Come and let us bless Joseph of everlasting memory,
who came to Pilate by night
and begged for the Life of all:
‘Give me this stranger,
Who has no place to lay His head.
Give me this stranger,
Whom His evil disciple delivered to death.
Give me this stranger,
Whom His Mother saw hanging on the Cross,
and with a mother’s sorrow she cried weeping:
“Woe is me, O my Child!
Woe is me, Light of mine eyes and beloved fruit of my womb!
For what Symeon foretold in the temple is come to pass today:
a sword pierces my heart,
but do Thou change my grief to gladness by Thy Resurrection."
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ!
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ!
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ, //
and Thy Holy Resurrection!