Irmos: Perceiving the inscrutable counsel of God, — the Incarnation of Thee, the Most High, from the Virgin — the Prophet Habbakuk cried aloud: Glory to Thy power, O Lord!
He began: It is truly meet to bless thee, O all-pure one, the Theotokos, ever-blessed and truly all-immaculate, and the all-undefiled Mother of God.
When the divine Gabriel strangely chanted this introduction to the hymn, the monk who listened was amazed, and when he then asked, the angel said it was his custom thus to sing.
The divine Archangel Gabriel commanded that this introduction be added to the beginning of the divine hymn of Cosmas, and that it be taught unto all.
Because the monk asked thee to set down in writing the hymn he had heard, O divine Gabriel, thou didst straightway inscribe it on a tablet of stone. Glory to thine ineffable power, O archangel!
Translated by Isaac Lambertsen. Edition menaion.en.lambertsen.