the extraordinary loveliness of your beauty, O Christ, and have declared them to be general benefactors for believers. Theotokion. When the Dayspring from on high appeared on earth, All-pure, you were revealed to be a gate, most fair and wholly light, shining on the world with rays of purity and ever sending out the lustre of wonders to believers. Ode 8. ‘In the furnace, as in a smelter, the Young Men of Israel shone with the beauty of godliness brighter than gold, as they said: All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and highly exalt him to all the ages’. Deadened to the delight of the world, amputating the disease of love of money, you have been named, wise Saints, Unmercenaries for all who cry: All you works of the Lord, praise the Lord, and highly exalt him to all the ages. You have clearly become sharers in eternal life; for you abandoned the pleasures of this corruptible life as cried with one voice: All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and highly exalt him to all the ages. Deliver us all, O Master Christ, from dread infirmities, at the prayers of the Unmercenaries, and grant that with one voice we may ever cry to you: All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and highly exalt him to all the ages. Theotokion. All we believers are filled with gladness, and strengthened by grace, ransomed by your Offspring, Virgin Mother, we cry: All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and highly exalt him to all the ages. Irmos. ‘Stretching out his hands Daniel closed the jaws of the lions in the den; while the Children, lovers of true religion, girded with virtue, quenched the power of the fire as they cried: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord’. Ode 9. [‘As the shining lampstand and Mother of God, outstanding glory and higher than all created things, in hymns we magnify you’.] The wise pair, the dazzling beam of the spiritual light, which gives to all a share in illumination, let us unceasingly call blest. For believers you produce strength of spiritual health, and you are trusted to cure the sufferings of the body, as saviours you are ever praised. The beacons, shining with God’s light, spiritually make radiant without ceasing the heaven of the holy Church, as they now carry the torch with its outpouring of illumination. The pair called by God, strengthened by the holy Trinity, pours out the gifts of remedies for all those who with love call them blest. Theotokion. Cloud of light and holy Ark, Gate all-light of the spiritual Sun, as Mother of God we magnify you. Irmos. ‘Eve by the disorder of disobedience introduced the curse; while you, Virgin Mother of God, by the shoot of your child-bearing made the blessing flower for the world; therefore we all magnify you’. Exapostilarion. Receiving the grace of healings from God, blest Unmercenaries, you cure diseases and heal all those who faithfully have recourse to your godlike shrine; and therefore with one voice we worthily call your holy memory blest. Theotokion. All-immaculate, you bore God the Word of God, when he in his great wisdom accomplished his great dispensation; and therefore we all worthily praise you as her who intercedes with him that we may be rescued from diseases and every kind of danger. At Lauds we insert 4 idiomel Stichera. You received the grace of remedies from God and heal the sufferings of our souls and bodies without payment, Unmercenaries for the whole world; therefore through you Christ granting believers the gift of good health, reveals you as unerring beacons for the inhabited world; intercede with him that our souls may be saved. Same Tone. Drawing from the providence from above the abyss of remedies, you pour out healings for all believers, O Unmercenaries; for beyond nature you heal the sufferings of the sick with mystic surgery, as you bring from the treasures of the Spirit saving remedies for the ailing; therefore as you have become an honoured temple of the Trinity, source of life, which has made its dwelling in you; intercede with it that our souls may be saved. Tone 2. By Germanos. The choir of the Saints rejoices to the ages; for they have inherited the kingdom of heaven. Earth has received their relics and is filled with sweet fragrance. Christ’s servants have taken up their dwelling for eternal life. The same Tone. Physicians of the sick, treasuries of remedies, saviours of believers, far-famed Unmercenaries, heal those who cry out in need and who suffer pain, as with Theodoti you intercede with the good God that we may be rescued from all the snares of the foe. Glory. Tone 4. By Theophanes.Holy Unmercenaries, you possess a source of remedies and grant healings to all who ask, for you have been found worthy of the greatest gifts from the unfailing source of the Saviour Christ. For to you, as rivals of the Apostles in zeal, the Lord says: See, I have given you authority against unclean spirits, so as to cast them out and so as to cure every disease and every weakness. And so, having lived your lives well in accordance with his commands, freely you have received, freely you give, as you heal the sufferings of our souls and bodies. Both now. Theotokion.Hail refuge of Christians and their might; hail heavenly Ladder; hail treasure-chest of virginity; hail Mother of God, the spiritual Ark of the divine; hail boast and support of the world, recalling of the fallen, the Tabernacle, wholly light, holy and all good. Or Cross-Theotokion. When the All-pure saw Christ the lover of mankind crucified and pierced in the side, she wept and cried out; What is this, my Son ? Is this how an ungrateful people repays you for the good things you have done for them? Why, so much beloved, do you hasten to leave me childless? I am filled with amazement, O Compassionate, at your voluntary crucifixion. At the Aposticha, Stichera from the Octoichos. Who would not wonder? Who would not glorify? Who would not faithfully praise the wonders of the wise and glorious Unmercenaries? Because also after their holy passing over, they give remedies richly to all who have recourse to them; and their precious and holy relics pour forth the grace of healings. O holy Pair! O honoured Saints! O wisdom and glory of the grace given us by God! And so let us sing to God our Benefactor, who has revealed them for the healing of our souls and bodies. Both now. Theotokion.Lady, accept the supplication of your servants, and deliver us from every constraint and tribulation. Or Cross-Theotokion. I cannot bear to see you, my Child, who give awakening to all, sleeping on the Tree, that you may grant to those, who of old fell into a deadly sleep from the fruit of transgression, you may grant divine and saving awakening, the grieving Virgin, whom we magnify. |
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