GREAT COMPLINE

Tuesday, February 17

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The Holy Great-Martyr Theodore the Recruit.

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Priest: Blessed be our God always, now and for ever and ever.

    

Choir: Amen.

 

Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You!

 

Heavenly King, Advocate, Spirit of Truth,* Who are everywhere present and fill all things,* Treasury of Blessings, Bestower of Life, come and dwell within us;* cleanse us of all that defiles us,* and, O Good One, save our souls.

 

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us. (3x)

 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,* now and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Trinity most holy, have mercy on us.* Cleanse us of our sins, O Lord;* pardon our transgressions, O Master;* look upon our weaknesses and heal them, O Holy One;* for the sake of Your name.

 

Lord, have mercy. (3x)

 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,* now and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Our Father, Who art in heaven,* hallowed be Thy name.* Thy kingdom come.* Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.* Give us this day our daily bread,* and forgive us our trespasses* as we forgive those who trespass against us.* And lead us not into temptation,* but deliver us from evil.

 

Priest: For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever.

    Choir: Amen. 

 

Lord, have mercy. (12x)

 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Come, let us adore the King, our God.

Come, let us adore Christ, the King and our God.

Come, let us adore and bow down to the only Lord Jesus Christ, the King and our God.

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Psalm 69 

 

O God, make haste to my rescue, * Lord, come to my aid!

 

Let there be shame and confusion* on those who seek my life.

 

O let them turn back in confusion,* who delight in my harm,

 

Let them retreat, covered with shame,* who jeer at my lot.

 

Let there be rejoicing and gladness* for all who seek You.

 

Let them say for ever: "God is great,* who love Your saving help.

 

As for me, wretched and poor,* come to me, O God.

 

You are my rescuer, my help,* O Lord, do not delay.

 

The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete

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Song 1. Tone 6.

Eirmos: He is my Helper and Protector, and has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him My father's God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has He been glorified. 

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

I have willfully incurred the guilt of Cain's murder, since by

invigorating my flesh I am the murderer of my soul's

awareness, and have warred against it by my evil deeds. 

 

I have not resembled Abel's righteousness, O Jesus. I have never offered Thee acceptable gifts, nor divine actions, nor a pure sacrifice, nor an unblemished life.

 

Like Cain, we too, O wretched soul, have likewise offered to

the Creator of all foul deeds, defective sacrifice and a

useless life. Therefore we too are condemned. 

 

In molding my clay into life, O Potter, Thou didst put in me

flesh and bones, breath and vitality. But, O my Creator, my

Redeemer and Judge, accept me who repent. 

 

I confess to Thee, O Savior, the sins I have committed, and the wounds of my body and soul which murderous thoughts like robbers within have inflicted upon me.

 

I have sinned, O Savior, yet I know that Thou art the Lover of men. Thou strikest compassionately and pitiest warmly. Thou seest me weeping and runnest towards me as the Father recalling the Prodigal. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: Superessential Trinity, adored in Unity, take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and in Thy compassion grant me tears of compunction.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: Mother of God, hope and intercessor of those who sing of thee, take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and as thou art our pure Lady, accept me who repent.

 

Song 2.

Eirmos: Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and will sing of Christ who came to dwell among us in flesh which He took from the Virgin.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

Sin which stripped me of my former God-woven clothing has also sewn on me coats of skin.

 

I am wrapped in a garment of shame as with fig leaves, in reproof of my selfish passions.

 

I am clad in a coat that is spotted and shamefully blood- stained by the flow of my passionate and pleasure-loving life.

 

I fell under the burden of passions and corruption of matter, and from then until now I am oppressed by the enemy.

 

Having preferred a possessive and pleasure-loving life to spiritual poverty, O Savior, I am now harnessed with a heavy yoke. 

 

I have adorned the idol of my flesh with the many-colored clothing of shameful thoughts, and I am condemned. 

 

I have been anxiously concerned only about outward adornment, and have neglected the inner temple made in the image of God.

 

I have buried with passions the beauty of the original image, O Savior. But seek and find it, like the lost coin.

 

Like the harlot I cry to Thee: I have sinned, I alone have sinned against Thee. Accept my tears also, O Savior, as perfume. 

 

Like the publican I cry to Thee: Be merciful, O Savior, be merciful to me; for no child of Adam has sinned as I against Thee. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: One in three Persons I praise Thee, O God of all, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: Spotless Mother of God, only all-hymned Virgin, pray intensely that we may be saved.

 

Song 3.

Eirmos: Establish, O Lord, my unstable heart on the rock of Thy commandments, for Thou only art Holy and Lord.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

In Thee the Conqueror of death, I have found the Source of Life, and from my heart I cry to Thee before my end: I have sinned, be merciful, save me.

 

I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned against Thee. Be merciful to me. For there is no one who has sinned among men whom I have not surpassed by my sins.

 

I have imitated those who were licentious in Noah's time, and I have earned a share in their condemnation of drowning in the flood. 

 

You have imitated Ham, that spurner of his father, my soul. You have not concealed your neighbor’s shame by returning to him looking backwards. 

 

Run, my soul, like Lot from the fire of sin; run from Sodom

and Gomorrah; run from the flame of every irrational desire. 

 

Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on me, I implore Thee, when Thou comest with Thy Angels to requite us all as our actions deserve.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: Simple, uncreated Unity, unoriginate Nature praised in a Trinity of Persons, save us who with faith worship Thy power.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: O Mother of God, unwedded thou gavest birth in time to the timeless Son of the Father. And - O strange wonder! - thou remainest a Virgin while suckling Him.

 

Song 4.

Eirmos: The Prophet heard of Thy coming, O Lord, and

was afraid that Thou wast to be born of a Virgin and

appear to men, and he said, "I have heard the report

of Thee and am afraid." Glory to Thy power, O Lord.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

Watch, my soul! Be courageous like the great Patriarchs, that you may acquire activity and awareness, and be a mind that sees God, and may reach in contemplation the innermost darkness, and be a great trader.

 

The great Patriarch, by begetting the twelve Patriarchs, mystically set up for you, my soul, a ladder of active ascent, having wisely offered his children as rungs, and his steps as ascents.

 

You have emulated the hated Esau, my soul, and have given up your birthright of pristine beauty to your supplanter, and you have lost your father's blessing, and have been tripped up twice in action and knowledge. Therefore, O wretch, repent now.

 

Esau was called Edom for his extreme passion of madness for women. For ever burning with incontinence and stained with pleasures, he was named Edom which means a red-hot sin-loving soul.

 

Have you heard of Job who was made holy on a dunghill, O my soul? You have not emulated his courage, nor had his firmness of purpose in all you have learned or known, or in your temptations, but you have proved unpersevering. 

 

He who was formerly on a throne is now naked on a dunghill

and covered with sores. He who had many children and was

much admired is suddenly childless and homeless. Yet he

regarded the dunghill as a palace and his sores as pearls.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: I confess Thee to be undivided in essence, unconfused in persons, One Triune Divinity, co-enthroned and co-reigning. I sing Thee the great song thrice sung on high.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: Thou givest birth and livest a virgin life, and in both remainest a virgin by nature. He Who is born of thee renews the laws of nature, and a womb gives birth without travail. Where God wills, the order of nature is overruled; for He does whatever He wishes.

 

Song 5.

Eirmos: Out of the night watching early for Thee, enlighten me, I pray, O Lover of men, and guide even me in Thy commandments, and teach me, O Savior, to do Thy will.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

You have heard, my soul, of Moses' ark of old, borne on the waters and waves of the river as in a shrine, which escaped the bitter tragedy of Pharaoh's edict. 

 

If you have heard of the midwives, wretched soul, who of old killed in infancy the manly issue and practice of chastity, then like the great Moses, suck wisdom. 

 

You, wretched soul, have not struck and killed your Egyptian mind, like great Moses. Say, then, how will you dwell in that desert solitude where the passions desert you through repentance? 

 

Great Moses dwelt in the wilds, my soul. So go and imitate his life, that you too may attain by contemplation to the vision of God in the bush. 

 

Imagine Moses' staff striking the sea and fixing the deep as a type of the divine Cross, by which you too, my soul, can accomplish great things. 

 

Aaron offered to God the fire pure and undefiled; but Hophni and Phinehas, like you, my soul, offered to God a foul and rebellious life. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: Thee, O Trinity, we glorify, the one God: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, Father, Son and Spirit, simple Being, Unity ever adored.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: From thee, O pure maiden Mother and Virgin, God Who created the worlds and ages was clad in my clay and united to Himself human nature.

 

Song 6.

Eirmos: I cried with my whole heart to the merciful God, and He heard me from the lowest hell and raised my life out of corruption.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

The waves of my sins, O Savior, as in the Red Sea recoiled and covered me unawares, like the Egyptians of old and their charioteers.

 

Like Israel of old, my soul, you have had a foolish affection. For like a brute you have preferred to divine manna the pleasure-loving gluttony of the passions. 

 

The wells of Canaanite thoughts, my soul, you have prized above the Rock with the cleft from which the river of wisdom like a chalice pours forth streams of theology.

 

Swine's flesh and hotpots and Egyptian food you, my soul, have preferred to heavenly manna, as of old the senseless people in the wilderness. 

 

When Thy servant Moses struck the rock with his staff, he mystically typified Thy life-giving side, O Savior, from which we all draw the water of life. 

 

Explore and spy out the Land of Promise like Joshua the Son of Nun, my soul, and see what it is like, and settle in it by observing the laws. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: I am the Trinity, simple and undivided, divided Personally, and I am the Unity, united in nature, says the Father, the Son, and the Divine Spirit.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: Thy womb bore God for us Who took our form. Implore Him as the Creator of all, O Mother of God that through thy intercessions we may be justified.

 

Kontakion, tone 6:

My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near, and you will be confounded. Awake, then, and, be watchful, that Christ our God may spare you, Who is everywhere present and fills all things.

 

Song 7.

Eirmos: We have sinned, transgressed, done wrong before Thee, we have not watched or done as Thou hast commanded us. But do not give us up utterly, O God of our Fathers.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

When the Ark was being carried on a wagon, and when one of the oxen slipped, Uzzah only touched it and experienced the wrath of God. But avoid, my soul, his presumption and truly reverence divine things. 

 

You have heard of Absalom, how he rose against nature. You know his accursed deeds and how he insulted the bed of his father David. But you have imitated his passionate and pleasure-loving cravings. 

 

You have enslaved your free dignity to your body, my soul, for you have found in satan another Ahitophel and have consented to his counsels. But Christ Himself scattered them, that you may at all events be saved. 

 

Wonderful Solomon, who was full of the grace of wisdom, at one time did evil in God's sight and fell away from Him. And you, my soul, have resembled him by your accursed life. 

 

Carried away by the pleasure of his passions, he defiled himself. Alas, the lover of wisdom is a lover of loose women and estranged from God! And you, my soul, have in mind imitated him by your shameful pleasures. 

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You, my soul, have rivaled Rehoboam who would not listen to his father's advisors, and that vicious slave Jeroboam the apostate of old. But shun such mimicry and cry to God: I have sinned, have compassion on me. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

To The Trinity: O Trinity simple and undivided, of one essence and one nature, Lights and Light, three Holies and one Holy, God the Trinity is hymned. But sing, my soul, and glorify the Life and Lives, the God of all.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: We sing of thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, O Mother of God, for thou gavest birth to one of the inseparable Trinity, the one Son and God, and to us on earth thou hast opened the heavenly realms.

 

Song 8.

Eirmos: Him Whom the heavenly hosts glorify and before Whom Cherubim and Seraphim tremble, let every breath, and all creation praise, bless and exalt throughout all ages.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

Having emulated Uzziah, my soul, you have his leprosy in you doubled. For you think disgusting thoughts and do outrageous things. Let go of what you are holding and run to repentance.

 

Have you heard, my soul, of the Ninevites, who repented before God in sackcloth and ashes? You have not imitated them, but appear to be more crooked than all who have sinned before and after the law.

 

You have heard of Jeremiah in the mud pit, my soul, how he cried out with lamentations against the City of Zion, and was seeking tears. Imitate his life of lamentation and you will be saved.

 

Jonah fled to Tarshish, foreseeing the conversion of the Ninevites; for, being a Prophet, he was aware of God's compassion, and was anxious that his prophecy should not prove false. 

 

You have heard, my soul, of Daniel in the lion's den. and how he shut the beasts' mouths. You know how the Children who were with Azariah extinguished the flames of the burning furnace by faith.

 

I have reviewed all the people of the Old Testament as examples for you, my soul. Imitate the God-loving deeds of the righteous and shun the sins of the wicked.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: Eternal Father, co-eternal Son, gracious Comforter, Spirit of Truth; Father of the Divine Word, Word of the Eternal Father, living and creative Spirit, Trinity Unity, have mercy on us.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: As from scarlet silk, O spotless Virgin, within thy womb the spiritual purple was woven, the flesh Of Emmanuel. Therefore we honor thee as in truth Mother of God.

 

Song 9.

Eirmos: Ineffable is the childbearing of a seedless conception, unsullied the pregnancy of a Virgin Mother, for the birth of God renews natures. So in all generations we magnify thee in orthodox fashion as the Mother and Bride of God.

 

Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. 

 

Christ was tempted, the devil was tempting Him, showing Him stones to be turned into bread; and he led Him up a mountain to see all the kingdoms of the world in a flash. Dread, my soul, the scene; watch and pray at every hour to God. 

 

The desert-loving dove, the lamp of Christ, the Voice crying

in the wilderness sounded, preaching repentance; while

Herod sinned with Herodias. See, my soul, that you are not

caught in the toils of sin, but embrace repentance. 

 

The Forerunner of grace dwelt in the desert and all Judea and Samaria ran to hear him; and they confessed their sins, and eagerly received baptism. But you, my soul, have not imitated them. 

 

Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled, for Christ earlier blessed both, eating in His flesh at the marriage in Cana and changing water into wine, and showing His first

miracle so that you, my soul, might be changed. 

 

Christ braced the paralytic and he carried his bed; He raised up the dead young man, the son of the widow, and the Centurion's servant; and by revealing Himself to the Samaritan woman, He traced in advance for you, my soul, how to worship in spirit. 

 

The Lord healed the woman with hemorrhage by the touch of His hem, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, and cured cripples; the deaf and the dumb and the woman bent earthward he healed with His word, that you, wretched soul, might be saved. 

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

 

To The Trinity: Let us glorify the Father, exalt the Son, and faithfully worship the Divine Spirit, inseparable Trinity, Unity in essence, as the Light and Lights, the Life and Lives, giving life and light to the ends of the earth.

 

Now and ever:

 

Theotokion: Protect thy city, spotless Mother of God, for in thee it faithfully reigns, and in thee is made strong, and through thee it conquers and routs every trial and temptation, and spoils its foes and rules its subjects.

 

Refrain: Holy father Andrew, pray for us.

 

Venerable Andrew, thrice-blessed father, shepherd of Crete, cease not to pray to God for those who sing of thee, that He may deliver from anger, oppression, corruption and our countless sins, all of us who faithfully honor thy memory .

 

And again the Eirmos:

Ineffable is the childbearing of a seedless conception, unsullied the pregnancy of a Virgin Mother, for the birth of God renews natures. So in all generations we magnify thee in orthodox fashion as Mother and Bride of God.

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And then we continue the service according to the order.