Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 30]. In those days:

12 ¹²Peter came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark, where a considerable number of them were gathered together and praying. ¹³And after Peter knocked at the door of the gateway, a maidservant, by name Rhoda, came to hearken. ¹⁴And having recognized the voice of Peter, from her joy she did not open the gateway, but she ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gateway. ¹⁵And they said to her, “Thou art mad.” But she was strongly affirming that it was so. And they kept on saying, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶But Peter continued knocking. And after they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷And having motioned to them with his hand to be silent, he set out in detail to them how the Lord brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Relate these things to Iakovos and to the brethren.” And going out, he went to another place.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 32]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

8 ⁴²“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. ⁴³“Why do ye not understand My speech? Because ye are not able to hear My word. ⁴⁴“Ye are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father ye wish to do. That one was a manslayer from the beginning, and hath not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he may speak the lie, he speaketh out of the things which are his own; for he is a liar and the father of it. ⁴⁵“And because I speak the truth, ye believe Me not. ⁴⁶“Which of you reproveth Me concerning sin? But if I speak truth, why do ye not believe Me? ⁴⁷“The one who is of God heareth the words of God; on this account ye hear not, because ye are not of God.” ⁴⁸Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “We say well, do we not, that Thou art a Samaritan and hast a demon?” ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I have not a demon; but I honor My Father, and ye dishonor Me. ⁵⁰“And I seek not Mine own glory; there is One Who seeketh and judgeth. ⁵¹“Verily, verily, I say to you, if anyone should keep My word, he in no wise shall ever see death.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy and Righteous Job the much-suffering.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 19th – Civil Calendar
May 6th – Church Calendar

1. Holy, Righteous, and Long-suffering Job.

Job was a descendant of Esau the grandson of Abraham, and lived in Arabia about 2,000 years before Christ. His father’s name was Zareth and his mother’s Bosora; his full name was Jobab. He was an honorable and God-fearing man, and was very rich. But when he reached the age of seventy-nine, God permitted heavy temptation from Satan to fall on him, as is written in detail in the Book of Job. In one day, Job lost all his great possessions and his sons and daughters. Then a great sickness fell on him, from which his whole body was covered with sores from top to toe, and Job lay on a rubbish heap outside the town and scoured his boils with sherds of broken pottery. But Job did not complain of God, but patiently endured all his sufferings to the end. Therefore the Lord restored his health and gave him riches greater than he had had before, and there were born to him seven sons and three daughters; as many as he had had before. And Job lived for 248 years, glorifying and praising God. Job is regarded as the model of patient endurance of every suffering that God sends us, and is a type of the suffering Christ.

2. The Holy Martyr Barbaros.

Barbaros was a soldier in the time of Julian the Apostate. When the imperial commander Bacchus led the Roman army against the Franks, Barbaros was in that army, a secret Christian. In this battle there appeared a hero on the Frankish side, like the earlier Goliath, and he challenged the Romans to send one of their number out to single combat. The commander told Barbaros to go. Barbaros prayed in his heart to the living Lord, went out and conquered this giant. As a result, the Frankish army was confused and overcome. Then the commander made a great triumph, and ordered that sacrifice be made to idols. But, at this sacrificing, he noticed that Barbaros was standing to one side. When he asked him why, Barbaros revealed that he was a Christian. The commander informed the emperor, and the emperor commanded that Barbaros be put to the harshest torture, which Barbaros endured with rare courage and composure. At the time of his martyrdom, many marvels were seen and many soldiers, seeing them, embraced the Christian Faith. Among these was the commander Bacchus himself, with Callimachus and Dionysius. All three of them were beheaded for the name of Christ, and after them, Barbaros, in 362. Their souls went to the kingdom of Christ the immortal King.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Abba Isaias said of himself: ‘I see myself as a horse wandering without a rider. Whoever finds it sits thereon and trots on it whither he wishes. When the rider leaves the horse, a second takes it and does the same, then a third and so forth.’ This great ascetic, of whom all said with wonder that he had achieved perfection, said this of himself either out of humility or from the memory of the time of his imperfection. This saying is true in relation to every Christian who walks spiritually ungirt and unbridled. No sooner has one passion dismounted than another mounts. As soon as one has worn him out and left him in despair, another mounts him, with a diminished capacity to make him happy. Such a man has no rider to guide him in the right path without deviating either to the right or left. The only friendly rider, to be welcomed with joy, is a holy and powerful Christian spirit.

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.