– DAY OF THE WEEK

Tone 1 – 1st – Ode 3 – to the

You conceived God in your womb through the Holy Spirit, and yet remained unconsumed, O Virgin. The bush unconsumed by the fire clearly foretold you to the lawgiver for you received the Fire that cannot be endured.

Monday – / Tuesday - : – Tone 1

O VIRGIN, WORTHY OF ALL PRAISE: MOSES, WITH PROPHETIC EYES, BEHELD THE MYSTERY THAT WAS TO TAKE PLACE IN YOU, AS HE SAW THE BUSH THAT BURNED, YET WAS NOT CONSUMED; FOR, THE FIRE OF DIVINITY DID NOT CONSUME YOUR WOMB, O PURE ONE. THEREFORE, WE PRAY TO YOU AS THE MOTHER OF GOD, // TO ASK PEACE, AND GREAT MERCY FOR THE WORLD.

Tone 2 – Saturday Vespers & Friday Vespers (repeated) – Dogmaticon

Dogmatic THE SHADOW OF THE LAW PASSED WHEN GRACE CAME. AS THE BUSH BURNED, YET WAS NOT CONSUMED, SO THE VIRGIN GAVE BIRTH, YET REMAINED A VIRGIN. THE RIGHTEOUS SUN HAS RISEN INSTEAD OF A PILLAR OF FLAME.// INSTEAD OF MOSES, CHRIST, THE SALVATION OF OUR SOULS.

Tone 3 – Wed Matins – 2nd Aposticha

ON THE MOUNTAIN IN THE FORM OF A CROSS, MOSES STRETCHED OUT HIS HANDS TO THE HEIGHTS AND DEFEATED AMALEK. BUT WHEN YOU SPREAD OUT YOUR PALMS ON THE PRECIOUS CROSS, O SAVIOUR, YOU TOOK ME IN YOUR EMBRACE, SAVING ME FROM ENSLAVEMENT TO THE FOE. YOU GAVE ME THE SIGN OF LIFE, TO FLEE FROM THE BOW OF MY ENEMIES. THEREFORE, O WORD, // I BOW DOWN IN WORSHIP TO YOUR PRECIOUS CROSS.

Tone 4 – of the First Canon – for the Resurrection (Sat Night/Sun Morn)

ODE ONE: FIRST CANON IRMOS: IN ANCIENT TIMES ISRAEL WALKED DRY-SHOD ACROSS THE RED SEA, AND MOSES, LIFTING HIS HAND IN THE FORM OF THE CROSS, PUT THE POWER OF AMALEK TO FLIGHT IN THE DESERT.

R: GLORY, O LORD, TO YOUR HOLY RESURRECTION.

Ode 4, Theotokos Hymn:

The unconsumed by fire prefigured you to the God-seer Moses: the all-holy, ever-virgin Theotokos, whom we all glorify.

Tone 4 – Thursday Matins – Sessional (Kathismata)

JUST AS MOSES, O MASTER, BY THE STRENGTH OF YOUR RIGHT HAND, LED ISRAEL OUT OF BONDAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA, AND DROWNED PHARAOH IN THE WAVES, SO HAVE YOUR WISE DISCIPLES, BY THEIR , FORCED A PASSAGE THROUGH THE SEA OF BITTER GODLESSNESS, GUIDING THE PEOPLE TO YOU,// WORD WITHOUT BEGINNING, AND THE ONLY LOVER OF MANKIND.

Tone 4 – Thursday Vespers – Lord I Call

HOW DID THE LAWLESS ASSEMBLY DARE TO CONDEMN YOU, THE IMMORTAL JUDGE WHO GAVE THE LAW TO THE GOD-SEER MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS ? HOW COULD THEY LOOK WITHOUT FEAR AT THE LIFE OF ALL, KILLED ON THE CROSS ? HOW DID IT NOT ENTER THEIR MINDS// THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY GOD, AND MASTER OF CREATION ?

Matins Dismissal Hymns

TUESDAY & SATURDAY MORNINGS: WE CRY OUT AND MAGNIFY YOU, O THEOTOKOS: YOU ARE THE UNCONSUMED BUSH IN WHICH MOSES SAW, AS A FLAME,// THE FIRE OF DIVINITY. Tone 5 – Saturday Vespers - Dogmaticon

Theotokos Hymn IN THE RED SEA OF OLD, A TYPE OF THE VIRGIN BRIDE WAS PREFIGURED. THERE, MOSES DIVIDED THE WATERS; HERE, ASSISTED IN THE . THERE, ISRAEL CROSSED THE SEA WITHOUT GETTING WET, HERE, THE VIRGIN GAVE BIRTH TO CHRIST WITHOUT SEED. AFTER ISRAEL’S PASSAGE, THE SEA REMAINED IMPASSIBLE; AFTER EMMANUEL’S BIRTH, THE VIRGIN REMAINED A VIRGIN. O EVER EXISTING GOD, WHO APPEARED AS MAN,// O LORD: HAVE MERCY ON US.

Apostikha –

ONCE, IN THE DAYS OF MOSES THE PROPHET, A FIGURE OF YOUR CROSS WAS MADE MANIFEST, CONQUERING YOUR ENEMIES. NOW THAT WE HAVE YOUR CROSS ITSELF, WE BESEECH YOUR HELP: STRENGTHEN YOUR , O LOVER OF MANKIND,// FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR GREAT MERCY.

Tuesday Vespers - Apostikha

ONCE, IN THE DAYS OF MOSES THE PROPHET, A FIGURE OF YOUR CROSS WAS MADE MANIFEST, CONQUERING YOUR ENEMIES. NOW THAT WE HAVE YOUR CROSS ITSELF, WE BESEECH YOUR HELP: STRENGTHEN YOUR CHURCH, O LOVER OF MANKIND,// FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR GREAT MERCY.

Sunday Matins - Tone 6 - Canon – Ode 6

IRMOS: BEHOLDING THE RAGING SEA OF LIFE WITH ITS ROUGH WATERS OF TEMPTATION, I RUN TOWARDS YOUR CALM HAVEN AND CRY ALOUD TO YOU: LEAD UP MY LIFE FROM CORRUPTION, O GREATLY MERCIFUL ONE. R: O MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS: SAVE US. Tropars: Moses, great among the prophets, proclaimed you in symbols in days of old as the Tabernacle and the Table, the candlestick and vessel of , signifying the Incarnation of the Most High from you, O Virgin Mother. Death attacked your Child, O Lady, and was put to death, and corruption, Adam’s curse, was abolished, for you brought forth the Life that delivers from corruption all who sing your praises, O Virgin Mother. The shadow of the law passed when the grace of your inconceivable

Friday Sessional Hymn

YOUR PEOPLE CONDEMNED YOU TO DEATH, O LORD, YET YOU ARE THE LIFE OF ALL: WITH THE ROD OF MOSES YOU LED THEM ON DRY GROUND THROUGH THE RED SEA, YET THEY NAILED YOU TO THE CROSS; YOU FED THEM WITH HONEY FROM THE ROCK, YET THEY GAVE YOU GALL. BUT YOU WILLINGLY ENDURED THESE THINGS TO FREE US FROM THE BONDAGE OF THE ENEMY.// O CHRIST OUR GOD: GLORY TO YOU.

Tone 7 – Ode 8 – Irmos

ODE EIGHT: May be sung as stikhs on the Song of the Three Children FIRST CANON IRMOS: THE BUSH ON SINAI THAT BURNED, YET WAS NOT CONSUMED, REVEALED GOD TO MOSES, WHO WAS SLOW IN TONGUE AND CLUMSY IN SPEECH. AND IN BURNING ZEAL FOR GOD THE CHILDREN WERE REVEALED UNHARMED, AND THEY CRIED OUT FROM THE MIDST OF THE FIRE: ALL YOU WORKS OF THE LORD: BLESS THE LORD, AND EXALT HIM ABOVE ALL FOREVER. R: GLORY, O LORD, TO YOUR HOLY RESURRECTION. Tone 8 – Canon – Ode 1 – Irmos

ODE ONE: FIRST CANON IRMOS: THE ROD OF MOSES WORKED WONDERS IN DAYS OF OLD, MARKING THE SEA WITH A CROSS, STRIKING AND PARTING IT, SINKING PHARAOH AS HE DROVE HIS CHARIOT, WHILE SAVING ISRAEL WHO FLED ON FOOT, AND SANG A SONG TO GOD. R: GLORY, O LORD, TO YOUR HOLY RESURRECTION.

Third Canon to the Theotokos

ODE ONE: IRMOS: MARKING THE SEA WITH A CROSS, THE ROD OF MOSES WORKED WONDERS IN DAYS OF OLD, STRIKING AND PARTING IT, SINKING PHARAOH AS HE DROVE HIS CHARIOT, WHILE SAVING ISRAEL WHO FLED ON FOOT, SINGING A SONG TO GOD. R: O MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS: SAVE US.

Wed Matins

APOSTIKHA Of the Cross THE STAFF OF MOSES PREFIGURED YOUR PRECIOUS CROSS, FOR THROUGH YOUR CROSS, O OUR SAVIOUR,// YOU SAVE YOUR PEOPLE AS FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA, O LOVER OF MANKIND.

MENAION – Calendar Date SEPTEMBER 4: THE HOLY PROPHET AND GOD-SEER MOSES (16th century B.C.) OF THE BUSH THAT BURNED YET WAS NOT CONSUMED (1680)

LORD I CALL

TONE 2

To the special melody of Arimathea

COME, FAITHFUL, TO THE HOLY MOUNTAIN WITH LOVE: THERE WE SHALL SEE A DIVINE VISION WHICH THE GOD-SEER MOSES, GREAT AMONG PROPHETS, MYSTICALLY PROCLAIMS, HOW A BUSH BURNS WITH FIRE YET IS NOT CONSUMED! IN A FIGURE REVEALING THE GREAT AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE MYSTERY OF YOUR CHILDBEARING WITHOUT SEED, THEOTOKOS! FOR THE FIRE OF DIVINITY DWELT IN YOUR WOMB WITHOUT CONSUMING IT, AND AFTER YOUR CHILDBEARING PRESERVED THE SEAL OF VIRGINITY UNHARMED. THEREFORE, ALL GENERATIONS BLESS YOU// AS THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF OUR SOULS. (twice)

YOU REMAINED A VIRGIN, MOTHER OF GOD, WHILE YOU GAVE BIRTH AND EVER AFTER, PREFIGURED OF OLD TO MOSES BY THE FIRE OF THE BUSH THAT WAS NOT BURNED! YOU GATHER THE ASSEMBLIES OF FAITHFUL TO PRAISE YOUR ICON IN SPIRITUAL SONGS, FOR THROUGH IT YOU HAVE GIVEN A PLEDGE OF YOUR GOOD WILL TOWARDS ALL MANKIND. FROM IT WE RECEIVE GIFTS OF YOUR ABUNDANT GOODNESS, AND WE BLESS YOU AS IS DUE,// AS THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF OUR SOULS! (twice)

YOU QUENCH THE FLAME OF OUR PASSIONS BY YOUR PRAYER, VIRGIN THEOTOKOS, AS YOU INTERCEDE UNCEASINGLY FOR US AT THE THRONE OF YOUR SON AND OUR GOD. YOU HAVE GREAT BOLDNESS INDEED TOWARDS HIM: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERCESSION! TO YOUR ICON ITSELF HE HAS GRANTED DIVINE POWER. HE ASSURES US THAT NONE WHO TURN TO YOUR PROTECTION WILL DEPART IN SHAME. THERE FORE WE SING THE POWER OF YOUR PRAYERS, AND BLESS YOU, THE HOPE OF CHRISTIANS,// AS THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF OUR SOULS. (twice)

GRANT US YOUR SOVEREIGN AID, THEOTOKOS, WHEN WE ARE SUDDENLY OVERCOME WITH BURNING CHASTISEMENT FOR OUR SINS. DEFEND AND DELIVER US THROUGH YOUR HOLY ICON, FOR THE PRAYER OF A MOTHER AVAILS MUCH TOWARDS THE CREATOR, AND YOUR INTERCESSION BEFORE THE FACE OF THE MOST HIGH IS ALL POWERFUL! DO NOT CEASE TO ENTREAT HIM FOR ALL MANKIND WHICH BLESSES YOU IN EVER-SOUNDING HYMNS// AS THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF OUR SOULS! (twice)

GLORY...AND NOW......

TONE 2

THE SHADOW OF THE LAW PASSED WHEN GRACE CAME AS THE BUSH BURNED, YET WAS NOT CONSUMED, SO THE VIRGIN GAVE BIRTH, YET REMAINED A VIRGIN. THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS RISEN INSTEAD OF A PILLAR OF FLAME!// INSTEAD OF MOSES, CHRIST, THE SALVATION OF OUR SOULS!

APOSTIKHA

TONE 6

WE MAGNIFY YOU, VIRGIN THEOTOKOS, FOR YOU HAVE MAGNIFIED MANKIND! FROM YOU THE DELIVERER OF FALLEN MANKIND WAS INCARNATE BY WHOM ADAM AND EVE WERE FREED FROM THE CURSE AND LED FORTH FROM THE GLOOMY DEPTHS OF HELL!// HE IS OUR GOD WHO EVER SAVES THOSE WHO MAGNIFY YOU.

VERSE: HEAR, DAUGHTER, CONSIDER AND INCLINE YOUR EAR!

WE MAGNIFY YOU, VIRGIN THEOTOKOS, ARDENT DEFENDER OF ALL MANKIND! YOU COVER THE WHOLE WORLD WITH THE PROTECTION OF YOUR MERCY! FOR BEHOLD, YOUR HOLY ICON GUSHES FORTH WITH MANY WONDERS GRANTED AS A PRECIOUS VESSEL TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THROUGH THE GOODNESS OF THE CREATOR, WHO DWELT IN YOU IN THE FLESH, GLORIFYING YOU WITH THE GLORY OF GOD! HE IS OUR GOD WHO INDEED TOOK FLESH FROM YOU//: AND EVER SAVES THOSE WHO MAGNIFY YOU.

VERSE: THE RICH AMONG THE PEOPLE SHALL ENTREAT YOUR FAVOR!

WE MAGNIFY YOU, VIRGIN THEOTOKOS, AS A LIVING ARK OF GOD! WE VENERATE YOU WITH SONGS OF PRAISE, O ONLY-CHOSEN ONE: TRULY BLESSED AMONG WOMEN! FOR OUR GOD MADE YOUR WOMB A THRONE FOR HIMSELF:// HE EVER SAVES THOSE WHO MAGNIFY YOU!

GLORY...AND NOW......

MOST GRACIOUS LADY, STREAMS OF HEALING FLOW FROM YOUR HOLY ICON! THUS OUR SOULS ARE FILLED AND OUR BODIES MADE WHOLE.// THEREFORE, MERCIFUL HEALER, WE EVER MAGNIFY YOU IN SONGS!

TROPARION

TONE 2

THE MEMORY OF YOUR PROPHET MOSES WE CELEBRATE TODAY, O LORD. BY HIS PRAYERS, WE BESEECH YOU,// CHRIST GOD, SAVE OUR SOULS.

TROPARION

TONE 4

CHRIST GOD, YOU SHOWED MOSES YOUR MOST PURE MOTHER IN THE BUSH THAT BURNED, YET WAS NOT CONSUMED: SHE WHO RECEIVED IN HER WOMB THE FIRE OF DIVINITY AND WAS NOT CONSUMED, REMAINING INCORRUPT AFTER HER PURE CHILD BEARING! BY HER PRAYERS, DELIVER US FROM THE FLAME OF PASSIONS, AND PRESERVE YOUR PEOPLE FROM ALL HARM// GREATLY MERCIFUL ONE!

KONTAKION

TONE 4

YOUR PURE HEART, ENLIGHTENED BY THE SPIRIT, RECEIVED THE MOST CLEAR PROPHECY; FOR YOU SAW AS PRESENT THAT WHICH WAS STILL FAR OFF! THEREFORE WE HONOR YOU, BLESSED PROPHET,// GLORIOUS MOSES!

Triodion – GREAT

Casting out of Adam & Eve From Paradise

Praises at Matins

Tone 6

Adam was driven out of Paradise for eating food in disobedience but Moses who cleansed the eyes of his soul by fasting was granted the vision of God. If we then long to dwell in Paradise, let us abstain from all unnecessary food; if we desire to see God, let us, like Moses, fast for forty days. Let us persevere with sincerity in prayer and intercession; let us still the passions of the soul; let us still the rebellious instincts of the flesh. Let us set out with a light step on the path to heaven, where the choirs of with never silent voices sing the praises of the undivided ! There we shall behold the great beauty of the Master! Son of God, and Giver of life: We set our hope in You! Count us worthy there of a place with the angelic hosts, at the intercessions of the Mother who bore You, Christ,// and of the apostles, martyrs and all the !

Verse: Arise, O Lord my God, lift up Your hand; do not forget Your poor forever!

The time is now at hand! Let us begin the spiritual contest and triumph over the demonic powers! Let us put on the armor of abstinence, clothing ourselves in the glory of the angels. As Moses spoke with boldness to the Creator, and heard the voice of the invisible God, so in your love for mankind, Lord,// grant us also with boldness to venerate Your Passion and holy Resurrection!

HOLY WEEK – Matins of @ the Praises The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day, when he said: God blessed the seventh day. This is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of rest on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from His works. He kept the Sabbath in the flesh, through the dispensation of death. But on this day, He returned again through the Resurrection. He has granted us eternal life,// for He alone is good, the Lover of mankind.

Great Canon of St. Andrew 5

You have heard, my soul, how the waves and waters of the river formed a protective chamber for the baby Moses, allowing his basket of reeds to escape the cruel edict of Pharaoh.

The midwives, though instructed by Pharaoh to kill the male infants of the Hebrews, obeyed their God instead. Now that you, my hopeless soul, have been spared death like Moses, like him also be nourished on the wisdom of the Lord.

By killing the oppressive Egyptian, Moses severed his bond to Pharaoh. But you, my hopeless soul, have not even begun to attack the wickedness of your mind. If you have not accomplished even this much, how can you expect to pass through the time of repentance, which alone can drive away our sinful passions?

Go, my soul, and imitate the great Moses in the wilderness, that like him you may behold God present in the burning bush.

Think of the staff which Moses stretched over the waters in order to divide them.It is an image of the Cross of Christ whereby you, my soul, can also accomplish great things.

Aaron's faithfulness was shown by his offering an acceptable sacrifice to God. But you, my soul, like the priests Hophni and Phineas have offered only your deceitful and selfish life.

Like Jannes and Jambres, the magicians in service to Pharaoh who opposed Moses, I have opposed You, Lord and become burdened in body and soul. My mind has fallen into grief. Come now to help me.

Canticle Six When Dathan and Abiram defied Moses and turned from the Lord, the earth opened to swallow them. Now you, my soul, having turned from the Lord as well, must cry with your whole heart from the depths of hell to be spared, lest you share their lot.

… Be assured, my soul, that as God was able to turn Moses' hand white with disease and cleanse it once again, so can He also cleanse and purify a diseased life. Therefore do not despair of yourself even though infected by many sins.

The waves of my transgressions have turned back on me, O Savior, just as once the Red Sea turned back to engulf the Egyptian forces.

Like Israel of old, you have an arrogant will, my soul, preferring gluttony and self-gratification to the manna from heaven.

The Canaanites' wells can be likened to worldly philosophies, from which you, my soul, have preferred to drink rather than from the rock which, when struck by Moses, poured out a river of wisdom: the knowledge of God.

Like the arrogant Israelites in the wilderness, you prefer the comforts of and unclean food to manna, the food sent from heaven.

Water pouring from the rock when struck by Your servant Moses, prefigured Your life-giving side, Savior, from which we draw the water of life.

Canticle NINE

My inward being is wounded, my body is weak; my spirit is ill and the Word is powerless. Life is giving way to death and the end is near. What shall I do when the Judge comes and I must stand before Him?

I have reminded you, my soul, from the books of Moses, how the world was created, and from accounts throughout the have shown examples of both the righteous and the unrighteous. But of these you have imitated the latter rather than the former and thereby have sinned against your God.

The Law has no power over you, my soul You have made the fruitless, scorned the Scriptures, and reaped yourself no value from the Prophets or the writings of the just. Your wounds have increased and you have no physician to heal you.

Therefore, my soul, I will remind you of examples from the to lead you to contrition. Imitate the righteous and shun the ways of sinners that through prayer, fasting, purity and reverence, you may obtain the mercy of Christ.

Psalm 89/90 – Read during the 1st Hour – a Psalm of Moses

Psa 90:1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. Psa 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Psa 90:5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. Psa 90:6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. Psa 90:7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Psa 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our sins in the light of thy countenance. Psa 90:9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. Psa 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psa 90:11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psa 90:13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. Psa 90:14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Psa 90:15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Psa 90:16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. Psa 90:17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Akathist – Exodus 3

Rejoice, O Pillar of Fire which leads us to the Promised Land. Rejoice, O Pillar of Cloud that hides us from all visible and invisible enemies. Rejoice, O Promised Land. to the Wonderworking Icon of the Most-Holy Theotokos Ikos 3

Readings at Vespers / Royal Hours for Great Feasts

Exodus 1 – Read on Great & (Vespers)

Exodus 2 – 1st half Read on Great & ( Vespers) 2nd half read on G&H W (Vespers

9thth Reading at Vesperal Liturgy of Theophany

19. The Reading is from Exodus. [2:5-10]

Pharao’s daughter came down to wash at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it she saw the child in the basket; and it was crying. Pharao’s daughter took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharao’s daughter, ‘Do you want me to call you a Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharao’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharao’s daughter said to her, ‘Look after this child, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharao’s daughter, and he became a son for her; and she named him Moses, for she said, ‘ I took him out of the water.’

Exodus 3 – Read at (2nd) Vespers for ( not in )

41a. The Reading is from Exodus.=1= [3:1-8]

Now Moses was shepherding the sheep of his father-in-law, Jothor, the priest of Madiam; and he led the sheep to the desert, and came to mount Horeb. 2 And the of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush; and he saw that the bush was burning, but the bush was not burned up. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not being burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he drew near to see, the Lord called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘What is it?’ Then he said, ‘Do not come near; untie your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of , the God of Isaac, and the God of .’ And Moses turned away his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their suffering, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Pherizzites, the Gergesites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Exodus 4:1-17,

Exodus 5,

Exodus 11

Exodus 12 – 1st Vespers Reading for The Meeting of Our Lord and Saviour Christ.

32. The Reading is from Exodus. [12,51- 13,16 and selection]1 =1=

The Lord spoke to Moses on the day on which he brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, saying, ‘Sanctify to me every first-born, first produced that opens every womb among the children of Israel’. And Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day, on which you came out of Egypt, from the house of slavery, for the Lord has brought you out from there with a mighty hand. And keep his law. And it shall be that when the Lord God brings you into the land of the Chananites, in the way that he swore to your fathers, you shall set apart everything that opens the womb; the males to the Lord. But if after this your son asks you, saying, “What is this?”, you will say to him, “God brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery, with a mighty hand. And when Pharao hardened his heart against sending us out, the Lord slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of humans to the first-born of animals. This is why I sacrifice everything that opens the womb; the males to the Lord, and every first-born of my sons I will redeem”. And it will be for a sign upon your hand, and immovable before your eyes, because thus said the Lord the Almighty, “All the first-born of your sons you will give me. [Leviticus 12] And it shall be that everyone -2- who gives birth to a male child shall circumcise the flesh of its foreskin on the eighth day. And for thirty three days he will not come into the of God to the Priest, until the days of purification are completed. And after this he will offer an unblemished yearling lamb to the Lord for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or turtle dove to the Priest at the door of the Tabernacle of Witness. Or instead of these he will offer two young pigeons or two turtle doves. And the Priest will make atonement for him. [Numbers] Because these have been offered to me as an offering out of all the children of Israel. And I have taken them and sanctified them for myself in place of the first-born of the Egyptians, on the day when I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt from human to beast of burden,” said God the Most High, the Holy One of Israel.’ =3=

[1] This reading is a selection from Exodus 12,51-13,16 together with 22,29 and passages from Leviticus 12 and Numbers 8. The reference to the purification of the mother in Leviticus is made to refer to the child. This may be influenced by ,22, which has ‘their’, not ‘her’, or, according to the Western text, ‘his’. The text in The Festal Menaion is misleading, being from the Hebrew, not the Greek of the Menaion, which differs noticeably from the LXX.

[2] This is masculine, though the LXX has ‘woman’.

[3] This last clause is not from any of the texts used in the reading. The phrase ‘God the Most High’ only occurs at Gen. 14,20 and Psalm 77,35. The second is characteristic of Isaias, and the two nearest references are 30,12 & 15. But the whole clause is probably a mere commonplace by the compiler.

Exodus 13

Exodus 14 – 2nd Reading at Vesperal Liturgy on Theophany

13. The Reading is from Exodus [14:15-18, 21-23, 27-29]

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them strike camp. And you, lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, let the children of Israel go into midst of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of Pharao, of his servants and of all the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will be glorified in Pharao and all his host, his chariots, and his horses. And all the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when am glorified in Pharao, his chariots, and his horses.’ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong south wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the water was a wall for them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharao’s cavalry, his chariots, and his riders. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its wonted flow when day came; and the Egyptians fled into the water, and the Lord shook off the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the riders and all the host of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.