Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 118]. Brethren:

15 ¹⁷I have my boasting in Christ Jesus as to the things pertaining to God. ¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of anything which Christ hath not worked out through me for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed, ¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God, so as for me to have set forth fully the Gospel of the Christ from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum. ²⁰And so I am thus exerting myself eagerly to announce the Gospel where Christ was not named, lest I should build upon another’s foundation. ²¹But as it hath been written: “To whom it was not announced concerning Him, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall comprehend [Is. 52:15].”

²²Wherefore also I was hindered many times from coming to you. ²³But now having no more place in these regions, and having an earnest desire to come to you for many years, ²⁴whensoever I go into Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you while passing through, and to be sent forth to that place by you, if first in part I should take my fill of you. ²⁵But now I am going to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints. ²⁶For they of Macedonia and Achaia were well pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. ²⁷For they were well pleased; and they are their debtors. For if the nations participated in their spiritual things, they are indebted also in the fleshly things to minister to them. ²⁸This then having finished, and having sealed this fruit to them, I will go forth by way of you into Spain. ²⁹And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 49]. At that time:

12 ⁴⁶While Jesus yet talked to the crowds, behold, His Mother and His brethren were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. ⁴⁷And one said to Him, “Behold Thy Mother and Thy brethren are standing outside, seeking to speak to Thee.” ⁴⁸But He answered and said to the one who spoke to him, “Who is My mother? And who are My brethren?” ⁴⁹And stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold, My mother and My brethren. ⁵⁰“For whosoever shall do the will of My Father Who is in the heavens, the same is My brother and sister and mother.”

13 ¹And in the course of that day, Jesus, having gone out of the house, was sitting by the sea. ²And great crowds were gathered together before Him, so that He stepped into the ship and sat; and the whole crowd was standing on the seashore. ³And He spoke many things to them in parables.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

27. The commemoration of our venerable Father Sampson the Hospitable.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 188]. Brethren:

9 ⁶The one who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and the one who soweth with blessing shall also reap with blessing. ⁷Let each give even as he purposeth in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all self-sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work, ⁹even as it hath been written: “He dispersed, he gave to the poor; his righteousness abideth forever [Ps. 111(112):9].” ¹⁰Now the One Who supplieth seed to the sower and bread for eating, may He provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹being enriched in everything to all open-handedness, which worketh out through us giving of thanks to God.

for Sl. usage, see [Gal. 5:22-6:2].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 67]. The Lord said:

12 ³²“Cease being afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draweth near nor moth destroyeth; ³⁴“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Let your loins be girded about and the lamps be kept burning; ³⁶“and be ye like to men waiting for their own lord—whenever he should depart from the wedding festivities—that when he cometh and knocketh, straightway, they might open to him. ³⁷“Happy are those slaves whom the lord, after he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say to you that he shall gird himself about and shall have them recline at table, and will come forth and minister to them. ³⁸“And if he should come in the second watch, and in the third watch should he come, and find them thus, happy are those slaves. ³⁹“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰“Ye therefore also keep on becoming ready, for in the hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 10th – Civil Calendar
June 27th – Church Calendar

1. St. Sampson the Hospitable.

This saint was born of rich and eminent parents in ancient Rome, where he studied all the secular wisdom of that time, devoting himself in particular to the study of medicine. Sampson was a compassionate and liberal physician, and gave the sick medicine for both soul and body, counselling each man to fulfill the requirements of the Christian Faith. He moved to Constantinople, where he lived in a tiny house from which he distributed alms, comfort, advice, hope, medicine, and all possible aid to those suffering in spirit and in body. The patriarch heard of Sampson’s great virtue and ordained him priest. At that time the Emperor Justinian the Great became ill with what his doctors believed to be an incurable disease. The emperor prayed with great fervor, and God revealed to him in his sleep that Sampson would heal him. When the emperor summoned Sampson to court, the elder had only to put his hand on the diseased place and the emperor was healed. When Justinian offered him an immense sum of money, Sampson thanked him but would accept nothing, saying to the Emperor: ‘O emperor. I had silver and gold and other riches, but I left it all for the sake of Christ, that I might gain heavenly and eternal wealth.’ When the emperor insisted on doing something for him, Sampson asked him to build a home for the poor. In that home, Sampson cared for the poor as a father cares for his children. His compassion for the poor and weak was second nature to him. This holy man, filled with heavenly power and goodness, entered peacefully into rest on June 27th, 530. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Martyr Mokios, his kinsman. After his death, Sampson appeared many times to those who called upon him for aid.

2. St. Severus the Priest.

He lived in central Italy. A man of rare holiness, he was once called to hear the confession of, and give Communion to, a man at the point of death. He tarried, working in his vineyard, and the news was brought to him there that the sick man had died. Stricken with grief, as if he had himself killed the man, he wept bitter tears over the corpse, and God raised the dead man to life again in response to his fervent prayer. Then Severus confessed him and gave him Communion, preparing him for a Christian leaving of this world, and on the eighth day the man died again.

3. St. Joanna the Myrrh-bearer.

She was the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward (Lk. 8:3). When Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, he cast his head out into an unclean place. Joanna took the head and buried it with honor on the Mount of Olives, on Herod’s land. Later, in the reign of Constantine the Great, the head was found. St. Joanna is also remembered because she was present at both the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. She died peacefully.

FOR CONSIDERATION

There is none so stupid as he who cannot see his own sins and another’s virtue. There is none so enlightened as he who can see and acknowledge his own sin and another’s virtue. St. John Chrysostom compares those who discover only another man’s faults, and criticise them, with flies that attack wounds, not to heal them but to gnaw at them. Blessed Theophilus of Kiev, who died in 1853, says: ‘God has sent us here for penance.’ The man who knows and feels that he is doing penance will immerse himself in silence and the consideration of his own sinfulness, which has brought him to do penance. This same saint said: ‘Weep also for the sins of those nearest you—for without this not one human soul shall be saved.’ Do we weep or do we spread abroad—how is it written, my son? Blessed Theophilus writes: ‘Weep, or help the devil to spread it abroad.’ On his death, Theophilus left this testament for his brethren: ‘Remember vile Theophilus!’ Such was the last testament of the holiest soul in Kiev in 1853.

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.