Rev. Fr. Myroslaw Shmyhelskyy

NATIVITY OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS

(September 8 | 21)

MAGNIFICATION:

We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin and we honour Your holy parents, and praise Your All-Glorious Nativity.

After each verse, we repeat the Magnification.

1. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear.
2. All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before You.
3. We shall be filled with the good things of Your house, holy is Your temple.
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.

ENTRANCE HYMN:

Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ. O Son of God, through the prayers of the Theotokos, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.

TROPAR, TONE 4:

Your nativity, O Theotokos, has brought joy to the whole universe. The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone forth from You, annulling the curse, and giving a blessing. He has abolished death and granted us eternal Life.

KONDAK, TONE 4:

Joachim and Anna were freed from the reproach of childlessness, Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, by your holy nativity, O Immaculate One. Your people, redeemed from the guilt of sin, celebrate by crying out to You: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the Nourisher of our Life.

PROKEIMEN, TONE 3:

(Luke 1:46-48)
My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Verse: For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

EPISTLE:

Philippians 2:5-11

⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
⁶who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
⁷but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
⁹Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
¹¹and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

ALLELUIA, TONE 8:

(PSALM 44:10, 12)
Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear.
Verse: The rich among the people shall entreat your countenance.

GOSPEL:

Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28

³⁸Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
⁴⁰But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
⁴¹And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
⁴²But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Chapter 11

²⁷And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
²⁸But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

INSTEAD OF “IT IS TRULY WORTHY” • IRMOS, TONE 8:

Magnify, O my soul, the most glorious nativity of the Mother of God.
Irmos, Tone 8: Virginity is alien to motherhood and childbearing is strange to virgins. Yet, in You, O Theotokos, both are found. Therefore with all the nations of the earth we unceasingly magnify You.

COMMUNION VERSE:

(Psalm 115:4)
I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.