Third Sunday of the Great Lent: Adoration of Cross, Troparion, Tone I
O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.
Hymns
Sunday March 15, 2026 / March 2, 2026
Kontakion, Tone IV
O Christ our God, Who wast voluntarily lifted up on the Cross, grant Thy mercies to Thy new people named after Thee. Gladden with Thy power Orthodox Christians and give them victory over their enemies. May they have as an ally that invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace.
Another Kontakion, Tone VII
No longer does the flaming sword guard the gate of Eden, for a glorious extinction has come upon it, the wood of the Cross. The sting has been drawn from death and the victory from hell. And Thou, my Saviour, didst come and shout to those in hell: Enter Paradise again.
Troparion of the Sunday, Tone VII
By Thy Cross, Thou didst destroy death! / To the thief, Thou didst open Paradise! / For the myrrhbearers, Thou didst change weeping into joy! / And Thou didst command Thy disciples, O Christ God, / to proclaim that Thou art risen, / granting the world great mercy!
Hymn to the Theotokos, Tone VII
Since you are the treasure of our resurrection, / we put our hope in you, O all-praised one. / Lead us from the abyss of transgressions, / for you have saved those guilty of sin, / O evervirgin Mother of our salvation.
Kontakion of the Sunday, Tone VII
The dominion of death / can no longer hold men captive, / for Christ descended, shattering and destroying its powers! / Hell is bound, while the prophets rejoice and cry: /”The Savior has come to those in faith! / Enter, you faithful, into the Resurrection!
Holy Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia.
No Troparion is given in the Menaion.
Kontakion, Tone III
Thou didst denounce the sea of false belief,/ and with the faith of correct belief wound the falsehood of the godlessness of idolatry;/ and as a divine immolation/ thou bedewest the ends of the earth with thy wonderworking.// O holy hierarch Theodotus our father, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy!
"Reigning" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, Troparion, in Tone IV
Seeking the city of Sion, we flee today beneath thy protection, O pure Virgin, and none can assail us, for there is no city as powerful as the one of Him Who is God, and no other might to equal that of the mercy of the Virgin Mistress.
Kontakion, in Tone VIII
To thee, the champion leader, do we offer hymns of victory, for thy might hath been given to us, and we are not afraid; for our salvation is not of this world, but we are defended by the lovingkindness of the all-exalted Mistress. Today we rejoice therein, for the Mistress hath come to watch over her land.