Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 142]. Brethren:

9 ¹³Ye know, do ye not, that those who labor at the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who wait upon the altar partake with the altar? ¹⁴Even so the Lord appointed to those who proclaim the Gospel to live of the Gospel. ¹⁵But I used none of these things. Now I am not writing these things that it should be so with me; for it were good for me to die rather than that anyone should make empty the basis for my boasting. ¹⁶For if I be preaching the Gospel, it is no boast to me, for necessity is laid upon me; and woe to me if I be not preaching the Gospel! ¹⁷For if I practise this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That when I preach the Gospel, I might set forth the Gospel of Christ without charge, so as not to have made full use of mine authority in the Gospel.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 65]. At that time:

16 ¹The Pharisees and Sadducees, having come to Jesus, put Him to the test and asked Him to show them a sign from the heaven. ²And He answered and said to them, “After it becometh evening, ye say, ‘Fine weather, for the heaven is fiery red’; ³“and at morning, ‘Stormy weather today, for the heaven is fiery red and lowering.’ Hypocrites! On the one hand ye know how to discern the face of the heaven, but on the other hand are ye not able to know the signs of the times? ⁴“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonas the prophet.” And He left them behind and went away.

⁵And His disciples, having come to the other side, forgot to take bread. ⁶But Jesus said to them, “Be taking heed and be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Great-martyr Kyriake (Gk. calendar only), and our venerable Father Thomas of Mount Maleon, and our venerable Father Akakios of Sinai (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 26^th of November).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 20th – Civil Calendar
July 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Kyriake (Dominica).

In the time of the Emperors Diocletian and his son-in-law Maximian, both adversaries of Christ, there lived in Anatolia two elderly, devout souls, Dorotheos and Evsevia. They were devoted Christians, rich but childless. With unceasing prayer, they besought God for a child, and their prayers were answered in this holy Kyriake. She consecrated herself to God from her childhood, holding herself apart from the activities of carefree children. When she had grown up, beautiful in body and soul, she had many suitors but refused them all, saying that she had betrothed herself to Christ the Lord and desired nothing other than to die a virgin. One of these rejected suitors denounced Kyriake and her parents to the Emperor Diocletian as Christians. The emperor ordered that her parents be tortured, and after torture had them exiled to the town of Melitene, where they died under further torture. Diocletian sent Kyriake to Maximian for trial. When she affirmed her faith in Christ the Lord before Maximian, he ordered that she be thrown to the ground and flogged with bull-whips. Then the emperor handed her over to the generals—firstly to Hilarion and then, after his death, to Apollonius. They tortured her bestially in all possible ways, but in vain. While holy Kyriake lay in prison wounded all over, Christ the Lord appeared to her, healed her and said to her: ‘Don’t be afraid of the torture, Kyriake; My grace is with thee.’ And indeed Christ’s grace saved this martyr from fire and from wild beasts, which the godless torturers were certain would bring about her death. Seeing the miraculous saving of Kyriake from such a death, many of the pagans came to belief in Christ. All were beheaded. Kyriake said to Apollonius: ‘There is no way that you can turn me from my faith. Throw me into the fire—I have the example of the Three Children; throw me to the wild beasts—I have the example of Daniel; throw me into the sea—I have the example of Jonah the prophet; put me to the sword—I shall remember the honored Forerunner. For me, to die is life in Christ.’ Then Apollonius ordered that she be beheaded. Kyriake knelt and raised her hands to heaven in prayer to God, that He would have mercy on and save all those who would celebrate her memory, and that He would give rest to her soul and those of her parents. Finishing her prayer, she gave her soul to God before the sword descended on her head. She suffered with honor in Nikomedia and went to eternal joy in the year 289.

2. Our Holy Father Thomas of Malea.

This Thomas was a general, famed for his courage and wealth. He was massive of body and a source of fear to his enemies. But, when he came to love Christ more than the world or anything in the world, he left everything and retired to the desert, where he became a monk and gave himself to asceticism. The Prophet Elias appeared to him and led him to the mountain called Malea, near the Holy Mountain. There he lived in solitude, alone with God, in unceasing prayer day and night. Although he hid from the world, he could not succeed in concealing himself. Learning of the holiness of his life, people began to go to him, bringing their sick. St. Thomas healed them of all ills and weaknesses. When he went to God (in the tenth century), his relics continued to give aid to all who drew near to them in faith.

3. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Epictetus and Astius.

Epictetus, a priest, brought Astius, the only son of his parents, to the Christian Faith, baptized him and made him a monk. They then went off eastwards, to the region of Scythia, and settled in the Scythian town of Almirida (now Ramzina), at the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea. They were tortured and killed for the Christian Faith in about 290. They both appeared after their deaths in great light to St. Astius’ parents, Alexander and Marcellina, who turned to Christ and were baptized by Bishop Evangelus, who was himself then executed for Christ; ‘Evangelus, another angel,’ as is sung of him.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The example of St. Kyriake, a beautiful maiden, and of St. Astius, a rich young man, who both gave themselves over to torture and death for the sake of Christ the Lord, leads us to the thought that there is no equal in history to the power of Christ, by Whose aid young people conquer themselves, and through that conquest, conquer all else. Victory over oneself is the greatest victory. The Church counts such victors in their thousands, in their many thousands. St. Cyprian, writing on virginity, says: ‘To be victorious over pleasure is the greatest pleasure, and there is no greater victory than victory over one’s desires. He who has overcome an enemy shows himself stronger than the other, but he who has overcome his desires shows himself stronger than himself. Every other evil is easier to overcome than pleasure, for all other evils are repulsive, while pleasure is an attractive evil. Those who free themselves from their desires are freed also from fear, for desire is the root of fear.’

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.