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Audio Text
| The priest finishes with the ekphonesis: For Yours is the might, and … The choir: Amen. The deacon returns to the Altar via the southern door. The royal doors are now opened. The chanters sing the third antiphon or the Beatitudes, if it is Sunday. The priest and deacon, standing before the Holy Table, make three small bows. Then the priest takes the Holy Gospel and gives it to the deacon. Preceded by the candle bearers, the deacon and priest go to the right and pass behind the Holy Table and go out of the Altar through the north door to make the Little Entrance. When they come before the royal doors, the candle bearers, one near the icon of the Theotokos and the other near the icon of the Savior, stand facing each other. The priest is in the center and the deacon slightly in front of him and to his right; both bow their heads. In a subdued voice, the deacon says: Let us pray to the Lord, after which the priest quietly says the Prayer of the Entrance: O Lord, our Master and God, Who etc. When the priest has finished the prayer, the deacon, holding the orarion with three fingers and pointing eastward with his right hand, says in a subdued voice: Master, bless the holy entrance. Blessing towards the east, the priest says: Blessed is the entrance … Then the deacon presents the Holy Gospel to the priest, who kisses it. At the completion of the antiphon or the Beatitudes, the deacon proceeds to the center and stands before the priest; raising his hands a little and displaying the Holy Gospel, the deacon says loudly: Wisdom! Stand Aright! Holding the Gospel Book, the deacon enters the Altar through the royal doors and places the Holy Gospel upon the Holy Table. The priest follows the deacon into the Altar through the royal doors. Coming together before the royal doors, the candle bearers make a reverence and return to their places. The chanters sing: Come, let us worship … wondrous in Your saints, … or, if it is Sunday, … risen from the dead, |
Notes
Place your orarion over the Gospel as you receive it. Hold the Gospel at the forehead with the front cover facing away from yo. , Walk at an even pace. In some parishes it is a custom to present the Gospel for veneration to the people as you exit the North Door.
When presenting the Gospel for the priest to venerate, place it on your left shoulder with the cover facing upward. As you return the Gospel to your forehead, the cover now faces you.
Don’t be afraid to forcefully intone, Wisdom, Stand Aright!” Enter and neatly return the Gospel to the Holy Table, verating it as you place it.