THE LITURGY OF THE ROGATION OF NINEVEH

The Liturgy as Approved for Use in the Missionary Diocese of East and Southeast Asia in the Ancient Church of the West 

To be used on the Monday before Septuagesima, or as an optional day of penitence at the discretion of the Ordinary.

INTROIT: Jonah 3:5, 8-9; Psalm 130:1-2

And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least. And the king said: Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?

V. Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Antiphon repeated: And the people of Nineveh believed God...

A ROGATION LITANY OF REPENTANCE

(To be sung or recited kneeling outside of the Holy Doors, before going up to the Altar on this day.)

Priest: Lord, have mercy upon us.

People: Christ, have mercy upon us.

All: Lord, have mercy upon us.

Priest: Remember, O Lord, the repentance of Nineveh, and forgive us our sins.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember the prayers of Thy servant Abraham, and turn Thy wrath from us.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember Moses, who stood in the breach, and spare Thy people.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember David, who repented in sackcloth and ashes, and cleanse us from our iniquities. 

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember Isaiah, who cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” and heal our lips with Thy cleansing fire.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember the tears of Jeremiah, and deliver us from captivity.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember the fasting of Daniel, and send us Thy holy angel.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember the sufferings of Job, and strengthen us in trial.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Remember the preaching of Jonah, and bring us to true repentance.

People: And have mercy upon us! 

Priest: Spare us, O Lord, and turn from Thy wrath.

People: We beseech Thee, hear us.

(The litany may be extended through saying the Great Litany here, or may simply be ended with the following collect.) 

Priest: Almighty God, we beseech Thee, pour upon us the spirit of compunction and amendment, that we, truly repenting, may find grace in Thy sight; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

COLLECT

O Almighty and most merciful God, who didst send Thy prophet Jonah to call the great city of Nineveh to repentance, and who, in Thy loving-kindness, didst turn away from them the wrath which they had justly deserved: Grant that we, following their example, may with true contrition bewail our iniquities, and by fasting, prayer, and works of mercy, obtain Thy pardon and grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

LESSON: Jonah 3:1-10

In those days: The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.

GRADUAL: Psalm 51:1-3

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

TRACT: Isaiah 58:6-9

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.

GOSPEL: Matthew 12:38-41

+ The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew. 

At that time: Certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from Thee. But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

OFFERTORY: Joel 2:13

Rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.

SECRET

Receive, O Lord, these our oblations, and mercifully grant that we, who here offer unto Thee this sacrifice of atonement, may by Thy grace obtain that true repentance which Thou didst grant unto Nineveh of old; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

COMMUNION: Luke 15:7

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

POSTCOMMUNION COLLECT

O Lord, who hast refreshed us with these holy mysteries: grant that as Thou didst spare the city of Nineveh when it turned from its wickedness, so we, being fed with this holy Sacrament, may be strengthened to walk in newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.