3rd Sunday of Great Lent: Veneration of the Cross
Troparion — Tone 4
O Lord, save Your people, / and bless Your inheritance. / Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians, / over their adversaries. / And by virtue of Your Cross / preserve Your habitation!
Kontakion — Tone 7
Now the flaming sword no longer guards the gates of Eden; / it has mysteriously been quenched by the wood of the Cross! / The sting of death and the victory of hell have been vanquished; / for You, O my Savior, have come and cried to those in hell: / “Enter again into paradise.”
Venerable Theophanes the Confessor of Sigriane
Troparion — Tone 8
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile / and by your longing for God you brought forth fruits in abundance. / By the radiance of miracles you illuminated the whole universe. / O our holy Father Theophanes, pray to Christ our God to save our souls.
Saint Gregory Dialogus, Pope of Rome
Troparion — Tone 4
Receiving divine grace from God on high, glorious Gregory, / and strengthened with its power, / you willed to walk in the path of the Gospel, most blessed one. / Therefore you have received from Christ the reward of your labors. / Entreat Him that He may save our souls.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Father Gregory, you showed yourself to be an imitator of Christ, the chief Shepherd, / guiding the orders of monks to the fold of heaven. / You taught the flock of Christ His commandments. / Now you rejoice and dance with them in the mansions of heaven.
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian
Troparion — Tone 3
(Podoben: “Your confession of the Divine Faith...”)
Since you received divine enlightenment within your soul, O Venerable Father Symeon, / you were shown to the world as a most radiant light, / driving away its darkness, and persuading all to seek the grace of the Spirit which they had lost. / Earnestly intercede with Him to grant us great mercy.
Kontakion — Tone 3
(Podoben: “Today the Virgin...”)
Radiant with the Three-Sun Light, you appeared as a true theologian of the Most Divine Trinity, / the divinely transcendent Lord; / from on high, you were made rich with the wisdom of discourse / and poured forth Divine streams of godly wisdom; / having drunk from these, we cry out: / “Rejoice, thrice-blessed Symeon.”
Hieromartyr Kirion II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
Troparion — Tone 4
By sharing in the ways of the Apostles, / you became a successor to their throne. / Through the practice of virtue, you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God; / by teaching the word of truth without error, you defended the Faith, / even to the shedding of your blood. / Hieromartyr Kirion, entreat Christ God to save our souls.