Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Nineteenth Week

Mode Two — Eighth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 194]. Brethren:

11 ³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed to the ages, knoweth that I lie not. ³²In Damascus the ethnarch of Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes, wishing to take me; ³³and through a window in a braided rope-basket was I let down through the wall, and escaped his hands.

12 ¹Indeed it is not expedient for me to boast; for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knoweth—such a one was carried off as far as the third heaven. ³And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knoweth— ⁴that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not allowed for a man to speak. ⁵On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on behalf of myself I will not boast, except in my weaknesses. ⁶For if I should wish to boast, I shall not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I forbear, lest anyone should reckon to me above what he seeth me to be or what he heareth in any degree of me. ⁷And lest I should be lifted up by the surpassingness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he may keep on buffeting me, lest I should be lifted up. ⁸Concerning this I besought the Lord thrice, that it might stand off from me. ⁹And He hath said to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My power is being made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ might dwell upon me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 38]. At that time:

8 ²⁶Jesus and His disciples sailed down to the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. ²⁷And after He went out upon the land, there met Him a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time, and had not put a garment on himself, and was not abiding in a house but in the sepulchers. ²⁸And after he saw Jesus and cried out, he fell down before Him and with a loud voice said, “What is it to me and to Thee, Jesus, Son of God the Most High? I entreat Thee, do not begin to torment me.” ²⁹For He was commanding the spirit, the unclean one, to come out from the man. For many times it had seized him; and he was kept bound with chains and fetters. And breaking through the bonds, he was driven by the demon into the wildernesses. ³⁰And Jesus asked him, saying, “What is thy name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons entered into him. ³¹And he besought Him that He would not command them to go away into the abyss. ³²Now there was there a herd of considerable swine being fed on the mountain. And they besought Him that He would permit them to enter into those. And He permitted them. ³³And the demons went out from the man and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and were drowned. ³⁴And after they who fed them saw what had taken place, they fled and went away and brought back tidings to the city and to the country. ³⁵And they went out to see what had taken place. And they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and of a sound mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶And they who saw related to them how the one who had been possessed by demons was made well. ³⁷And the whole multitude of the country round about the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were constrained with great fear. And He embarked into the ship and turned back. ³⁸Now the man from whom the demons had gone out was entreating Him to be with Him. But Jesus dismissed him, saying, ³⁹“Return to thy house, and go on relating how much God did for thee.” And he departed, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus did for him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Hilarion the Great.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 188]. Brethren:

9 ⁶The one who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and the one who soweth with blessing shall also reap with blessing. ⁷Let each give even as he purposeth in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all self-sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work, ⁹even as it hath been written: “He dispersed, he gave to the poor; his righteousness abideth forever [Ps. 111(112):9].” ¹⁰Now the One Who supplieth seed to the sower and bread for eating, may He provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹being enriched in everything to all open-handedness, which worketh out through us giving of thanks to God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

November 3rd – Civil Calendar
October 21st – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Hilarion the Great.

As a rose growing among thorns, so was this great saint born of pagan parents in the village of Tabatha near Gaza in Palestine. His parents sent him to study in Alexandria, where the gifted youngster quickly assimilated both secular learning and spiritual wisdom. Coming to know Christ the Lord and receiving Baptism, he desired to serve the Lord with his whole heart. With this desire, Hilarion visited St. Anthony the Great in the desert and became his disciple. He then returned to his homeland and lived in asceticism near Maiuma, not far from Gaza. Demons tried to frighten him with various terrors, but he, with prayer to God and the sign of the Cross, overcame them all and drove them away. A great many who were desirous of the spiritual life gathered around him, and St. Hilarion became for Palestine what St. Anthony was for Egypt. A divine teacher, a strict ascetic, a marvellous wonder-worker, Hilarion was revered not only by Christians but also by pagans. He, though, fearing the praise of men and crying out through his tears: ‘Woe is me, for I am getting my reward in this life!’ fled from place to place simply to hide from men and remain alone with his soul and God. He therefore settled and lived for a time in Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and finally in Cyprus, where his life of great toil came to an end in about 372, when he had reached the age of eighty. Hilarion’s wonder-working relics were taken by Ezekiel, one of his disciples, to Palestine and laid in the monastery that he had founded.

2. St. Hilarion, Bishop of Meglin.

He was born of eminent and devout parents. His childless mother had long prayed to God to give her a child, and when she was at prayer, the most holy Mother of God appeared to her and comforted her with the words: ‘Don’t cry; you will have a son, and he will bring many to the light of truth.’ When Hilarion was only three years old, the hymn: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth’ was constantly heard on his lips. Well-educated, he became a monk at the age of eighteen and founded a monastery based on the rule of St. Pachomios. In 1134, he was consecrated Bishop of Meglin by Efstathius, Archbishop of Trnovo. St. Hilarion had an almost lifelong struggle against the Bogomils and the Armenian heretics, but by his spiritual learning and unequalled holiness, he put them all to shame and brought many of them to Orthodoxy. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of his Lord in 1164.

3. Our Holy Father Philotheus.

Born in Chrysopolis in Macedonia, he was taken from his mother, a widow, by the Turks and thrown into prison along with one of his brothers. They were miraculously delivered from prison by the most holy Mother of God and taken to a monastery in Neapolis in Asia Minor. Their mother later found her sons as monks, and herself became a nun. Philotheus went to the Holy Mountain, where he lived first in the monastery of Dionysiou and then in the wilds. A wonderful ascetic and a great conqueror of demonic powers, he entered peacefully into rest at the age of eighty-four. He left instructions that he was not to be buried, but that his body was to be thrown into the forest for the birds and wild beasts. Later, a fisherman saw a great light in the forest at night, and being frozen, went to warm himself at it, thinking it was a fire. The light was, however, coming from the wonder-working relics of St. Philotheus.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The all-seeing eye of God looks on all men, and in a wonderful way, guides the faithful to salvation. That which may seem to the faithful at first to be a great loss shows itself in time to be a great gain. The case of St. Philotheus and his brother, who were lost to their mother, is similar to that of St. Xenophon (January 26th), and to that of St. Efstathios Placidus and his wife and sons (Sept. 20th). When St. Philotheus and his brother were sitting in the Turkish prison in Macedonia, the most holy Mother of God appeared to them, in the form of their mother, and said to them: ‘Get up, my dear children, and follow me,’ and the young men suddenly found themselves in a monastery in the city of Neapolis in Asia Minor. When the young men told the abbot what had happened to them, he understood that this was of God, and he received them and made them monks. A long time passed, and their mother was in bitter grief. She finally decided to enter a women’s monastery and consecrate herself to God. The providence of God led her to the neighborhood of the monastery where her sons were. Once, when the monastery was keeping its festival, she came with some of the other nuns for the feast. She saw her sons in church, but did not recognize them. Then one of the brothers called the other by his secular name. The mother was touched to the heart by that beloved name, and looked carefully into his face. Then their mother recognized her sons and they her, and their joy was very great, and they thanked God with overflowing hearts. Believing Christians must not despair at even the greatest apparent loss.

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.