AT VESPERS

O Joyful Light; **the Prokeimenon of the day, and the Readings.**

The Reading is from Jesus son of Navi.

**At** Lord, I have cried **we insert 6 Stichera and we sing Prosomia of Michael.**

**Theotokion.**

The Reading is from Judges.

Tone 4. As noble among Martyrs.

**The same Tone. Theotokion.**

Brightest attendant of the three-sunned Godhead, Michael Chief Captain, with the Powers on high you cry with joy: Holy are you, O Father, Holy are you, O co-eternal Word, Holy too are you, O Holy Spirit; one glory, one kingship, one nature, one Godhead and Power.

Fiery your form and wonderful your beauty, Michael first of Angels, for with your immaterial nature you pass through the ends of the world fulfilling the orders of the Maker of all things, recognised as powerful in your strength, and making your temple, honoured with your holy name, a source of healings.

O Lord, who make spirits your Angels, as it is written, and a flame of fire those who minister to you, you have declared Michael the Chief Captain as leader of your Archangels, who is wholly subject to your wishes, O Word, and cries aloud with fear the thrice-holy hymn to your glory.

Of Gabriel. The same tone. You have given us a sign.

The eternal Mind established you, Gabriel, as second light, lighting the whole world with participation in divine gifts and revealing to us the divine and truly great mystery from all eternity: the bodiless being embodied in a Virgin womb and becoming man to save mankind.

As you attend the throne of the Godhead with triple sun and with the splendours that pour from it unceasingly flood those of us on earth who stand harmoniously in choir and praise you, free us from the fog of passions and make us radiant with enlightenment, O Gabriel Chief Captain, intercessor for our souls.

Shatter the assaults of Hagar’s off-spring, incessantly directed at your flock; abate the schisms of the Church; calm the swell of measureless temptations; from dangers and troubles deliver us who honour you with love, O Gabriel Chief Captain, intercessor for our souls.

**Tone 6. By Byzantios.**

Rejoice with us, all you commanders of the Angels, for your leader and our champion, the great Chief Captain, marvellously appearing today in his sacred shrine, sanctifies it; therefore as is right let us cry out to him with songs of praise: Shelter us in the shelter of your wings, Michael greatest of Archangels!

Rejoice with us, all you choirs of Virgins; for our protection, intermediary, shelter and great refuge, marvellously appearing today in her sacred shrine, sanctifies it; therefore as is right let us cry out to her with song of praise: Shelter us in the shelter of your wings, immaculate Lady, Mother of God.

It came to pass, when Jesus was in Jericho, that he looked up with his eyes and saw a man standing in front of him, and his drawn sword was in his hand. And Jesus approached him and said: ‘Are you one of ours? Or are you one of the enemy’s?’ But he said to him: ‘I am Chief Captain of the power of the Lord, and now I have come here’. And Jesus fell on his face to the ground and said: ‘Master, what orders have you for your servant?’ And the Chief Captain of the Lord said to Jesus: ‘Untie the sandals from your feet; for the place where you are standing is holy’; and Jesus did so.

It came to pass in that day that Madiam prevailed against the children of Israel, and they cried to God. And behold, the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak of Joas in Ephrata, and Gedeon his son was threshing wheat in the wine-press, and hastening to escape from the presence of Madiam. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him: ‘The Lord is with you, powerful in strength’. And Gedeon said to him: ‘In me, my Lord; and if the Lord is with us, why have all these evils come upon us? And where are all his wonders, of which our fathers told us, saying: ‘Did not the Lord lead us up out of Egypt?’ And now he has abandoned us, and handed us over to the hand of Madiam’. And the Angel of the Lord looked on him and said to him: ‘Go in this strength of yours and you will save Israel from the hand of Madiam. See, I have sent you’. And Gedeon said to him: ‘In me, Lord. How shall I save Israel? See, my thousand is the humblest in Manasse, and I am the smallest in my father’s house’. And the Angel of the Lord said to him: ‘The Lord will be with you, and you will smite Madiam as one man’. And Gedeon said to him: ‘If I have found grace in your eyes, and you do for me to-day everything of which you have spoken with me, do not, pray, leave here until I come back to you, and I shall bring my sacrifice and offer sacrifice before you’. And he said; ‘I am, I shall sit here until you return’. And Gedeon went and prepared a goat kid and an measure of unleavened flour, and he put the meat in a basket and the broth he put in a pot and brought them to him under the oak, and approached. And the Angel of the Lord said to him: ‘Take the meat and the unleavened loaves and put them on that rock and pour out the broth next it’. And he did so. And the Angel of the Lord stretched out the tip of the rod in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened loaves; and fire was kindled from the rock and it devoured the meat and the unleavened loaves; and the Angel of the Lord disappeared from his sight. And Gedeon saw that it was the Angel of the Lord, and Gedeon said: ‘Alas Lord, Lord! Because I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face’. And the Lord said to him: ‘Peace to you, do not be afraid, you shall not die’. And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it PEACE OF THE LORD until this day.

The Reading is from the Prophecy of Daniel.

In the third year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Baltasar; and the word was true and mighty power, and understanding was given him in a vision. In those days, I Daniel had been mourning for three weeks of days. And desiring bread, I did not eat, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, I did not anoint myself with oil until the completion of the three weeks of days. And on the twenty fourth of the first month in the third year, I was near the great river, that is the Tigris. And I raised my eyes and looked, and behold a man, clothed in linen, his loins girt with gold of Ophaz; and his body was as Tharsis, and his face like the sight of lightning, and his eyes like lamps of fire, and his arms and legs like the sight of gleaming bronze, and the sound of his words was as the sound of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me saw nothing; but great amazement fell on them and they fled in fear. And I was left alone, and I saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me, and my glory was turned to corruption, and I retained no strength. And I heard the sound of his words; and when I heard the sound of his words I was stunned with my face to the ground. And behold a hand was touching me and raised me onto my knees and the knuckles of my hands. And he said to me; ‘Daniel, man of desires, understand by the words which I speak to you, and stand upright, because I have been sent to you’; and when he had spoken this word to me I arose trembling. And he said to me: ‘Daniel, do not be afraid, because from the first day that you gave your heart to understand and to be afflicted before the Lord your God, your words were heard, and I have come through your words. And the Ruler of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me for twenty one days; and behold Michael one of the chief Rulers came to help me, and I left him there with the Ruler of the kingdom of the Persians. And I have come to make you understand all that will happen to your people in the last days; because the vision is yet for days ahead’. And when he spoke to me in these words, I put my face to the ground and was stunned. And behold as the likeness of a son of man touched my lips; and I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to the one who stood in front of me: ‘Lord, at the sight of you, my inward parts were turned within me, and I had no strength. And how will your servant, Lord, be able to speak with my Lord? And from now on strength will not remain in me, and breath has not been left in me’. And once again there touched me as it were the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me and said to me: ‘Do not be afraid, man of desires, peace be with you; be a man and be strong’. And when he had spoken with me I grew strong and said: ‘Let my Lord speak to me, for you have given me strength’. And he said: ‘Do you know why I have come to you? And now I shall return to make war on the Ruler of the Persians; and as I was going in the Ruler of the Greeks came. But I shall tell you what is ordained in the scripture of truth, and there is not one that upholds me against these, but Michael your Ruler’.

At the Liti, Idiomel Stichera.

Tone 1. By Kyprianos.

Chief captains of the spiritual Powers, who ever stand beside the Master’s throne, implore the Lord to give peace to the world and to our souls his great mercy.

The same Tone. By Arsenios.

The Commander of the Powers above, Michael, the leader of the divine ranks, who goes with us every day and guards us all from every assault of the devil, has called us together today to a great festival. Come then, lovers of feasts and lovers of Christ, let us pick the flowers of virtues and with pure thoughts and firm conscience, let us honour the Archangel’s Assembly; for as he stands unceasingly next God and raises high the thrice-holy hymn, he intercedes that our souls may be saved.

Tone 2. By the Studite.

Leaders of the spiritual Powers of the immaterial Being, enlighteners of the world with the rays of the glory with triple sun, Chief Captains, with untiring voices you sing out the thrice-holy hymn; therefore intercede that our souls may be saved.

The same Tone. By Arsenios.

As you surround the immaterial throne, O spiritual beings, divine Bodiless ones, you sing the thrice-holy hymn to God the Ruler with lips of flame: Holy God, the Father without beginning; Holy strong, the co-eternal Son; Holy immortal, the consubstantial Spirit, glorified together with the Father and the Son.

The same Tone. By Anatolios.

With bodiless lips and spiritual mouths the ranks of Angels offer their unceasing hymn to your unapproachable Godhead, Lord; and pure intelligences and ministers of your glory praise you, Master. With them Michael, the bodiless one and leader of the Powers above, the Chief Captain of the Angels, has become for us today host at the feast, urging us on to sing the songs of the Bodiless Powers to your unapproachable glory, Lover of mankind, that he may intercede without ceasing on behalf of our souls.

Tone 4. By Ephraim of Karia.

Bright with the sun’s beam of the divine light, Chief Captains, you outshine the ranks of immaterial beings; clothed like light in dazzling white in the highest, you shed on the world the fire of the unapproachable Godhead; and so you sing unceasingly with lips of flame the thrice-holy hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy are you, our God. Glory to you.

Tone 6.

Your Angels, O Christ, standing with fear by the throne of your majesty and ever shining with the light that floods from you, sing your praises in the highest, and sent forth by you as ministers of your will, they give enlightenment to our souls.

With lips of fire the Cherubim sing your praise, Christ God; with bodiless mouths the choir of Archangels sings a never-ending hymn of glory; Michael, the Chief Captain of the Powers above, offers to your glory an unceasing hymn of victory. For he has shone on us today that for this shining festival we may fittingly ring out in song the thrice-holy hymn with lips of clay; for all things have been filled with your praise, and you grant the world through him your great mercy.

Today the temple that contains God, the Mother of God, is brought into the Lord’s temple and Zachary receives her. Today the Holy of Holies rejoices and the choir of Angels mystically celebrates the festival; with whom let us, as today we celebrate, cry out with Gabriel: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, he who has great mercy.