Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Twenty-Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Titus [§ mid 300]. Child Titus:

For Gk. usage, see Tit. 1:5-14; for Sl. usage, see Tit. 1:5-2:1.

1 ⁵For this cause I left thee behind in Crete, in order that thou shouldest set right the things wanting, and ordain presbyters in every city, as I ordered thee— ⁶if one is blameless, a husband of one wife, having believing children with no accusation of prodigality or insubordination. ⁷For it is needful for the bishop to be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not inclined to anger, not given to wine, not a striker, not sordidly greedy of gain, ⁸but hospitable, a lover of good, of sound mind, just, holy, temperate, ⁹holding to the faithful word according to the teaching, in order that he may be able both to exhort with sound teaching and refute those who contradict. ¹⁰For there are many insubordinate and idle talkers and mind-deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹whom it is necessary to stop up their mouths, who overturn whole houses, teaching what is not needful, on account of a sordid love of gain. ¹²One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true. For which cause refute them severely, in order that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn themselves away from the truth. ¹⁵All things indeed are pure to the pure, but to those who have been defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind hath been defiled, and their conscience. ¹⁶They confess to know God, but in works deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and reprobate to every good work.

2 ¹But be speaking the things which become sound teaching.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 107]. The Lord said to His disciples:

21 ²⁸“Rise up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draweth near.” ²⁹And He spoke a parable to them: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰“Whenever they at once put forth leaves, ye see and know for yourselves that already the summer is near. ³¹“So also ye, whenever ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is near. ³²“Verily I say to you, that in no wise shall this generation pass away, until all shall have taken place. ³³“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy and God-bearing father, Savvas the Sanctified.

Epistle

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 Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 18th – Civil Calendar
December 5th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Sava the Sanctified.

The unknown village of Mutalaska, in the province of Cappadocia, became famous through this great light of the Orthodox Church, for St. Sava was born there. He left the home of his parents, John and Sophia, at the age of eight and became a monk in a nearby monastery called ‘Flavian’s’. After ten years, he moved to the monasteries of Palestine, staying longest in the monastery of St. Efthymios the Great (Jan. 20th) and Theoktistos. Efthymios, who had the gift of discernment, foretold that he would be a famous monk and leader of monks, and that he would found a monastery that would be greater than any other of that day. After St. Efthymios’ death, Sava went into the desert, where he lived for five years as a hermit in a cave which an angel of God showed him. After that, when he had become a perfected monk, he began by divine providence to gather round him many desirous of the spiritual life. They very quickly grew in number, so that Sava had to build both a church and many cells. Some Armenians also came to him, and he set aside a cave for them, and they celebrated the services there in their own language. When his father died, his aged mother Sophia came to him and he made her a nun and gave her a cell away from the monastery, where she lived in asceticism till her death. This holy father endured many attacks from those close to him, from heretics, and from demons. But he overcame them all in these ways: those close to him he won over by his goodness and forbearance, the heretics by an unshakable confession of the Orthodox Faith, and the demons with the sign of the Cross and the invocation of God’s aid. He had a particularly severe battle with the demons on the mountain of Castellium, where he founded the second of his seven monasteries. He and his neighbor, Theodosios the Great, are considered to be the greatest lights and pillars of Orthodoxy in the East. Kings and patriarchs were brought to the right Faith by them, and these holy and wonderful men, strong in the power of God, served each and every man as an example of humility. St. Sava entered into rest in 532 at the age of ninety-four, after a life of great labor and great reward.

Among all his other great and good works, let this be remembered above all: that he compiled the first Order of Services for use in monasteries, now known as the Jerusalem Typikon.

2. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of Karyes.

They suffered at the time of the Union of Lyons, at the hands of the Papists. The Union was the work of the pope and the Emperor Michael Palaiologos (1260-81). The Protos of the Holy Mountain was hanged, and the others were beheaded with the sword. For details of this, see October 10th.

3. Our Holy Father Nectarios of Bitola.

Born in Bitola, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of the Holy Physicians Kosmas and Damian, together with his father who was also a monk. He later went to Karyes, where he continued his asceticism in the cell of the Holy Archangels, under the direction of the elders of Philotheou and Dionysiou. After conquering human envy, demonic attacks and painful illnesses, he entered into the kingdom of Christ on December 5th, 1500. His incorrupt and fragrant relics are preserved in his cell.

4. Our Holy Fathers Karion and Zachariah.

Father and son, they were great Egyptian ascetics. Karion left his wife and their two children and went off to become a monk. The young Zachariah was taken into the monastery as a child, and he outstripped in asceticism both his father and many other notable ascetics. When they asked Zachariah: ‘Who is truly a monk?’ he replied: ‘He who constantly exercises himself in the fulfilling of God’s commandments.’

FOR CONSIDERATION

A man may be great in some skill, as a statesman or a military leader, but no one amongst men is greater than the man great in faith, hope and love. The greatness of the faith and hope in God held by St. Sava the Sanctified is best shown by the following incident: One day the monastery treasurer came to Sava and said he would not be able to sound the semantron* the following Saturday and Sunday to summon the brethren for the common service and meal, because there was not a trace of flour in the monastery, nor anything at all to eat or drink. For the same reason, even the divine Liturgy was impossible. The saint replied without hesitation: ‘I shall not cancel the Liturgy because of a lack of flour. He Who commanded us not to be concerned for bodily things is faithful to His word, and is able to sustain us in a time of hunger.’ And he placed all his trust in God. In this extremity, he was prepared to send some of the church vessels and vestments to be sold in the city, so that the divine services might not be foregone, nor the brothers a customary meal. But, before Saturday dawned, some men, moved by divine providence, brought thirty mules laden with wheat, wine and oil to the monastery. ‘What do you say now, my brother?’ Sava asked the treasurer. ‘Shall we not strike the semantron and gather the fathers?’ The treasurer was ashamed of his lack of faith, and begged the abbot’s forgiveness. Sava’s biographer called him ‘severe with demons, but mild with men’. Some monks rebelled against St. Sava, and were driven from the monastery by order of Patriarch Elias. They built themselves huts on the bed of the Tekoa River, and lived there in dire straits without the bare necessities of life. Hearing that they were starving, St. Sava loaded mules with flour and took them to them himself. Seeing that they had no church, he built them one. At first the monks received him with hatred, but afterwards they returned his love with love, and repented of their former evil towards him.

* Semantron (in Serbian, klepalo)—a long piece of wood, shaped for resonance, which is struck rapidly with a mallet. It became widely used in place of a bell under Turkish rule, when Christians were forbidden to ring bells because the Turks held the superstition that bells call demons.—Translator.

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.