AT VESPERS

On “Lord, I have cried…”, 6 stichera: 3 of the forefeast, in Tone IV: Spec. Mel.: “As one valiant among the martyrs…”—

Troparion, in Tone IV—

Let us sound the cymbals, let us cry out in hymns, celebrating the feast of the Virgin’s departure; and let us give utterance to funeral hymnody with splendor, for the Mother of God, the ark all of gold, bound for splendor, maketh ready today to pass over from earth to the heavens, to a new and divine life.

O choir of the apostles, assemble today most gloriously from the ends of the earth, for the animate city of Him Who is Lord over all departeth gloriously from the earth to that which is higher, to join chorus with the King, her Son. With the heavenly armies chant ye the hymns of parting with oneness of mind, for her divine burial.

Come ye now forth beforehand, O company of priests, ye kings and princes, together with the ranks of the virgins! Assemble together, all ye people, sending up funeral hymns! For she who is Mistress over all, bound for the mansions of heaven, desireth to commit her soul into the hands of her Son on the morrow.

And 3 stichera of the prophet, in the same tone: Spec. Mel. “Thou hast given a sign…”—

Showing forth most exalted divine knowledge, thou didst proclaim the manifest and lofty mountain: the preaching of the Savior which would be revealed at the peak of the mountains, to which the nations, hastening with faith, earnestly have recourse, and learn the ways of the Lord, and are saved with eternal salvation.

With divinely inspired tongue thou didst prophesy: the Prince, Whose comings forth are truly from everlasting, doth issue forth and shepherd His people, coming forth out of Bethlehem, O Micah, wondrous among the prophets. And beholding thy prophecy now fulfilled, with divine wisdom we glorify Him of Whom thou didst speak.

Standing before the throne of God, O most honored prophet, vouchsafed joy, beholding glory, and delighting in divine food, full of spiritual gladness and joy, look down now upon those who celebrate thy memory, delivering them from dangers by thine unceasing supplications.

Glory…, Now & ever…, in the same tone—

O all-holy and pure Virgin, we, the multitude of angels in the heavens and the race of men on earth, call thy most honored dormition blessed, in that thou wast the Mother of Christ, the Creator and God of all. Cease not, we pray, to entreat Him in behalf of us who have set our hope on thee and God, O most hymned Theotokos who knewest not wedlock.

At the aposticha, these stichera, in Tone II: Spec. Mel.: “O house of Ephratha…”—

O new wonder! O strange sign! O life-bearing Maiden, how art thou taken by death and art now covered by the grave?

Stichos: Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy holiness.

Let all mortal nature join in chorus! For, behold! the Virgin, the daughter of Adam, is translated to the heavens.

Stichos: The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, and He will not annul it.

Let me envision in mind the bier of the Virgin, magnificently surrounded by the choir of the apostles chanting funeral hymnody.

Glory…, Now & ever…: the composition of Anatolius, in the same tone—

She who is more exalted than the heavens, more glorious than the cherubim and more honorable than all creation, who because of her exceeding great purity, became the receptacle of the ever-existing Essence, committeth her most holy soul today into the hands of her Son. In her are all things filled with joy, and He granteth us great mercy.

Leap up in anticipation, O ye people, clapping your hands with faith, and assemble with love, all rejoicing today and exclaiming with splendor; for the Mother of God, whom we ever glorify with hymns as the Theotokos, will gloriously pass over from those on earth to those on high.