TROPARIA FOR PALM SUNDAY.

The following Stanzas are from the Triodion sung at Compline on Palm Sunday; which has the same name among the Greeks as among ourselves.

Ἰησοῦς ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόσμου

JESUS, hastening for the world to suffer,
Enters in, Jerusalem, to thee:

With His Twelve He goeth forth to offer
That free Sacrifice He came to be.

They that follow Him with true affection
Stand prepared to suffer for His Name:
Be we ready then for man's rejection,

For the mockery, the reproach, the shame. Now in sorrow, sorrow finds its healing: In the form wherein our father fell, CHRIST appears, those quick'ning Wounds revealing,

Which shall save from sin and death and

hell.

Now, Judæa, call thy Priesthood nigh thee! Now for Deicide prepare thy hands!

Lo thy Monarch, meek and gentle, by thee! Lo! the Lamb and Shepherd in thee stands !

To thy monarch, Salem, give glad greeting!
Willingly He hastens to be slain,
For the multitude His entrance meeting
With their false Hosanna's ceaseless strain.
Blest is He that comes, they cry,

On the Cross for man to die!

THE GREAT CANON.

It would be unpardonable not to give a portion of that which the Greeks regard as the king of Canons-the Great Canon of the Mid-Lent week. It is a collection of Scriptural examples, turned to the purpose of penitential Confession. It is impossible to deny the beauty of many stanzas, and the ingenuity of some tropological applications. But the immense length of the Canon, for it exceeds three hundred stanzas, and its necessary tautology, must render it wearisome, unless devotionally used under the peculiar circumstances for which it is appointed. The following is a part of the earlier portion.

Πόθεν ἄρξομαι θρηνεῖν.
Whence shall my tears begin?
What first-fruits shall I bear
Of earnest sorrow for my sin?

Or how my woes declare?

Oh Thou! the Merciful and Gracious One!

Forgive the foul transgressions I have done.

With Adam I have vied,

Yea, pass'd him, in my fall;
And I am naked now, by pride

And lust made bare of all;

Of Thee, O GOD, and that Celestial Band, And all the glory of the Promised Land.

No earthly Eve beguil'd

My body into sin :

A spiritual temptress smiled,

Concupiscence within:

Unbridled passion grasp'd the unhallow'd

sweet:

Most bitter-ever bitter-was the meat.

If Adam's righteous doom,

Because he dared transgress

Thy one decree, lost Eden's bloom

And Eden's loveliness:

What recompense, O LORD, must I expect,

Who all my life Thy quickening laws neglect?

By mine own act, like Cain,

A murderer was I made :

By mine own act my soul was slain,

When Thou wast disobeyed:

And lusts each day are quickened, warring still

Against the soul with many a deed of ill.

Thou formed'st me of clay,
O Heav'nly Potter! Thou

In fleshly vesture didst array,

With life and breath endow.

Thou Who didst make, didst ransom, and

dost know,

To Thy repentant creature pity show!

My guilt for vengeance cries;

But yet Thou pardonest all,

And whom Thou lov'st Thou dost chastise, And mourn'st for them that fall:

Thou, as a Father, mark'st our tears and

pain,

And welcomest the prodigal again.