Ode III

The censing is done as at the previous litany.

Deacon: Again and again, in peace, let us pray to the Lord.

Sessional Hymn: Tone 6 [Sticheron Melody]

Truly all things are vanity / and life is but a shadow and a dream, / for in vain doth every one born of earth disquiet himself, / as saith the Scripture; / when we have acquired the world, / then do we take up our abode in the grave, / where together are both kings and beggars. / Wherefore, O Christ God, give rest to the departed, // as Thou art the Lover of mankind. Glory O all-holy Theotokos, / throughout my lifetime forsake me not, / to human protection entrust me not, // but do thou thyself protect and have mercy on me.

Wondrous is God in His saints the God of Israel.

While the priest secretly says the prayer:

Deacon: Again we pray for the repose of the departed servant of God N., and that he (she) may be forgiven every transgression, both voluntary and involuntary.

Thy martyrs did strive lawfully, O Life-giver, and having been adorned with the crown of victory, they fervently intercede that those departed in faith be granted eternal redemption. Having with many signs and wonders first chastened me who had gone astray, at the last Thou didst empty Thyself, as a co-sufferer, and seeking didst find and save. O Good One, vouchsafe him (her) who hath come to Thee from the corruption of changeable, fleeting things to live joyfully in eternal tabernacles, having justified him (her) by faith and grace. There is none blameless as thou, O most pure Mother of God, for thou alone out of the ages didst conceive in thy womb the true God, Who hath destroyed the power of death.

Deacon: That the Lord God commit his (her) soul to where the righteous repose.

O God of spirits and of all flesh, Who hast trampled down death, and overthrown the devil, and given life to Thy world: Do Thou Thyself, O Lord, give rest to the souls of Thy departed servants, in a place of light, a place of green pasture, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing are fled away. Pardon every sin committed by them in word, deed, or thought, in that Thou art a good God, the Lover of mankind; for there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, for Thou alone art without sin, Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy word is truth.

Deacon: The mercy of God, the kingdom of Heaven, and the remission of his (her) sins, let us ask of Christ the Immortal King and our God.

Priest: For Thou art the Resurrection, and the life, and the repose of Thy departed servant, N., O Christ our God, and unto Thee do we send up glory, together with Thine unoriginate Father, and Thy most holy and good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.