Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain; unless the Lord preserves the city, it will build in vain. It is in vain for you to be in vain: you will arise from your gray hairs, having eaten the bread of sickness, when you have given sleep to your beloved. Behold, the heritage of the Lord is the son, the reward of the fruit of the womb. Like arrows in the arm of a strong man, so the sons of the shaken. Blessed is he who gets his desire from them: they will not be ashamed when they speak against their enemies in the gates.
Oh, Most Wonderful and Above All Creatures, Queen Theotokos, Mother of the Heavenly King Christ our God, Most Holy Hodegetria Mary! Hear us, sinners and unworthy, at this hour, falling before Your most pure image, and tenderly saying: take us out of the pit of passions, O good Hodegetria, deliver us from all sorrow and sorrow, protect from all misfortune and evil slander and from the unjust slander of the enemy: you can, O our gracious Mother, not only save Your people from all evil, but also supply and save with every good deed: are there other Representatives for You in troubles and circumstances and warm Intercessors for us sinners to Your Son, Christ our God, not imams: I pray to Him, Lady, save us and the Kingdom of Heaven, so that through Your salvation we glorify Thee in the future, as the author of our salvation, and extol the all-holy and magnificent name of the Father and The Son and the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity we glorify and worship God, forever and ever. Amen.
Oh, Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Lord of the highest powers, Heaven and earth Queen, our city and country, Almighty Intercessor! Accept this praiseful song of thanksgiving from us, Thy unworthy servants, and lift up our prayers to the Throne of God Thy Son, that He may be merciful to our unrighteousness, and may He add grace Those who honor Your all-honorable name and with faith and love worship Your miraculous image. For we are not worthy of mercy from Him, unless You propitiate Him for us, O Lady, for all things are possible for You from Him. For this reason we resort to You, as to our undoubted and speedy Intercessor: hear us praying to You, overshadow us with Your all-powerful protection, and ask God Your Son: our shepherd is zeal and vigilance for souls, the ruler of wisdom and strength, the judge of truth and impartiality, the mentor of reason and humility, the husband of love and harmony, the child obedience, patience to those who are offended, fear of God to those who are offended, complacency to those who mourn, self-control to those who rejoice; to all of us the spirit of reason and piety, the spirit of mercy and meekness, the spirit of purity and truth. To her, Most Holy Lady, have mercy on Your weak people; Gather the scattered, guide those who have gone astray on the right path, support old age, bring up the young with chastity, raise the infants, and look upon us all with the gaze of your merciful intercession, raise us up from the depths sinners and enlighten the eyes of our hearts to the sight of salvation, be merciful to us here and there, in the land of earthly arrival and at the terrible judgment of Your Son; Having ceased in faith and repentance from this life, our fathers and brothers created eternal life with the Angels and with all the saints. For you are, Lady, the Glory of Heaven and the Hope of the earth, You, according to God, are our Hope and Intercessor of all who flow to You with faith. We pray to You, and to You, as the Almighty Helper, we commit ourselves and each other and our whole life, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The all-wise and all-fair saint of the Great Martyr of Christ Varvaro! Blessed art thou, for the worldly wisdom of God has not revealed the flesh and blood of God to you, but God Himself the Heavenly Father, who is also yours, for the sake of faith from an unfaithful father, abandoned, cast out and she who was slain was accepted as His beloved daughter: for the corruptible earthly property the inheritance of the flesh was granted incorruptibility; the labors of martyrdom by the repose of the heavenly change of the Kingdom; glorify your temporary life, stopped by His death for the sake of His calico, with honor, like a soul from the faces of the heavenly ordering spirits, but a body on earth in their angelic temple the angel of the commandment to keep intact, honestly and miraculously. Blessed art thou, Christ the Son of God, the Heavenly Bridegroom, the unconvinced virgin, Whose kindness is zealous to have, all through suffering, wounds, pleasure by cutting and the very heads by truncation, as if you tried to decorate them with dearest utensils; Yes, as a wife is faithful to the head of her husband, Christ is united in spirit and body inseparably, saying: I have found Him, my soul loved Him, I held Him, and did not forsake Him. Blessed are you, for the Holy Spirit has rested upon you, from whom spiritual reasoning was taught by the spiritual; all the spirits of wickedness are in idols, for you have rejected the destructive ones, and Having come to know the one God the Spirit, as a true worshiper, you deigned to bow down in spirit and truth, preaching: I honor the Trinity, one Divinity. You glorified this Holy Trinity, even in life and death, through your confession and suffering, and begged for me, my representative, as I am always triple, faith, love and hope, I honor the Holy Trinity as virtue. Imam is the lamp of faith, but the oil of good deeds is empty, you, wise virgin, your suffering flesh, full of blood and overflowing with wounds, like a lamp, Give me some of your oil, so that I will brighten my soul, and through you I will be worthy to enter into the palace of heaven. I am a sojourner on earth and a stranger, like all my fathers; eternal blessings to the heir and, blessed one, dinner in the Kingdom of Heaven to the partaker, as in the journey of life, a meal of divine treats, and in the exodus from the world, desired grant me parting words; and when in the end I begin to fall asleep with death, then touching my exhausted flesh, like sometimes the angel of Elijah, saying: Arise, eat and drink, as if by grace the mysteries of the divine Body and Blood are fortified, I will walk in the fortress of that long path of death, even to the mountain of heaven; and there, through the three windows of the bath, you saw Him first through the faith of God, the Trinity, Him together with you face to face, so that I may be worthy to see and glorify Him in endless ages, amen.
Oh, our good shepherd and God-wise mentor, Saint Nicholas of Christ! Hear us sinners (names), praying to you and calling for your quick intercession for help; see us weak, caught from everywhere, deprived of every good and darkened in mind from cowardice; Try, O saint of God, not to leave us in sinful captivity, so that we may not joyfully be our enemies and not die in our evil deeds. Pray for us, unworthy of our Creator and Master, to whom you stand with the disembodied faces: be merciful to us by our God in this life and in the future, so that He will not reward us according to our deeds and according to the impurity of our hearts, but according to his goodness he will reward us. We trust in your intercession, we boast of your intercession, we call upon your intercession for help, and we fall to your most holy image for help: deliver us, saint of Christ, from evils coming upon us, and tame the waves of passions and troubles that rise against us, so that for the sake of your holy prayers they will not attack us and we will not sink into the abyss of sin and in the mud of our passions. Pray to Saint Nicholas of Christ, Christ our God, that He will grant us a peaceful life and remission of sins, and salvation and great mercy for our souls, now and ever and unto the ages centuries. Amen.
* Synodal translation.
2 Akathist to the Holy Great Martyr Barbara.