Irmos, Tone 6: The uttermost abyss of sins hath engulfed me, whose billows none can withstand; and like Jonah I cry to Thee, O Master: Lead me up from corruption!
The censing is done as at the previous litany.
Deacon: Again and again, in peace, let us pray to the Lord.
Grant rest, O Lord, unto the soul of Thy departed servant.
While the priest secretly says the prayer:
Choir: Lord, have mercy. Thrice.
Death, the grave and judgment await us, reproving all our works. O Thou Who lovest mankind, deliver therefrom Thy servant whom Thou hast translated from among us.
Deacon: Again we pray for the repose of the departed servant of God N., and that he may be forgiven every transgression, both voluntary and involuntary.
Grant rest, O Lord, unto the soul of Thy departed servant.
Choir: Lord, have mercy. Thrice.
O Christ my Savior, we pray Thee: Open Thou the portal of Thy mercy unto him who hath been translated from among us, that he may join chorus in glory, partaking of the gladness of Thy dominion.
Deacon: That the Lord God commit his souls to where the righteous repose.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Choir: Lord, have mercy. Thrice.
By Thy mercy, O Savior, deliver from transgression Thy servant whom Thou hast now translated in faith; for no one is justified by human works, O Thou Who lovest mankind.
Deacon: The mercy of God, the kingdom of Heaven, and the remission of his sins, let us ask of Christ the Immortal King and our God.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Choir: Grant this, O Lord.
The Creator, the slaying of death and annulment of the curse, was born in the flesh, O Theotokos, and saveth all who have died in faith, in that He is good and loveth mankind.
Deacon: Let us pray to the Lord
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 soul of Thy departed servant N., 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 him 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.
Choir: Lord, have mercy.
The deacon does a small censing.
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.
Tone 8: With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy servant, // where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.
Choir: Amen.
Ikos: Thou alone art immortal, / Who didst create and fashion man; / but we mortals were formed of earth, and unto earth shall we return, / as Thou who madest me didst command and say unto me: / For earth thou art and unto earth shalt thou return, / whither all we mortals are going, / making as a funeral dirge the song: // Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Then the following are sung in the same Tone as above:
Noetically do I pray: Hearken, for these things do I proclaim with difficulty: for it is for your sake that I have made lamentation, perchance to profit someone. But when ye will chant these things, remember me whom ye once knew. For many times did we come together and chant in the house of God: Alleluia! Arising, gather ye all together, and having sat down, hear ye my words: Dreadful is the tribunal before which we will all have to stand, O brethren. There there is neither slave nor freeman; neither is there great or small: but all stand forth naked. Wherefore, it is good to cry out often the psalm: Alleluia!
Then the Kontakion is chanted again:
Let us all pour forth tears when we see these remains lying here before us; and drawing nigh, let us all kiss them. Lo! thou hast forsaken those who love thee; thou speakest no more with us. O friend, wherefore dost thou not speak as thou didst speak with us? But thou art thus silent, instead of saying with us: Alleluia!
What are these bitter words of the dying, O brethren, which they utter when they depart? I am parting from my brethren, I am forsaking all my friends, and departing. Whither I shall go, I know not; and where I most needs remain, I know not. Only God Who hath summoned me knoweth. But keep my memory with the hymn: Alleluia!
Whither do souls now go? How shall they abide there now? I have desired to understand this mystery, but no one can say whether they remember their own, as we remember them. Or have they forgotten those who weep for them and chant the hymn: Alleluia!
Accompany the dead, O friends, and go with haste to the grave, and there gaze attentively and prepare your own feet. All youth hath there been brought to corruption; every age hath there withered away. There are dust, ashes and worms; there all is silence, and no one saith: Alleluia!
Behold, now we see lying here him who will no longer lie before us. Lo! his tongue hath already fallen silent, and his lips have ceased their movement. Long life to you, O friends and children! Farewell, O brethren; farewell, O ye whom I have known: for I am wending my way. Yet remember me with the hymn: Alleluia!
None of those who have passed away shall regain his life to tell us how they fare who were once our brethren and kinfolk, and have gone before us to the Lord. Wherefore, we ever and often say: Will we see one another there? Will we see our brethren there? Will we together utter there the psalm: Alleluia! We will travel the path of eternity, standing as ones condemned, all of us hanging low our heads. Where then is beauty? Where is money? Where then is the glory of this life. None of these things will help us there, only to repeat often the psalm: Alleluia!
Why dost thou trouble thyself untimely, O man? Yet a single hour, and all things pass away. For there is no repentance in hades; there is there no ease. There there is the worm that sleepeth not; there the earth is dark and all is gloomy, where I must needs be judged. For I did not strive hard and often to say the psalm: Alleluia!
Naught is so readily forgotten as a man who is parted from man; for even if we remember for a little time, yet do we straightway forget death, no longer having the dead one with us. For parents in every way forget the children whom, having given them birth from their own womb, they reared; and they pour out tears with the hymn: Alleluia!
I remind you, my brethren, my children and friends: Forget me not when ye pray to the Lord. I pray, I implore, I entreat you: Learn these things, and weep for me day and night. As Job said to his friends, so I say to you: Sit ye and say again: Alleluia!
Leaving all things behind, we shall go and stand forth, naked and in sorrow: for beauty withereth like grass; only we men are deceived. Naked wast thou born, O wretched one, and naked must thou in every way stand forth . Dream not, O man, when in this life, but only groan ever with weeping: Alleluia!
If thou hadst mercy on some man, O man, he will win mercy for thee; and if thou tookest pity on some orphan, he will deliver thee from want; and if in this life thou didst clothe a naked man, he will cover thee there, and chant the psalm: Alleluia!
Evil is the way whereby I depart, which I have never yet trodden; and unknown the land where no one will ever recognize me. Awful is it to see those leading me, and Him Who hath summoned me, Who hath dominion over life and death, and Who calleth us thither whensoever he desireth. Alleluia! If journeying from a certain land, we require certain guides. What shall we do, whither shall we go, in a land which we know not? Thou shalt then need many guides, many prayers accompanying thee, to save thy wretched soul, until thou reach Christ, and say to Him: Alleluia!
They who are subject to material passions shall never find ease there. There there will be dread accusers; there the books will be opened. Where shalt thou then gaze around thee, O man? Or who there will help thee then? When thou wast alive didst thou do ought that is good, didst thou do good to the poor, chanting: Alleluia!
Youth and bodily beauty fade at the time of death; the tongue is then grievously burned, and the throat, parched, is inflamed. The beauty of eyes is then extinguished, comeliness of face is all changed; shapeliness of the neck is destroyed; and the other parts fall silent, unable often to say: Alleluia!
Be silent, be ye silent before him who lieth here; keep silence henceforth, and gaze upon the great mystery, for terrible is the hour. Keep silence, that the soul may depart in peace, for it is engaged in a great struggle, and in great fear it prayeth to God: Alleluia!
I beheld a child dying, and mourned mine own life. For he was greatly troubled and trembled; and when the hour arrived, he cried: Yet no one then could help him; but only shrank at the sight, and wept for him when he was in the grave, chanting: Alleluia!
How many have been suddenly carried away to the grave from their wives bosom, and have been joined together with an eternal yoke, and have made lamentation never-ending, and have not arisen from their bridal bed? But marriage and the grave are together; union and separation are together; laughter and weeping are together, as also is the psalm: Alleluia!
We are set afire if we but hear that there is eternal light, there is the well-spring of our life, there is everlasting delight, there is the paradise wherein all the souls of the righteous rejoice. Let us all come together in Christ, that we may all cry out thus unto God: Alleluia! Theotokion: O most holy, unwedded Virgin, who gavest birth unto the Light unapproachable! I pray, beseech and implore: Cease thou never to entreat the Lord in behalf of thy servant who hath fallen asleep, O all-pure one, that he may there find remission of transgressions on the day of judgment, O most pure one. For as our Mistress, thou hast the boldness ever to entreat thy Son. Alleluia!
Tone 8: With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy servant, // where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.
Translated by Jordanville / saintjonah.org. Edition trebnik.en.saintjonah.