Service for a Beginner Putting on the Rason

Service for a Beginner Putting on the Rason

The priest says ‘Blessed’;[1] Thrice-Holy Hymn; All-Holy Trinity; Our Father; For yours is the Kingdom.

Troparia. Second Plagial Tone.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for deprived of every excuse we sinners offer this supplication to you as Master: have mercy on us.

Glory be to the Father...

Lord, have mercy on us for we have put our trust in you. Do not be exceedingly wrathful with us, neither remember our transgressions but as compassionate look upon us even now and redeem us from our enemies. For you are our God and we your people. We are all the work of your hands and we have invoked your name.

And Now...

Blessed One who gave birth to God, open to us the gate of compassion. May we who hope in you not fall short of our aim; through you may we be delivered from difficult circumstances. For you are the salvation of the Christian people.

Afterwards the present prayer:

Let us pray to the Lord.

We thank you, O Lord our God, who according to your great mercy has delivered your servant (so-and-so)[2] from the vain life of the world and called him to this religious profession. Make him worthy therefore to live worthily in this Angelic way of life. Guard him from the snares of the Devil and preserve his soul and body pure until death; and grant him to become your holy temple. Grant him understanding to hold you always in remembrance and give to him the humility of your commandments; and love, and meekness. Through the intercessions of our exceedingly holy Mistress who gave birth to God, the Ever-Virgin Mary, and all your saints. Amen.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Master, accept your servant (so-and-so)[3] to your salvific yoke and grant him to be enrolled in the flock of your elect. Clothe him with the robe of sanctification. Gird his loin with chastity. Show him to be a struggler for every temperance. Grant that the perfect gift of your spiritual charisms abide in him and in us. Through the intercessions of our exceedingly holy Mistress who gave birth to God, the Ever-Virgin Mary, and all your saints. Amen.

After this he tonsures him in the form of a cross, saying:

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Saying three times the Amen.[4] And he clothes him with the Inner Rason and the Kalymauchion, saying nothing more.

And the Dismissal.

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[1] The rubrics here are very concise. The priest puts on his priest’s stole and begins the service—which is ordinarily done separately from any other service—with ‘Blessed is our God...’, after which the reader continues with the standard beginning of a service, the first words of each part of this beginning being given in the rubric. Then the service continues with the following three troparia, all of which are in the second plagial tone.

[2] This would be the person’s baptismal name.

[3] This would be the person’s monastic name, which at this stage might even be the same as his baptismal name.

[4] That is, the priest would say ‘Amen’ after each person of the Trinity.