Fourth Sunday of Lent - St John of the Ladder

LITURGY OF THE WORD

PROKIMENON (RESPONSORY)

The Lord will give strength to His People;
the Lord will bless His people with peace.

Give to the Lord, you sons of God,
give to the Lord glory and praise.

THE READING FROM THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

BRETHREN: When God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, 'Surely I will bless you and multiply you.’ And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek.

ALLELUIA

It is good to give thanks to the Lord
To sing praise to Your Name, O Most High!

To proclaim Your kindness at dawn
And Your faithfulness throughout the night

THE READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST MARK

AT THAT TIME: One of the crowd answered him, 'Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And he answered them, 'O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, 'How long has he had this?’ And he said, 'From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, 'If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!’ And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.’ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, 'He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, 'Why could we not cast it out?’ And he said to them, 'This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.’ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.’

MEGALYNARION OF THE LITURGY OF ST BASIL THE GREAT

In you, O Woman full of Grace, all creation exults, the hierarchy of angels together with the race of men: in you, sanctified Temple, spiritual Paradise, Glory of virgins of whom God took flesh — from whom our God who exists before the world, became a child! For He has made your womb His Throne, making it more spacious than the Heavens. In you, O Woman full of Grace, all creation exults: glory to you!

COMMUNION HYMN

The Lord has sent redemption to His people:
He has established His covenant forever. Alleluia.