Liturgical Texts
Here you will find the links to texts for various liturgical services.
Third Sunday of Great Lent
Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
Venerable-martyr Nikon of Sicily and with him 199 disciples
SYNAXARION
On March 23 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we commemorate the Venerable-martyr Nikon of Sicily and with him 199 disciples.
On this same day, the Third Sunday of the Fast, we keep the feast of the Veneration of the honorable and life-creating Cross.
Verses
Let the whole world entire worship the Cross
through Which it truly knew to worship Thee, O Word.
Every hard and strenuous work is accomplished with great difficulty, which appears especially in the middle of such work; for the effort in this performance brings with it fatigue which makes the accomplishment of the rest difficult. Having arrived with God’s grace at the middle of the Fast, our compassionate Mother—the Holy Orthodox Church—thought fit to reveal to us the Holy Cross as the joy of the world and power of the faithful to help us carry on the struggles of the divine Fast. By its power, O Christ God, preserve us from the crafty designs of the evil one and account us worthy to worship Thy divine Passion and life-giving Resurrection, as we achieve the course of the Forty Days with ease, and have mercy on us, as Thou alone art good and the Lover of mankind. Amen.
Please visit the Antiochian Archdiocese Website for Up-To-Date Texts of Services, and Choose the Specific Date on the Calendar.
