The Sixth Hour
| Come, let us worship God, our King! |
| Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King and our God! |
| Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and our God! |
And three bows.
Psalm 53
God, save me in Your name and judge me by Your power. God, hear my prayer, listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers rose up against me, and the mighty sought my soul, and did not set God before them. But behold, God helps me, and the Lord is the intercessor of my soul. He will turn evil on my enemies: by Your truth I will destroy them. I will diligently offer a sacrifice to You, I will glorify Your name, O Lord, for it is good, for You delivered me from all sorrow, and my eye looked on my enemies.
Psalm 54
Hear, O God, my prayer and do not despise my prayer, listen to me and hear me. I was saddened in my grief and troubled by the voice of the enemy and by the oppression of the sinner, for they brought iniquity against me and in anger they fought against me. My heart was alarmed within me, and the fear of death attacked me, fear and trembling came over me, and darkness covered me. And I said: “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and rest?” Behold, I went into exile and settled in the wilderness. I waited for God to save me from cowardice and from the storm. Flood, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen lawlessness and strife in the city. Day and night they walk around its walls; lawlessness and grief are in the midst of it and untruth, and covetousness and deceit have not disappeared from its streets. For if the enemy reviled me, I would endure it; and if my hater had magnified himself over me, I would have hidden from him. But you, a man of one accord with me, my mentor and my neighbor, whose communication delighted my meals, in the house of God we walked in one mind! May death come upon them, and may they go down to hell alive, for wickedness is in their dwellings, in the midst of them. I cried out to God, and the Lord heard me; in the evening, and in the morning, and at noon, I will tell and proclaim - and He will hear my voice. He will peacefully deliver my soul from those approaching me, for there were many of them near me. God, who was before the ages, will hear and humble them. For there is no ransom for them, for they did not fear God. He stretched out His hand for retribution; they desecrated His covenant. His faces were divided in anger, and their hearts were drawn together; Their words have become softer than oil, but they are arrows. Cast your care on the Lord, and He will nourish you and will not allow the righteous to be shaken forever. But you, O God, will bring them down into the well of destruction: bloodthirsty and treacherous men will not reach half of their days. And I, Lord, trust in You.
Psalm 90
He who lives with the help of the Almighty will find his home under the roof of the heavenly God. He will say to the Lord: “You are my protector and my refuge, my God, and I trust in Him.” For He will deliver you from the snare of fishers and from the disturbing news. He will hide you behind His shoulders, and under His wings you will hope—His truth will surround you like a weapon. You will not be afraid from the fear of the night, from an arrow flying during the day; from danger wandering in the darkness, from misfortune and the demon of the midday. A thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right, but they will not come close to you. Only with your eyes will you look and see the reward of sinners. For You, Lord, are my hope! You have made the Most High your refuge. Evil will not approach you, and the scourge will not come close to your tent, for He will command His angels for you, to keep you in all your ways; they will carry you in their hands, so that you do not stumble on a stone with your foot. You will tread on the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon. “For he trusted in Me, and I will deliver him, I will cover him, for he has known My name. He will call Me, and I will hear him, I am with him in sorrow, I will deliver him and glorify him, I will fill him with long life and show him My salvation.”
Glory, and now: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God. (three times) Lord, have mercy. (three times) Glory, troparion of the feast.
And now, Theotokos: We have no boldness:
If it is fasting and “Alleluia” is sung, the troparion of the hour is sung three times with verses (Ps 54:2, 17) and three prostrations to the ground.
Troparion, tone 2
On the sixth day and at the sixth hour / nailed to the Cross / the impudent sin of Adam in paradise, / and tear up the handwriting of our sins, / Christ our God, and save us.
Verse 1: Hear, O God, my prayer and do not despise my supplication.
Verse 2: I cried to God, and the Lord heard me.
Priest: Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reader: And now, and always, and forever and ever. Amen.
Theotokos
We do not have boldness because of our many sins, / but You begged the One who was born of You, Virgin Mary! / For the Mother’s prayer to the benevolent Lord has great power. / Do not despise the prayers of sinners, O All-Pure One, / for He is merciful and has the power to save / He who accepted suffering for us.
May Thy compassion meet us soon, O Lord, for we have become very poor. Help us, O God, our Savior, for the sake of the glory of Your name, Lord, deliver us, and be merciful to our sins for the sake of Your name. Ps 78:8b, 9
| Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (three times) |
| Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. |
| O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake. |
| Lord, have mercy. (three times) |
| Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. 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 the evil one. |
Priest: For Thine is the kingdom. Reader: Amen.
Kontakion of the feast.
If “Alleluia” was sung, the following kontakia are read, tone 2:
You accomplished salvation in the midst of the earth, O Christ God: / You stretched out Your most pure hands on the Cross, / gathering all the nations, crying: / “Lord, glory to You!”
Glory: We worship Your most pure image, O Good One, / asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ God. / For You voluntarily deigned to ascend in flesh to the Cross, / in order to deliver those created by You from slavery to the enemy. / Therefore, we gratefully cry out to You: / “You filled everything with joy, our Savior, / who came to save the world!”
And now:
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
Source of mercy, / grant us compassion, O Mother of God; / look at the people who have sinned, / show Your power as always, / for, trusting in You, we cry to You: “Rejoice,” / as Gabriel once did, / the commander of the disembodied armies.
On Wednesday and Friday
You are glorified, O Virgin Mother of God, / we glorify You; / for by the Cross of Your Son hell was cast down and death perished, / we, the slain, were resurrected and were worthy of life, / received paradise, eternal pleasure. / Therefore, let us gratefully glorify Christ, our God, / the mighty and only most merciful.
Lord, have mercy. (40 times)
At every time and at every hour, Christ God, who accepts worship and glorification in heaven and on earth, long-suffering, abundantly merciful, most merciful, loving the righteous and merciful to sinners, calling everyone to salvation with the promise of future blessings! You, Lord, accept our prayers at this hour and direct our lives to Your commandments: sanctify our souls, cleanse our bodies, correct our thoughts, cleanse our thoughts and deliver us from all sorrow, troubles and torment. Protect us with Your holy Angels, so that, guarded and instructed by them, we may achieve unity in faith and understanding of Your unapproachable glory, for You are blessed forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. (three times) Glory, and now:
It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. / More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim: / without defilement thou gavest birth to God the Word: / true Theotokos, we magnify thee.
Bless in the name of the Lord, father.
Priest: Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.
Reader: Amen.
If it is fasting and they sing “Alleluia”, the priest says the prayer to St. Ephraim the Syrian with bows:Lord and Master of my life! Do not betray me to the spirit of idleness, vanity, lust for power and idle talk. (Bow)
Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, your servant. (Bow)
Yes, Lord the King, let me see my sins and not condemn my brother, for You are blessed forever and ever. Amen. (Bow)
Also 12 small bows with prayer: God, cleanse me, a sinner.
And again the whole prayer: Lord and Master of my life. And one great bow.
Prayer of St. Basil the Great
God and Lord of Hosts and of all creation, Creator, by the mercy of Your unparalleled mercy, Your Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, sent down for the salvation of our race and with His sacred Cross tore up the handwriting of our sins and with it triumphed over the principalities and rulers of darkness! Yourself, humane-loving Master, accept these thanksgiving and prayer requests from us sinners, and deliver us from every disastrous and dark sin and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to cause us harm. Nail our flesh with fear of You and do not allow our hearts to deviate to evil words or thoughts, but wound our souls with love for You, so that we, always looking to You and guided by the light emanating from You, contemplating You, the unapproachable and eternal Light, unceasing praise and thanksgiving to You, to the beginningless Father with Your Only Begotten Son and Thy all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
If we sang “God is the Lord,” we begin the Divine Liturgy or read the Fine Liturgy; if they sang “Alleluia,” we begin the ninth hour like this: “Come, let us worship” (three times), psalms and other sequences of the hour.