The Office of Kneeling - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

THE GOSPEL
25
For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a
prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what
we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh,
and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth.
Glory be to God forever.
PSALI BATOS 1
Christ the Word of the Father, the Only-begotten of God, Who
took flesh from the Virgin for the sake of our salvation, suffered
of His own Will so that He might redeem us from our sins, and
rose from the dead on the third day. We were buried with Him
in His death, and He destroyed the power of Death which is the
Devil and his wicked demons. Wherefore, we pray without
bending our knees at all, and until the completion of Pentecost
we stand at prayer, and we sing with the prophet against our
enemies, saying: “They are bound and have fallen, but we are
risen and stand up” 2 But at the manifesting unto us of the Spirit
in tongues of fire, we bend our knees upon the earth, for we are
not able to endure the sight of Him, and we confess that through
the coming of the Holy Spirit we have been taught the worship of
the Life-giving Trinity. We know that God is a Spirit, and they
1 This Psali Batos is printed in Burmester’s translation.
2 Psalm XIX 9