Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 8]. In those days:

3 ¹¹As the lame man who was healed held fast to Peter and John, all the people, utterly amazed, ran together toward them on the porch which is called Solomon’s. ¹²And after Peter saw it, he answered to the people, “Men, Israelites, why do ye wonder at this? Or why do ye look intently on us, as if by our own power or piety we have caused him to walk? ¹³“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, Whom ye delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, after the latter adjudged to release Him. ¹⁴“But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and ye yourselves asked for a man, a murderer, to be granted to you, ¹⁵“and ye killed the originator of life, Whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. ¹⁶“And in the power of His name by faith, this man, whom ye see and know, was strengthened by His name, and the faith which is by Him gave this complete soundness to him before you all.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 11]. At that time:

3 ²²Jesus came, and His disciples, to the Judæan land; and there He was spending time with them, and was baptizing. ²³And John was also baptizing in Ænon near Saleim, because there was much water there. And they were coming and were being baptized. ²⁴For John had not yet been cast into the prison. ²⁵Then there arose an inquiry from the disciples of John with a Jew about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He Who was with thee across the Jordan, to Whom thou hast borne witness, behold, this One is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷John answered and said, “A man is able to receive nothing unless it hath been given to him from the heavens. ²⁸“Ye yourselves bear witness to me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but that ‘I have been sent forth before that One.’ ²⁹“The one who hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy then, which is mine, hath been made full. ³⁰“It is needful for that One to go on increasing, but for me to go on decreasing. ³¹“The One Who cometh from above is above all. The one who is out of the earth is of the earth, and speaketh of the earth; the One Who cometh out of the heavens is above all. ³²“And what He hath seen and heard, this He testifieth; and no one receiveth His testimony. ³³“The one who receiveth His testimony hath set his seal to this, that God is true.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Martin, Pope of Rome (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 14th of April), and his fellow bishops, and Hieromartyr Artemon, presbyter of Laodicea.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 26th – Civil Calendar
April 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Artemon.

He was a priest in Laodicea in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. He spoke thus of himself before the torturers’ tribunal: ‘I am called Artemon, a servant of Christ my God. Sixteen years I was a reader, and read the services in the Church of my God; twenty-eight years a deacon, and read the holy Gospel; and have now completed thirty years as a priest, teaching the people and setting them on the way of salvation with the help of Christ.’ The judge took him to the temple of Aesculapius, where the priests kept great snakes, regarding them as gods. They meant the snakes to bite Artemon, but he made the sign of the Cross, and by its power riveted the snakes to the ground so that they could not bite him. He then brought them out to the courtyard and breathed on them, and they died instantly. All who saw this were filled with amazement. But the chief of the pagan priests of that temple, Vitalis, seeing this marvel, fell to his knees before Artemon and cried: ‘Great is the Christian God!’ The martyr baptized him, along with several of his friends. But the evil judge stood firm in his wickedness and tortured the aged Artemon in various ways. He intended at one time to cast him into burning pitch, but fell off his horse into it himself and was burned. Two eagles were seen to descend on him, lift him from his horse and cast him into the pitch. St. Artemon remained free for a certain time and went about teaching the people, accompanied always by two tame deer. But he was arrested afresh and beheaded in the year 303. And his soul went to the kingdom of Christ our God, Whom he had served so faithfully.

2. The Holy Martyr Crescens.

From the city of Myra in Lycia, he was an honored and eminent citizen. He openly confessed his faith in Christ, and mocked at the lifeless idols. For this he was burned to death by the pagans.

3. The Holy Martyr Thomaïs.

Born in Alexandria of devout parents, she was instructed in piety from her youth and married to a devout man at the age of fifteen. But her father-in-law was a foul old man, and in the absence of his son, fell on his daughter-in-law with the intention of taking away her honor. Thomaïs was terrified, and in her terror, reminded her father-in-law of God’s law and slipped out of his hands. After a long struggle, the father-in-law took out a knife and slaughtered Thomaïs, cutting her into two pieces. At that moment the punishment of God fell upon him: he was instantly blinded and was unable to find the door to get out of the room. He was arrested right there and taken for trial, where he was condemned to death. Thus Thomaïs suffered for the commandments of God and for marital fidelity and purity. It happened after that, that those who were tormented by lustful passions lifted up their prayers to St. Thomaïs and received great help from her. The great ascetic Daniel translated her relics to Sketis and laid them in the priests’ cemetery. St. Thomaïs suffered in 476.

FOR CONSIDERATION

When the martyr Crescens, a nobleman of Myra in Lycia, was taken for trial, the judge put great pressure on him to worship idols. Being utterly unsuccessful in this, he finally said to Crescens: ‘Only let your body bow, but cleave in your soul to your God.’ To this the honest Crescens replied: ‘The body can do nothing independently of the soul, which gives it movement and guidance.’ Crescens was murdered for that clear teaching for Christians against two-facedness. And there is more to this. Christians have the responsibility of serving their Creator with their bodies, not just with their souls. By this is refuted the false position of some Christians who live in the flesh as pagans and meanwhile congratulate themselves on the belief in and love for God in their souls. They cut themselves in half and enter the service of two masters—although the holiest lips have stated the impossibility of that.

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.