Ode IV

Irmos: I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of Thy dispensation; I have understood Thy works, and have glorified Thy divinity.

“How can I hide my deeds from God Who seest all that is secret, for I know Him to be the Judge, the Pronouncer of sentence?” thou didst cry out to the venerable Paphnutius, O Thais.

Theotokion: Woe is me, who have sinned more than all other men! Woe is me, who have been subject to vanity! No repentance have I, neither compunction; yet do thou thyself, O Mistress, grant that I may offer such to thee.

Like most precious incense burning on the coals of abstinence, O Pelagia, thou becamest a wholeburnt fragrance for Christ our God, hastening to the sweet savor of His myrrh.

Irmos: Beholding Thee lifted up upon the Cross, O Sun of righteousness, the Church stood rooted in place, crying out as is meet: Glory to Thy power, O Lord!

“I have surpassed the impiety of Jezebel in my deeds,” Thais cried out, weeping; “yet grant me, O my Judge and God, the fervor of Elijah, that I may slay the passions and consume my sins with the fire of repentance!”

Theotokion: O Theotokos, thou didst give rise to the Rod from whence Christ our God, the noetic Flower, grew, filling all things with divine fragrance, in that He is the inexhaustible and precious Myrrh.

Thy bodily splendor which before was as the mire of sin, O Pelagia, thou didst wholly transform into undefiled beauty, which Christ, thy Bridegroom, desired.

Irmos: Thou art my strength, O Lord, Thou art my power; Thou art my God, Thou art my joy, Who, without leaving the bosom of the Father, hast visited our lowliness. Wherefore, with the Prophet Habbakuk I cry unto Thee: Glory to Thy power, O Thou Who lovest mankind!

“As Thou didst not destroy her who was beset by sins, so accept me now who acknowledge Thee,” Thais cried out to Christ, “for Thou art my Lord God and my strength.”

Theotokion: Thou art my hope, O all-pure one. Thou art my hymn. Thou art my refuge, thou art my restoration, O thou who without mating gavest birth to God, the incarnate Word of the Father. Wherefore, strengthened by thy might I bow down without hesitation before thine icon.

The grace of the Spirit, touching thy soul like a spark of the Word, O Pelagia, kindled a lofty flame of faith and burned up thy sins.

The most godly fathers, having the word of God as arrow and sword, with the sign of the Cross slaughter together all the enemy who do not honor alike the images of Christ, the Theotokos, and of all the saints.

As at the blast of seven trumpets the walls of Jericho fell at the seventh circuit thereof, so by these seven Councils all the multitude which hath risen up against God hath been cast down into the abyss at the seventh winding of the divinely sounding trumpets of the Spirit.

Showing forth youthful diligence, and aflame with divine zeal, the multitude of the fathers, like Elijah, hath slain the abominable priests. Wherefore, with boldness they have taught all to venerate the icon of Christ with love.