Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 96]. Brethren:

8 ²The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the law of sin and death. ³Because of the impossibility of the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin—and in regard to sin, condemned sin in the flesh— ⁴in order that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. ⁵For they that are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but they that are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace. ⁷Because the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be. ⁸And they that are in the flesh are not able to please God. ⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if anyone doth not have the Spirit of Christ, this same one is not of Him. ¹⁰And if Christ is in you, on the one hand the body is dead on account of sin, but on the other hand the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of the One Who raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, the One Who raised Christ from the dead shall also make alive your mortal bodies on account of the indwelling of His Spirit in you.

¹²So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³For if ye are living according to the flesh, ye are on the point of dying; but if ye by the Spirit put to death the doings of the body, ye shall live.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 36]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ¹⁶“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Become therefore wise as the serpents and guileless as the doves. ¹⁷“But continue being on guard against men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸“And also ye shall be brought before governors and kings on account of Me, for a testimony to them and to the nations. ¹⁹“But whenever they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what ye should speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak. ²⁰“For ye are not the ones who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father Who is speaking in you. ²¹“Now a brother shall deliver up a brother to death, and a father a child; and children shall rise up against parents and shall put them to death. ²²“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake; but the one who endureth to the end, this one shall be saved.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Metrophanes, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ mid 35]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

10 ¹“Verily, verily, I say to you, the one who entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but goeth up from another place, that one is a thief and a robber. ²“But the one who entereth by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. ³“To this one the doorkeeper openeth, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. ⁴“And whenever he should put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them; and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. ⁵“But a stranger in no wise will they follow, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.” ⁶This parable Jesus spoke to them; but they understood not what it was which He spoke to them. ⁷Then said Jesus to them again, “Verily, verily, I say to you that I am the door of the sheep. ⁸“All, as many as came before Me, are thieves and robbers; but the sheep heard them not. ⁹“I am the door; by Me if anyone should enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and find pasture.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 17th – Civil Calendar
June 4th – Church Calendar

1. St. Metrophanes of Constantinople.

His father Dometius, brother of the Roman Emperor Probus, fled from Rome as a Christian during a persecution and went to Byzantium. The Bishop of Byzantium, Titus, ordained Dometius priest, and after Titus’ death, Dometius became Bishop of Byzantium. After Dometius’ death, his elder son Probus occupied the episcopal throne (Dometius had children from his earlier, pagan days), and Metrophanes succeeded him on his death. When the Emperor Constantine first set eyes on Metrophanes, he loved him as a father. At the time of the First Ecumenical Council, Metrophanes was a very old man, and being unable to take a full part in the council’s deliberations, appointed his assistant bishop, Alexander, as his representative. The emperor had Metrophanes raised to the rank of patriarch by the council, and he thus became the first Patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor further invited the whole council to visit the sick and aged hierarch. When the emperor asked him who he wished to succeed him on the patriarchal throne, Metrophanes named Alexander of Alexandria, after which he said to him: ‘My brother, you are my chosen successor!’ He also took Archdeacon Athanasius (later Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria) by the hand and praised him before them all. After this prophetic act, he took leave of them all, and ten days later, gave his soul to God, in 325.

2. The Holy Martyr Concordius.

He was a great ascetic and a wonder-worker during his earthly life. Arrested as a Christian under the Emperor Antoninus, he was tortured and imprisoned, and led before the stone idol of Zeus to pay it reverence. He spat on the idol, for which he was at once beheaded.

3. The Holy Martyrs Frontasius, Severinus, Severian and Silanus.

They were martyred in France in the time of the Emperor Claudius. When they had been beheaded, they rose to their feet, took their heads in their hands, crossed the river Ile and came to the church of the most holy Mother of God, where Bishop Frontanus was at prayer. Entering the church, they laid their heads at the bishop’s feet and then lay down and crossed themselves. They were buried there, and at their burial, the singing of an unseen host of angels was heard.

4. Our Holy Father Zosimas, Bishop of New Babylon in Egypt.

He lived in asceticism on Mount Sinai. Going to Alexandria in the course of his work, he was consecrated by the venerable Patriarch Apollinarios as Bishop of New Babylon. He was a good pastor of Christ’s flock, but when old age and weariness came upon him, he withdrew again to Sinai, where he gave his soul into God’s hands and received a wreath of glory among the great hierarchs. He lived and died in the 6th century.

5. The Hieromartyr Astius (Asteios), Bishop of Dyrrachium.

He suffered under Trajan. First beaten with leaden rods, he was then stripped bare and crucified on a tree. His naked body, smeared with honey, was left for the wasps and hornets to eat. St. Astius breathed his last in great torment, praising God, and received a twofold wreath: as a martyr and a hierarch. He suffered at the beginning of the second century.

6. Ss. Mary and Martha, the Sisters of Lazarus.

After the Lord’s Ascension, Lazarus went about preaching the Gospel, and his sisters helped him in this work. It is not known where they died.

FOR CONSIDERATION

It is a terrible thing to murder a man. There are no words that would suffice to express the terror that seizes upon the murderer. While a man is plotting to kill another, he reckons that it is the same thing to kill a man as it is to kill an ox, but when he has carried out his planned wickedness, he suddenly finds that he has declared war on both heaven and earth and that he is exiled, cut off from both. The slain one gives him no peace either day or night.

A notorious brigand came to St. Zosimas on Sinai, and asked him to make him a monk. St. Zosimas clothed him in the monastic schema and sent him to the monastery of St. Dorotheos in Gaza, to live the ascetic life in the community there. Nine years later, this brigand-become-monk returned to him and sought his secular clothing, handing him back his monastic schema. When asked why he was doing this, he replied that he had, for nine years, prayed to God with all his heart, fasted, kept vigil and fulfilled every obedience; that he felt many of his sins had been forgiven, but that one sin constantly tormented him. He had once murdered an innocent child, and this child appeared to him day and night, asking: ‘Why did you murder me?’ He had therefore decided to go and give himself up to the authorities, that they might execute him and he might thus pay blood for blood. Dressing himself in his former garments, he went to the town of Diospolis, where he declared his evil-doing and was beheaded, and thus, by his blood, washed away his bloody sin.

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.