Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fourth Sunday of Pascha, or the Sunday of the Paralytic

Mode Three — Fifth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 23]. In those days:

9 ³²It came to pass, as Peter passed through all quarters, he went down also to the saints that dwelt at Lydda. ³³And there he found a certain man, by name Æneas, who kept his bed for eight years, and was paralyzed. ³⁴And Peter said to him, “Æneas, Jesus the Christ healeth thee; rise up and make up thy bed for thyself.” And straightway he rose up. ³⁵And all those inhabiting Lydda and the Sharon Plain, who saw him, turned to the Lord. ³⁶Now there was in Joppa a certain disciple, by name Tabitha, which, being interpreted, is called Dorcas. She was full of good works and of alms which she used to do. ³⁷And it came to pass in those days she fell sick and died. And after they washed her, they laid her in an upper room. ³⁸And since Lydda was near to Joppa, and the disciples heard that Peter was in it, they sent forth two men to him, beseeching him not to delay to come over to them. ³⁹And Peter, having risen up, went with them, whom after he came, they brought him into the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing howsoever many tunics and garments Dorcas used to make while she was with them. ⁴⁰But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, rise up.” And she opened her eyes; and after she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and after he called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. ⁴²And it became known throughout all of Joppa; and many believed on the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 14]. At that time:

5 ¹Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now there is in Jerusalem by the gate a sheep pool, which is surnamed in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. ³In these was lying a great multitude of the infirm, blind, lame, withered, awaiting the moving of the water. ⁴For an angel used to come down from time to time into the pool and trouble the water; then after the troubling of the water, the one who first entered became well of whatsoever disease he was held by. ⁵And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. ⁶Jesus saw this one lying there, and knew that he had already been much time in that condition, and He said to him, “Dost thou wish to become well?” ⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man in order that whenever the water is troubled he may put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another goeth down before me.” ⁸Jesus saith to him, “Rise, take up thy bed and be walking.” ⁹And straightway the man became well, and took up his bed, and went on walking. And on that day it was a sabbath. ¹⁰The Jews therefore were saying to him who had been healed, “It is a sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up the bed.” ¹¹He answered them, “The One Who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up thy bed and be walking.’” ¹²Then they asked him, “Who is the Man Who said to thee, ‘Take up thy bed and be walking?’” ¹³But the one who was healed knew not Who it was, for Jesus turned aside, because a crowd was in the place. ¹⁴After these things Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, thou hast become well; no longer go on sinning, lest a worse thing should befall thee.” ¹⁵The man went away, and told the Jews that Jesus was the One Who made him well.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Nine Martyrs of Kyzicus, Theognis, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichos, Artemas, Magnos, Theodotos, Thavmasios, and Philemon (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 29^th of April). The commemoration of the holy Apostles of the Seventy, Jason and Sosipater, and their companions (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 29^th of April). The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Maximos, Quintillian, and Dada at Dorostolum (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 13^th of April).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 11th – Civil Calendar
April 28th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater, and the Virgin Kerkyra.

The first two were among the Seventy Apostles, and the last was the daughter of the king of the island of Corfu. The Apostle Paul mentions Jason and Sosipater (Rom. 16:21), and calls them his kinsmen. Jason was born in Tarsus, as was the Apostle Paul himself, and Sosipater in Achaea. The first was nominated by the apostles as Bishop of Tarsus and the second as Bishop of Iconium. Travelling and preaching the Gospel, these two apostles came to the island of Corfu, where they succeeded in building a church dedicated to St. Stephen the Protomartyr and in bringing some unbelievers to the Church. The king of the island threw them into prison, where there were seven robbers already imprisoned: Satorninus, Jakischolus, Faustian, Januarius, Marsalus, Evphrasius and Mamminus. The apostles brought all seven of them to the Christian Faith, making wolves into lambs. The king commanded that these seven be put to death in boiling pitch, and they thus received the wreath of martyrdom. Seeking to disgrace Jason and Sosipater, the king had them dragged through the streets by a horse at a speed calculated to be slow enough to bruise them without killing them. When the king’s daughter, Kerkyra, saw this, she looked upon the wretchedness of her father with disdain, and discovering the reason for it, she visited them in the prison, where she was converted. She gave all her jewels away to the poor and proclaimed herself a Christian to her father. The king was filled with wrath against his daughter and shut her up in a separate prison. Then, failing to turn her from Christ, he ordered that the prison be burned down. The prison burned to the ground, but the maiden remained alive. Seeing this wonder, many of the people were baptized. The furious king ordered that his daughter be bound to a tree and killed with arrows. Those who had come to believe in Christ fled from the terrible king to a nearby island and hid themselves. The king set off in a boat to arrest them, but his boat overturned in the sea and thus the unrighteous perished, as Pharaoh aforetime. The succeeding king, Donatios, continued in the persecution. He ordered Sosipater to be put to death. It was presumed that Jason would follow his comrade in death, but the king decided to question the surviving partner first. A gnawing sense of guilt precipitated the meeting of the two, at which Jason succeeded in converting Donatios to the Christian Faith. Not long after this, the twelve-year-old daughter of Donatios was stricken with a fatal illness, but was cured when Jason knelt in prayer on her behalf. Jason continued to work for our Savior until his death at the age of sixty on April 28th, the day on which Sosipater had died for Christ.

2. The Holy Martyrs Maximus, Dada and Quintillian.

Suffering in the time of Diocletian, they were condemned and tortured by the commander Tarquinius. After imprisonment and torture, they were beheaded.

3. The Holy Martyr Tibald.

A Slav from Pannonia, he was terribly tortured for the Faith in the time of Diocletian, and suffered in Tsibal.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The mystery of our salvation is fulfilled in God’s appearing among men in human flesh. Meliton of Sardis writes: ‘The works of Christ after His Baptism showed and demonstrated to the world that His divinity is hidden within His flesh. Being God, He was also perfect man. He revealed His two natures to us: His divinity by His miracles, performed in the three years after His Baptism, and His humanity through those thirty years when bodily nature hid the signs of His divinity, although He was truly the pre-eternal God.’ The means of uniting the divinity with the humanity is difficult to comprehend, but the event of the appearing of God among men is perfectly comprehensible from the point of view of God’s love for man. As an event, the world is not more comprehensible—it can be said to be even less comprehensible than the event of events, the incarnation of God.

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.