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Liturgia praesanctificatorum

Liturgy of the Catechumens

And at the lighting of the lamps, after the readings and the "Let my prayer be set forth" and the "Lord, have mercy," the prayer of the catechumens is said at the Presanctified Gifts. O God, our God, the creator and maker of all, who wills all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, look upon Your servants the catechumens and deliver them from the ancient error and from the wiles of the adversary, and call them to eternal life, illumining their souls and their bodies, and numbering them among Your rational flock, upon which Your holy name is called Aloud: That they also with us may glorify the Prayer for those preparing for holy illumination. Shine, O Master, Your face upon those preparing for holy illumination and who long to cast off the defilement of sin.

Enlighten their mind; confirm them in the faith; establish them in hope; perfect them in love; make them precious members of Your Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for our souls. Aloud: For You are our illumination, and to You we send up glory. Liturgy of the Faithful First Prayer of the Faithful O God, great and praiseworthy, who by the life-creating death of Your Christ have translated us from corruption to incorruption; do You free all our senses from passionate deadness, setting over them as a good guide the inner reason. And let the eye be a stranger to every evil glance, the ear inaccessible to idle words, and let the tongue be cleansed from unseemly speech. Purify also our lips which praise You, O Lord; make our hands to abstain from wicked deeds, and to work only those things that are well-pleasing to You, securing all our members and our mind by Your grace. Aloud: For to You is due all glory, honor, and worship. Second Prayer of the Faithful

Holy Master, exceedingly good, we beseech You who are rich in mercy, to be gracious to us sinners, and make us worthy of the reception of Your only-begotten Son and our God, the King of glory. For behold, His undefiled Body and life-creating Blood, entering at this present hour, are about to be set forth upon this mystical table, invisibly escorted by a multitude of the heavenly host; grant that we may partake of them without condemnation, that through them the eye of our mind being enlightened, we may become children of light and of day.

Aloud: Through the gift of Your Christ, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy

Entrance And after the completion of "The powers of the heavens," the priest prays: O God of the ineffable and unseen mysteries, with whom are the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge; who have revealed to us the ministry of this liturgy and have appointed us sinners, through Your great love for mankind, to offer to You gifts and sacrifices for our own sins and for the ignorances of the people; You Yourself, O invisible King, who do great and unsearchable things, glorious and marvelous, which cannot be numbered, look down upon us, Your unworthy servants, who stand at this holy altar as at Your cherubic throne, upon which Your only-begotten Son and our God rests through the awesome mysteries set forth, and having freed us and Your faithful people from all impurity, sanctify all our souls and bodies

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Liturgia praesanctificatorum

Λειτουργία κατηχουμένων

Ἐν δὲ τῷ λυχνικῷ μετὰ τὰ ἀναγνώσματα καὶ τὸ Κατευθυνθήτω καὶ τὸ Κύριε ἐλέησον γίνεται εὐχὴ κατηχουμένων ἐπὶ τῶν προηγιασμένων. ὁ Θεός, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ κτίστης καὶ δημιουργὸς τῶν ἁπάντων, ὁ πάντας θέλων σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, ἐπίβλεψον ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους σου τοὺς κατηχουμένους καὶ λύτρωσαι αὐτοὺς τῆς παλαιᾶς πλάνης καὶ τῆς μεθοδείας τοῦ ἀντικειμένου καὶ προσκάλεσαι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον, φωτίζων αὐτῶν τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα καὶ συγκαταριθμῶν αὐτοὺς τῇ λογικῇ σου ποίμνῃ, ἐφ' ἣν τὸ ὄνομά σου τὸ ἅγιον ἐπικέκληται Ἐκφώνως· Ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ σὺν ἡμῖν δοξάζωσιν τὸ Εὐχὴ εἰς τοὺς πρὸς τὸ ἅγιον φώτισμα εὐτρεπιζομένους. Ἐπίφανον, δέσποτα, τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ τοὺς πρὸς τὸ ἅγιον φώτισμα εὐτρεπιζομένους καὶ ἐπιποθοῦντας τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας μολυσμὸν ἀποτινάξασθαι.

Καταύγασον αὐτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν· βεβαίωσον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ πίστει· στήριξον ἐν ἐλπίδι· τελείωσον ἐν ἀγάπῃ· μέλη τίμια τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου ἀνάδειξον, τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν. Ἐκφώ· Ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ φωτισμὸς ἡμῶν καὶ σοὶ τὴν δόξαν ἀναπέμπομεν. Λειτουργία πιστῶν Εὐχὴ πιστῶν αʹ Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μέγας καὶ αἰνετός, ὁ τῷ ζωοποιῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου θανάτῳ εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἡμᾶς ἐκ φθορᾶς μεταστήσας· σὺ πάσας ἡμῶν τὰς αἰσθήσεις τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς νεκρώσεως ἐλευθέρωσον, ἀγαθὸν ταύταις ἡγεμόνα τὸν ἔνδοθεν λογισμὸν ἐπιστήσας. Καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς μὲν ἀμέτοχος ἔστω παντὸς πονηροῦ βλέμματος, ἀκοὴ δὲ λόγοις ἀργοῖς ἀνεπίβατος, ἡ δὲ γλῶσσα καθαρευέτω ῥημάτων ἀπρεπῶν. Ἅγνισον δὲ ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ χείλη τὰ αἰνοῦντά σε, Κύριε, τὰς δὲ χεῖρας ἡμῶν ποίησον τῶν μὲν φαύλων ἀπέχεσθαι πράξεων, ἐνεργεῖν δὲ μόνα τὰ σοὶ εὐάρεστα, πάντα ἡμῶν τὰ μέλη καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τῇ σῇ κατασφαλιζόμενος χάριτι. Ἐκφώ· Ὅτι πρέπει σοι πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις. Εὐχὴ πιστῶν

βʹ ∆έσποτα ἅγιε, ὑπεράγαθε, δυσωποῦμέν σε τὸν ἐν ἐλέει πλούσιον, ἵλεων γενέσθαι ἡμῖν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς καὶ ἀξίους ἡμᾶς ποίησον τῆς ὑποδοχῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς σου Υἱοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς δόξης. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὸ ἄχραντον αὐτοῦ σῶμα καὶ τὸ ζωοποιὸν αἷμα κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ὥραν εἰσπορευόμενα, τῇ μυστικῇ ταύτῃ προτίθεσθαι μέλλει τραπέζῃ, ὑπὸ πλήθους στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου ἀοράτως δορυφορούμενα· ὧν τὴν μετάληψιν ἀκατάκριτον ἡμῖν δώρησαι· ἵνα δι' αὐτῶν τὸ τῆς διανοίας ὄμμα καταυγαζόμενοι υἱοὶ φωτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας γενώμεθα.

Ἐκφώ· Κατὰ τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου, μεθ' οὗ εὐλογητὸς εἶ σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ

Εἴσοδος Καὶ μετὰ τὸ πληρωθῆναι Αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπεύχεται· Ὁ τῶν ἀρρήτων καὶ ἀθεάτων μυστηρίων Θεός, παρ' ᾧ οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι· ὁ τὴν διακονίαν τῆς λειτουργίας ταύτης ἀποκαλύψας ἡμῖν καὶ θέμενος ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς διὰ πολλήν σου φιλανθρωπίαν εἰς τὸ προσφέρειν σοι δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀγνοημάτων· αὐτός, ἀόρατε βασιλεῦ, ὁ ποιῶν μεγάλα καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστα, ἔνδοξά τε καὶ ἐξαίσια, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός, ἔφιδε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀναξίους δούλους σου τοὺς τῷ ἁγίῳ τούτῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ ὡς τῷ χερουβικῷ σου παρισταμένους θρόνῳ, ἐφ' ᾧ ὁ μονογενής σου υἱὸς καὶ Θεὸς ἡμῶν διὰ τῶν προκειμένων φρικτῶν ἐπαναπαύεται μυστηρίων καὶ πάσης ἡμᾶς καὶ τὸν πιστόν σου λαὸν ἐλευθερεύσας ἀκαθαρσίας ἁγίασον πάντων ἡμῶν τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα