For use with the "Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory, that is, the Roman Rite, according to the ancient use of Sarum" free download document. All usages below have been approved for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), for those communities using the Sarum Liturgy (this status is coordinated and overseen by Archpriest Mark Rowe, Vicar General for the Western Rite Communities of the ROCOR).
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Service is of St. Maclovius, the wonder-worker, bishop of Aleth in Brittany, with commemoration of the Sunday and of All Saints. Some English books indicate that this is within the octave of St. Martin of Tours, so his collect could also be done. Today is the first day of the Roman rite Nativity fast of pre-Schism England and most of Western Europe. Advent - the liturgical season - starts Dec. 12, 2021.
TERCE
antiphon: There was not found the like to him, for he kept the law of the Most High.
chapter: The Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed His covenant upon his head. R. Thanks be to God.
short responsory. The Lord loved him and adorned him.
The Lord loved him and adorned him.
V. He clothed him with a robe of glory.
And adorned him.
V. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. The Lord loved him.
And adorned him.
versicle: The Lord conducted the just through the right ways.
R. And showed him the kingdom of God.
Collect as at Mass, below.
SEXT
antiphon: A faithful servant and prudent, whom the Lord hath set over his household.
chapter: The Lord acknowledged him in His blessings, and preserved for him His mercy, and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
short responsory: The Lord conducted the just through the right ways.
The Lord conducted the just through the right ways.
V. And showed him the kingdom of God.
Through the right ways.
V. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. The Lord conducted the just.
Through the right ways.
versicle: The righteous man shall flourish like a palm tree.
R. And like a cedar in Lebanon shall he be multiplied.
Collect as at Mass, below.
PROCESSION
responsory: default for Sunday
The summer antiphon, versicle, and collect of the cross are done, as usual. The Litany of St. Martin is done.
antiphon for re-entry: default, with usual versicle and collect of St. Mary.
MASS
Officium: The Lord established a covenant of peace with him, and he made him a ruler, that the dignity of the priesthood might be his forever.
V. Of Thy mercies, O Lord : will I sing forever.
The Lord established a covenant of peace with him, and he made him a ruler, that the dignity of the priesthood might be his forever.
[V. The heavens shall declare Thy wondrous works, O Lord : even Thy truth in the church of the saints.
The Lord established a covenant of peace with him, and he made him a ruler, that the dignity of the priesthood might be his forever.
V. Justice and judgment are the pedestal of Thy throne : mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.
The Lord established a covenant of peace with him, and he made him a ruler, that the dignity of the priesthood might be his forever.]
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit : as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, unto the ages of ages, amen.
The Lord established a covenant of peace with him, and he made him a ruler, that the dignity of the priesthood might be his forever.
Kyrie-Litany. Gloria.
V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit. Let us pray.
COLLECT OF THE DAY: O almighty, everlasting God, hearken to the prayers of Thy people, Thou that hast adorned with the grace of virtue Thy blessed confessor and bishop Maclovius, and didst receive him this day into the glory of heaven. Through...
Let us pray.
Collect 2: We beseech Thee, O Lord: guard Thy family with unceasing loving-kindness, that they may be free from all opposing powers thanks to Thy protection, and revere Thy name with their good deeds. (no doxology, but immediately:)
Collect 3: Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that the intercession of the holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, and of all the heavenly powers, and of the blessed patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, and confessors, and virgins, and of all Thine elect, may everywhere fill us with joy, that as we call their righteousness to mind we may experience their watchful prayer. Through...
Lesson: Ecclesiasticus 44:16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, and 45:3, 6, 8, 19, 20 (p. 403 in the complete epistle-gospel Lectionary).
A reading from the book of Wisdom. Behold, a great priest who in his days pleased God, and was found just. And in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation. There was not found the like to him, who might keep the law of the Most High. Therefore by an oath the Lord made him to increase for his people. He gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed His covenant upon his head. He acknowledged him in his blessings; He preserved for him His mercy, and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He glorified him in the sight of kings and gave him a crown of glory. He made an everlasting covenant with him, and gave him the great priesthood, and made him blessed in glory: to execute the office of the priesthood, and to have praise in his name. Yea, to offer Him worthy incense : for an odour of sweetness.
Graduale: I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him. For My hand shall be unto him an ally, and Mine arm shall strengthen him.
V. No advantage shall his enemy have over him, nor shall the son of iniquity avail to hurt him.
I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him. For My hand shall be unto him an ally, and Mine arm shall strengthen him.
Alleluia: cantor: Alleluia. all: Alleluia. cantor: V. The righteous man shall blossom as the lily, and he shall flourish forever before the Lord. all: Alleluia.
Sequence: The beloved day is here, and full of mighty joy,
Whereon the Holy Church rejoiceth together in gratitude to God.
Today the heavenly multitudes are jofyul, and they sing:
"Glory in the highest," with sweet voices, with unanimity.
This day the holy hosts of heaven
Together praise our King and God, born of the Holy Virgin Mary.
Rejoice, glorious hierarch of Christ, Maclovius,
O most beautiful flower!
With devout faith thou didst follow Christ's footsteps,
And hast attained the kingdom of the eternal King.
For thou rejoicest in the supernal mansions,
Dwelling upon the throne of life.
Thee we request and desire as one man
That thy holy prayers may aid our fragile life.
O blessed, O holy Maclovius,
Help this congregation!
O blessed, O holy Maclovius,
Intercede in our behalf,
That together we may be found worthy
To inhabit holy, quickening temples in the heavens.
Beholding in joys the happiness which is complete.
To God be praise, honor, and chaste jubilation,
Who reigneth through all the ages of ages;
Let all things say: Amen!
Gospel: Luke 19:12-28 (p. 390 in the complete epistle-gospel Lectionary)
V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.
The continuation of the holy gospel according to Luke. R. Glory to Thee, O Lord.
At that time Jesus spake to His disciples this parable: A
certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and
to return. And calling his ten servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to
them: Trade till I come. But his citizens hated him; and they sent an embassage
after him, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to
pass that he returned, having received the kingdom. And he commanded his
servants to be called, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how
much every man had gained by trading. And the first came, saying: Lord, thy
pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said to him: Well done, thou good servant,
because thou hast been faithful in a little, thou shalt have power over ten
cities. And the second came, saying: Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
And he said to him: Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying:
Lord, behold here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I
feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou didst
not lay down, and thou reapest that which thou didst not sow. He saith to him:
Out of thine own mouth I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I
was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, and reaping that which I
did not sow. And why then didst thou not give my money into the bank, that at
my coming, I might have exacted it with usury? And he said to them that stood
by: Take the pound away from him, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And
they said to him: Lord, he hath ten pounds. But I say to you, that to every one
that hath shall be given, and he shall abound. And from him that hath not, even
that which he hath shall be taken from him. But as for those mine enemies, who
would not have me reign over them, bring them hither, and kill them before me.
And having said these things, He went before : going up to Jerusalem.
Offerenda: My truth and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be lifted high.
V. I have bestowed help on one that is mighty; I have raised up one chosen out of My people.
My truth and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be lifted high.
V. My mercy will I not disperse away from him, and his throne shall be before Me.
My truth and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be lifted high.
Secret of the day: Mercifully look down upon our oblations, O Lord, we beseech Thee, which we have brought to Thee for consecration in honor of Thy blessed confessor and bishop Maclovius, beseeching that by his righteous and intercessory prayers we may be found worthy, because of Thy mercy, of obtaining forgiveness for all the sins we carelessly committed. Through...
Let us pray.
Secret 2: O Lord, graciously receive the sacrifices by means of which Thou hast decided to show Thy relenting mercy, and by Thy mighty compassion to restore us to salvation. (no doxology, but:)
Secret 3: Be pleased, O Lord, with the proffered gifts, and at the intercession of the blessed and glorious and Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with that of all Thy saints, defend us from all danger. Through...
Preface: ... everlasting God. And especially on this day, which Thou hast consecrated by the holy passing of Thy blessed confessor and bishop Maclovius. We therefore beseech Thy mercy that Thou wouldst grant us to follow that doctrine which he both taught in his words and fulfilled in his deeds, that we may understand how we are aided before Thy tender mercy by his example and his righteous prayers. Through Christ our Lord; by Him angels praise Thy majesty... etc.
Communio: Blessed is that servant whom, when his Lord cometh, He shall find watching. Amen I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods.
V. A faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath appointed over His family : to give them their measure of wheat in due season.
Blessed is that servant whom, when his Lord cometh, He shall find watching. Amen I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit : as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, unto the ages of ages, amen.
Blessed is that servant whom, when his Lord cometh, He shall find watching. Amen I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods.
Postcommunion of the day: O Lord, mercifully exalt those whom Thou hast filled with Thy heavenly Gifts, by the protecting prayers of Thy holy confessor and bishop Maclovius: that being freed from all our sins, we may pursue the instruments of Thy salvation with all our heart. Through...
Let us pray.
Postcommunion 2: Having come to the nourishment of immortal life, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that what we have taken with our mouth we may grasp with our soul. (no doxology)
Postcommunion 3: We have received, O Lord, the heavenly holy mysteries, practicing the remembrance of the blessed Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary and of all Thy saints: grant, we beseech Thee, that assisted by their prayers we may in joys eternal arrive at the fruition of what we now accomplish in time. Through...
Bowed Heads: the default prayer.
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FREEBIE: MATINS LESSONS FOR THIS DAY
Lesson 1: The glorious confessor of Christ, Maclovius,
noble-born of Britannic lineage, became nobler still by his holy conduct. When
his parents, now of advanced age, had ceased hoping for a child, and
already were despairing of gaining a definite heir for their possessions, they
conceived him nonetheless, by the mercy of God. Pious indeed was the parentage of
the all-famed brethren, to wit, our holy father Sampson, and of St. Maclovius,
who were born to sisters. Indeed, by a line of consanguinity relation, a third to
these two lofty souls sprang up. But Thou, O Lord...
Lesson 2: When from his childhood up he had been delivered for the discipline of learning his letters to Brendan, a man very famous at that time for holiness and knowledge, he surpassed his superiors by his hard work, and those inferior to him by his humility. For he so adapted his yet-tender years to the age of all men, that he seemed to the children to be a child, to the youth an adult, to the elders a man already old. For embracing the purity of an innocent life, he did not keep a superior place, nor one equal among the disciples, but only that of serving others. But Thou...
Lesson 3: And lest he should ever become haughty due to an abundance of things or, as can happen, through the levity of his young age, he gave himself to every striving in abstinence. Consenting to no desire of his body at all, he persevered greatly in vigils, was assiduous in prayers, and was unmatched in fasting. Thou couldst scarcely find him inside the church unless at prayer, scarcely outside it unless reading, unless the trouble of some imposed need impeded it. But Thou...
Middle lessons are of St. Martin, with this V./ The Lord led the righteous man, with three responsories according to the order of the Nocturns of the History of St. Martin.
Lesson 4: From Sts. Sulpitius and Gregory of Tours, on
the Miracles of Holy Martin. And blessed Severin, bishop of the city of
Cologne, a man of upright life and praiseworthy in all respects, when on the
Lord's day he with his clergy was making the rounds of the holy places after
Matins, as was his custom, at the same hour that the blessed man [Martin]
passed away, he heard a choir singing on high. And having called his archdeacon,
he asked if their voices, to which he was attentively listening, met with his
ears. He answered, No, not at all. Then the former said, Listen carefully. And the archdeacon began to stretch his neck up, and raise his ears, and with
the sustaining help of his staff to stand up on the tips of his toes. But I
consider him not to have been of equal righteousness, because he was not found
worthy to hear these things. Then, they both of them prostrated on the ground,
and the blessed bishop besought the Lord that the mercy of God might permit the
man to hear this. And standing up again, the old man asked him, What hearest
thou? He said, I hear the voices of chanters as if from heaven, but what it
is word for word, I have no idea. The former told him, I will tell thee what
it is. My teacher bishop Martin hath departed from this world, and now angels,
singing, have carried him on high. And a little afterward, as there was a
pause after I had heard this, the devil and his wicked angels tempted
him, for the purpose of detaining him. But finding nothing of his in him,
he withdrew in shame. But Thou...
Lesson 5: What, then, will happen to us sinners, if the lot of the wicked wished to do harm to such a great priest? In any case, the priest speaking these things and noting the time of them, the archdeacon swiftly made off for Tours, that he might diligently seek out these things. Arriving, he learned that it was clearly at that day and hour that the blessed man had passed away, when holy Severin heard the choir of chanters. And at that same time, the blessed Ambrose, the blossoms of whose words give fragrance throughout the whole Church even today, held chief place as bishop of the city of Milan. This was his custom as he celebrated the festivities on the Lord's day, that the reader, approaching him with the book, could not dare to read until the holy man had commanded him to do so with a nod. It came to pass that on that Lord's day, the prophetical lesson having been already read, and he who was going to do the reading from blessed Paul was standing before the altar, the very blessed hierarch Ambrose fell asleep on the holy altar. Many people saw it, though not a single person dared to stir him. After nearly two or three hours had passed, they stirred him, saying, The time is already passed for Vladyka to command the reader to read the reading, and the people waiting are now extremely wearied. But Thou...
Lesson 6: And answering them, blessed Ambrose said, Be not troubled. For it was quite worthwhile to me to have fallen asleep, since the Lord was pleased to reveal to me a very great miracle. Let it be known that my brother, the priest Martin, hath departed from the body, and the service of his funeral was offered to me.* And when the service had been completed according to custom, there was one short prayer only which I was not able to finish. Then they, together astonished and marvelling, noted this carefully, inquiring after the day and time, and they discovered it was the same day and the same time when the blessed confessor [Ambrose] said he had served his funeral. O blessed the man, at whose passing there singeth a great number of saints, a choir of angels maketh merry, the host of all the heavenly virtues runneth out in greeting. The devil is put to shame for his presumption, the Church is strengthened with power, the priests are glorified with revelation, for Michael with the angels took him up, Mary welcomed him with the choirs of virgins, paradise holdeth him rejoicing with the saints. But why do we in praising him tamper with that which we do not manage to fulfil? He himself is his own praise, since praise never departed from his mouth at any time. But as for us, if only we could succeed in describing the simple history! But Thou...
The three last lessons are from the proper of St. Maclovius:
Lesson 7: In the meantime, when the bishop of that
province died, and the fame of Maclovius was heard, the people flocked from every place, they captured Maclovius, and though he did not want it, though he absolutely refused, though he said he was unworthy and incapable
of this labor, they made him bishop of Guingamp anyway, the city where his father had been duke. As we said, he took the burden unwillingly. And he said that such honor was mistreatment, and that the loftiness
of the see was a violent act done to him. That is why, having taken a few who were
knowledgeable of his secret plans, he secretly boarded a ship, and, committing
himself to the winds and the sea, he navigated as it might please God's will.
Then, as soon as the blessed Maclovius had set out upon the deep, an escort of angels met up with him, and showed to him where to steer, and which
harbor to dock at, and by whom it behooved him to be taken in. For they
showed him to make his way to the borders of Gallic Brittany, and weigh in at an island whereon was Aaron, a man of angelic life, and to make his
abode with him for a space of time. But Thou...
Lesson 8: When these things had been fulfilled in their entirety, as indicated, Aaron rejoiced to have such a guest, and Maclovius to have such friendly companionship. The fame of it flew throughout the city, a concourse of people came to see the new fellow, to hear novel words. But when his words of preaching were getting lengthy, behold, a certain dead man was carried through the street before the entrance of the church. Seeing him, the man of God made haste to the spot where the body was lying, and having bent his knees and stretched out his body, with everyone attending and awaiting the outcome of things, he prayed. When his prayer was finished, they rose together, both the saint from the ground, and the dead man from death. Therefore, having baptized the citizens and confirmed them in the faith, Maclovius, who was willing to convert this city, [though] he had [originally] been made a bishop unwillingly, broadcast the seeds of his teaching throughout the peoples of lesser Britain (Brittany). But let no-one rise up against the angelic man, that is because he had been made bishop of two cities. And concerning the change in sees, which would appear to have been done contrary to authority, let no-one reproach him. For he who did not grow greedy did not change his own see. He did not ascend from a lesser position to a greater, but descended from the most opulent see to one penniless. Meanwhile, Britain mourned for exile of him whom Sanctonia rejoiced to have as guest. In fact, some of those who had railed against him, who had expelled him, became crippled, others lepers, others blind; everywhere they appeared blameworthy and were disgraced for their condemnation of him. But Thou...
Lesson 9: And the earth itself was deprived of all fertility and the buds of all harvests were rejected. At length the people, oppressed by hunger and deaths, cried out that they were perishing for good cause, since they had not wished to retain their most holy patron. Thus, compelled by great necessity, they chose for themselves certain men who seemed to them to be of sounder mind than others, and they prepared them to journey in search of a physician for their great misery. The fame of his virtues indicating the way easily to them, they came to the Saint, and prostrate before him they declared the complaint of their misfortune. They confessed their faults, they poured forth tears, and they asked for him to have mercy on them with groans and sighs. So the man full of compassion, bending to their prayers, readied his aged limbs for the labor of the road, and hastened to release the parish from the yoke of condemnation as quickly as possible. When that came to pass, fruitfulness was restored to the earth, health to the people, and the wholeness of all prosperity was re-established. In that place, when it pleased the economia of the Most High, that he should be recompensed for such and so great toils, three days before he was to put off his human body, he was taken with a fever. In the interval he, lying in ashes and sackcloth as he was accustomed to do, suffered no part of his body to be propped up, nor let himself be turned on his side, but he reached for heaven with his hands, for heaven with his mouth, for heaven with both eyes. And in such a manner did its angelic citizens welcome this soldier into the palace of heaven, on the seventeenth of the kalends of December, as their comrade-at-arms. But Thou...
* St. Ambrose was author of many of the funeral prayers which appear in the Sarum Rituale.
End of the propers for Nov. 28, 2021.
