Ode IX

Exapostilarion—

Irmos: Thee who, though born of mortal parents, gavest birth to the Creator, O pure Theotokos our boast, do we magnify as the one who hath dominion over creation.

Thou didst hallow the groves and hills of the Irish land with thy prayer, and didst bedew the newly-planted meadow of Christ with copious tears, that it might grow and bring forth fruit an hundredfold. Wherefore, after God, we magnify thy labors and zeal.

Celebrating thine annual commemoration, and praising thine apostolic labors, assembling from the East and from the West we magnify thee with one soul.

Theotokion: Withdraw not thy care from Ireland or any Christian land, O Theotokos, entreating thy divine Son, with the holy Patrick, that He have mercy and save those who unceasingly magnify thee.

Irmos: God the Lord, the Son of the unoriginate Father, hath revealed Himself to us incarnate of the Virgin, to enlighten those in darkness and to gather the dispersed. Wherefore, we magnify the all-hymned Theotokos.

Thou didst offer Christ thy youth as a sacrifice, and didst serve Him until thou hadst grown old, O holy hierarch, emulating the apostles and imitating the venerable. Wherefore, we magnify thee aloud.

Theotokion: We offer thee the cry of Gabriel, O all-immaculate one, saying: Rejoice, O field unploughed! Rejoice, annulment of the curse! Rejoice, fount of living water, boast of the venerable, O Ever-virgin Theotokos!

Having illumined the heathen night with the light of Christ, O Patrick, thou now abidest in never-waning light, gazing upon the Sun of righteousness, and praying unceasingly, that the noetic light of Orthodoxy shine forth in all the world.

O all-immaculate Theotokos, thou ray of the Sun of righteousness, who everlastingly carrieth the Light of the threefold Sun forth into the darkness: Illumine thou our souls!

God doth glorify thee, O blessed one; for, when borne to the grave, thou didst pour forth healings, and the blind saw the light, and those who were mute received the power of speech, O most glorious Alexis.

Borne to thy burial, O father, and laid out, thou wast seen to be like the sun, most gloriously emitting rays of healing, driving away dark passions, burning up the demons and enlightening the divinely wise.

Moved by God, the first among the patriarchs came to bury thee, and the most Christian emperor, the princes, senators and young men, and the choirs of monastics; and they were sanctified by touching thee, O blessed one.

Thou wast borne aloft on a chariot of the virtues, and dost rest where are the ranks of the venerable and the assembly of the apostles and martyrs, the patriarchs and all the righteous. With them remember us who honor thee, O Alexis.