Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 290].

1 ¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to a promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: ²Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord....

⁸Do thou not become ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor me His prisoner, but suffer hardship with the Gospel, according to God’s power, ⁹Who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, ¹⁰but now hath been made manifest by the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who brought death to nought indeed and brought to light life and incorruption through the Gospel, ¹¹to which I was appointed a herald and apostle and teacher of nations. ¹²For which cause I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed, and have been persuaded that He is able to guard the deposit entrusted to me until that day. ¹³Keep on holding fast an outline of sound words which thou heardest from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard thou the good deposit entrusted to thee through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us.

¹⁵This thou knowest, that all they who are in Asia were turned away from me, of whom are Phygellos and Hermogenes. ¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphoros, for many times he refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; ¹⁷but having been in Rome, he sought me out most diligently and found me— ¹⁸may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day—and in how many things he ministered in Ephesus thou knowest better than I need say.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 101]. At that time:

20 ¹⁹The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands upon Jesus in the same hour, but they were afraid of the people; for they knew that He was speaking this parable against them.

²⁰And having watched carefully for an opportunity, they sent forth suborned men, which feigned themselves to be righteous, in order that they might take hold of a word of His, so as to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor. ²¹And they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that Thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest not the person of any, but teachest the way of God in truth. ²²“Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Cæsar or not?” ²³But He perceived their knavery, and said to them, “Why are ye trying to tempt Me? ²⁴“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription hath it?” And they answered and said, “Cæsar’s.” ²⁵And He said to them, “Render therefore the things of Cæsar to Cæsar, and the things of God to God.” ²⁶And they were not able to take hold of His saying in the presence of the people; and having marvelled at His answer, they kept silent.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Paramon in Bithynia, and Philoumenos of Ankyra, and those with them.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 97]. Brethren:

8 ¹⁴As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵For ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye received a Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: ¹⁷And if children, also heirs—on the one hand heirs of God, on the other hand joint-heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, in order that we might also be glorified together. ¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy in comparison to the future glory to be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaiteth the revelation of the sons of God. ²⁰For creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but on account of Him Who subjected it in hope, ²¹that the creation itself also shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 12th – Civil Calendar
November 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Paramon, and 370 others with him.

In Asian Bithynia, the governor, Aquilinus, was ferociously persecuting Christians. He once seized three hundred and seventy Christians and took them with him in bonds to some place where there was a temple to the god Poseidon. Here, the wicked governor tried to force them to offer sacrifice to idols. Although he threatened with death any who refused to obey his command, not a single one of the Christians submitted to it. At that time, there passed along the road running beside the temple a respected man called Paramon. He stopped beside the group of bound men and learned what was happening, then cried out: ‘Oh, how many innocent and righteous men does this foul governor desire to slaughter because they will not bow down to his dumb and dead idols?’ Paramon then continued on his way, and the furious governor sent servants to kill him. They caught up with him and seized him, first piercing his tongue with a thorn and then stripping him and stabbing him all over. Holy Paramon, with prayer in his heart, gave his soul into God’s hands. After that, these three hundred and seventy martyrs, great sons of God and innocent lambs, were beheaded with the sword and thus entered into the immortal kingdom of Christ the Lord. They suffered in the year 250.

2. Our Holy Father Akakios (Acacius) of Mount Latros.

In his famous book, ‘The Ladder,’ St. John Climacus records the life of this saint. The young Akakios was a novice with an evil elder in the Monastery of Kellivara. The foul-tempered elder daily groused and grumbled at Akakios, and often beat him, tormenting and ill-treating him in every possible way. Akakios did not complain, but bore it all patiently and with trust that it would work for his salvation. When people saw his bruises and asked him how he survived, he replied: ‘Well, as before the Lord God’. After nine years of obedience and ill-treatment, Akakios died. The elder buried him and then went off to lament to another elder, a holy man, saying: ‘Akakios, my disciple, is dead.’ ‘I don’t believe it,’ replied the holy elder, ‘Akakios is not dead.’ They then both went to the dead man’s grave, and the holy elder called out: ‘Brother Akakios, are you dead?’ The obedient Akakios, obedient even in death, replied: ‘I am not dead; the obedient cannot die.’ Then the evil elder repented and shut himself in a cell near Akakios’ grave, where he spent the rest of his life in repentance and prayer.

3. The Holy Martyr Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth.

A well-known pastor and teacher, he was beheaded for Christ the Lord in 182.

4. St. Tiridates, King of Armenia.

He was a contemporary of Diocletian. He at first persecuted Christians with great ferocity, but God’s punishment fell on him and he went mad and became like a beast, as happened aforetime to Nebuchadnezzar. St. Gregory miraculously healed him of his madness (see Sept. 30th). From that time until his death, Tiridates spent his life in repentance and devotion. He died peacefully in the fourth century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

God’s punishment often falls on sinners immediately after they have sinned, that the sinners may fear and the righteous be encouraged. However, it sometimes falls much later, suddenly and unexpectedly, that sinners may know that God forgets nothing. The earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiron immediately after they had sinned, but King Balthazzar saw the hand that wrote his deadly outcome at a time when he felt himself at ease at a wedding feast, among friends and admirers.

A gravely-sick soldier was brought to St. Stephen the New, to be healed by his prayers. Stephen told him to venerate the icons of Christ and the Mother of God. The soldier did this, and was immediately healed, and this wonder was spoken of on all sides. Hearing of it, the iconoclast Emperor Kopronymos summoned this soldier and questioned him. When the soldier acknowledged that he had received healing from the holy icons, the emperor furiously began to rebuke him for his veneration of them. The terrified soldier repudiated his veneration before the emperor, and was ashamed of his faith in the icons. When this soldier left the court and mounted his horse, it became maddened under him, threw him off and trampled him with its hooves until he gave up the spirit. This is an example of a punishment that follows immediately on the sin.

King Tiridates, a persecutor of Christians, threw St. Gregory into a deep pit and killed thirty-seven holy nuns, and he went unpunished. Later, when the king and his entourage had gone hunting for pleasure, madness suddenly fell on him. The reason for his madness and the means of restoring him to sanity were revealed to his devout sister in a dream. St. Gregory was taken out of his pit, and at his prayers, King Tiridates was healed, repented and received Baptism.

Punishment sometimes follows as quickly on sin as day does night, and sometimes as slowly as year follows year. But it never fails to come, except at those times when repentance takes the place of punishment.

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.