Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 13]. In those days:

5 ¹A certain man, by name Ananias, with Sapphire his wife, sold a property, ²and appropriated for themselves part of the price, his wife also being privy to it. And he brought a certain part, and laid it at the feet of the apostles. ³But Peter said, “Ananias, why did Satan fill thy heart for thee to deceive the Holy Spirit, and to appropriate part of the price of the land? ⁴“While it remained, it did remain thine own, did it not? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own authority? Why didst thou put this thing in thy heart? Thou didst not lie to men, but to God.” ⁵And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and expired. And great fear came to be upon all who heard these things. ⁶And the younger men rose up and wrapped him round, and carried him out, and buried him. ⁷And there came to pass an interval of about three hours, and his wife, who knew not what had happened, entered. ⁸And Peter began to speak to her, “Tell me whether ye yourselves sold the land for so much?” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹And Peter said to her, “Why was it agreed together by you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.” ¹⁰And immediately she fell down at his feet and expired. And the young men entered and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her by her husband. ¹¹And great fear came to be upon the whole church and upon all those who heard these things.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 17]. The Lord said to the Jews having come to Him:

5 ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father. ³¹“If I bear witness concerning Myself, My witness is not true. ³²“It is Another Who beareth witness concerning Me, and I know that the testimony which He beareth witness to concerning Me is true. ³³“Ye have sent away to John, and he hath borne witness to the truth. ³⁴“But I receive not testimony from man. But I say these things that ye might be saved. ³⁵“That one was the lamp that burneth and shineth, and ye became willing to rejoice for an hour in his light. ³⁶“But I have the testimony greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave to Me in order that I should finish them, the very works which I do, bear witness concerning Me that the Father hath sent Me forth. ³⁷“And the Father Who sent Me, Himself hath borne witness concerning Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor have seen His form. ³⁸“And ye have not His word abiding in you, for He Whom that One sent forth, this One ye believe not. ³⁹“Keep on searching the Scriptures, for in them ye think to have eternal life; and these are they which testify concerning Me. ⁴⁰“And yet ye are not willing to come to Me in order that ye may have life. ⁴¹“I receive not glory from man. ⁴²“But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³“I have come in the name of My Father, and ye receive Me not; if another should come in his own name, that one ye will receive. ⁴⁴“How are ye able to believe, who receive glory from one another, and seek not the glory which is from the only God? ⁴⁵“Cease thinking that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuseth you—Moses, in whom ye have hoped. ⁴⁶“For if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for concerning Me that one wrote. ⁴⁷“But if ye believe not the writings of that one, how shall ye believe My words?”

6 ¹After these things Jesus went away across the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ²And a great crowd was following Him, because they had been seeing the signs which He brought about upon those who were sick.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Antipas, Bishop of Pergamon and disciple of St. John the Theologian.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 24th – Civil Calendar
April 11th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum in Asia.

He is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as ‘Antipas My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth’ (Rev. 2:13)—the city of Pergamum (Pergamos). The inhabitants of this town dwelt in the darkness of idolatry and in the depths of impurity: they were slaves to their passions, slanderers, bullies, incestuous; in brief, slaves of Satan. There among them lived Antipas, ‘as a light in the midst of darkness, as a rose among thorns, as gold in mud’. He who would seize and kill a Christian was regarded as good and just. The whole of their idolatrous faith consisted in soothsaying, the interpretation of dreams, the service of demons and the extreme excesses of debauchery. In terror of Antipas as of fire, the demons appeared to the pagan priests in their dreams and told them how greatly they were in fear of him, and how this fear was driving them from the city. The priests stirred up the multitude, and they began to torment him and to press him to deny Christ and worship idols. Antipas said to them: ‘When your so-called gods and lords of the universe are afraid of me, a mortal man, and have to flee the city, why do you not learn from this that all your faith is in vain?’ And the saint spoke further with them of the Christian Faith as the only true and saving Faith. But they became incensed like wild beasts and dragged the aged Antipas before the temple of Artemis, where there stood an ox cast in bronze. They heated the ox and threw the servant of God inside. St. Antipas, inside the red-hot ox, glorified God with thanksgiving, like Jonah in the sea monster and the Three Children in the burning fiery furnace. Antipas prayed for his flock and for the whole world until his soul parted from his exhausted body and went to join the angels in the kingdom of Christ. He died under torture and was crowned with unfading glory in the year 92.

2. The Holy Martyrs Processus and Martinian.

They were warders in the Roman prison where the Apostles Peter and Paul were held captive. Hearing the words and seeing the miracles of these apostles, they were baptized and released the apostles from prison. The apostles left Rome, but the Lord appeared to Peter on the Appian Way. ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’ asked Peter of Him, and the Lord replied: ‘I’m going to Rome, to be crucified afresh.’ The apostles returned to Rome, where they were arrested and killed. The two courageous martyrs, Processus and Martinian, were beheaded along with St. Paul.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘There is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation,’ says St. Ephraim the Syrian. The struggle is incessant, whether external or internal. The enemy acts at times visibly through people and things, at times invisibly through the mind. At times he shows himself clearly as the enemy, acting with cruelty; at others as a flattering friend, leading astray by a trick. That which takes place in war between two opposing armies is that which happens to a man who commits himself to the struggle with the delusion of this world. Indeed, ‘there is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation’. But when salvation comes, rest comes with it.

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.