Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 6]. In those days:

2 ³⁸Peter said to the people, “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those at a distance, as many as the Lord our God shall call forth.” ⁴⁰With more and other words was he both testifying and exhorting, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹Then they indeed who gladly welcomed his words were baptized; and in that day about three thousand souls were added. ⁴²And they were persevering in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion, and in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. ⁴³And fear came to be in every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 8]. At that time:

3 ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemos, a ruler of the Jews. ²This one came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou hast come from God as a teacher; for no one is able to do these signs which Thou doest unless God be with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, except one should be born again, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemos saith to Him, “How is a man able to be born when he is old? He is not able to enter the womb of his mother a second time, and be born, is he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless one should be born of water and of the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶“That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷“Do not begin to wonder that I said to thee, ‘It is needful for you to be born again.’ ⁸“The wind bloweth wheresoever it is naturally disposed, and thou hearest its sound, but thou knowest not from what place it cometh and where it goeth; thus is everyone who hath been born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemos answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Thou art the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹“Verily, verily, I say to thee that We speak that which We know, and We bear witness of that which We have seen; and ye receive not Our testimony. ¹²“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³“And no one hath gone up into the heavens, except the One Who came down from out of the heavens, the Son of Man, Who is in the heavens. ¹⁴“And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus it is needful for the Son of Man to be lifted up; ¹⁵“that everyone who believeth in Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Niketas the Confessor, Abbot of Medikion, and our holy Father Joseph the Hymnographer (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 4^th of April).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 16th – Civil Calendar
April 3rd – Church Calendar

1. St. Niketas the Confessor.

He was born in Bithynia, in the town of Caesarea. His father, Philaret, losing his wife, became a monk. Niketas remained with his paternal grandmother. After he had grown up and finished his schooling, he went to a monastery in Medikion, where Nikephoros, the abbot, tonsured him as a monk. After seven years of toil and asceticism, he was ordained hieromonk by Patriarch Tarasios. After the deaths of Nikephoros and Niketas’ great friend, Athanasius, the brethren chose Niketas as abbot, much against his will. St. Niketas was a holy example of life and asceticism to his brethren for many years. But when Leo V, the Armenian, came to the throne, following the devout Empress Irene and the pious Emperors Nikephoros and Michael, the iconoclast heresy sprang up again. The emperor deposed Patriarch Nikephoros and sent him into exile, and in his place put a heretic, Theodotus Kassiteras, a man of impure life. Niketas was imprisoned and tortured, but remained unwavering in his Orthodoxy. He was taken from prison to prison and tortured by hunger and thirst, by cold and heat and malice. But he remained utterly unwavering. A certain Nicholas pestered him particularly with his derision and malice. But one night the dead father of this Nicholas appeared to him in a dream and said: ‘Leave that servant of God alone!’ From that moment Nicholas repented, and not only refrained from pestering him but prevented others doing likewise. When the Emperor Leo the Armenian had made an evil end, the throne passed to the Orthodox Emperor Michael Balbus, who freed all the Orthodox sufferers. Niketas retired to a lonely place near Constantinople, where he spent the remaining days of his earthly life in prayer and thanksgiving to God. When he died, his body was taken to his monastery, and during that journey, many of the sick, on touching his body, were healed. His relics were placed close to the graves of his spiritual father, Nikephoros, and his friend Athanasius. This great hierarch entered into rest in 824.

2. St. Paul the Wretched.

A Russian by birth, he was enslaved by the Turks as a boy. Refusing to betray the Christian Faith and embrace Islam, he was tortured and beheaded in Constantinople in 1683.

3. The Holy Martyr Ulphianos.

A young man from the city of Tyre, he was tortured for Christ by the governor, Urban, the torturer of St. Amphianos (April 2nd). He was finally sewn into a sack, together with a dog and a snake, and thrown into the sea. He suffered and was glorified in 306.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘I look to die a thousand deaths’—thus wrote St. Athanasius the Great to his flock in Egypt in the time of the terrible Arian heresy. Every spiritual man can say the same thing when he looks in spirit and sees the net in which the whole world is caught. The more spiritual the man, the thicker the net is seen to be. This is the will of God: that the most spiritual be saved by the narrowest path. And the psalmist himself said: ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ But, in the end, victory and glory fall to their lot. They only need to be armed with faith and patience. He who believes, understands his sufferings. He who arms himself with patience will see victory and glory. To those who love God, the narrowest way is sufficiently spacious, the greatest pains are the light yoke and the bitterest death is the joy of the wedding.

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.