Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Eighteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 162]. Brethren:

15 ³⁹Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is indeed one kind of flesh of men, and another of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds. ⁴⁰And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but indeed, the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. ⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differeth from star in glory. ⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. ⁴³It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. ⁴⁴It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body. ⁴⁵And so it hath been written: “The first man Adam became a living soul [cf. Gen. 2:7]; the last Adam became a life-creating Spirit.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 22]. At that time:

6 ¹On the sabbath, Jesus was going through the sown fields; and His disciples were plucking the ears of grain and eating them, rubbing them small in their hands. ²And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?” ³And answering Jesus said to them, “Did ye not read even this, that which David did, when he himself hungered and those who were with him: ⁴“how he entered into the house of God, and took the loaves set forth before the presence of God, and ate, and gave also to those with him, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests only?” ⁵And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.” ⁶And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that He entered into the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand also was withered. ⁷And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching closely whether He would cure on the sabbath, in order that they might find an accusation against Him. ⁸But He knew their reasonings, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand in the midst.” And he arose and stood. ⁹Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing, whether it is lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” ¹⁰And after He looked round about at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as the other.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Karpos, Papylos, Agathodoros, and Agathonike.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 21]. The Lord said:

7 ¹²“All things whatsoever ye wish that men be doing to you, so also be ye doing to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth away to destruction, and many are they who enter through it. ¹⁴“For narrow is the gate and straitened is the way that leadeth away to life, and few are they who find it. ¹⁵“But be on guard against the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but within they are rapacious wolves. ¹⁶“From their fruits ye shall fully know them. They do not gather a bunch of grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, do they? ¹⁷“Thus, every good tree produceth good fruits, but the rotten tree produceth bad fruits. ¹⁸“A good tree is not able to produce bad fruits, nor is a rotten tree able to produce good fruits. ¹⁹“Every tree which produceth not good fruit is cut off and cast into the fire. ²⁰“Then surely by their fruits ye shall fully know them.

²¹“Not everyone who saith to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one who doeth the will of My Father in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 26th – Civil Calendar
October 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Karpos and Papylos.

Karpos was Bishop of Thyateira and Papylos was a deacon. They were born in Pergamum, where they finally suffered for the Christian Faith at the hands of the wicked governor, Valerius, in Decius’ reign. Valerius bound them behind horses and dragged them off to Sardis, where he put them to harsh torture; but an angel of God appeared to them, healed them of their wounds and strengthened them. Karpos’ servant, Agathodoros, followed his master with great sorrow until he also was taken for torture. After that, Valerius again bound them behind horses and dragged them from Sardis to Pergamum. When holy Karpos was tied to a tree and so terribly flogged that his whole body was laid open and his blood streamed down onto the ground, he smiled in the midst of these tortures. When they asked him why he smiled, the holy martyr replied that he saw the heavens open and the Lord sitting on His throne, surrounded by cherubim and seraphim. At the time of Papylos’ martyrdom, this holy martyr healed a man, blind in one eye, by his prayers. Many, seeing this, came to believe in Christ the Lord. Thrown before wild beasts, the martyrs remained unhurt. When they were thrown into a fiery furnace, Agathonika, Papylos’ sister, saw this and leapt into the flames. But the flames did not burn them. Finally, they were all beheaded with the sword in 251. Thus, after great spiritual endeavor, they received the wreath of glory in the kingdom of Christ.

2. The Hieromartyr Benjamin the Deacon.

This soldier of Christ was a Persian, and zealously preaching the Gospel, brought many pagans, both Persians and Greeks, to the Christian Faith. He suffered in the time of the Persian King Yazdgird, in about 412. When he was thrown into prison, one of the king’s nobles pleaded for him to the king. The king was willing to let him go free, on condition that he kept silent and spoke no more to the people about Christ. To this, Benjamin replied: ‘I cannot possibly do that. Those who hide the talent they have received will be given over to greater suffering,’ and he continued to spread the Christian Faith. The king then ordered that thorns be driven under his nails, and had him tortured until he gave his soul into God’s hands.

3. The Holy Martyr Zlata of Meglin (Bulgaria).

Born in the village of Slatina in the Meglin region, of poor peasants who had three other daughters, St. Zlata was a meek and devout girl, wise with Christ’s wisdom and golden (‘zlata’ means ‘gold’) not only in name but also in her God-fearing heart. When Zlata went out one day to get water, some shameless Turks seized her and carried her off to their house. When one of them urged her to embrace Islam and become his wife, Zlata answered fearlessly: ‘I believe in Christ, and know Him alone as my Bridegroom; I shall never deny Him even if you put me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces.’ Her parents and sisters then arrived, and said to her: ‘O our daughter, have mercy on yourself and us. Deny Christ publicly, that we can all be happy. Christ is merciful: He will forgive your sin, committed under the pressure of life.’ Her poor parents and kinsfolk wept bitterly. But Zlata’s heroic soul would not be overcome by devilish seduction. She replied to her parents: ‘When you urge me to deny Christ, the true God, you are no longer parents or sisters to me; I have the Lord Jesus Christ as Father, the Mother of God as mother, and for brothers and sisters, the saints.’ Then the Turks threw her into prison, where she lay for three months, and they took her out every day and flogged her until her blood flowed onto the ground. Finally, they hanged her upside-down and made a fire to choke her to death with the smoke. But God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in her suffering. At the very end, they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus this martyr-maiden gave her soul into God’s hands, and entered into the realm of Paradise, in 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes, that they might bring a blessing to them.

4. The Translation to Moscow of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

In 1648, Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, while he was still Archimandrite of Novospassky Monastery, commissioned an exact copy of the Iveron Icon to be made and sent to Russia. Almost immediately upon its arrival on October 13, the icon was glorified with numerous miracles attributed to it by the faithful. The Iverskaya Chapel was built in 1669 to enshrine the icon next to the Kremlin walls in Moscow.

FOR CONSIDERATION

There is nothing more wretched than a man who, in the hour of need, abandons hope in God and flees to a means of safety contrary to God’s law. Such a man not only cannot put right his outward circumstances, but also loses his soul. This is what happened to the Emperor Michael Palaiologos, the apostate to the Latins. In order to safeguard his kingdom, terrorized by the Bulgarians and Serbs, he sought help from the pope and made a Union with him in 1274. What did this gain? The kingdom was not saved and he did innumerable evil deeds, coming rapidly to an unhappy end in a campaign against Prince John Doukas of Epirus in 1282. The Orthodox people were so resentful towards him that his son Andronikos dared not bury him openly, but put him in the ground at night without funeral or prayers. He was rejected by the Orthodox Church and not received by the Roman, and Michael died outside the Church of God. His wife the empress, after his death, issued the following statement: ‘My Majesty hates and regards as loathsome this action (the Union) that has recently come about in the Church and has caused such discord.... As the holy Church of God has determined not to sanction any official commemoration of my departed spouse, our lord and king, on account of his aforementioned actions and intrigues, my Majesty also, bowing in all things to the fear of God and submitting to the holy Church, approves and accepts her decree, and will never presume to commemorate the soul of my lord and spouse in any way.’

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.