Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ At Lord I have cried we sing 10 stichera, repeating them all: Tone 6 Ascension Vespers - 1
Verse 1: Stichera 1: Ascension Vespers - 2
Verse 2: Stichera 2: Repeat above stichera: By Your Nativity Verse 3: Ascension Vespers - 3
Stichera 3: Verse 4: Stichera 4: Repeat above stichera The cherubim were amazed Ascension Vespers - 4
Verse 5: Stichera 5: Ascension Vespers - 5
Verse 6: Stichera 6: Repeat above stichera Seeing Your Ascension Verse 7: Ascension Vespers - 6
Stichera 7: Verse 8: Ascension Vespers - 7
Stichera 8: Repeat stichera Seeing Your Ascension, O Giver of Life Verse 9: Stichera 9: Ascension Vespers - 8
Verse 10: Stichera 10: Repeat stichera Beholding the mystery Ascension Vespers - 9
Glory Now and Ever Verse: Glory Now and Ever Stichera: Ascension Vespers - 10
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Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ Prokimen and Old Testament Readings The Wednesday Evening Prokimen First Old Testament Reading Isaiah 2:2-3 Thus says the Lord: It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Second Old Testament Reading Isaiah 62:10-63:3, 7-9 Thus says the Lord: Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. And they shall be called The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought out, a city not forsaken. Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save. Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments Ascension Vespers - 12
like his that treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel which he has granted them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, Surely they are my people, sons who will not deal falsely; and he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Third Old Testament Reading Zechariah 14:1,4,8-11 In those days: the day of the Lord is coming, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in the midst of you. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft upon its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king s wine presses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse; Jerusalem shall dwell in security. Ascension Vespers - 13
Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ The Litija Tone 1 Ascension Vespers - 14
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Additional Litija stichera Tone 4 When You came to the Mount of Olives, O Christ, / to accomplish the good will of the Father, / the heavenly Angels were astonished, / and the depths trembled; / the Disciples stood before You with both gladness and fear. / While You spoke to them, a cloud was prepared / as a throne waiting for You; / heaven opened its gates, manifesting Your beauty. / The earth opened its treasures / that Adam s falling and rising might be known. / But Your steps were directed upward. / As Your hands were raised, the cloud lifted You up, / and the heaven received You. / This great and glorious deed, O Lord, /// You have accomplished for the salvation of our souls. O God, You have refashioned the nature of Adam, / which had fallen into the depths of the earth. / You have led it up today above every Principality and Power, / for in Your love for it, You have seated it together with Yourself. / Since You have taken compassion on it, You united it to Yourself, / and having been united with it, You suffered with it; / as not subject to suffering, yet You suffered and glorified it with Yourself. / The Bodiless Ones said: Who is this Man of beauty? / He is not only a Man; / He is both God and Man, united and manifested in One! / Astonished Angels, some flying in glorious apparel, / and some standing near the Disciples, cried out: / Men of Galilee, the One gone from You is Jesus, / Who is both God and Man! / The God-Man will come again as the Judge of the living and the dead, /// granting to the faithful remission of sins and great mercy! When You ascended in glory, O Christ God, / the Disciples beheld the clouds raising You with Your flesh./ The gates of heaven received You. / The Angels rejoiced, crying out: / Lift up your heads, O gates! The King of Glory shall enter! / The Disciples cried: Do not leave us, O good Shepherd, / but send down on us Your Holy Spirit, /// Who will guide, confirm, illumine and sanctify our souls! Ascension Vespers - 16
In Tone 4 Glory now and ever verse: In Tone 4 Glory now and ever stichera: Ascension Vespers - 17
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Stichera 1: Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ The Aposticha Tone 2 Verse 1: Ascension Vespers - 19
Stichera 2: Ascension Vespers - 20
Verse 2: Stichera 3: Ascension Vespers - 21
In Tone 6 Glory Now and Ever Verse: Ascension Vespers - 22
In Tone 6 Glory Now and Ever Stichera: Ascension Vespers - 23
Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ Tropar Tone 4 Sung three times Ascension Vespers - 24