The Scripture Readings
John 21:15-25 (11th Matins Gospel)
Hebrews 4:14-5:6
Mark 8:34-9:1
HIDE TROPARIAThird Sunday of the Great Lent: Adoration of Cross, Troparion, Tone I
O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over
their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.
Kontakion, Tone IV
O Christ our God, Who wast voluntarily lifted up on the Cross, grant Thy
mercies to Thy new people named after Thee. Gladden with Thy power Orthodox
Christians and give them victory over their enemies. May they have as an ally
that invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace.
Another Kontakion, Tone VII
No longer does the flaming sword guard the gate of Eden, for a glorious
extinction has come upon it, the wood of the Cross. The sting has been drawn
from death and the victory from hell. And Thou, my Saviour, didst come and shout
to those in hell: Enter Paradise again.
Troparion of the Sunday, Tone III
Let the heavens rejoice, / let the earth be glad! / For the Lord has shown might with His arm,/
He has trampled down death by death. / He has become the first-born of the dead. / He has
delivered us from the depths of hell, / and has granted the world great mercy!
Hymn to the Theotokos, Tone III
We praise you as the mediatrix of our salvation, / O Virgin Theotokos. / For your Son, our
God, Who took flesh from you, / accepted the passion of the cross, / delivering us from
corruption as the Lover of man.
Kontakion of the Sunday, Tone III
On this day Thou didst rise from the tomb, O Merciful One, / leading us from the gates of
death. / On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices; / with the prophets and patriarchs they
unceasingly praise / the divine majesty of Thy power!
St. Alexis, the Man of God, Troparion, Tone IV
Having mounted to virtue and cleansed thy mind,/ thou didst attain unto that
which was thine ultimate desire;/ and having adorned the life with dispassion/
and taken up exemplary fasting with a pure conscience,/ remaining in prayer like
one of the bodiless ones,/ thou didst shine upon the world like the sun,// O
most blessed Alexis.
Kontakion, Tone II
Having the house of thy parents as a foreign land,/ thou didst dwell therein
in the guise of a pauper;/ and receiving after thy repose a crown of glory,/
thou wast revealed as wondrous on earth,// O Alexis, Man of God, thou joy of
angels and men!
St. Patrick, enlightener of Ireland, Troparion, in Tone III
O holy hierarch Patrick, wonderworker equal to the apostles, enlightener of
the Irish land: entreat the merciful God, that He grant our souls remission of
transgressions!
Kontakion, in Tone IV
Thou wast shown to be a true fisher of men, for, spreading out the nets of
the good news of the Gospel, thou didst draw the heathen into the kingdom of
Christ, enlightening with baptism them that languish in the darkness of
idolatry, and making them children of the living God. Wherefore, we beseech
thee, O holy hierarch Patrick our father: intercede in behalf of us that honor
thy holy memory.