Ode 4. Irmos.

‘You have come from a Virgin, not an envoy, not an Angel, but the Lord himself incarnate, and you have saved the whole on me, mankind; therefore I cry to you, ‘Glory to your power, O Lord’’.

The great Forerunner marvels at your coming, Jesu our Benefactor, and abasing himself he cries, ‘You are fire, Master; do not burn me up, Lord, who am but grass’.

‘As you see me standing in these waters, John, by my own will, now draw near and baptize me, that through water I may contrive grace for the human race’.

‘I knew you, my God, hidden in a body, like the sun in a cloud. How then are you naked, now wrapping yourself in the waters?’ cried John in amazement.

‘Human nature is made resplendent and receives redemption from the darkness of sin, and from on high it is clothed with a divine tunic of incorruption by my stripping myself naked’.