Canon I

Exapostilarion: Spec. Mel: “Hearken, ye women...”—

Irmos: Establish us in thee, O Lord Who hast slain sin by the Tree, and plant the fear of Thee in the hearts of us who hymn Thee.

Kontakion, in Tone VI—

Through prayer the divine choir of passion-bearers doth manifestly drive the assaults of dangers, the attacks of the passions and the temptations of the demons away from those who hymn Christ forever.

Glory... Now and ever...: Theotokion—

Sessional hymn, in Tone VIII: Spec. Mel: “Of the ­Wisdom...”—

On the Praises, 4 stichera, in Tone V: Spec. Mel: “Rejoice...”—

Theotokion: Without seed didst thou conceive God in thy womb, giving birth unto Him Who was ineffably incarnate; and even the hosts of heaven dare not gaze upon Him, O pure Ever-virgin.

Disdaining the army and life, the comeliness of their bodies, and wealth, the right glorious forty martyrs inherited Christ instead of all of these things.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Glory...: Another exapostilarion—

Come ye, O brethren, and with praises let us hymn the regiment of martyrs which was consumed by fire and cold, and with burning zeal burned up the winter of deception, the most valorous army, the most sanctified company, the unvanquished and invincible protection, the rampart and protectors of the faith, the divine choir of the forty martyrs who mightily entreat Christ, the Mediator of the Church, that He send down upon our souls peace and great mercy. Twice

Theotokion: O Virgin Bride of God, be thou the confirmation, refuge and protection of those who have recourse unto thee in faith and confess thee to be the Mother of God.

When the forty martyrs were mercilessly stoned with rocks at the command of the tormentors, by the Spirit of God the stones were hurled back against those who commanded that they be beaten.

Irmos: I have heard report of Thy dispensation, O Lord, and have glorified Thee Who alone lovest mankind.

Now and ever...: Theotokion—

Rejoice, mighty and courageous assembly, victorious regiment, pillars of piety, warriors of Christ, steadfast and invincible swordsmen, truly divine, most mighty of mind and manly of soul, holy choir desired of God, divinely elect company, O ye forty martyrs equal in suffering, and equal also in character, and who received equal crowns: Entreat Christ, that He grant our souls peace and great mercy!

Theotokion: We beseech thee, O all-pure one who didst conceive God without seed: Ever pray for thy servants.

The serpent of him who invented blasphemy spake through the lips of the tormentors, but his blasphemous mouth is broken by the rocks hurled at the martyrs.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Glory..., the composition of John the Monk, in the same tone —

Rejoice, victorious multitude, who with valor were courageous in battle, ye stars who passed through fire and cold, who broke asunder the water’s ice, who have rendered the earth heavenly and illumined all, and who are now warmed in the bosom of Abraham and join chorus with the armies of the angels, O forty martyrs, ye flowers emitting the fragrance of spiritual diffusion: Entreat Christ, that He grant our souls great mercy.

Theotokion: Hymning Him Who was incarnate of thy womb, O pure one, we glorify thee as the Mother of God.

O ye martyred company and united chorus of crowned martyrs, standing before the Master, do ye ever save us that sing your praises.

Irmos: O Lord, Bestower of light and Creator of the ages: guide us in the light of Thy commandments, for we know none other God than Thee.

Now and ever...: Theotokion—

O athletes of Christ, ye have rendered the most honorable Fast most radiant by the commemoration of your glorious suffering; for, being forty in number, ye hallow the forty days of Lent, emulating the Savior’s suffering in your own suffering for Christ. Wherefore, as ye are possessed of boldness, pray that we in the world may attain unto the Resurrection on the third day of God, the Savior of our souls.

Theotokion: To thee who gavest birth unto Christ, the Creator of all, do we cry aloud: Rejoice, O pure one! Rejoice, thou who hast shone forth the Light upon us! Rejoice, thou who didst contain the infinite God!

Battered by the lake of the passions and by the waves of grievous temptations, we flee to you, Christ’s forty warriors.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

We, the faithful bless thee, O Virgin Theotokos, and we glorify thee as is meet, for thou art the impregnable city, the insuperable rampart, the steadfast intercessor and refuge of our souls.

Theotokion: O Maiden Mistress, thou didst truly bear God as thy divine Offspring, as a mystery inscrutable and incomprehensible to all, passing all understanding.

Warmed in the bosom of Abraham and arrayed with glorious apparel, pray ye that Christ grant remission unto those who are bound by the winter of evil circumstances.

Irmos: Whirled about in the abyss of sin, I call upon the unfathomable abyss of Thy loving-kindness: Lead me up from corruption, O God!

Theotokion: O Virgin, thou gavest birth without knowing man, and remainest forever a virgin, revealing images of thy Son and God, the true Deity.

Having served Christ in martyrdom as warriors and cast down the enemy through suffering, in your deeds ye fulfilled the words of the Prophet: Ye went manfully through fire and water, finding refreshment, life incorruptible. Wherefore, adorned with heavenly crowns, ye rejoice with the choirs of the bodiless ones, O blessed and all-praised passion-bearers. Entreat Christ God, that He grant remission of sins unto those who honor your holy memory with love. Twice

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Theotokion: On thee have I set my hope of salvation, O Ever-virgin Mother; and Thee have I appointed as the steadfast and unshaken intercessor of my life.

Having fallen into subtle snares set for me by enemies, visible and invisible, and been caught in the tempest of my countless offenses, I flee to the harbor of thy goodness, as to my fervent aid and protection, O pure one. Wherefore, O all-pure one, do thou earnestly entreat Him Who was incarnate of thee without seed, in behalf of all thy servants who pray unceasingly. O all-pure Theotokos, do thou ever beseech Him to grant remission of transgressions unto those who hymn thy glory as is meet.

Irmos: When the golden image was worshipped on the plain of Dura, Thy three youths spurned the ungodly command, and, cast into the midst of the fire, bedewed, they sang: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Theotokion: On Mount Sinai Moses foresaw thee, O pure one, as a burning bush which, without being consumed, bore the unbearable effulgence of the ineffable Being Who, though One of the holy Hypostases thereof, united Himself to the coarseness of our flesh.

“O ye all-ungodly ones, ye are made vainly to offer such a bad bargain!” said the sufferers.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Theotokion: A beacon of light, a luminous cloud and a place of sanctity hast thou been shown to be, O thou who knewest not wedlock, for thou didst ineffably receive the Word, the Holiest of the holy. And chanting unto Him, we cry out: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

With sharpened swords and wild beasts, fire and the cross did the tormentors threaten the saints of Christ.

Irmos: God, Who descended into the fiery furnace for the Hebrew children and transformed the flame into dew, hymn ye as Lord, O ye works, and exalt Him supremely for all ages!

Theotokion: The Son Who is not parted from the bosom of the Father, yet Who made His abode in thy maternal womb, O pure Virgin Bride of God, do we hymn and exalt supremely for all ages!

“The fire of Gehenna affrighteth us, but we are not afraid of any of our fellow servants here present,” said the athletes.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Theotokion: Mortals given over to the dust of mortality and to corruption hast thou alone raised up, O pure Mistress, Virgin Theotokos, having given birth to Christ our God, the Author of life.

“Let our arms be cut off, let our feet be burned,” the holy ones cried out, “for we shall receive them back incorruptible.”

Irmos: O ye faithful, with hymns let us magnify in oneness of mind the Word of God, Who from God came in His ineffable wisdom to renew Adam who had grievously fallen into corruption, and Who became ineffably incarnate of the holy Virgin for our sake.

Theotokion: The multitudes of angels entreat thy Son, O Virgin Bride and Mother. Accept thou our supplication, O thou who alone art the hope of the faithful; grant peace to the world, and victory and salvation unto us that love thee.

O martyrs, through God ye have become our illumination, for ye have clothed yourselves in splendor undimmed.

Irmos: The same as that of the preceding canon.

Theotokion: O Virgin, portal of divine Light, with the immaterial rays of thy light illumine the manifest twilight of my soul, and vouchsafe that I who magnify thee faithfully and lovingly with hymns, O pure one, may be delivered from the everlasting fire.

O divinely elect and crowned assembly of martyrs, pray that those who hymn you may be delivered from misfortunes.

O holy ones, having been vouchsafed to behold the never-waning light of Christ, ye are accounted worthy to shine forth upon those who sit in darkness.

Shining with the noetic radiance of Christ, O glorious ones, guide us to the divine illumination.

Through the most mindless savagery of the tormentors, the athletes, condemned to spend the night in the open air in the cold, chanted a hymn of thanksgiving unto God.

Rejoicing, the forty martyrs endured the painful ice, standing in the lake, yet strengthened with the hope of divine crowns.

Driven out, the serpent which before had made its nest in the waters became an object of scorn for the forty martyrs of Christ, for he was deprived of his deadly strength.

From the raging of the heretics do ye now deliver the honorable Church of Christ, O forty martyrs; for, having been born within Her, ye have passed on to great dignity and glory.

Appearing to us, the forty divinely splendid martyrs of Christ like fiery beacons light the saving path of piety for the faithful.

Passing over from earth to the shelter of heaven, where ye stand before Christ, the Judge of the contest, O martyrs, count me worthy to acquire divine joy.

With joy the author of malice snatched the one who fell away from the forty as he did the wretched Judas from the twelve apostles and man from Eden.

Being shameless, the devil rageth in vain, for as of old by the thief and Matthias, so now by one in the office of guardsman is the tyrant also rent asunder.

Vain-minded and worthy of lamentation is he who lost both lives, for thawed by the fire, he departed into the unquenchable fire.

O mighty ones, ye have been shown to be watchful and vigilant preservers of the human race and makers of entreaty; and ye have been put yourselves forward as helpers of the grieving.

Shining forth in your unexcelled beauties within the Church of Christ, O all-praised ones, from temptations deliver those who honor you with love.

Of old ye became destroyers of the deception of the demonized persecutors, O most eminent ones; and be ye now our ready help and rampart.

Having left all the army of the world, ye cleaved unto the Master in the heavens, O forty passion-bearers of the Lord; for, having passed through fire and water, O blessed ones, as is meet ye received glory from the heavens and a multitude of crowns.

Ikos: Unworthy as I am, I fall down before Christ Almighty, our Creator and God, Who sitteth upon an unapproachable throne, Who stretched out the heavens as it were a curtain, Who established the earth, Who gathered the waters in the bodies thereof, Who created all things out of nought, Who granteth breath and life unto all, Who receiveth hymnody from the archangels, is worshipped by the angels and is glorified by all; and offering up entreaty, I beg the grace of eloquence, that I also may piously hymn the saints whom He Himself showed forth as victors, granting them glory from the heavens and a multitude of crowns.

The guard set over the forty martyrs was stricken with awe, beholding their crowns; and, rejecting that which bound him to life, taking wing with the love of Thy manifest glory, with the martyrs he sang: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Hastening to the soul-destroying bath, he that loved his life doth die; but he that loved Christ, being a most exemplary apprehender of those things which he beheld, sang with the martyrs as in a bath of incorruption: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

When the noetic fire flared up in the minds of the forty, the most subtle madness of the ungodly was consumed, as it were melting wax. And to Thee, O Christ, they sang: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Exceeding splendid and magnificent is the power of Thy Cross, O Christ, which counter weaveth wreaths for the forty martyrs; for, having passed through fire and water, they cry out in incorruption: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Your annual commemoration hath brightly dawned, O ye who are most rich, shining far, radiant with the splendor of the Fast. And celebrating it with faith, we chant with you: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

To all are ye shown to be loosers from the passions and beacons shining from afar, the cleansing of the world, the destruction of deception, ­­­clear-voiced proclaimers of the truth and expellers of falsehood, chanting: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Ye are revealed to us as noetic beacons shining forth, O martyrs; for ye save the tempest-tossed and guide those who sail and are battered by the storm of life, chanting unto Christ: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Beautiful to God and desirable to the angels is the divinely assembled and most splendid regiment of the forty martyrs inspired by God, the godly and awesome company which crieth out, saying: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Savagely inciting every creature against the athletes, the enemy hath been put to shame by them all, for the forty martyrs unceasingly hymn and exalt the Lord supremely for all ages.

Cruelly were the members of your bodies broken for Christ, and ye offered yourselves unto God as a divine holocaust. And with the angels ye ever hold chorus, O martyrs, hymning Christ for all ages.

With steadfast resolve the Christ-loving mother took upon her shoulder him to whom she had given birth; and she offered him up as the fruit of piety, a martyr among martyrs, emulating the sacred action of Abraham.

“Run thy race straight to everlasting life, O my son,” the Christ-loving mother cried out to her Christ-loving child, “for I could not bear to see thee appear in second place before Christ, the Judge of the contest!”

Ye steadfastly gave yourselves over to a painful death in the midst of winter, O valiant ones; and now, having passed on to the true life which is hidden in Christ, ye beg salvation and remission for us.

Having passed over from earth to the heavens, O crowned athletes, ye chorus of the victorious martyrs of the Church, ask for us salvation and deliverance from misfortunes, passions and evil circumstances.

Rending asunder the bonds of death, the Savior hath given victory over death to His martyrs, for, warmed by the cold, the forty sang, begging salvation for all the faithful.

Stripped naked and beaten with stones for Christ’s sake, ye endured the cold air of winter, icy water and breaking of your limbs; and having been consumed by fire, O ye forty martyrs, ye shone forth in the rushing river like beacons.

Having acquired the Cross as a staff of divine power, the forty athletes cried out to Christ: “O Master, almighty Conqueror, crown us by Thine own hand, that we may all magnify Thee unceasingly with hymns!”

The pain of the ice and boundless cruelty of the cold did ye endure, O forty martyrs; but paradise is sweet, for the bosom of the Patriarch Abraham doth warm you in the eternal mansions.

Having prevailed through sufferings and received crowns from the divine right hand of the Master, O forty martyrs, pray ye now that peace be granted to the world and victory and salvation unto us.

Supernatural illumination and ineffable joy and glory have ye been vouchsafed to receive; and now, O soldiers of Christ, ye forty martyrs, from temptations, misfortunes and the wickedness of the enemy deliver those who honor you with love.

Having received power and might from the heavens, O ye who are most rich, fellow prisoners of Christ, ye have become dispellers of falsehood, driving away all the ephemeral gloom of idolatry and enlightening the world, O forty martyrs.

Adorned with the comeliness of an honorable martyrdom, and sharing in life divine, O forty martyrs, warriors of Christ, ye truly rejoice, united to the most radiant and pure Light.

Standing now before Christ with the boldness of piety, and thus illumined with the light of the Godhead, O glorious forty martyrs, earnestly beseech Him, that those who praise you may be enlightened with thrice-radiant splendor.

Let us hymn as is meet the company of forty, the victorious regiment, the array of the holy martyrs, for by fire, ice and water they have put to shame the hordes of the adversary and have received crowns of glory from Christ the Savior.

Let the forty-member choir of the forty who were martyred for the all-divine Trinity and the four-fold virtues, by the four elements: fire, air, water and earth, be hymned with divine songs, for they suffered for Christ, the Master of all.

O Virgin Mother who, though a maiden, gavest birth unto the Master of all things and all creation: rescue me from the passions which torment me, and lead me to the radiance of the loving-kindness and to the most beautiful Pascha of thy risen Son.