Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 136]. Brethren:

6 ²⁰Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

7 ¹Now concerning what you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²But on account of the fornications, let each have his own wife, and let each have her own husband. ³Let the husband render to the wife the good will due, and likewise also the wife to the husband. ⁴The wife hath not authority over her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not authority over his own body, but the wife. ⁵Cease defrauding one another, unless by agreement for a time, that ye may devote time for fasting and for prayer; and come together again for the same that Satan may not be tempting you through your incontinence. ⁶But I say this by way of concession and not by way of command. ⁷For I wish all men to be even as myself; but each one hath his own gift of grace from God, one in this manner and another in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they should abide even as I. ⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry; it is better to marry than to burn. ¹⁰And to those who have married I order, yet not I but the Lord: a wife is not to be separated from her husband. ¹¹But even if she should be separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and a husband is not to leave his wife. ¹²But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she consenteth to dwell with him, let him not leave her.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 57].

14 ¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, ²and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he was raised from the dead, and on account of this the works of power energize in him.” ³For Herod laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴For John kept on saying to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” ⁵And though he wished to put him to death, he was afraid of the crowd, because they were holding him as a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst, and pleased Herod. ⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask for herself. ⁸And she, having been urged on by her mother, said, “Give me here the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ⁹And the king was grieved; but on account of the oaths, and those who reclined with him at table, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl; and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came forward and took up the body and buried it; and they went and brought tidings to Jesus.

¹³And after Jesus heard it, He withdrew from that place by ship privately to a desolate place. And when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Pancratius, Bishop of Taormina.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 22nd – Civil Calendar
July 9th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Pancratius, Bishop of Taormina.

This holy hierarch was born in Antioch at the time that the Lord Jesus walked as a Man among men on earth. Hearing of Christ’s miracles, Pancratius’ parents desired to see the Lord, the Wonder-worker. They came to Jerusalem, bringing Pancratius, where they saw Jesus, heard His words and witnessed His miracles. There Pancratius met the Apostle Peter. After the Lord’s Ascension, both parents and their son were baptized in Antioch. Pancratius retired to a cave in Pontus, where the Apostle Peter found him, and in consultation with the Apostle Paul, installed him as bishop of Taormina in Sicily. St. Pancratius worked great wonders in that town. He destroyed idols, baptized the unbaptized and instructed the baptized, and governed the Church of God. A pagan general, Aquilinus, hearing that the whole town of Taormina had become Christian, set out with an army to the town to destroy it. Holy Pancratius encouraged the faithful to be fearless, and he himself went out from the city with the clergy, carrying in his hands the unconquerable sign of the precious Cross. When the soldiers drew near to the town, a darkness fell on them and they were seized with great terror. A great confusion arose, so that they fell over one another and were stabbed and cut about by their own swords. Thus that godly man, Pancratius, saved his city and his flock by the power of his prayers before God. He was finally stoned to death by some envious and wicked pagans, and entered into rest in the Lord. His holy relics are preserved in Rome.

2. The Hieromartyr Kyril, Bishop of Gortyna in Crete.

As an old man of eighty-four, he was tortured for Christ during Decius’ reign. Cast into the flames, he was saved by the providence of God. Then the judge pronounced this sentence: ‘Just judgement cannot tolerate that Kyril, having been delivered from fire, remain among the living. I therefore command that he be killed with the sword.’ The elder joyfully laid his head under the sword and was beheaded, to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ.

3. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Patermuthius and Copres.

Both were Egyptians, martyred by the Emperor Julian the Apostate. The first was seventy-five and the second forty-five years old. The emperor succeeded in turning Copres from the Christian Faith to idolatry. The apostate Copres cried: ‘I am Julian’s, not Christ’s!’ When old Patermuthius rebuked him and brought to his mind the thought of eternal torment, Copres was distressed and cried out before the Emperor: ‘I am Christ’s, not Julian’s!’ They were both beheaded. One of the emperor’s soldiers, Alexander, who saw their courage in suffering and himself became a Christian, suffered together with them. They suffered with honor for Christ, and went to Christ in the year 361.

4. Our Holy Fathers Patermuthius and Copres.

Although they have the same names, these two are different from the above. This Patermuthius was at first a robber leader, but after a wondrous vision, he turned to the true Faith. What happened was this: he had climbed onto the roof of a house belonging to a devout woman, with the intention of getting into the house that way and stealing. Sleep fell on him, and he saw in a dream an angel in the form of a young man who commanded him to cease doing evil and repent. He was not only baptized but also became a monk.

Both of them were great wonder-workers. By God’s grace, they healed men of every pain and ill, brought sinners back to the true path and had the gift of prophecy. A sinner lying on his deathbed begged Patermuthius to prolong his life that he might repent. The saint prayed, and then told him that God had given him three years more. The sinner repented, and died exactly three years later. They entered into rest in the Lord in great old age, at the end of the fourth century.

5. St. Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, and others with him.

He became a monk at the age of twenty, and spent thirty-six years as a monk. Then, in the time of the Emperor Michael and Empress Theodora, he was chosen as Bishop of Edessa. He died in 848. Together with him are commemorated his teacher, St. Theodosios the Stylite of Syria, his brother St. John, and St. Aderus, a rich nobleman who left his wife and became a monk.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Many ask themselves why God takes young men, girls and children from this life and does not leave them to grow old, and then take them through death to the other world. It is God’s plan, His dispensation, the holy desire of His providence. But there are some examples, in the enormous experience of the Church, when God sometimes does the former in conformity to the desire and prayers of those pleasing to Him in the other world, or of kinsfolk. St. Aderus (in monasticism, Athanasius) appeared to his wife, whom he had suddenly left with three children when he went off to a monastery where he died. When his wife reached despair from worry about her frail children and from concern about her husband, not knowing where he was, he appeared to her in a dream from the other world, with a radiant face and shining garments, and said to her: ‘Stop crying and railing against me; I will take two of the children to myself; but you, if you wish, stay and grow old for the salvation of your soul.’ At the same time and in the same way he appeared to St. Theodore the Stylite and said to him: ‘In three days’ time, an old nun in a monastery near you will go to the Lord. Put my wife there in her place, that she may live in asceticism as a nun in that cell. Let the youngest child stay with her until it is grown up; he will follow in my footsteps and will inherit the apostolic throne in Jerusalem.’ And, indeed, all came to pass as he had said. The old nun died on the third day, and also Aderus’ two elder children. His wife took over the old nun’s cell with her youngest son, who, when he grew up, became Patriarch of Jerusalem.

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.