Menaion of the Orthodox Church

The 18th Day of the Month of April

Commemoration of Our Venerable Father John, the Disciple of Saint Gregory the Decapolite

At Vespers

On “Lord, I have cried…”, these stichera, in Tone VIII, Special Melody: “O all-glorious wonder…”

O venerable father John, furnishing thy mind with wings to fly to God with faith, thou didst disdain the disorderly state of the world and, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow after Him Who beholdeth all things, enslaving to thy mind the intemperance of thy body through feats of asceticism, by the power of the divine Spirit.

O venerable John, thou didst find Gregory to be like a sun of great radiance, shining with the light of the virtues and the effulgence of miracles, and thou didst illumine the eyes of thy soul, didst dispel the dark passions, and becamest a light; and rejoicing, O all-blessed father, thou didst pass over to the never-waning Light.

Thou didst spend thy whole life in great stillness, in weeping and tears, becoming a true monk by faith, adorned with non-acquisitiveness and made beautiful through abstinence, showing thyself to be a stranger and a sojourner on earth. Wherefore, O right wondrous one, thou hast found the delight of the good.

Glory…, Now and ever…: Theotokion

The preëternal God, receiving flesh through thy blood, hath shown thee to be an intercessor for men, O pure one. Wherefore, deliver thy servants from all misfortune and every evil circumstance, and from the snares of the wicked enemy, and vouchsafe that all who glorify and do thee homage may share in the splendor of the elect.

Stavrotheotokion

“What is this sight that I see, which mine eyes behold, O Master? Thou Who sustainest all creation hast been suspended upon the Tree, and Thou diest, giving life unto all!” weeping, the Theotokos said when she beheld, uplifted upon the Cross, Thee, the God and man Who ineffably shone forth from her.

At Matins

Canon of the venerable one, 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.

By thy supplication, O venerable and blessed John, pilot me to the haven of dispassion and the harbor of salvation, who am ever assailed by the threefold waves of the passions and am now engulfed amid the tumult of evil thoughts.

Thou hast truly been translated to the heavens by thy desire, having lived angelically on earth and mortified the wisdom of thy flesh by abstinence, O father. Wherefore, thou hast been shown to be a habitation of God, O wondrous John.

Desiring to obtain things of beauty which pass understanding, O blessed one, thou didst find the glorious Gregory as thine instructor, who moved thee to godly struggles, and in whose steps thou didst follow, O divinely wise John.

Theotokion: The only-begotten Word, Who with the Father and the Spirit is equally eternal, through thee appeared on earth as a man, O Theotokos Mary, and hath saved the whole world, which chanteth hymns to the Lord.

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.

Beholding the beauties of heaven with sobriety of mind, thou wast in nowise restrained by material sorrows, and, soaring aloft on wings of non-acquisition, O father, thou wast wholly translated.

As a lover of the stillness of Gregory, the pastor who loved tranquillity, O thrice blessed John, thou didst zealously forsake the tumults of life and by never-ceasing entreaties didst obtain divine serenity.

Thou didst make thyself subject to the law of the Spirit, O divinely wise and blessed one, having by strict abstinence and asceticism, by earnest supplications and vigils, mortified the law opposed to this.

Theotokion: O all-immaculate one, thou hast been truly shown to be the radiant and impassable gate through which He Who reigneth for all ages Himself did pass, leaving thee still sealed.

Sessional hymn, in Tone I, Special Melody: “Thy tomb, O Savior…”

Having buried the wicked pursuit of the demons through great abstinence and entreaties, O father, lying dead in the grave thou didst remain incorrupt. Wherefore, rejoicing, we celebrate thy most holy memory, magnifying Christ with gladness of heart.

Glory…, Now and ever…: Theotokion

O pure and unwedded Virgin Theotokos, thou only intercessor and protection of the faithful, from misfortunes, tribulations and evil circumstances deliver all who set their hope on thee, and by thy divine supplications, O Maiden, save thou our souls.

Stavrotheotokion

Beholding Thee stretched out, dead, upon the Cross, O Christ, the most immaculate Mother cried aloud: “O my Son, Who with the Father and the Spirit art without beginning, what is this, Thine ineffable dispensation, whereby Thou hast saved the creation of Thine all-pure hands, O Compassionate One?”

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!

Ever buffeted by the waves of the adversary, O blessed one, thou wast shown to be a rock of patience, thy pious thoughts in nowise shaken. Wherefore, the Master hath placed thee in His eternal treasury as an all-precious stone.

The Father of compassions received thee as one who loved Him sincerely, and who abode in His commandments, O father; and through grace He made thee His son, and vouchsafed thee a share of His eternal glory, O divinely wise John.

As thou wast merciful and humble-minded, meek, full of love and faith, and possessed of a heart rendered steadfast by hope, O ever-memorable John, thou didst shine forth in word and deed among monks as thou didst proceed toward life.

Theotokion: Thou art the boast of the faithful, O unwedded one, thou art the help and refuge of Christians, their rampart and refuge; for thou bearest supplications to thy Son, O most immaculate one, and savest from misfortunes those who with faith and love acknowledge thee to be the pure Theotokos.

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.

The great Shepherd made thee to dwell in the eternal courts, as an innocent lamb pastured on the meadow of abstinence, O blessed John, and He hath shown thee to share a place with the sheep of His right hand, O venerable one.

Thou didst mightily endure the burden and heat of the day, O father, working well in the vineyard of divine virtues; wherefore, in the evening of thy departure from life thou didst receive a worthy reward.

Thou hast truly been counted worthy to dwell with the assembly of ascetics, O father, and when thou didst flee from matter through vision and active love of wisdom, O all-lauded one, thou didst come to rejoice with the choir of the righteous.

Theotokion: Restore me to life, who have been slain by the sting of death and disobedience, O Virgin who didst conceive the uncreated Life and gavest birth to the Deliverer and King of the world; and guide me to the light, O pure one.

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.

With the drops of thy tears thou didst dry up the deep of the passions, and, strengthened by Christ, O blessed John, thou didst trample all the feeble power of the noetic foe underfoot.

Like lustrous gold tried in the fire of abstinence, O all-glorious father, Christ the incorrupt King hath placed thee in the incorrupt treasuries of life everlasting.

Thou didst find Gregory shining on earth with the virtues, like the sun; and, illumining the eyes of thy soul with his noetic effulgence, thou didst show thyself to be a most radiant star.

Theotokion: We piously hymn the all-pure Mary, the habitation of God, truly divine and all-precious; for she contained God, receiving the Infinite and Unapproachable One.

Kontakion, in Tone IV, Special Melody: “Having been lifted up…”

Adorning thy life with abstinence, O father, thou didst mortify thy flesh; wherefore, thou didst vanquish the attacks of the enemy, O all-blessed John, and hast passed over to God, to life everlasting free from sorrow, as a worthy heir. Pray thou to Him, that we be saved.

Ode VII

Irmos: Once, in Babylon, the youths who had come forth from Judæa trod down the flame of the furnace with their faith in the Trinity, chanting: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou!

Contemplating the second coming of the Judge, thou didst put the dream of despondency away from thine eyes, O wise one, and, saved, didst chant: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou!

From earliest infancy thou didst choose the good portion, O wise father: to labor for the Lord with fear and to follow His precepts, chanting: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou!

God set thee in the granaries of heaven like ripe wheat, full of the ways of the Spirit, O God-bearer, for thou dost chant: O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou!

Theotokion: O pure and blessed Lady, who for the world gavest birth to God incarnate, save my soul, which hath mindlessly become enslaved to unseemly sins, that I may glorify thee.

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!

Having rightly inherited the grace of thy glorious pastor, as Elisha inherited the mantel of Elijah, O father John, thou didst thereby cleave the deep of pleasures in two; and, saved and undrowned, thou wast shown to be a fellow citizen with the angels, crying out with them: Ye people, exalt the Lord supremely forever!

Thou didst piously emulate the all-good Lord Who beggared Himself for our sake, O father John, and didst acquire a lack of acquisition rivaling that of the birds; and thou didst also obtain a wealth of eternal good things, chanting: Ye priests, bless; ye people, exalt Him supremely forever!

Rejoicing, O thou who art most rich, thou didst pass over to never-ending life, to incorruptible joy, to gladness past understanding, to beauteous magnificence, to a sojourn with the angels, crying: Ye children, bless; ye priests, hymn; ye people, exalt the Lord supremely forever!

Theotokion: Sanctified by the Spirit, O all-immaculate Theotokos, thou didst truly receive in thy womb the eternal Son Who is without beginning, Who became incarnate within thee to benefit those who chant with faith: Ye children, bless; ye priests, hymn; ye people, exalt Him supremely forever!

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.

Having shaped the furrow of thy soul with the plough of prayer, O John, thou didst sow therein the life-bearing seeds of the virtues and piety. Wherefore, thou didst reap the grain of godly healings and divine gifts, wherewith thou dost nurture those who hymn thee.

Having finished the race of fasting and kept the faith, O blessed one, as one truly of full spiritual stature thou hast received the crown of righteousness from Christ, and dost now rest with the righteous in the mansions of light, O all-glorious one.

Thou hast reaped the rewards for thy pangs, translated to pure perfection devoid of pain, of all change and alteration, unmingled with bitter and adverse mutability; and therein thou hast dwelt. O father, be thou mindful of those who with faith hymn thee before the Master.

Theotokion: O all-pure one, as thou art the Mother of the Deliverer, thou hast called us back, who rejected the life of heaven and fell accursedly into death, and thou hast vouchsafed that we may hasten to our first homeland. Wherefore, O Mother of God, we unceasingly magnify thee.