At the Aposticha, Prosomia of the Forefeast.

Tone 2.

Christ is coming to crush the evil one, to enlighten those in darkness and release the prisoners; let us go forth to meet him.

God will come from Theman; and the Holy One from a shady wooded mountain.

Sing families of nations praise and glory; Magi with gifts, Shepherds abiding in the fields eagerly hurry onwards.

Lord, I heard your report and was afraid; Lord I considered your works and was amazed.

Mountains and hills, valleys and plains, rivers and all creation now magnify the Creator who is brought to birth.

**Forefeast. Tone 4.**

Isaias dance, receive the Word of God; prophesy to the Maiden Mary that a Bush is on fire and is not consumed by the ray of the Godhead. Bethlehem make ready; Eden open your gate; Magi journey to see salvation wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, whom a Star above the Cave has revealed to be the Lord, the giver of life, who saves our race.

Apolytikion of the Forefeast. Tone 4.

Bethlehem prepare; Eden is opened for all. Make ready Ephratha, because the tree of life has flowered in the Cave from the Virgin. For her womb has been revealed as the spiritual Paradise in which is the plant of life; eating from it we shall live; we shall not die as Adam. Christ is born to raise up his image which had fallen.

**Of the Saint.**

**Of the Forefeast. Tone 4.**

Bethlehem prepare; Eden is opened for all. Make ready Ephratha, because the tree of life has flowered in the Cave from the Virgin. For her womb has been revealed as the spiritual Paradise in which is the plant of life; eating from it we shall live; we shall not die as Adam. Christ is born to raise up his image which had fallen.

Tone 2. House of Ephratha.

The Star shines out already in the Cave; you Shepherds with Angels, you Magi with gifts, get ready to arrive.

*:* God will come from Theman; and the Holy One from a shady, wooded mountain.

Christ is drawing near; the Star already shines. The heavenly multitude of the host of spiritual powers bows down.

Lord, I heard your report and was afraid; Lord I considered your works and was amazed.

Bethlehem, rejoice! The One who shepherds Israel, the Saviour, is upon you. Judea, you are no longer least among the rulers.

**Of the Saint.

Tone 5. By Vyzas.**

Today a day of the forefeast of the incarnation of Christ God has shone out with the feast of the all-praised Martyr Anastasia. See, the Virgin is approaching Bethlehem to lay, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a manger of irrational beasts, the Babe who has freed us from the ancient curse and saves our souls.

**Same Tone.**

‘Do not be downcast, Joseph, when you see my womb. For you will see what is born of me and you will rejoice and worship him as God’, said the Mother of God to her own betrothed, as she was about to give birth to Christ. Let us sing her praise, as we say, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; and through you, with us’.

The rest of the Office of Matins as usual and Dismissal.