Troparia and kontakia for May 23

Synaxis of All Saints

Troparion — Tone 4

Adorned in the blood of Your Martyrs throughout all the world, / as if clothed in purple and linen, / through them Your Church cries out to You, O Christ God: / “Bestow Your bounties upon Your people, / grant peace to Your habitation, and great mercy to our souls.”

Kontakion — Tone 8

(Original Melody)
As the first fruits of nature offered to the Planter of all creation, O Lord, / the inhabited earth brings the God-bearing Martyrs. / By their supplications, and the intercession of the Theotokos, / preserve Your Church in profound peace, O greatly Merciful One.

Icon of the Mother of God “The Unbreakable Wall”

Troparion — Tone 4

Let us, sinful and humbled, now run earnestly to the Theotokos, / and let us fall down in repentance, crying from the depths of our soul: / "Help us, O Sovereign Lady, and have compassion on us. / Make haste, for we perish from the multitude of our sins. / Do not turn your servants empty away, for we have you as our only hope.

Kontakion — Tone 6

We have no other help, we have no other hope, but you, O Sovereign Lady. / Help us, for in you do we hope, / and of you do we boast, for we are your servants. / Let us not be put to shame.

"Seven Arrows" Icon of the Mother of God

Troparion — Tone 5

Soften our evil hearts, O Theotokos, and repel the attacks of those who hate us, / and loosen all the rigidity of our soul. / For beholding your holy image, / we are filled with compunction by your compassion and loving kindness toward us, / and we kiss your wounds; / for we are terrified by the darts with which we wound you. / O Compassionate Mother, / do not let us perish because of our hardness of heart, / or our neighbor's hardness of heart, / for you are truly the Softener of Evil Hearts.

Kontakion — Tone 2

By your grace, O Sovereign Lady, / soften the hearts of evildoers, / send down benefactors who will preserve them from all evil; / with gratitude and zeal, we pray to you before your revered icons.

Saint Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada

Troparion — Tone 4

From your youth you dedicated your life to God, / and you were proclaimed shepherd and hierarch of Christ, holy Michael. / You endured afflictions and exile / because you honored the icon of Christ; / now you pour forth healings for us all.

Kontakion — Tone 8

As a most honorable hierarch and champion of true piety, / undaunted by fear of the notorious tyrant, / you conquered his heretical opposition, freely proclaiming in a loud voice: / “I venerate the icon of Christ and of His all-pure Mother!” / Therefore, we honor you, O Michael!

Venerable Euphrosyne, Abbess of Polotsk

Troparion — Tone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile, / and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance. / By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe! / O our holy mother Euphrosynē, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Venerable Paisius, Abbot of Galich

Troparion — Tone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile, / and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance. / By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe! / O our holy father Paisius, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Martyr Michael “the Black-Robed” of Saint Savva Monastery

Troparion — Tone 1

The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Father, / for you took up the Cross and followed Christ. / By so doing you taught us to disregard the flesh for it passes away / but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. / Therefore your spirit, venerable Michael, rejoices with the angels.

Holy Myrrh-bearer Mary, the wife of Cleopas

Troparion — Tone 2

The Angel came to the Myrrh-Bearing women at the tomb and said: / “Myrrh is meet for the dead; / but Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption! / So proclaim the Lord is risen, / granting the world great mercy!”

Troparion — Tone 2

When You proclaimed “Rejoice” to the Myrrhbearers, / You caused the lamentation of the first mother Eve to cease by Your Resurrection; O Christ God; / You bade Your Apostles to preach: / “The Savior is risen from the tomb.”

Saint Leontius, Bishop of Rostov

Troparion — Tone 4

Successor of the Apostles and faithful intercessor with God, / by your virtues you rose to the height of Heaven, / and lovingly you devoted yourself to Him Who loved you, / and brought an unbelieving people to faith. / Therefore, now rejoicing together with the Angels, / you stand before the glorious Throne of Christ God, the King of all. / O Hierarch Leontius, pray that He may save our souls.

Kontakion — Tone 4

Because of the purity of your life, / the All-Seeing Lord has given His light to your soul, / in order to explain your teaching to many, O Venerable Leontius.