The priest, wearing theepitrachelion, comes out before the holy doors, and having made three reverences,begins:
Blessed is our God always, now and ever, and untoages of ages.
Reader: Amen.Come, let us worship . . . thrice, and he readsCompline or Midnight Office. Then the priest, having made three reverences,immediately goes into the sanctuary.
After the troparia, theTrisagion, Our Father . . ., and theexclamation:
For thine is
the kingdom, and the power, and theglory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit, now and ever,and unto ages of ages.
Reader: Amen
At Compline, afterMore honorable than the Cherubim . . . , the exclamationis :
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord JesusChrist our God, have mercy on us.
But at Midnight Office,the exclamation:
O God, be compassionate unto us, and bless us, andmake thy face to shine upon us, and have mercy on us.
After the troparia,Have mercy on us, O Lord . . . Glory . . . O Lord, have mercy on us . .. Both now . . . Open unto us the door of thy graciousness, O blessed Theotokos. . .
At Midnight Office the priestsays this litany:
Have mercy on
us, 0 God, according to thy great mercy,we pray thee, hearken and have mercy.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy. thrice.
Again we pray
that He will keep this city(or this
village), and thisholy church (or if it is a monastery, andthis holy abode), and every city and countryfrom wrath, famine,
pestilence, earthquake, flood, fire, the sword, foreigninvasion, and from civil
war, and from sudden death; that our good God,who loveth man, may be gracious,
favorable, and conciliatory, and turnaway and dispel all the wrath stirred up
against us and all sickness, andmay deliver us from His righteous chastisement
which impendeth againstus, and may have mercy on us.
Choir: Lord, have mercy. fortytimes
Exclamation:
Hear us, O God
our Savior, the hope of all the endsof the earth, and of those that are far off
upon the sea; and be gracious,be gracious, O Master, unto us sinners and have
mercy on us. For thou arta merciful God who lovest man, and unto thee do we
send up glory, to theFather, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and
ever, and untoages of ages.
Choir: Amen.
Then the priest:
Glory to thee,
O Christ God, our Hope, glory to thee.
Choir: Glory. . .
Now and . . . , Lord, have mercy. thrice,Bless.
The priest gives the dismissal:
May Christ our true God, through the intercessionsof His all-immaculate Mother, of our venerable and Godbearing Fathers,and of all the Saints, have mercy on us and save us, for He is good andloveth man.
At Compline and MidnightOffice, after the dismissal, the priest makes a reverence to the brethren,saying:
Bless me, holy fathers and brethren, and pardon me,a sinner, all wherein I have sinned this day, in deed, in word, in thought,and in all my senses.
The brethren then answer:
May God pardon and have mercy on thee, holy father.
And they make a reverence,saying this petition:
Bless me, holy father, and pardon me all whereinI have sinned this day, in deed, in word, in thought, and in all my senses.
The priest answers:
May God, through His grace, pardon and have mercyon us all.
And the priest says:
Let us pray
for our [lord,the Most Reverend] Metropolitan Name, forour [lord, the Right Reverend]Bishop
Name, and for all our brethrenin
Christ.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For the (title
of the highest civil authority), andfor all civil authorities.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For those who
hate us and for those who love us.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For those who
are merciful to us and those who serveus.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For those who
have commanded us, the unworthy, topray for them.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For the rescue
Of captives,
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For our absent
fathers and brethren,
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For those who
sail upon the sea,
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
For those who
lie in infirmities,
Choir: Lord,have
rnercy.
Let us also
pray for the abundance of the fruitsof the earth.
Choir: Lord,have
rnercy.
For every
Orthodox Christian soul.
Choir: Lord,have
rnercy.
Let us bless
pious rulers,
Choir: Lord,have
rnercy.
Orthodox
hierarchs and the founders of this holychurch (or abode),
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
Our parents,
and all our fathers and brethren, theOrthodox, departed before, who lie here
and everywhere.
Choir: Lord,have
mercy.
The Superior:
Let us also say of them, (in the Greek,of each other,)
Choir: Lord,have
mercy. thrice
Through the
prayers of our holy fathers, Lord JesusChrist, our God, have mercy on us.
Choir: Amen.
In the holy and great 40-dayFast, instead of the dismissal at Great Compline, this prayer is said bythe priest:
O Master,
great in mercy, Lord Jesus Christ our God,through the intercessions of our
all-immaculate Lady the Theotokos andEver-virgin Mary; through the power of the
precious and life-creating Cross;through the protection of the honorable
bodiless Powers of heaven; of thehonorable, glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and
Baptist John; of the holy,glorious and all-laudable Apostles (or of the holy
Apostle and Evangelistname, and of the other holy, glorious and all-laudable
Apostles); of ourFathers among the Saints, Ecumenical Great Teachers and
Hierarchs, Basilthe Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom; of our
Father amongthe Saints, Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the
Wonderworker; theHoly Equals of the Apostles, Methodius and Cyril, Teachers of
the Slavs;[the holy Orthodox Equal of the
Apostles,the Great Prince Vladimir;] of the
holy, gloriousand right-victorious Martyrs; of the holy great Martyr Barbara; [ofour venerable and Godbearing Fathers, Anthony
and Theodosius of the Caves;]of our Father
among the Saints, the Venerable Herman of Alaska,the Wonderworker, and of Saint
(name of the Saint of the temple and ofthe day), of the holy and righteous
Forebears of God, Joachim and Anne;and of all the Saints, make our prayer
acceptable, grant us forgivenessof our trespasses, shelter us under the shelter
of thy wings, drive awayfrom us every enemy and adversary, give peace to our
life, O Lord. Havemercy on us and on thy world and save our souls, for thou art
good andlovest man.
Choir: Amen.
At Midnight office on Sundaysafter the exclamation, O God, be compassionate to us . . . ,the priest reads the prayer to the all-holy Trinity,a composition of Mark, the Monk:
Omnipotent and life-creating holy Trinity, the Beginningof Light, who through thy goodness alone hast brought forth from nothingevery creature and art their Provider and Sustainer, and among thine otherineffable benefits to our earthly generation, dost grant repentance alsounto us because of the weakness of our flesh even until death, leave usnot to die, miserable in our evil deeds, nor to be the ridicule of theauthor of evil, of the envious one, the destroyer. Thou seest, on the onehand, 0 Goodhearted One, his snares and enmity against us, and, on theother, our passions, and weakness, and negligence. But, we pray that thineinexhaustible goodness may be wrought upon us who make thee wrathful everyday and hour by violating thine honorable and life-creating commandments.But, forgive and pardon all our offenses of our past life and up to thepresent hour in deed, speech, or in thought. Vouchsafe unto us to end theremainder of our life in repentance and contrition and in keeping thy holyprecepts. If, deceived by pleasure, we have sinned in divers manners, and,if seduced by abominable desires, useless and injurious, we have spentour time; if moved by wrath and unreasonable displeasure, we have afflictedany of our brethren; if by our tongue, we have bound ourselves in unavoidable,injurious, and strong snares; if by any of our senses, or by all, willinglyor unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly, unexpectedly or premeditatedly,we have foolishly erred; if by evil and vain thoughts we have defiled ourconscience; and if in any other manner we have sinned, by evil chance orby custom, do thou pardon us and forgive all, O All-compassionate One,most good, and manymercied, and grant us future watchfulness and powerto do thy good, and agreeable, and perfect will. Let nocturnal and darkevil deeds be changed to shining repentance, and, walking nobly as in theday, may we unworthy ones, be shown forth cleansed by thy love of man,praising thee and magnifying thee for ever. Amen.
And the dismissal and thecustomary pardon (asking for forgiveness). Then the litany:Let us pray for our [lord. . . .]
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