APRIL 18 Great and Holy Monday Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (sung on Monday) (The Matins of the first three days of Holy Week are commonly called the “Bridegroom Service.” This service is customarily served in anticipation on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. Vespers with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in most places is celebrated early on the following day.) "Lord I Call..." Tone 1 Lord, I call upon Thee, hear me! Hear me, O Lord! Lord, I call upon Thee, hear me! Receive the voice of my prayer, when I call upon Thee!// Hear me, O Lord! Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice!// Hear me, O Lord! V. (10) Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Thy Name. Tone 1 As the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion, He said to the Apostles on the way: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up, as it is written of Him.” Come, therefore, let us also go with Him, purified in mind! Let us be crucified with Him and die through Him to the pleasures of this life! Then we shall live with Him and hear Him say: “I go no more to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, but to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God. I shall raise you up to the Jerusalem on high// in the Kingdom of Heaven.” 1 V. (9) The righteous will surround me, for Thou wilt deal bountifully with me. (Repeat: “As the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion…”) V. (8) Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Tone 5 We have reached the saving Passion of Christ our God. Let us, the faithful, glorify His ineffable forbearance, that in His compassion He may raise us up who were dead in sin,// for He is good and loves mankind! V. (7) Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! (Repeat: “We have reached the saving Passion…”) V. (6) If Thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee. Going to Thy Passion, O Lord, Thou didst take Thy Disciples aside and reassure them: “How have you forgotten the words that I once spoke? Is it not written: ‘A prophet cannot be killed but in Jerusalem?’ Now is the time of which I told you. Behold, I am betrayed into the hands of sinners to be mocked! They will nail Me to the Cross and deliver Me up to burial, regarding Me as a dead man, a thing of loathing. Yet take courage, for I will arise on the third day,// giving to the faithful joy and life everlasting!” V. (5) For Thy Name’s sake I wait for Thee, O Lord. My soul has waited for Thy word; my soul has hoped on the Lord. (Repeat: “Going to Thy Passion, O Lord…”) V. (4) From the morning watch until night, from the morning watch, let Israel hope on the Lord! 2 The mother of Zebedee’s children, O Lord, could not understand the ineffable mystery of Thy dispensation. She asked the honor of a temporal kingdom for her sons; but instead, Thou didst promise Thy friends that they should drink the cup of death, a cup that Thou wouldst drink before them for the cleansing of sins. Therefore we cry out to Thee:// “O Salvation of our souls, glory to Thee!” V. (3) For with the Lord there is mercy and with Him is plenteous redemption, and He will deliver Israel from all his iniquities. (Repeat: “The mother of Zebedee’s children, O Lord…”) V. (2) Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise Him, all peoples! Thou didst teach Thy Disciples, O Lord, to desire what is perfect, saying: “Be not like the Gentiles, who oppress the weak! It shall not be so with you, O My disciples. for of My own will I am poor. Let the first among you, therefore, be the servant of all! Let the ruler be like those who are ruled! Let him who is first be like the last! For I have come to serve Adam in his poverty, and to give My life as a ransom for the many who cry to Me:// ‘O Lord, glory to Thee!’” V. (1) For His mercy is confirmed on us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Tone 8 The fig tree was withered up because it was unfruitful. We should fear the same punishment, O brethren, and bring worthy fruits of repentance to Christ,// Who brings to us great mercy. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. 3 Tone 8 The serpent found a second Eve in the Egyptian woman, and plotted the fall of Joseph through words of flattery. But, leaving behind his garment, Joseph fled from sin. He was naked but unashamed, like Adam before the fall.// Through his prayers,