"Trinities of Saints", by Monk Arsenios

Famous depiction of the prefiguration of the Holy Trinity by Rublev (source)

  

"According to the grace-filled expression of our Saints: “The Holy Spirit is the head of the household of the Orthodox Church”…Without His presence, all the deeds and the Mysteries of the Church remain invalid, dead. Thus, great is our rejoicing and exaltation when we see how the Holy Spirit has not abandoned His Orthodox Church even to our days…

 

"Therefore, among the infinite gifts of the Holy Spirit to His Church, we see a most-beautiful and grace-filled phenomenon, in other words, throughout the centuries, we see revealed trinities of Saints, and this is not by accident.

  

Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (source)

  

"We see this begin with the three Forefathers and Patriarchs of the Jewish people: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

"Though we do not see the same with the Apostles***, after a few centuries, we see shining forth the Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian.

   

The Three Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (source)

  

[***Note: One could argue that Christ highlighted the Apostles Peter, James and John at His Holy Transfiguration]

"The next trinity are the great Venerable Ascetics Sts. Anthony, Euthemios and Savas the Sanctified.

  

Three Great Desert Fathers: Sts. Anthony the Great, Euthemios and Sabbas the Sanctified (source)

 

"After several centuries shown forth three Saints who conquered the terrible heresy of papism: Photios the Great, Gregory Palamas and Mark of Ephesus.

Three Great Pillars of Orthodoxy: Sts. Gregory Palamas, Mark of Ephesus and Photios the Great (source)

  

"And, while several centuries passed without this particularly pleasant phenomenon being seen, many Saints were recognized. However, in our days, even before our Holy Church recognized them as Saints, the faithful especially of the Church of Greece, had begun to paint the icon of three Holy Elders: Porphyrios, Paisios and Iakovos, whom our Church formally recognized a short time later. Behold, how in our days, which are especially evil ones, the Holy Spirit has given us a new grace-filled trinity of Saints, which many of us “have seen and touched with our hands.” (I Epistle of John 1:1)…

"They, in short, are three greatly loved Saints of our days. All three had as their calling the healing of the pain of wearied people. It is unable to overestimate their contribution…"

-Excerpt from "The Three Saints of our Days: Sts. Paisios, Porphyrios and Iakovos"

By Monk Arsenios of the Skete of Koutloumousiou, Mount Athos

(source)

  

See also "Three Saints of Hope and Pain" for a similar discussion of these new wonderworkers.

  

Three Great Venerable Wonderworkers of the 20th Century: Sts. Paisios the Athonite, Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia and Iakovos of Evia (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"The Hierarchs of Christ, and the pride of the Fathers..."

The Holy Three Hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (source)

  
The Hierarchs of Christ, and the pride of the Fathers, the towers of the Faith, and the Teachers and protectors of the Faithful, let us gather together, O lovers of feasts, and offer them hymns of praise, hymning them as we say: Rejoice, light of the Church, O wise Basil, and immovable pillar. Rejoice, heavenly nous, O great Archpriest, Gregory the Theologian. Rejoice, O all-golden John Chrysostom, the stentorian preacher of repentance. But, O thrice-joyous Fathers, do not cease to ever entreat Christ on behalf of those who celebrate your all-sacred and divine feast with faith and fervor.
-Doxastikon of the Litia in the Plagal of the Second Tone

(source)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Akathist to Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs

Sts. Nonna, Emmelia and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, commemorated after the Sunday of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple (source)

  
Akathist to Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, the Mothers of the Three Hierarchs
  
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone. O Champion General.
The chaste Mothers of Basil, Gregory and John, let us praise with odes: Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa, for they raised their children in piety, and together with them they rejoice and intercede for those who now cry out: Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Angels with men rejoice fervently at your divine Synaxis (3), and together, with odes they hymn Emmelia, faithful Nonna and Anthousa, standing before them in wonder before their radiant lives, crying out:
Rejoice, through whom joy has shinned forth,
Rejoice, through whom the faithful are radiant.
Rejoice, the restoration of fallen men,
Rejoice, the consolation of saddened souls.
Rejoice, compassionate Mother filled with mystical grace,
Rejoice, vessel of the pious life.
Rejoice, for you now take pasture with the Angels in heaven,
Rejoice, for you ceaselessly intercede to the Trinity.
Rejoice, for your received chaste light of grace,
Rejoice, for your wisdom shown forth to the ends of the earth.
Rejoice, through whom creation is gladdened,
Rejoice, through whom the Creator is glorified.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

The multitudes of the Orthodox, beholding your life, and all your virtue that are most clearly revealed, cry out at your wondrous deeds surpassing nature, therefore they bend their knee and honor your person, O Mother, crying out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
Being filled with knowledge in your life, O Mother Emmelia, you served in your home, therefore without glory but with great piety, you bore and raised ten children, who cry out to you things like these:
Rejoice, wise deliverer of those in dangers,
Rejoice, fervent prayer of faith.
Rejoice, ever-flowing spring of reverence,
Rejoice, lily of the grace of virtuous life.
Rejoice, ladder bearing up the faithful towards heaven,
Rejoice, most-fervent intercessor, bringing requests to Christ.
Rejoice, you who speak among the choirs of heavenly minds,
Rejoice, for you share the dwelling of the Venerable Saints.
Rejoice, radiant adornment of mothers,
Rejoice, example for families.
Rejoice, protector of the faithful home,
Rejoice, good worker of the Lord.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  

Divine power from heaven was sent by Him Who beholds all things, to enlighten your nous, full of knowledge and wisdom, in which God came to dwell, O Emmelia. Therefore, you ever hasten to pray to Him and ceaselessly chant: Alleluia.

  

St. Nonna (source)

  

Having your nous on the things above, you ceaselessly prayed, dissolving the bonds of barrenness, and you struggled ascetically, O Nonna, increasing the streams of your tears, fasting and continence, therefore we honor your pains, crying out:

Rejoice, branch of unfading root,

Rejoice, fruitful tree of the faithful.

Rejoice, myrrh-vessel of the virtues of the Spirit,

Rejoice, the most-divine praise of the faithful.

Rejoice, dwelling-place that estranged temptations,

Rejoice, wailing and pain towards the assaults of the demons.

Rejoice, for you pour forth the streams of healings,

Rejoice, the baptismal fount of your spouse.

Rejoice, fervent incense of intercession,

Rejoice, you who drive away satan the deceiver.

Rejoice, you who lead us towards salvation in God,

Rejoice, our entreaty towards Christ.

Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O Mother Nonna, you cast out troubling frenzy and dark and soul-destroying thoughts, cleansing your nous, and you teach mothers by both theoria and praxis to build up virtue and to be pleasing to God and chant: Alleluia.
  

Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa (source)

  
Sekoundos saw you and took you as his wife, O Anthousa, who then bore John. But straightaway, as a young mother, you became a widow, but you continued to raise him in faith, praying for him, therefore we rightly cry out to you:
Rejoice, the offspring of Antioch,
Rejoice, the crown of a pious home.
Rejoice, the deliverer from various enemies,
Rejoice, good dwelling-place of the married life.
Rejoice, for the heavens rejoice with the earth,
Rejoice, for those on earth praise your life.
Rejoice, the God-inspired mouth of reverence,
Rejoice, you who bore the great weight of widowhood.
Rejoice, radiant support of the faith,
Rejoice, brave example of tender love.
Rejoice, through whom idols were removed from the earth,
Rejoice, through whom satan was deposed.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
O Mother honored by God, sacred Anthousa, you were shown to be a pillar of chastity for the Antiochians, therefore, Livanios the Rhetor praised you as a Christian mother, as we cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  

You preached to all righteously, through your godly mind and your righteous deeds, and you were seen to be a philanthropist and a lover of your children, to whom the faithful, having received charity through you, O Mother Emmelia, hasten, saying with fervor:
Rejoice, radiant offspring of Caesarea,
Rejoice, glory of the pious faithful.
Rejoice, the censure of the deceitful demons,
Rejoice, the unwavering psalmody of the Trinity,
Rejoice, you who educated and raised your children in Christ,
Rejoice, you who taught faith and piety in God.
Rejoice, the unsleeping protector of your children,
Rejoice, you who with faith drove away the assaults of the deceiver.
Rejoice, divine preaching for the senseless,
Rejoice, you who make known meekness to the faithful.
Rejoice, tool of every divine virtue,
Rejoice, wise and motherly protection.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
     
Your life became a preacher for Cappadocia, O Emmelia, wife and mother, therefore, together with your spouse, and your five children Saints, showing forth to the Church Basil the Great, while they chant unto God the hymn: Alleluia.
  

 St. Nonna (source)

  

The divine Nonna shown forth radiantly with piety, transmitting her faith to her children, whom she raised in a godly manner with good words and deeds, granting Saints to the Church of Christ, therefore we cry out to you tunefully:
Rejoice, uplifting of the pious,
Rejoice, healing for those ailing.
Rejoice, the unquenchable lamp of the Church,
Rejoice, the unspeakable glory of Nazianzus.
Rejoice, sea drowning the pains of temptations,
Rejoice, vessel pouring forth myrrh, watering the faithful.
Rejoice, fiery pillar of prayer with tears,
Rejoice, the protector of children and mother of Saints.
Rejoice, unending nourishment of the poor,
Rejoice, chaste boast of Mothers,
Rejoice, guide of the faithful towards truth,
Rejoice, from whom spring forth divine streams.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Remaining in church in prayer, O Nonna, God paradoxically loosed the bonds of barrenness, granting you three children straightaway, O Mother, and to Him Who granted them to you, you offered thanksgiving, crying out to the Fashioner: Alleluia.
  

St. Anthousa (source)

  
Bringing to mind Christ's victory over death, you were patient in your widowhood, O Anthousa, and you nurtured him with motherly tenderness together with godly words, therefore to you was granted that great Hierarch of Christ, who cries out:
Rejoice, the radiance of chastity,
Rejoice, the mother of truth.
Rejoice, the speedy deliverer of all,
Rejoice, the nourishment of prayerful mothers.
Rejoice, breath of the divine Spirit which refreshes the faithful,
Rejoice, most-radiant vessel which nourishes mortals.
Rejoice, you who direct the Antiochians to God,
Rejoice, the guide and protector of those of godly mind.
Rejoice, entreaty to the righteous Judge,
Rejoice, divine consolation for sinners.
Rejoice, Rejoice, holy stole of virtues,
Rejoice, desired food of Paradise.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Truly strange are the awesome and godly things that we see in you, O Anthousa, as you lived your life in holiness and chastity, and with endurance withstood everything, fasting and casting out the multitudes of demons, and chanting: Alleluia.
  

St. Nonna (source)

  
You became wholly illumined, and a vessel of God-pleasing prayer and of the Spirit, Who came to dwell within you truly,  O Nonna, and we wretched ones, coming to know the fullness of the Godhead through you, in faith cry out to you in hymns:
Rejoice, gate of the ineffable mysteries of God,
Rejoice, chaste pillar of chastity.
Rejoice, harshest censure of heretics,
Rejoice, the exceptional praise of the Orthodox.
Rejoice, cloud spread out above the road to the heavenly Sion,
Rejoice, mirror of the Spirit and dwelling-place in the heavens.
Rejoice, you who supported your brethren in pain,
Rejoice, you who led those deluded towards God.
Rejoice, through whom the enemies are driven away,
Rejoice, through whom are defeated those who war against us.
Rejoice, fulfiller of faith and motherhood,
Rejoice, firm exposer of satan.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
All natures of Angels were astonished, beholding your life in the flesh equal to the Angels, for God Who is unapproachable, gave you truly wondrous grace, O Nonna, and after your repose, He showed you forth to all the faithful as one working wonders, for those who cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Nonna (source)

  
You were shown to be wise before the rhetors of faithlessness, by your chaste life, for you led those deluded by heresy and the demons, O Mother, towards the light, preaching with faith, directing towards Christ, therefore we cry out to you:
Rejoice, treasury of the wisdom of God,
Rejoice, vessel of His graces.
Rejoice, two-edged sword against atheism,
Rejoice, ready blade against those of evil life.
Rejoice, for terrible heretics were deposed,
Rejoice, for in you the land of Antioch was gladdened.
Rejoice, divine adornment of all mothers,
Rejoice, speedy deliverer of those who pray to you.
Rejoice, radiance of the light of the Sun,
Rejoice, deliverance of faithful men.
Rejoice, you who made known the traps of satan,
Rejoice, you to whom was granted the Golden-tongued [Chrysostom].
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.
  
Save all through your prayers, O all-honored Mother, ceaselessly entreating the Lord, as we embrace your image with joy and all piety, and for the honor that we show you, you grant in return even greater things, for those who hymn you, O Anthousa, chanting: Alleluia.
  

Sts. Nonna, Anthousa and Emmelia (source)

  

Ranks of the Bodiless [Angels] counted your life and received your motherly spirit, for the Creator truly sanctified you, O Emmelia, Whom you pleased with pain, teaching the faithful to cry out to you:
Rejoice, O pillar of chastity,
Rejoice, O gate of compassion.
Rejoice, you who raised your children tenderly,
Rejoice, You who nursed them with godly milk.
Rejoice, for you taught them faith in Christ,
Rejoice, for you led them towards reverence to God in all things.
Rejoice, spouse of the priest Basil,
Rejoice, mother and all-joyous nourisher of Saints.
Rejoice, famed rejoicing of the faithful,
Rejoice, chaste nourishment of mothers.
Rejoice, speedy helper and deliverer,
Rejoice, fervent intercession towards the Master.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

Receive these divine hymns, O Mother Emmelia, which we offer in faith, seeking that we be delivered from many temptations and trying circumstances, from passions and from the fires of hell, through your prayers to the Lord for those who cry out: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
You pleased the Light-giver and Master through your faithful life, O Nonna, together with your spouse, for in you dwelt the uncreated light, leading you towards perfect knowledge of God, therefore we proclaim Christ’s wonders and cry out to you:
Rejoice, boast of your fatherland and your race,
Rejoice, our mighty weapon.
Rejoice, you who touch pious souls with the Spirit,
Rejoice, the divine root of Nazianzus.
Rejoice, for you truly heal illnesses,
Rejoice, for you wondrously redeem from the wounds of the soul.
Rejoice, the prayerful defender and protector,
Rejoice, you who stand beside those who mourn with joy.
Rejoice, you who raised your children with tenderness,
Rejoice, seal of the faith in the Trinity.
Rejoice, divine lighthouse of the light of Christ,
Rejoice, unfading strength of the faithful.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O divine Emmelia, grant grace to those who in faith and hymns honor your icon, and grant to those with fervor holy and spiritual fruit, godly zeal for virtue, readiness towards repentance and a good defense before God, chanting: Alleluia.
  

St. Emmelia (source)

  
The divine members of the choirs of the faithful praise you, O Mother Anthousa, and we honor your feast, rejoicing and praying with vigilance, offering our entreaties which you receive, and you grant even greater things to those who hymn you:
Rejoice, divine stole of grandeur,
Rejoice, joyous pillar of chastity.
Rejoice, ark and temple of holiness,
Rejoice, treasury and vessel of divine grace.
Rejoice, defender of the faith and salvation of the faithful,
Rejoice, sacred boast of pious mothers.
Rejoice, the unassailable pride of the Church,
Rejoice, the greatly-fervent horn of the Orthodox.
Rejoice, through whom the world was illumined,
Rejoice, through whom Chrysostom has shown forth.
Rejoice, humble and living protector of the faithful,
Rejoice, the intercessor for the salvation of souls.
Rejoice, O godly Synaxis.

O choir of Saints, Anthousa, with Nonna and Emmelia, the lights among mothers (3), those who chant this ode to you, deliver from every trying circumstance, and intercede to God for the salvation of those who cry out in faith: Alleluia.

And again the Kontakion.
  

(source)

 

Sts. Emmelia, Nonna and Anthousa before their sons, the Three Hierarchs (source)

     

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"Come, O worshippers of the heavenly Trinity, and let us praise the earthly trinity of divine Hierarchs..."

The Holy Three Hierarchs Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (source)

  
Come, O worshippers of the heavenly Trinity, and let us praise the earthly trinity of divine Hierarchs: Gregory, the namesake of theology, Basil, who bears the name of the Kingdom, and John, whose name is truly filled with grace. They sail the deep of wisdom, and the streams of the ocean of the Spirit, and ever draw forth living water from the spring welling forth to [eternal] life, they shine forth like pearls, the rudder of the Church, the tree greatly-laden with fruit, the stewards of grace, the mouth of Christ, the defenders of the Trinity, from whom we immediately are enlightened, and who ceaselessly entreat on behalf of our souls.
-Idiomelon of the Litia for the Feast of the Three Hierarchs
  
(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

The Feast of the Three Hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom

The Feast of the Three Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom - Commemorated on January 30th (http://vatopaidi.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/3-ierarches.jpg)

"During the reign of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118), a controversy arose in Constantinople among men learned in the Faith and zealous for virtue about the three holy Hierarchs and Fathers of the Church, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. Some argued for Saint Basil above the other two because he was able, as none other, to explain the mysteries of the Faith, and rose to angelic rank by his virtues. Organizer of monastic life, leader of the entire Church in the struggle with heresy, austere and demanding shepherd as to Christian morals, in him there was nothing base or of the earth. Hence, said they, he was superior to Saint Chrysostom who was by nature more easily inclined to absolve sinners.

The partisans of Saint Chrysostom retorted that the illustrious Archbishop of Constantinople had been no less zealous than Saint Basil in combatting vices, in bringing sinners to repentance and in raising up the whole people to the perfection of the Gospel. The golden-mouthed shepherd of matchless eloquence has watered the Church with a stream of homilies in which he interprets the divine word and shows its application in daily life with more accomplished mastery than the two other holy [Teachers].

According to a third group, Saint Gregory the Theologian was to be preferred to the others by reason of the majesty, purity and profundity of his language. Possessing a sovereign mastery of all the wisdom and eloquence of ancient Greece, he had attained, they said, to such a pitch in the contemplation of God that no one had been able to express the dogma of the Holy Trinity as perfecdy as he.

With each faction setting up one of the Fathers against the other two in this way, the whole Christian people were soon caught up in the dispute, which, far from promoting devotion to the Saints in the City, resulted in nothing but ill-feeling and endless argument. Then one night the three holy Hierarchs appeared in a dream to Saint John Mauropus, the Metropolitan of Euchaita (5 Oct.), separately at first, then together and, speaking with a single voice, they said: ‘As you see, the three of us are with God and no discord or rivalry divides us. Each of us, according to the circumstances and according to the inspiration that he received from the Holy Spirit, wrote and taught what befits the salvation of mankind. There is not among us a first, a second or a third, and if you invoke one of us the other two are immediately present with him. Therefore, tell those who are quarrelling not to create divisions in the Church because of us, for when we were on earth we spared no effort to re-establish unity and concord in the world. You can conjoin our three commemorations in one feast and compose a service for it, inserting the hymns dedicated to each of us according to the skill and knowledge that God has given you. Then transmit it to the Christians with the command to celebrate it each year. If they honour us thus as being with and in God, we give them our word that we will intercede for their salvation in our common prayer.’ At these words, the Saints were taken up into heaven in a boundless light while conversing with one another by name.

Saint John immediately assembled the people and informed them of this revelation. As he was respected by all for his virtue and admired for his powerful eloquence, the three parties made peace and every one urged him to lose no time in composing the service of the joint feast. With fine discernment, he selected the 30th of January as appropriate to the celebration, for it would set the seal to the month in which each of the three Hierarchs already had a separate commemoration.

The three Hierarchs—an earthly trinity as they are called in some of the wonderful troparia of their service—have taught us, in their writings and equally by their lives, to worship and to glorify the Holy Trinity, the One God in three Persons. These three luminaries of the Church have shed the light of the true Faith all over the world, scorning dangers and persecutions, and they have left us, their descendants, this sacred inheritance by which we too can attain to utmost blessedness and everlasting life in the presence of God and of all the Saints.

With the feast of the three Hierarchs at the end of January—the month in which we keep the memory of so many glorious bishops, confessors and ascetics—the Church in a way recapitulates the memory of all the Saints who have witnessed to the Orthodox faith by their writings and by their lives. In this feast we honour the whole ministry of teaching of the holy Church, namely, the illumination of the hearts and minds of the faithful through the word of truth. So the feast of the three Hierarchs is, in fact, the commemoration of all the Fathers of the Church, those models of evangelic perfection which the Holy Spirit has raised up from age to age and from place to place to be new Prophets and new Apostles, guides of souls heavenward, comforters of the people and fiery pillars of prayer, supporting the Church and confirming her in the truth."

(Source: The Synaxarion, The lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church, Volume three, Holy convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Ormylia, 2001; http://vatopaidi.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/the-thirtieth-day-of-january/)

The Holy Three Hierarchs: Sts. Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and Basil the Great (Icon courtesy of www.eikonografos.com used with permission)

Apolytikion in the First Tone

The three greatest beacons of the Three-sunned Godhead, who lighted the whole inhabited world with the beams of their divine doctrines, the rivers of wisdom flowing with honey, who watered all creation with streams of the knowledge of God, Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian with famous John whose tongue spoke golden words, let all we lovers of their words now assembled honour them in hymns. For they ever intercede with the Trinity on our behalf.

Kontakion in the Second Tone

You have taken, Lord, the sacred, the God-inspired heralds, the high peak of your Teachers, for the enjoyment of your good things and for repose; for you accepted above every offering their toils and their death, you who alone glorify your Saints.

(http://www.gocanada.org/calendar/january/threehierarchs.htm)

Oikos
Who is sufficient to open his lips and to move his tongue concerning them that breathed with fire in the power of the Word and the Spirit? Howbeit, I shall make bold to speak of such a thing; for the three of them have surpassed all human nature by their great graces, which were many; and in discipline and divine vision, they have outdone them that were illustrious in both. Therefore, Thou hast deemed them worthy of the greatest gifts, since they are thy faithful servants, O Thou Who along dost glorify Thy Saints.

Hymns of the Praises in the Second Tone
With what crowns of praise shall we crown those teachers, separated in body, united in spirit; leaders of the God-mantled ones, servants of the Trinity and equal to it in number; stars illuminating the universe, and pillars of the Church, who being victorious, have been crowned with crowns of glory by Christ our King and God who possesseth the Great Mercy?

With what beautiful songs shall we clothe those God-mantled ones, who are heavenly initiates, preachers of Orthodoxy, and heads of those who discourse in theology? Basil the great revealer of divine things, Gregory the divine Theologian, and the venerable, golden-tongued John, have been worthily glorified by God the Trinity, Possessor of the Great Mercy.

With what lofty hymns shall we praise those High Priests, equal to the Apostles in grace, ranking with them in honor and gifts, abolishers of infidelity, saviors and guides by word and deed, shepherds resembling Christ in faith, earthly angels, celestial humans, who were honored by Christ, the Lord of glory and Possessor of the Great Mercy?

With what crowns of praise shall we crown the golden-worded John, with Basil and Gregory, those Spirit-revering vessels and steadfast contenders for the faith, pillars of the Church, confirmation of believers, and comforters to all sinners, springs overflowing with water, from which as we drink, our souls are refreshed, seeking forgiveness of iniquities and the Great Mercy?
(http://www.antiochianladiocese.org/files/service_texts/other_commem/three_hierarchs/Jan-30-ORTHROS.pdf)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!