Anaphora of St. Gregory Nazianzus
Hosanna (Palm Sunday)
Editor’s Note:
Correction* h/t to careful reader Deacon John Burbridge. The correct anaphora should have been St. Gregory of Nyssa. In the Classical Ethiopic it is called Gregory I and Gregory II. I switched them. Hope you are edified nonetheless, the Palm Sunday readings I selected are still right and just.
The Anaphora of St. Gregory (Nazianzus), may the blessing of his prayers be with our President Donald Trump, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed unto ages of ages.
Priest: The Lord be with you all.
People: And with your spirit.
Priest: Give thanks unto our God
People: It is right, it is just.
Priest: Lift up your hearts.
People: We have lifted them up to the Lord our God.
Priest: We thank you, Lord, we glorify you and praise you. Your names is blessed, and we bless you. Your name is praiseworthy, and we praise you. You are more terrible than the terrible ones. Your greatness is unutterable. You are glorious and we glorify you. You are above the holy ones. Your glory is wonderful. Thousands of messengers hallow you. The watchers, who do not sleep, glorify you. The eight terrible ones who desire to draw near unto you flee away because of the flame of fire, they may not draw near unto you. They fear and are afraid because of the coal of fire which goes out from your mouth. All of them together hallow and praise you with one voice. And we also, your lowly bondservants, do also like them, stretching forth our hands, raising them up with the sign of the cross, glorify you and praise you. But the seraphim and the cherubim each have six wings.
Deacon: Arise, those of you who are seated!
Priest: All of them together hallow you and praise you with one voice, one with the other, this with that, the other with the other, and say, holy, holy, holy perfect Lord of hosts, the heavens and the earth are filled with the holiness of your glory.
Deacon: Say the response!
People: Holy, holy, holy perfect Lord of hosts, the heavens and the earth are filled with the holiness of your glory.
Priest: He is covered with the curtain of clouds. The savior was born from a holy virgin. The Lord appeared and the true sun of righteousness arose. We trust the Father who sent, and the Son who was sent, and we trust the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. And we say that he who destroyed death and broke the iron chains rose from the dead and raised the dead and going down into the place of the dead he loosened the prisoners and preached freedom to them.
Deacon: Look toward the East!
Priest: We thank you and glorify you, who removes darkness and gives light, and is the true savior, because through your son’s love and your love he gave his body in that night.
Deacon: Let us look (at this public matter)!
Priest: Though he was God, all this came upon him; when they seized him, he bore the spit of the unclean ones and bore all the woes of the prison. All these things he carried though he was Lord and God. He carried all on our behalf: on behalf of the poor and the needy, on behalf of the prophets and the apostles, on behalf of the martyrs and the faithful, on behalf of the bishops and the priests, on behalf of the deacons and the readers, on behalf of the widows and the orphans, on behalf of the virgins and the monks, on behalf the sinners and the scattered ones (those in diaspora), so that he may gather the scattered, declare the sinners righteous, bring back the wicked, and declare his resurrection. O Lord, we speak of those whose names we know, but you know those whose names we do not know, and you understand them, and everything is naked before you.
Deacon: For the sake of his beatitude and holiness our Head of the Archbishops Aba Mathias and his beatitude Archbishop Aba Mark (of Cascadia), while they yet give you thanks in their prayers and their supplications: Stephen (crown) the martyr, Zachariah the priest, and John the Baptizer. And for the sake of all the holy ones and martyrs who have gone to their rest in faith: the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Mary the Mother of God, the Twelve Apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, Jacob, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddeus, Nathaniel , Jacob the son of Alphaeus, Matthias, Jacob brother of the Lord and bishop of Jerusalem, Paul, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas, Titus, Philemon, Clement, the seventy-two disciples, the five-hundred brethren, the three-hundred and eighteen Orthodox (bishops who attended the First Council of Nicaea); may the prayers of them all come unto us and visit us together with them. And remember the peace of the universal apostolic church, which was made by Christ through his precious blood. Remember all the patriarchs, archbishops, priests, and deacons who keep straight the way of the true word.
Subdeacon: Lord pity and have mercy upon the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, and all Christians (people of Christ(ian)).
Priest: (We speak) of these and all through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, your beloved son whom you have loved and did send before. As you gathered this bread which had been scattered on the mountains and the little hills, and being gathered together it became one whole bread, so also gather us, through your divinity, from all evil thoughts into perfect faith. And as you did unite water with wine, and wine was united with water, and after having been united and mixed it is impossible for the one to be separated from the other, so also gather us, through your divinity, from all evil thoughts into perfect faith…
There are fifty more stanzas (which we English speakers worldwide owe a debt to the Reverend Marcos Daoud and His Eminence blata, an aristocratic title which is literally youth but functionally a prince trained as a cleric, mersé’hazen welde’qeerqos), but for now, this is enough. For the rest, I will see you at church tomorrow for hosanna (save us; rescue us; deliver us; Palm Sunday), bright and early. Liturgy begins at 6am, and so you should be there 15-30 minutes earlier (many things are unique on this day), if not an hour earlier, in order to keep watch without sleeping.
In advance, read aloud Numbers 22:21-38 and Mark 11:1-11.
And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the messenger of Yahweh stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the messenger of Yahweh standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. But the messenger of Yahweh stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the messenger of Yahweh, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again. And the messenger of Yahweh went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the ass saw the messenger of Yahweh, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? and he said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the messenger of Yahweh standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. And the messenger of Yahweh said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. And Balaam said unto the messenger of Yahweh, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again. And the messenger of Yahweh said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him unto a city of Moab, which is in the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost coast. And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? wherefore camest thou not unto me? am I not able indeed to promote thee to honour? And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak…
And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.