Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Seventh Sunday of Pascha, or the Sunday of the Holy Fathers

Mode Plagal Two — Tenth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 44]. In those days:

20 ¹⁶Paul decided to sail by Ephesus, so that to spend time in Asia might not happen to him; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to himself the presbyters of the church. ¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them,... ²⁸“Be taking heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit set you for Himself as bishops, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which He preserved for Himself through His own blood. ²⁹“For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock, ³⁰“and among your own selves men shall rise up, speaking things which have been perverted, to draw away the disciples after themselves. ³¹“Wherefore keep on watching, remembering that for three years I ceased not admonishing each one night and day with tears. ³²“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build up and to give you an inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. ³³“I desired of no one silver or gold or clothing; ³⁴“but ye yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs, and those who were with me. ³⁵“I showed you by example all things, that so toiling it is needful to help those who are weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” ³⁶And having said these things, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 56]. At that time:

17 ¹Jesus lifted up His eyes to the heaven, and said, “Father, the hour hath come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son might glorify Thee, ²“even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, in order that all whom Thou hast given Him, He should give to them life eternal. ³“And this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou didst send forth. ⁴“I glorified Thee on the earth. I finished the work which Thou hast given Me that I should do. ⁵“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world came to be. ⁶“I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou hast given them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. ⁷“Now they have come to know that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee. ⁸“For the words which Thou hast given Me, I have given them; and they received them, and know truly that I came forth from Thee; and they believed that Thou didst send Me forth. ⁹“I make request concerning them. I do not make request concerning the world, but concerning these whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine; ¹⁰“and all My things are Thine, and Thy things are Mine, and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹“And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep in Thy name those whom Thou hast given Me, in order that they may be one, even as We. ¹²“When I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Thy name. Those whom Thou hast given Me I guarded, and none of them perished, except the son of the perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³“And now I come to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in them.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prusa, and his companions, the Presbyters Akakios, Menander, and Polyainos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 1st – Civil Calendar
May 19th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prousa, with three priests: Akakios, Menander and Polyenos.

They suffered for the Christian Faith in the time of Julian the Apostate in Asian Prousa. The imperial governor, Junius, brought Patrick to a hot water spring and asked him: ‘Who created this healing water, if not our gods, Aesculapius and the others, whom we worship?’ St. Patrick answered: ‘Your gods are demons; and this water, like all other water, was created by Christ, our Lord and God.’ Then the governor asked: ‘And will this Christ of yours save you if I throw you into this boiling water?’ The saint replied: ‘If He wills, He can keep me whole and uninjured, although I would wish, in this water, to be parted from this temporal life, that I may live eternally with Christ; but let His holy will be done, without which not a hair of a man’s head can fall.’ Hearing this, the governor ordered that Patrick be thrown into the water. The boiling drops fell on all sides, and scalded many of the onlookers, but the saint remained untouched, as though he were standing in cold water. Seeing this, the governor was wild with shame and commanded that Patrick and three of his priests be beheaded with axes. So these goodly followers of Christ said their prayers and laid their heads under the executioner’s axe. When they had been beheaded, their souls were taken merrily to Christ’s kingdom of light, to reign eternally.

2. St. John, Bishop of the Goths.

He was bishop in Georgia, but when a local Tartar khan began to torture the Christians, he went off and spent four years among the Goths in Bessabara (a Gothic diocese formed in the time of Constantine the Great). Hearing of the death of the khan, he returned to his work and guided his flock with zeal and godliness. Before his death, he said: ‘In forty days I shall go to judgement with the khan’ (that is: through death, he was going before the throne of God). And thus it was. On the fortieth day, he passed away and went to the Lord. He entered peacefully into rest in the 8th century.

3. The Holy Prince Ivan of Vologda.

He was a wonder-worker. God-fearing and devout from his youth, he was thrown into prison by his uncle, Ivan Vasillievitch, together with his brother Dimitri, spending thirty-two years there. Ivan became a monk before his death, receiving the name Ignatius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Peter of Damascus laments, “I begin to see that my soul is being destroyed, and yet I make no effort to embark on a godly life. Why, O my soul, are you so indifferent about yourself? Why, when you sin, are you not as ashamed before God and His angels as you are before men? Alas, alas, for I do not feel the shame before my Creator and Master that I feel before a man. Before a man I cannot sin, but do all I can to appear to be acting righteously; yet standing before God I think evil thoughts and often am not ashamed to speak of them. What madness! Though I sin, I have no fear of God Who watches me, and yet I cannot tell to a single man what I have done so as to give him a chance to correct me. Alas, for I know the punishment and yet am unwilling to repent. I love the heavenly kingdom, and yet do not acquire virtue. I believe in God and constantly disobey His commandments. I hate the devil, and yet do not stop doing what he wants. If I pray, I lose interest and become unfeeling. If I fast, I become proud, and damn myself all the more. If I keep vigil, I think I have achieved something, and so I have no profit from it. If I read, I do one of two evil things in my obduracy: either I read for the sake of profane learning and self-esteem, and so am further benighted; or by reading, and not acting in the spirit of what I read, simply increase my guilt. If by God’s grace I happen to stop sinning in outward action, I do not stop sinning continually in what I say. And if God’s grace should protect me also from this, I continue to provoke His wrath by my evil thoughts. Alas, what can I do? Wherever I go, I find sin. Everywhere there are demons. Despair is worst of all. I have provoked God, I have saddened His angels, I have frequently injured and offended men.

“I desired, O Lord, to erase the record of my sins by tears, and through repentance to live the rest of my life according to Thy will. But the enemy deceives me and battles with my soul. Before I perish utterly, O Lord, save me.”

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.