These refrains are sung on the third week of Lent in the Orthodox church during the Salutations service, which this year also happens to fall on the Annunciation. This service is a series of reflections on the Theotokos and are among the most beautiful services during the year.
THIRD WEEK
New creation was shown by the Creator in showing himself unto us whom He created, sprouting up from an unseeded womb, while preserving it just as it was, inviolate, so that beholding the miracle we might extol her, exclaiming:
Rejoice, O flower of incorruptness.
Rejoice, O crown of laurel for continence.
Rejoice, for in you resurrection is typified.
Rejoice, for angelical life you exemplified.
Rejoice, fertile tree with luscious fruit, by which believers are sustained.
Rejoice, foliaged tree beneath which are many sheltered in its shade.
Rejoice, for you were pregnant with the Guide for the errant.
Rejoice, for of the Freer of captives you are the parent.
Rejoice, who plead till the just Judge surrenders.
Rejoice, forgiveness for many offenders.
Rejoice, the vesture of those stripped of confidence.
Rejoice, the tender love that conquers every longing.
Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.
On seeing the strange childbirth, let’s be estranged from the mundane, transporting our mind unto heaven. For this purpose the supernal God as a humble human being appeared down on earth, intending to attract unto the summit those who cry out to Him, Alleluia.
Present below completely and above nowise absent was the uncircumscribable Logos. For it was no migration through space, but divine condescension that had taken place, and childbirth from a God-possessed Virgin who hears this that follows:
Rejoice, the uncontainable God’s container.
Rejoice, the magnificent mystery’s doorway.
Rejoice, for unbelievers a doubtful story.
Rejoice, for the believers the doubtless glory.
Rejoice, all-holy vehicle of Him who rides the Cherubim.
Rejoice, exquisite domicile20 of Him who mounts the Seraphim.
Rejoice, who integrate in yourself a contradiction.
Rejoice, who incorporate both virginity and parturition.
Rejoice, through whom the trespass was nullified.
Rejoice, through whom was Paradise opened wide.
Rejoice, the opener to Christ’s kingdom.
Rejoice, the hope of eternal blessings.
Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.
Quite amazed by the great deed of Your incarnation was the entire nature of Angels. For the once inaccessible God they beheld accessible to all as a man, with us together sojourning while thusly hearing from everyone: Alleluia.
Richly eloquent rhetors we see speechless as fishes when they contemplate you, O Theotokos. For at a loss are they to explain how you managed childbirth and a virgin yet remain. But we, in marveling at the mystery, cry out with conviction:
Rejoice, God’s Wisdom’s repository.
Rejoice, His providence’s depository.
Rejoice, who prove the philosophers wisdomless.
Rejoice, who reprove the sophists as ridiculous.
Rejoice, for the fierce debaters becoming fools lost their taste.
Rejoice, for the creators of the myths have faded away.
Rejoice, you who rend the webs of the Athenians.
Rejoice, you who fill the nets of the Fishermen.
Rejoice, who drag out from the deep of ignorance.
Rejoice, who illumine many with cognizance.
Rejoice, the barge for those seeking salvation.
Rejoice, the harbor for life’s navigators.
Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.
