At Vespers

On “Lord, I have cried…”, 6 stichera, in Tone VI: Spec. Mel.: “Having set all aside…”—

Now & ever…: Theotokion, or this stavrotheotokion: Spec. Mel.: “Having set all aside…”—

From thy youth thou didst offer thyself wholly to the Master, transcending the flesh and worldly love, O most sacred Stephen, as a most excellent monk and a receptacle of the divine Spirit. For thou wast imprisoned in a most narrow cell, O blessed one, but didst give thy mind wings to fly to the heavens, to look upon the ineffable beauty of Christ our King and God, worshipping Whose image thou didst suffer most mightily. Twice

Imprisoned in a dungeon, like the Master, thou didst fast for forty days and didst prepare thyself for suffering, O sacred Stephen, thou confirmation of monks and adornment of martyrs. Wherefore, the merciless ones, falling upon thee like wild beasts, dragged thee along like an innocent lamb and unjustly rent thee asunder; and with malefactors did they cast thee who suffered mightily and prayest with boldness in behalf of our souls. Twice

Most iniquitous men who made themselves subject to the iniquity of the most lawless emperor, O venerable one, pitilessly stoned thee like the honored protomartyr Stephen, and crushed thy holy head, O father; and dragging thee most savagely through the streets, they caused thy bowels to spill forth, O most blessed one, showing no mercy to thee even after thou wast dead. O thy courage! O thy demeanor! O thy great endurance, whereby thou hast received an imperishable crown, O Stephen! Twice

Glory…, the composition of the Studite, in Tone VI—

Like the great prophet Samuel thou wast dedicated to God from infancy, O most sacred Stephen; and, ascending the mountain, thou didst please him in monasticism, didst manfully strip thyself naked for the contest, didst most patiently endure banishment and tribulation, and didst bear fetters and imprisonment for His image. Dragged, beaten and stoned, thy head broken, thou wast vouchsafed crowns by Christ God. Him do thou entreat, that those who celebrate thine ever-honored memory be delivered from sufferings, temptations and the coming tribulation, and that our souls be saved.

Of old, when the unblemished ewe-lamb, the immaculate Mistress, beheld her Lamb upon the Tree of the Cross, she exclaimed maternally and cried out in wonder: “O my Child most sweet, what new and strange thing is this that I see? How hath the thankless multitude given thee over to the tribunal of Pilate and condemned Thee, the Life of all, to death? Yet I hymn Thine ineffable condescension, O Word!”