Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany of the Lord








♰الْمَجْدُ للهِ! ♰Praise be to God always!♰ܬܶܫܒܽܘܚܬܳܐ ܠܰܐܠܳܗܳܐ! ♰



Entrance Hymn

Zechariah’s Son Looked Out

Syriac: msheeho natareh l’eedtokh

or msheeho natareh l’eedtokh (Abdallah)

Zechariah’s son looked out
at the crowds who came to him.
Longing to be sanctified,
they approached to be baptized.
And when Jesus came, John cried:
“Behold the Lamb, Jesus Son of God!”
He, who takes away all sins,
humbly stood to be baptized.
The Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son!”
And the Holy Spirit came from heaven’s heights,
resting on the head of Christ.
Christ, the Light who truly shines
from his Father’s radiant heart,
glowed within the Virgin’s womb
and upon the river banks.
The Church cursed all idols and bowed down to him,
drawn by his great love.
Then in faith the Church proclaimed:
“Lord, the nations praise your name.
You came as the Light who enlightened all the world
and brought back the people who were lost in sin.
You revealed the Trinity.”

Opening Prayers

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

Jesus Christ our Lord, at your divine baptism in the Jordan River, you revealed that you are consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Enlighten our minds and our hearts on this day of your great Epiphany. Make us holy by the indwelling of your Spirit, and make us worthy to celebrate this Feast of Lights, so that we may glorify and thank you, your Father, and your Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Prayer of Forgiveness (Husoyo)

Proemion

Let us raise glory, honor, and praise to the one Father, whose voice came from heaven testifying to his beloved Son; and to the only-begotten Son, who is worshipped, whose light radiated upon the river, and who accepted baptism from John, his forerunner; and to the one Holy Spirit, who descended and appeared above the head of the Son. To the Good One be glory and honor, on this feast, and all the days of our lives, and forever. Amen.

Sedro

The earth rejoices in your Epiphany, O Son of God, and the peoples and nations shout for joy on this day of your baptism. You have dawned from the Father and have sanctified baptism for us.
O Church of the nations, proclaim the glory of the Son of God, who became man and was baptized for your sake in the Jordan River, and cry out to him:
Blessed are you, O Christ, Word of God! You willingly emptied yourself and took the form of man. You gave us a pledge of life in the waters of baptism, making us holy and heirs of your kingdom.
Now, O Christ, we ask you, with the fragrance of this incense, to sanctify us through this great Epiphany. Create a new heart in us, make us newborn children of your Father, and pour out forgiveness upon your flock, that we may worship you, glorify your Father, and give thanks to your Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

Hymn (Qolo)

The King’s Son Willed to Be Baptized

Syriac: bo‘ooto dmor ya‘qoob (Epiphany)

The King’s Son willed to be baptized and went to John.
While yet afar, the waters surged to meet their Lord.
The river rose and spoke of him without a word.
Christ came to bless the waters there to give new life.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
The Spirit flowed and hovered there, above the waves.
His burning flame made waters boil and burn within.
His flame then spread and overflowed at his descent.
The river burst with flames of fire that burned so bright.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
All praise to God the Father, who revealed his Son.
All praise to God the Son, baptized by John’s own hand.
All praise to God the Spirit, who appeared on Christ
and testified: “This truly is God’s Son, most loved.”
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Etro

O Christ, Word of the Heavenly Father, you became man for our sake and were baptized in the Jordan River. You became the way and the door that leads us to the Father. Grant us your grace and mercy, and accept the fragrance of our incense, that we may raise glory and thanks to you, to your Father, and to your Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

Qadishat Aloho (Trisagion)

ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ. ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܚܰܝܶܠܬܳܢܳܐ. ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܠܳܐ ܡܳܝܽܘܬܳܐ.
ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ ܕܶܐܬܥܡܶܕ ܡܶܢ ܝܽܘܚܰܢܳܢ. ܐܶܬܪܰܚܰܡ ܥܠܰܝܢ.
Qadishat Aloho. Qadishat Hayeltono. Qadishat lo moyuto. EtraHam 3alayn.
MsheeHo det'amed men YuHanon, etraHam 3alayn.
You are holy, O God. You are holy, O Strong One. You are holy, O Imortal One.
O Christ, baptized by John, have mercy on us.
قُدُوسٌ أَنْتَ يا الله، قُدُوسٌ أَنْتَ يا قَوِي، قُدُوسٌ أَنْتَ يا مَنْ لا يَموتْ، إِرْحَمْنا
يا مَسِيح الَّذِي اعْتَمَدَ مِنْ يُوحَنَّا، إِرْحَمْنا.

Holy and immortal Lord, sanctify our minds and purify our consciences, that we may praise you with purity and listen to your Holy Scriptures. To you be glory forever. Amen.

Psalm of the Readings

Syriac: ramremain

On this day Christ was baptized;
waters have been truly blessed,
so the children of Adam
may be washed of all their sins.
Hear, O peoples and nations:
waters have been truly blessed!
All on earth, be attentive:
waters have been sanctified!
Lord our God, you accepted
what the just had offered you;
now accept, in your mercy,
our pure sacrifice and prayers.

Epistle

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans. Your blessing, Father.

Glory to the Lord of Paul and the apostles! May the mercy of God descend upon the reader and the listeners and upon this parish and her children forever. Amen.

Brothers and Sisters:
Do you not know, brothers and sisters — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
(Romans 7:1-6)

Praise be to God always!

Gospel

Alleluia! Alleluia!
No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
(John 3:5)
Alleluia!

Before the proclamation of the Gospel of our Savior, announcing life for our souls, we offer this incense and ask for your mercy, O Lord.

Peace be with you.

And with your spirit.

From the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John, who proclaimed life to the world.
Let us listen to the proclalation of life and salvation for our souls.

Remain silent, O listeners, for the Holy Gospel is about to be proclaimed to you.
Listen and give glory and thanks to the Word of the living God.

The Apostle wrote:
Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
(John 4:5-7, 9-26)

This is the truth! Peace be with you!

Praise and blessings to Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, for giving us his words of life.