Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 148]. Brethren:

11 ⁸Man is not of woman, but woman of man. ⁹For also man was not created on account of the woman, but woman on account of the man. ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have authority on the head on account of the angels. ¹¹However neither is man without woman, nor woman without man in the Lord. ¹²For as the woman is of the man, so also the man is by the woman; but all things of God. ¹³Judge in yourselves: Is it becoming for a woman to be praying to God uncovered? ¹⁴Or doth not nature herself teach you that on the one hand if a man should have long hair, it is a dishonor to him, ¹⁵but on the other hand if a woman should have long hair, it is to her glory? For the long hair hath been given to her for a covering. ¹⁶But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God.

¹⁷Now giving this order, I praise ye not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. ¹⁸For indeed, first, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be schisms among you, and in part I believe it. ¹⁹For there must be also heresies among you, that the approved might become manifest among you. ²⁰When ye come together therefore in one place, it is not to eat a Lord’s Supper. ²¹For in eating each one taketh before others his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunk. ²²Have ye not houses in order to eat and to drink? Or do ye despise the Church of God, and put to shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. ²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 71]. At that time:

17 ¹⁰The disciples of Jesus asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that it is necessary for Elias to come first?” ¹¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Elias indeed cometh first and shall restore all things. ¹²“But I say to you that Elias already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him as much as they wished. Thus also the Son of Man is about to suffer under them.” ¹³Then the disciples comprehended that He spoke to them concerning John the Baptist.

¹⁴And after they came to the crowd, there came to Him a man, kneeling down to Him and saying, ¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth badly; for often he falleth into the fire, and often into the water. ¹⁶“And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they were not able to cure him.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “O unbelieving and wayward generation, until when shall I be with you? Until when shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked it, and the demon came out from him; and the boy was cured from that hour.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration our venerable Mother Makrina, sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, and our venerable Father Dios the Wonder-worker, and our venerable and God-bearing father, Seraphim, Wonder-worker of Sarov.

Epistle

For St. Seraphim:

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

For the Wonder-worker:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 1st – Civil Calendar
July 19th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Mother Makrina.

The eldest sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, she was as a girl betrothed to a young nobleman, and when her betrothed died, Makrina vowed never to enter into marriage, saying: ‘It is not right for a girl, having once been betrothed, to turn to another; according to natural law there must be one marriage, as there are one birth and one death.’ She justified this by her belief in the resurrection of the dead, regarding her betrothed not as dead, but as alive in God. ‘It is a sin and a shame,’ she said, ‘if the spouse does not keep faith when the partner goes to distant climes.’ Then, with her mother Emilia, she became a nun in a monastery of virgins, where she lived in asceticism with the other nuns. They lived by the work of their hands, devoting the greater part of their time to pondering on God, to prayer and to a ceaseless lifting-up of their minds to Him. After a time, her mother died, and then her brother Basil. In the ninth month after Basil’s death, Gregory came to visit his sister and found her on her deathbed. At the time of her death, Makrina made this prayer to God: ‘Thou, O Lord, givest rest to our bodies in the sleep of death for a little time, then Thou wilt waken them again with the last trumpet. Forgive me, and grant that, when my soul is parted from my body, it may be presented before Thee stainless and without sin, and that it may be as incense before Thee.’ She then made the sign of the Cross on her brow, eyes, face and heart, and breathed her last. She entered into rest in the Lord in 379.

2. Our Holy Father Dios.

Born in Syrian Antioch of Christian parents, he was trained in his youth by godly men for the ascetic path of monasticism. He endured a lengthy and hard struggle with the devil and with fleshly lusts, and God rewarded him with great wonder-working gifts. In his prayers, he most frequently turned to the Holy Trinity. He worked great miracles by the power of his prayers, making a dry stick bud forth, a dry well fill with water and an unbelieving man die and return to life. After a twofold heavenly vision, he left Antioch and moved to Constantinople, resuming his ascetic life near the city. His fame quickly spread, to such an extent that the Emperor Theodosios the Younger paid him a visit to ask his advice, and Patriarch Attikos was impressed by him and ordained him priest. Having lived many years, he prepared for death, received Communion, gave his last teaching to the brethren, lay down on his bed, and to the eyes of all, was dead. The news of his death brought many people: Patriarch Attikos came, with Patriarch Alexander of Antioch. But, when they went to bury him, he suddenly got up as if waking from sleep, and said: ‘God has given me fifteen more years of this life.’ St. Dios lived exactly fifteen years longer, and set many on the way of salvation, healed many, gave aid to many in diverse needs and weaknesses, and then finally gave his soul to the Lord Whom he had served faithfully all his life. He entered into rest in 430, in great old age.

3. St. Milica (Militsa), Princess of Serbia.

Wife of the holy Prince Lazar, she ruled the people after her husband’s death at Kosovo until her son Stefan came of age. She then retired to her foundation of Lubostinja, and as the nun Evgenia (later Ephrosynia, on taking the Great Habit), lived in great wisdom and devotion. She died on November 11th, 1405.

4. Commemoration of Stefan the Tall, son of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica.

A protector of Christianity in the Balkans in the most difficult days, he was the founder of the beautiful monasteries of Manasija and Kalenić. After many labors and trials, he died on July 19th, 1427.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A woman’s greatest beauty is modesty, as immodesty in a woman is the most unnatural and repulsive vice in the world. A wonderful example of womanly modesty is given by St. Makrina. In her youth, she received a serious wound in the breast. Although her mother urged her to show this wound to a doctor and seek medicine, Makrina would not do so. She was utterly consecrated to God, and could not even entertain the thought of baring her body before others, even before her own mother. One night, Makrina was praying quietly to God. Tears spilled from her eyes onto the dust in front of her. With firm trust in God, she mixed the dust and tears together and anointed the wound with them, and the next day she was completely healed. When her mother, with great concern, went in to see her daughter, Makrina did not want to tell her that the Lord had healed her (from humility, hiding the wonder that she herself had worked through prayer), but begged her mother, saying: ‘I shall be healed, Mother dear, if you lay your hand on my bosom and make the sign of the Cross over the place where it hurts.’ Her mother stretched out her hand and made the sign of the Cross over the place, but did not find the wound—only the scar of the healed wound. Thus St. Makrina hid her body through modesty and her miracles through humility.

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.