Sticheron hymn of the Holy Friday

Come, let us bless the ever-memorable Joseph, who came by night to Pilate and begged for the
Giver of Life: “Give me this Stranger, Who has no place to lay His head; Give me this Stranger
Whom the crafty disciple has betrayed to death; Give me this Stranger, whose Mother, when
She saw Him hanging on the Cross, and with a mother’s sorrow cried with weeping and maternal
feeling exclaimed: ‘Woe is Me, O my Child! Woe is Me, my Light, the Beloved of My bosom!
That which was foretold in the church by Simeon has come to pass today!  A weapon has pierced
My heart; but lamenting shall be changed by the joy of the resurrection!’”  We worship Your
Passion, O Christ!  We worship Your Passion, O Christ!  We worship Your Passion, O Christ!
and Your Holy Resurrection.