Liturgical Texts
Here you will find the texts for various liturgical services. This page will be updated frequently.
Sunday, January 16th
12th Sunday of Luke; Veneration of Apostle Peter's Precious Chains; Righteous Hierodeacon Makarios of Kalogeras; Romilo the Monk of Mount Athos; Nicholas the New-Martyr of Mytilene; Peusippos, Elasippos, and Mesippos the siblings, and their grandmother Neonilla
On January 16 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we celebrate the veneration of the precious chains of the holy and glorious Apostle Peter.
Verses
Release me from the long chain of mine offenses, as I worship thine honorable chain, O Peter.
On the sixteenth I worship Peter’s chain.
As Peter sat in prison shackled by the lawless Herod, an angel appeared to him: “Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying: ‘Get up quickly.’ The chains fell from his wrists” (Acts 12:7). The chains were preserved by Christians as much for the memory of this great Apostle as well as for their healing power, for many of the sick were healed by touching them as well as with the towel of the Apostle Paul, “then when the face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them” (Acts 19:12). Juvenal, the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave these chains as a gift to the Empress Eudocia, the exiled wife of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger. She divided them into two and sent one half to the Church of the Holy Apostle in Constantinople and the other half to her daughter Empress Eudoxia in Rome, the wife of Valentian. Eudoxia built the Church of St. Peter and deposited these chains in it, together with those chains with which Peter was shackled before his death under Emperor Nero.
On this day, we also commemorate Peusippos and Neonilla, and the martyrs of Cappadocia; and Hieromartyr Damaskinos of Hilandar monastery on Athos. By the intercessions of Thy Saints, O God, have mercy upon us. Amen.
Verses
Release me from the long chain of mine offenses, as I worship thine honorable chain, O Peter.
On the sixteenth I worship Peter’s chain.
As Peter sat in prison shackled by the lawless Herod, an angel appeared to him: “Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying: ‘Get up quickly.’ The chains fell from his wrists” (Acts 12:7). The chains were preserved by Christians as much for the memory of this great Apostle as well as for their healing power, for many of the sick were healed by touching them as well as with the towel of the Apostle Paul, “then when the face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them” (Acts 19:12). Juvenal, the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave these chains as a gift to the Empress Eudocia, the exiled wife of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger. She divided them into two and sent one half to the Church of the Holy Apostle in Constantinople and the other half to her daughter Empress Eudoxia in Rome, the wife of Valentian. Eudoxia built the Church of St. Peter and deposited these chains in it, together with those chains with which Peter was shackled before his death under Emperor Nero.
On this day, we also commemorate Peusippos and Neonilla, and the martyrs of Cappadocia; and Hieromartyr Damaskinos of Hilandar monastery on Athos. By the intercessions of Thy Saints, O God, have mercy upon us. Amen.