SEEKING the hidden treasure, today the man of iniquity sacrificed the innocent children. And Rachel was not comforted, when she was witness to the unjust slaughter, and the untimely death, she lamented them, shaken in her compassionate heart; but seeing them now in Abraham’s bosom, she rejoiceth over them.

At Vespers on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (29 December).

Prayers from the Typikon of Elder Paisios the Athonite
for use in Vigils.

LORD Jesus Christ, grant rest unto thy servants.
Most holy Theotokos, grant rest unto thy servants.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon thy servants.
Most holy Theotokos, save thy servants.


REMEMBER, O Lord, those in authority [presidents, ministers] and help them to govern in a Christian manner.

Remember, O Lord, all those who are in prison, anarchists, drug-users, murderers, evildoers, thieves, enlighten and help them to reform.

Remember, O Lord, the wretched, the abandoned, the wronged, families enduring trials, and give them thy rich mercies.

Remember, O Lord, thy servants the whole nation, that thou shouldst hold them in thy embrace, that thou shouldst cover them with thy holy Protection, preserve them from every evil and assault of war.

From the Typikon of Elder Paisios the Athonite. Source.

WHEN thou hadst spread wide thy hands upon thy Cross, in thy deadness thou didst deaden the curse, thou madest men live by thy Passion. Wherefore in hymns we praise thy divine crucifixion, O Jesus, our God who lovest mankind.

Theotokion.

QUIET the stirring of my passions, heal the wounds of my soul, wake me from the sleep of sloth by thy mediation, by thy patronage, all holy Lady, virgin mother.

At Matins on Wednesday in Cheeseweek.

My translation, from Analogion.

Detail from a mosaic of the Triumph of the Cross, a 12th century apsis mosaic in the Basilica San Clemente in Rome. © User:jastrow (Wikimedia Commons), licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence..

Generous extracts from Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos 2 & 3, played by Evgeny Kissin, and comments from conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Amazon US

Sergei Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, I: Andantino-Allegretto and II: Scherzo (Anna Vinnitskaya). Amazon UK | Amazon US

LET us now be cleansed in readiness, not in our meats alone, but also in our deeds, and let us begin, O faithful brethren, with fervent purpose, that we might appear radiant for ever before our Creator.

Thus is it needful to fast: not in enmity and fighting, not in envy and strife, not in vainglory and secret guile, but as Christ, in lowliness of mind.

They that shew mercy unto the poor, saith he, are lending wisely to the Saviour. O unspeakable joy! for he provides rich recompense of blessings, to all the ages.

At Matins on Tuesday in Cheeseweek.

My translation, from Analogion.

Elder Joseph, Abbot of the Vatopaidi monastery, making bread.

BLEST the Babe,
Nursed in his Mother’s arms, who sinks to sleep
Rocked on his Mother’s breast; who with his soul
Drinks in the feelings of his Mother’s eye!

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), La Jeune Mère (1898). From Wikimedia Commons.

For him, in one dear Presence, there exists
A virtue which irradiates and exalts
Objects through widest intercourse of sense,
No outcast he, bewildered and depressed:
Along his infant veins are interfused
The gravitation and the filial bond
Of nature that connect him with the world.

Is there a flower, to which he points with hand
Too weak to gather it, already love
Drawn from love’s purest earthly fount for him
Hath beautified that flower; already shades
Of pity cast from inward tenderness
Do fall around him upon aught that bears
Unsightly marks of violence or harm.

Emphatically such a Being lives,
Frail creature as he is, helpless as frail,
An inmate of this active universe:
For feeling has to him imparted power
That through the growing faculties of sense
Doth like an agent of the one great Mind
Create, creator and receiver both,
Working but in alliance with the works
Which it beholds.

William Wordsworth, “The Prelude, or, Growth of a poet’s mind; an autobiographical poem” ll. 235-260.

I THINK, O Lord, upon the day of judgment, and thine unspeakable glory, and shuddering and trembling with fear I cry out: At the time of thy coming upon the earth in thy glory as God to judge all things, have pity then, O Christ; deliver me from every punishment, O Master, count me worthy to stand upon thy right hand.

At Matins on the Sunday of Judgment (today).

A stained glass window in St Mary's Church, Fairford, Gloucs, showing the Last Judgment. Photo by user mattana (Wikimedia Commons), released into the public domain.

A Meditation of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (+1109).

WHAT, ah what will then become of me? Who will deliver me out of the hands of God? Where shall I look for counsel? Where for salvation?

Who is He that is called the Angel of the Great Counsel1 and the Saviour that I may call upon His name?

It is none other than He, Jesus Himself, the Judge in whose hands I tremble.

Breathe again, poor sinner, breathe again; despair not, hope in Him whom thou fearest.

Fly to Him, from whom thou didst flee away. Cease not to call upon Him whom thou didst provoke to wrath.

O JESUS, Jesus, for Thy name’s sake, do unto me according to Thy name!2

Jesus, Jesus, forget the proud sinner that provoked Thy wrath, and look upon me the unhappy one that calleth upon Thy sweet name, Thy pleasant name, Thy name that comforteth the sinner and openeth to him the hope of blessing. For what signifieth Jesus but Saviour?

Therefore, O Jesus, for Thine own sake be a Jesus to me.

Thou who didst create, suffer me not to perish; Thou who didst redeem me, condemn me not; Thou who didst make me by Thy goodness, suffer not the work of Thy hands to perish by my own wickedness.

I pray Thee, most gracious Saviour, let not mine iniquity destroy what Thine almighty goodness hath wrought.

Acknowledge in Thy goodness what is Thine own in me; and what is not Thine own, wipe off from me.

For what profit is there in my blood if I go down into everlasting corruption?3 For the dead praise Thee not, O Lord, neither all they that go down into hell.4

If Thou wilt receive me into the broad bosom of Thy mercy, Thy bosom will not be straitened because of me, O Lord.

Receive me therefore, O Jesus my beloved, receive me into the number of Thine elect, that with them I may praise Thee, enjoy Thee, and have my glory in Thee among all that love Thy name,5 who with the Father and the Holy Ghost art glorious for ever, world without end. Amen.

1 Is 9:6.
2 Mt 1:21.
3 Ps 29[30]:2.
4 Ps 114[115]:17.
5 Ps 5:12 (LXX).

Anselm (+1109), Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to his death. “Meditations”, No. II.

BLESSED is he whom thou hast chosen and received unto thee; he shall dwell in thy courts; we shall be filled with the blessings of thy house.

Psalm 64[65]:4, LXX.

TODAY is the Saturday of Souls, the final day of Meatfare Week.

The Saturday of Souls is a memorial day for all the dead, especially those for whom no special memorial has been said at the time of their falling asleep.

ALLELUIA (three times).

V. Blessed are they whom thou hast chosen, whom thou hast received unto thee, O Lord.

Alleluia (three times).

V. Their souls shall dwell among the blessings of thy house.

Alleluia (three times).

Apolytikion.

O THOU who alone art Creator, who in the depths of thy wisdom ordereth all things according to thy love for mankind, and hast divided the whole to all1: grant rest, O Lord, unto the souls of thy servants, for they declared their hope in thee, our Maker and Fashioner, and our God.

1 Cf. Deut 4:19.

Doxology.

GLORY be to the Father…

For they declared their hope in thee, our Maker and Fashioner, and our God.

Both now…

Theotokion.

WE have thee as both wall and harbour: we have thee to speak acceptably in our behalf with the God whom thou barest, O Theotokos unwedded, salvation of the faithful.

Kathisma.

GRANT rest among the righteous, our Saviour, unto thy servants, and let them dwell in thy courts, as it is written, overlooking their trespasses, whether willing or unwilling, and all that was done in knowledge or ignorance, O thou that lovest mankind.

Theotokion.

O THOU who hast dawned from the Virgin, Christ our God, and shewed us through her to be children of light, have mercy upon us.

“O thou who hast dawned from the Virgin, Christ our God, and shewed us through her to be children of light, have mercy upon us.” Candles surrounding an Orthodox cross with the Virgin Mary and St John.

LET every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Ephesians 5:33.

“LIZZY,” said her father, “I have given him my consent. He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask. I now give it to you, if you are resolved on having him.

But let me advise you to think better of it. I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior.

Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery.

My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about.”

Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice”, Chapter 59.

The actor David Garrick and his wife, by William Hogarth (1757). From Wikimedia Commons.

St Bede roundly criticised St Finan for being “a professed opposer of the truth, being of a hot and violent temper”. Like his predecessor St Aidan, Bishop Finan stubbornly adhered to the Celtic date of Easter, while others around him – including members of the Northumbrian court – had gradually come into line with Byzantine practice.

But Bede also tells us that it was in the time of St Finan and St Colman that many of the English nobility were inspired to go to Ireland to pursue “divine studies” or to take up the monastic life. Finan had learnt the monastic way of life at the monastery on Iona, on the western coast of Scotland, where the Celtic practice was the norm. He had also spent some time in a monastery on Church Island, within Lough Currane in County Kerry, Ireland.

Strong in faith and firm of purpose, St Finan managed a vast diocese for ten years at a pivotal moment in the Christian history of this country. He baptized the households of Prince Peada of Mercia and of King Sigebert of the East Saxons, royalty of immense influence with wide kingdoms, and no less importantly chose excellent priests and bishops (such as St Cedd) for their lands.

A rainbow appears to set Church Island aglow, in Lough Currane, County Kerry, Ireland. © Flickr user michele_p, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons licence.

Troparion.

I HAVE thee as succourer of my life, and helper of my salvation, and godly-minded watchman, who giveth assurance to them that cry out in faith: O God of our fathers, blessed art thou.

Theotokion.

FROM thy womb he came forth incarnate, O Virgin, who is Lord of all; wherefore we have set our affection1 upon thee, the Theotokos, as is the custom of the orthodox, and we cry out to thy son: O God of our fathers, blessed art thou.

1 Translating φρονώ as the KJV does in Col 3:2, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth”.

The troparion is written for St Theodore the Tyro, Great Martyr (286-305), whose feast is also kept today. My translation, from Analogion.

At Matins on February 17.

The crucifixion, from a Psalter belonging to Robert de Lindesey, Abbot of Peterborough (1214-20).

Cross-Theotokion.

THE ewe-lamb that bare thee, lamb and shepherd, mourned as she saw thee upon the Cross, and she spake unto thee motherly. ‘O my son, my heart’s desire, long-suffering, how art thou hanged upon the Cross? How art thou nailed through thy hands and feet by wicked men? How dost thy shed thine own blood, O Master?’

At Vespers for February 16.

My translation, from Analogion.