Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Selected hymns for St. Ephraim of Nea Makri

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

St. Ephraim the New Righteous Martyr of Nea Makri, the Wonderworker - Commemorated May 5th and January 3rd (http://www.romiosini.org.gr/DA9A0DD2.el.aspx)
   
Selected hymns from the service to St. Ephraim the New Righteous Martyr of Nea Makri (all hymns below for the Saint are amateur translations from the Greek) available here: http://analogion.gr/glt/texts/May/05c.uni.htm.
   
Idiomelon of the Litia in the First Tone
Beholding you, O righteous-martyr Ephraim, the words of David are fulfilled*, and we brightly praise you, for on the Amomon mountain, working virtue, as on the mountain of the Lord, innocent you were shown in hands and pure in heart, arrayed in righteousness, and you watered the flowers of dispassion with the streams of your martyrical blood, and bore fruit in struggles, and you pour forth the sweetness of wonders, by which the bitter passions are withered, and leading towards salvation those who cry: O Lord, glory be to You. [*Psalm 24:3-4]
  
Doxastikon of the Aposticha in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Shining with the light of grace, O Father, your soul manfully endured the attacks of the princes of darkness, as if another were suffering, and you approached Christ totally, not at all lamenting having your members eviscerated by murderous hands, but you cried to the Lord: receive my spirit, O Savior, Who for me voluntarily endured the passion, and poured forth to me eternal life. And therefore, O blessed Ephraim, ceaselessly pray, that those who bless you may be saved.
  
Apolytikion in the First Tone
On Amomon Mountain, you shown forth like the sun, and O God-bearer, you left for God by martyrdom, you endured barbarians’ attacks, Ephraim O righteous-martyr of Christ, because of this you ever pour forth grace, to those who piously cry out to you, glory to Him who gave you strength, glory to Him you made you wondrous, glory to Him who grants through you, healings for all!
  
   
Kontakion in the Third Tone.
You struggled on Amomon mountain in asceticism, O godly-one, and there you completed the road of martyrdom. Therefore, the Giver-of-life has rightly crowned you with dual crowns, O righteous-martyr Ephraim, fervently entreat Him to have mercy on those who praise you.
  
Oikos
O Father, you followed Christ from youth, and in all ways you denied the wordly way and the pleasures of the flesh, and were filled with divine love, shining with an angelic life on mount Amomon, and you became a dwelling-place of divine energy, purifying your body and soul from the soul-corrupting passions with ascetical sweat, and were seized by the murderous hands of barbarians, and showed forth steadfastness in martyrdom, enduring many forms of injuries and tortures, and were violently put to death for Christ. Therefore, the Giver-of-life has crowned you with dual crowns, O righteous-martyr Ephraim, fervently entreat Him to have mercy on those who praise you.
  
Synaxarion
On the fifth of this month (May), we celebrate the memory of the struggle of the holy, glorious, righteous-martyr Ephraim, the newly-revealed and wonderworker, who struggled in asceticism on the mount of Amomon and struggled in martyrdom in the 15th century.
  
Verses
Seized by the struggle of asceticism, Ephraim
you were rightly glorified by the Lord.
On the fifth, Ephraim was horribly found on a mulberry tree by murderous hands.





  Megalynarion

Shining with an ascetical life, on mount Amomon, you struggled martyrically and were granted the grace of wonders by God, O Righteous-martyr Ephraim, who dwell with the Angels.
   
Icon of St. Ephraim of Nea Makri, and the spring of holy water in his monastery (http://www.romiosini.org.gr/DA9A0DD2.el.aspx)

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!


Truly the Lord is risen!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thankyou for this, I was looking for the hymns for him since it's the feast day of his discovery tomorrow.

In the apolytikion, you have:
On Amomon Mountain, you shown forth like the sun, and O God-bearer, you left for God by martyrdom, you endured barbarians’ attacks, Ephraim O righteous-martyr of Christ, because of this you ever pour forth grace, to those who piously cry out to you, glory to Him who gave you strength, glory to Him you made you wondrous, glory to Him who grants through you, healings for all!

I'd suggest the following minor changes (mostly for grammatical purposes although one is stylistic):

On Amomon Mountain, you showed forth like the sun, and O God-bearer, you left this life for God by martyrdom, enduring barbarians’ attacks. Ephraim, O righteous-martyr of Christ, because of this you ever pour forth grace to those who piously cry out to you: glory to Him who gave you strength; glory to Him you made you wondrous; glory to Him who grants healings to all through you!

The last 'glory to Him' I changed to match the common translation of the apolytikion to St Nectarios which has the same last two "glory to Him" verses :)

Thanks again, Kyriaki.

Brian Matthew Whirledge said...

When I was in Greece a few years ago, I was blessed to visit St. Ephraim, who made a profound impact on my life. I am looking into the possibility of chanting and recording your translation of these hymns to St. Ephraim, as well as the Akathist you translated elsewhere. Of course I want to seek your permission to use your translation. Please reply here, or contact me privately through my Blogger/Google profile. Thank God, and have a good fast.
Brian

Agioi_Anargyroi said...

Thank you for your desire to honor St. Ephraim, such an incredible example for us today, and a great helper of those in need.

May I ask, what are you planning to do with these recordings? If they are for personal use or for public domain (e.g. Youtube), then I personally don't have any problem. If you are planning to publish them or sell them though, I would definitely contact the monastery to get a blessing first.

Also note that the hymns are not metered according to the Byzantine prosomoia where appropriate. I might be able to rearrange the apolytikion, kontakion and megalynarion to match the music, if I get time.

May the Lord bless you, through the prayers of his holy one.