Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 21]. In those days:

8 ⁴⁰Philip was found in Azotos. And passing through, he preached the Gospel to all the cities till he came to Cæsarea.

9 ¹But Saul, still breathing in threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ²and asked from him letters for himself to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he should find any being of the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³But as he was proceeding, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly there flashed a light around him from the heaven. ⁴And he fell on the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” ⁵And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest; ⁶“but rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what is needful for thee to do.” ⁷But the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing, indeed, the voice, but seeing no one. ⁸And Saul was raised up from the ground; and when his eyes were opened he saw no one; but they led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus. ⁹And he was three days not seeing, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰And there was a certain disciple in Damascus, by name Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, I am here, Lord.” ¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a Tarsian, by name Saul; for behold, he prayeth. ¹²“And he saw in a vision a man, by name Ananias, who came in and laid his hand on him, so that he might recover his sight.” ¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man, how many bad things he did to Thy saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴“And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all those who call upon Thy name.” ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go thy way, for this one is a vessel of election to Me, to bear My name before the nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel. ¹⁶“For I will show him how much it is necessary for him to suffer for My name’s sake.” ¹⁷And Ananias went away and entered into the house. And having laid his hands upon him he said, “Saul, brother, the Lord, Jesus, Who appeared to thee in the way in which thou wast coming, hath sent me forth, in order that thou mightest recover sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And straightway, as if scales fell from his eyes, he both recovered sight forthwith and rose up and was baptized. ¹⁹And having received food, he was strengthened.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 23]. The Lord said to the Jews who had believed in Him:

6 ⁴⁸“I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. ⁵⁰“This One is the bread, the One coming down out of the heavens, in order that anyone might eat of it and not die. ⁵¹“I am the bread, the living one, the One having come down out of the heavens; if anyone should eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And indeed the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” ⁵²Then the Jews began quarreling with one another, saying, “How is this One able to give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³Then Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, unless ye should eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye are not having life in yourselves. ⁵⁴“The one who partaketh of My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up in the last day.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father John, disciple of St. Gregory the Decapolite.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 1st – Civil Calendar
April 18th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father John.

He was a disciple of St. Gregory of Decapolis. In the time of the iconoclast heresy, the Emperor Leo the Armenian put John to torture, together with his teacher, Gregory, and Joseph the Hymnographer. When Gregory finished his earthly course, John became abbot of the Decapolite monastery in Constantinople. Becoming abbot, he intensified his asceticism for the sake of the kingdom of God. He died peacefully in about 820. After his death, St. Joseph buried him near the grave of St. Gregory.

2. The Holy Martyr John the New of Ioannina.

He was born in Ioannina, the ancient capital of King Pyrrhus. When his poor parents died, the young John went to Constantinople and there continued his trade, for he was a craftsman. The Turks had occupied Constantinople not long before this, and many Christians had, out of fear, denied Christ and accepted Islam. St. John had his workshop right in the midst of these men who had become Turks. The more inflamed St. John became with love for Christ, the more outwardly apparent this became to these apostates. He began to dispute with them about the Faith, and to reprimand them for their betrayal of Christ. They dragged him before the judge and falsely accused him of having earlier accepted Islam and having returned to Christianity. For this he was tortured—beaten and flogged with iron flails—and then cast into prison. On the second day, which was the day of Pascha, they brought him out for further torture, and John emerged full of joy and singing: ‘Christ is risen from the dead!’ He spoke courageously to his torturers, saying: ‘Do what you will to me, and send me as quickly as possible from this transient life into life eternal. I am Christ’s servant; I follow Christ, and I die for Christ that I may live with Him!’ After that, John was bound in chains and taken to the place of burning. Seeing the great flames prepared for him, John ran forward and leapt into them. But his torturers, seeing how he sought death in the fire, pulled him out of it and sentenced him to be beheaded. When they had cut off his head, they threw it and his body into the fire. Later, Christians gathered the ashes and some of his precious and wonder-working relics and buried them in the Great Church in Constantinople. Thus he died a martyr’s death and received the glorious wreath of martyrdom on April 18th, 1526.

3. The Holy Martyrs Victor, Zotikos, Zeno, Akyndios and Severian.

They were all martyred under the Emperor Diocletian. They were pagans until they witnessed the martyrdom of St. George the Great Martyr. Then, seeing the sufferings and courage of this glorious martyr and the many miracles that were wrought at that time, they embraced the Christian Faith. For this Faith they soon suffered, and were crowned with glory.

4. The Holy Martyr Apollonius.

He was a Roman senator. Denounced for his faith, he confessed it before the entire senate, for which he was beheaded in the year 186.

FOR CONSIDERATION

In one description of the Christian martyrs under the Persian King Sapor, it is said: ‘Swords become blunt, sword-bearers fall and sword-makers tire—but the Cross is ever higher and higher upraised and burnished with the blood of Christ’s martyrs.’ Times without number the persecutors of Christians have said complacently to themselves that they have done away with Christianity for good. In the event, their lives came to an end while Christianity sprouted and flowered anew. However, in the teeth of this experience, some of our contemporaries reckon that the Christian Faith can be uprooted forcibly. But—they do not say how. And they forget that this has already been attempted again and again without success. It was with reason that Tertullian cried to the pagans: ‘You are spilling our blood in vain; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity!’

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.