Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 120]. Brethren:

16 ¹I commend to you Phœbe our sister, who is a deaconess of the Church in Cenchrea, ²that you should receive her in the Lord, in a manner worthy of saints, and stand by her in whatsoever matter she may have need of you; for also she became a protectress of many, and of myself.

³Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, ⁴who for my life laid down their own necks, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the nations. ⁵And greet the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epænetos, who is the firstfruits of Achaia for Christ. ⁶Greet Mary, who labored much for us. ⁷Greet Andronikos and Junia, my kinfolk and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, and who have been in Christ before me. ⁸Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. ⁹Greet Urbanos, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. ¹⁰Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those of the household of Aristoboulos. ¹¹Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. ¹²Greet Tryphæna and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord. ¹³Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. ¹⁴Greet Asynkritos, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren with them. ¹⁵Greet Philologos and Julia, Nereos and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with them. ¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of the Christ greet you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 50]. The Lord said this parable:

13 ³“Behold, the one who soweth went out to sow. ⁴“And as he was sowing, some seeds indeed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵“And other seed fell upon the rocky places, where it had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. ⁶“But after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it was dried up. ⁷“And other seed fell upon the thorns; and the thorns shot up, and choked them. ⁸“But other seed fell upon the good ground, and it kept on yielding fruit: some indeed a hundredfold, but some sixty, and some thirty. ⁹“The one who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Methodios, Bishop of Patara.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 3rd – Civil Calendar
June 20th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Methodius, Bishop of Patara,

He devoted himself from his youth to the ascetic life, and like a city set on a hill, was seen and called to the episcopate in the city of Patara in Lycia. Methodius was a learned and eloquent hierarch and wrote against the heresy of Origen. His words, ‘inspired by God, illumine the whole world like lightning’. The pagans rose up against him, tortured him and beheaded him in 311, in Chalkis in Syria.

2. The Holy Martyrs Aristokles, Dimitrianus and Athanasius.

Aristokles was a priest at the cathedral church in the town of Tamasus on Cyprus, and lived a life pleasing to God. Through his great zeal for the Faith, he was made worthy to hear a voice from heaven telling him to go to Salamis to receive the crown of martyrdom. The deacon Dimitrianus and the reader Athanasius joined him. On their arrival in Salamis, these men of God began to preach Christ. The pagans seized them, and after trial by torture, beheaded Aristokles with a sword, but Dimitrianus and Athanasius were cast into the flames. This was in the year 306.

3. Our Holy Father Naum of Ochrid.

His chief festival is on December 23rd, where his life is recorded, but June 20th is his summer feast. A great crowd gathers at the monastery of St. Naum for this summer festival. Many of the sick come or are carried there to receive healing through faith and prayer over the relics of this holy man. Not merely Orthodox, but people of other faiths come seeking help from St. Naum. In 1926, a Moslem from Resna (Resen) went there and donated a bell to the monastery in gratitude to the saint for healing his brother and raising him from his deathbed. The donor was Jemail Zizo, and his brother who was healed was called Suleiman Zizo. Both were eminent citizens of Resna.

4. St. Kallistos I, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He lived the ascetic life for twenty-eight years as a disciple of Gregory the Sinaite on Mount Athos, in the skete of Magoula attached to the monastery of Philotheou. He later founded the community of St. Mamas there. He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 1350. After four years, he left the patriarchal throne to return to Athos, but in the reign of John Palaiologos, he was again called to the throne, where he remained until his death. He died in 1363 on the way to Serres to meet the Serbian Queen Helena, who was seeking help against the Turks. He wrote the Lives of St. Gregory the Sinaite and St. Theodosius of Trnovo, as well as numerous homilies. It is interesting to note how St. Maximus of Kapsokalyvia foretold the death of Patriarch Kallistos. On his way to Serbia, Kallistos called in at the Holy Mountain. St. Maximus saw him and said: ‘This elder will not see his flock again, because I hear behind him the hymn over the grave: “Happy are the blameless in the way...”.’

5. St. Leucius, Bishop of Brindisi.

Born in Alexandria, he entered a monastery young. He was worthy of great revelations and powerful grace, sufficient to raise the dead and drive demons from men. He was at first Bishop of Alexandria, and went to Italy in response to a command from heaven. He baptized the entire pagan city of Brindisi and built a church there to the Mother of God. After intensive and successful work for the Faith, he entered into eternity in the fifth century, in the reign of the Emperor Theodosios II.

6. Blessed Studios.

A famous nobleman and consul in Constantinople, he founded in 463 the Church of St. John the Forerunner near the Golden Gates, and a monastery, named the Studion after him. This monastery became famed for its many great men, spiritual teachers, ascetics and martyrs for the Faith, among whom St. Theodore the Studite is the best-known. The Latin Crusaders destroyed this monastery in 1204, but it was restored in 1293 by the Paleologue Emperor Andronikos II. The church, for some centuries a mosque, is now in ruins.

7. Feast of the Odegetria (Directress) Icon of the Mother of God.

Luke the Evangelist painted this icon on wood himself. When the most holy Mother of God saw it, she was pleased with it and blessed it. St. Luke presented the icon to Theophilus, a state official for whom he wrote the Acts of the Apostles. The icon was later taken from Antioch to Jerusalem, and sent from there by the Empress Evdokia to Constantinople as a gift for Pulcheria, the emperor’s devout sister. Pulcheria placed it in the Church of Vlachernai, which was her own foundation. The most holy Mother of God once appeared to two blind men and led them into the church to her icon and restored the sight of them both. For this reason, the icon has become known as ‘Odegetria’— ‘She who shows the way’. When the armies of the Persian king, Chozroes, and of Kagan, leader of the Scythians, attacked Constantinople, Patriarch Sergios carried the icon around the city ramparts, and the most holy Mother of God saved the Christians from the unbelievers. The forces of the enemy became confused, the sea began to heave about, and the boats began to sink. The enemy soldiers who remained alive saved themselves by fleeing. Ever since then, a commemoration of this miracle wrought by the most holy Mother of God has been held on the Saturday of the Fifth Week of the Great Fast, with the reading of the Akathist. During the iconoclast period, this icon was taken to the monastery of the Pantocrator and sealed up in a wall with a burning lamp hanging before it. It was found later, unharmed by its immuring.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Cyprian writes on immortality: ‘Whenever any famous person promises you something, you trust in his promise and do not think that he will deceive you, since he is always true to his word. But lo, O distrustful man, God Himself speaks to you and you vacillate in doubt! God has promised you immortality when you leave this world, and do you impudently doubt this promise? This means that you do not recognize God at all, it means that you insult Christ our Lord and Teacher with your lack of faith.’ What a strong faith is held by God’s saints! How clear and rational and well-attested it is by simple yet powerful examples! It is not because the unholy are rational that they doubt, but because they are unholy. The holier a man, the more rational, since he sees the truth in the undistorted mirror of his heart.

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.