Opening Sentence

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him. Psalm 96:9

Confession

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Invitatory

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Psalm 128 Beati omnes

1

Happy are they all who fear the LORD, *
and who follow in his ways!

2

You shall eat the fruit of your labor; *
happiness and prosperity shall be yours.

3

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, *
your children like olive shoots round about your table.

4

The man who fears the LORD *
shall thus indeed be blessed.

5

The LORD bless you from Zion, *
and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

6

May you live to see your children's children; *
may peace be upon Israel.

Psalm 129 Saepe expugnaverunt

1

"Greatly have they oppressed me since my youth," *
let Israel now say;

2

"Greatly have they oppressed me since my youth, *
but they have not prevailed against me."

3

The plowmen plowed upon my back *
and made their furrows long.

4

The LORD, the Righteous One, *
has cut the cords of the wicked.

5

Let them be put to shame and thrown back, *
all those who are enemies of Zion.

6

Let them be like grass upon the housetops, *
which withers before it can be plucked;

7

Which does not fill the hand of the reaper, *
nor the bosom of him who binds the sheaves;

8

So that those who go by say not so much as,
"The LORD prosper you. *
We wish you well in the Name of the LORD."

Psalm 130 De profundis

1

Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice; *
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

2

If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, *
O LORD, who could stand?

3

For there is forgiveness with you; *
therefore you shall be feared.

4

I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.

5

My soul waits for the LORD,
more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.

6

O Israel, wait for the LORD, *
for with the LORD there is mercy;

7

With him there is plenteous redemption, *
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

Gloria Patri

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Mark 10:1-16

¹ He left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.

² Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

³ He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"

⁴ They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her."

⁵ But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.

⁶ But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'

⁷ 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

¹⁰ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

¹¹ He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;

¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

¹³ People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.

¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Canticle 15 The Song of Mary
Magnificat Luke 1:46-55

Gregory first became a monk and abbot of the monastery of St. Apostle Andrew, which was also called Clioscabre. Then, he ascended the pontifical throne of Rome, not by unreasonable chance but having received his prelacy by divine vote, as it will be shown.

While the saint was at the aforementioned monastery and lived quietly in his cell writing and decorating holy books, a certain poor man that had been rescued from a shipwreck went to him and related his misfortune and asked the saint to have mercy on him. However, he was not a simple man but an angel of God who had appeared in the shape of a poor man that was in need in order to make the compassionate and sympathetic mind of the saint known to everybody.

So, first, this angel, who appeared as a poor man, received six coins from the saint as alms. Then, he returned again and asked for charity. He received six more coins for a second time. He returned for a third time and again he was not sent away empty-handed. Although the saint had no more coins to give him, he willingly gave him the silver plate of the monastery. Thrice blessed Gregory sympathised with the poor and was so forbearing with them that he did not accuse that poor man who first asked alms twice and then appeared to be importunate although the saint had nothing else to give him. He preferred to give him even one of the possessions of the monastery instead of ignoring and turning him away empty-handed (even though canons and laws say that a monastery's possessions cannot be taken away).

When he became bishop and Pope of Rome, he practised his charity to the poor as usual. So, once he ordered the Sacellarius to call twelve poor men to eat with the saint on the same table. When they were seated, there appeared to the saint one more man, whose face and the internal movements of his soul made him different from and unlike the rest of the twelve poor men. So, the saint took him aside and asked him what his name was and how he had come to him. The man answered: "It is not possible for anybody to hear my name but I can reveal to you that I am an Angel of God. I am the one who was formerly sent to you by God to ask alms and, since then, I was ordered to be with you and guard you always."

St. Gregory was full of all the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures. He even left a lot of writings in Latin to the Church of God. The four books which contain the lives of the holy fathers who excelled in Italy have been translated in Greek. Some of them have been translated by his archdeacon Peter, who used to say that this saint's writings had not been composed with human reasoning and words of wisdom but with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

This saint also walked around the Western places teaching and bringing the Saxon people to the faith of Christ.

Thrice blessed Gregory led his life with love for God and then departed to the Lord. His holy relics are kept in elder Rome, where the Saxons used to come every year and honour the saint with holy hymns. They also say that St. Gregory is the one who legislated for the celebration of the presanctified liturgy on the fasting days of great Lent among the Romans. This they do even today.

The Seventh-Day Adventists

For Cities

Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that holy City to which the nations of the world bring their glory: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth. Renew the ties of mutual regard which form our civic life. Send us honest and able leaders. Enable us to eliminate poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and justice with order, and that men and women from different cultures and with differing talents may find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Those Who Influence Public Opinion

For the Future of the Human Race

O God our heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race, and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer of Self-Dedication

General Thanksgiving

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.

Benediction

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.