23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Text from “The Divine Liturgy: An Anthology for Worship”; Pg. 349 (Tone 6)
Troparion (Tone 6): Angelic powers were upon Your tomb* and the guards became like dead men;* Mary stood before Your tomb* seeking Your most pure body.* You captured Hades without being overcome by it.* You met the Virgin and granted life.* O Lord, risen from the dead,* glory be to You.
+Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Kontakion (Tone 6): With his life-giving hand* Christ our God, the Giver of life,* raised all the dead from the murky abyss* and bestowed resurrection upon humanity.* He is for all the Saviour,* the resurrection and the life, and the God of all.
Now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Theotokion (Tone 6): Undaunted patroness of Christians,* O steadfat intermediary with the Creator,* turn not away from the suppliant voices of sinners,* but in Your kindness come to help us who cry out to You in faith.* Be quick to intercede, make haste to plead,* for You are ever the patroness of those who honour You, O Mother of God.
Prokimenon (Tone 6): Save Your people, O Lord,* and bless Your inheritance (Ps 27:9).
verse: Unto You I will cry, O Lord my God, lest you turn from me in silence (Ps 27:1).
Epistle: (Ephesians 2: 4-10): Brethren, God, is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Alleluia (Tone 6): Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
verse: He who lives in the aid of the Most High, shall dwell under the protection of the God of heaven (Ps 90:1)
verse: He says to the Lord: You are my protector and my refuge, my God, in Whom I hope (Ps 90:2).
Gospel: (Luke 8: 26-39): At that time Jesus arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Communion Verse: Praise the Lord from the heavens;* praise Him in the highest (Ps 148:1). Alleluia! (3x).
Great Vespers (lit.royaldoors.net):
Divine Liturgy:
23rd Sunday after Pentecost – ENG-UKR
PDF – Oct Liturgical Booklet – ENG/UKR