During the mid-point of Great Lent, on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the following verses are sung at the Alleluia just before the reading of the Gospel: “Remember Thy congregation which Thou hast gotten of old. God…
I will sing of thy steadfast love, O Lord, for ever;
with my mouth I will proclaim Thy faithfulness to…
O Lord, why dost Thou cast me off? Why dost Thou hide Thy face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer Thy terrors; I am helpless. ...
Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. ...
This hymn – together with the accompanying rite of venerating the Cross – replaces the usual Trisagion hymn during the Divine Liturgy on the Third Sunday of Great Lent. According to The Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion...
All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name. ...
You have shown favor to Your land, O Lord;
You have turned back the captivity of Jacob! ...
How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord; ...
Having had the opportunity to sing an operetta with the local symphony orchestra, it’s remarkable to me how wonderfully our Orthodox liturgical progression from Pre-Lent to Lent to Holy Week to…
O God do not keep silence; do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!
For lo, thy enemies are in tumult; those who hate thee have raised their heads. ...