Nativity of the Theotokos

At the All-Night Vigil.

The Stanza (Stikhira) for: Lord, I have cried: In Tone VI. To-day hath God who sitteth on supersensual thrones prepared for himself upon earth a holy throne. He who in wisdom established the heavens hath, in his love toward mankind, made a living heaven; for from a barren root hath he made to bourgeon forth to us a life-bearing garden, even his Mother. Thou who art the God of wonders, and the hope of the hopeless, O Lord, glory to thee.

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

And again the Stanza: To-day hath God who sitteth...

The Gradual (Prokimen) for the Day.

The Parables (Paremii). Genesis xxviii. 10-17; Ezek. xliii. 27, xliv. 1-4; Prov. ix. i-ii.

The Stanza at the Litiyd, in Tone VIII. (by Patriarch Sergius). On this blessed illustrious day of our Feast, let us sound the spiritual trumpets: for she who is of the seed of David is born this day as the Mother of Life, dispersing darkness; who also is the renewal of Adam and the recall of Eve, the fountain of incorruption, and the annihilation of corruption; through whom, also, we have become godlike, and have been delivered from death. And unto her, with Gabriel, let us cry, O ye faithful: Hail, thou that art full of grace! The Lord is with thee, for thy sake giving unto us great mercy -

The Hymn for the Day (Tropdr), in Tone IV. Thy holy Nativity, O virgin Birth-giver of God, hath proclaimed joy unto all the universe; for from thee is risen the Sun of Righteousness, even Christ our God. And having destroyed the curse, he hath bestowed a blessing; and having brought Death to naught, he hath given unto us life eternal.

The Exaltation (Velitchdnie). We magnify thee, O most holy Virgin, and do homage to thy holy Parents, and exalt thy glorious Nativity.

The Gradual (Prokimen), in the Fourth Tone. I will call to remembrance thy name from generation to generation.

Verse (Stikh): My heart is inditing of a good matter. Verse: Praise ye God in his Saints. The Gospel. Luke i. 39-49, 56.

The First Canon. Tone II. (St. John of Damascus.)

Theme-Songs (Irmosi). I. Come., O ye people, let us sing a song unto Christ-God, who parted asunder the Sea, and guided through it the nation which he had brought forth from the bondage of Egypt: for gloriously hath he been glorified.

III. Establish us in thee, OLord, who through the Tree didst annihilate sin, and implant the fear of thee in the hearts of us who sing praises unto thee.

IV I have heard, O Lord, the fame of thy dispensation, and have glorified thee, who alone lovest mankind.

V. O thou who didst dispel the dim obscurity of the dark sayings in the Scriptures, and didst illumine the hearts of the faithful by the advent of truth through the God-Maiden: Guide thou us, also, by thy light,

O Christ.

VI. From within the whale Jonah cried unto the Lord: Lead me forth

I beseech thee, from the depths of Hell; and unto thee, as the deliverer, with the voice of praise, and in the spirit of truth, I will offer sacrifice.

VII. The bush which upon the mount burned with fire, and the Chaldaeean furnace which dropped dew, clearly foreshadowed thee, the Bride of God: for, unconsumed by the flame, thou didst receive the immaterial Fire Divine in thy material womb. For which cause we cry unto him who was born of thee: Blessed be thou, O God of our fathers.

VIII. In the furnace of the Children thou didst, of old, foreshadow thy Mother, O Lord, and this foreshadowing saved from the fire those who walked in the midst thereof unconsumed. Her who, through thee, is manifested unto the ends of the world, to-day we hymn and magnify exceedingly.

IX. Thee, who from thy Virgin womb ineffably didst incarnate God, the Light which shone forth before the Sun was made, and came down to us in the flesh, O blessed, all-pure Birth-giver of God, we magnify.

In place of: My soul doth magnify the Lord: the Refrains: Magnify, O my soul, the most glorious Nativity of the Mother of God. Magnify, O my soul, Mary the Virgin, who of the barren one was born.

At the Liturgy. The Introit: The Hymn for the Day. (See page 164.) The Collect-Hymn (Konddk). Joachim and Anna were delivered from the reproach of childlessness, and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, in thy holy Nativity, O All-pure One. This do thy people cele-

brate, being redeemed from the guilt of transgressions, when they cry unto thee: The barren giveth birth to the Birth-giver of God and the Nourisher of our Life.

The Gradual (Prokimen), in the Fourth Tone. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Verse (Stikh): For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

The Epistle. Phil. ii. 5-1 1.

Alleluia. (Tone VIII.) Hearken, O Daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear.

Verse: A rich nation shall worship before thy presence.

The Gospel. Luke x. 38-42, xi. 27, 28.

The Hymn in place of: Meet is it: The Ninth Theme-Song of the Second Canon. Alien to mothers is virginity, and strange unto virgins is childbirth; in thee, O Birth-giver of God, were both achieved. Wherefore all we nations of the earth unceasingly do magnify thee.

The Communion Hymn. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.