Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 6]. In those days:

2 ³⁸Peter said to the people, “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those at a distance, as many as the Lord our God shall call forth.” ⁴⁰With more and other words was he both testifying and exhorting, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹Then they indeed who gladly welcomed his words were baptized; and in that day about three thousand souls were added. ⁴²And they were persevering in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion, and in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. ⁴³And fear came to be in every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 8]. At that time:

3 ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemos, a ruler of the Jews. ²This one came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou hast come from God as a teacher; for no one is able to do these signs which Thou doest unless God be with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, except one should be born again, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemos saith to Him, “How is a man able to be born when he is old? He is not able to enter the womb of his mother a second time, and be born, is he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless one should be born of water and of the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶“That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷“Do not begin to wonder that I said to thee, ‘It is needful for you to be born again.’ ⁸“The wind bloweth wheresoever it is naturally disposed, and thou hearest its sound, but thou knowest not from what place it cometh and where it goeth; thus is everyone who hath been born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemos answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Thou art the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹“Verily, verily, I say to thee that We speak that which We know, and We bear witness of that which We have seen; and ye receive not Our testimony. ¹²“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³“And no one hath gone up into the heavens, except the One Who came down from out of the heavens, the Son of Man, Who is in the heavens. ¹⁴“And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus it is needful for the Son of Man to be lifted up; ¹⁵“that everyone who believeth in Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Antipas, Bishop of Pergamon and disciple of St. John the Theologian.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 24th – Civil Calendar
April 11th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum in Asia.

He is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as ‘Antipas My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth’ (Rev. 2:13)—the city of Pergamum (Pergamos). The inhabitants of this town dwelt in the darkness of idolatry and in the depths of impurity: they were slaves to their passions, slanderers, bullies, incestuous; in brief, slaves of Satan. There among them lived Antipas, ‘as a light in the midst of darkness, as a rose among thorns, as gold in mud’. He who would seize and kill a Christian was regarded as good and just. The whole of their idolatrous faith consisted in soothsaying, the interpretation of dreams, the service of demons and the extreme excesses of debauchery. In terror of Antipas as of fire, the demons appeared to the pagan priests in their dreams and told them how greatly they were in fear of him, and how this fear was driving them from the city. The priests stirred up the multitude, and they began to torment him and to press him to deny Christ and worship idols. Antipas said to them: ‘When your so-called gods and lords of the universe are afraid of me, a mortal man, and have to flee the city, why do you not learn from this that all your faith is in vain?’ And the saint spoke further with them of the Christian Faith as the only true and saving Faith. But they became incensed like wild beasts and dragged the aged Antipas before the temple of Artemis, where there stood an ox cast in bronze. They heated the ox and threw the servant of God inside. St. Antipas, inside the red-hot ox, glorified God with thanksgiving, like Jonah in the sea monster and the Three Children in the burning fiery furnace. Antipas prayed for his flock and for the whole world until his soul parted from his exhausted body and went to join the angels in the kingdom of Christ. He died under torture and was crowned with unfading glory in the year 92.

2. The Holy Martyrs Processus and Martinian.

They were warders in the Roman prison where the Apostles Peter and Paul were held captive. Hearing the words and seeing the miracles of these apostles, they were baptized and released the apostles from prison. The apostles left Rome, but the Lord appeared to Peter on the Appian Way. ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’ asked Peter of Him, and the Lord replied: ‘I’m going to Rome, to be crucified afresh.’ The apostles returned to Rome, where they were arrested and killed. The two courageous martyrs, Processus and Martinian, were beheaded along with St. Paul.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘There is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation,’ says St. Ephraim the Syrian. The struggle is incessant, whether external or internal. The enemy acts at times visibly through people and things, at times invisibly through the mind. At times he shows himself clearly as the enemy, acting with cruelty; at others as a flattering friend, leading astray by a trick. That which takes place in war between two opposing armies is that which happens to a man who commits himself to the struggle with the delusion of this world. Indeed, ‘there is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation’. But when salvation comes, rest comes with it.

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.