Rev. Fr. Michael Pograniczny

HOLY GREAT-MARTYR GEORGE, THE TROPHYBEARER

(April 23 | May 6)

MAGNIFICATION:

We magnify you, O Holy, Passion-Bearer George and we venerate the honourable sufferings which you endured for Christ.

After each verse, we repeat the Magnification.

1. He is my refuge and my fortress.
2. The righteous cried, and the Lord heard them; and He delivered them from all their afflictions.
3. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in him.
4. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

TROPAR, TONE 4:

Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick, and champion of kings, O Trophy-bearer, Great-Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

KONDAK, TONE 4:

Cultivated by God, you have been revealed as a most precious cultivator of piety, gathering for yourself sheaves of virtues. For having sown in tears, you reap with gladness, and having contested, even to the shedding of blood, you have received Christ, and by your prayers, O Saint, you grant unto all forgiveness of sins.

PROKEIMEN, TONE 7:

(Psalm 63:11, 2)

The righteous man shall rejoice in the Lord and hope in Him.
Verse: Hearken, O God, unto my prayer when I make supplication unto You.

EPISTLE:

Acts 12:1-11

¹Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.
²Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
⁴So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.
⁵Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
⁶And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.
⁷Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.
⁸Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”
⁹So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
¹¹ And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

ALLELUIA VERSES, TONE 4:

(Psalm 91:12, 13)

The righteous man shall flourish like a palm tree. Like a cedar in Lebanon shall he be multiplied.
Verse: They that are planted in the House of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish.

GOSPEL:

John 15:17-16:2

¹⁷These things I command you, that you love one another.
¹⁸“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
²¹But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
²³He who hates Me hates My Father also.
²⁴If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
²⁵But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
²⁶“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.† ²⁷And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Chapter 16

¹“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.
²They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

COMMUNION VERSE:

(Psalm 111:6)

The righteous man shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not fear evil tidings. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.