Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 95]. Brethren:

7 ¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵For what I work out, I know not. For what I wish, this I practise not; but what I hate, this I do. ¹⁶But if, what I do not wish, this I do, I consent to the law that it is good. ¹⁷Now then, no longer am I working it out, but sin which dwelleth in me. ¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good; for to will lieth beside me, but to work out the good I find not. ¹⁹For what good I wish, I do not; but what evil I wish not, this I practise. ²⁰Now if, what I wish not, this I practise, no longer am I working it out, but the sin dwelling in me. ²¹I find then the law in me, that, when I wish to do the good that the evil lies beside me. ²²For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and taking me captive in the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but on the other hand with the flesh the law of sin.

8 ¹There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the law of sin and death.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 35]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ⁹“Do not begin to procure for yourselves gold, nor silver, nor money in your belts, ¹⁰“nor leathern pouch for the way, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the worker is worthy of his food. ¹¹“And into whatsoever city or village ye enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there remain until ye go out. ¹²“But when ye enter into the house, salute it, saying, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ¹³“And if indeed the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye go out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. ¹⁵“Verily I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him at Byzantium, the Virgin-martyr Paula, and the four child martyrs, Claudius, Hypatios, Paul, and Dionysios.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

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

1. The Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul, Dionysius and the Virgin Paula.

Lucillian grew to old age as a pagan priest. Only as a grizzled old man did he learn the truth of Christianity and receive Baptism. His conversion to Christianity caused great excitement among the pagans of Nikomedia, and he was brought to trial for refusing to deny his new faith. He was harshly whipped, and all black and blue, thrown into prison. In the prison were four young men: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul and Dionysius, who had likewise been imprisoned for the Faith. The old man rejoiced in the company of these young men, and they in his, and they spent their time together in spiritual converse, prayer and the singing of psalms. When they were taken from the prison, they were tortured in various ways and then taken to Byzantium, where the young men were beheaded with the sword by the soldiers, and Lucillian crucified by the Jews. The wicked Jews pierced his body all over with nails. A maiden, Paula, openly took the martyrs’ bodies and gave them burial. She was denounced for this, and after torture, was beheaded, receiving a twofold wreath: of virginity and of martyrdom. Their martyrdom took place in the time of the Emperor Aurelian, between 270 and 275.

2. The Hieromartyr Lucian.

A Roman, renowned for his noble birth, wealth and learning, he was for a time a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Later, Pope Clement sent him, together with Dionysius the Areopagite, to Gaul to preach the Gospel, consecrating them bishop before they set out. Lucian sowed the seed of Christ’s teaching with great zeal, first in Gaul and then in Belgium. When the wicked Emperor Domitian began persecuting the Christians, men were sent from Rome to seek out the Christian missionaries and arrest them. They first seized and killed Dionysius, and then set off in pursuit of Lucian. Finding him in Belgium, together with his helpers, the priest Maxianus and the deacon Julian, they killed these two in one place and beheaded Lucian in another. When Lucian had been beheaded, his dead body rose from the ground, and taking its head into its hands (like St. Dionysius and St. John Vladimir), walked thus to the spot at which it wished to be buried. There it fell to the ground, and was there buried. A church was later built over his relics.

3. The Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevitch of Russia.

He received a martyr’s death at the age of eight at the hands of the power-hungry Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich in 1591. He appeared after his death to a monk and prophesied that a false Dimitri would appear, who would bring about Boris Godunov’s murder. This came to pass. Innumerable miracles were wrought at the grave of the martyred tsarevitch. His relics were dug up fifteen years later, whole and incorrupt, and were transferred solemnly to Moscow and buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Oh, that we could fathom the mystery of God’s providence in the lives of men! We would be filled with fear and trembling in the face of every evil deed and every human sin. ‘I understood Thy works, O Lord, and was amazed.’ In great events, the mystery of God’s providence is clear even to men of little faith—as is shown in the end of the Tsarevitch Dimitri and the bloodthirsty and ambitious Boris Godunov. To attain the first place among the courtiers of Tsar Theodore, Godunov poisoned many of the nobles. When he had become first after the tsar, he decided to poison the tsar’s brother, the eight-year-old Dimitri. Through hired men, he several times administered the strongest poison to the young tsarevitch, who was unaffected by it. It came about by providence that the evil-doer killed his prey, though not in any way secretly: Godunov sent murderers who beheaded the tsarevitch in broad daylight, and thus Dimitri became known as a martyr and Godunov as a murderer throughout Russia. After that, a certain Dimitri arose and proclaimed himself tsarevitch (as though he were the true tsarevitch and some other had been killed), and set out with an army against Godunov. He overcame Godunov and reduced him to such desperate straits that he poisoned himself. He who had poisoned others himself ended by self-administered poison, and he who had murdered the innocent Dimitri was himself defeated by a man named Dimitri. He who has spiritual eyes to see, let him see the mystery of God’s providence!

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.