O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear
Thy word and understand and do Thy will,
for I am a sojourner upon the earth. Hide not Thy commandments
from me, but open mine eyes,
that I may receive the wonders of Thy law. Speak unto me the hidden
and secret things of Thy wisdom.
On Thee do I set my hope, O my God, that Thou shalt enlighten
my mind and understanding with the
light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which
are written, but to do them; that in
reading the lives and sayings of the saints I may not sin, but that
such may serve for my restoration
, enlightenment and sanctification, for the salvation of my soul,
and the inheritance of life everlasting.
For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness,
and from Thee cometh every good deed
and every gift. Amen
Saint John Chrysostom
Troparion of the Resurrection. Fifth Tone.
Let us, O faithful, praise and worship the Word Who is co-unoriginate
with the Father and the Spirit,
and Who was born of the Virgin for our salvation; for He was pleased
to ascend the Cross in the flesh
and to endure death, and to raise the dead by His glorious Resurrection
Kontakion of the Resurrection. Fifth Tone.
Unto Hades, O my Savior, didst Thou descend, and having broken its
gates as One omnipotent,
Thou, as Creator, didst raise up the dead together with Thyself.
And Thou didst break the
sting of death, and didst deliver Adam from the curse,
O Lover of mankind. Wherefore,
we all cry unto Thee: Save us, O Lord.
The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles:
16:16-34
King James Version (KJV 1611)
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel
possessed with a spirit of
divination met us, which brought her masters much gain
by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying,
These men are the servants of the
most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved,
turned and said to the spirit,
I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to
come out of her. And he came
out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of
their gains was gone,
they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the
marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying,
These men, being Jews,
do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us
to receive, neither
to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them:
and the magistrates
rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them,
they cast them into prison,
charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them
into the inner prison,
and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed,
and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately
all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep,
and seeing the
prison doors open, he drew out his sword,
and would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm:
for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling,
and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord,
and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night,
and washed their stripes;
and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house,
he set meat before them,
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
The Holy Gospel according to:
Saint John 9:1-38
King James Version (KJV 1611)
9 And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which
was blind from his birth.
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man,
or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents:
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day:
the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6 When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground,
and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of
the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
(which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore,
and washed, and came seeing.
8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him
that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay,
and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the
pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay,
and opened his eyes.
15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.
He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This Man is not of God,
because He keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said,
How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?
And there was a division among them.
17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of Him,
that He hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind,
and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?
how then doth he now see?
20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son,
and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes,
we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews:
for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ,
he should be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him,
Give God the praise: we know that this Man is a sinner.
25 He answered and said, Whether He be a sinner or no,
I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
26 Then said they to him again, What did He to thee?
how opened He thine eyes?
27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear:
wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be His disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His disciple;
but we are Moses' disciples.
29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this Fellow,
we know not from whence He is.
30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing,
that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God,
and doeth His will, him He heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man
opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, He could do nothing.
34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether
born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him,
He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him,
and it is He that talketh with thee.
