Ode VI

Irmos: Cleanse me, O Savior, for many are my transgressions; and lead me up from the abyss of evils, I pray, for to Thee have I cried, and Thou hast hearkened to me, O God of my salvation.

Kontakion, In Tone II: Spec. Mel.: “Of thy blood…”—

Apollinarius, showing himself to be the sower of alien seed, preaching that the incarnation of Christ was that of an earthly Word and mind, was strongly denounced by thee as mindless and perverted, O all-blessed one.

Theotokion: The only-begotten Son, the God of my salvation, Who before time began was invisible, in latter times became the Firstborn of the day, becoming visible in the flesh through thee, O Mother of God.

Irmos: I pour forth my prayer unto the Lord, and to Him do I declare my grief; for my soul is full of evil and my life hath drawn nigh unto hell, and like Jonah I pray: Lead me up from corruption, O God!

Kontakion of the saint, in Tone VIII: Spec. Mel.: “To thee, the champion leader…”—

The power of Thy divinely inspired words hath, like the voice of thunder, manifestly smote the ears of the heretics and made their faces dark, O thou who art pleasing to God.

Theotokion: O Queen of heaven, all-holy Virgin, as thou hast great boldness before thy Son, by thine intercession free us from the beasts of the nethermost parts, and save us, as God saved the Prophet Jonah.

Everyone doth marvel, as is meet, at thy wise writings, which suitably make reference to offshoots of heresy yet to be, which, foreseeing, thou dost refute prophetically.

Planting Orthodox doctrines, thou didst cut down the thorns of heresy, increasing the seed of the Faith with the rain of the Spirit, O venerable one; wherefore, we hymn thee, O Athanasius.

Ikos: Pouring forth the torrents of the divine teaching of thy discourses upon the world, thou gavest drink to the souls of the faithful, O Athanasius, and didst drown the proponents of heresy like Egyptians of old, giving us the divinely inscribed law of Orthodoxy, that we may worship the Trinity in one Godhead. Therewith hast thou preserved us, delivering us from the invisible foe; wherefore, we hymn thee, O Athanasius.

Having forsaken benighted Rome, thou didst turn toward the East of most radiant Orthodoxy; and accepting the instruction of the holy Patriarch Photius, thou didst learn how it behooveth man to dwell in the house of God.

Desiring to establish the legitimacy of the Church of Bulgaria, thou didst turn to the Council of Constantinople; and having received an archbishop from them, thou didst lay a firm foundation of autocephaly forever.

The Lord hath truly made this day whereon thou didst most beautifully finish all thy works, O right-believing King Boris; wherefore, it is meet that we rejoice in the Lord, celebrating thy memory.

O chosen leader of God Most High, Who by the power of the Cross triumphed over the uprising of darkness and planted piety in thy land, as thou hast boldness before the Lord, by thy supplications preserve thy posterity, that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, O King Boris, equal of the apostles, baptizer of the land of Bulgaria!

Ikos: While the Sun of righteousness shone forth in Bethlehem and the most radiant dawn broke upon the earth, the people of Bulgaria, like the laborers of Christ’s parable, sat in the darkness of the shadow of death, bereft of the works of salvation; yet in the mercy of His providence the Lord found them at the ninth hour, and chose King Boris to be His overseer. By him He brought them to the vineyard of His Church through the gate of baptism, and He granted them recompense equal with those who had labored before them. Wherefore, thanking God, we cry aloud unto His favored one: Rejoice, O King Boris, equal of the apostles, baptizer of the land of Bulgaria!