Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Movable Calendar (Paschalion)

Friday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast

There is No Divine Liturgy This Day Because of the Great Fast.

No readings given.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyrs Ephraim, Basil, Evgenios, Agathodoros, Kapitonos, Aitherios, and Elpidios at Cherson.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 20th – Civil Calendar
March 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Seven Hieromartyrs of Cherson.

Their names were Basil, Ephraim, Eugene, Elpidius, Agathodorus, Aetherius and Capito. These seven hieromartyrs were all bishops in Cherson at different times, and all suffered from unbelievers, either Jews or Greeks from Scythia. (Only Aetherius died peacefully.) They had all gone to that savage land as missionaries, sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the light of the Gospel there. They were all tortured and suffered for the sake of their Lord. Basil raised the son of a prince of Cherson to life, which embittered the Jews and they brought charges against him. He was bound by the feet and dragged through the streets of the town until he gave up the spirit. Ephraim was beheaded. Eugene, Elpidius and Agathorodus were beaten with rods and stones until they gave their souls into God’s hands. Aetherius lived in the time of Constantine the Great, and so he governed the Church in freedom and peace, built a great church in Cherson and died peacefully. When the last of them, Capito, was sent as bishop, the savage Scythians sought a sign of him, that they might believe. And they suggested to him that he go into a burning furnace, and if he were not burned up, they would believe. With fervent prayer and hope in God, Capito put on his episcopal pallium, and crossing himself, entered the burning furnace, holding his heart and thoughts directed towards God. He stood in the flames for about an hour, and came out untouched, with no scorch-mark either on his body or his clothing. Then all cried out: ‘There is one God, the great and powerful God of the Christians, Who keeps His servant safe in the burning furnace!’ and the whole town and surroundings were baptized. Many spoke of this wonder at the Council of Nicaea (325), and all glorified God and praised the firm faith of St. Capito. But Scythian unbelievers caught Capito by the River Dnieper and drowned him. They all suffered around the beginning of the fourth century.

2. Our Holy Father Emilianus.

He was born in Rome, and committed many grave sins in his youth. When he came to his senses and turned from his sin, he trembled at the thought of the judgement of God. He went to a monastery and there, by fasting, vigils and obedience, subdued and withered his body. He was a model of asceticism to his brethren. Often at night he went out of the monastery to a neighboring cave to pray. Not knowing where he went, the abbot of the monastery followed him in secret one night. And the abbot saw Emilianus standing in prayer with awe and tears. All at once a heavenly light, brighter than the sun, illumined that hill, and focussed on the cave and on Emilianus. And a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Emilianus, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ The abbot was amazed and fled back to the monastery. On the following day he revealed all that he had seen and heard the preceding night. And Emilianus was greatly honored among the brethren, and lived long and entered into rest in the Lord.

Author’s Note: Under this date in the Greek Great Synaxarion, St. Laurence, founder of the monastery of Phaneromene on the island of Salamis is commemorated. He lived in Megara as a married man with two sons, and was righteous and devout. The holy Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to go to the island of Salamis and to restore a church in a certain place. He went and found ruins there, and built a new church. There he became a monk and departed this life on March 7th, 1770. Many miracles were wrought over the relics of St. Laurence in that monastery.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A thick rope is composed of thin strands of hemp. One thin strand cannot hold you bound nor strangle you, for you will easily, with the lightest touch, break it and free yourself. But if a thick rope binds you, you will stay bound, and it will strangle you. You cannot easily break it and free yourself of it. As a thick rope is made from thin, weak strands, so men’s passions are made up of smaller initial sins. The small, initial sins a man can still break and free himself of. But sin on sin, repeated, the weave becomes thicker and thicker until it becomes a passion, which masters a man as only it can do. You can neither cut it out easily nor cast it away from you nor be divorced from it. Oh, when will men guard themselves from these first sins? Then they would not have so much difficulty in freeing themselves from the passions. ‘To cut out the root of the passions is as difficult as cutting off one’s fingers,’ said one Athonite monk. To free himself from sinful passions, St. Emilianus was helped by pondering on death, and of course, by the grace of God, without which it is impossible for one to be freed from such passions. To think frequently of the closeness of death, to repent and to beg God’s almighty Grace; these three things save a man from slavery to the passions. St. Sisoës was asked how long it takes to uproot a passion. The saint replied: ‘As soon as a passion springs up in you, uproot it immediately!’

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.