The Canon of the Holy Hierarch, the Acrostic Whereof  Is: “Athanasius was the boast of the Orthodox”, the Composition of Theophanes, Tone VIII

Ode I, Irmos: The staff of Moses, once working a wonder, striking the sea in the form of the Cross and dividing it, drowned the mounted tyrant Pharaoh, and saved Israel who fled on foot, chanting a hymn unto God.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

To Athanasius do I offer praise, lauding him as a doer of good; and I offer yet higher laudation unto God, by Whom men are given the right-praiseworthy gift of virtue, of which he became the animate image and seal.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Thou wast full of divine wisdom, O blessed one, and shining in thine angelic life more than the sun, thou hast surpassed the laws of our praise; yet accept praise from us, O venerable father, even though it is not worthy of thee.

We fittingly weave a hymn on the glorious day of thy commemoration, O Athanasius; yet, lacking greater hymns fit for thee, we ask that thou forgive us, and that the abundant grace of the Spirit be given us through thee.

Thou gavest birth to the divine Word of the Father, Him Who before was incorporeal yet became incarnate for our sake, O most immaculate one, thou boast of virgins, vessel of purity and temple of purity, O Mistress of the world, Bride of God.

Ode III, Irmos: O Christ, Who in the beginning established the heavens in wisdom and founded the earth upon the waters, make me steadfast upon the rock of Thy commandments; for none is holy as Thee, O Thou Who lovest mankind.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Having purified thy soul and body of all defilement, O Athanasius, thou wast shown to be worthy of God; wherefore, the fullness of the Trinity rested within thee, O initiate of the sacred mysteries of God, who art most rich.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

As thou didst desire, the grace of the Comforter, finding thy soul cleansed of the passions, manifestly showed forth its actions therein, O father, and set thee before the world as an all-radiant lamp.

To hierarchs thou hast shown thyself to be a rule of hierarchy and a pattern of the active life; and thy lucid discourse was shown to be a model of vision, and doctrine to be the limit of thy theology, O all-wise one.

Thou wast shown to be more exalted than the cherubim and the seraphim, O Theotokos; for thou alone didst receive the infinite God in thy womb, O undefiled one. Wherefore, all of us, the faithful, bless thee with hymns, O pure one.

Sessional Hymn, Tone VIII, Spec. Mel. “Of the wisdom…”: Having learned the wisdom of the Word and cast down the deception of Arius, thou didst preach the Orthodox Faith to the world; for thou didst explain that Christ the Word, our life, is truly consubstantial with the Father. Wherefore, with oneness of mind the Church doth glorify the consubstantial Trinity in one Godhead, O God-bearing Athanasius. Entreat Christ God, that He grant remission of offenses unto those who with love honor thy holy memory. Twice

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Sessional Hymn, Tone VIII: At Mid-Feast Thou didst stand in the Temple’s court * in a god-befitting manner * and didst cry aloud: * Let him who doth suffer thirst now draw nigh unto Me and drink. * He that drinketh of the sacred water that I shall give, * from within shall the springs of My teachings issue forth. * Whosoever doth believe that the Divine Father hath sent Me, * and that I came forth from Him, * with Me he shall be glorified. * Therefore, we cry unto Thee: * Glory be to Thee, O Christ God, * Who dost cause the streams of Thy great love for mankind, * to abundantly well forth unto us, Thy servants.

Ode IV, Irmos: Thou art my strength, O Lord, Thou art my power; Thou art my God, Thou art my joy, Who, without leaving the bosom of the Father, hast visited our lowliness. Wherefore, with the Prophet Habbakuk I cry unto Thee: Glory to Thy power, O Thou Who lovest mankind!

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

From on high the Spirit of Christ breathed upon thee the life-bearing breath which of old divinely entered the upper chamber and filled the disciples; and it showed thee, O father, to be a thirteenth apostle proclaiming the Orthodox Faith.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Burning greatly with divine zeal, thou didst aid the council in Nicæa; and even before thou wast made a hierarch thou didst preach that Christ the Word is consubstantial with the Father. Wherefore, Christ made thee a chief shepherd and disciple.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Entrusted by divine providence with the task of nurturing the Church, O Athanasius, like a scythe thou didst cut down all the spiritually harmful blasphemies of the heretics, severing them at the root; and, watering the seed of the Word, thou didst cultivate it, O wise one.

Arius’ severing of Father from Son and Sabellius’ confusion between Them, which proceed from immeasurable evil unto the dishonor of God Who is equally worshipped, were utterly consumed by thy fiery tongue, O Athanasius, and all heretical blasphemies with them.

After the first Adam, Thou didst become the new Adam; coming after our first mother, Thou art the Deliverer and Savior of all; and after death, Thou art the true Life immortal. Wherefore, acknowledging her who gave thee birth to be the Theotokos, we call her, the pure one, blessed, as is meet.

Ode V, Irmos: Wherefore hast Thou turned Thy face from me, O Light never-waning? And why hath a strange darkness covered me, wretch that I am? But turn me, and guide my steps to the light of Thy commandments, I pray.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Having Christ speaking within the melodious instrument of thy tongue, O father Athanasius, with thy writing thou didst put to shame the heresy of idols, guiding the lost and turning them to the true God.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

All pernicious heresies didst thou denounce with thy discourses and writings, O blessed father, dispelling from the whole world all manner of falsehood with thy wise demonstrations, and indisputably making clear the Orthodox Faith.

The Church of Christ truly calleth thee a great teacher of wise teachers, O father Athanasius, and hath numbered with the apostles thee who dost elucidate the unsullied word of the Faith.

Having acquired maternal boldness before thy Son, O most pure one, disdain not to take thought for us as thy kin, we pray; for thee alone do we Christians set before the Master to obtain cleansing of His mercy.

Ode VI, Irmos: Cleanse me, O Savior, for many are my transgressions; and lead me up from the abyss of evils, I pray, for to Thee have I cried, and Thou hast hearkened to me, O God of my salvation.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Apollinarius, showing himself to be the sower of alien seed, preaching that the incarnation of Christ was that of an earthly Word and mind, was strongly denounced by thee as mindless and perverted, O all-blessed one.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

The power of Thy divinely inspired words hath, like the voice of thunder, manifestly smote the ears of the heretics and made their faces dark, O thou who art pleasing to God.

Everyone doth marvel, as is meet, at thy wise writings, which suitably make reference to offshoots of heresy yet to be, which, foreseeing, thou dost refute prophetically.

The only-begotten Son, the God of my salvation, Who before time began was invisible, in latter times became the Firstborn of the day, becoming visible in the flesh through thee, O Mother of God.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Kontakion, Tone II, Spec. Mel. “Of thy blood…”: Planting Orthodox doctrines, thou didst cut down the thorns of heresy, increasing the seed of the Faith with the rain of the Spirit, O venerable one; wherefore, we hymn thee, O Athanasius.

Ikos: Pouring forth the torrents of the divine teaching of thy discourses upon the world, thou gavest drink to the souls of the faithful, O Athanasius, and didst drown the proponents of heresy like Egyptians of old, giving us the divinely inscribed law of Orthodoxy, that we may worship the Trinity in one Godhead. Therewith hast thou preserved us, delivering us from the invisible foe; wherefore, we hymn thee, O Athanasius.

Ode VII, Irmos: Once, in Babylon, the fire stood in awe of the condescension of God; wherefore, the youths, dancing with joyous step in the furnace, as in a meadow, chanted: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers!

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Having preached in Orthodox manner that the Word, the only-begotten Son, is equally worshipped and equally enthroned with the Father, O father, namesake of immortality, thou didst likewise teach that He is equally enthroned and consubstantial with the Spirit.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

The father of ungodliness, seeing thee to be a sacred teacher and preacher of the three-Sunned Light, who proclaimed the Orthodox Faith even unto the ends of the earth, raised up persecutions against thee.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

The countless tribulations thou didst endure when contending for piety, O blessed one, were like radiant crowns; for thou wast as adamant to those who beat thee, and like a magnet didst thou draw all to thee.

Strange and alien dogmas didst thou drive from the Church of Christ, theologizing concerning the hypostases of the Trinity and the unity of the Godhead, whom thou didst hymn, chanting: Blessed is the God of our fathers!

As thou alone art the one who, without knowing wedlock, gave birth in time to the Timeless One, the Word Who before was incorporeal, O Virgin, we chant to Him together, crying: Blessed is the God of our ­fathers!

Ode VIII, Irmos: Madly did the Chaldæan tyrant heat the furnace sevenfold for the pious ones; but, beholding them saved by a higher Power, he cried out to the Creator and Deliverer: Ye children, bless; ye priests, hymn; ye people, exalt Him supremely for all ages!

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

O Athanasius, right glorious adornment of hierarchs, pillar of light, foundation of the Church, champion of the Trinity, golden clarion of theology, famed recorder of the laws of the monastic life, thou dost celebrate with us, bringing priests to perfection and leading the faithful to Christ forever.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Thou wast truly the namesake of immortality, for in thy discourse thou didst transcend active things; and overcoming tangible things in thy discourse and through the fame of thy life, in both thou didst pass all bounds. Wherefore, shining forth with immutable virtue, thou hast acquired an immortal memory forever.

O God-pleasing initiate of the mysteries of heaven, thou didst show forth a most splendid episcopacy in thy valiant sufferings: thou didst dispel falsehood by thy frequent banishment for the Trinity, Whom preaching thou dost cry: Worship the Father, bless the Son, and hymn the Spirit for all ages!

Thou wast a vessel of the never-waning Light, O all-pure one, for He hath been a light to those in darkness and shadow, illumining all things with the grace of divine knowledge. Him do we unceasingly hymn, O ye faithful, for all ages.

Ode IX, Irmos: Heaven was stricken with awe, and the ends of the earth were amazed, that God hath appeared in the flesh, and that thy womb became more spacious than the heavens. Wherefore, the ranks of men and angels magnify thee as the Theotokos.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Thou didst shine forth like lightning, O father, and thy sound poured forth like thunder on all upon whom the sun doth look; for thou didst receive true inspiration from the heavens above. Wherefore, let not the grave cause thy memory to be extinguished, O Athanasius.

Holy Father Athanasius, pray to God for us.

Illumined now most brightly with the thrice radiant light of the threefold Sun, like a mirror thou dost reveal effulgence to those who hymn thee, shining from on high like the sun. O blessed one, do that which we beseech of thee, whether it be great or insignificant.

Chanting, we entreat thee earnestly: pray thou for the Church, that through the Cross victories may be granted to Orthodox Christians, strength given to the Orthodox Faith against the heresies of the enemy, salvation to us, and peace to the world on the day of thy commemoration, O Athanasius.

O intercessor for all Christians, all-immaculate Virgin Mother of God, in that thou art merciful deliver from tribulations and perils thine oppressed servants who have suffered the wounds of cruel scourgings, and heal thou those on whom painful stripes have been inflicted.

Troparion, Tone III: Thou wast a pillar of Orthodoxy, strengthening the Church with divine dogmas, O sacred hierarch Athanasius; for, preaching the Son as consubstantial with the Father, thou didst put Arius to shame. O venerable father, entreat Christ God, that He grant us great mercy.