Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Eighteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 232]. Brethren:

5 ³³Do ye severally be loving in this manner each one his own wife as himself, and the wife in this manner that she be fearing the husband.

6 ¹Children, be obeying your parents in the Lord; for this is right. ²“Be honoring thy father and mother [cf. Ex. 20:12],” which is the first commandment with a promise, ³“in order that it might be well with thee, and thou shalt be long-lived on the earth [cf. Deut. 5:16].” ⁴And fathers, cease provoking your children, but be nurturing them in the instruction and admonition of the Lord. ⁵Slaves, be obeying your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in simplicity of your heart, as to the Christ, ⁶not according to eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of the Christ, doing the will of God, from the soul, ⁷with good will rendering service to the Lord and not to men, ⁸knowing that whatsoever good thing each one might do, this shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be a slave or free. ⁹And ye masters, be doing the same things toward them, forbearing the threat, knowing that their Lord and yours is in the heavens; and there is no respect of persons with Him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 41]. At that time:

9 ⁷Herod the tetrarch heard of all the things being done by Jesus; and he was thoroughly at a loss, because it was said by some that “John hath been raised from the dead,” ⁸and by some that “Elias did appear,” and by others that “some one of the ancient prophets hath risen.” ⁹And Herod said, “I beheaded John, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he was seeking to see Him.

¹⁰And having returned, the apostles set forth in detail to Him whatsoever they did. And He took them and withdrew privately to a desolate district of a city which is called Bethsaida. ¹¹But the crowds, having known it, followed Him; and having received them, He was talking to them about the kingdom of God; and those having need of cures He was healing.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Philip, one of the seven deacons.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 20]. In those days:

8 ²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Rise up and go toward the south, on the way which goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza”; the same is desert. ²⁷And having risen, he went. And behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a potentate under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, and who had come to Jerusalem to make obeisance, ²⁸was returning, and he was both sitting in his chariot and reading the Prophet Esaias. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot.” ³⁰And Philip ran up and heard him reading the Prophet Esaias, and said, “So then dost thou really understand what thou readest?” ³¹But he said, “No. How can I, unless someone should guide me?” And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²And the section of the Scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb dumb before him who sheareth him, thus He openeth not His mouth [cf. Is. 53:7]. ³³“In His humiliation, His judgment was taken away; but who shall describe His generation? For His life is being taken away from the earth [cf. Is. 53:8].” ³⁴And the eunuch answered and said to Philip, “I entreat thee, concerning Whom speaketh the prophet this? Concerning himself or concerning some other?” ³⁵And Philip opened his mouth and began from this Scripture, and preached the good tidings to him—Jesus. ³⁶And as they were going along the way, they came upon some water. And the eunuch saith, “Behold, water; what hindereth me to be baptized?” ³⁷And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thy heart, it is possible.” And he answered and said, “I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.” ³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried off Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer; then he went on his way rejoicing.

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)

October 24th — Civil Calendar
October 11th — Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Philip of the Seventy.

Born in Palestinian Caesarea, he was married and had four daughters, all four endowed by God with the gift of discernment and all four vowed virgins for the sake of Christ (Acts 21:8-9). When the holy apostles chose deacons, Philip was chosen along with Stephen and the others (6:5). Philip served the poor and the widows with great fervour. When persecution fell on the Christians in Jerusalem, he fled to Samaria and there preached the Gospel and witnessed to it by many miracles, driving out demons, healing the sick and so forth. Seeing the miracles of the holy apostle, Simon the Magician was baptised. St Philip also baptised the eunuch of Queen Candace. After that, an angel of God suddenly and invisibly bore him away to Azotus, where he taught and preached, bringing many to Christ (Acts 8). He was later made bishop in Tralles. He died peacefully in great old age, and entered into the joy of his Lord.

2. Our Holy Father Theophanes the Hymnographer (the Branded).

A confessor and writer of Canons, he was born in Arabia of wealthy and devout parents. With his brother Theodore (see Dec. 27th), he became a monk in the monastery of St Sava the Sanctified. Being very well-educated monks, they were sent by Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem to Leo the Armenian, to explain things to the Emperor and defend the veneration of icons. The wicked Emperor inflicted harsh torture on these two holy brothers and threw them into prison. Later, the iconoclast Emperor Theophilus continued their torture, and to expose them to the world’s ridicule, commanded that derisory words be branded on their faces. At the end of the iconoclast controversy, Theophanes was freed and quickly made bishop. He suffered for the holy icons for twenty-five years, writing a hundred and forty-five Canons in that time. He died peacefully in 847, and entered into the joy of his Lord.

3. St Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

As a layman and a high-ranking court official, he was chosen as Patriarch after St Gregory the Theologian, in 381. He was distinguished by a deep understanding, tact and zeal for the Church. He entered peacefully into rest in 397.

4. The Holy Martyrs Zinais and Philonilla.

They were sisters, born in Tarsus, kinswomen of Paul the Apostle. As virgins, they scorned the world for the sake of Christ and withdrew to a cave to live in asceticism. They were skilled in medicine, and helped many of the sick. Philonilla especially, for her great fasting, was made worthy of the gift of wonderworking. But unbelievers fell on them one night and stoned them to death.

FOR CONSIDERATION

As, by God’s providence, the power of healing is given to blessed water and blessed oil, so these same powers are given to icons. One marvellous example of the wonder-working power of the holy icons is cited by St. Athanasius the Great. In the town of Beirut there lived a Christian in a rented house near a local synagogue. Moving from this house, he left behind by mistake an icon of the Savior. A Jew moved into the same house, but he paid no attention to that icon. When one of his fellow Jews saw that icon, he reported his coreligionist, who was then expelled from the synagogue as a violator of their laws. Then the Jews, who were particularly ill-disposed towards the Christian Faith, took that icon to their meeting-place and began to mock it, as their forbears had once mocked the living Savior. They whipped the icon, nailed it to a tree, placed thorns around the head, put vinegar on the Savior’s lips, and in all possible ways ridiculed the holy image. Finally, one of them took a spear and pierced the sacred image under the rib. And, wonder of wonders, blood and water flowed from the pierced spot as it had aforetime from the body of the crucified Lord. The amazement and horror of the Jews was indescribable. Their rabbis then decided to test the miraculous liquids, so they took a vessel of the blood into their synagogue, where a multitude of the ailing were cured of their diseases after being anointed. The whole town gathered to see the miracle, and all glorified Christ our God. And all the Jews in the town came to belief in Christ, the living and life-giving Lord. The converts went to the Bishop of Beirut and confessed their wicked deed with respect to the icon, and the hierarch received their sincere repentance, catechizing them for many days before baptizing them. Then he consecrated the synagogue as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as many other synagogues, at the request of the Jews, dedicating them to the holy martyrs, and there was great joy in the city for this marvellous conversion.

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.