Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Twenty-Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 271]. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, see 1 Thess. 4:18-5:10; for Sl. usage, see 1 Thess. 5:1-8.

4 ¹⁸Keep on comforting one another with these words.

5 ¹But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need for me to be writing to you; ²for ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief at night. ³For whenever they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction standeth over them, even as the pangs of childbirth to her who is with child; and in no wise shall they escape. ⁴But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵Ye are all sons of light and sons of day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. ⁶So then, let us not be sleeping, as also the rest, but let us be fully awake and sober. ⁷For they who sleep, sleep by night; and they who get drunk, get drunk by night. ⁸But let us who are of the day be sober, having put on a breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹For God did not appoint us for wrath, but for gaining possession of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰Who died for us, that whether we be awake or asleep, we should live together with Him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 70]. At that time:

13 ¹There were present at that very season some that bore tidings to Jesus about the Galilæans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. ²And Jesus answered and said to them, “Suppose ye that these Galilæans came to be sinners beyond all the Galilæans, because they have suffered such things? ³“By no means, I say to you; but unless ye be repenting, ye shall all perish in like manner. ⁴“Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, suppose ye that these came to be debtors beyond all men who dwell in Jerusalem? ⁵“By no means, I say to you; but unless ye be repenting, ye shall all perish in like manner.” ⁶Also He was saying this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree which was planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it, and did not find any. ⁷“And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Behold, three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and do not find any. Cut it out. Why is it also rendering the ground useless?’ ⁸“And answering, he saith to him, ‘Lord, let it alone also this year, until I dig about it, and put manure around it. ⁹“‘And if indeed it should produce fruit—well; but if not, in the future thou shalt cut it out.’”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the 33 Martyrs in Melitene, and our venerable father among the saints, Lazarus, the Wonder-worker and ascetic of Mt. Galesios.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§§ 330, 331]. Brethren:

11 ³³All the saints through faith struggled against kingdoms, wrought righteousness, attained to promises, stopped mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edges of the sword, were empowered out of weakness, became strong in battle, turned back encampments of aliens. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. And others were tortured, not accepting release, that they might attain a better resurrection. ³⁶And others received trial of mockings and of scourgings, and, moreover, of bonds and of imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted; they died, murdered by the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in need, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They were made to wander in deserts, and in mountains, and in caves, and in the holes of the earth. ³⁹And these all, having been approved by testimony through faith, received not for themselves the promise, ⁴⁰God having foreseen some better thing concerning us, that they should not be made perfect without us.

12 ¹Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses which is set around us, and having laid aside every weight and sin that is easily circumvented, let us by means of patience be running the course which is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the originator and accomplisher of our faith, Who, in exchange for the joy set before Him, endured a cross, having despised the shame, and hath sat down on the right of the throne of God.

for Sl. usage, see [Gal. 5:22-6:2].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 10]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Mt. 4:23-5:13; for Sl. usage, see Mt.4:25-5:13.

4 ²³Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 ¹And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ²And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ⁴“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   ⁶“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   ¹⁰“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ¹¹“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   ¹²“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

November 20th – Civil Calendar
November 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Hieron with his Companions.

He was born in the Cappadocian city of Tijane of a good and God-fearing mother, Stratonica, who was blind. Hieron was a very zealous Christian, and cared for his blind mother with a truly filial love. Because of both his faith and his mother, he refused to go into the army, and fended off and drove away those who were sent to take him, for he was loath to leave his helpless, blind mother and be forced as a soldier to bow down and offer sacrifice to idols. Finally, Hieron was seized and taken before the governor of the city of Melitene, along with other Christians. While they were on the road, a man in white apparel appeared one night to Hieron and said to him: ‘Behold, Hieron, I reveal to thee thy salvation: thou shalt not wage war for any earthly king, but shalt engage in a battle for the King of heaven, and quickly shalt thou come to Him and receive from Him both honor and glory.’ Hieron’s heart was filled with ineffable joy at these words. When they reached Melitene, they were all thrown into prison, where Hieron strengthened them all in their faith with great ardor, exhorting them that not one should fall away but that all should freely give their bodies over to torment and death for Christ. To a man, they all confessed their faith in Christ the Lord before the judge, except for one kinsman of Hieron’s called Victor, who repudiated his faith. Hieron’s hands were cut off, then he was flogged and tortured in various ways, until he was finally beheaded with the sword together with the others. Going out to the place of execution, the thirty-three martyrs sang the psalm: ‘Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord’ (Ps. 1:1). Let us remember by name these honorable martyrs, who are inscribed in the Book of Life: Hesychius, Nicander, Athanasius, Mamas, Barachius, Callinicus, Theogenes, Nikon, Longinus, Theodore, Valerius, Xanticus, Theodulus, Callimachus, Eugene, Theodochus, Ostrichius, Epiphanius, Maximian, Ducitius, Claudian, Theophilus, Gigantius, Dorotheus, Theodotus, Castrichius, Anicetas, Themilius, Eftychios, Hilarion, Diodotus and Amonitus. A certain man called Chrysanthus found Hieron’s severed head and gave it burial, and he later built over it a church in honor of St. Hieron. One of the martyr’s hands was taken to his blind mother. St. Hieron suffered with his companions in 298, and entered into the glory of Christ.

2. The Holy Martyr Thessalonica, with Auctus and Taurion.

This maiden was the daughter of Cleon, a pagan priest, a rich and arrogant man. Because of her faith in Christ, her father drove her from the house and the city. Two respected citizens, Auctus and Taurion by name, reproached Cleon for his inhuman treatment of his daughter, and Cleon thereupon denounced them as Christians. They were savagely tortured and beheaded for Christ, and the maiden Thessalonica was tortured and killed soon after. They suffered in the Macedonian city of Amphipolis, near present-day Kavala, and so these martyrs were found worthy, by their sufferings, of the immortal kingdom.

3. Our Holy Father Lazarus of Mount Galesios.

A pillar of light appeared above the house where he was born. He left his village in Magnesia and went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, becoming a monk there in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. After ten years, he settled on Mount Galesios and toiled in asceticism upon a pillar as a stylite, and was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The Emperor Constantine Monomachus had great respect for him. St. Lazarus entered into his eternal home at the end of the eleventh century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

There are decisive moments in life, on which depend a man`s eternal life or eternal death. We do not know when such a decisive moment is upon us—it may come today, for which reason we must be constantly vigilant. A nephew of St. Hieron’s, Victor, was arrested with him. On the eve of the day of their martyrdom, Victor was frightened of the coming torments and went to the governor of the prison, begging him to remove his, Victor’s, name from among the condemned and let him go, promising to give him his own land. The governor crossed him off and let him go. On returning home, Victor suddenly died—died a natural death at the same moment as St. Hieron and his companions died in torment for Christ. Thus Victor turned in vain from the moment of decision, lost his land, lost his friends and lost his life, both in this world and the world to come. But Hieron, in that decisive moment, gained all. No one vied for Victor’s body, but many vied for the body of Hieron. When Christians were seeking Hieron’s head from the governor, he demanded gold to the measure of its weight. Chrysanthus, a rich and devout man, paid the required amount of gold for the martyr’s precious head. Anthony and Matronian concealed one of Hieron’s severed hands from the governor and took it to his blind mother, and she took hold of her son’s hand, lamenting bitterly: ‘O my beloved son, I bore the whole of you, and now have only this one little bit!’

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.