Get all 13 Evgeny Skurat - Chronos ensemble releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The life of the Virgin - Old Slavonic, Georgian and European polyphony (remastered), Coptic, Syrian & Gregorian Christmas Hymns (life), N. Myaskovsky & M. Weinberg - From the lyrics of E. Baratynsky, World Christmas music from Perotin to Messiaen (life), Ballads & Fairy Songs, Thousand years of sacred music (life), Life of the Savior, Old Slavonic polyphony of the Passion service, and 5 more.
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As the Lord Went to His voluntary Passion, He spake unto His apostles on the way saying: ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed, as it is written of Him.’ Purified in mind let us also journey with Him, that we may be crucified with Him and for His sake die to the pleasures of this life, that we may also live with Him and hear Him say: ‘No longer do I ascend to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, but I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to my God and your God; and I shall raise you up together to the Jerusalem on high in the Kingdom of heaven’
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Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is that servant whom he finds watching; but unworthy is the one whom he finds slothful. Take care then, my soul, not to be overcome with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and be shut out of the kingdom; but rouse yourself and cry: Holy, holy, holy are you, O God; through the protection of Bodiless Powers, have mercy on us.
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The present day makes the holy sufferings dawn for the world like saving lights; for Christ in his goodness is hastening to suffer; he who holds the universe in the hollow of his hand accepts to be hung upon a Tree to save humankind.
Invisible Judge, how have you been made visible in flesh and are coming to be slain by lawless men, so condemning our condemnation by your passion. Therefore with one accord, O Word, we offer praise, majesty and glory to your authority.
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Today Christ comes to the house of the Pharisee and a sinful woman draws near and flings herself at his feet, crying, ‘See one who has been drowned by sin, without hope because of her deeds, yet not rejected with loathing from your goodness, and give me, Lord, forgiveness of my evil deeds and save me’.
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When the sinful woman offered myrrh, then the disciple made an agreement with the lawless. The one rejoiced as she emptied out something of great price, while the other hurried to sell the One beyond price. She acknowledged the Master; he was parted from the Master. She was set free while Judas became the slave of the foe. Dreadful is sloth! Great is repentance! Grant it to me, Saviour, who suffered for us, and save us.
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Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving your divinity, took up the role of myrrh-bearer, and with lamentation brings sweet myrrh to you before your burial. ‘Alas!’, she says, ‘for night is for me a frenzy of lust, a dark and moonless love of sin. Accept the fountains of my tears, you who from the clouds draw out the water of the sea; bow yourself down to the groanings of my heart, you who bowed the heavens by your ineffable self-emptying. I shall kiss your immaculate feet, and wipe them again with the locks of my hair, those feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise, and hid herself in fear. Who can search out the multitude of my sins and the depths of your judgements, my Saviour, saviour of souls? Do not despise me, your servant, for you have mercy without measure’
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Irmos - ‘Come believers, let us enjoy the Master’s welcome and the immortal table in the upper place, with minds raised high, having learnt a transcendent word from the Word, whom we magnify.
‘Go’, said the Word to the Disciples, prepare for those whom I initiate the Passover in an upper place, in which the mind is established, with the unleavened word of truth; magnify the strength of grace’.
‘Though Lord and creator of all, O God, you, the impassible, becoming poor, united the created to yourself; and being the Passover, you offered yourself to those for whom you were about to die, crying, ‘Eat my body, and you will be established by faith’.’
As I am man in reality and not in mere appearance, so the nature united to me by way of exchange is God; and so recognize me to be one single Christ who saves the things from which and in which I have come to be.
Irmos - Come believers...
At your Supper, Christ our God, you foretold to your Disciples, ‘One of you will betray me’. But Judas the transgressor did not want to understand.
To John, when he asked you, ‘Who is the one who betrays you?’ you indicated him through the bread. But Judas the transgressor did not want to understand.
For thirty silver pieces, Lord, and a deceitful kiss, the Jews sought to slay you. But Judas the transgressor did not want to understand.
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Of your mystical Supper, Son of God, receive me today as a communicant; for I will not tell of the Mystery to your enemies; I will not give you a kiss, like Judas; but like the Thief I confess you: Remember me, Lord, in your Kingdom.
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Irmos - ‘I rise for you at dawn, who through compassion without change emptied yourself for the one who had fallen, and impassibly bowed yourself to the Passion, O Word of God. Grant me peace, O Lover of humankind.’
When their feet had been washed and they had been cleansed by participation in the divine Mystery, O Christ, your servants went with you from Sion up to the great Mount of Olives, singing your praises, O Lover of humankind.
‘See, my friends’, you said, ‘Do not be afraid, for now the hour is near for me to be taken and to be slain by the hands of transgressors; while you will all be scattered and leave me; whom I shall gather to proclaim me the Lover of humankind.
(Irmos - ‘I rise for you at dawn)
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Irmos. - ‘The godly youths made a spectacle of the monument of ungodly evil; while Sanhedrin of the lawless raged and took vain counsel against Christ; thought to slay the One who holds life in his palm; whom all creation blesses and glorifies to the ages.’
‘Now shake sleep from your eyelids, my disciples’, you said, O Christ, ‘But watch with prayer, lest you slip into temptation; especially you, Simon: for to the mighty comes the greater temptation. Know me, Peter, whom all creation blesses and glorifies to the ages’.
‘I will never utter a profane word from my lips, Master; I will die with you gladly, though all deny you’, cried Peter, ‘Neither flesh nor blood, but your Father revealed you to me; you whom all creation blesses and glorifies to the ages’.
‘You have not searched out the whole depth of divine wisdom and knowledge; you have not, my friend, grasped the abyss of my judgements’, said the Lord. ‘Being flesh then, do not boast; for you will three times deny me, whom all creation blesses and glorifies to the ages’.
‘You protest, Simon Peter, against what you will speedily be persuaded to do, as it has been foretold, and a maid servant suddenly approaching will frighten you. Weeping bitterly you will nevertheless find me merciful, whom all creation blesses and glorifies to the ages’.
Irmos. - ‘The godly youths…
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Judas the transgressor, Lord, having dipped his hand with you in the dish at the supper, stretched out his hands to take the silver pieces; and having reckoned up the price of the myrrh, he did not flinch from selling you, who are beyond price; the one who stretched out his feet to be washed, deceitfully kissed the Master to betray him to the transgressors; cast from the choir of Apostles, and having cast down the thirty silver pieces, he did not see your Resurrection on the third day. Through it have mercy on us.
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Irmos - ‘Greater in honour than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word; truly the Mother of God, we magnify you.’
A destructive band of wicked men, hateful to God; an assembly of slayers of God came upon you, O Christ, and dragged away as a malefactor you, the Creator of all things, whom we magnify.
The impious, ignorant both of the Law and the voices of the Prophets, meditating vain things, unjustly dragged away to slaughter as a sheep you, the Master of all things, whom we magnify.
The priests with the scribes, wounded by envious malice, handed over to the nations, to be done away with, the One who by nature is Life, and the Giver of life, whom we magnify.
They surrounded you like many dogs, Sovereign Lord; they struck your cheek with a blow; they questioned you, they bore false witness against you, and you, enduring all things, saved us all.
Irmos - ‘Greater in honour…
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13. |
12. Kathismata of Judas
01:43
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In your kingdom remember us, O Lord, when you come in your kingdom.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”
Through a tree Adam became an exile from Paradise; but through the tree of the Cross the Thief made Paradise his home: for the former through tasting set aside his Maker’s commandment, while the latter, crucified with him, confessed the hidden God, as he cried, ‘Remember me in your kingdom’.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled”
The lawless bought the Maker of the Law from a disciple, and as a lawbreaker stood him before Pilate’s judgement seat, crying, ‘Crucify’ the one who gave them manna in the desert. While we, imitating the just Thief, cry with faith, ‘Remember us also, O Saviour, in your kingdom’.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”
The swarm of those who slew God, the lawless nation of the Jews, in their frenzy cried out to Pilate, ‘Crucify’ Christ, the innocent. They rather asked for Barabbas. But we address to him the words of the grateful Thief, ‘Remember us also, O Saviour, in your kingdom’.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”
Your life-bearing side, gushing up like a spring in Eden, gives drink to your Church, O Christ, as a spiritual Paradise, from there dividing, as into four heads, into four Gospels, it waters the World, making creation glad and faithfully teaching the nations to worship your Kingdom.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God”
You were crucified for my sake, that for me you might be a source of forgiveness. You were pierced in the side, that for me you might gush forth streams of life. You were transfixed by nails, that I, assured of the height of your power by the depth of your sufferings, might cry to you, O Christ, giver of life, ‘Glory to your Cross, O Saviour, glory to your Passion!
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
When you were crucified, O Christ, all creation saw and trembled. The foundations of the earth quaked with fear of your might. The lamps of heaven hid themselves and the veil of the Temple was rent. The mountains quailed, and rocks were split, and with us the faithful Thief cries to you, O Saviour, ‘Remember’.
“Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake”
On the Cross, Lord, you tore up our record, and numbered among the dead you bound the tyrant there, delivering all from the bonds of death by your Resurrection, through which we have been enlightened, O Lord who love humankind, and we cry to you, ‘Remember us also, Saviour, in your kingdom’.
“Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven”
Lifted up on the Cross, destroying the power of death and as God wiping out the record against us, O Lord, only Lover of humankind, grant the repentance of the Thief also to us who worship in faith, Christ our God, and who cry to you, ‘Remember us also, Saviour, in your kingdom’.
Glory…
Let all of us believers pray with one accord to glorify worthily the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, a Unity of godhead existing in three Persons, remaining without confusion, simple, undivided and unapproachable, through whom we are delivered from the fire of eternal punishment.
Both now…
O Christ, your Mother, who bore you in the flesh without seed, was truly Virgin and remained inviolate after child-birth, we bring in intercession, most merciful Master, to grant pardon of offences to those who ever cry, ‘Remember us also, Saviour, in your kingdom’.
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Today the Master of creation stands before Pilate, and the Creator of all things is given up to a Cross, led like a lamb by his own will. He has been transfixed with the nails, and he has been pierced in the side, and the lips of the One who rained down the manna are touched with a sponge. The Redeemer of the world is struck on the cheeks, and the Fashioner of all things is mocked by his own servants. O the Master’s love for mankind! For those who crucify him he implored his own Father, saying, ‘Forgive them this sin, for they do not know, the lawless, how wrongfully they act’.
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Each member of your holy flesh endured dishonour for our sake: your head the thorns; your face the spittings; your cheeks the blows; your mouth the taste of gall mixed with vinegar; your ears the impious blasphemies; your back the scourge and your hand the reed; your whole body the stretching on the Cross; your joints the nails and your side the lance. You suffered for our sake, and freed us from passions, you stooped down to us in your love for humankind, and raised us up. All powerful Saviour, have mercy on us.’
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Today the blameless Virgin, when she saw you hanging on the Cross, with a mother’s love she lamented, bitterly wounded in her heart, groaning in lamentation from the depth of her soul, she struck her cheeks and tore her hair; and so, beating her breast, she cried out with grief, ‘Woe is me, my divine child! Woe is me, light of the world! Why have you left my sight, Lamb of God?’ Therefore the armies of the Bodiless Powers were seized with terror as they said, ‘Lord, beyond understanding, glory to you!’
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Today he is hung upon a tree, he who hung the earth upon the waters.
He is arrayed in a crown of thorns, he who is the King of the Angels.
He is wrapped in mocking purple, he who wraps the heaven in clouds.
He receives a blow on the face, he who freed Adam in Jordan.
He is transfixed with nails, the Bridegroom of the Church.
He is pierced by a lance, the Son of the Virgin.
We worship your Sufferings, O Christ.
We worship your Sufferings, O Christ.
We worship your Sufferings, O Christ.
Show us also your glorious Resurrection.
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Lord, when you ascended the Cross, fear and trembling fell on creation; and you prevented the earth from swallowing those who crucified you, while you ordered Hell to send back its prisoners for the rebirth of mortals. Judge of the living and the dead, you came to grant life and not death. Lover of humankind, glory to you.
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When Joseph with Nikodemos took you, who are clothed with light as a garment, down from the Tree, and saw you a dead body, naked, unburied, he was filled with compassion, and raising a lament he grieved and said, ‘Alas, sweetest Jesu, when a little while ago the sun saw you hanging on the Cross, it wrapped itself in gloom, and the earth quaked with fear, and the veil of the temple was rent in two; but see, I now look on you, who for me have willingly undergone death; how shall I bury you, my God? Or how shall I wrap you in shrouds; with what hands shall I touch your immaculate body? Or what songs shall I sing at your departure? I magnify your sufferings and I hymn your burial, with your resurrection, as I cry: Lord, glory to you!’
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Irmos. - ‘The One, who of old hid the pursuing tyrant in the waves of the sea, the children of those he saved have hidden beneath the earth; but let us, like the young maidens, sing to the Lord; for he has been greatly glorified.’
Lord, my God, I will sing a song for your departure, a funeral hymn for you who by your burial opened up for me the entrances to life, and by your death put Death and Hell to death.
All things above the world and all below the earth quaked with fear at your death, as they saw you on the throne above and below in a tomb; for beyond understanding you appeared as a one dead, you the source of life.
That you might fill all things with your glory, you went down into the lowest parts of the earth; for my substance, which is in Adam was not hidden from you, and by being buried you make me, who had been corrupted, new, O Lover of humankind.
Irmos. - ‘The One, who of old…
Ode 3. Irmos. - ‘When it saw you, who had hung the whole earth freely on the waters, hanging on Golgotha, creation was seized with great amazement and cried, ‘None is holy but you, O Lord’.’
Multiplying visions, you revealed symbols of your burial, while now, as God and man, you have also made clear your secrets, Master, to those in Hell, who cry, ‘None is holy but you, O Lord’.
You opened out your palms and united things that before were separated, while by being closed in a shroud and a grave, O Saviour, you loosed those who were fettered. None is holy but you, O Lord.
By your will, O uncontainable, you were held fast by grave and seals; and by your energies you made known your power as God to those who sing, ‘None is holy but you, O Lord, lover of humankind’.
Irmos. - ‘When it saw you…
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Today Hell groans and cries, ‘It were better for me had I not accepted the one born of Mary, for he has come upon me and destroyed my might. He has smashed the gates of brass. Souls which before I held, he, being God, has raised’. Glory, O Lord, to your Cross and to your Resurrection!
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Irmos. - Foreseeing your divine self-emptying on the Cross, Avvakoum, amazed, cried out, ‘You cut off the might of the powerful, O Good One, you speaking with those in Hell as all-powerful’.’
You sanctified the seventh day, which of old you blessed by resting from your works; for you bring all things into being and make them new, as you keep the Sabbath rest, O Saviour, and restore your strength.
By your greater strength you gained the victory; your soul was parted from your body, shattering the bonds of both Death and Hell, O Word, by your might.
Hell, when it met you, O Word, was embittered, seeing a mortal made divine, marked by wounds and all powerful, and it shrank back in terror at the sight.
Irmos. - Foreseeing your divine self-emptying
Ode 5. Irmos - ‘Isaias, as he watched by night, O Christ, saw the light which knows no evening of your theophany, which in your compassion came to pass for us, and he cried, ‘The dead will arise and those in the graves will rise, and those in the earth will rejoice.’
Becoming a creature formed of dust, our Fashioner, you make new those born of earth, and the shroud and the tomb point to the mystery within you, O Word; for the noble counsellor fulfils the counsel of your Begetter, who in you gloriously makes me new.
Through death you transform mortality, through burial corruption; for in a manner fitting God you make incorruptible the nature you took on and make it immortal. For your flesh did not know corruption, Master, nor was your soul, like a stranger, abandoned in Hell.
You came forth from a birth without travail and, pierced in your side, my Fashioner, you wrought the refashioning of Eve by becoming Adam, sleeping supernaturally a life-producing sleep and raising life from sleep and corruption, as all-powerful.
Irmos. - Isaias, as he watched by night
Ode 6. Irmos - ‘Jonas was held, but not held fast in the belly of the whale; for being a type of you, the One who suffered and was given over to burial, as from a bridal chamber he leapt forth from the beast and cried to the guard, ‘You who vainly and falsely keep guard, you have forsaken your own mercy’.’
You were torn, but not torn away, O Word, from the flesh you had taken. For though your temple was destroyed at the moment of the passion, you were still one person in your Godhead and your flesh; for in both you are one Son, Word of God, God and man.
Adam’s fall slew mortals but not God, for though your substance of dust suffered, yet your Godhead remained impassible. That which was corruptible in you, you have transformed to incorruption, and you have revealed a source of incorruptible life from your resurrection.
Hell reigns, but not for ever, over the race of mortals; for you, O Mighty One, when placed in a tomb, shattered with your palm, the origin of life, the bars of death, and proclaimed to those who slept there from every age no false redemption, O Saviour, who have become the first-born of the dead.
Irmos - ‘Jonas was held…
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Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and stand with fear and trembling, and take no thought for any earthly thing; for the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to be slain and given as food for the faithful.
Before him go the choirs of Angels, with every Principality and Power; the many-eyed Cherubim and the six-winged Seraphim covering their faces and crying out the hymn: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
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Irmos - ‘Ineffable wonder! He who in the furnace delivered the holy youths from the flame, is laid in the tomb a lifeless corpse for the salvation of us who sing, ‘God, our Redeemer, blessed are you!’’
Hell has been wounded, having received in its heart the One whose side was pierced by a lance, and consumed by divine fire groans aloud at the salvation of us who sing, ‘God, our Redeemer, blessed are you!’
O happy tomb! For having received in itself the Creator as one asleep, it has been revealed as a treasure house of life for the salvation of us who sing, ‘God, our Redeemer, blessed are you!’
The life of all things accepts being laid in the tomb, according to the law of those who die, and he shows it to be a source of rising for the salvation of us who sing, ‘God, our Redeemer, blessed are you!’
In Hell and in the tomb and in Eden Christ’s godhead was one and inseparable with the Father and the Spirit for the salvation of us who sing, ‘God, our Redeemer, blessed are you!’
Irmos - ‘Ineffable wonder!
Ode 8. Irmos - ‘Be amazed and tremble, O heaven, and be shaken, foundations of the earth; for see he who dwells in the highest is numbered among the dead, and welcomed in a little tomb. Youths bless him, priests praise him, people highly exalt him to all the ages.’
The immaculate temple has been destroyed, but raises up the fallen tabernacle; for the second Adam, who dwells in the highest, has come down to the first as far as the storehouses of Hell; Youths bless him, priests praise him, people highly exalt him to all the ages.
The daring of the disciples has failed, but Joseph of Arimatheia has proved valiant; for seeing the God over all dead and naked he asked for him and gave him burial, crying, ‘Youths bless him, priests praise him, people highly exalt him to all the ages’.
Irmos - ‘Be amazed and tremble…
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Irmos - ‘Do not weep for me, Mother, as you see in a tomb the Son whom you conceived in your womb without seed; for I shall arise and be glorified, and I shall exalt in glory without ceasing those who with faith and love magnify you.’
‘At your strange birth, my Son without beginning, beyond nature I escaped the pangs and was made blessed; but now, my God, as I see you dead, I am pierced terribly by the sword of sorrow; but arise, that I may be magnified.’
‘Earth covers me by my own will, but the gatekeepers of Hell shudder as they see me clothed in the blood-stained robe of vengeance, Mother; for having trampled on my enemies by the Cross, I shall arise again and magnify you.’
‘Let creation rejoice, let all born of earth be glad; for Hell, the enemy, has been despoiled; let women come to meet me with sweet spices; for I am rescuing Adam and Eve with all their race, and on the third day I shall rise again.’
Irmos - ‘Do not weep for me, Mother…
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Seeing the sun hide its rays and the veil of the Temple rent asunder at the Saviours death, Joseph came before Pilate, beseeching him, saying; Give me this stranger, who from infancy guested in the world as a stranger, Give me this stranger, whom his own people have hated and slain as a stranger, Give me this stranger, at the sight of whose strange death I am bewildered Give me this stranger, who knew how to give hospitality to the poor and the stranger, Give me this stranger, whom the Hebrews have estranged from the world out of envy, Give me this stranger, so that I may hide in a tomb him, who as a stranger has nowhere to lay his head, Give me this stranger whom his Mother saw dead and cried out "O my Son and God, even if I am wounded to the core and my heart stricken, as I see you a corpse, yet with confidence I magnify your Resurrection". facing down Pilate with these words the noble one took the Saviours body and in fear wrapped it in linen and sweet spices and laid in a new tomb him who bestows on all eternal life and great mercy.
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