Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Twentieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 245]. Brethren:

3 ⁸I suffered the loss of all things, and deem them to be dung, that I might win Christ, ⁹and might be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine own, which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰to come to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the partaking of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. ¹²Not that I already received, or already have been perfected; but I pursue, if I might also apprehend that for which I also was apprehended by the Christ, Jesus. ¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forth to those things which are before, ¹⁴I pursue toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be of this mind; and if ye are otherwise minded in anything, God shall reveal even this to you. ¹⁶Only to what we attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

¹⁷Brethren, keep on becoming imitators together of me and look to those who so walk, as ye have us for an example. ¹⁸For many walk about, of whom I was telling you often, and now tell even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: ¹⁹whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and who glory in their shame—they who mind earthly things!

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 42]. At that time:

9 ¹²The twelve disciples approached and said to Jesus, “Dismiss the crowd, in order that they might go away into the villages and the fields round about, and lodge and find provisions; for we are here in a desolate place.” ¹³But He said to them, “Give ye them to eat.” And they said, “There are no more than five loaves and two fish with us, unless, indeed, we should go and buy food for all this people.” ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. And He said to His disciples, “Make them recline in companies by fifties.” ¹⁵And they did so, and made all to recline. ¹⁶And having taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to the heaven and blessed them and broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷And they ate and all were filled. And there was taken up that which was over and above to them of fragments—twelve baskets.

¹⁸And it came to pass, as He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Philip, one of the seven deacons.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 20]. In those days:

8 ²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Rise up and go toward the south, on the way which goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza”; the same is desert. ²⁷And having risen, he went. And behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a potentate under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, and who had come to Jerusalem to make obeisance, ²⁸was returning, and he was both sitting in his chariot and reading the Prophet Esaias. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot.” ³⁰And Philip ran up and heard him reading the Prophet Esaias, and said, “So then dost thou really understand what thou readest?” ³¹But he said, “No. How can I, unless someone should guide me?” And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²And the section of the Scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb dumb before him who sheareth him, thus He openeth not His mouth [cf. Is. 53:7]. ³³“In His humiliation, His judgment was taken away; but who shall describe His generation? For His life is being taken away from the earth [cf. Is. 53:8].” ³⁴And the eunuch answered and said to Philip, “I entreat thee, concerning Whom speaketh the prophet this? Concerning himself or concerning some other?” ³⁵And Philip opened his mouth and began from this Scripture, and preached the good tidings to him—Jesus. ³⁶And as they were going along the way, they came upon some water. And the eunuch saith, “Behold, water; what hindereth me to be baptized?” ³⁷And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thy heart, it is possible.” And he answered and said, “I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.” ³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried off Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer; then he went on his way rejoicing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 50]. At that time:

10 ¹The Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them forth two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. ²Therefore He was saying to them, “The harvest indeed is great, but the workers are few. Entreat therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send out workers into His harvest. ³“Go; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴“Cease carrying a purse, neither a leathern pouch, nor sandals; and do not begin to greet anyone along the way. ⁵“And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ⁶“And if, indeed, there be there a son of peace, your peace shall come to rest upon it; but if not so, it shall return to you. ⁷“And in that very house keep on remaining, eating and drinking the things given by them, for the worker is worthy of his hire. Do not have the habit of moving from house to house. ⁸“And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, go on eating the things which are set before you; ⁹“and keep on curing the sick in it, and saying to them, ‘The kingdom of God hath drawn near to you.’ ¹⁰“But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go out into its broad streets, and say, ¹¹“‘Even the dust of your city, which cleaveth to us, we wipe off ourselves against you; but know this, that the kingdom of God hath drawn near to you.’ ¹²“But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. ¹³“Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! For if the works of power which took place in you took place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴“But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. ¹⁵“And thou, Capernaum, which hath been lifted high unto the heaven, shall be brought down as far as Hades.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 24th — Civil Calendar
October 11th — Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Philip of the Seventy.

Born in Palestinian Caesarea, he was married and had four daughters, all four endowed by God with the gift of discernment and all four vowed virgins for the sake of Christ (Acts 21:8-9). When the holy apostles chose deacons, Philip was chosen along with Stephen and the others (6:5). Philip served the poor and the widows with great fervour. When persecution fell on the Christians in Jerusalem, he fled to Samaria and there preached the Gospel and witnessed to it by many miracles, driving out demons, healing the sick and so forth. Seeing the miracles of the holy apostle, Simon the Magician was baptised. St Philip also baptised the eunuch of Queen Candace. After that, an angel of God suddenly and invisibly bore him away to Azotus, where he taught and preached, bringing many to Christ (Acts 8). He was later made bishop in Tralles. He died peacefully in great old age, and entered into the joy of his Lord.

2. Our Holy Father Theophanes the Hymnographer (the Branded).

A confessor and writer of Canons, he was born in Arabia of wealthy and devout parents. With his brother Theodore (see Dec. 27th), he became a monk in the monastery of St Sava the Sanctified. Being very well-educated monks, they were sent by Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem to Leo the Armenian, to explain things to the Emperor and defend the veneration of icons. The wicked Emperor inflicted harsh torture on these two holy brothers and threw them into prison. Later, the iconoclast Emperor Theophilus continued their torture, and to expose them to the world’s ridicule, commanded that derisory words be branded on their faces. At the end of the iconoclast controversy, Theophanes was freed and quickly made bishop. He suffered for the holy icons for twenty-five years, writing a hundred and forty-five Canons in that time. He died peacefully in 847, and entered into the joy of his Lord.

3. St Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

As a layman and a high-ranking court official, he was chosen as Patriarch after St Gregory the Theologian, in 381. He was distinguished by a deep understanding, tact and zeal for the Church. He entered peacefully into rest in 397.

4. The Holy Martyrs Zinais and Philonilla.

They were sisters, born in Tarsus, kinswomen of Paul the Apostle. As virgins, they scorned the world for the sake of Christ and withdrew to a cave to live in asceticism. They were skilled in medicine, and helped many of the sick. Philonilla especially, for her great fasting, was made worthy of the gift of wonderworking. But unbelievers fell on them one night and stoned them to death.

FOR CONSIDERATION

As, by God’s providence, the power of healing is given to blessed water and blessed oil, so these same powers are given to icons. One marvellous example of the wonder-working power of the holy icons is cited by St. Athanasius the Great. In the town of Beirut there lived a Christian in a rented house near a local synagogue. Moving from this house, he left behind by mistake an icon of the Savior. A Jew moved into the same house, but he paid no attention to that icon. When one of his fellow Jews saw that icon, he reported his coreligionist, who was then expelled from the synagogue as a violator of their laws. Then the Jews, who were particularly ill-disposed towards the Christian Faith, took that icon to their meeting-place and began to mock it, as their forbears had once mocked the living Savior. They whipped the icon, nailed it to a tree, placed thorns around the head, put vinegar on the Savior’s lips, and in all possible ways ridiculed the holy image. Finally, one of them took a spear and pierced the sacred image under the rib. And, wonder of wonders, blood and water flowed from the pierced spot as it had aforetime from the body of the crucified Lord. The amazement and horror of the Jews was indescribable. Their rabbis then decided to test the miraculous liquids, so they took a vessel of the blood into their synagogue, where a multitude of the ailing were cured of their diseases after being anointed. The whole town gathered to see the miracle, and all glorified Christ our God. And all the Jews in the town came to belief in Christ, the living and life-giving Lord. The converts went to the Bishop of Beirut and confessed their wicked deed with respect to the icon, and the hierarch received their sincere repentance, catechizing them for many days before baptizing them. Then he consecrated the synagogue as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as many other synagogues, at the request of the Jews, dedicating them to the holy martyrs, and there was great joy in the city for this marvellous conversion.

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.