Kon­takion 1

Chosen Won­der­worker and su­perb ser­vant of Christ, who poured out for all the world the most pre­cious myrrh of mercy and an in­ex­haustible ocean of mir­a­cles, I praise you with love, Saint Nicholas; and as you have bold­ness to­wards the Lord, de­liver me from all ad­ver­si­ties that I may call to you:

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Ikos 1

The Lord of all cre­ation made you an Angel in man­ner­ism though earthly by na­ture. Fore­see­ing the fruit­ful beauty of your soul, blessed Nicholas, he taught all to cry to you:

Rejoice, for you were pu­ri­fied from your mother's womb; re­joice, for you kept holy even to the end. Re­joice, for you amazed your par­ents by your birth; re­joice, for you showed soon after your birth the vigor of your soul. Re­joice, gar­den of the land of promise; re­joice, flower of di­vine plant­ing. Re­joice, vir­tu­ous vine of Christ's vine­yard; re­joice, won­der­work­ing tree of the Par­adise of Jesus. Re­joice, lily of heav­enly growth; re­joice, myrrh of the fra­grance of Christ. Re­joice, for through you lamen­ta­tion is ban­ished; re­joice, for you bring to all joy.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 2

Seeing the flow of the myrrh, O di­vinely wise Saint, our souls and bod­ies are en­light­ened, and we re­al­ize that you are a won­der­ful, liv­ing source of unc­tion, O Nicholas. For you re­fresh with mir­a­cles as with wa­ters poured out by the grace of God those who faith­fully cry to Him: Alleluia!

Ikos 2

Teach­ing in­com­pre­hen­si­ble knowl­edge about the Holy Trin­ity you were a cham­pion of the con­fes­sion of the Or­tho­dox faith with the holy fa­thers in Nicea. For you con­fessed the Son equal to the Fa­ther, co-eter­nal and co-en­throned, and you con­victed the fool­ish Arius. There­fore, you have taught the faith­ful to sing to you:

Rejoice, great pil­lar of ho­li­ness; re­joice, city of refuge for the faith­ful. Re­joice, firm strong­hold of Or­tho­doxy; re­joice, ven­er­a­ble ves­sel and praise of the Holy Trin­ity. Re­joice, preacher of the Son equal in honor with the Fa­ther; re­joice, ex­peller the be­dev­iled Arius from the coun­cil of the saints. Re­joice, glo­ri­ous beauty of the fa­thers; re­joice, wise good­ness of all the di­vinely wise. Re­joice, speaker of fiery words; re­joice, right­eous di­rec­tor of your flock. Re­joice, for through you faith is strength­ened; re­joice; for through you heresy is de­feated.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 3

By the power given you from on high you dry every tear from the face of those in ter­ri­ble suf­fer­ing, O God-bear­ing fa­ther Nicholas. For you are a feeder of the hun­gry, a su­perb pilot for those on the high seas, and a healer of the sick, and you have proved to be a helper to all who cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 3

Truly a song ought to be sung to you from heaven, and not from earth, Fa­ther Nicholas; for how can a mere man pro­claim the great­ness of your ho­li­ness? But, con­quered by your love, we cry to you:

Rejoice, model of lambs and shep­herds; re­joice, holy pu­rifi­ca­tion of morals. Re­joice, con­tainer of great virtues; re­joice, pure and hon­or­able abode of ho­li­ness. Re­joice, bright lamp beloved by all; re­joice, pure and golden-rayed light. Re­joice, wor­thy col­lo­cu­tor of An­gels; re­joice, good di­rec­tor of men. Re­joice, rule of pious faith; re­joice, model of spir­i­tual meek­ness. Re­joice, for through you we are de­liv­ered from bod­ily pas­sions; re­joice, for through you we are filled with spir­i­tual de­lights.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 4

A storm of be­wil­der­ment con­fuses my mind. How can we worthily sing of your mir­a­cles, O blessed Nicholas? For no one could count them, even if he had many tongues and the best will in the world. But we boldly too sing to God who is won­der­fully glo­ri­fied in you: Alleluia!

Ikos 4

People near and far heard of the great­ness of your mir­a­cles, O di­vinely wise Nicholas, that in the air with the del­i­cate wings of grace you are ac­cus­tomed to help all in ad­ver­sity, and quickly de­liver all who cry to you:

Rejoice, de­liv­er­ance from sor­row; re­joice, chan­nel of grace. Re­joice, dis­peller of un­ex­pected evils; re­joice, planter of good de­sires. Re­joice, quick com­forter of those in ad­ver­sity; re­joice, dread pun­isher of wrong­do­ers. Re­joice, abyss of mir­a­cles poured out by God; re­joice, tablets of the law of Christ writ­ten by God. Re­joice, strong up­lift of the falling; re­joice, sup­port of those who stand aright. Re­joice, ex­poser of all de­cep­tion; re­joice, for through you all truth is re­al­ized.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 5

You ap­peared as a God-ward rac­ing star, guid­ing those in dis­tress at sea, who were once threat­ened with im­mi­nent death if you had not come to the help of those who called upon you, O won­der­worker Saint Nicholas, for you for­bid the fly­ing dev­ils who shame­lessly wanted to sink the ship, and you drove them away, and taught the faith­ful to cry to God Who saves through you: Alleluia!

Ikos 5

The girls pre­pared for a dis­hon­or­able mar­riage on ac­count of their poverty, saw your great mercy for the poor, Holy Fa­ther Nicholas, when you se­cretly gave their old par­ent at night the three lit­tle bun­dles of gold, thereby sav­ing him and his daugh­ter from falling into sin. There­fore you hear from all:

Rejoice, trea­sure of great­est mercy; re­joice, friend of pro­vid­ing for peo­ple. Re­joice, food and re­fresh­ment of those who have re­course to you; re­joice, in­ex­haustible bread of the hun­gry. Re­joice, God-giv­ing wealth of those liv­ing in poverty on earth; re­joice, quick up­lift­ing of the poor. Re­joice, speedy hear­ing of beg­gars; re­joice, ac­cept­able care of the sor­row­ful. Re­joice, pure provider for the three maid­ens; re­joice, zeal­ous guardian of pu­rity. Re­joice, hope of the hope­less; re­joice, de­light of the whole world.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 6

The whole world pro­claims you, blessed Nicholas, as a quick in­ter­ces­sor in ad­ver­si­ties; for fre­quently you pre­cede those trav­el­ing by land and those sail­ing on the sea, and help them in a sin­gle hour, keep­ing from evils all who cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 6

You shone as a liv­ing light, bring­ing de­liv­er­ance to the war lead­ers who had been sen­tenced to an un­just death, and who called to you, good shep­herd Nicholas, when you quickly ap­peared in a dream to the em­peror, and ter­ri­fied him and or­dered him to re­lease them un­harmed. There­fore to­gether with them we grate­fully cry to you:

Rejoice, helper of those who in­voke you fer­vently; re­joice, de­liv­erer from un­just death. Re­joice, pre­server from lying in­sult; re­joice, foiler of un­just plans. Re­joice, for you tear lies to shreds like cob­webs; re­joice, for you glo­ri­ously exalt the truth. Re­joice, de­liv­erer of the in­no­cent from their chains; re­joice, re­vival of the dead. Re­joice, preacher of right­eous­ness; re­joice, ex­poser of un­right­eous­ness. Re­joice, for through you the in­no­cent were saved from the sword; re­joice, for through you they en­joyed the light.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 7

Wish­ing to dis­pel the blas­phe­mous stench of heresy you ap­peared as a truly fra­grant, mys­ti­cal myrrh, O Nicholas. By shep­herd­ing the peo­ple of Myra, you filled the whole world with your gra­cious myrrh. And dis­pelled from us the stench of sin hate­ful to the Di­vine mind, that we may ac­cept­ably cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 7

We un­der­stand you to be a new Noah, a guide of the ark of sal­va­tion, Holy Fa­ther Nicholas, who dis­pels the storm of all evils by your spir­i­tual di­rec­tion, and bring di­vine calm to those who cry to you:

Rejoice, quiet heaven of those be­stormed; re­joice, sure pro­tec­tion of those who are drown­ing. Re­joice, good pilot of those sail­ing amid whirlpools; re­joice, for your prayers calm the rag­ing of the sea. Re­joice, guide of those in whirl­winds; re­joice, warmth of those in frosts. Re­joice, ra­di­ance which dis­pels the gloom of sor­row; re­joice, light which il­lu­mines all the ends of the earth. Re­joice, for you de­liver peo­ple from the abyss of sin; re­joice, for you cast Satan into the abyss of hell. Re­joice, for through you we boldly in­voke the abyss of God's mercy; re­joice, for through you we are saved from the flood of wrath, and find peace with God.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 8

Your holy church proves a strange won­der to those who flock to you, blessed Nicholas; for by of­fer­ing in it even a small prayer, we re­ceive heal­ing from great ill­nesses, if only, after God, we put our hope in you and faith­fully cry: Alleluia!

Ikos 8

You are truly a helper to all, O God-bear­ing Nicholas, and you have gath­ered to­gether all who have re­course to you, for you are a de­liv­erer, feeder and quick healer to all on earth, and you move all to praise you:

Rejoice, source of all kinds of heal­ing; re­joice, helper of those in ter­ri­ble suf­fer­ing. Re­joice, dawn shin­ing for those wan­der­ing in the night of sin; re­joice, heaven-sent dew for those in the heat of labors. Re­joice, giver of pros­per­ity to those who re­quire it; re­joice, for you pre­pare an abun­dance for those who ask. Re­joice, for you often fore­stall prayer; re­joice, for you re­store strength to the old and gray-headed. Re­joice, con­vic­tor of many who have wan­dered from the true way; re­joice, faith­ful stew­ard of the mys­ter­ies of God. Re­joice, for through you we con­quer jeal­ousy; re­joice, for through you we lead a good life.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 9

Allay all our pains, O our great in­ter­ces­sor Nicholas, and grant gra­cious heal­ings to de­light our souls and re­joice the hearts of all who run fer­vently to you for help and cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 9

The so­phis­ti­cated spokes­men of the im­pi­ous, we see, were put to shame by you, O di­vinely wise Fa­ther Nicholas; for you con­futed Arius the blas­phe­mer who di­vided the God-head and Sabel­lius who con­founded the Holy Trin­ity, but you have strength­ened us in Or­tho­doxy. There­fore we cry to you:

Rejoice, shield that de­fends piety; re­joice, sword that cuts down impi­ety. Re­joice, teacher of the di­vine com­mand­ments; re­joice, de­stroyer of anti-God doc­trines. Re­joice, lad­der set up by God by which we mount to heaven; re­joice, God-given pro­tec­tion, by which many are shel­tered. Re­joice, for by your words the un­wise are made wise; re­joice, for you stir the sloth­ful by your ex­am­ple. Re­joice, in­ex­tin­guish­able light of God's com­mand­ments; re­joice, bright ray of the Lord's pre­cepts. Re­joice, for through your teach­ing the heads of heretics are crushed; re­joice, for through you the faith­ful are granted glory.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 10

Wish­ing to save your soul, you truly sub­jected your body to the spirit, O our Fa­ther Nicholas. For by si­lence first and by wrestling with thoughts, you added con­tem­pla­tion to ac­tiv­ity; and by con­tem­pla­tion you didst ac­quired per­fect knowl­edge with which you boldly con­versed with God and the An­gels, al­ways cry­ing: Alleluia!

Ikos 10

You are a wall, O blessed Nicholas, to those who praise your mir­a­cles and to all who seek your pro­tec­tion. There­fore, free us who are poor in virtue from poverty, ad­ver­sity, sick­ness and want of var­i­ous kinds, as we cry to you with love:

Rejoice, res­cuer from eter­nal mis­ery; re­joice, granter of in­cor­rupt­ible riches. Re­joice, im­per­ish­able food for those who hunger for right­eous­ness; re­joice, in­ex­haustible drink for those who thirst for life. Re­joice, for you pre­serve us from rev­o­lu­tion and war; re­joice, for you free us from chains and im­pris­on­ment. Re­joice, glo­ri­ous in­ter­ces­sor in mis­for­tunes; re­joice, great de­fender in temp­ta­tions. Re­joice, for you have snatched many from perdi­tion; re­joice, for you have kept count­less num­bers un­harmed. Re­joice, for through you sin­ners es­cape a fright­ful death; re­joice, for through you those who re­pent ob­tain eter­nal life.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 11

Your life was a song to the Most Holy Trin­ity, sur­pass­ing oth­ers in thought, word and deed, O Most blessed Nicholas. For with much re­search you ex­plained the pre­cepts of the true faith, teach­ing us to sing with faith, hope and love to the one god in Trin­ity: Alleluia!

Ikos 11

We see you as a bright storm lantern for those in the dark­ness of this life, O God-cho­sen Fa­ther Nicholas. For you con­versed with the im­ma­te­r­ial an­gelic lights con­cern­ing the un­cre­ated light of the Trin­ity, and you en­lighten the souls of the faith­ful who cry to you:

Rejoice, ra­di­ance of the tri­une Light; re­joice, daystar of the never-set­ting Sun. Re­joice, lamp lit by the di­vine Flame; re­joice, for you have ex­tin­guished the dev­il­ish flame of impi­ety. Re­joice, bright preach­ing of true faith; re­joice, lu­mi­nous ra­di­ance of the light of the Gospel. Re­joice, light­ning that con­sumes heresy; re­joice, thun­der which ter­ri­fies sin­ners. Re­joice, teacher of true knowl­edge; re­joice, re­vealer of the se­cret mind. Re­joice, for through you the wor­ship of crea­tures has been abol­ished; re­joice, for through you we have learned to wor­ship the Cre­ator in the Trin­ity.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 12

Know­ing the grace that has been given to you by God, we joy­fully cel­e­brate your mem­ory, most glo­ri­ous Fa­ther Nicholas, and with all our soul we crave your won­der­ful in­ter­ces­sion. Un­able to count your glo­ri­ous deeds which are like the sand of the sea and the pro­fu­sion of stars, in utter be­wil­der­ment we cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 12

While we sing of your won­ders, we praise you, O all-praised Nicholas. For in you God who is glo­ri­fied in the Trin­ity has been won­der­fully glo­ri­fied. But even if we were to offer you with all our soul a mul­ti­tude of psalms and songs, O holy won­der worker, we should do noth­ing to equal the gift of your mir­a­cles, and amazed by them we cry to you:

Rejoice, ser­vant of the King of kings and Lord of lords; re­joice, co-dweller with His heav­enly ser­vants. Re­joice, sup­port of faith­ful kings; re­joice, ex­al­ta­tion of Chris­ten­dom. Re­joice, name­sake of vic­tory; re­joice, em­i­nent vic­tor. Re­joice, mir­ror of all the virtues; re­joice health of our bod­ies and sal­va­tion of our souls. Re­joice, strong but­tress of all who have re­course to you; re­joice, after God and the Mother of God, all our hope. Re­joice, for through you we are de­liv­ered from eter­nal death; re­joice, for through you we are granted eter­nal life.

Rejoice, Great Won­der­worker Nicholas!

Kon­takion 13

O Most holy and won­der­ful Fa­ther Nicholas, com­fort of all in sor­row, ac­cept our pre­sent of­fer­ing, and pray to the Lord that we may be de­liv­ered from Gehenna through your gra­cious in­ter­ces­sion, that with you we may sing: Alleluia!

Се́й конда́къ глаго́лется три́жды. Та́же Икосъ 1-й и Конда́къ 1-й

Prayer to the Saint Nicholas

O all‐praised and all‐hon­ored hi­er­arch, great won­der­worker, saint of Christ, Fa­ther Nicholas, man of God and faith­ful ser­vant, man of love, cho­sen ves­sel, strong pil­lar of the Church, most bril­liant lamp, star that il­lu­mines and en­light­ens the whole world: You are a right­eous man that flour­ished like a palm tree planted in the courts of his Lord; dwelling in Myra you dif­fused the fra­grance of myrrh, and you pour out the ever‐flow­ing myrrh of the Grace of God. By your pres­ence, most Holy Fa­ther, the sea was sanc­ti­fied when your most won­der­ful relics were car­ried from east to west to the city of Bari, to praise the name of the Lord. O most su­perb and mar­velous won­der­worker, speedy helper, fer­vent in­ter­ces­sor, good shep­herd that save the ra­tio­nal flock from all dan­gers, we glo­rify and mag­nify you as the hope of all Chris­tians, a foun­tain of mir­a­cles, a de­fender of the faith­ful, a most wise teacher, a feeder of the hun­gry, the glad­ness of those that mourn, cloth­ing of the naked, healer of the sick, pilot of them that sail the sea, lib­er­a­tor of pris­on­ers, nour­isher and pro­tec­tor of wid­ows and or­phans, guardian of chastity, gen­tle tutor of chil­dren, sup­port of the aged, guide of fasters, rest of those that labor, abun­dant riches of the poor and needy. Hear us who pray unto you and flee to your pro­tec­tion: Show your me­di­a­tion on our be­half with the Most High, and ob­tain through your God‐pleas­ing in­ter­ces­sions all that is use­ful for the sal­va­tion of our souls and bod­ies; keep this holy habi­ta­tion, every city and town, and every Chris­t­ian coun­try, and the peo­ple that dwell therein, from all op­pres­sion through your help; for we know, we know that "the prayer of a right­eous man availeth much for good"; and after the Most‐blessed Vir­gin Mary, we have you as a right­eous me­di­a­tor with the All‐mer­ci­ful God, and to your fer­vent in­ter­ces­sion and pro­tec­tion we humbly ap­proach. Keep us, as a watch­ful and good shep­herd, from all en­e­mies, pesti­lence, earth­quake, hail, famine, flood, fire, the sword, the in­va­sion of en­e­mies, and in all our mis­for­tunes and af­flic­tions give us a help­ing hand and open the doors of God's com­pas­sion; for we are un­wor­thy to look upon the height of Heaven be­cause of the mul­ti­tude of our in­iq­ui­ties; we are bound by the bonds of sin and have not done the will of our Cre­ator nor kept His com­mand­ments. Where­fore, we bow the knees of our bro­ken and hum­ble heart to our Maker, and we ask your fa­therly in­ter­ces­sion with Him: Help us, O Ser­vant of God, lest we per­ish with our sins, de­liver us from all evil, and from every ad­verse thing, di­rect our minds and strengthen our hearts in the Or­tho­dox Faith, which, through your me­di­a­tion and in­ter­ces­sion, nei­ther wounds, nor threats, nor plague, nor the wrath of our Cre­ator shall lessen; but grant that we may live a peace­ful life here and see the good things in the land of the liv­ing, glo­ri­fy­ing the Fa­ther, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God glo­ri­fied and wor­shipped in Trin­ity, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Akathist to the Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, the Won­der­worker in Eng­lish
Other hymns in Eng­lish