Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 197]. Brethren:

13 ²I have said before, and say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have previously sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come in regard to that again I will not spare, ³since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, Who is not weak toward you, but is mighty in you. ⁴For even if He was crucified out of weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. ⁵Be putting yourselves to the test if ye are in the faith; be examining yourselves. Or do ye yourselves not fully know that Jesus Christ is in you—unless ye are unapproved? ⁶But I hope that ye shall know that we are not unapproved. ⁷Now I pray to God that ye do no evil at all, not that we should appear approved, but that ye may do that which is good, and we may be as those not proved. ⁸For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but for the truth. ⁹For we rejoice whenever we are weak, and ye are strong; but we pray for this also, your perfecting. ¹⁰Therefore I write these things being absent, that I might not when present use severity, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for pulling down.

¹¹Finally, brethren, keep on rejoicing, keep on being perfected, being comforted, being of the same mind, being at peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³All the saints greet you.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 18]. The Lord said to His disciples:

4 ³⁵“Let us pass over to the other side.” ³⁶And after they dismissed the crowd, they took Him along, as He was in the ship; but also other small ships were with Him. ³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves were thrown over into the ship, so that already it was filling. ³⁸And He was at the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they awake Him, and say to Him, “Teacher, is it no concern to Thee that we perish?” ³⁹And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be still! Be silent!” And the wind abated, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰And He said to them, “Why are ye cowardly in this manner? How is it that ye have no faith?” ⁴¹And they feared with a great fear, and were saying to one another, “Who then is this One, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of the Nativity of the Theotokos, and Hieromartyr Autonomus, Bishop of Italy.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 25th – Civil Calendar
September 12th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Autonomos.

A bishop, he left Italy for Bithynia in Asia during Diocletian’s persecution, going to a place called Soreos, where he brought many to the Christian Faith and built them a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. He stayed in the house of a devout Christian, Cornelius, whom Autonomos ordained priest and then consecrated bishop. Not far from the town of Soreos was a place called Limnae, entirely inhabited by pagans. St. Autonomos went to this place and quickly brought many to the light by the Gospel of Christ. This roused the pagans, and they hurried one day to the church of the Archangel Michael in Soreos, and during divine service, slew Autonomos in the altar, killing also many other Christians in the church. In the time of the Emperor Constantine, a noble courtier, Severian, built a church over St. Autonomos’ grave. Two hundred years after his death, St. Autonomos appeared to a soldier called John. This soldier dug up the saint’s relics and found them to be completely incorrupt, and many of the sick received healing from them. Thus God glorified him who glorified Him while in the body.

2. The Hieromartyr Cornutos, Bishop of Iconium.

Born in Nikomedia, in the village of Sarsalus, he was already very old when a persecution arose under Decius and Valerian. A torturer, Perinius, came to Nikomedia and began to seek out the Christians. They went out of the city and hid, but their aged bishop would not leave and presented himself to Perinius, proclaiming himself a Christian. The torturer bound him hand and foot and ordered that he be dragged through the town until his blood flowed. He gave his holy soul to God under the sword.

3. The Holy Martyr Julian, with his 40 companions.

They all suffered in about the year 300, being first tortured and then beheaded. In the face of death, St. Julian prayed thus: ‘To those who take some of my dust, grant, O Lord, the forgiveness of their sins and the subduing of their passions; may marauding birds never invade their fields, nor grasshoppers nor caterpillars, nor any other such dangerous or deadly thing; and do Thou receive my soul in peace.’

4. Our Holy Father Daniel of Thasos.

An ascetic and the founder of a great monastery, he was a contemporary of St. Ioannikios the Great and was present when Ioannikios visited the island of Thasos, where the people besought him to free them from an infestation of snakes. The saint prayed to God, and the snakes, in large numbers, rushed into the sea and were drowned.

5. The Holy Martyrs Makedonios, Tatianos and Theodoulos.

They suffered for Christ the Lord in the time of Julian the Apostate at Myropolis in Phrygia. They were harshly tortured for destroying the statue of an idol, and burned on an iron grid until they gave their souls to God. While they were burning over the fire, these courageous men cried out mockingly to the torturer: ‘Why not try our meat, to see if it’s done!’ and also, like the glorious Archdeacon Laurence: ‘Turn us over; we’re done on this side!’ Seeing and hearing the holy martyrs on the fire, the torturers were infinitely more confused and frightened than they were.

FOR CONSIDERATION

What sort of relationship must a man have with God? Uninterrupted and constant. ‘Cleave to God as a son to his father,’ counsels St. Anthony. St. Alonius says: ‘If a man does not have a heartfelt sense that, besides him and God, there is no one else in the world, he cannot find peace of soul.’ The one God is enough, and more than enough, for all that the heart of man can desire. Blessed Theodora took on a strange child without a word, accepting it from her slanderers as her own. Out of love, she brought the child up in the fear of God. At the time of her death, she counselled the child thus: ‘What more does a man need than God and His divine love? He is our treasure, our riches, our food and drink, our clothing and shelter, our health and strength, our mirth and joy, our hope and our confidence. Strive to find Him, my son. If you find the one God, that is enough for you, you will find more joy in Him than if you had found the whole world.’ In thus saying, St. Theodora was not speaking from books or using another’s words; she was speaking from her own experience. She had lived for seven years driven out and scorned by men, and during this time she had discovered by experience that God was all in all to her, and that the one God is sufficient for all that the heart of man can desire.

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.