Friday, July 26, 2013

Canons in the Eight tones to St. Panteleimon, by St. Joseph the Hymnographer: First Tone


St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary Healer of Christ (source)
  

Note: The following is my amateur translation of the first canon (in the first tone) in a series of eight canons in the eight tones written by St. Joseph the hymnographer to honor the great martyr and healer of Christ, St. Panteleimon. These are very beautiful and compunctionate hymns, and rightly praise such a great wonderworker of Orthodoxy. For the full texts of the canons in Greek, see here. If I am not mistaken, these are used around the feast of the Saint (i.e. either in the days leading up to or following his feast) in the his Monastery on Mount Athos to more fully celebrate this great feast, the feast of the Russian Monastery of the Holy Mountain. May St. Panteleimon intercede for us all, and grant us healing of the passions of our souls and bodies! Amen!
  
Canons in the Eight Tones to St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary
Written by St. Joseph the Hymnographer (+883AD)
  
First Tone
The acrostic reads: A hymn of Joseph.
Ode I
Ever standing with boldness before the throne of grace, O blessed Champion, send down upon us forgiveness of sins, and intercede with Christ.

You endured tortures, O Panteleimon, being aflame with divine eros for the Master. Entreat Him that He deliver us from every danger.

Coming to know the Creator, you called upon Him, and thereby raised a dead man, O chosen-one of God, therefore I cry out to you, bring to life my deadened soul through your prayers.

Theotokion
You bore the Master and King of all creation, O All-holy Lady, ever entreat that we be granted the Kingdom of God.

Ode III
With strength, O Martyr of our God, you were steadfast through the scrapings of your flesh, and the blazing fire, for His love, and you endured the terrible burning by flames.

Having been bruised by beatings, and greatly broken, the Redeemer appeared to you to strengthen you, O glorious one. Entreat Him that He enlighten our minds.

Being a lamp full of the light of the divine radiance of healings, you shine for those who are in the night of sicknesses, and you cast out the mist of the demons, O Saint worthy to be praised.

Theotokion
After giving birth, you remained incorrupted as you were before birthgiving, O All-hymned One, entreat the Creator for all, that we delivered in body and nous through your motherly intercessions.

Ode IV
Having been illumined in mind, you have passed through fire, and have found rest through the refreshment of grace, O Panteleimon, and therefore you ever pour forth the streams of wonders, and you cease the fire of illnesses through the power of the Spirit.

You endured the raking of your flesh, O wise one, and having been boiled, you remained safe and unharmed through godly refreshment, O blessed one. Therefore, we cry out to you, deliver us from every danger through your prayers, O all-praised one.

The terrible foe was unable to storm the tower of your divine soul, O Panteleimon, but as if another were suffering, you were steadfast amidst the waves, being founded upon the grace of God.

Theotokion
You were shown to be a palace and a throne of God, and a Dwelling-place, and a noetic Gate, through which we have beheld the only Logos pass through ineffably, O Birthgiver of God, saving manking through You.
Ode V
Your body was placed within the earth, O Saint, and thereby sanctified it. But entreat the Surpassing Good One, that we who bless you in your holy temple might be sanctified.

The heavenly army clapped its hands at your martyrdom, together with which we entreat that we be granted, O Panteleimon, grace and mercy and correction in life.

Enlighten my lamp that has been quenched, through your prayers and intercessions, O Panteleimon blessed by God, that I might ever bless you as my protector.

Theotokion
We praise You with divine hymnology, O Spotless Lady, and we entreat that You ever protect and deliver from every danger and darkness, through Your intercessions.
  
Ode VI
You gave the light of spiritual light as did Christ to the man born blind, O all-praised one, the boast of Martyrs.
  
Let us offer to God a hymn of thanksgiving, for you deliver from the depths, and angelically save through your visitation, O all-praised one, that I might honor you.

Deliver us, O all-praised Panteleimon, from the soul-corrupting passions, from evils of men, from the waves of thoughts and from the fire of Gehenna.

Theotokion
As one truly fair and beautiful among women, you conceived the Beautiful One in your womb for all mortals, and you gave birth, O Pure One, in a manner surpassing words.

Ode VII
Rejoicing in soul, O glorious one, you bore trials and the terrible wheels, from which God paradoxically saved you, as a confirmation to the faithful who beheld your good and manly feats.

On behalf of Christ, you were cast unto the beasts, but remained unharmed, O Panteleimon, but earnestly entreat on behalf of us, O Martyr, that we be delivered from the evil foes that tempt us.

You became a keeper of the commandments of Christ, O Martyr, speaking to those in prisons, and dangers and all forms of pain. Therefore you were granted the grace to heal the passions of our souls and bodies.
  
Theotokion
You who transported us from earth to heaven, and appeared as a mystical ladder, You are the pure and blessed Theotokos. Therefore, we hymn Your great deeds, O Pure One, unto the ages.

Ode VIII
You dawned like the sun at dawn, O wise one, enlightening the ends of the earth with mystical rays, and truly dissolving the darkness of idol-mania, O blessed Panteleimon.

Having been bound, you dissolved the error of the enemy by your grace. Therefore I entreat you to dissolve, through your prayers, my many evils, through your intercessions, O wise Panteleimon.

You were taken up as in a chariot, by your sacred blood, to stand beside Christ, rejoicing, and received the crown of incorruption, O Panteleimon, the comeliness of Martyrs.

Theotokion
Heal our brokenness, for you truly gave birth to the Physician of all, O All-pure One. Therefore we bless you together, with rejoicing of soul, O Birthgiver of God.

Ode IX
Your appearance was made handsome by your holy martyrdom, O Martyr Panteleimon, and you stand beside the King of the Heavens full of beauty, and you partake of divine light, and ceaselessly intercede on behalf of us.

You, O steadfast of heart, traveled the paths of martyrdom unflinchingly, O Champion Panteleimon, and were beheaded on an olive tree, and was reborn, O all-joyous one, as a compassionate and merciful healer of every sickness, in Christ.

You blossomed as a fragrant rose in the field through your struggles, and gave the fragrance to the earth of the fragrance of your wonders. Therefore we cry out to you, O wise one, deliver us from our passions, through your intercessions, taking away every stench and terrible thing.

Theotokion
Being in a frenzy of sins, and endless wrath, I am hearding towards worse things, but lift me up, O greatly-merciful God, through the intercessions of Your Spotless Mother, that I might partake of eternal life.
(source)
  
For Canon II (in the Second Tone), see here.

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary (source)
     
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

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