Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 47]. In those days:

23 ¹Paul, having looked intently on the sanhedrin, said, “Men, brethren, I, in all good conscience, have conducted myself as a citizen to God even to this day.” ²But the high priest Ananias ordered those standing by him to smite his mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, “God is about to smite thee, thou whitewashed wall. And thou sittest judging me according to the law, and acting contrary to the law thou commandest me to be smitten!” ⁴And those having stood by said, “Revilest thou the high priest of God?” ⁵And Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he is high priest; for it hath been written, ‘Thou shalt not speak ill of a ruler of thy people [cf. Ex. 22:28].’” ⁶But Paul, having perceived that the one part was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrin, “Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee; I am being judged concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead.” ⁷And after he spoke thus, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. ⁸For Sadducees indeed say there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. ⁹And there arose a great cry; and the scribes of the part of the Pharisees rose up and were contending, saying, “We find nothing evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, let us not fight against God.” ¹⁰And after a great dissension arose, the tribune, fearing lest Paul should be torn in pieces, commanded the troops to go down, and to snatch him up out of their midst, and to bring him into the barracks. ¹¹And on the coming night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good courage, Paul; for as thou didst testify concerning the things of Me in Jerusalem, so also it is necessary for thee to bear witness in Rome.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 54]. The Lord said to His disciples:

16 ¹⁵“All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine; on this account I said that He shall receive of Mine and shall announce it to you. ¹⁶“A little while, and ye behold Me not; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go away to the Father.” ¹⁷Then some of the disciples said to one another, “What is this which He saith to us, ‘A little while, and ye behold Me not; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me’; and ‘because I go away to the Father’?” ¹⁸They were saying therefore, “What is this which He saith, ‘A little while’? We know not what He speaketh.” ¹⁹Now Jesus knew that they were wishing to question Him, and He said to them, “Concerning this do ye inquire among one another, because I said, ‘A little while and ye behold Me not, and again, a little while and ye shall see Me’? ²⁰“Verily, verily, I say to you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall be glad; and ye shall be grieved, but your grief shall become joy. ²¹“The woman, whenever she is about to bring forth, hath grief, because her hour is come; but whenever she should bear the child, she no longer remembereth the affliction, on account of the joy that a man is born into the world. ²²“And therefore ye now on the one hand have sorrow; but on the other hand I will see you again and your heart shall be glad, and your joy no one taketh away from you. ²³“And in that day ye shall ask Me for nothing. Verily, verily, I say to you that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Martyr Isidore at Chios.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 27th – Civil Calendar
May 14th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Isidore.

In the reign of the Emperor Decius, this Isidore was taken by force by soldiers from the island of Chios. He had held the Christian Faith from his youth, and had spent his life in fasting, prayer and good works. So when, in the army, he declared himself to be a Christian, the commander took him to task for it, and urged him to deny Christ and offer sacrifice to idols. The saint replied: ‘Even if you kill my body, you have no power over my soul. I have the true and living God, Jesus Christ, Who lives in me and will be with me at my death; and I am in Him and shall remain in Him, and will not cease to confess His holy name while the spirit is in my body.’ The commander ordered that they first beat him with iron flails and then cut out his tongue. But, even without his tongue, Isidore was able to speak, and confessed the name of Christ by the Spirit of God. Meanwhile the punishment of God struck the commander, and he suddenly became mute. The mute commander finally gave the signal to behead Isidore. Isidore rejoiced at this sentence, and praising God, went out to the scaffold, where his head was cut off in the year 251. His friend, Ammon, buried his body, and after that, himself suffered and received the wreath of martyrdom.

2. Our Holy Father Serapion the Sindonite.

‘Sindon’ means ‘linen cloth,’ and this saint was called ‘the Sindonite’ because he covered his naked body only with a linen cloth. He carried the Gospels in his hand. Serapion lived like the birds, with no roof and no cares, moving from one place to another. He gave his linen cloth to a poor wretch who was shivering with cold, and himself remained completely naked. When someone asked him: ‘Serapion, who made you naked?’ he indicated the Gospels and said: ‘This!’ But, after that, he gave away the Gospels also for the money needed by a man who was being hounded to prison by a creditor for a debt. At one time in Athens, he did not eat for four days, having nothing, and began to cry out with hunger. When the Athenian philosophers asked him what he was shouting about, he replied: ‘There were three to whom I was in debt: two have quieted down, but the third is still tormenting me.’ The crowd was roused to aid him. They asked him who these were who were tormenting him. He replied: ‘The first creditor is carnal lust, which has tormented me from my youth; the second is love of money, and the third is the stomach. The first two have left me alone, but the third one still torments me.’ The philosophers gave him some gold to buy bread. He went to a baker, bought a single loaf, put down all the gold and went out. He went peacefully to the Lord in old age, in the 5th century.

3. Blessed Isidore the Fool for Christ.

He was of German birth. Going to Rostov from an attraction to the Orthodox Faith, he not only became a member of the Orthodox Church but took on himself the strict asceticism of folly for Christ. He lived in rags, spending the day pretending madness, and through this madness, teaching men; and spending the nights in prayer. He spent these nights in a hut outside the town, built in a lonely swamp. Great and mighty wonders were performed by this saint, both during his lifetime and after his death. He appeared to a merchant who had been thrown out of his ship and was drowning. Isidore came to him through the water and led him to the shore. He caused the wine in all the containers to dry up one day, when the servants had driven him from the door of the Prince of Rostov without giving him a single cup of water. When he died in his hut on May 24th, 1484, the whole of Rostov was aware of a fragrant aroma. The merchant who had been saved from the sea built a church in the place where the hut had stood.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A sin that is a cause of scandal to others is a twofold sin. A wise man tries to ensure that he gives scandal to no one by his sinful example and leads another into sin. St. Ambrose applauds such wisdom in the Emperor Valentinian, who died young, in this example from his life: ‘The emperor, hearing that he was being talked of all over Rome as a passionate hunter of wild beasts—which he, in fact, was not—and that this passion was taking the emperor away from his duties of state, immediately commanded that all the wild beasts in his forests be destroyed. Hearing, on another occasion, that some malicious person was spreading word that he lunched early (wanting by this to make him out to be a glutton), he took on himself a very strict fast, both publicly and privately. At public meals, he was rarely seen to put a morsel of food into his mouth. When, again, his sisters were in dispute with a man over some land, the emperor, although he had the right to try the case himself, submitted it to trial in open court, so that he could not be accused of partiality.’ Truly this devout emperor kept with godly fear to the words of the Lord: ‘Woe to him that causes offence to one of these little ones.’

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.