Fourth Wednesday of Pascha (Mid-Pentecost)

Troparion of Mid-Pentecost, Tone 8.
In the middle of the feast, give my thirsty soul to drink of the waters of piety; for Thou didst cry out to all, O Saviour: If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. O Well-spring of life, Christ our God, glory to Thee.

Glory. Now and ever.

Kontakion of Mid-Pentecost, Tone 4.
At the middle of the feast of the Law, O Maker and Master of all, Christ our God, Thou didst say to those who came to it: Come ye and draw the water of immortality; therefore, we fall down before Thee and cry out with faith: Bestow Thy bounties upon us; for Thou art the Well-spring of our life.

Prokeimenon, Tone 3. Psalm 146:5, 1.
Great is our Lord, and great is His power: and of His wisdom there is no number.
Verse: Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God be joyful and comely praise.

The Lesson of the Acts of the Holy Apostles.
Acts §34 (14:6b-18a).
In those days: Paul and Barnabas fled to Lystra, and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the whole country round about, and were there preaching the gospel. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. This same heard Paul speaking. Who looking upon him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice: “Stand upright on thy feet.” And he leaped up, and walked. And when the multitudes had seen what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaonian tongue, saying: “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men;” and they called Barnabas, Jupiter: but Paul, Mercury; because he was chief speaker. The priest also of Jupiter that was before the city, bringing oxen and garlands before the gate, would have offered sacrifice with the people. Which, when the apostles Barnabas and Paul had heard, rending their clothes, they leaped out among the people, crying, and saying: “Ye men, why do ye these things? We also are mortals, men like unto you, preaching to you to be converted from these vain things, to the living God, Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He left not Himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” And speaking these things, they scarce restrained the people from sacrificing to them.

Alleluia, Tone 1. Psalm 72:2, 12.
Alleluia.
Verse 1: Remember Thy congregation: which Thou hast possessed from the beginning. Alleluia.
Verse 2: God is our King before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to Saint John.
Saint John §26 (7:14-30).
About the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews wondered, saying: “How doth this man know letters, having never learned?” Jesus answered them, and said: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man do the will of Him; he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of Him that sent Him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him. Did Moses not give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why seek you to kill Me?” The multitude answered, and said: “Thou hast a devil; who seeketh to kill Thee?” Jesus answered, and said to them: “One work I have done; and you all wonder: therefore, Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and on the sabbath day you circumcise a man. If a man receive circumcision on the sabbath day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you angry at Me because I have healed the whole man on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.” Some therefore of Jerusalem said: “Is not this He Whom they seek to kill? And behold, He speaketh openly, and they say nothing to Him. Have the rulers known for a truth, that this is the Christ? But we know this man, whence He is: but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is.” Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching, and saying: “You both know Me, and you know whence I am: and I am not come of Myself; but He that sent Me, is true, Whom you know not. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.” They sought therefore to apprehend Him: and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

Zadostoinik.
Virginity is alien to motherhood, and childbearing is a thing strange to virgins: yet in thee, O Theotokos, both have come to pass. Therefore we, and all the nations of the earth, without ceasing call thee blessed.

Communion. Saint John 6:57.
“He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him,” sayeth the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.