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Pod tvoju milost'

This liturgical hymn to the Mother of God, sung just before the dismissal of daily Vespers during fasting periods, is used outside the liturgy as well. It is sung to its own melody, of which there are several. For English settings, see Beneath your compassion. This is the oldest extant hymn to the Theotokos; it has been found (in Greek) in manuscripts from the third century AD.

The Papp Irmologion provided a setting at the end of the music for Vespers (page 45); this setting was also included in the collection of hymns, Duchovňi Pisňi (page 109), and published by Monsignor William Levkulic (Hymns of Great Lent, page 16, "Pod Tvoju Milost' #1").

Boh predvicnyj

A different Slavonic melody was included in the Marian Hymnal on page 22, along with an English setting, "We hasten to place ourselves", on page 23. This melody was later used in the Divine Liturgies book for the B setting of Beneath your compassion.

A third Slavonic setting was published in Monsignor William Levkulic's Hymns for Great Lent, on page 17, as "Pod Tvoju Milost' #2." This version is distinctly slower and more "choral".

Notes

The Slavonic text as we have it is quite old, and is also used by the Russian Orthodox Old Believers. The text was revised in the time of Patriarch Nikon; the Greek Catholics, who had come into union with Rome before the Nikonian reforms, retained the older version.