Then stichera, tone vi.
Like, Having despair’d....
Thy godly minister is gone to thee, now deified in the translation by thy quickening mystery, Christ: take as a bird his soul into thy hand, and range him in thy courts and in the angelic choirs, and rest him whom thou hast received by thy command, O Lord, for thy great mercy’s sake.
Strange is the mystery of death; for unacceptably it comes to all, nature by force is spoil’d; it taketh elders, abbots, scribes, teachers who vainly strive, bishops, and pastors too. Then let us cry with tears, Him, whom thou hast receiv’d, O Lord, by thy command, O rest, for thy great mercy’s sake.
He that in piety hath liv’d, and was thy decorated priest, O Christ, the celebrant and offerer of thy mysteries divine, is gone, by thy divine command, from life’s alarms to thee; and him, accepting as a priest, O Saviour, save, and with the righteous rest, even him whom thou received hast, for thy great mercy’s sake.
Glory. Both now. Theotokion.
God-bearing Virgin, we have understood the God made flesh from thee, whom do thou pray to save our souls.
Then they say, Glory to God in the highest....
And after the Vouchsafe, O Lord....
the following stichera idiomela are said,
of Damascene, tone i.