Ode IX

Exapostilarion: Spec. Mel.: “By the Spirit in the sanctuary…”—

Irmos: Let every mortal leap for joy, enlightened by the Spirit; and let the nature of the incorporeal intelligences keep festival, honoring the sacred feast of the Mother of God, and let them cry aloud: Rejoice, O most blessed Theotokos, pure Ever-virgin!

My whole self do I offer to thy godly protection, O divinely eloquent one, for, having received from Christ, as a hieromartyr, the authority to loose transgressions, save me by thy supplications and illumine me with divine light, cutting away the bonds of mine offenses.

Theotokion: Clad in flesh He received from thee, O most immaculate one, the Word dwelt, incarnate, in the world, in that He is compassionate; and suffering no diminution, in that before He was incorporeal, with His divine power He cast down the one who from of old hath tormented all.

Thou hast been shown to be a new Paul aflame with zeal, in that thou hast now heard ineffable words in paradise; for thou sharest his character, having shared also his name, O most excellent father Paul, and receivest a most magnificent crown in the kingdom of Christ.

Thou hast been shown to be a temple, a denouncer of every heresy and a godly champion of Orthodoxy, O most glorious hieromartyr Paul, manifestly illumined with rays of grace and filled with the light of the uncreated Trinity.

Set afire with zeal by thine ardent heart, thou wast shown to be a spiritual champion of grace and didst cut down the assembly of the heretics with the sword of thy words, O holy hierarch; and, having finished thy race, thou hast earned a place with the multitude of the martyrs.

Thou wast an all-immaculate Bride and a most honored temple of an ineffable pregnancy, O Theotokos; for the preëternal Light made His abode within thee, and thou gavest birth to the Word of God. Hymning thy birthgiving, O most immaculate Maiden, we magnify thee as is meet.