AT VESPERS

On “Lord, I have cried…”, 6 stichera: 3 for the venerable Paul, in Tone I: Spec. Mel.: “Joy of the ranks of heaven…”—

Now & ever…: Theotokion, or this stavrotheotokion: Spec. Mel.: “When from the Tree…”—

O thrice-blessed Paul, thou didst show thyself to the world as the beginning of the life of the heaven-scaling path of virtue; for well didst thou appoint spiritual ascents in thy soul, whereby thou didst achieve the apex of the virtues through abstinence and many pangs.

Furnishing thy mind with wings to fly to divine desire, O blessed one, thou didst ascend to the upper desert and didst draw nigh unto the darkness, wherein thou wast radiantly illumined by the understanding of God and wast anointed on the tablets of thy heart with the splendor of the virtues.

The desert blossomed with the beauteous flowers of thy virtues; for therein thou didst destroy the thorns of the passions, and didst plant the right glorious pangs of thy divine works. Wherefore, like a lily planted by God, thou dost now perfume us with the sweet fragrance of thy life.

And 3 stichera of the venerable John, in Tone II: Spec. Mel.: “When from the Tree…”—

When at the behest of God thou didst flee the beauties of the world, rejoicing, O father, thou didst prefer the narrow and exceeding hard path of pain to that which is broad. Wherefore, clothed in the image of God, thou didst receive the care of souls, O divinely blessed one, for thine avoidance and denial of pleasures.

Wounded by the love of Christ, Whose ineffable poverty thou didst love, thou didst conceive of a strange life, a strange undertaking, O father, and as a homeless pauper at thy parents’ gate, thou didst endure affliction and abuse. Wherefore, thou wast filled with spiritual gifts and hast in the heavens inherited riches which cannot be taken away.

Bearing the sacred Gospel in thy hands, O father, thou becamest a fulfiller thereof. Spurning the possessions of thy parents, by tears and poverty thou didst perfect thy whole life, O venerable John. Wherefore, thou dost now delight in divine consolation and never-ending gladness, O all-blessed one.

Glory…, in Tone II—

Rejecting the world and all that is in the world, O venerable one, and taking up the Gospel, thou didst follow Christ evangelically; and living secretly in a hut, as in a garden of paradise, by thine utterly strict manner of life thou didst choke the serpent, the slayer of men. Wherefore, abiding in the heavens, O blessed John, beg thou great mercy for us.

When the unblemished ewe-lamb beheld her Lamb led, of His own will, as a man to the slaughter, she said, weeping: “Dost Thou now hasten to leave me childless, O Christ, who gave Thee birth? What is this that Thou hast done, O Deliverer of all? Yet will I hymn and glorify Thine extreme goodness, which passeth understanding and recounting, O Thou Who lovest mankind!”