Sunday after the Nativity of Our Lord

The Commemoration of the Holy and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, David the King, and James the Brother of God

ANTIPHON I
Ps. 9.
I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will relate all thy wonders. Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Saviour, save us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Saviour, save us.

ANTIPHON II
Ps. 111.
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments. O Son of God, born of the Virgin, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

HYMN OF THE INCARNATION
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen. O only-begotten Son and Word of God, Who art immortal, yet didst deign for our salvation to be incarnate of the holy Theotokos and ever-Virgin Mary, and without change didst become man, and wast crucified, O Christ God, trampling down death by death; Thou art One of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us.

ANTIPHON III
Ps. 94
Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our Saviour. O Son of God, born of the Virgin, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

Resurrectional Troparion of the Tone.

Troparion of the Nativity, Tone 4.
Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shone upon the world with the light of knowledge; for thereby they who served the stars, through a star were taught to worship Thee, the Sun of righteousness, and to know Thee the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory to Thee.

Troparion of the Relatives, Tone 2.
O Joseph, tell the good tidings of these wonders to David, the divine ancestor: Thou hast seen a Virgin who gave birth; thou hast given glory with the shepherds; thou hast worshipped with the Magi; thou hast received messages from the angels. Entreat Christ our God to save our souls.

Glory. Now and ever.

Kontakion of the Relatives, Tone 3.
Today the divine David is filled with joy, and Joseph and James together offer praise; for they rejoice at receiving crowns through their kinship with Christ, and they praise and extol Him Who is ineffably born on earth. O Compassionate One, save them that honour Thee.

Prokeimenon, Tone 4.
Psalm 67:36, 27.
God is wonderful in His saints: the God of Israel.
Verse: In the churches bless ye God the Lord, from the fountains of Israel.

The Lesson of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Galatians.
Galatians §200 (1:11-19).
Brethren: I give you to understand, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor did I learn it; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion: how that, beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it. And I made progress in the Jews’ religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more abundantly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased Him, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, immediately I condescended not to flesh and blood. Neither went I to Jerusalem, to the Apostles who were before me: but I went into Arabia, and again I returned to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went to Jerusalem, to see Peter, and I tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles I saw none, saving James the brother of the Lord.

Alleluia, Tone 4.
Psalm 131:1, 2.
Alleluia.
Verse 1: O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness. Alleluia.
Verse 2: How he swore to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew.
Saint Matthew §4 (2:13-23).
After the wise men were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child to destroy Him. Who arose, and took the Child and His mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called My Son. Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the Child. Who arose, and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by prophets: That He shall be called a Nazarene.

Zadostoinik.
Magnify, O my soul, the King Who was born in the cave.
Irmos: A strange and all-glorious mystery do I behold: the cave is heaven; the Virgin, the throne of the cherubim; the manger, the place wherein Christ God, the Infinite One, lay, Whom, chanting, we magnify.

Communion.
Psalm 148:1.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye Him in the high places.
Psalm 32:1.
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.