Daily Devotional

Thursday, September 4, 2025 (NS), August 22, 2025 (OS)

No Fasting.

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the holy Martyr Agathonikos of Nicomedia, and his companions, Zotikos, Zenonos, Theoprepios, Akindynos, and Severianos, and the holy Martyr Louppos (transferred to this date on account of the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Dormition on the 23^rd of August).

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Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 190]. Brethren:

10 ⁷If anyone hath persuaded himself to be of Christ, let him consider this of himself, that even as he is of Christ, even so are we of Christ. ⁸For even if I also should boast somewhat more abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave to us for building up, and not for your pulling down, I shall not be put to shame, ⁹in order that I might not seem as if I would frighten you by means of the epistles. ¹⁰“For on the one hand, the epistles,” saith one, “are weighty and strong, but on the other hand his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹Let such a one take this into account, that, such as we are in word by epistles when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present. ¹²For we dare not to reckon or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, do not comprehend. ¹³But we will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. ¹⁴For we are not stretching ourselves overmuch, as though we did not reach to you; for we also came as far as to you in the Gospel of the Christ, ¹⁵not boasting of things beyond measure in the toils of others, but having hope, when your faith is increased, to be magnified among you according to our province unto abundance, ¹⁶to preach the Gospel to what lieth beyond you, and not to boast in another’s province, in things ready. ¹⁷“But the one who boasteth, let him boast in the Lord [cf. Jer. 9:23, 24].” ¹⁸For not the one who commendeth himself is that one who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commendeth.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 14]. The Lord said:

3 ²⁸“Verily I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and howsoever many blasphemies they shall utter to blaspheme; ²⁹“but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness forever, but is liable to everlasting condemnation”— ³⁰because they were saying, “He hath an unclean spirit.” ³¹Then came His Mother and His brethren; and they stood outside, and sent off word to Him, calling Him. ³²And a crowd was sitting about Him; and they said to Him, “Behold, Thy Mother and Thy brethren outside are seeking for Thee.” ³³And He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother or My brethren?” ³⁴And He looked round about on those who sat about Him in a circle, and said, “Behold, My mother and My brethren! ³⁵“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother and My sister and My mother.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 4th – Civil Calendar
August 22nd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Agathonikos and Zotikos, and others with them.

St. Agathonikos was a citizen of Nikomedia and a Christian. He turned the Greeks from idolatry with great fervor, and instructed them in the true Faith. The imperial governor, on orders from the Emperor Maximian, was persecuting Christians with great harshness. In this persecution, he seized St. Zotikos in a place called Carpe, crucified his disciples and took him off to Nikomedia, where he also seized and bound Agathonikos, Princeps, Theoprepios, Akyndinos, Severianos, Zeno and many others. They were taken, securely bound, to Byzantium. On the way, Zotikos, Theoprepios and Akyndinos died from exhaustion and of their wounds. Severianos was killed near Chalcedon and Agathonikos and the others were taken to Thrace, to a place called Silybria, where, after torture before the emperor himself, they were beheaded with the sword and entered into eternal life and the joy of their Lord.

2. The Holy Martyr Eulalia.

At the time of a terrible persecution of Christians in Spain, there was a maiden called Eulalia, born of Christian parents in Barcelona. Utterly consecrated to Christ her Bridegroom, and steeped in the holy Scriptures, she applied herself steadfastly to voluntary asceticism of soul and body. When the torturer, Dacian, who was mercilessly slaughtering Christians in Spain, came to Barcelona, Eulalia slipped away from her parents by night, came before the torturer, and in the presence of many of the people, denounced him as a murderer of innocent people, and also pulled down idols, openly confessing her faith in Christ the living Lord. Dacian commanded in fury that she be stripped and beaten with rods, but the holy maiden showed that she did not feel the pain of the torture for her Christ. Then the torturer had her tied to a tree in the form of a Cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. The torturer asked her, where was her Christ to save her? Eulalia answered: ‘He is here with me, but you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ Under great torture, Eulalia gave her soul to God, and when she breathed her last, the people saw a white dove emerge from her mouth. Then a sudden snowstorm came and covered the naked body of the martyr like a white garment. On the third day, St. Felix came, and in grief, wept before the hanging body of Eulalia, and a smile appeared on the saint’s dead face. Her parents came, and together with other Christians, buried the body of the holy maiden. She suffered for her Lord and entered into eternal joy at the beginning of the fourth century.

3. The Holy Martyr Anthusa, and others with her.

The daughter of rich, pagan parents in Seleukeia in Syria, Anthusa heard of Christ and believed in Him with all her heart. She went secretly to Bishop Athanasius, who baptized her, and an angel of God appeared at that moment. After that, Anthusa went off to the desert to live in asceticism, not daring to return to her parents. She lived in the desert for thirty-three years, until, while kneeling in prayer on a rock, she gave her soul into God’s hands. She was buried, at her prior request, under this rock. Athanasius and two of Anthusa’s servants, Charismus and Neophytus, were beheaded for their faith in Christ in the time of the Emperor Valerian, in about the year 257. They suffered with honor and were crowned with wreaths.

FOR CONSIDERATION

When once a man has truly repented, he must think no more of the sins committed, lest he fall again into sin. St. Anthony advises: ‘Guard yourself, that your mind be not fouled with the memory of former sins, and that the memory of them be not renewed within you.’ And, in another place, he says: ‘Don’t establish the sins that you have formerly committed in your soul by pondering on them, lest they be renewed in you. Be assured that they are forgiven from the moment that you turn to God in repentance. Be in no doubt about this.’ It was said of St. Ammon that he achieved such perfection that, in his great goodness, he no longer recognized the existence of evil. When he was asked what was the ‘narrow and hard’ way, he replied: ‘It is the curbing of one’s thoughts and the mortifying of one’s own will for the fulfilling of the will of God.’ He who curbs sinful thoughts thinks neither of his own sin nor of another’s, nor of anything corruptible or earthly. The mind of such a man is constantly in heaven, where there is no evil. Thus, little by little, evil is cast out from us, even in our thoughts.

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.