Ode 3. The Irmos

Your Church, O Christ, rejoices in you and cries: You, Lord, are my strength, my refuge and my firmament.

The Tree of life, the true and spiritual Vine, is hanging on a Cross and pours out for all the elixir of immortality.

As great, as fearful, as he who destroyed the insolence of Hell and as God incorruptible he has now risen in the body.

You alone have become the cause of blessings beyond nature for those on earth, Mother of God; and so we bring to you our ‘Hail’.

Another, of the Cross and Resurrection. O Mother of God.

The serpent sunk its fangs filled with poison into me, O Saviour; but with the nails in your hands, Master, you crushed them; for none is holy of holies but you, O Lover of mankind.

Willingly you appeared as a life-giving corpse in a tomb, Lover of mankind, and you reopened the gates of Hell for the souls from every age; for none is holy of holies but you, O Lover of mankind.

You appeared as an unploughed field, which gave birth to the ear of life, the cause of immortality for all who share in it, the holy of holies, who rests in holiness.

Another, of the Mother of God. You came down from above

The being of mortals was cleansed when through you it encountered the unendurable divine fire; like a hidden loaf it was baked in you, all-pure Virgin, by that fire who kept you unharmed.

Who is this who is truly God’s neighbour, for she is higher than all the ranks of Angels? She who alone in the beauty of virginity shines as the Mother of the Almighty.