Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; many are those who would destroy me, my enemies who accuse me falsely. What I did not steal must I now restore? O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonoured because of me, O God of Israel. It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s children. It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress: make haste to answer me. Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies. You know the insults I receive, and my shame and dishonour; my foes are all known to you. Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one live in their tents. For they persecute those whom you have struck down, and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more. Add guilt to their guilt; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous. But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me. I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Juda; and his servants shall live there and possess it; the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall live in it. ****

¶15

Psalm 69

¶16

O God, come to my help; Lord, hasten to help me. Let those who seek my soul be shamed and confounded. Let those who wish me evil be turned back and put to shame. Let those who say to me: ‘Fine, fine!’ be turned back immediately, ashamed. Let all who seek you, O God, be glad and rejoice in you. Let all who love your salvation ever say: ‘The Lord be magnified.’ But I am poor and needy; help me, O God. You are my helper and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay. ****

¶17

Psalm 85

¶18

Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my soul, for I am holy; O my God, save your servant who hopes in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I shall cry to you all the day; give joy to the soul of your servant, for I have lifted up my soul to you. For you, O Lord, are good and gentle, and full of mercy to all who call on you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplication. In the day of my trouble I called to you, for you heard me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord; none whose works are as yours. All the nations whom you made will come and worship before you, O Lord, and call upon your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Guide me, O Lord, in your way, and I shall walk in your truth; make my heart glad to fear your name. I shall give you thanks, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart; and I shall glorify your name for ever. For your mercy is great towards me, and you have delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the lawless rose up against me, and an assembly of mighty ones sought my soul, and did not set you before them. And you, Lord, are pitying and merciful, long-suffering and full of mercy and true. Look on me and have mercy on me; give your might to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. Make with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see it and be shamed; for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. ****

¶19

Make with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see it and be shamed; for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

¶20

**x3**)*,* Lord, have mercy (**x3**)*.*

¶21

The Thief, seeing the Prince of life hanging on the Cross, said: If he who is crucified with us was not God incarnate, the sun would not have hidden its rays, nor would the shaken earth be quaking. But you who bear all things, remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

¶22

O Good One, who was born of a Virgin for our sakes and endured crucifixion; who despoiled death by death and as God revealed resurrection, do not despise those whom you fashioned with your own hand; show your love for mankind, O Merciful, accept the Mother of God who bore you, as she intercedes for us, and save, O Saviour, a people in despair.

¶23

Idiomels. Tone 7

¶24

A strange wonder it was to see the Maker of heaven and earth hanging on a cross; the sun darkened, the day changed again into night and the earth giving back the bodies of the dead from their tombs; with them we worship you. Save us. (

¶25

**Twice, without a verse**) ****

¶26

They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing. ****

¶27

Tone 2

¶28

When the transgressors saw you, the Lord of glory, nailed to the Cross, you cried out to them, ‘How have I grieved you? In what have I angered you? Before me, who delivered you from affliction? And now how do your repay me? With evils for blessings: instead of a pillar of fire, you have nailed me to a cross; instead of a cloud, you have dug me a tomb; instead of the manna, you have offered me gall; instead of water, you have given me vinegar to drink. From now on I shall call the nations, and they will glorify me with the Father and the holy Spirit’.

¶29

They gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

¶30

¶31

To-day he is hung upon a tree, he who hung the earth upon the waters (

¶32

He is arrayed in a crown of thorns, he who is the King of the Angels. He is wrapped in mocking purple, he who wraps the heaven in clouds. He receives a blow on the face, he who freed Adam in Jordan. He is transfixed with nails, the Bridegroom of the Church. He is pierced by a lance, the Son of the Virgin. We worship your Sufferings, O Christ (**x3**).

¶33

Show us also your glorious Resurrection.

¶34

The fool has said in his heart: \* ‘There is no God’.

¶35

There is none who does good; no, not one.

¶36

The Reading is from the Prophecy of Jeremias.

¶37

Lord, make me know, and I shall know; then I saw their practices. But I, like an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed, did not know; against me they devised an evil thought, saying: Come, and let us cast wood into his bread and let us wipe him out of the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more. Lord, you judge justly, you try reins and hearts, may I see vengeance upon them from you, because I have revealed to you my justification. Therefore thus says the Lord to the men of Anathoth who seek for my life and who say: Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, otherwise you will die at our hands. See, I shall visit them; their youths will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will perish by hunger, and there will not be a remnant of them; because I shall bring evils upon the inhabitants of Anathoth, in the year of their visitation. You are just, Lord, so I shall make my defence to you, moreover I shall speak of judgements to you: why does the way of the ungodly go well? Those who set breaches of faith at nothing have prospered, you planted them and they have taken root; they begot children and produced fruit; you are near to their mouth and far from their reins. And you, Lord, know me, you have tried my heart before you; purify them for the day of their slaughter. How long will the land grieve and the grass of the field be dried from the wickedness of its inhabitants? Animals and birds have vanished, because they ⟨the inhabitants⟩ said: God will not see our ways. Your feet run and make you faint. Assemble all the beasts of the field and let them come and eat it. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my desired portion a trackless desert, it has been made into utter destruction. Because thus says the Lord of all the evil neighbours who touch my inheritance, which I have apportioned to my people Israel: See, I shall drag them from their land and I shall cast Juda out of their midst. And it shall be that after I have cast them out, I shall turn back and have mercy on them, and I shall make them dwell, each in his inheritance and each in his land.

¶38

The Reading is from the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews.

¶39

Brethren, since we have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

¶40

And that he would count us worthy to listen to the holy Gospel, let us pray to the Lord God. ****

¶41

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. ****

¶42

And to your spirit. ****

¶43

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to John. ****

¶44

Glory to you, O Lord, glory to you!

¶45

At that time, there stood by the Cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalen. And Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside him, says to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he says to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled says, ‘I thirst.’ Now there was a vessel there full of vinegar; so having filled a sponge with vinegar and put in on a branch of hyssop they held it to his mouth. So when Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, ‘It is accomplished’, and bowing his head he gave up the spirit. The Jews then, so that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, since it was Friday, the day of Preparation (for that Sabbath was a solemn day), asked Pilate that they might break their legs and that they might be removed. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and second who were crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus as they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers with a lance pierced his side, and at once there came out blood and water. And he saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true. And he knows that he speaks the truth, so that you too may believe. For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Not a bone of him will be broken. And again another Scripture says, They will look an the one they have pierced*.*

¶46

Glory to you, Lord, glory to you!

¶47

For your holy name*’*s sake do not finally reject us, do not annul your covenant, do not take your mercy from us for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, and for the sake of Isaac, your servant, and Israel, your holy one.

¶48

Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (*three times*)

¶49

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

¶50

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for your name’s sake. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

¶51

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen

¶52

Our Father, in heaven, may your name be hallowed; your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us not temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

¶53

For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. ****

¶54

Come, let us all sing the praise of him who was crucified for us; for Mary looked upon him on the Tree and said: ‘Though you endure the Cross, yet you are my Son and my God’.

¶55

Lord, have mercy ***(*x40*)***

¶56

At every time and at every hour, in heaven and on earth worshipped and glorified, Christ God, long-suffering, great in mercy, great in compassion, loving the just and merciful to sinners, calling all to salvation by the promise of the blessings to come; do you, Lord, yourself accept our entreaties at this hour, and direct our lives to your commandments. Sanctify our souls, purify our bodies, correct our thoughts, cleanse our ideas and deliver us from every distress, evil, and pain. Wall us about with your holy Angels, that protected and guided by their host we may reach the unity of the faith and the knowledge of your unapproachable glory; for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

¶57

Lord, have mercy.(

¶58

**x3**), Glory. Both now. Greater in honour than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word, truly the Mother of God we magnify you. In the name of the Lord, bless, Father. ****

¶59

May God take pity on us. ****

¶60

Master, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who have long endured our transgressions, and brought us to this hour in which hanging on the life-giving tree you showed the good Thief the way into Paradise and destroyed death by death, have mercy also on us sinners and your unworthy servants. For we have sinned and trespassed and are not worthy to raise our eyes and look on the height of heaven; because we have abandoned the way of your justice and walked in the will of our hearts. But we implore your unbounded goodness: spare us, O Lord, according to the multitude of your mercy, and save us for your holy name’s sake, for our days have been wasted in vanity. Rescue us from the hand of our opponent, forgive us our sins, slay our carnal will, that we, having put off the old man, may put on the new, and live for you, our Master and benefactor; and that thus following your precepts we may reach eternal rest, where those who rejoice have their dwelling. For you are the true joy and gladness of those who love you, Christ our God, and to you we give glory, together with your Father who has no beginning, and your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and to ages of ages. Amen.

Translated by Ephrem Lash. Edition lash.en.anastasis.