Sixth Hour

The Beginning of the Sixth Hour


Come, let us worship God our King! Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ, our King and our God! Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ Himself, our King and our God!


Psalm 53


SAVE ME, O GOD, BY YOUR NAME and judge me in Your strength.


O God, hear my prayer, attend to the words of my mouth.


For strangers have risen against me, and mighty men have sought after my soul and have not set God before themselves.


*Regard how God helps me; the Lord is the protector of my soul.


He will bring evil down upon my enemies, completely destroying them with His truth.


*Willingly, I shall sacrifice to You; I will profess Your name, O Lord, for it is good.


You have delivered me out of every affliction, and I look down on my defeated enemies.


Psalm 54


O GOD, CONSIDER MY PRAYER, and do not despise my supplication; attend to me and hear me.


I languished in my meditation; and was distressed by the voice of the enemy and the oppression of the sinner;


Because they have heaped iniquity upon me, and were furiously angry with me.


*My heart is troubled within me; the terror of death has engulfed me.


Fear and trembling have descended upon me; darkness has encompassed me.


*And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove’s? So that I might fly away, and be at rest.


Behold how I have fled far away, and have sought refuge in the wilderness.


*I waited for God, who can save me from cowardice and from upheaval.


Plunge them into the depths, O Lord, and confuse their speech, for I have seen iniquity and recklessness in the city.


*He shall carouse the city day and night, wandering throughout all its quarters. At its heart it seethes with immorality,


And extortion and fraud run rampant in its streets.


*If it had been my enemy who had berated me, I might have been able to endure it.


If it had been he who hated me, who had boasted against me, I might have been able to endure him.


*But it was you! O kindred soul, my mentor, my most intimate friend,


You whose companionship sweetened my meals; in the house of God we had walked in single-mindedness.


*Let death come upon such as these, and let them go down alive into Hades.


For wickedness has infested his habitation, pervading it to its very core.


*As for me, I have cried out to God, and the Lord heard me.


Evening, morning, and midday I will proclaim it and will declare it, and He shall hear my voice.


*He will redeem my soul in peace from those who reproach me, for they were many, who contested with me.


God will hear, and He will humble them, He who is from before eternity.


*As for them, there will be no judgment, because they have not revered God; He has stretched out His hand in retribution.


They have blasphemed His covenant; they were scattered by the fury of His countenance; in their hearts they scheme.


*Their words are smoother than oil, and yet they stab like darts.


Lay your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be shaken.


*But You shall bring those men down into the pit of destruction, O God.


Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half of their days; but as for me, O Lord, I will hope in You.


Psalm 90


HE WHO DWELLS in the help of the Most High shall abide in the shelter of the God of heaven.


He shall say to the Lord: You are my helper and my refuge. He is my God, and I will hope in Him.


*For He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunters and from every troubling word.


With His shoulders He will shield you, and under His wings you shall have hope.


*His truth will surround you like armor; you shall not be afraid of terror at night, nor the arrows that fly in the day.


Nor for the monster that stalks in the darkness, nor for the misadventure and demon of noonday.


*A thousand shall perish beside you, and ten thousand to the right of you, but it shall not affect you.


You shall witness, but be spared, all the reward of sinners.


*For You, O Lord, are my hope. You made the Most High your refuge.


No evils shall come near you, and no pestilence shall come near your dwelling.


*For He shall give His angels to care for you, to preserve you in all you do.


They shall bear you up with their hands if you should happen to trip your foot on a stone.


*You shall be able to walk on asps and other poisonous reptiles, and crush the lion and dragon.


For He has put His hope in Me, I will deliver him; I will shelter him because He has known my name.


*He shall cry out to Me, and I will hear him. I shall be with him in affliction; and I will rescue him and glorify him.


I will satisfy him with a long life, and I will show him My salvation.


Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.


Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia; glory to You, O God. [3]


Lord, have mercy. [3]


Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.


The Tropar of the Day.


SEEING THAT WE HAVE NO BOLDNESS on account of our many sins, beseech Him who was born of You, O Virgin Birthgiver of God; for the supplication of a mother avails much to win the Master's favor. Disdain not the pleadings of us sinners, O all-pure one, for He is merciful and mighty to save, and He also deigned to suffer for our sake.


LET YOUR COMPASSIONS quickly go before us, O Lord, for we are become poor. Help us, O God our Savior, for the sake of the glory of Your name; O Lord deliver us and be gracious to our sins for Your name's sake.


Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us! [3]


Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.


O most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; O Lord, cleanse us of our sins; O Master, forgive our transgressions; O Holy One, come to us and heal our infirmities, for Your Name's sake.


Lord, have mercy! [3]


Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.


Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.


Priest: For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.


Reader: Amen.


The Kondak of the day.


Lord, have mercy. [40]


The Prayer of the Hours: O Christ God, who at all times and at every hour, in heaven and on earth, are worshiped and glorified, who are long suffering, plenteous in mercy, most compassionate, who love the righteous and have mercy on sinners, who call all to salvation through the promise of good things to come: Receive, O Lord our prayers at this hour, and guide our life toward your commandments. Sanctify our souls, make chaste our bodies, set aright our minds, cleanse our thoughts, and deliver us from every sorrow, evil, and pain. Encompass us with your holy angels, so that guarded and guided by their watch, we may attain to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of Your ineffable glory: for You are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.


Lord, have mercy. [3]


Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.


More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, who as a virgin gave birth to God the Word, true Birthgiver of God, we magnify you.


In the name of the Lord, father, bless. (For private prayers, say,“By the intercession of Your saints, O Lord, bless.)


Priest: Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.


Reader: Amen.


The Prayer of St. Basil the Great: O GOD AND LORD OF POWERS, Creator of all that exists, who in Your great compassion and ineffable mercy sent down Your Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of our race, and by His precious Cross tore up the handwriting of our sins, and confounded the principalities and powers of darkness: O Master who loves mankind, accept from us sinners these prayers of thanksgiving, and deliver us from every destructive and dark fall into sin, and from all the visible and invisible enemies that seek to harm us. Nail down our flesh to the fear of You, and do not incline our hearts to thoughts or words of wickedness, but wound our souls with Your love, that looking toward You and guided by Your Light, we may behold Your unapproachable and eternal Light, and may send up unceasing confession and thanksgiving to You, the Unoriginate Father, with Your Only-begotten Son, and Your most holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.


The End of the Sixth Hour