The Sunday On Or After The 8th Day Of The Month Of October

Commemoration Of The Holy Fathers

Of The Seventh Ecumenical Council

Be it known: that, on the Sunday nearest the eleventh day of this month, we celebrate the memory of the three hundred and sixty-five fathers of the Seventh Œcumenical Council, the second convened in Nicæa, the task whereof was the repudiation and eradication of the godless teachings of the Christ-hating and Christian-persecuting iconoclasts Copronymus and those of like mind with him: the wretched bishops and unholy hierarchs, and their godless and vile synagogue.

Should the eleventh day of October fall on a Sunday itself, the service to the holy fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council is chanted on that very day. If it fall on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, the service is chanted on the preceding Sunday; if on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, on the following Sunday.

The service of the saint appointed for that Sunday is omitted and is chanted whenever the ecclesiarch shall decide.

On Saturday, At Little Vespers

We chant the stichera to the Resurrection and to the Theotokos as usual.

At Great Vespers

On “Lord, I have cried...,” we chant 10 stichera: 4 from the Octoechos, i.e., 3 to the Resurrection and one of those composed by Anatolius; and 6 stichera to the holy fathers, in Tone VI: Spec. Mel: “The despairing...” —

The Patriarch Germanus the New, taking the honored councils of the fathers, brought them together in one single canon, recording and holding their dogmas; and these valorous intercessors for salvation doth he present to the Lord, and to the flock and its pastors. Twice

The Scriptures of the law appointed the honored number seven for the Hebrew children, who wait in shadow and serve it; whilst the fathers who, at the command of God Who created all that exists in six days and blessed the seventh, met at the sevenfold Councils, have made it most honorable.

O thrice-blessed fathers! Using material things ye clearly taught unto all the Trinity, Who is the Cause of the world’s creation; for, as champions of Orthodox discourse, whose most mystical words compared seven councils as like unto the four elements, ye have made clear the doctrine of the Trinity, Who hath created these things and fashioned the world.

A single bending of the greatly renowned Prophet Elisha over the prone son of the woman who had rendered him service was sufficient to breathe life into him; yet he returned and bent over him seven times, proclaiming beforehand, as a seer of things to come, your Councils, whereby ye have brought to life the mortality of God the Word, slaying Arius and those who labored with him.

Who hath rent Thy garment, O Savior? It was Arius, Thou hast said, who separated the Trinity’s authority of equal honor into divisions. He hath denied that Thou art One of the Trinity. He hath taught Nestorius not to say “Theotokos.” But the Council in Nicæa hath proclaimed Thee, O Lord, to be the Son of God, equally enthroned with the Father and the Spirit.

Glory..., in Tone VI —

This day let us praise the God-bearing fathers as clarions of the Spirit, which sound forth within the Church the melodious hymn of theology, that the Trinity is One and immutable in essence and divinity. They have cast down the Arians, are the champions of the Orthodox, who ever beseech the Lord to have mercy on our souls.

Now & ever...: the Dogmatic theotokion, in the tone of the week.

After the Entrance, the Prokimenon of the day, and three readings:

Reading from Genesis

Abram, having heard that Lot, his nephew, had been taken captive, numbered his own home-born servants, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued after them to Dan. And he came upon them by night, he and his servants; and he smote them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus. And he recovered all the cavalry of Sodom, and he recovered Lot, his nephew, and all his possessions, and the women and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he returned from the slaughter of Chedorla-omer, and the kings with him, to the valley of Shaveh (this was the plain of the kings). And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth loaves and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed Abram, and said: “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Who made heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God Who delivered thine enemies into thy power.” And Abram gave him the tithe of all.

Reading from Deuteronomy

In those days, Moses said to the children of Israel: “Behold, God hath delivered the land before you. Go in and inherit the land, which He promised to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them. And I spoke to you at that time, saying: I shall not be able by myself to bear you. The Lord your God hath multiplied you; and, behold, ye are today as the stars of heaven in multitude. The Lord God of your fathers add to you a thousandfold more than you are, and bless you as He hath said to you. How shall I alone be able to bear your labor, and your burden, and your gainsayings? Take to yourselves wise men for your tribes, and I will set your leaders over you. And ye answered me, and said: ‘The thing which thou hast told us is good to do.’ So I took of you wise and understanding and prudent men, and I set them to rule over you as rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers to your judges. And I charged your judges at that time, saying: Hear causes between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, and the stranger who is with him. Thou shalt not have respect to persons in judgment, thou shalt judge small and great equally; thou shalt not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgment is God’s.

Reading from Deuteronomy

In those days, Moses said to the children of Israel: “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord thy God, the earth and all things that are therein. Only the Lord chose your fathers to love them, and He chose out their seed after them, even you, beyond all nations, as at this day. Therefore, ye shall circumcise the hardness of your heart, and ye shall not harden your neck. For the Lord your God, He is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, and strong, and terrible God, Who doth not accept persons, nor will He by any means accept a bribe: executing judgment for the stranger and orphan and widow. And as He loveth the stranger, to give him food and raiment, so shall ye love the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt cleave unto Him, and shalt swear by His name. He is thy boast, and He is thy God, Who hath wrought in the midst of thee these great and glorious things, which thine eyes have seen.

At the Litia, the sticheron of the temple, and then:

Glory..., in Tone III —

O holy fathers, ye were careful preservers of the Tradition of the apostles, for, having taught in Orthodox manner the consubstantiality of the Holy Trinity, in council ye cast down the blasphemy of Arius; and having denounced both him and Macedonius, who contended against the Spirit, ye condemned Nestorius, Eutyches and Dioscorus, Sabellius and the mindless Severus. Pray ye that our life may be kept undefiled in the Faith, we beseech you.

Now & ever...: Theotokion —

Through the divine Spirit, by the will of the Father, without seed thou didst conceive the Son of God Who hath existed without mother from before the ages, and for our sake thou gavest birth in the flesh unto Him Who came forth from thee without father; and thou didst nurture Him on milk as a babe. Wherefore, cease not to pray, that our souls be delivered from tribulations.

At the aposticha: Glory..., of the fathers, in Tone IV —

This day let us, the assemblies of the Orthodox, faithfully acting in accordance with piety, celebrate the prayerful commemoration of the God-bearing fathers who in the splendid city of Nicæa assembled from throughout all the world; for with pious resolve they cast down the godless dogma of the fearsome Arius, and in council expelled him from the catholic Church, and in their Symbol of Faith have clearly taught all to confess the Son of God to be consubstantial, equally everlasting, and existent from before the ages, setting this forth precisely and devoutly. Wherefore, following their divine dogmas and believing them with certainty, we worship the Trinity One in Essence — the Son and the Holy Spirit together with the Father — in One Godhead.

Now & ever...: Theotokion —

Mercifully regard the supplications of thy servants, O all-immaculate one, quelling the uprisings of the cruel demons against us, delivering us from every sorrow; for thee alone have we as a steadfast and sure confirmation, and we have acquired thine intercession; let not us that call upon thee be put to shame, O Mistress. Haste thou to answer the entreaty of those who cry out to thee with faith: Rejoice, thou help, joy and protection of all, and salvation of our souls!

At the Blessing of the Loaves, the troparion “Virgin Theotokos, rejoice...,” twice, and then that of the fathers, in Tone VIII —

All-glorious art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our fathers upon the earth as beacons, and hast thereby guided us all to the true Faith! O greatly Compassionate One, glory be to Thee! Once

At Matins

At “God is the Lord...,” the troparion of the resurrection, twice; Glory..., the troparion of the fathers; Now & ever..., the resurrectional theotokion, in Tone VIII —

O Good One, Who for our sake wast born of the Virgin and, having endured crucifixion, cast down death by death, and as God revealed the resurrection: disdain not that which Thou hast fashioned with Thine own hand. Show forth Thy love for mankind, O Merciful One; accept the Theotokos who gave Thee birth and prayeth for us; and save Thy despairing people, O our Savior!

Canon of the resurrection, with 4 troparia, including its irmos; that of the cross and resurrection, with 2 troparia; that of the Theotokos, with 2 troparia; and that of the fathers, with 6 troparia, the acrostic whereof is: “I hymn the Seventh Council of the blessed ones,” the composition of Germanus II, Patriarch of Constantinople, in Tone VIII.

Ode I

Irmos: The staff of Moses, once working a wonder, striking the sea in the form of the Cross and dividing it, drowned the mounted tyrant Pharaoh, and saved Israel who fled on foot, chanting a hymn unto God.

O Lord, grant unto me, who desire to hymn the Seventh Council, an assemblage of the seven gifts of the Paraclete, Who, with tongues of fire, made it wise and hath caused all sacrilegious blasphemy to fall silent.

The number seven hath been greater than others from the beginning, for originally the all-accomplished cessation of the divine creation of all was on the seventh day, and now an end hath come to all heresies at the Council of the same number.

Of old, in Nicæa with their shepherds’ staves the choir of the fathers vanquished Arius, who did battle against God, and thus they have taught the Church to walk in accordance with Orthodox teachings; and now, as champion, it hath put to shame the iconoclasts therewith as well.

Theotokion: As the fathers piously taught, confessing in faith the Virgin’s womb which, without pain, gave birth in the flesh unto the Incorporeal One, so do we also worship it, inscribing its image upon pillars and venerating it with honor.

Katavasia: “I shall open my lips...” —

Ode III

Irmos: O Christ, Who in the beginning established the heavens in wisdom and founded the earth upon the waters, make me steadfast upon the rock of Thy commandments; for none is holy as Thee, O Thou Who lovest mankind.

Initiated into the mysteries by Christ, the divine chief shepherds drove away from the pious the parties of Antichrist, who wished to trouble the Church of Christ, that it not be shaken.

The company of the fathers, drawing forth streams of teaching from the wellsprings of salvation, give the thirsting people of Christ to drink thereof, and wash away the turbid streams of filth.

The Seventh Council of the Christ-loving, whose defenders were the imperial Irene and Constantine, was held in the splendid city of Nicæa against those who of a truth accused Christians and brought them to trial.

Theotokion: Let all the ungodly depart who do not venerate the precious icon of the Theotokos and do not proclaim her to be the one who gave birth to Christ theandrically; and let them be sent into the fire, to burn without being consumed.

Kontakion & ikos of the resurrection.

Then, this Sessional hymn of the fathers, in Tone IV: Spec. Mel: “Go thou quickly before...” —

O ye truly most blessed and divinely eloquent fathers, ye have appeared on earth as most radiant lamps of the truth of Christ to the world, drying up the sacrilegious blasphemies of heresy and quenching the fiery tumults of the heretics. Wherefore, as ye are hierarchs of Christ, pray that we be saved. Twice

Glory..., Now & ever..., Theotokion —

Go thou quickly before us, O pure Virgin Mother. Rescue us from the enemies who blaspheme against thee. Destroy all the sacrilege of heresies. Set at naught their assaults by thy might, that they may understand that thou alone art the Mother of God, who by thy supplications dost save the congregation of the Orthodox.

Ode IV

Irmos: Thou art my strength, O Lord, Thou art my power; Thou art my God, Thou art my joy, Who, without leaving the bosom of the Father, hast visited our lowliness. Wherefore, with the Prophet Habbakuk I cry unto Thee: Glory to Thy power, O Thou Who lovest mankind!

The most godly fathers, having the word of God as arrow and sword, with the sign of the Cross slaughter together all the enemy who do not honor alike the images of Christ, the Theotokos, and of all the saints.

As at the blast of seven trumpets the walls of Jericho fell at the seventh circuit thereof, so by these seven Councils all the multitude which hath risen up against God hath been cast down into the abyss at the seventh winding of the divinely sounding trumpets of the Spirit.

Showing forth youthful diligence, and aflame with divine zeal, the multitude of the fathers, like Elijah, hath slain the abominable priests. Wherefore, with boldness they have taught all to venerate the icon of Christ with love.

Theotokion: Thou art my hope, O all-pure one. Thou art my hymn. Thou art my refuge, thou art my restoration, O thou who without mating gavest birth to God, the incarnate Word of the Father. Wherefore, strengthened by thy might I bow down without hesitation before thine icon.

Ode V

Irmos: Wherefore hast Thou turned Thy face from me, O Light never-waning? And why hath a strange darkness covered me, wretch that I am? But turn me, and guide my steps to the light of Thy commandments, I pray.

Deliberating together with exalted intelligence, the honored fathers committed the iconoclasts to anathema, as ones who in mind devised strange things. And they commanded that honor be rendered unto the icon of Christ, as is fitting.

Now is the time for gladness! Now is the day of salvation made manifest! Let us therefore be glad, and with joy let us cry out to Christ: Grant us Thy peace, through the entreaties of the fathers of the Seventh Council, O Thou Who lovest mankind.

Theotokion: In the mercy of His compassion, the Son of God was immutably born of the Virgin, taking what was foreign to Him as His own, and, though in His essence uncircumscribable, He willingly appeareth circumscribed in this form.

Ode VI

Irmos: Cleanse me, O Savior, for many are my transgressions; and lead me up from the abyss of evils, I pray, for to Thee have I cried, and Thou hast hearkened to me, O God of my salvation.

Let the mountains rain down sweetness and joy, for the multitude of heretics, which poureth forth the bitter poison of the removal of the holy icons, hath been driven out.

Let heaven and earth celebrate together the greatness of the daughter of God; for she is magnified, rejecting those who would diminish it.

Theotokion: The Son of the Mother, Who was first begotten of the Father without mother, and was born in godly manner without a father, hath given me regeneration. Wherefore, fashioning an image of her who gave birth and of Him Who was born, I venerate it.

Kontakion, in Tone VI —

The Son Who ineffably shone forth from the Father hath been born in two natures of a woman, and beholding Him we do not refuse to depict His countenance; but, tracing it piously, we honor it in faith. Wherefore, the Church, holding to the true Faith, doth venerate the icon of the incarnation of Christ.

Ikos: The all-compassionate God, Who ever desireth to rouse us to the perfect memory of His incarnation, gave this suggestion to men: that they depict His precious form with the pigments of icons; that, beholding this in visible objects, we may believe what we have heard said, clearly understanding the activity, the name, the features and the sufferings of holy men and Christ, the Bestower of crowns, Who awardeth wreaths to the holy athletes and martyrs. And the Church, most diligently holding fast to the true faith for their sake, doth venerate the icon of the incarnation of Christ.

Ode VII

Irmos: Once, in Babylon, the fire stood in awe of the condescension of God; wherefore, the youths, dancing with joyous step in the furnace, as in a meadow, chanted: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

The heresiarchs are vanquished by the dogmas of the divinely eloquent men who rightly render the honor they accord images to the prototypes, as Basil the Great hath said. Blessed is the God of our fathers!

Today the temples, adorned with splendid icons, are made beautiful; wherefore, in the churches the world doth raise a song unto Him Who is more comely in beauty than all men, and it singeth: Blessed is the God of our fathers!

The light hath far outshone the darkness, and the ungodly are driven off. Wherefore, all things are filled with the light of Christ, the Bestower of light, and they cry aloud with gladness and say: Blessed is the God of our fathers!

Theotokion: O all-pure Mistress, who alone art the hope of salvation for all, who in awesome manner gavest birth to Christ, the King of kings, and didst bear Him in thine arms as a babe: He is worshipped in depictions, as the fathers say.

Ode VIII

Irmos: Madly did the Chaldæan tyrant heat the furnace sevenfold for the pious ones; but, beholding them saved by a higher Power, he cried out to the Creator and Deliverer: Ye children, bless; ye priests, hymn; ye people, exalt Him supremely for all ages!

Most strictly doth the company of the fathers set as law for those who honor God the relative worship and the restoration of the sacred icons of Christ; and as their right dutiful children, the lovers of piety celebrate their annual commemoration and lovingly venerate the icon of Christ.

Seven times did the haughty ones subjugate the humble and put down the resistance of the lovers of virtues, thereby calumniating their divine acts. But the fathers of the Seventh Council who assembled in Nicæa straightway cast down their arrogance with sevenfold swiftness.

The blows and wounds inflicted by the childish are as the arrows of infants against the mature, as saith the Psalms. With divine power are the many tongues disabled of those who utter blasphemies against the Most High and each one who doth not acknowledge the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be One God, the sole Cause of all.

Theotokion: Of His own will, for mercy’s sake, the Creator fashioned Himself into man through thy pure blood, preserving thee, even after thy birthgiving, all pure and immaculate, and cleansing the image of God within man which had been defiled. Wherefore, though God in essence, yet having become man by nature, He is depicted on icons in company with thee.

Ode IX

Irmos: Heaven was stricken with awe, and the ends of the earth were amazed, that God hath appeared in the flesh, and that thy womb became more spacious than the heavens. Wherefore, the ranks of men and angels magnify thee as the Theotokos.

O only God, Who art unapproachable, O Great One Who sustainest all things by Thy might and counsel, almighty Ruler and King of all: Make steadfast the Church, preserving it in Thine Orthodoxy, through the supplications of the most glorious fathers who denounced heresy.

Great honors were ye vouchsafed on earth, O holy ones of heavenly wisdom, for ye lovingly honored the image of Christ. And now, having cast off the shadow and the covering of the flesh, ye gaze directly upon His countenance and are vouchsafed yet greater honors.

Though we be chastened by the mighty host of barbaric insanity which Thou hast loosed against us, yet do Thou Thyself crush their assault and audacity, and defend the right-believing Orthodox hierarchs who place their trust in Thee, O Thou Who dost accomplish all things, through the confident entreaties of the holy fathers whose memory we keep.

Theotokion: The mind of man is in nowise able to comprehend the mystery of thine awesome birthgiving, nor can the exalted intelligence of the angels; for, in manner transcending nature, thou gavest birth to God incarnate. Wherefore, knowing thee to be the Theotokos and depicting thee with Him, we magnify thee.

Exapostilarion of the resurrection, then Glory..., that of the fathers: Spec. Mel: “Through the Spirit in the sanctuary...” —

O ye fathers of heavenly mind, who assembled at the Seventh Council, ever offer earnest prayer unto the Trinity, that we who hymn your divine Council may be delivered from all heresy and eternal condemnation, and may receive the kingdom of heaven.

Now & ever...: Theotokion —

At the entreaties of Thy Mother, O all-good Lord, and of the fathers who assembled at the seven Councils, make steadfast the Church and strengthen the Faith; and when Thou wilt come to earth to judge all creation, show us all forth as heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

N.B.: The theotokion of the exapostilarion of the resurrection is not recited, but rather that of the fathers’ exapostilarion.

On the Praises: 8 stichera; 4 of the resurrection, and 4 of the fathers, in Tone VI: Spec. Mel: “Having set all aside...” —

Having combined all their spiritual art, and reviewed the heavenly and precious Symbol of Faith through the divine Spirit, the honored fathers recorded it in divine writing, and therein the right glorious, most rich and truly divinely wise ones teach most clearly that the Word is equally eternal and without beginning with Him Who begot Him, thus following most carefully the teachings of the apostles. Twice

Stichos: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Thy name unto the ages of ages.

Having received all the noetic radiance of the Holy Spirit, as preachers of Christ, the divine defenders of the teachings of the Gospel and the traditions of the pious, inspired by God, proclaimed their most supernatural goodly utterance; and having manifestly received from on High the revelation thereof, illumined, they expounded the Faith taught by God.

Stichos: Gather together unto Him His holy ones who have established His covenant upon sacrifices.

Mustering all their pastoral skill, moved to a wrath most just, as champions, as most true servants of Christ and most sacred initiates of the mysteries of divine preaching, the divine pastors drove forth the savage and pernicious wolves, expelling them from the fullness of the Church; and they fell, as it were, to their deaths as ones afflicted incurably.

Glory..., the composition of George of Nicomedia, in Tone VIII —

The choir of the holy fathers, which hath gathered from the ends of the earth, hath taught the single essence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and hath carefully committed to the Church the mystery of theology. Praising them in faith, let us bless them, saying: O divine company, divinely eloquent warriors of the regiment of the Lord, most radiant stars of the noetic firmament, unassailable towers of the mystical Sion, sweet-scented blossoms of paradise, golden mouths of the Word, boast of Nicæa and adornments of the whole world: Pray ye earnestly in behalf of our souls!

Now & ever...: Theotokion “All-blessed art thou, O Virgin Theotokos...”

Great Doxology & Dismissal.

Then, the usual departure to the narthex.

Glory..., Now & ever..., The evangelical sticheron.

At Liturgy

At the Beatitudes, 10 troparia: 6 for the resurrection, and 4 for the fathers, from Ode III of their canon.

After the Entrance, troparia of the resurrection and of the fathers; kontakia of the Resurrection, Glory..., of the fathers; Now & ever..., of the Theotokos.

Prokimena: first, of the resurrection, then of the fathers, in Tone IV: the Hymn of the Fathers:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Thy name unto the ages.

Stichos: For righteous art Thou in all which Thou hast done for us.

Epistles: first, that of the day, and then that of the fathers —

Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews

§ 334 (13:7-16).

Brethren: Remember those who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited those who have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered beyond the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Alleluia: first, of the Tone, and then of the fathers, in Tone I —

Stichos: The God of gods, the Lord, hath spoken, and He hath called the earth from the rising of the sun and unto the setting thereof.

Stichos: Gather together unto Him His holy ones who have established His covenant upon sacrifices.

Gospels: of the day, and of the fathers —

Gospel according to St. John § 56 (17:1-13).

At that time, Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those whom Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”

Communion Verse —

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; praise is meet for the upright.