Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 15]. In those days:

5 ²¹The apostles, having heard that, entered into the temple during the early morning and began teaching. But the high priest came and those with him, and they called together the sanhedrin and all the council of elders of the sons of Israel, and sent off to the prison to have them brought. ²²But after the officers came and found them not in the prison, they returned and reported, ²³saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut with all security, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but after we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴Now when the priest and the captain of the temple-guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were quite at a loss concerning them and what this would become. ²⁵But a certain one came and reported to them, saying, “Behold, the men whom ye yourselves put in the prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” ²⁶Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they were fearing the people, lest they should be stoned. ²⁷And after they brought them, they stood them in the sanhedrin. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸saying, “We did charge you by a command not to teach on this name, did we not? And behold, ye have made Jerusalem full of your teaching, and intend to bring the blood of this Man upon us.” ²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “It is needful to obey God rather than men. ³⁰“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye yourselves laid hands upon and hanged on a tree. ³¹“This One did God exalt with His right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³²“And we are His witnesses of these words, and also the Holy Spirit Whom God gave to those who obey Him.” ³³Now after they heard that, their hearts were sawn asunder, and they were taking counsel to kill him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 19]. At that time:

6 ¹⁴The people, having seen what sign Jesus did, began to say, “This is truly the Prophet Who cometh into the world.” ¹⁵Then Jesus, having known that they were about to come and seize Him in order that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain Himself alone.

¹⁶And when it became evening, His disciples went down to the sea; ¹⁷and having embarked into the ship, they were going across the sea to Capernaum. And already it had become dark, and Jesus had not come to them. ¹⁸And the sea was stirred up by a great wind blowing. ¹⁹Then after they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the ship; and they became afraid. ²⁰But He saith to them, “I am; cease being afraid.” ²¹Then they were willing to receive Him into the ship; and straightway the ship came to be at the land to which they were going.

²²On the morrow, the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one into which His disciples entered, and that Jesus did not enter together with His disciples into the little boat, but that His disciples went away alone— ²³but there came little boats from Tiberias, near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴When the crowd therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves also embarked into the ships and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. ²⁵And after they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when didst Thou arrive here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them and said, “Verily, verily, I say to you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷“Cease working for the meat which perisheth, but for the food which abideth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you; for this One did God the Father seal.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Theodore Trichinas ("the Hair-shirt Wearer"), hermit near Constantinople, and our venerable Father Anastasios of Sinai (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 21^st of April).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 3rd – Civil Calendar
April 20th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Theodore Trichinas.

He was a citizen of Constantinople, and the son of wealthy parents. He left parents, home and riches while still a young man and settled in a remote monastery in Thrace, where he undertook the most rigorous ascetic life. He slept on a stone so that he might have less sleep; he was always bareheaded and dressed in a hair-shirt, from which he was called ‘Trichinas’ or ‘hairy’. Because of his great and self-inflicted sufferings for the sake of his soul’s salvation, God granted him the gift of working miracles, both in his lifetime and after his death, and he died peacefully in about 400. Healing myrrh flowed from his relics.

2. Our Holy Father Anastasios of Mount Sinai.

He was abbot of Mount Sinai. He was for a long time a monk under the famous abbot, St. John of the Ladder, whom he succeeded on the latter’s death. He was also a great ascetic, and an eloquent narrator of the lives of the saints and the author of other instructive works. He fought an intensive battle against the heresy of the Akephalites, which was condemned by the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon. He died in great old age in 685, and went to the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully.

3. Blessed Anastasios the Sinaite, Patriarch of Antioch.

He was chosen as Patriarch of Antioch in the reign of the Emperor Justinian while still a monk on Mount Sinai. His virtues, purity of life, great spiritual learning and staunch faith won him the patriarchal throne. But Justinian, according to one historical source, for a short time fell into the heresy of Aphthartodocetism. Eftychios, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Blessed Anastasios reacted sharply against this. The emperor exiled Eftychios and wanted to exile Anastasios also, but could find nothing in his life capable of criticism. When Justinian was dying, he repented and returned Eftychios to the patriarchal throne, but Justin, his successor, succeeded in exiling Anastasios on the basis of certain slanders. Anastasios spent twenty-three years in exile and was then returned to the throne of Antioch during the reign of the Emperor Maurice. He governed the Church of God for six further years and finished his earthly course in 599.

4. Blessed Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch.

An Armenian by birth, he was abbot first of the Pharanite monastery and then on Mount Sinai, and when Blessed Anastasios was driven from the patriarchal throne, he was, against his will, installed as Patriarch of Antioch. John Moschus writes about him in his ‘Meadow,’ praising him highly. Gregory was particularly distinguished by an outstanding compassion, most especially towards sinners. He entered into rest in the Lord in 593

5. The Holy Apostle Zaccheus.

He was at first a publican and a sinner, but when the Lord saw him in the tree in Jericho (Lk. 19), He immediately brought Zaccheus to repentance. Zaccheus later followed the Apostle Peter, who made him Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, where he served the Gospel in faithfulness and died peacefully.

6. Our Holy Father Athanasius of Meteora.

Born in 1310, he lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain. He founded a famous monastery in the Meteora in Thessaly. He had great gifts of discernment and wonder-working.

Author’s note: Philaret also mentions Gabriel the Child-martyr in his ‘Lives of the Saints’. He was born in the village of Zvjerka, near the town of Zabludov and was only six years old when, in 1648, on the day when his parents were not at home, he was lured to a lonely place by a Jew named Schutko and crucified there. His body was found incorrupt thirty years later.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Anastasios of Mount Sinai teaches: ‘God gives to each Christian an angel to care for him through his whole life, unless he drives him away by his evil doings. But, as smoke drives away bees and an evil stench doves, so the guardian of our life, our angel, is driven away from us by our sins: drunkenness, debauchery, anger and the rest. An angel guides every faithful man in every good work, while the demons exert all their strength to disturb the faithful and deprive them of the heavenly kingdom.’ That angels are close to men and take care of them is testified to in the whole of holy Scripture and especially in the New Testament. Besides this, there are in the Orthodox Church innumerable testimonies of holy men and women who witnessed to that which Anastasios emphasises: that a gracious and powerful messenger of God, a soldier of the King of heaven, an angel of light, accompanies each one of us through this life. Who, other than the insane, would drive away such a good friend from himself? Indeed, only the insane and other ignoramuses drive away their greatest friends, their guardian angels.

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.