Great Vespers

At "Lord, I have cried"

Six Stichera

Tone 3.

6. I abandoned thanksgiving in Eden, / in foolish want for a godless likeness to God, / giving up the Tree of Life for dead skins, / and company with God in the cool of the day / for burning sword and sweat and dust. / Yet You did not cast me forever from your Face, O God of many mercies: / redeemed in Christ I give You joyful thanks / with your angels and all creation.

5. Sundered from You, O Source of Life, / we groan and all creation with us strains. / Come native peoples, come pilgrims to travailing America; / sing songs of God in sky, tree and mountain; / wrest nourishment from forest, plain and lake. / A yearning land: Tabors not yet leaping, Jordans not yet springing, / until in Christ's Church is gives You joyful thanks / with your angels and all creation.

4. Sing, America, of that sun-darkened day, / when my Savior hung by choice on the Cross; / a torn curtain at whose tearing the continent shut its ears; / a pierced side soaking rock from Golgotha to Plymouth, / a cry like a thanksgiving silencing a universe of cries: / "It is accomplished, accept, O Father, my Spirit into your hands!" / And I in Christ's cry give You joyful thanks,  / with your angels and all creation.

Tone 6.

3. Give thanks, America, for that bright early morning / when our Savior tranpled Death by his death; / dousing the flaming sword by fire of victory; / the enfleshed Fiery Pillar seen from wast to west, / Zion and America sing for joy at your dawning, O Daystar! / You accomplish all things by your will alone. / Accept our humble thanksgiving, O Lover of Mankind.

2. United with You in baptism, O Christ,  / your Church leads the universe in its hymn of victory, / crowning the longings of all people in its liturgy of praise! / See: the Creator of nature has visited his creatures, / all the earth brings forth fruits of joy! / Lift up, O ancient Americas, for the Lord of Glory enters in, / fulfilling native dreaming and pilgrim longing by the seal of orthodoxy; / accept our humble thanksgiving, O Lover of Mankind.

1. Thanksgiving is all around me, O Lord, / who freely chose to recreate me in your likeness; / sing trees of the new world: "God has hung on one of us and lived!" / Shout American sky: "God has bowed me and come down!" / Cry out great rivers: "God has baptized us for your baptism!" / Our faces turn toward your promised return, O Christ! / Accept our humble thanksgiving, O Lover of Mankind.

Glory. Tone 8.

We read of a shadow of communion / between native Americans and the European pilgrims, / a common sharing in the bounty of this land, / hidden here, yearning for the true Faith, / the Communion in Christ, / the reality stepping out from the shade, / revealing the full scope of the Father's saving economy; / community in the perfect life of the Trinity, / to Whom we send up glory, praise and thanksgiving.

Now and ever. Dogmatikon, same tone.

The King of heaven through love for mankind / appeared on earth and lived among men; / for taking flesh from a pure Virgin / and coming forth from her with the addition, / he is one Son, double in nature, but not in person; / therefore proclaiming him as truly perfect God and perfect man, / we confess Christ our God; / implore him, Mother without bridegroom, / to have mercy on our souls.

Prokeimenon of the Day.

Three Prophecies:

Isaias (Isaiah). 40:1-3,9, 41:17-18, 45:8, 48:20-21, 54:1.

Thus says the Lord: Be comforted, be comforted, my people. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil has come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God. Get up upon a high mountain, you that brings good tidings to Sion: lift up your voice with strength, you that brings good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God: The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue has been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters. Drop down dew, you heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. Come forth out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out. Give praise, O you barren, that does not bear: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, you that did not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband, says the Lord.

Isaias (Isaiah). 55:1, 12:3-4, 55:2-13.

Thus says the Lord: All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat: come, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price. You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour's fountains: And you shall say on that day: Praise the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high. Why do you spend money for that which is not breed, and your labour for that which does not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness. Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles. Behold you shall call a nation, which you did not know: and the nations that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands. Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.

Zacharias (Zechariah). 9:9-15

Thus says the Lord: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold your King will come to you, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth. You also by the blood of your testament have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water. Return to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope, I will render you double, I declare today. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim: and I will raise up your sons, O Sion, above your sons, O Greece, and I will make you as the sword of the mighty. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devour, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be drunk as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the altar.

Stichera at the Litii

Tone 4.

Rise up, O peoples of this land, / sound the trumpet for the festival! / Make music to God amid fountains of joy, / to the mighty One who gives us gifts! / Teach America to sing, O Church of Christ, / teach her the songs of true thanksgiving / in the Mysteries of faith,  / stand with us, you people in our unending praise, / in the Temple may we all sing, "Glory!"

God is known in America, / through all our land his name is great! / Riding on the Great Plains' winds, / wrapped in a thousand cities' light, / He makes the clouds his chariot, / treading spirit-laden sky. / How great are your works, O Lord! / For them your people gives you thanks this day.

Come together families joined by bonds of blood, / for the glory of the One whose Blood was poured out. / Make strong your love through obeidence to Christ, / that He may accept in his grace our thanksgiving on this day.

O God of our fathers, / let not our nation squander its dear-bought freedom, / faintly echoed in its founding ideals; / but give us the freedom of sonship in Christ, /  leading us far from prideful slavery to things, / taking us like Abraham and Moses, your obedient sons, / far from the Ur of license and from the Egypt of lust / into the Promised Land of your glory.

Glory. Tone 3.

America searched through the ages for your Name, O Master, / whispered in the dreams of native peoples, / stuttered in the aspirations of the pilgrim founders. / But now the shadows have passed away, / in your holy Church planted firmly in this soil / through the blood and toil of your holy saints. / Thrill, America, to the sound of the longed-for Name, / and give thanks to Jesus Christ, our saving Lord.

Now and ever. Same tone.

Accept our thanks, O Most Holy Trinity, / worshipped amidst the angels and all the saints, / through the prayers of the boast of our race, / the model of true thanksgiving, / the Mother of God and Virgin ever-pure.

Aposticha

Tone 8

You came, O Christ, to lay Fire upon the earth, / the Fire that douses the flaming sword / that once barred Eden's gate: / Fire in Pentecost fervor, / Fire in martyr's ardor, / Fire in monastic labor, / and in the burning thirst / of your unquenchable love for mankind.

Verse: I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me and have been my Savior.

Creation falls back in wonder, O Lord, / at the sight of the martyrs of America / who turned away from the allurements of created things / for the true worship of your uncreated Majesty. / These are the first fruits of our nation, / the prime boast of your Church in this land, / who lead us today in our thanksgiving hymns.

Verse: You are my God and I will give thanks to You; O my God, I extol You.

How beautiful are the feet of those saints who brought your Gospel to this land! / Ocean borne, the new fishers of men / cast their nets across the seas of people, / in unceasing toil for the Kingdom of Heaven. / The sacred bishops supported by their priestly helpers, / the laborers in the monastic life, / the holy men and women whose virtues fill the earth, / all these lead us today in our thanksgiving hymns.

Glory. Tone 6.

Your angels utter with covered faces, / their sacred thrice holy hymn, / teaching us to render thanks without cease, / in the Church whose doxology is eternal,  / giving glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now and ever. Same Tone.

O Mother of God, joy of the sorrowing,  / measureless depth of grace / and first glory of our race: / pray without cease to your Son and our God / that unity will reign throughout his holy Church, / holding fast in the oneness of true faith.

Troparion

By the Priest David. Tone 7

You have made the earth, O God, and all it contains, / You have given us a share in your life. / All creation sings praise to You. / As our forefathers gave thanks to You after coming to these shores, /  we your unworthy servants also give thanks on this day / for all your benefits throughout our history.  

(Twice. Then the Theotokion, "Rejoice, Virgin Mary.")