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Choral Evensong

Thursday 13th October 2022 – 17:30

Choral Evensong at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is a tiny fragment of something else: it is part of the worship which is offered to God by people every hour of the day and night, in every corner of the world. When you come to Evensong here, it is as if you are dropping in on a conversation already in progress – a conversation between God and his people. So do not be surprised or concerned if there are some parts that you do not understand straight away.

Evensong is drawn almost entirely from the Bible. Much of the language spoken and sung in this service is that spoken by worshippers more than four hundred years ago. It may sound old-fashioned, but its meaning is not out of date. We invite you to allow the music and words to speak to you in the beauty and peace of this place.

You are invited to say the text in bold in English.

Order of Service

Please stand as the Minister sings

Let us pray.

Please remain standing whilst the Choir and Clergy enter the stalls

The Minister and Choir sing the

Preces and Responses

O Lord, open thou our lips.
And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

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.

Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord’s Name be praised.

Richard Ayleward (1626–69)

Please sit as the Choir sings the 

PSALM 18 vv 1–16 Diligam te, Domine. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my stony rock, and my defence; My saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge. I will call upon the Lord, which is worthy to be praised: so shall I be safe from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me: and the overflowings of ungodliness made me afraid. The pains of hell came about me: the snares of death overtook me. In my trouble I called upon the Lord: and complained unto my God. So he heard my voice out of his holy temple: and my complaint came before him, it entered even into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked: the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed, because he was wroth. There went a smoke out in his presence: and a consuming fire out of his mouth, so that coals were kindled at it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and it was dark under his feet. He rode upon the cherubim, and did fly: he came flying upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place: his pavilion round about him, with dark water and thick clouds to cover him. At the brightness of his presence his clouds removed: hail-stones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered out of heaven, and the Highest gave his thunder: hail-stones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows, and scattered them: he cast forth lightnings, and destroyed them. The springs of water were seen, and the foundations of the round world were discovered: at thy chiding, O Lord, at the blasting of the breath of thy displeasure.

Please stand for

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.

Please sit for the

Isaiah 54: 11-17

11 O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
   I am about to set your stones in antimony,
   and lay your foundations with sapphires.*
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
   your gates of jewels,
   and all your wall of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
   and great shall be the prosperity of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
   you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
   and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 If anyone stirs up strife,
   it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
   shall fall because of you.
16 See, it is I who have created the smith
   who blows the fire of coals,
   and produces a weapon fit for its purpose;
I have also created the ravager to destroy.
17   No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
   and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgement.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
   and their vindication from me, says the Lord.

Please stand as the Choir sings 

MAGNIFICAT

Caesar’s Service; John Amner (1579–1641)

Please sit for the 

Acts 17: 22-34

22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor* he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God* and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
29Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ 33At that point Paul left them. 34But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Please stand as the Choir sings 

NUNC DIMITTIS

Caesar’s Service; John Amner (1579–1641)

Please remain standing to say the 

APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary: suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost: the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints: the forgiveness of sins: the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Minister and Choir sing the 

SUFFRAGES AND RESPONSES

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.

Please kneel or sit, according to your custom

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
And grant us thy salvation.

O Lord, guide and defend our rulers.
And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
And make thy chosen people joyful.

O Lord, save thy people.
And bless thine inheritance.

Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.

O God, make clean our hearts within us.
And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

The Minister intones the 

Lord, we pray thee
that thy grace may always prevent and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

Amen.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

Richard Ayleward (1626–69)

Please sit as the Choir sings the 

ANTHEM

Nolo mortem peccatoris; Haec sunt verba Salvatoris.

(I do not wish the death of a sinner; These are the words of the Saviour.)


Father I am thine only Son, sent down from heav’n mankind to save.
Father, all things fulfilled and done according to thy will, I have.
Father, my will now all is this: Nolo mortem peccatoris.
Father, behold my painful smart, taken for man on ev’ry side;
Ev’n from my birth to death most tart, no kind of pain I have denied,
but suffered all, and all for this: Nolo mortem peccatoris.

Thomas Morley (1557–1603)

The Minister says 

Let us pray.

Please kneel or remain seated for the 

PRAYERS

At the end, all say

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore. Amen.

Please stand as the Choir and Clergy depart. 

Please remain at your seat for the duration of the 

ORGAN VOLUNTARY