Selections from the Choir at St. Nicholas
Hymn to the Theotokos
It is truly meet,
It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos,
ever-blessed, ever-blessed and most pure,
and the Mother of our God.
More honorable than the Cherubim,
and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim,
without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word
true Theotokos we magnify thee, we magnify thee!
Cherubic Hymn
Let us who mystically, who mystically,
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim,
the Cherubim, represent the Cherubim,
and chant the thrice-holy hymn, chant the thrice-holy hymn,
unto the life-creating Trinity, unto the life-creating Trinity.
Now lay aside all care, all earthly care.
Now lay aside, now lay aside
all earthly care, all earthly care.
Lay aside all earthly care.
Midnight Office of Pascha (excerpt)
Thou didst suspend the earth immovably upon the waters.
Now creation beholds Thee suspended on Calvary.
It quakes with great amazement and cries:
“None is holy but Thee, O Lord.”
Foreseeing Thy divine humiliation on the cross,
Habakkuk cried out trembling;
“Thou didst shatter the dominion of the mighty by
joining those in hell as the almighty Lord.”
Isaiah saw the never-setting light of Thy compassionate
manifestation to us as God, O Christ.
Rising early from the night he cried out:
“The dead shall arise.
Those in the tombs shall awake.
All those on earth shall greatly rejoice.”
First and Second Antiphons
The first two antiphons are from the Psalter and include verses from Psalm 102/103 (Bless the Lord, O my soul) and Psalm 145/146 (Praise the Lord, O my soul). The hymn Only-begotten Son, which follows the second antiphon, was composed by the Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527 to 565).