Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 83]. Brethren:

2 ²⁸He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹But he is a Jew who is one in that which is hidden; and circumcision is that of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.

3 ¹What then is the advantage of the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ²Much in every way: for first indeed, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³For what if some did not believe? Their unbelief shall not make the faith of God without effect, shall it? ⁴May it not be! But let God be true and every man a liar; even as it hath been written: “That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and shalt prevail when Thou art judged [cf. Ps. 50(51):4].” ⁵But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous Who inflicteth wrath, is He? I speak as a man. ⁶May it not be! Otherwise, how shall God judge the world? ⁷For if in my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? ⁸And why are they not judged—even as we are slandered, and as some affirm we say, “Let us do evil that good may come”—whose condemnation is just?

⁹What then? Are we superior? No, in no wise. For we have before charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰even as it hath been written: “There is none righteous, not even one [cf. Ps. 13(14):1, 2(1); Eccl. 7:21(20)]; ¹¹“there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God [cf. Ps. 13(14):3(2)]. ¹²“They are all turned aside; they are together become useless; there is none that doeth good, not so much as one [Ps. 13(14):4(3)]. ¹³“Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they were using deceit [Ps. 5:9]; the poison of asps is under their lips [Ps. 139(140):3]: ¹⁴“whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness [cf. Ps. 9(10):27(7)]. ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶“destruction and misery are in their ways [cf. Is. 59:7]; ¹⁷“and the way of peace have they not known [cf. Is. 59:8]. ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes [cf. Ps. 35(36):1].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§§ 19, mid 20]. The Lord said:

6 ³¹“Do not become anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ ³²“For all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all of these things. ³³“But be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴“Therefore do not become anxious for the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious about the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it....

7 ⁹“Or what man is there of you whom, if his son should ask for bread, he will not give him a stone, will he? ¹⁰“And if he should ask for a fish, he will not give him a serpent, will he? ¹¹“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father, the One in the heavens, give good things to those who ask Him?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him at Byzantium, the Virgin-martyr Paula, and the four child martyrs, Claudius, Hypatios, Paul, and Dionysios.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 16th – Civil Calendar
June 3rd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul, Dionysius and the Virgin Paula.

Lucillian grew to old age as a pagan priest. Only as a grizzled old man did he learn the truth of Christianity and receive Baptism. His conversion to Christianity caused great excitement among the pagans of Nikomedia, and he was brought to trial for refusing to deny his new faith. He was harshly whipped, and all black and blue, thrown into prison. In the prison were four young men: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul and Dionysius, who had likewise been imprisoned for the Faith. The old man rejoiced in the company of these young men, and they in his, and they spent their time together in spiritual converse, prayer and the singing of psalms. When they were taken from the prison, they were tortured in various ways and then taken to Byzantium, where the young men were beheaded with the sword by the soldiers, and Lucillian crucified by the Jews. The wicked Jews pierced his body all over with nails. A maiden, Paula, openly took the martyrs’ bodies and gave them burial. She was denounced for this, and after torture, was beheaded, receiving a twofold wreath: of virginity and of martyrdom. Their martyrdom took place in the time of the Emperor Aurelian, between 270 and 275.

2. The Hieromartyr Lucian.

A Roman, renowned for his noble birth, wealth and learning, he was for a time a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Later, Pope Clement sent him, together with Dionysius the Areopagite, to Gaul to preach the Gospel, consecrating them bishop before they set out. Lucian sowed the seed of Christ’s teaching with great zeal, first in Gaul and then in Belgium. When the wicked Emperor Domitian began persecuting the Christians, men were sent from Rome to seek out the Christian missionaries and arrest them. They first seized and killed Dionysius, and then set off in pursuit of Lucian. Finding him in Belgium, together with his helpers, the priest Maxianus and the deacon Julian, they killed these two in one place and beheaded Lucian in another. When Lucian had been beheaded, his dead body rose from the ground, and taking its head into its hands (like St. Dionysius and St. John Vladimir), walked thus to the spot at which it wished to be buried. There it fell to the ground, and was there buried. A church was later built over his relics.

3. The Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevitch of Russia.

He received a martyr’s death at the age of eight at the hands of the power-hungry Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich in 1591. He appeared after his death to a monk and prophesied that a false Dimitri would appear, who would bring about Boris Godunov’s murder. This came to pass. Innumerable miracles were wrought at the grave of the martyred tsarevitch. His relics were dug up fifteen years later, whole and incorrupt, and were transferred solemnly to Moscow and buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Oh, that we could fathom the mystery of God’s providence in the lives of men! We would be filled with fear and trembling in the face of every evil deed and every human sin. ‘I understood Thy works, O Lord, and was amazed.’ In great events, the mystery of God’s providence is clear even to men of little faith—as is shown in the end of the Tsarevitch Dimitri and the bloodthirsty and ambitious Boris Godunov. To attain the first place among the courtiers of Tsar Theodore, Godunov poisoned many of the nobles. When he had become first after the tsar, he decided to poison the tsar’s brother, the eight-year-old Dimitri. Through hired men, he several times administered the strongest poison to the young tsarevitch, who was unaffected by it. It came about by providence that the evil-doer killed his prey, though not in any way secretly: Godunov sent murderers who beheaded the tsarevitch in broad daylight, and thus Dimitri became known as a martyr and Godunov as a murderer throughout Russia. After that, a certain Dimitri arose and proclaimed himself tsarevitch (as though he were the true tsarevitch and some other had been killed), and set out with an army against Godunov. He overcame Godunov and reduced him to such desperate straits that he poisoned himself. He who had poisoned others himself ended by self-administered poison, and he who had murdered the innocent Dimitri was himself defeated by a man named Dimitri. He who has spiritual eyes to see, let him see the mystery of God’s providence!

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.