_And when he taketh the crown from the bride, he saith,_ And thou, O bride, be thou magnified as Sara, and rejoiced as Rebecca, and increased as Rachel, being glad in thy husband, and keeping the paths of the law, for so God is well-pleased. _Deacon._ Let us pray to the Lord. _Choir._ Lord, have mercy. _Priest, The prayer._ O God, our God, who wast present in Cana of Galilee, and didst bless the marriage there; do thou bless also these thy servants, who, by thy providence, are conjoined in the community of marriage. Bless their incomings and outgoings, replenish their life with good things, accept their crowns in thy kingdom unsullied and undefiled, and preserve them without offence to ages of ages. _Choir._ Amen. _Priest._ Peace to all. Bow your heads to the Lord. _And the priest prayeth._ The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the all-holy, and consubstantial, and life-originating Trinity, one Godhead and sovereignty, bless you, and vouchsafe unto you long life, well-favoured children, progress in life and faith, and replenish you with all the good things of earth, and count you worthy of the obtaining of promised blessings, through the prayers of the holy God-bearing one, and of all the Saints. Amen. _Then they come and congratulate them, and they kiss one another, and the full dismissal is made by the priest._ _Saith the deacon_, Wisdom. _Choir._ The more honourable than the Cherubim.... _Priest, the dismissal._ He that by his presence in Cana of Galilee declared marriage to be honourable, Christ our true God, through the prayers of his most pure Mother; of the holy, glorious, and all-praised apostles; of the holy god-crowned sovereigns and equals of the apostles, Constantine and Helen; of the holy great martyr Procopius, and of all the Saints, have mercy upon us and save us, as being good and the lover of mankind. [Illustration] _Chapter XI._ PRAYER AT THE TAKING OFF OF THE CROWNS ON THE EIGHTH DAY. O Lord our God, who blessest the crown of the year, and permittest these crowns to be put on them that are conjoined to one another by the law of marriage, vouchsafing them to them as the reward of chastity; for they are pure that are conjoined in the lawfully appointed marriage that is from thee; do thou thyself also bless, in the taking off of these crowns, them that have been conjoined together, and preserve their union unbroken, that they may ever give thanks unto thine all-holy name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen. _Priest._ Peace to all. O Lord, thy servants, having met in concord and accomplished the order of marriage as at Cana of Galilee, and contracted the signs according thereto, ascribe glory to thee, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen. _And the dismissal._ [Illustration]