Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eighteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 234]. Brethren:

6 ¹⁸Stand [Eph. 6:14] by means of every prayer and entreaty, praying in every season in the Spirit, and being vigilant toward this same thing with all perseverance and entreaty for all the saints, ¹⁹and for me, that utterance may be given to me, in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in a chain, that in it I might speak boldly as there is need for me to speak.

²¹But in order that ye also may know the things concerning me, what I am practising, Tychikos, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things, ²²whom I am sending to you for this very thing, that ye might know the things concerning us, and that he might comfort your heart.

²³Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus 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.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Kallistratos, and our venerable father, Savvatios, the Wonder-worker of Solovki.

Epistle

For the holy Martyr:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

For the venerable Father:

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

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 10th – Civil Calendar
September 27th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Callistratus.

Born in Carthage, he was a Christian from his birth, as his father and grandfather were. One of his forbearers, Neochorus, served as a soldier in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate at the time of the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Seeing the many miracles that were wrought at the time of Christ’s death, Neochorus came to believe in Him, and was taught the Faith and baptized by the apostles. Returning home, Neochorus took his Christian Faith to his own people, like a precious pearl. So, in time, St. Callistratus was born, baptized and brought up a Christian. When he went into the army, there was no other Christian in his regiment. One of his companions, seeing holy Callistratus get up at night and pray to God, reported him to the commander, Persentinus, as a Christian—and Persentinus was a harsh torturer of Christians. When he was convinced that Callistratus was indeed a Christian, the commander ordered him to offer sacrifice to idols, which Callistratus immediately refused to do. Then Callistratus was harshly beaten and thrown into the sea, but God’s power preserved him, and he emerged from the sea unharmed. Seeing Callistratus’ endurance and his miracles, forty-nine soldiers came to believe in Christ the Lord, and they were beaten and thrown into prison along with him. In prison, St. Callistratus instructed his companions in the Faith and encouraged them. They showed great courage in suffering, and the Lord showed great power through them. The wicked torturer sent soldiers to the prison at night, and they slew Callistratus and the other forty-nine. They suffered for the truth in 304, and a church was later built over their relics.

2. The Holy Apostles Mark, Aristarchus and Zenas.

They were of the Seventy. St. Mark was also called John. The apostles gathered together for prayer at the house of his mother, Mary, in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). He preached the Gospel with the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, and was after that bishop in Byblos. St. Aristarchus, a companion of the Apostle Paul on his travels (Acts 16:29), was bishop in Syrian Apameia. St. Zenas, spoken of as a lawyer by the Apostle Paul (Titus 3:13), was bishop in Palestinian Lydda. They shone like stars in the darkness of paganism and brought many to the Christian Faith, and now they shine like stars in the kingdom of Christ their Beloved.

3. The Holy New-Martyr Aquilina.

From the village of Zaklivera in the diocese of Jedrene, she was a girl of eighteen. Her father embraced Islam and put pressure on his daughter to do the same, but her mother inclined her to the Christian Faith. After much torture, all wounded and bloodied, she breathed her last in her mother’s arms and received the wreath of martyrdom on September 27th, 1764.

4. Our Holy Father Sabbatius of Solovki.

The founder of the Solovki (Solovetsky) Monastery in Russia, he entered into rest in the Lord on September 27th, 1435.

FOR CONSIDERATION

All our riches and glory and honor are like a meal ended by death. From this meal, no one takes a single crumb into the other world. Blessed is he who has grasped that the soul is the only one of his possessions that can be stolen by no one and nothing, even death. Such men think only of three realities: death, the soul and God the Judge. ‘Hold constantly in your mind the remembrance of the end and of the Judgment, and keep yourself from sin,’ teaches Evagrius. All our bodily cares in this life are like a meal that will very soon be ended. ‘Have death before your eyes every day,’ says St. Isaias the Solitary. Rehearse to yourself unceasingly the way that you will part from the body, and the way you will stand before God. Prepare yourself beforehand for the dreadful day of answering at the Judgment of God as though you already behold it. A rich merchant called John came one day to St. Sabbatius of Solovki and brought him a large donation. Sabbatius would accept nothing, and told the donor to give it away to the poor. John was very sad and the saint, to comfort him and make clear to him why he had told him to do this, said: ‘John, my son, stay here and rest until tomorrow, and you will then see the grace of God.’ On the following day, John went into Sabbatius’ cell and saw that the elder had died, and smelled the wonderful fragrance that permeated the cell. He who foresees the end of his life does not think of earthly goods.

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.