Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 2]. In those days:

1 ¹²The apostles returned to Jerusalem from the mount which is called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, being a sabbath’s day journey. ¹³And when they entered, they went up into the upper chamber where they were staying, both Peter and Iakovos, and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, Iakovos the son of Alphæos and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of Iakovos. ¹⁴These all were persevering with one accord in prayer and in entreaty, with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.

¹⁵And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples—there was a multitude of persons in the same place, about a hundred and twenty—and said, ¹⁶“Men, brethren, it was needful for this Scripture to have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; ¹⁷“for he was numbered with us and obtained as his portion the lot of this ministry.... ²¹“It is needful, therefore, of those men who were in company with us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, ²²“beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which He was taken up from us, for one of these to become a witness of His resurrection with us.” ²³And they set forth two: Joseph called Barsavas, who was surnamed Justos, and Matthias. ²⁴And they prayed and said, “Thou, Lord, O Knower of the hearts of all, show which one of these two Thou didst choose for Thyself, ²⁵“to receive the lot of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas transgressed, to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they gave their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was reckoned along with the eleven apostles.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 2].

1 ¹⁸No one hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declareth Him.

¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent forth priests and Levites from Jerusalem that they should ask him, “Who art thou?” ²⁰He not only confessed and denied not, but also confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹And they questioned him, “What then? Art thou Elias?” And he saith, “I am not.” “Art thou the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²²Then they said to him, “Who art thou, that we might give an answer to those who sent us? What sayest thou about thyself?” ²³He said, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord [Is. 40:3],’ even as the Prophet Esaias said.” ²⁴And they who had been sent forth were from the Pharisees. ²⁵And they asked him, and said to him, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶John answered them, saying, “I baptize in water, but there standeth One in your midst Whom ye know not. ²⁷“He it is, the One Who cometh after me, Who hath come to be before me, of Whom I am not worthy that I should loose the thong of His sandal.” ²⁸These things took place in Bethabara across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostles Herodion, Agavos, Rufus, Phlegon, Asyncritos, and Hermes of the Seventy, and those with them.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 21st – Civil Calendar
April 8th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostles Herodion, Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon and Hermas.

They were all among the Seventy, and are all mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistles. Herodion was a kinsman of Paul’s: ‘Salute Herodion my kinsman,’ he writes to the Romans (16:11). Herodion suffered greatly at the hands of the Jews as Bishop of Neoparthia; he was beaten about the head, stoned on the mouth and stabbed in the legs. When they had left him for dead, St. Herodion arose and continued to serve the apostles. He helped the Apostle Peter in Rome, and was beheaded along with many other Christians on the same day that St. Peter was crucified.

St. Agabus had a spirit of prophecy. Two of his prophecies are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. First, he prophesied a great famine throughout the world, which came to pass in the time of Claudius Caesar (Acts 11:28). The second was when he met the Apostle Paul in Caesarea. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, and Agabus took St. Paul’s girdle and bound himself hand and foot, saying: ‘Thus saith the Holy Spirit: so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle’ (21:11).

St. Rufus was Bishop of Thebes in Greece. The Apostle Paul mentions him also: ‘Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord’ (Rom. 16:13).

St. Asyncritus (Rom. 16:14) was Bishop of Hyrcania in Asia.

St. Phlegon, who is mentioned in the same place as St. Rufus, was bishop in the Thracian city of Marathon.

St. Hermas, mentioned with the others, was bishop in Dalmatia.

All these, with bee-like industry, spread the Gospel, suffering greatly for the love of Christ. They all went to the eternal kingdom of their beloved Christ.

2. St. Niphon, Bishop of Novgorod.

He was adorned with zeal in the building and repairing of churches and with great courage in opposing tyrannical princes. Thirteen days before his death, St. Theodosius appeared to him and predicted his imminent departure to the other world. He entered into rest in 1156.

3. St. Celestine, Bishop of Rome.

A great zealot for the Orthodox Faith, he wrote an epistle against the Nestorian heresy at the time of the Third Ecumenical Council. He entered peacefully into rest in 432.

FOR CONSIDERATION

There is a heroism that is more than heroism, and an asceticism that is more than asceticism. St. Epiphanios of Cyprus once invited Hilarion the Great to lunch, and to show even greater honor to his guest, brought baked chicken to the table and offered it to him. Hilarion said to him: ‘Please excuse me; from the time I became a monk I have eaten nothing slaughtered.’—to which Epiphanios retorted: ‘And I, since becoming a monk, have never lain down on my bed without forgiving all my enemies!’ Hilarion exclaimed in wonder: ‘Yours, holy bishop, is a greater virtue than mine.’ This is an important teaching for us all. Fasting is a thing of primary importance, but forgiveness of insults is greater. A man trains himself by fasting for greatness of soul, and shows this greatness of soul by forgiveness. The latter surpasses the former, but is not attained without the former.

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.