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In Cyprus, it is customary at the end of the Doxology of Mattins to make the entrance with the Icon of the Mother of God and Child. The Choir come into the sanctuary by the North side and begin to sing slowly the last of the “Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us”. The Priest meanwhile shall cense the Holy Table whereon has been placed a tray with the Icon adorned with flowers and three lighted candles. Then being preceded by the Choir, lighted candles, the six-winged seraphim and the Deacon censing, the Priest shall lift the tray to the height of his head and exit the sanctuary by the North side making a procession inside the Church. On reaching the centre of the Church, where there has been placed a table, the procession shall go around it three times and then the Priest, standing before the table facing east shall cry out:

Wisdom. Stand steadfast.

And he shall place the tray with the Icon on the table and taking up the censer, he shall cense the Icon crosswise going round the table three times singing all the while:

 

Tone 4

We venerate Thy most pure Icon, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ our God, for of Thine own will Thou wast pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, so that Thou mightest deliver from the bondage of the enemy those whom Thou didst fashion. Therefore, in thanksgiving we cry aloud to Thee. Thou hast filled all things with joy, our Saviour, who didst come to save the world.

The Choir shall repeat the Troparion twice.

 

The Priest shall then venerate the Icon and taking it from the tray, shall raise it high singing:    

 

Tone 4

O Mother of God, Queen of all, the glory of Orthodoxy, bring down the arrogance of the heretics and their faces in disgrace, who do not venerate  nor  honour, O Most Pure, thy venerable Icon. 

 

At the Liturgy, after the “Behind the Pulpit Prayer” the Priest, standing by the Holy Doors exclaims:

A yearly thanksgiving is due to God on account of that day when we recovered the Church of God, with the manifestation of the pious dogmas and the overthrowing of the blasphemies of wickedness.

Following prophetic sayings, yielding to apostolic exhortations, and standing on the foundation of the accounts in the Gospels, we make festival on this day of dedication and making merry together and rejoicing in prayers and litanies, we cry out in psalms and hymns.

And, being preceded by lighted candles, the six-winged seraphim and the censer, the Priest and all the people holding Icons exit the Church by the Western doors, making  a   procession   around the Church.

 

The Choir shall sing in Tone 4.

We venerate Thy most pure Icon, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ our God.

And reaching the south side, the Priest shall say:

Have mercy upon us, O God, after Thy great goodness. We pray Thee, hear us and have mercy.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [3] And after each petition

Again we pray for all pious Orthodox Christians.

Again we pray for our Archbishop [Name], and for all our brethren in Christ.

For Thou art a merciful God, and a lover of mankind, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever: world without end.

CHOIR: Amen.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And moving to the East side the Choir shall sing:

For of Thine own will Thou wast pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, so that Thou mightest deliver from the bondage of the enemy those whom Thou didst fashion.

 

And reaching the East side, that is behind the sanctuary, the Priest shall say:

Have mercy upon us, O God, after Thy great goodness. We pray Thee, hear us and have mercy.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [3]

Again we pray for the blessed memory and eternal rest of the souls of our fathers and brethren who for faith and country gloriously fought and fell and for everyone who has fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and eternal life; pious Kings, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Archpriests, Priests, Hieromonks, Deacons and Monks and all Orthodox Christians.

CHOIR: Everlasting be their memory. [3]

 

PRIEST

For Thou art the resurrection, the life and the blessed repose of Thy departed servants, O Christ our God, and to Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thine eternal Father and Thine all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever: world without end.

CHOIR: Amen.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead: Whose kingdom shall have no end.

 

PRIEST

Those who confess the incarnate presence of God the Word by word, by mouth, in the heart and the mind, by writing and in Icons: Everlasting be their memory.

CHOIR: Everlasting be their memory. [3]

 

PRIEST

Those who know the difference in essences of the one and the same hypostasis of Christ attribute to it properties both created and uncreated, visible and invisible, capable of suffering and beyond suffering, circumscribed and uncircumscribed; they ascribe to the divine essence uncreatedness and the rest, while they acknowledge in the human nature the other qualities, including being circumscribed, and affirm all this both in word and in images: Everlasting be their memory.

CHOIR: Everlasting be their memory. [3]

PRIEST

Those who, believing and proclaiming, preach the words of the Gospel in writings, and the deeds in forms, to gather together in a single duty that includes both proclamation through words, and sure confirmation of the truth through icons: Everlasting be their memory.

CHOIR: Everlasting be their memory. [3]

 

And as they move to the North side the Choir shall sing:

Therefore in thanksgiving we cry aloud to Thee. Thou hast filled all things with joy, our Saviour, who didst come to save the world.

 

And reaching the North side the Priest shall say:

Have mercy upon us, O God, after Thy great goodness. We pray Thee, hear us and have mercy.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [3] And after each petition

Again we pray for our President [Name], for all those in authority over us, for the armed forces who love Christ and all our blessed generation.

For Thou art a merciful God, and a lover of mankind, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever: world without end. 

CHOIR: Amen.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets.

PRIEST

As the Prophets saw, as the Apostles taught, as the Church has received, as the Teachers express in dogma, as the inhabited world understands together with them, as grace illumines, as the truth makes clear, as error has been banished, as wisdom makes bold to declare, as Christ has assured, so we think, so we speak, so we preach, honouring Christ our true God, and his Saints, in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in Churches, in Icons, worshipping and revering the One as God and Lord, and honouring them because of their common Lord as those who are close to him and serve him, and making to them relative veneration.

 

And moving to the West side the Choir shall sing:

The Church has been shown forth as a heavenly beacon shining on all the faithful, wherefore we standing here cry out to thee, this temple make firm and steadfast, O Lord.

 

PRIEST

Have mercy upon us, O God, after Thy great goodness. We pray Thee, hear us and have mercy.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [3] 

Again we pray for the preservation of this holy temple, for this city, [village or monastery] all cities and land, from destruction, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, flood, fire and the sword, from invasion of enemies, civil war and sudden death. We pray also that our good God and lover of mankind will be merciful, compassionate and easily reconciled and will turn away and dispel all wrath and sickness agitated against us and deliver us from His justified and impending admonition and have mercy upon us.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [12]

Again we pray that the Lord our God hear the voice of the supplication of us sinners, and have mercy upon us.

CHOIR: Kyrie eleison. [3]

Hear us, O God and our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth, and those far off at sea, and be merciful, yea, be merciful, O Master, upon our sins and have mercy upon us.

For Thou art a merciful God and a lover of mankind, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever: world without end.

CHOIR: Amen.

And in one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

 

PRIEST

This is the faith of the Apostles; this is the faith of the Fathers; this is the faith of the Orthodox; this faith makes fast the inhabited world. These preachers of true religion, we praise as brothers and as those we long to have as our fathers, to the glory and honour of the true religion for which they struggled, and say:

Of the defenders of Orthodoxy, the pious Kings, holy Patriarchs, Archpriests, Teachers, Martyrs and Confessors, Everlasting be their memory.

CHOIR: Everlasting be their memory. [3]

 

PRIEST

The Holy Trinity has glorified them. By their contests and struggles and teachings for the sake of true religion to the point of death, we entreat God that we may be guided and strengthened and beg that we may be shown to be imitators of their inspired way of life until the end, by the compassions and grace of the Great and first High-priest Christ, our true God; at the intercessions of our most-glorious Lady, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, of the god-like Angels and all the Saints.  Amen.

 

And the Priest giving the benediction with his right hand shall say:

Blessed is the entrance into the holiest, always, now and for ever: world without end. Amen.

And entering the Church the Priest shall sing:

Tone 7

Who is so great a God as our God? Thou only art the God that doest wonders.

And the Choir also shall sing the same twice:

Who is so great a God as our God? Thou only art the God that doest wonders. [2]

And then the Choir shall sing the Dismissal hymn:

Blessed is the Name of the Lord...

And the Priest shall give the Dismissal in the usual way.