For thou by thy will hast from nothingness brought all things into being, and by thy power thou sustainest creation, and by thy foreknowledge, directest the world. Thou from four elements hast formed creation, and hast crowned the circle of the year with four seasons. All the spiritual powers tremble before thee, the sun praiseth thee, the moon glorifieth thee, the stars make intercession with thee, the light hearkeneth unto thee, the depths shudder at thy presence, the springs of water serve thee. Thou hast stretched out the heaven as a curtain, thou hast founded the earth upon the waters, thou hast bounded the sea with sand, thou hast diffused the air for breathing. The angelic powers minister unto thee, the choirs of archangels worship thee, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, standing and flying around, cover themselves with fear of thine unapproachable glory. For thou, being the uninscribable, unbeginning, and unspeakable God, didst come down upon earth, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; for thou, O Master, through the tenderness of thy mercy, didst not endure to behold the race of men tormented by the devil, but thou didst come and save us. We confess thy grace, we proclaim thy mercy, we conceal not thy beneficence. Thou hast set at liberty the generations of our nature, thou didst hallow the virginal womb by thy birth. All creation praiseth thee who didst manifest thyself; for thou, O our God, wast seen upon earth, and didst dwell together with men. Thou didst hallow the streams of Jordan, sending down from heaven thy Holy Ghost, and didst crush the heads of the dragons that lurked therein. Do thou thyself therefore, O man-loving King, be present now also through the descent of thy Holy Ghost, and sanctify this water. _Thrice._ And give it the grace of redemption, the blessing of Jordan. Make it a fountain of incorruption, a gift of sanctification, a loosing of sins, a healing of sicknesses, a destruction of demons, unapproachable by hostile powers, fulfilled with angelic strength, and let them that take counsel together against thy creature flee therefrom; for I have called upon thy name, O Lord, which is wonderful, and glorious, and terrible to adversaries. _And he signeth the water thrice, dipping his fingers therein, and, breathing upon it, saith,_ Let all the hostile powers be crushed beneath the sign of the image of thy cross. _Thrice._