AT GREAT VESPERS

On “Lord, I have cried…”, 8 stichera: 3 from the Pentecostarion, and 5 for the apostle, in Tone IV: Spec. Mel.: “As one valiant among the martyrs…”—

Troparion, in Tone III—

With the rod of grace thou didst draw men forth from the deep of vanity, O right wondrous James, obedient to the behest of thy Teacher, Who illumined thy whole mind and showed thee forth as an apostle and an honored and divine herald of His unapproachable divinity, O all-blessed one. Twice

Or this troparion, in the same tone—

The effulgence of the Spirit descended upon thee in the guise of fire and made of thee, O blessed one, a habitation of God who dispellest the darkness of ungodliness with might and enlightenest the world with the radiance of thine all-wise words, O James, thou initiate of the mysteries, leader of the apostles, who beheld Christ with thine own eyes. Twice

Glory…, Now & ever…: troparion from the Pentecostarion.

Illumining those who sleep in the darkness of ignorance with the splendors of thy preaching, O glorious James, thou didst show them forth as children, by faith, of our Master and God, Whose suffering and death thou didst emulate; and, as thou art an all-wise herald of God and His true disciple, thou hast a share in His glory.

Glory…, in Tone VIII—

Come, let us all praise James with hymns of psalms: the preacher of the mysteries of heaven and recounter of the Gospel; for he hath been shown to be a river of the noetic paradise, watering the furrows of men’s souls with heavenly showers and showing them to be fertile for Christ God Who granted cleansing, enlightenment and great mercy unto all through his supplications.

Now & ever…: Doxasticon from the Pentecostarion.

Entrance. Prokimenon of the day. Three Readings:

A Reading from the General Epistle of James (1:1-12)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers trials, knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and its flower falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth; so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to those who love Him.

A Reading from the General Epistle of James (1:13-27)

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is not ­variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begot He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, put away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth in it, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself undefiled by the world.

A Reading from the General Epistle of James (2:1-13)

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in fine apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him who weareth the fine clothing, and say unto him, “Sit thou down here in a good place;” and say to the poor, “Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool,” are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren: hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to those who love Him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name whereby ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they who shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, who hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

At the aposticha, these stichera of the saint, in Tone VIII: Spec. Mel.: “O all-glorious wonder…”—

O blessed James who beheld God, when thou didst hear the voice of the Word thou didst straightway abandon thy love for thy father and thy desire to please him; wherefore, forsaking the tumult of life, and traversing the noetic sea, thou didst roil it with thy teachings of piety and with thy heavenly radiance, O thou who art blessed of God.

Stichos: Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

O blessed James, who with thine own eyes didst behold the Word, the Author of life, pleasing the Father of things to come by thine actions, thou hast deprived of his primacy the most abominable Ishmael who doth worship his belly as god, and thou hast tripped him and shown him to be devoid of the Father’s protection, having no share in His blessing and inheritance.

Stichos: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaimeth the work of His hands.

Thou hast now been appointed prince over all the earth, O glorious one, as was written of thee before, for thou wast a disciple of Him Who created all things; and by thy steadfast zeal and invincible boldness thou didst endure execution, O blessed one, the first slain among the honored company of the twelve disciples.

Glory…, Now & ever…, in Tone I—

Thou didst follow after Christ, O godly James, didst despise the world, hiding His teachings in thy treasury, and wast shown to be His apostle. Wherefore, going unto the nations, with the commandments of the Savior thou didst enlighten souls benighted by deception and the passions, that they might believe in the consubstantial Trinity.

Now & ever…: from the Pentecostarion.

O holy apostle James, entreat the merciful God, that He grant to our souls remission of transgressions.

Thou wast a chosen apostle of Christ and the only brother of the beloved Theologian, O most lauded James. Ask thou remission of sins for those who hymn thee, and great mercy for our souls.