The Dormition and Burial of St. Kosmas Aitolos the New Hieromartyr (Icon courtesy of www.eikonografos.com used with permission)
"When I finished my story, [Saint Herman of Alaska] asked, 'What was the name of the martyred Aleut?' I answered, 'Peter. I do not remember his family name.' The Elder stood reverently before an icon, made the Sign of the Cross and said, "Holy New Martyr Peter, pray to God for us"
I recently came across an interesting service text written by St. Nikephoros of Chios: a special funeral service for a New Martyr. As the Church holds those who gave their lives for Christ in very high regard, in these hymns the new Saint is immediately hymned and entreated to pray for us. It's a very moving service, and it reminds us that Christ's Church continues to be enriched with the blood of Martyrs for Him up till our days.
Below I include a few of these hymns that I've translated from the Greek. The full text in Greek is available at the following link: http://voutsinasilias.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_17.html (Note that this post also includes a Paraklesis to the Holy Trinity and the Service to the New Martyrs since the fall of Constantinople).
Evlogetaria from the Funeral for a New Martyr (amateur translation)
Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes.
The assembly of angels, and all the choirs of the saints, O Champion, now surround your soul in the heavens rejoicing, and they glorify Christ Who granted you strength and crowned you.
Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes.
Instead of myrrh, we on earth offer you hymns with fervor, and your sacred body, O Saint, we now bury with reverence, therefore receive our divine fervor, and visit and save us through your prayers.
You proclaimed Christ most radiantly as Son of God and God the Word, O Champion, before judges and atheists, and having been slaughtered, received eternal life and live forever.
With awe we surround your all-sacred body, and honorably bury it in the earth, invisibly grant divine graces to those who hymn you with faith and fervor.
We worship the Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, for Whom you struggled, O Martyr, manfully, and Who crowned you with incorruptible crowns, O Glorious One.
O Virgin you gave birth to the Life-giver and Savior, Who granted salvation to mortals, and Who was preached by the famed Champion with boldness, and most-truthfully you who gave birth to God, and opened incorruption where was formerly death.
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
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