Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 173]. Brethren:

3 ⁴We have such trust through Christ toward God: ⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reckon anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, ⁶Who also made us fit ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive. ⁷But if the ministration of death, which in letters was engraved in stones, came into being in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look intently into the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face, which glory is being put to an end, ⁸how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be much more in glory? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, much rather the ministration of righteousness aboundeth in glory. ¹⁰For indeed that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, on account of the glory which surpasseth. ¹¹For if that which is being put to an end was in the midst of glory, much rather that which remaineth is in glory.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 96]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

23 ²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the sepulchers of the righteous, ³⁰“and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹“Therefore ye bear witness against yourselves that ye are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²“Fill ye up also the measure of your fathers. ³³“Serpents, offspring of vipers! How shall ye flee from the judgment of Gehenna? ³⁴“On this account, behold, I send forth to you prophets, and wise ones, and scribes: and some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵“that upon you should come all the righteous blood which is being poured out upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶“Verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that killeth the prophets and stoneth those who have been sent forth to her! How often would I have gathered together thy children, in the way a hen gathereth together her chicks under her wings, and ye would not. ³⁸“Behold, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹“For I say to you, in no wise shall ye see Me henceforth, until ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord [Ps. 117(118):25(26)].’”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration, and the holy martyred Monk Dometios of Persia and his two disciples.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 291]. Child Timothy:

1 ⁸Do thou not become ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor me His prisoner, but suffer hardship with the Gospel, according to God’s power, ⁹Who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, ¹⁰but now hath been made manifest by the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who brought death to nought indeed and brought to light life and incorruption through the Gospel, ¹¹to which I was appointed a herald and apostle and teacher of nations. ¹²For which cause I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed, and have been persuaded that He is able to guard the deposit entrusted to me until that day. ¹³Keep on holding fast an outline of sound words which thou heardest from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard thou the good deposit entrusted to thee through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us.

¹⁵This thou knowest, that all they who are in Asia were turned away from me, of whom are Phygellos and Hermogenes. ¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphoros, for many times he refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; ¹⁷but having been in Rome, he sought me out most diligently and found me— ¹⁸may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day—and in how many things he ministered in Ephesus thou knowest better than I need say.

for Sl. usage, see [Eph. 6:10-17].

Gospel

For the Afterfeast:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 38]. At that time:

9 ²Jesus taketh along with Him Peter and Iakovos and John, and bringeth them up alone into a high mountain in private; and He was transfigured before them. ³And His garments became shining, exceedingly white as snow, such as no fuller on the earth is able to whiten. ⁴And Elias appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking together with Jesus. ⁵And Peter answering, saith to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” ⁶For he knew not what he should say, for they were greatly afraid. ⁷And there came to be a cloud overshadowing them. And a voice came to be out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved; be hearing Him.” ⁸And suddenly, after they looked round about, they saw no one any more, but Jesus alone with themselves. ⁹And as they came down from the mountain, He gave them express orders that they should relate to no one what they saw, except whenever the Son of Man should rise from the dead.

For the martyred Monk:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 52]. The Lord said to His disciples:

15 ¹⁷“These things I command you, that ye be loving one another.

¹⁸“If the world hate you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hath hated you. ¹⁹“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world—but I chose you for Myself out of the world—therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰“Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they know not the One Who sent Me. ²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no pretext for their sin. ²³“The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also. ²⁴“If I did not do the works among them which no other one hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵“But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which hath been written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause [cf. Ps. 34(35):22, 68(69):5(4)].’ ²⁶“But whenever the Paraclete should come, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth Who proceedeth from the Father, that One shall bear witness concerning Me. ²⁷“And ye also are bearing witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.

16 ¹“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye should not be made to stumble. ²“They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea moreover, there cometh an hour that everyone who killeth you should think that he offereth God a service.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 20th – Civil Calendar
August 7th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Dometius.

Born a pagan in Persia in the time of the Emperor Constantine, he came to know the Christian Faith as a young man, forsook his paganism and received Baptism. He was so enchanted with the true Faith that he left all worldly things and became a monk in a monastery near the town of Nisibis. He lived among the brethren for some time, then withdrew into silence, going to Archimandrite Urbel, of whom it is said that, for sixty years, he never ate anything cooked. Urbel made him a deacon, but when he wanted to make him a priest, Dometius fled to a distant mountain and settled in a cave there. He attained such perfection through fasting, prayer, vigils and meditation that he was able to heal the sick. When Julian the Apostate came to that place, he heard of Dometius and sent men to wall him up alive in the cave, with two of his disciples. Thus died this saint of God, in 363, and went to the kingdom of God.

2. Our Holy Father Or.

A solitary of the Thebaid, he achieved great perfection through very great asceticism. When he had become established in stability and dedicated to solitude, he founded several monasteries one after the other, and was an outstanding spiritual guide and the instructor of many monks. Rufinus, who visited him, writes thus of him: ‘In appearance, he is like an angel of God; an elderly man of ninety with a long, snow-white beard. The impression left by his presence is delightful. His gaze is imbued with a more than human radiance.’ He strove never to tell a lie, saw angels of God many times and also underwent great temptations from demons, but soberly and courageously overcame them all. He received Communion every day. Once, one of his disciples reminded him that Pascha had come, and that he must celebrate it. Hearing this, he went outside, raised his hands to heaven and spent three days in unbroken prayer. Then he explained to his disciples: ‘This is the monk’s celebration of Pascha: the lifting up of the mind to unity with God.’ He entered into rest in great old age in about 390.

3. The Holy Martyrs Marinus and Asterius.

The first was a soldier and the second a Roman senator. In the time of the Emperor Gallienus, holy Marinus was serving as a soldier in Caesarea in Palestine. He was beheaded for his Christian Faith. The senator Asterius was watching his suffering, himself being a Christian. He took off his toga, wrapped the martyr’s body in it, took the body on his shoulders and bore it away to give it burial. Pagans who witnessed this beheaded him also. They suffered with honor for Christ in about 260.

4. Our Holy Father Pimen the Much-Ailing.

He was sickly from his youth, and from his youth desired monasticism. Brought to the Monastery of the Caves for healing, he remained there till his death. He prayed more for sickness than for health. One night, angels appeared to him and tonsured him as a monk, telling him at the same time that he would be sick until his death, and would be healed at that moment. And so it was; he lay sick for twenty years, working wonders even during his lifetime and being possessed of a rare gift of discernment. At the time of his death, he got up from his bed completely healed, immediately prepared his grave and entered into rest in the Lord, in the year 1110.

5. The Hieromartyr Narcissus, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

He was beheaded in the time of Antoninus, in the year 211, at the age of a hundred and sixteen.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Do not either fret yourself about the righteous or be envious of sinners. Remember always that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Resurrection, triumphed over a shameful death and that Herod, Judas, Nero, Julian the Apostate, Valerian, Leo the Armenian and other of Christ’s opponents, obliterated forever by a shameful death their transitory success and victory. St. Narcissus the patriarch was slandered by envious men, who spread abroad that he had lost his chastity. The innocent Narcissus went off into the desert and spent many years in silence and patient waiting on God, for Him to bring about His will. Three patriarchs followed him, and only then did men come forward to give clear proof of his innocence, and he was urged by everyone to return from the desert to his throne. Thus God justified the righteous man.

The bloody Emperor Valerian slaughtered Christians throughout the world with satanic passion. And how did he end? In battle with the Persians, he was overcome and captured by King Sapor. Sapor did not choose to kill him at once, but used him as a mounting-block when he rode out on horseback. Every day, servants brought Valerian along with the horses, and Sapor amused himself by standing on the neck of the Roman emperor in order more easily to spring onto his horse. He who sows an evil seed will reap an evil harvest.

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.