Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Nicene Council (Seventh Paschal Sunday)

First Antiphon:

All you peoples, clap your hands; shout to God with cries of gladness.

— Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us.

For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear; great King over all the earth.

— Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us.

He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

— Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us.

God ascends amid shouts of joy; the Lord ascends amid sounds of trumpets.

— Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us.

Third Antiphon:

Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim God, our Savior.

— Son of God, who ascended in glory, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.

Let us come before His face with praise, and acclaim Him in psalms.

— Son of God, who ascended in glory, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.

For God is the great Lord and the great king over all the earth.

— Son of God, who ascended in glory, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.

Entrance Hymn:

Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ.

— Son of God, who ascended in glory, save us who sing to You: Alleluia.

Troparion and Kontakion:

Troparion (6): Angelic powers were upon Your tomb and the guards became like dead men; Mary stood before Your tomb seeking Your most pure body. You captured Hades without being overcome by it. You met the Virgin and granted life. O Lord risen from the dead, glory be to You!
Troparion - Ascension (4): You ascended in glory, O Christ our God; You delighted the disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through this blessing, they were assured, that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Troparion - Holy Fathers (8): O Christ our God, You are most glorified, for You  established our fathers as lights upon the earth. Through them You led us to the true faith. O most merciful Lord, glory be to You!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Kontakion - Holy Fathers (8): The preaching of the apostles and the decisions of the fathers have established the true faith of the Church which she wears as the garment of truth, fashioned from the theology on high. She justly governs and glorifies the great mystery of worship.
Now and forever and ever. Amen

Kontakion - Ascension (4): When You fulfilled the plan of salvation for us and united all things on earth to those in heaven, O Christ our God, You ascended in glory, never leaving us, but remaining ever-present. For You proclaimed to those who love You: I am with you and no one else has power over you.

Prokimenon (4): Blessed are You, and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is Your name.

Verse: In all that You have done Your justice is apparent.

Prokimenon: Blessed are You, and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is Your name.

Epistle

Reading of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. (Acts 20,16-18; 28-36)

In those days, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus in order not to lose time in the province of Asia, for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if at all possible, for the day of Pentecost. From Miletus he had the presbyters of the church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. I have never wanted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’.” When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all.

Alleluia Verses

Verse: The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken and summoned the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Verse: Summon before Me, My people who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.

Gospel 

(Jn 17,1-13)
At that time, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly
understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am
coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in
the world so that they may share my joy completely.”

It is truly right… (Or the Hirmos of the Feast): 

O my soul, extol the Lord, Who, in glory ascended bodily into heaven.
Hirmos: We, the faithful, with one accord extol you, O Mother of God; for, in a manner beyond our understanding and expression, you gave birth in time to the Lord, Whom time cannot contain.

Communion Verse: 

Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the highest.
Exult, you just, in the Lord; praise from the upright is fitting.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

We have seen the true light: Be exalted above the heavens, О God, and let Your glory be over all the earth.

May our mouths be filled: Be exalted above the heavens, О God, and let Your glory be over all the earth. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.