The great blessings of your incarnation beyond understanding shine for us, Master; your graces without price and your divine brightness well up for us as gifts of goodness.

Sending out the rays of your Godhead, O Christ, you took your stand openly at the mid-point of the feast; for you are a feast of joy for the saved and the cause of our salvation.

The Canon in Tone 8. A Composition by Andrew of Crete.

Nations clap your hands, Hebrews lament, for Christ the giver of life has torn asunder the chains of Hell, and raised the dead, and healed the sick with a word. This is our God, who gives life to those who believe in his name.

You showed a wonder by changing water into wine, O Master, who changed the rivers of Egypt into blood. And you raised the dead, perfecting this second sign. Glory, O Saviour, to your counsel, glory to your abasement, through which you have made us new.

O Lord, you are an ever-flowing stream of true life, you are our resurrection; willingly you toiled, my Saviour; and as you wished you thirsted, subject to nature’s laws; and coming in the flesh to Sychar you sought water to drink of the woman of Samaria.

Loaves you blessed, fish you multiplied, O God beyond understanding; you satisfied the hunger of peoples without stinting and You promised an ever-flowing spring of wisdom to the thirsty. You, Saviour, are our God, who give life to those who believe in your name.

Glory.

Three I glorify, alike without beginning and alike in majesty: the Father, God without beginning, the Son alike without beginning and the Spirit co-eternal with the Son: one Being in three Persons. I honour in hymns one first Principle beyond beginning of a Godhead and Essence without beginning.

You opened springs of life-giving waters for the Church, O Good One, as you cried: If any thirst, let them with fervour come and drink.

Do not judge according to appearance, O Jews, said the Master, as he stood teaching in the temple, as it is written, at the mid-point of the feast according to the law.

Do not judge according to appearance, O Jews; for Christ has come, whom the Prophets declared would come from Sion, and call back the world.

If you do not believe the words, O Jews, be convinced by the Master’s works: why do you err, rejecting the Holy One of whom Moses wrote in the Law?

If the Messias must surely come, O Jews, now that Christ the Messias has come, why do you err, and reject the Just One, of whom Moses wrote in the Law?

Glory.

We worship you, Father in Essence without beginning; we hymn your Son alike without beginning, and devoutly praise the all-holy Spirit, as Three, one God by nature.

Standing in the midst of the Temple at the mid-point of the feast inspired by God, you cried out: Whoever thirsts, let them come to me and drink; for whoever drinks of this divine stream of mine, rivers of my teachings will flow from his belly; whoever believes in me, who have been sent from my divine Begetter, will be glorified with me. Therefore we cry to you: Glory to you, Christ God, for you have richly poured out for your servants the streams of your love for mankind.

When you broke open the gates of death by your power you made known the ways of life, and opened the gates of immortality to those who cry in faith: Glory to your power, O Lord.

You hold the mid-point of all things and their end, and as you are without beginning you hold their beginning in your grasp. You stood in the midst and cried out: Come, all who think godly thoughts and enjoy his gifts!

If the Messias must come; but the Messias is Christ, lawless ones, why do you not believe him? See, he has come and what he does bears witness: he made water wine and braced the paralytic with a word.

Not understanding the Scriptures, you are all in error, lawless Hebrews: for Christ has truly come and enlightened all, and among you he has shown many signs and wonders; and vainly you deny true life.

One work I showed you and you all marvel, cried Christ to the Jews: you yourselves circumcise a man even on the Sabbath, he says: why then do you attack me for raising a paralytic with a word?

I have done many works, and for which work do you stone me? Christ cried out, as he reproached the Jews. Was it because I made a man whole with a word? Humans, do not judge by appearances.

O Christ, the offspring of the Father’s nature, working with the Spirit in the Apostles and resting in the Prophets, you have led all the nations to knowledge of you through your signs.

Glory.

Trinity undivided Unity, Father without beginning, Son and Holy Spirit; Trinity in Unity; God, in honour the same, coequal in majesty, life-giving, uncreated save those who hymn you, and deliver them from dangers and troubles.

Now that we have reached the mid-point of the divine feasts, let us hasten with godly thoughts to work for the perfection of virtue inspired by God.

By wonders you made your Apostles shine, by marvels you magnified your Disciples, glorifying them in all the world, our Saviour, and giving them your kingdom.

All the ends of the earth your Disciples enlightened with wonders and teachings, as they proclaimed in divers ways, Christ Saviour, the word of your kingdom.

We give praise to your kingdom, we offer a hymn to you who appeared on earth for our sake and enlightened the world and called back Adam.

Glory.

The mid-point of Pentecost is here to-day, brilliant from the one side in the brightness of the divine Pascha, and shining from the other with grace of the Comforter.

O Jesu, who control the ends of the earth, you went up and taught the crowds in the temple the word of truth at the mid-point of the feast, as John declares.

You opened your lips, Master, and proclaimed to the world the immaculate Father and the all-holy Spirit, keeping your identity of nature with them even after the incarnation.

You completed the Father’s work, you confirmed your words by works, O Saviour, performing cures and signs, making the Paralytic stand upright, cleansing lepers and raising the dead.

The Son without beginning became a beginning, taking our nature he became man; and at the middle of the feast he taught, saying: Run to the unfailing source to draw life.

Glory.

We celebrate this feast in honour of the two great feasts, of Pascha, I mean, and Pentecost, as it unites and binds them both. It occurred in this way. After Christ had performed the supernatural wonder on the Paralytic, the Jews, scandalized indeed because of the Sabbath (for it took place on the Sabbath), sought to kill him. He therefore fled to Galilee, and as he was sojourning on the mountains there, he performed the marvel of the five loaves and two fishes, nourishing five thousand men, not counting women and children. Afterwards at the feast of Tabernacles (this too is a great feast for the Jews) he went up to Jerusalem and went about in secret. About the mid-point of the feast he went up into the Temple and began to teach, and all were amazed at his teaching; but being envious of him they said: How does this man know letters, never having learned? For being the New Adam he knew, being filled with all wisdom as the first one, and again because he was God. Therefore they all murmured and we for slaying him. But Christ confused them, acting as though they were contending about the Sabbath, and said: Why do you seek to kill me? But he again referred to what had gone before, saying: If you contend for the Law, why are angry at me? Because I made a man whole on the Sabbath, when Moses who laid down the law on these things says that it is to be set aside for the sake of circumcision. He argued with them at length over this and showed that he himself had given the Law and that he was equal with the Father. And especially on the last day of the feast he was stoned by them; but not a single stone so much as touched him. And when he was passing by from there he found the man born blind and gave him his sight.

Know that there are three great feasts among the Jews. The first is the Passover, which is celebrated in the first month and commemorates the crossing of the Red Sea. The second is Pentecost, which remembers the sojourning in the wilderness, after the crossing of the Red Sea; for they passed fifty days in the wilderness until they received the Law from Moses. It is also in honour of the number seven, which is held in reverence by them.

The third feast is that of Tabernacles, in memory of the Tabernacle which Moses saw in the cloud on the mountain and which he erected through the craftsman Beseleel. It is also celebrated for seven days in memory of the gathering of fruits and the repose in the wilderness. It was then, as this feast was drawing to its end that Jesus stood and cried with a loud voice: If any thirst, let him come to me and drink!

Saviour, by strength you destroyed the power of death and made known the path of life to mortals, who cry aloud: Blessed are you, Lord, in the temple of your glory.

The repose of all, you toiled in the flesh; the source of wonders, you thirsted willingly; you asked for water, Jesu, promising living water.

You spoke, Lord, with a woman of Samaria, reproving the folly of the lawless Hebrews; for she believed you to be Son of God, while they denied.

Saviour, the ever-living spring, you promised to give living water, welling up, water of incorruption, to those who receive in faith your Spirit, who proceeds from the Father.

You nourished thousands of the hungry with five loaves, O Saviour, and you made the remains of that fullness abound for other tens of thousands, showing your glory to your sacred Disciples.

He who eats your bread will live eternally, and he who drinks your blood, O Saviour, abides in you, and you abide in him, and you will raise him at the last instant.

You showed the marvel of your dispensation, Master, confirming the divine authority by marvels: you expelled diseases, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind as God.

You cleansed the lepers, made the lame walk, braced the paralysed, healed the woman with an issue of blood; You walked on the sea, showing your glory to your sacred Disciples.

Glory.

In beauty you rose from the tomb, Lord, adorned in the glory of your Godhead, and appeared to your Apostles, promising to send the force of the Spirit to them as they cried: All you works, praise the Lord!

Having slain Hell as God, supreme source of life, you became for all a source of eternal life, which the graces of these brilliant days now most clearly resemble for those who cry: All you works, praise the Lord!

Come, peoples, see the one who is hymned upon a throne of glory blasphemed by lawless peoples, and seeing, hymn the Messias who was foretold by the prophets.

You are truly the Christ who is coming into the world, from whom are salvation and forgiveness of ancestral faults; you are the true life of those who believe in you.

The Wisdom of God, so it is written, came to the temple at the mid-point of the feast and taught; for he was truly the Messias, Christ, from whom is salvation.

On the Sabbath, and on all days, Christ showed the works of the signs, healing completely the sick from divers diseases; but the erring people bore grudging anger.

This man, it says, cured the Paralytic, who had been lying sick for many years, on the Sabbath, and so transgressed the Law. Thus the Jews bitterly reviled Christ.

Did not Moses, who gave you the law, not command you to be circumcised? And he circumcised a man on the Sabbath, that the law of the fathers might in no way be abolished, says Christ to the Jews.

The Magnificat is not sung.

From Christ we have learnt a new and fresh way of life: let us all strive diligently to keep it to the end, that we may enjoy the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Giver of Life, you have clothed my mortality with the cloak of immortality and the grace of incorruption; you have raised it with yourself and brought it to the Father, ending my age-long war.

At the mid-point of the feast of the Jews you came, my Saviour, to your temple, and you taught all: but the Jews marvelled, and said: Whence does this man know letters, never having learned?

Pouring out gifts of healings, my Redeemer performed signs and wonders, banishing diseases, healing the sick; but the Jews were maddened by the multitude of his wonders.

My Redeemer confounding the unbelieving Jews cried out: Do not judge by appearances; but judge just judgement: for the Law orders every man to be circumcised even on the Sabbath.

You granted your Disciples greater marvels, O Saviour, as you had promised, when you sent them to proclaim your glory to the nations: while they began to proclaim to the world your Resurrection, your grace and your incarnation.

If you circumcise a man on the Sabbath, yet the law is in no way violated; why do you upbraid me because I made a man whole with a word? You judge according to the flesh, says Christ to the Jews.

O Word, who cured the withered hand with a word, cure the long withered land of my heart, and make me fruitful, that I too, Saviour, may produce fruits by fervent repentance.

Purify my leprous heart, O Word, and give light to the eyes of my soul; stand me upright, who am lying on a bed of pain, as you raised the Paralytic as he lay on his bed.

Glory.

Alien it is to the lawless to honour the Trinity without beginning, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the uncreated omnipotence, through which the whole universe is established by the might of Its strength.

At Lauds we insert 4 verses and we sing the following Prosomia:

The Lord Messias silenced the scribes and confounded the Jews when he cried to them: Lawless ones, do not, as unjust, judge by appearances. For on the Sabbath I raised the Paralytic: therefore I am Lord of the Sabbath and the Law. Why do you seek to slay me, who raise the dead?

The fierce and lawless, the ungrateful assembly of the Jews, stoned Moses, sawed Isaias in two with a wooden saw, cast Jeremy the wise into a pit, but the Lord they raised on a Cross and cried out: You who destroy the temple, save yourself, and we will believe.