Andrew of Crete
Irmos: A Helper and Protector hath He become for me unto salvation; this is my God, and I will glorify Him, the God of my father, and I will exalt Him; for gloriously hath He been glorified.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have become like Cain the murderer in my knowledge; I have slain the conscience of my soul and quickened the flesh, and roused against it the passionate desires of my heart.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have not become like Abel in righteousness, O Jesus; I have never offered Thee divine gifts, nor worthy deeds, nor pure sacrifice, nor a blameless life.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like Cain, O soul, we too have offered God base works with defiled sacrifices, and a foul and abominable way of life; wherefore we have been condemned.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The Master Potter fashioned the clay into a living being, flesh and bone, breath and spirit; but, O my Deliverer, God and Judge, receive me who repent.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I confess to Thee, O Saviour, the sins which I have committed, and the wounds of my body and soul which murderous thoughts have bitterly dealt me within.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Though I have sinned, O Deliverer, yet I know that Thou art sweet; Thou woundest with compassion and healest with mercy; Thou lookest upon him who weepeth, and as God Thou dost embrace again the prodigal son.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
O Trinity beyond being, worshipped in one Godhead, take from me now the heavy burden of sin, and as Thou lovest mankind, grant me tears of repentance.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O Theotokos, hope of all who sing to thee, take from me now the heavy burden of sin, and as thou lovest mankind, grant me tears of repentance.
Irmos: Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and I will praise Christ, who came from the Virgin for our sake.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
My sin hath stitched for me garments of skin, and stripped me of the garment woven by God.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I am clothed with the garment of shame, as with fig leaves, in reproof of my self-willed passions.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I am clothed in a defiled garment, and wallow in the mire through a life of pleasure-loving passion.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have fallen into the abyss of the passions and the corruption of matter; therefore mine enemy mocketh me.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have preferred a life that loveth matter and possessions to the immaterial, and I am weighed down with sin.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have adorned the image of the flesh and been defiled by manifold desires, and I am condemned.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Caring only for outward adornment, I have neglected the inward, God-fashioned beauty.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have buried in the passions the beauty of the first image; but find me, O Deliverer, as the drachma.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like the harlot I cry: I have sinned, I alone have sinned against Thee; accept my tears as myrrh.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Be gracious to me, I say like the publican, O Saviour, be gracious to me; for none hath sinned as I.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
One Trinity in three Persons, I praise the God of all: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O immaculate Lady and Virgin, all-hymned, entreat fervently that we may be saved.
Irmos: Establish, O Lord, upon the rock of Thy commandments my shaken mind, for Thou alone art God, mighty, righteous and holy.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have gained Thee as the living water, the destroyer of death, and I cry from the depth of my heart before my departure: I have sinned; be gracious to me and save me.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have sinned against Thee, O Lord, I have sinned; be gracious to me; for there is no sinner among men whom I have not surpassed in transgressions.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
In the days of Noah, O Saviour, men lived in fornication, and I have become like them; I have inherited their condemnation and am drowned in the deep.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast become like Ham, O soul, who mocked his father, and thou hast not covered the shame of thy neighbour, walking backwards like the other two.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like Lot flee, O my soul, the burning of sin; flee Sodom and Gomorrah; flee from every passionate stirring.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on me, who cry to Thee, when Thou comest with Thine angels to render to all according to their deeds.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
O simple Trinity, uncreated, nature without beginning, known in three Persons: save us who trust in Thy might.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Son, timeless from the Father, thou didst bear in time, O Theotokos, without seed: O strange wonder! Thou remainest a Virgin while giving suck.
Irmos: The prophet heard of Thy coming, O Lord, and was afraid, that Thou wouldst be born of a Virgin and seen by men, and he cried: O Lord, I have heard the report of Thee and was afraid: glory to Thy power.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Be watchful, O my soul, and strive like the great patriarch, that thou mayest gain action with knowledge, and be shown forth as a mind that seeth God, and enter the cloud of divine vision, and become a great merchant.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The divine patriarch, having begotten the twelve patriarchs, set up for thee a mystical ladder of ascent by works, O my soul: the children as foundations, the ladder as the ascent, all-wisely set before thee.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast become like hated Esau, O soul, and hast given thy supplanter the excellence of thy birthright, and fallen from thy father’s glory, and hast twice fallen short in action and contemplation; therefore repent.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Esau was named Edom for his exceeding defilement, O soul; for, burning with lust and ever enslaved to pleasures, he was called Edom, which is the burning of a soul that loveth sin.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard, O my soul, of Job justified upon the dunghill; why dost thou not imitate his courage and gain steadfastness in all things, that thou mayest know, learn and prove them? But thou hast become impatient.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
He who once sat upon a throne sat naked upon the dunghill; he who had many children and great renown became suddenly childless and unknown; for he counted the dunghill a palace and his sores as pearls.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Undivided in essence, unconfused in Persons, I proclaim Thee the one Godhead in three, co-enthroned and of equal honour, and I sing to Thee the great hymn sung thrice-holy on high.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Thou givest birth and art a virgin, and in both remainest by nature a virgin; He who is born reneweth the laws of nature, and the womb giveth birth incorruptibly; for where God willeth, the order of nature is overcome, for He doeth whatsoever He will.
Irmos: From the night I rise early to Thee, O Lover of mankind: enlighten me, I pray, and guide me, O Sweet One, in Thy commandments, and teach me, O Good One, to do Thy will.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard, O soul, of the ark of Moses, how it was carried on the waves of the river, how it found delight as in a bridal chamber, and escaped the bitter command.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
If thou hast heard of the midwives who once slew the male infants, O wretched soul, now, like the great Moses, be nourished with wisdom by the work of purity.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like the great Moses, O my soul, thou hast not slain the Egyptian mind; how then wilt thou dwell in the wilderness of the passions through repentance?
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The great Moses dwelt in the wilderness; imitate, O my soul, his way of life, that in the bush thou mayest attain to the vision of God’s appearing.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Understand the rod of Moses, O my soul, as a figure of the Cross, which clove the sea and gave drink to the thirsty; by it thou too canst work wondrous signs.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Aaron of old offered God pure and undefiled fire; but Hophni and Phinehas, like thee, O soul, offered a life defiled and wholly alien to God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Thee, the Trinity, the one God, I praise with thrice-holy praise: the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten of Him, and the Spirit who proceedeth, simple in essence.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
From thee, O incorrupt Virgin and Mother, the Creator, who made the ages, took my lump, and united the Godhead to the nature of men.
Irmos: I cried from the depth of my heart to the merciful God, and He heard me from the nethermost hell, and brought my life up from corruption.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The waves of my sins, O Master, stirred up like the Red Sea, have suddenly covered and overwhelmed me, as they did the captains of Egypt.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast gained, O soul, a foolish choice like Israel of old; for instead of the divine manna thou hast chosen the gluttonous satiety of the passions.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The wells of the Canaanites, O my soul, thou hast loved more than the fountain of the rock, from which the jar of wisdom poureth forth abundantly the streams of theology.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The flesh of swine, the cauldrons and the food of Egypt, O soul, thou hast chosen above the heavenly, like the foolish people of old in the wilderness.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
When Moses Thy servant struck the rock with his rod, he prefigured Thy life-giving holy side, from which we drink, O Christ, incorruption.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Search out and behold, O soul, like Joshua son of Nun, the land of promise, and gain in it by keeping the law the dwelling thou desirest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
I am the perfect Trinity, undivided, distinguished in Persons, and I am the Unity joined in nature, saith the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, the source of Godhead.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Thy womb, O Bride, bore us God in human form; entreat Him, as the Cause of all, for our salvation, O Theotokos.
My soul, my soul, arise! Why sleepest thou? The end draweth near, and thou shalt be troubled. Awake, then, that Christ God may have mercy on thee, who is everywhere present and filleth all things.
Irmos: We have sinned and done iniquity and wrought falsehood before Thee; we have not kept nor done as Thou didst command us, O Master; but give us not up utterly, O Most High, God of our fathers.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
When the ark was being carried and the oxen rejoiced, Uzzah, for only touching it, felt the wrath of God; but flee from his boldness, O soul, and touch divine things with fear.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard of Absalom, O soul, how he rose against nature, and thou knowest his foul deeds, how he defiled his father’s bed; but do thou hate his shameful and lawless ways.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast enslaved to thy body, O soul, thy princely dignity; for thou hast found another Ahithophel as thine enemy and hast followed his counsels; but Christ Himself hath brought them to nought, that He may save thee in His mercy.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The wondrous Solomon, full of the grace of wisdom, once did evil before God and turned away from Him; and to his later foul life, O soul, thy dissolute conduct hath become like.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Enslaved to pleasures and bitterly captive to the passions, woe is me, the lover of wisdom became a lover of harlots and a stranger to God; and thou, O soul, hast imitated him in thy mind with foul defilement.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like Rehoboam thou hast despised thy father’s counsels, and like the wicked servant Jeroboam thou hast become an apostate, O soul; flee from their likeness and cry: I have sinned, forgive me, O God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Simple and undivided, worshipped as consubstantial, praised by the saints, Light and Lights, the thrice-holy Trinity, God, Life and Lives: glorify Him, O soul, and serve the one Godhead.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
We sing to thee, we worship thee and bless thee, O Mother of God, for thou didst bear One of the holy Trinity, Christ God, perfect and true, and thou hast opened to us on earth the entrances of heaven.
Irmos: Him whom the powers of heaven praise, before whom the Cherubim and Seraphim tremble, every creature, sing with all your soul, and exalt Him above all unto the ages.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Having become like Uzziah, O soul, thou hast his leprosy in thee twofold, through the training of foul deeds and lawless doings: leave these and love repentance.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard, O soul, how the Ninevites fell down before God in sackcloth and ashes; thou hast not imitated them, but hast shown thyself worse than all who sinned before the law and after it.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard, O soul, of Jeremiah in the miry pit, the maker of lamentations for Zion and seeker of tears: imitate his weeping life and be saved.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Jonah fled to Tarshish, for as a prophet he foreknew the turning of the Ninevites and the mercy of God, and he strove that his words might not prove false.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Thou hast heard, O soul, how Daniel in the den stopped the mouths of the beasts, and thou knowest how the youths with Azariah quenched by faith the flame of the fierce fire.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
All the figures of the Old Testament I have set before thee, O soul: imitate the praiseworthy deeds of the righteous, and flee the base and foul sin of the wicked.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
O God the Father, and co-divine Son, and Comforter, upright Spirit; Father unbegotten, Word begotten, and Spirit proceeding: O Trinity in Unity, save me.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The purple robe of the King’s God-bearing flesh, dyed from thy blood, was woven within thy womb, O incorrupt one; wherefore we proclaim thee truly the Theotokos.
Irmos: She who conceived without seed giveth birth beyond telling; a Mother without a husband conceiveth incorruptibly; for the birth of God reneweth the order of nature; wherefore all generations magnify thee without ceasing, O Bride and Mother of God.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Christ was tempted, and the devil tempted Him: he told Him to turn stones into bread; he led Him up a mountain to see in a moment all the kingdoms of the world. Tremble, O soul, be ever watchful, and make God thy helper.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The turtledove of the desert, the voice of one crying, the lamp of Christ, preached repentance; but Herod became godless with Herodias. Look, O wretched soul, lest thou too fall, but love conversion.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
The Forerunner of grace dwelt in the wilderness, and Samaria with all Judea gathered to him, and so confessed their sins and were baptised; but thou, O my soul, hast never become like them.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Marriage is holy and the bed undefiled, for Christ blessed it twice: eating in the flesh, and at the wedding turning water into wine; and He showed this as His first sign, that thou too, O soul, mightest be changed.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
He made strong the paralytic who took up his bed, and raised the dead youth, the widow’s son, and the centurion’s servant; and speaking with the Samaritan woman He foreshadowed for thee, O soul, spiritual worship.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
He healed the woman with an issue of blood by the touch of the hem of His garment; He cleansed the lepers, made straight and enlightened the lame and the blind; and the deaf, the dumb and the bowed down the Lord healed by His word, that thou too, O soul, mightest be saved.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
We worship the Father, we exalt the Son above all, and we praise the upright Spirit in faith: Trinity in Persons and Unity in essence, as Light and Lights, as Life and the Giver of life to all.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Guard thy city, O incorrupt Theotokos, which through thee reigneth divinely; through thee it hath its strength and through thee overcometh its enemies; it is set above trials, turneth back its foes, and ruleth those in its keeping.
O thrice-blessed father Andrew, shepherd of Crete, pray for us who fervently sing to thee, that we may be delivered from wrath, affliction and corruption, and from countless sins, we who call upon thee with faith.
The first six odes of Tuesday’s canon rest on sacred history, up to the prophet David. Here the theme of Monday’s first ode, Adam and Eve, continues and passes to Abel and Cain: “I have become like Cain the murderer”; and of Abel: “I have not become like him in righteousness; I have offered Thee no gifts, nor worthy deeds, nor pure sacrifice, nor a blameless life” (Tuesday, Ode 1).
The penitent sees the likeness of his own soul in the corrupt soul of the age of Noah and in the shamelessness of Ham, and strives, like Lot, to flee “from every passionate stirring” (Tuesday, Ode 3).
Here too appears the figure of Abraham, who beheld God with his mind. Of his sons one was magnified, himself became a patriarch, and gave his descendants the twelve patriarchs: this was Jacob. The other, Esau, sold “the excellence of his birthright” and fell away “from his father’s glory” (Tuesday, Ode 4). Esau is the image of a man enslaved to lust, while Job, mentioned next, is the man who learned the utter vanity of fleshly wealth and the worth of the love of God; it is the courage of Job that wins the kingdom for the soul.
The soul must put to death the thoughts of the flesh, as Moses slew the Egyptian, and after that overcome the wilderness of the passions by repentance. It is the imitation of Moses that is needed if the soul is to attain to “the vision of God’s appearing in the bush” (Tuesday, Ode 5). And Moses’ striking the rock with his rod, and the springing up of drinking water, “prefigured Thy life-giving holy side” — that of Christ (Tuesday, Ode 6).
Prepared by Tinatin Gogichaishvili, newspaper “Patriarchate News”, No. 8, 2006.
