Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Twenty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 276]. Brethren:

2 ¹³We are bound to give thanks to God always concerning you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you for Himself from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, ¹⁴to which He called you through our Gospel, to acquisition of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brethren, be standing firm and holding fast the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. ¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, the One Who loved us and gave everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

3 ¹For the rest, brethren, be praying for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also it is with you, ²and that we might be delivered from wayward and evil men; for not all have the faith. ³But faithful is the Lord, Who shall establish you and guard you from the evil one. ⁴And we trust in the Lord as to you, that ye both do and will do what we command you. ⁵And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 100]. The Lord said this parable:

20 ⁹“A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it out to vinedressers, and went abroad for considerable periods of time. ¹⁰“And at the season he sent forth a slave to the vinedressers, in order that they might give him from the fruit of the vineyard; but the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty. ¹¹“And he continued to send them another slave. But they beat that one also, and dishonored him, and sent him away empty. ¹²“And he continued to send a third. But they wounded this one also and cast him out. ¹³“And the lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, the beloved; perhaps they will respect him after they see him.’ ¹⁴“But after the vinedressers saw him, they began reasoning among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance might become ours.’ ¹⁵“And they cast him forth out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶“He will come and destroy these vinedressers, and will give the vineyard to others.” And after they heard it, they said, “May it not be.” ¹⁷And He looked at them and said, “What then is this that hath been written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner [Ps. 117(118):22; cf. Is. 28:16]’? ¹⁸“Everyone who falleth upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will crush him.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Paramon in Bithynia, and Philoumenos of Ankyra, and those with them.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 97]. Brethren:

8 ¹⁴As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵For ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye received a Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: ¹⁷And if children, also heirs—on the one hand heirs of God, on the other hand joint-heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, in order that we might also be glorified together. ¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy in comparison to the future glory to be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaiteth the revelation of the sons of God. ²⁰For creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but on account of Him Who subjected it in hope, ²¹that the creation itself also shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 12th – Civil Calendar
November 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Paramon, and 370 others with him.

In Asian Bithynia, the governor, Aquilinus, was ferociously persecuting Christians. He once seized three hundred and seventy Christians and took them with him in bonds to some place where there was a temple to the god Poseidon. Here, the wicked governor tried to force them to offer sacrifice to idols. Although he threatened with death any who refused to obey his command, not a single one of the Christians submitted to it. At that time, there passed along the road running beside the temple a respected man called Paramon. He stopped beside the group of bound men and learned what was happening, then cried out: ‘Oh, how many innocent and righteous men does this foul governor desire to slaughter because they will not bow down to his dumb and dead idols?’ Paramon then continued on his way, and the furious governor sent servants to kill him. They caught up with him and seized him, first piercing his tongue with a thorn and then stripping him and stabbing him all over. Holy Paramon, with prayer in his heart, gave his soul into God’s hands. After that, these three hundred and seventy martyrs, great sons of God and innocent lambs, were beheaded with the sword and thus entered into the immortal kingdom of Christ the Lord. They suffered in the year 250.

2. Our Holy Father Akakios (Acacius) of Mount Latros.

In his famous book, ‘The Ladder,’ St. John Climacus records the life of this saint. The young Akakios was a novice with an evil elder in the Monastery of Kellivara. The foul-tempered elder daily groused and grumbled at Akakios, and often beat him, tormenting and ill-treating him in every possible way. Akakios did not complain, but bore it all patiently and with trust that it would work for his salvation. When people saw his bruises and asked him how he survived, he replied: ‘Well, as before the Lord God’. After nine years of obedience and ill-treatment, Akakios died. The elder buried him and then went off to lament to another elder, a holy man, saying: ‘Akakios, my disciple, is dead.’ ‘I don’t believe it,’ replied the holy elder, ‘Akakios is not dead.’ They then both went to the dead man’s grave, and the holy elder called out: ‘Brother Akakios, are you dead?’ The obedient Akakios, obedient even in death, replied: ‘I am not dead; the obedient cannot die.’ Then the evil elder repented and shut himself in a cell near Akakios’ grave, where he spent the rest of his life in repentance and prayer.

3. The Holy Martyr Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth.

A well-known pastor and teacher, he was beheaded for Christ the Lord in 182.

4. St. Tiridates, King of Armenia.

He was a contemporary of Diocletian. He at first persecuted Christians with great ferocity, but God’s punishment fell on him and he went mad and became like a beast, as happened aforetime to Nebuchadnezzar. St. Gregory miraculously healed him of his madness (see Sept. 30th). From that time until his death, Tiridates spent his life in repentance and devotion. He died peacefully in the fourth century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

God’s punishment often falls on sinners immediately after they have sinned, that the sinners may fear and the righteous be encouraged. However, it sometimes falls much later, suddenly and unexpectedly, that sinners may know that God forgets nothing. The earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiron immediately after they had sinned, but King Balthazzar saw the hand that wrote his deadly outcome at a time when he felt himself at ease at a wedding feast, among friends and admirers.

A gravely-sick soldier was brought to St. Stephen the New, to be healed by his prayers. Stephen told him to venerate the icons of Christ and the Mother of God. The soldier did this, and was immediately healed, and this wonder was spoken of on all sides. Hearing of it, the iconoclast Emperor Kopronymos summoned this soldier and questioned him. When the soldier acknowledged that he had received healing from the holy icons, the emperor furiously began to rebuke him for his veneration of them. The terrified soldier repudiated his veneration before the emperor, and was ashamed of his faith in the icons. When this soldier left the court and mounted his horse, it became maddened under him, threw him off and trampled him with its hooves until he gave up the spirit. This is an example of a punishment that follows immediately on the sin.

King Tiridates, a persecutor of Christians, threw St. Gregory into a deep pit and killed thirty-seven holy nuns, and he went unpunished. Later, when the king and his entourage had gone hunting for pleasure, madness suddenly fell on him. The reason for his madness and the means of restoring him to sanity were revealed to his devout sister in a dream. St. Gregory was taken out of his pit, and at his prayers, King Tiridates was healed, repented and received Baptism.

Punishment sometimes follows as quickly on sin as day does night, and sometimes as slowly as year follows year. But it never fails to come, except at those times when repentance takes the place of punishment.

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.