Thursday, April 02, 2015

Holy Thursday 2015

Receive me today, o Son of God, as a partaker of Thy mystical Supper; for I will not tell of the mystery to Thy enemies, I will not give Thee a kiss as did Judas; but like the thief, I confess to Thee: Remember me, o Lord, in Thy kingdom!

The Last Supper, by Simon Ushakov, 1685 
In the Byzantine Rite, these words are sung at the Divine Liturgy of Holy Thursday in place of the Cherubic Hymn, and at the distribution of Communion, when they may be repeated several times. These are the the Greek and Old Church Slavonic versions; the traditional Slavonic music is particularly beautiful.

Τοῦ Δείπνου σου τοῦ μυστικοῦ σήμερον, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, κοινωνόν με παράλαβε· οὐ μὴ γὰρ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς σου τὸ μυστήριον εἴπω· οὐ φίλημά σοι δώσω, καθάπερ ὁ Ἰούδας· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὁ Λῃστὴς ὁμολογῶ σοι· Μνήσθητί μου, Κύριε, ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου.


Вечери Твоеѧ тайныѧ днесь, Сыне Божїй, причастника мѧ прїими: не бо врагωмъ Твоимъ тайну повѣмъ, ни лобзанїѧ Ти дамъ, ѩкω Іуда, но ѩкω разбойникъ исповѣдаю Тѧ: помѧни мѧ, Господи, во царствїи Твоемъ.

The Ambrosian Liturgy adopted this text for the antiphon “after the Gospel” at the Mass of the Lord’s, with a few slight variations to the text. (The traditional Ambrosian liturgy also shares with the Byzantine Rite the custom of celebrating this Mass together with Vespers, as I have described previously.)

Coenae tuae mirabili hodie, Filius Dei, socium me accipis. Non enim inimicis tuis hoc mysterium dicam, non tibi dabo osculum, sicuti et Judas: sed sicut latro confitendo te: Memento mei, Domine, in regno tuo.


Thou receivest me today, o Son of God, as a companion at Thy wondrous Supper; for I will not tell of this mystery to Thy enemies, I will not give Thee a kiss as did Judas; but like the thief, confessing Thee, (I say): Remember me, o Lord, in Thy kingdom!

More recent articles:

For more articles, see the NLM archives: