Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Pascalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Twenty-Sixth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 285]. Child Timothy:

4 ⁴Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be cast away, if it is received with giving of thanks; ⁵for it is sanctified by the word of God and intercessory prayer.

⁶If thou art laying down these things to the brethren, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which thou hast followed closely. ⁷But be rejecting profane and old women’s fables, and be exercising thyself toward piety. ⁸For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but piety is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is coming....

¹⁶Be taking heed to thyself and to the teaching. Keep on continuing in them, for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and those who hear thee.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 95]. The Lord said this parable:

19 ¹²“A certain well-born man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. ¹³“And having called his own ten slaves, he gave ten minas to them, and said to them, ‘Transact business while I go and return.’ ¹⁴“But his citizens kept on hating him, and sent forth an embassy after him, saying, ‘We are unwilling for this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵“And it came to pass, when he returned, having received the kingdom, that he commanded those slaves to be called to him, to whom he gave the money, in order that he might find out what each gained by trading. ¹⁶“And the first came up, saying, ‘Lord, thy mina gained ten minas.’ ¹⁷“And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because in a very little thou wast faithful, be thou having authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸“And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, thy mina made five minas.’ ¹⁹“And he said also to this one, ‘Be thou also over five cities.’ ²⁰“And another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, thy mina, which I was keeping laid up in a napkin. ²¹“‘For I was afraid of thee, because thou art an austere man. Thou takest up what thou didst not lay down, and reapest what thou didst not sow, and gatherest together where thou didst not winnow.’ ²²“He saith to him, ‘Out of thy mouth will I judge thee, O wicked slave. Thou knowest that I am an austere man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow, and gathering together where I did not winnow; ²³“‘and why didst thou not give my money to the bank, and indeed after I came I would have exacted payment from it with interest?’ ²⁴“And to those standing by he said, ‘Take away the mina from him, and give it to the one who hath the ten minas.’ ²⁵“And they said to him, ‘Lord, he hath ten minas.’ ²⁶“‘For I say to you that to everyone who hath shall be given; but from the one who hath not, even what he hath shall be taken away from him. ²⁷“‘Moreover, those enemies of mine, the ones unwilling for me to reign over them, bring here and slaughter them before me.’”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Entrance of the Virgin into the Temple, and the holy Apostles Philemon, Archippos, Apfia, and Onesimos, the disciples of Paul the Apostle.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Philemon [§ mid 302 B].

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon the beloved and our fellow worker, ²and to Apfia the beloved, and to Archippos our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house. ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God, making mention of thee always in the time of my prayers, ⁵hearing of thy love and the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and in regard to all the saints, ⁶that the communion of thy faith might become energized in full knowledge of every good which is in you in regard to Christ Jesus. ⁷For we have much joy and consolation over thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother. ⁸Wherefore, though I have much boldness in Christ to enjoin thee to that which is becoming, ⁹yet for the sake of love I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul, an elder, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, ¹⁰I beseech thee concerning my child, Onesimos, whom I begot in my bonds— ¹¹the one who was once useless to thee, but is now useful to thee and to me—whom I am sending back. ¹²Now receive thou him, that is, mine own heart, ¹³whom I was wishing to hold for myself, that he may minister to me in the bonds of the Gospel; ¹⁴but without thine opinion I wished to do nothing, that thy good may not be as according to necessity, but according to willingness. ¹⁵For perhaps on this account he was separated from thee for a season, in order that thou mayest receive him in full forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, and how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord! ¹⁷If then thou holdest me a partner, take him to thyself as thou wouldest me. ¹⁸But if he wronged thee in anything or oweth thee, be reckoning this to me; ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing it with mine own hand, I will repay it; not that I may mention that to me thou owest even thyself. ²⁰Yes, brother, may I benefit from thee in the Lord; refresh thou my heart in the Lord.

²¹Having trusted to thine obedience, I am writing to thee, knowing that even beyond what I may say thou wilt do. ²²And at the same time also, be preparing a lodging for me, for I hope that through your prayers I shall be graciously given to you. ²³There greeteth thee Epaphras, my fellow captive in Christ Jesus, ²⁴Mark, Aristarchos, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 50]. At that time:

10 ¹The Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them forth two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. ²Therefore He was saying to them, “The harvest indeed is great, but the workers are few. Entreat therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send out workers into His harvest. ³“Go; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴“Cease carrying a purse, neither a leathern pouch, nor sandals; and do not begin to greet anyone along the way. ⁵“And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ⁶“And if, indeed, there be there a son of peace, your peace shall come to rest upon it; but if not so, it shall return to you. ⁷“And in that very house keep on remaining, eating and drinking the things given by them, for the worker is worthy of his hire. Do not have the habit of moving from house to house. ⁸“And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, go on eating the things which are set before you; ⁹“and keep on curing the sick in it, and saying to them, ‘The kingdom of God hath drawn near to you.’ ¹⁰“But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go out into its broad streets, and say, ¹¹“‘Even the dust of your city, which cleaveth to us, we wipe off ourselves against you; but know this, that the kingdom of God hath drawn near to you.’ ¹²“But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. ¹³“Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! For if the works of power which took place in you took place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴“But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. ¹⁵“And thou, Capernaum, which hath been lifted high unto the heaven, shall be brought down as far as Hades.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 5th – Civil Calendar
November 22nd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Cecilia.

Born in Rome of rich and eminent parents, she had a firm faith in Christ the Lord and a great zeal for the Faith. Vowing life-long virginity to God, holy Cecilia wore a rough hair-shirt underneath the costly raiment that her parents gave her. When they forced her into marriage with a pagan, Valerian, she spent the first night urging her newly-wedded bridegroom to go to Bishop Urban for Baptism, and then himself to live a life of virginity. Embracing the Christian Faith, Valerian also brought his brother Tibertius to it. Both brothers were very soon condemned to death for their faith, but their zeal did not falter in the face of death itself. Taken to the scaffold, these two brothers succeeded in bringing the captain of the guard, Maximus, to the Faith, and they all three suffered together for Christ the Lord. St. Cecilia buried their bodies together and was then herself taken for trial, having unwearyingly won over many pagans to the Christian Faith. In one evening, she had won over four hundred souls. When the judge asked her whence came her daring, she answered: ‘From a pure conscience and an unquestioning faith.’ After harsh torture, she was condemned to death. The executioner wounded her three times with a dagger, and the blood ran down from her wounds, being caught in kerchiefs and bowls by the faithful to use for healing. Although left for dead, Cecilia remained alive. Three days later, after making her house a church, Christ’s martyr and virgin gave her spirit into the hands of her Lord, to rejoice with Him in eternity. St. Cecilia suffered with the others in about the year 230. Her relics are preserved in the church dedicated to her name in Rome.

In the Orthodox Church, St. Cecilia is regarded as the patron of Church music because, during those three days that she suffered for Christ, she sang praises to the Lord.

2. St. Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He was named ‘Xanthopoulos’ after the cell of that name on Mount Athos, where he lived for a long time in asceticism with his friend Ignatius. Together with this Ignatius, St. Kallistos wrote of his personal experience of a life of silence in a book containing a hundred chapters. This book holds a very important place in ascetic literature. Kallistos was greatly influenced by his teacher, St. Gregory the Sinaite, whose life he recorded.

3. The Holy Martyr Menignos.

Born on the Hellespont, he worked as a linen-bleacher, and so was called ‘the Bleacher’. In the time of the Emperor Decius (249-251), he tore up the imperial decree on the persecution of Christians, and was consequently thrown into prison. There, the Lord Himself appeared to him and encouraged him, saying: ‘Fear not; I am with thee.’ At that moment, his shackles melted like wax, the prison opened of itself and he went out. He was again seized and brought to trial. He was inhumanly tortured: his fingers and toes were cut off, and then he was beheaded. His severed head glowed at night like a lamp.

4. Holy and Righteous Michael the Soldier.

He was a Bulgarian by birth. With his friends, he went into the Greek army to fight against the Hagarenes in Ethiopia, there displaying an extraordinary fearlessness. He killed a poisonous snake and freed a maiden. Very soon after that, this righteous man entered into eternal life. He was first buried somewhere in Thrace, but in 1206 the Emperor Kalo-John translated his relics to Trnovo. He lived and died in the ninth century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

In vain does one strive to learn if one does not strive for purity of faith and life. The heavenly world is revealed not to the learned, but to the pure. When St. Cecilia had been led to the bridal chamber with her newly-wedded husband on the first night, she said to him: ‘I want to show you a mystery. There is standing here an angel of God, the guardian of my virginity, whom you cannot see. He is standing here ready to defend me, his handmaid, from assault. If you only touch me, he will kill you.’ Hearing this, Valerian begged Cecilia to show him the angel, that he too might see it. The maiden replied: ‘You are a man that does not know the true God, and you cannot see His angel until you are cleansed of the foulness of your unbelief.’ When Valerian had been baptized, he saw the angel in great light and unspeakable beauty. So also Tibertius, Valerian’s brother, when he had been baptized and had changed his way of life from impurity to purity, saw holy angels and spoke with them. Maximus also, their fellow-sufferer, at the time that these two brothers were beheaded, called down imprecations on himself from the executioner and the assembled people, saying: ‘I see angels of God bathed in light like the sun, taking their souls from the bodies of the martyrs, like beautiful maidens from the bridal chamber, and carrying them to heaven with great glory.’ But that which he saw was invisible to the unbelievers and the impure.

Daily Scripture Readings taken from The Orthodox New Testament, translated and published by Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado, copyright © 2000, used with permission, all rights reserved.

Daily Prologue Readings taken from The Prologue of Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, translated by Mother Maria, published by Lazarica Press, Birmingham, England, copyright © 1985, all rights reserved. Edited by Dormition Skete.