_Deacon._ Let us all say with our whole soul, and with our whole mind let
us say.
O Lord Almighty, the God....
Have mercy upon us, O God....
Furthermore let us pray for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, and
visitation for the servants of God, _names_, _and he commemorateth whom
he wisheth_.
_Exclamation._ For a merciful....
_Deacon._ Let us pray to the Lord.
_Choir._ Lord have mercy.
_Priest, this prayer._
O Lord our God, who, in thy saving providence, didst vouchsafe in Cana
of Galilee to declare marriage honourable by thy presence; do thou now
thyself preserve in peace and unanimity thy servants, _name_, and,
_name_, whom thou art well-pleased should be conjoined to one another:
declare their marriage honourable: preserve their bed undefiled: be
pleased that their mutual life may be unblamable, and count them worthy
to attain unto a ripe old age, keeping thy commandments in a pure heart.
For thou art our God, the God to have mercy and to save, and to thee we
ascribe glory, with thine unbeginning Father, and with thine all-holy,
and good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
_Choir._ Amen.
_Deacon._ Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and keep us, O God, by thy
grace.
_Choir._ Lord, have mercy.
That the whole day may be perfect, holy....
_Choir._ Vouchsafe, O Lord.
An angel of peace....
Pardon and forgiveness of our sins....
What is good and profitable for our souls....
That the remaining time of our life....
A christian end of our life....
Having prayed for the unity of the faith, and the communion of the Holy
Ghost....
_Choir._ To thee, O Lord.
_The priest exclaimeth,_
And count us worthy, O Master, with boldness to dare without condemnation
to call upon thee, our heavenly Father God, and say,
_And the people_, Our Father.... _all to the end_.
_The priest exclaimeth_, For thine is the kingdom....
Peace to all.
Bow your heads to the Lord.
_Then the common cup is brought, and the priest blesseth it, and saith
this prayer._
_Deacon._ Let us pray to the Lord.
O God, who by thy might createst all things, and confirmest the universe,
and adornest the crown of all things created by thee; do thou, with thy
spiritual blessing, bless also this common cup given for the community of
marriage unto them that are conjoined.
_With a loud voice_, For blessed is thy name, and glorified thy
kingdom....
_Choir._ Amen.
_Then the priest, taking in his hand the common cup, giveth them to drink
thrice, first to the man, and then to the woman. And straightway the
priest taketh them, while the groomsman holdeth the crowns behind, and
leadeth them in the form of a circle. And the priest, or the people, sing
the present troparion in tone v,_
Rejoice, O Esaias, the virgin is with child, and bringeth forth a son,
Emmanuel, God and man: the orient is his name, whom magnifying, we call
the virgin blessed.
_Another, tone vii._
O holy martyrs, who valiantly contended, and are crowned; pray ye the
Lord for mercy on our souls.
Glory to thee, Christ God, apostles’ boast, and martyrs’ joy, whose
preaching was the consubstantial Trinity.
_Then, taking the crown from the bridegroom, he saith,_
Be thou magnified, O bridegroom, as Abraham, and blessed as Isaac, and
increased as Jacob, walking in peace, and performing in righteousness the
commandments of God.
_And when he taketh the crown from the bride, he saith,_
And thou, O bride, be thou magnified as Sara, and rejoiced as Rebecca,
and increased as Rachel, being glad in thy husband, and keeping the
paths of the law, for so God is well-pleased.
_Deacon._ Let us pray to the Lord.
_Choir._ Lord, have mercy.
_Priest, The prayer._
O God, our God, who wast present in Cana of Galilee, and didst bless
the marriage there; do thou bless also these thy servants, who, by thy
providence, are conjoined in the community of marriage. Bless their
incomings and outgoings, replenish their life with good things, accept
their crowns in thy kingdom unsullied and undefiled, and preserve them
without offence to ages of ages.
_Choir._ Amen.
_Priest._ Peace to all.
Bow your heads to the Lord.
_And the priest prayeth._
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the all-holy, and
consubstantial, and life-originating Trinity, one Godhead and
sovereignty, bless you, and vouchsafe unto you long life, well-favoured
children, progress in life and faith, and replenish you with all the
good things of earth, and count you worthy of the obtaining of promised
blessings, through the prayers of the holy God-bearing one, and of all
the Saints. Amen.
_Then they come and congratulate them, and they kiss one another, and
the full dismissal is made by the priest._
_Saith the deacon_, Wisdom.
_Choir._ The more honourable than the Cherubim....
_Priest, the dismissal._
He that by his presence in Cana of Galilee declared marriage to be
honourable, Christ our true God, through the prayers of his most pure
Mother; of the holy, glorious, and all-praised apostles; of the holy
god-crowned sovereigns and equals of the apostles, Constantine and Helen;
of the holy great martyr Procopius, and of all the Saints, have mercy
upon us and save us, as being good and the lover of mankind.
[Illustration]
_Chapter XI._