Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 197]. Brethren:

13 ²I have said before, and say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have previously sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come in regard to that again I will not spare, ³since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, Who is not weak toward you, but is mighty in you. ⁴For even if He was crucified out of weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. ⁵Be putting yourselves to the test if ye are in the faith; be examining yourselves. Or do ye yourselves not fully know that Jesus Christ is in you—unless ye are unapproved? ⁶But I hope that ye shall know that we are not unapproved. ⁷Now I pray to God that ye do no evil at all, not that we should appear approved, but that ye may do that which is good, and we may be as those not proved. ⁸For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but for the truth. ⁹For we rejoice whenever we are weak, and ye are strong; but we pray for this also, your perfecting. ¹⁰Therefore I write these things being absent, that I might not when present use severity, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for pulling down.

¹¹Finally, brethren, keep on rejoicing, keep on being perfected, being comforted, being of the same mind, being at peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³All the saints greet you.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 18]. The Lord said to His disciples:

4 ³⁵“Let us pass over to the other side.” ³⁶And after they dismissed the crowd, they took Him along, as He was in the ship; but also other small ships were with Him. ³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves were thrown over into the ship, so that already it was filling. ³⁸And He was at the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they awake Him, and say to Him, “Teacher, is it no concern to Thee that we perish?” ³⁹And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be still! Be silent!” And the wind abated, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰And He said to them, “Why are ye cowardly in this manner? How is it that ye have no faith?” ⁴¹And they feared with a great fear, and were saying to one another, “Who then is this One, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Moses the Ethiopian of Scete, and the venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves, whose incorrupt relics rest in the Far Cave, and the venerable God-bearing wonder-worker, Abbot Job of Pochaev.

Epistle

For the venerable Fathers:

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

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)

September 10th – Civil Calendar
August 28th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Moses the Black.

An Ethiopian, he was at first a robber and the leader of a robber band, but he then became a penitent and a great ascetic. As a slave, Moses escaped from his owner and became a robber. Because of his great physical strength and recklessness, the robbers chose him as their leader. Suddenly his conscience was filled with remorse and repentance for the crimes he had committed. He left the band, went to a monastery and gave himself entirely to obedience to his spiritual father and to the rule of the monastery. He made great use of the teaching of Saints Makarios, Arsenius and Isidore. Later, he withdrew to solitude in a cell, where he gave himself utterly to physical labor, prayer, vigils—and pondering on God. Tormented by the demon of lust, he confessed to his spiritual father, Isidore, and received from him the advice to fast as much as possible, and never to eat his fill. When this proved to be of no help, he, at the elder’s advice, began to keep night-vigils and to pray standing; he then got into the way of carrying water from a distant well for the older monks. After six years of terrible striving, St. Isidore finally healed him miraculously of the lustful thoughts, imaginings and dreams visited on him by the demon. He was ordained priest in old age. He founded a monastery of his own, and had seventy-five disciples, himself living to the age of seventy-five. He foresaw his own death, and one day told his disciples to flee, as barbarians were coming to attack the monastery. When his disciples urged him to flee as well, he told them that he must perish in the attack, for he had himself at one time done violence, according to the words: ‘All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). So he stayed, with six of his brethren. The barbarians came and ran them through. One of the brethren, hiding nearby, saw seven shining wreaths descend upon the seven martyrs.

2. Our Holy Father Sava of Pskov and Krypetsk.

A Serb by birth, he lived first in asceticism in the monastery of the holy Mother of God in Pskov, and was abbot of that monastery. But he was praised, so he fled from the glory of men and withdrew to an island in the lake of Krypetsk, where he founded a new community dedicated to St. John the Theologian. However, he was not able there, either, to hide from praise and eminence. Prince Yaroslav of Pskov visited him with his wife. Sava would not allow the woman to enter the monastery, but blessed her and prayed for her outside it, healing her of an infirmity. This godly saint entered into rest in 1495, and his relics had wonder-working power. Of those he received at Krypetsk, Abbot Dositheus is the best-known.

FOR CONSIDERATION

True Christians flee the praise of men. They not only flee it; they have a real fear of it. St. Sava of Pskov left his abbacy, the monastery and the good brethren in it, and went to a barren region, only to escape the praise of men. For the praise of men steals our hearts. A devout prince, hearing of the ascetic feats of St. Moses the Black, set off to the desert with his retinue to see him. Moses was informed that the prince was coming to his monastery. He ran out quickly, to escape and hide somewhere, but unexpectedly came on the noble visitors. ‘Where is Abba Moses’ cell?’ asked the prince’s servant, not suspecting that this was Moses himself. Moses opened his mouth and said: ‘What can he do for you? He is a foolish man, given to lying, and of unclean life.’ The visitors were amazed at these words, and went on their way. When they arrived at Moses’ cell, they asked for the elder and were told that he was not there. The visitors then related what a monk had told them on the way about Moses. The monks were greatly saddened, then asked: ‘What was he like, this old man who spoke such scurrilous words about the holy man?’ When they said that he was very dark-skinned, tall and poorly-clad, the monks exclaimed aloud: ‘That was Abba Moses!’ This incident was of great spiritual help to the prince, and he went home rejoicing.

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.