Evening 2/8 St.Maron

February 9
MARON
Ramsho

INTRODUCTION

DOXOLOGY

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as we begin and until we conclude.
May mercy and compassion be poured forth upon us
in this world and the next.
O Lord, our God, to you be glory for ever.
Amen.
OPENING PRAYER
Hope of believers,
strength of those who struggle, and consolation of the devout, look with compassion on the Church who today celebrates the
feast of our father, the courageous hermit, Maron.
You chose him as an instrument to make yourself known
and loved.
May we follow your path with him,
that we may come to you, and enter your paradise.
We shall praise you, for ever. Amen.
GREETING
Peace be with the Church and her children.
PRAISE OF THE ANGELS
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace on earth and good will to all.
Praise the Lord all you nations,
glorify him all you peoples,
for steadfast is his mercy toward us,
and the truth of the Lord endures for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
and peace on earth and good will to all.

PSALMODY
FIRST PRAYER
Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
Lord God,
may we celebrate the memory of our father Maron with
joy and festivity.
Through his intercession, grant us pardon for our faults,
abundant blessings and perseverance in the true faith.
We shall glorify and praise you,
now and for ever. Amen.
PSALM OF THE DAY
Antiphon: The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade.

Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?

My help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:

Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.

The Lord is your guardian; the Lord is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.

The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.

The Lord will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever. Amen.

Antiphon: The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade.

SECOND PRAYER
Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
O God,
as we celebrate the memory of our father Maron,
bind us to you
that we may always walk with you in righteousness.
As faithful in your Church, may we be protected from all
division or heresy.
We shall glorify and praise you,
now and for ever. Amen.
EVENING PSALMS
Psalm 141:1-4
O Lord, to you I call; hasten to me;
harken to my voice when I call upon you.
Let my prayer come like incense before you;
the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice.
O Lord, set a watch before my mouth,
a guard at the door of my lips.
Let not my heart incline to the evil
of engaging in deeds of wickedness
With men who are evildoers;
and let me not partake of their dainties.
Psalm 142
With a loud voice I cry out to the Lord;
with a loud voice I beseech the Lord.
My complaint I pour out before him;
before him I lay bare my distress.
When my spirit is faint within me,
you know my path.
In the way along which I walk
they have hid a trap for me.

I look to the right to see,
but there is no one who pays me heed.
I have lost all means of escape;
there is no one who cares for my life.
I cry out to you, O Lord:
I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land
of the living.”
Attend to my cry,
for I am brought low indeed.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
Lead me forth from prison,
that I may give thanks to your name.
The just shall gather around me
when you have been good to me.
Psalm 119: 105-112
A lamp to my feet is your word,
a light to my path.
I resolve and swear
to keep your just ordinances.
I am very much afflicted;
O Lord, give me life according to your word.
Accept, O Lord, the free homage of my mouth,
and teach me your decrees.
Though constantly I take my life in my hands,
yet I forget not your law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but from your precepts I have not strayed.
Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.
I intend in my heart to fulfill you statutes
always to the letter.

Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
For steadfast is his mercy toward us,
and the truth of the Lord endures for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever. Amen.
HOOSOYO
PROEMION
Praise, glory and honor to the Lord who in his goodness called Maron of the angelic life,
who rendered him perfect through the divine virtues
and enabled him to live in the garden of light and life.
To the Good One is due glory and honor this evening,
and all the days of our lives,
now and for ever. Amen.
SEDRO
Who is able to describe how God adorned our father, the hermit Maron, with upright conduct, exalted virtues and a holy life!
He followed the counsel and example of Christ and left everything to follow the good Shepherd.
He took the path of prayer and asceticism, bearing a cross of
suffering and trials.
He embraced a hermit’s life, withdrawn from the world, but near to God.
Living in a poor hermitage, he conversed with his Lord on the top of a mountain.
Renouncing everything to win Christ, he sought the precious
pearl, the hidden treasure.

The mouth of the Master proclaims him blessed:
“Blessed are those who have a soul of poverty,
for the sake of the kingdom of God and his justice.”
His reputation for sanctity was spread because God granted him the gift of healing body and soul.
From everywhere disciples flocked to him and gathered under the protection of his staff.
They quenched their thirst at the fountain of holiness.
Thus, he became the father of a great people whom he brought
to graze in the pastures of truth.
He protected them from every heresy and kept them in the
universal sheepfold.
He was the yeast of sanctity in the East and its mountains.
Lord,
we beseech you to grant us victory over the flesh and Satan.
Through the intercession of Maron, protect your small flock
from every error and failing.
Watch over its shepherds, priests, monks and religious with the teaching that has been transmitted to them by our father
Maron, the holy hermit.
Through the intercession of your Mother and your saints,
may we give you glory,
now and for ever. Amen.
QOLO
Holy are you, O God, you gave Maron a firm faith and a divine love.
Holy are you, O Strong One, you gave strength to the priest-hermit, that he might serve you.
Holy are you, O Immortal One, for you, the grain of wheat died yielding a hundredfold.
Blessed are you, who have commemorated your Lord through
fasting and prayer, the fruit which is a chosen people.
Blessed is the Church which today celebrates your memory.

ETRO
Lord,
accept the incense (prayer) we offer you this evening as we
remember our father Maron.
In your love, grant that we may follow his steps
and live for you in renunciation and mortification.
May your chosen one intercede for Christians who bear
your name,
that they may proclaim your gospel through the world.
And we shall praise you,
now and for ever. Amen.
READINGS
MAZMOORO
Today the Church rejoices and her children exult in the memory of your holy one.
May it be proclaimed from the mountain tops: O Church, rejoice and exult. May everyone praise the Lord who has chosen
this saint as a model for us.
O God, you accepted the offerings made by the righteous before us, now accept, Lord, our prayer and have mercy on us.
SYNAXARION
All that is known about Maron, the spiritual father and protector of the Maronites comes from Theodoret, the bishop of Cyr. In approximately 444, Theodoret undertook the project of writing a religious history about his region. Theodoret never knew Maron personally, but only through the disciples of this holy man. He described Maron as “the one who has planted for God the garden which flourishes now in the region of Cyr.” Little is know of the birth or youth of Maron because Theodoret was unconcerned about that aspect of his life. He felt that Maron was a man born not for this world, but for heaven. In his description of the beginning of Maron’s life, Theodoret asserts that Maron has “already increased the number of saints in heaven.”
According to history, Maron was never satisfied with the ordinary practices of asceticism, but was “always seeking for new ways to accumulate all the treasures of wisdom.”

Maron was the spiritual leader not only of the hermits who lived near him, but indeed of all of the Christian faithful in the area. He used to counsel them, heal their bodily and spiritual ills.
All of these apostolic endeavors manifested the wisdom and holiness of the hermit Maron.
Some hold the opinion that Maron and John Chrysostom studied together at Antioch before 398
and that the famous letter sent by John Chrysostom was indeed sent to this hermit Maron and not to some other anchorite with the same name. If the monk referred to in this letter is from the region of Cyr, it is indeed our spiritual father, Maron.
The date of Maron’s death is placed somewhere between 407 and 423. Because of his great popularity among the people, riots broke out at the time of his death because everyone wanted to save his remains in their village.
The Maronite Church formerly celebrated the feast of this great saint on January 5th. (This is the day in which the Church of Kfarhai was consecrated in his honor.) However, in the seventeenth century, the feast was transferred to February 9th. Lebanon has proclaimed Maron as its patron saint and Pope Benedict XIV granted a plenary indulgence to everyone who visited a Maronite church on February 9th.
The gospel tells us that a tree is known by its fruits and we know from Theodoret that the garden of maron flourished after his death. One is able to number approximately twenty saints among Maron’s disciples, three of whom are women. Theodoret describes these disciples of Maron with these words: “These anchorites were virtuous and heroic, totally dedicated to a life of contemplative prayer. They were strangers to any other consideration in the world. They were obedient to Church authority and tried to imitate their predecessor in their exercises of austerity.
At times, their acts of penance and mortification were excessive, but they were always obedient to ecclesiastical authority.”
After the Council of Chalcedon, Bishop Theodoret worked to construct the famous Monastery of Saint Maron. In addition to being a stronghold for the defense of the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon, this monastery was for a long time the center of the cultural and theological heritage of Antioch.

SCRIPTURE READINGS
A Reading from the First Letter of John
1 John 2: 20-29
But you have the anointing that comes from the holy one, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you.
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. I write you these things about those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him. And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming. If you consider that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him.

SUPPLICATION
Lord of night and Master of all time, hear our supplication and have mercy on us.
You reconciled heaven and earth, grant peace to your Church and protect her children by the light of the cross.
Maron left the world and its vanities and followed Christ, bearing his cross. Like John he retired into the desert and imitated
him in food and clothing. He settled on the mountain top
that was not shaken by the violent winds. Glory to the
Most High who chose him and guided him on the road of
the hermit’s life of prayer.
Rejoice, tremble with joy, O blessed one, on the day of your
feast:
“Blessed are you, O father, who scorned the vanities
of the world and walked following the good Shepherd;
Blessed are you, O father, who sailed the furious sea
without fear of its raging waves;
Blessed are you, O father, who filled your boat with the
talents the Lord had given you.
Blessed are you, O father, who kept sweet smelling flowers in
your garden and protected them from thieves. Protect the
Church who celebrates your memorial today from division
and heresies. Bring to eternal life all priests and believers who commemorate you by the songs of the Holy Spirit.
Glory to the Father, who chose you and purified you from the
beginning; adoration to the Son, who exalted you and made
you pastor of his flock; thanksgiving to the Spirit, who gave
you a crown of glory. Praise and glory to the holy Trinity,
now and for ever.
Let us remember the prophets, apostles and martyrs, all those
who labored and suffered in the vineyard of the Lord:
Saint James, Saint Maron and his companions, the Saint
Ephrem, the harp of the Spirit. O God, through their
prayers, strengthen the weak, comfort the sick, grant
pardon to the deceased, and forgive the faults of us poor sinners.
Exalt, O Lord, the memory of your Mother and your saints;
through their prayers grant pardon to us and our deceased.
Through the prayers of your Mother, the prophets, apostles
and martyrs, watch over the living and in your mercy,
forgive those who have died.

HOOTOMO
Let us thank, adore, and praise the holy and glorious Trinity: Father, Son, ✛ Holy Spirit. Amen.
TRISAGION
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Holy are you, O God;
Holy are you, O Strong One;
Holy are you, O Immortal One;
have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, forgive us and have mercy on us.
Lord, hear us and have mercy on us.
Lord, accept our worship and our prayers.
Lord, come to our assistance and have mercy on us.
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who are in heaven;
hallowed be your name;
your kingdom come;
your 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,
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
O Lord, the night and the day are yours;
you uphold the light and the sun.
Through your power you direct the sequence of the seasons.
O Lord,
you have brought the day to its close and called forth the night; be for us that great Day that never ends.
In the evening let your light shine in our hearts,
and in the darkness of the night

enlighten us with the knowledge of your truth.
And so, through all the days of our lives,
we shall praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
To you be glory and may your mercy rest upon us,
now and for ever.
Amen.
EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE
Let us thank God for all the graces he has bestowed on us
this day which has passed in calm and peace.
Let us recall our failings against the commandments of God
and the Church in thought, word, deed and omission
We ask for God’s pardon as we pray:
“Forgive us, Jesus!”
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Glory be to you, O Lord.
Glory be to you, O Lord.
Glory be to you, O Lord.
God,
Father in heaven,
by your living and holy name,
keep us from evil and lead us not into temptation;
for we call upon you, O Lord, our God, our constant hope,
glory to you for ever.
O Lord, our Lord,
may our humble worship be pleasing to you;
may our prayers come before you and our actions give
you honor.
Let you mercy, kindness, help, graces and divine love
be poured abundantly upon us poor sinners,
both in heaven and on the earth
which you have created in your goodness.
O Lord, our God, to you be glory for ever.
Amen.

DISMISSAL
Peace be with you.
And also with you.
O God,
through the prayers of your Mother and the saints who have
believed in you;
through the prayers of the prophets, apostles, martyrs and
confessors;
through the prayers of the just, the priests, the holy fathers, pastors and teachers of the truth faith;
and through the prayers of N., Pope of Rome, N., our Patriarch, and N., our Bishop,
forgive your people and have mercy on your flock.
May God bless, forgive, sanctify, purify, and keep each of the faithful united with us in this spiritual office.
May mercy and compassion be upon us and all the faithful who
dwell here.
May peaceful rest be granted to those who have died in the faith.
May the faithful who live here experience the protection of
Christ’s victorious cross.
May we and all his servants, who adore him with bowed heads,
receive the mercy of the holy and glorious Trinity
Father, Son, ✛ Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now and for ever.
Amen.
May God forgive your sins,
pardon your failings,
and deliver you from the power of the enemy.
May he grant you the remission of your offenses.
Go in peace, and pray to Christ for me.