Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 29].

12 ¹At that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to maltreat some of those from the Church. ²And he killed Iakovos the brother of John with a sword. ³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he in addition went on to seize Peter also—and they were the days of unleavened bread— ⁴whom after he laid hold of, he also put in prison, and delivered him up to four sets of four soldiers to guard him, purposing after the passover to bring him forth to the people. ⁵Peter, therefore, on the one hand, was being guarded in the prison, but on the other hand, earnest prayer was being made by the Church to God on his behalf. ⁶And when Herod was about to bring him forth, on that very night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and guards also were before the door keeping the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the chamber; and he struck the side of Peter, and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And the chains from his hands fell off of him. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird thyself about, and bind on thy sandals.” And so he did. And he saith to him, “Cast about thee thine outer garment, and follow thou me.” ⁹And he went out and kept on following him, and did not know that it was real that which was happening by means of the angel, but he kept on thinking he saw a vision. ¹⁰And after they passed a first guard and a second, they came up to the gate, the iron one, which leadeth into the city, which was opened to them of itself; and having gone out, they advanced one street, and straightway the angel departed from him. ¹¹And after Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know of a truth, that the Lord sent forth His angel, and took me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 31].

8 ³¹The Lord Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If ye abide in My word, truly ye are My disciples; ³²“and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” ³³They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how sayest Thou, ‘Ye shall become free?’” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, that everyone who doeth sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵“And the slave abideth not in the house forever; the Son abideth forever. ³⁶“If therefore the Son should set you free, verily ye shall be free. ³⁷“I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because My word findeth no room in you. ³⁸“I am speaking that which I have seen by the side of My Father; and ye therefore are doing that which ye have seen from the side of your father.” ³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If ye were children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰“But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man Who hath spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. ⁴¹“Ye are doing the works of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We have not been born of fornication; we have one Father, God.” ⁴²Then Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I came forth out of God and am come; for neither have I come of Myself, but that One sent Me forth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Virgin-martyr Pelagia of Tarsus.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 17th – Civil Calendar
May 4th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus.

Born in the town of Tarsus of pagan but noble and wealthy parents, she heard about Christ and the salvation of the soul from Christians, became inflamed with love for the Savior and was a Christian in her soul. There was at that time a terrible persecution of Christians. It happened that the Emperor Diocletian himself stopped in Tarsus and that, during the time of his stay in the town, his son, the heir, fell deeply in love with Pelagia and wanted to make her his wife. Pelagia replied through her mother—a wicked woman—that she was already promised to her betrothed husband, Christ the Lord. Fleeing from the foul heir and her wicked mother, Pelagia sought and found Bishop Linus, a man renowned for his holiness. He instructed her in the Faith and baptized her. Then Pelagia gave away her luxurious clothing and great wealth, returned home and confessed to her mother that she was already baptized. Hearing of this, the emperor’s son, losing all hope of getting this holy maiden as his wife, ran himself through with a sword and died. Then the wicked mother denounced her daughter to the emperor and she was taken for trial. The emperor marveled at the girl’s beauty, and forgetting his son, burned with an impure passion for her. But when Pelagia remained unfaltering in her faith, the emperor condemned her to be burned in a metal ox heated by fire. She entered the ox with prayers of thanksgiving to God on her lips, and received a crown of martyrdom. She suffered with honor in 287. Diocletian bid that her remains be cast out of the city for wild beasts to devour, but God preserved her relics intact. Bishop Linus took her relics and buried them honorably. In the time of the Emperor Constantine Kopronymos (741-775), a beautiful church was built on that site in honor of this holy virgin and martyr Pelagia, who was sacrificed for Christ to reign eternally with Him.

2. The Hieromartyr Silvanos, Bishop of Gaza.

He was at first in military service, but later, urged by the strength of his faith, he transferred to spiritual service. Accused of bringing many pagans to Christianity, he was at first brutally tortured then beheaded with forty other soldiers in 311, and thus became a citizen of heaven.

3. Our Holy Father Nikephoros the Hesychast.

He was at first a Roman Catholic, but then became Orthodox. He lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain as a monk, with the wise Theoleptos. He was a teacher of St. Gregory Palamas and wrote a work on mental prayer. He went peacefully to the Lord in the 14th century. He taught: ‘Gather your mind and compel it to enter into your heart and remain there. When your mind is firmly in your heart, it must not remain empty, but must incessantly make the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” And it must never fall silent. Through this the whole string of the virtues: love, joy, peace and the others, will make their abode in you, by which, then, every request of yours to God will be fulfilled.’

FOR CONSIDERATION

A young man, inexperienced in the spiritual struggle, makes a show to everyone of his good works with self-congratulation. But a soldier experienced in skirmishes with the passions and with demons belittles each work of his and intensifies his prayer for the help of God. Abba Matoes said: ‘The closer a man is to God, the more clearly he knows himself a sinner.’ And, again, he said: ‘When I was young, I thought that I might be able to do some good thing; but now that I am old, I see that I have not done a single good work.’ Did not the Lord say: ‘None is good, but the one God’? If, then, the one God alone is good and the fount of all good, how can a good work be done that is not of God? And how can anyone who performs a good work attribute it to himself and not to God? And, if this is so, by what can a dead man be praised? By nothing but God and the goodness 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.