Ode 6

Irmos: In the womb of the sea beast / Jonah stretched out his arms in the form of a cross, / clearly foreshadowing the salvific suffering; / And coming out three days later, / He foreordained the supernatural resurrection / of Christ God, nailed to the flesh / and enlightened the world by the resurrection of the third day.

Bent by old age and sickness, / Jacob straightened up, when he laid his hands on the sons of Joseph, / revealing the action of the life-giving Cross; / for God, nailed to him in the flesh, / renewed the decrepitude of the shadow of such a written Law / and drove away the soul-destroying disease of error.

Placing his hands crosswise on the young heads, / Divine Israel made it clear / that he who is revered by the elder is the people who serve under the law; / therefore, he suspected that he had made a mistake in this, / did not change the life-giving sign: / "For he will gain the advantage," he exclaimed, / "the people newly established of Christ God, / protected by the Cross!"

Self-Similar Kontakion, Tone 4

Ascended to the Cross voluntarily, / to the new people of Thy name, / grant Thy mercies, O Christ God; / Rejoice in Thy power Thy faithful people*, / giving them victory over their enemies, / – that they may have help from Thee, / the weapon of peace, the invincible sign of victory.

Ikos: Ascended to the third heaven in paradise / and hearing ineffable and divine words, / which cannot be retold in human tongues – / what does he write to the Galatians, / as have you lovers of the Scriptures read and learned? / "That I, he says, should boast, let it not be, / except by the Cross of the Lord alone, / on which, having suffered, He killed the passions." / So let us all hold it firmly, / the Cross of the Lord, as a praise; / for for us this saving Tree is / the weapon of peace, the invincible sign of victory.

*Greek: Our Kings

Ode 7

Irmos: The foolish command of the impious tyrant, / breathing with threat and abominable blasphemy, / has thrown the nations into confusion; / but the three youths were not frightened / by the wrath of beasts, nor by the noisy fire, / but, being in the fire, / against which the dew-bearing wind blew, they sang: / "Most praiseworthy God of the fathers and ours, blessed art Thou!"

The first of the mortals, / having eaten of the tree, fell into perdition, / for condemned to the most inglorious deprivation of life, / he, as a kind of destructive corruption for the body, / transmitted the disease to all his race; / but we, born on earth, having found restoration / through the wood of the Cross, cry out: / "Most praiseworthy God of fathers and ours, blessed art Thou!"

Disobedience violated God's command / and the tree brought death to people / through untimely eating from it; / and therefore the tree of precious life / was shut for safety; / but it was revealed by an evil death to the dead thief, / who wisely cried out: / "Most praiseworthy of the fathers and our God, blessed art Thou!"

Beholding the future, Israel / embraces the top of Joseph's rod, / foretelling that the most glorious Cross / will have royal power; / For he is the victorious praise of kings / and a light to those who cry out in faith: / "Praiseworthy of the fathers and our God, blessed art thou!"

Ode 8