Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 84]. Brethren:

3 ¹⁹We know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world might come to be under judgment to God. ²⁰Because by the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified before Him; for through the law is the full knowledge of sin.

²¹But now God’s righteousness without the law hath been manifested, being borne witness to by the law and the prophets, ²²even God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all those who believe. For there is no distinction; ²³for all sinned and are coming short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵Whom God Himself hath set forth to be an expiation through faith in His blood, for a showing forth of His righteousness on account of the paralysis of the sins which were done aforetime in the forbearance of God, ²⁶with a view to show forth His righteousness in the present time, that He is just and justifieth the one who is of faith in Jesus.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 20]. The Lord said:

7 ¹“Cease judging, that ye be not judged; ²“for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye measure, it shall be measured in turn to you. ³“And why lookest thou on the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam in thine own eye? ⁴“Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me cast out the splinter from thine eye’; and behold, the beam is in thine own eye? ⁵“Hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the splinter out of thy brother’s eye. ⁶“Do not ever give that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine, lest they should trample them with their feet, and turn and rend you. ⁷“Keep on asking, and it shall be given to you; keep on seeking, and ye shall find; keep on knocking, and it shall be opened to you. ⁸“For everyone who asketh receiveth, and the one who seeketh findeth, and to the one who knocketh it shall be opened.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Hermeas at Comana.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 13th – Civil Calendar
May 31st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Hermas.

One of the Seventy, he is mentioned in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (16:14). A Greek by birth, he spent a long time in Rome. He was bishop in Philippoupolis, and finished his life a martyr. He compiled the very instructive book ‘The Shepherd’ through revelations from the angels of God. Hermas was a rich man, but fell into extreme poverty through his own sins and those of his sons. A man appeared to him, clad in white and with a staff in his hand, and told him that he was the angel of repentance, sent to him before the end of his life. The angel gave him twelve commandments:

1. To believe in God.

2. To live in simplicity and innocence.

3. To love truth and flee from falsehood.

4. To guard his thoughts in chastity.

5. To learn patience and magnanimity of soul.

6. To know that a good and an evil spirit attend every man.

7. To fear God, but not the devil

8. To perform every good deed and to restrain himself from every evil one.

9. To pray to God in faith from the depths of his heart, so that his prayer might be heard.

10. To preserve himself from melancholy, the daughter of doubt, and from anger.

11. To try true and false prophecies.

12. To preserve himself from every evil desire.

2. The Holy Martyr Hermias.

He was a soldier in the imperial army till old age, when he suffered for another Emperor: Christ. The wicked judge tried in vain to make him renounce the Christian Faith and offer sacrifice to idols, then he ordered that Hermias’ teeth be broken with a stone and the skin stripped from his face with a knife. After that, he was thrown into a flaming furnace, but he remained unharmed, protected by the grace of God. He was then made to drink the strongest poison, which was given to him by a magician on the judge’s orders, but the poison did him no harm at all. When the magician saw this, he was so amazed that he confessed Christ himself, and was immediately slain with the sword. They then poked out both of Hermias’ eyes, and he said mildly to the judge: ‘Take the eyes of flesh which used to gaze upon the vanity of the world; I have other eyes in my heart with which I clearly see the true light.’ He was then hung upside down by the feet, and those who were torturing him became blind and staggered around him. St. Hermias called them to himself, laid his hands upon them and restored their sight by his prayers. Seeing all this, the judge became as furious as a lion, and drawing out his sword, cut off the head of the man of God. Christians came and took Hermias’ body in secret, and gave it burial. His relics gave healing to all the sick and wretched. St. Hermias suffered in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, in the year 160.

3. The Holy Martyr Philosophos.

This martyr of Christ’s was born near Alexandria. During a persecution of Christians, Philosophos refused to renounce Christ the Lord before the pagan princes and judges, and they therefore inflicted terrible tortures on him. After he had been tortured in various ways, they finally placed him on a soft bed, bound hand and foot, and put a harlot in with him to entice him into sin. When Philosophos felt passion awakening in himself through the touch of the woman’s hands, he took the tongue between his teeth, bit it through and spat it out in the harlot’s face. His passion was extinguished, and the harlot was so aghast that she fled from him at once. He was afterwards beheaded with the sword, in about 252, whilst still young in years, and entered into the kingdom of eternal youth. (In the Greek Prologue, St. Philosophos is commemorated on May 1st.).

FOR CONSIDERATION

This life is a spiritual battle: to conquer or be conquered. If we conquer, we shall enjoy the fruits of victory through all eternity; but if we are conquered, we shall suffer the horrors of defeat through all eternity. This life is a duel between man and everything that sets itself against God. God is the almighty Ally of every man who whole-heartedly calls upon Him for aid. Saint John of Kronstadt says: ‘This life is neither a joke nor a plaything, although men may turn it into either. They fritter away the time given to us to prepare for eternity, disporting themselves with empty words. They go about visiting, sitting and gossiping, playing this or that game. They get together in the theaters and amuse themselves there. Life is, for them, amusement. But woe to those who do nothing but amuse themselves!’

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.