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The hymn renderings below match syllable for syllable the meter of the original Greek melodies.

Icon | First Tone | Second Tone | Third Tone | Fourth Tone
Tone Plagal of the First | Tone Plagal of the Second | Grave Tone | Tone Plagal of the Fourth

Resurrectional Apolytikia
and Theotokia

of the
Eight Tones

Audio recordings coming soon!

First Tone

---

Apolytikion

Although the Jews had fastened
their seal upon Your gravestone
and while Your immaculate body
was guarded by their soldiers,
O Savior, You rose on the third day,
bestowing on the world the gift of life.
For which reason all the powers of heaven's host
did shout to You, Life-Bestower:
Glory be to Your Rising from the dead,
glory be to Your Reign, O Christ,
Glory to Your dispensation, O You who love mankind.

Theotokion

When Gabriel greeted you, saying,
O rejoice, holy Virgin,
as he was speaking, the Master
of all things was incarnate
in you, holy ark, as was foretold
by David the righteous man of old.
More spacious than the heavens you came to be
by bearing your Creator.
Glory to Him who pitched His tent in you!
Glory to Him who came forth from you!
Glory be to Him who liberated us
by being born of you!

Second Tone

---

Apolytikion

When You descended to the Realm of Death,
You who are the Immortal Life,
then You struck Hades a mortal blow
with Your divinity's flashing light.
And when those lying below the earth's
dark subterranean regions You raised from death,
all the Angelic powers
of the heavens cried out with shouts of praise:
Glory be to You, Christ the Lifegiver and our true God.

Theotokion

Far above our knowledge are
and surpassing gloriously,
O Mother of God, your great mysteries.
While your purity has been kept sealed
and your virginity has been kept safe,
you've been acknowledged without doubt
as truly Mother who bore our God.
Do intercede with Him
to save and to preserve our souls.

Third Tone

---

Apolytikion

O you heavens, be replete with joy,
and all you beings on earth below, exult,
for with the might of His strong arm
He performed a mighty feat, the Lord our God,
beneath His feet He has trampled down death by death,
by His becoming the First-born of the dead,
from the womb of Hades has He delivered us
and to all He has granted His mercy'n'steadfast love.

Theotokion

You, who mediated
for the salvation of our human race,
we extol, O Theotokos and Virgin.
For in the very flesh assumed
from your pure and undefiled flesh your Son and our God
having condescended to accept crucifixion,
He redeemed us from corrupt-
ion and death for He loves mankind.

Fourth Tone

---

Apolytikion

Having learned the joyous news by the Angel told
about the Lord's Resurrection the women followers of the Lord
and our ancestral sentence instantly having cast away
to the Apostles exultingly they declared:
Lo vanquished and despoiled is death
for risen is Christ our true God
who granted to the whole world
His mercy'n'steadfast love.

Theotokion

The myst'ry hid from eternity
and unknown to angels and to men alike
was revealed to the humans, O Theotokos, by God in you.
For God has been united unchangeably with our flesh
of His own will accepting to be subjected to the Cross for us.
And so having raised up the first fashioned man
through His death on the Cross He saved from death our souls.

Tone Plagal of the First

---

Apolytikion

Let us worship, O faithful,
and praise in hymn the Word,
Who with both Father and Spirit
without beginning exists,
Who was born for our salvation
from a Virgin Maid;
for He consented to be raised
in the flesh upon the Cross,
enduring for our sake death
and to raise all those who were lying dead,
through His most holy Resurrection to life.

Theotokion

O rejoice, Lord's divine Gate no one can enter in!
O rejoice, the protection of those who come to you!
Rejoice, O peaceful port and haven who have not known any man;
who have given birth to Him who is your Maker and your God.
Do not cease your intercessions
for those who now sing the praises
and who adore the One Who is born of you.

Tone Plagal of the Second

---

Apolytikion

Angelic Hosts were standing
over Your Sepulcher
and those who guarded You
became as though were dead.
And by Your grave was Mary,
who was standing and seeking
Your pure and sacred Body.
You did lead captive Hades,
yet You were not harmed by Him.
You did come to meet the Virgin,
bestowing the gift of Life.
You who were risen from the dead:
glory to You, O Lord!

Theotokion

O Christ who called Your Mother most blessed among women
You came unto our Passion of Your own free will
shining forth on the cross
in seeking out Adam to restore
saying to the Angels, Rejoice with me,
for see the piece of silver that was lost has been found.
O Lord, who have wisely ordained all things: Glory to You!

Grave Tone

---

Apolytikion

O Lord, by Your precious Cross You abolished death,
You did open to the thief blessed paradise,
of the Myrrh-bearers the funeral wail You changed
and Your own twelve apostles commanded to go and preach,
that You have risen, O Christ, our true God,
bestowing great mercy, O God, upon the world.

Theotokion

Lady all-praised, as the treasury of our rebirth,
raise from the pit and abyss of their trespasses
all those who place their trust and their hope in you, O Maid.
For you by giving birth to Salvation you have saved us all
responsible for transgression,
You were Virgin before birth,
during birth also Virgin,
and after giving birth again remained Virgin.

Tone Plagal of the Fourth

---

Apolytikion

You came down from Heaven, O Loving Lord,
accepting for three days to be entombed,
to liberate us from the passions of the flesh,
You who are our resurrection and our life;
glory to You, O Lord.

Theotokion

You who were born for our sake of a Virgin
and did suffer crucifixion, O Good Lord,
who by death You have conquered and despoiled death
and showed with Your Rising that You're God,
overlook us not who by Your hand were fashioned.
Loving Lord, show Your kind-heartedness and compassion
heed her who did bear You, the Theotokos,
who intercedes on our behalf,
O Savior, and save the souls
of Your despairing people.

Sunday of 318 God-Bearing Fathers
of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325 AD)

The holy synods are the infallible mouthpieces of the Church, particularly those synods we call ecumenical. They have great authority not because they were general councils, not even because they were "approved" by the people, but because they were composed of holy people, who were illumined by the Holy Spirit, so that they could clearly express the faith. They are "the God-bearing Fathers," "the mystical trumpets of the Spirit," through whom Christ guides to the true faith all Orthodox Christians (Apolytikion). - Fr. E

Apolytikion of the Fathers
Chanted by Fr. Emmanuel