Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 48]. In those days:

25 ¹³Agrippa the king and Bernice came down to Cæsarea, greeting Festus. ¹⁴And when they spent more days there, Festus himself set forth to the king the matter relating to Paul, saying, “There is a certain man, a prisoner, who hath been left behind by Felix, ¹⁵“concerning whom, when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges, requesting a judgment against him. ¹⁶“To whom I answered, ‘It is not a custom with Romans to be giving up any man to destruction before the one who is accused may have the accusers face to face, and may receive an opportunity of speaking in his own defense concerning the charge.’ ¹⁷“Therefore when they came together here, I made no delay. And on the next day I sat on the tribunal and commanded the man to be brought forth, ¹⁸“concerning whom after the accusers stood up, they did not bring even one charge of which I suspected. ¹⁹“But they were having certain subjects of dispute with him concerning their own religion, and about a certain Jesus Who had died, Whom Paul was affirming to be alive.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 55]. The Lord said to His disciples:

16 ²³“Verily, verily, I say to you that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. ²⁴“Until now ye asked nothing in My name. Keep on asking, and ye shall receive, in order that your joy may be made full. ²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in proverbs; but an hour is coming when I will no longer talk to you in proverbs, but I shall announce plainly to you concerning the Father. ²⁶“In that day ye shall ask for yourselves in My name, and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you; ²⁷“for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father.” ²⁹His disciples say to Him, “Behold, now Thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb. ³⁰“Now we know that Thou knowest all things, and hast no need that anyone should question Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Now do ye believe? ³²“Behold, an hour is coming and now hath come, that ye shall be scattered each to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye may have peace in Me. In the world ye shall have affliction; but be of good courage, I have overcome the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Pachomios the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism, and our holy father among the saints, Achilles, Bishop of Larisa.

Epistle

For the venerable Father:

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.

for Sl. usage, see [2 Cor. 4:6-15].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 10]. At that time:

4 ²³Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 ¹And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ²And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ⁴“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   ⁶“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   ¹⁰“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ¹¹“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   ¹²“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

for Sl. usage, see [Lk. 14:25-35].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 28th – Civil Calendar
May 15th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Pachomios the Great.

He was an Egyptian by birth and was a pagan in his youth. As a soldier, he took part in the Emperor Constantine’s war against Maxentius. After that, learning from Christians about the one God and seeing their devout life, Pachomios was baptized and went to the Tabennisiot desert, to the famous ascetic Palamon, with whom he lived in asceticism for ten years. Then an angel appeared to him in the robes of a monk of the Great Habit at the place called Tabennisi and gave him instructions on the rule of a cenobitic monastery, commanding him to found such a monastery in that place and prophesying to him that many monks would come to it seeking the salvation of their souls. Obeying the angel of God, Pachomios began building many cells, although there was no one in that place but himself and his brother John. When his brother grumbled at him for doing this unnecessary building, Pachomios simply told him that he was following God’s command, without explaining who would live there, or when. But many men soon assembled in that place, moved by the Spirit of God, and began to live in asceticism under the rule that Pachomios had received from the angel. When the number of monks had increased greatly, Pachomios, step by step, founded six further monasteries. The number of his disciples grew to seven thousand. St. Anthony is regarded as the founder of the eremitic life, and St. Pachomios of the monastic, communal life. The humility, love of toil and abstinence of this holy father were and remain a rare example for the imitation of monks. St. Pachomios performed innumerable miracles, and also endured innumerable temptations from demons and men. And he served men as both father and brother. He roused many to set out on the way of salvation, and brought many into the way of truth. He was and remains a great light in the Church and a great witness to the truth and righteousness of Christ. He entered peacefully into rest in 346, at the age of sixty. The Church recognizes many of his followers as saints: Theodore, Job, Paphnutios, Pecusius, Athenodorus, Eponichus, Soutus, Psois, Dionysius, Petronius and others.

2. St. Achillios, Bishop of Larissa.

This great hierarch and wonder-worker was born in Cappadocia. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, at which he put the heretics to shame, and both by his great learning and his great purity, gave cause for much wonder. Taking up a stone, Achillios called to the Arians: ‘If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.’ The heretics kept silent, amazed at this demand by St. Achillios. Then the saint continued: ‘And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, then let oil flow from this stone.’ And oil flowed out, to the amazement of all. St. Achillios entered peacefully into rest in Larissa in the year 330. Samuel, King of Macedonia, when he conquered Thessaly, translated the relics of Achillios to Prespa, to an island in a lake that was named, and is called to this day, Achillios or Ailus.

3. Our Holy Father Silvanos.

He was at first a comedian, mimicking each and all, but then, inflamed by the love of Christ, he became a disciple of St. Pachomios. ‘I would be ready to give my life,’ he said, ‘to receive the forgiveness of my sins.’

FOR CONSIDERATION

When a tyrant exercises tyranny over a righteous man from covetousness, then the tyrant brings both a gain and a loss: a loss for the tyrant and a gain for him who suffers the tyranny. Boris Godunov murdered the eight-year-old Tsarevich Dimitri in order to seize the throne without a rival. The days of his reign were quickly ended, and the tyrant was given over to corruption and damnation; but Dimitri was sanctified. After lying in the grave for fifteen years, Dimitri’s body was found to be incorrupt and wonder-working. There are forty-five miracles of healing recorded over his grave. Whose, then, was the loss and whose the gain from this tyranny? If the tyrant thought that he would, by tyranny, help his opponent to be included in the ranks of the saints and would prepare destruction and damnation for himself, he would change his mind about his planned tyranny. But wrong thinking is the forerunner and companion of tyranny.

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.