Daily Devotional

Saturday, August 1, 2026 (NS), July 19, 2026 (OS)

No Fasting.

Saturday of the Ninth Week

The commemoration our venerable Mother Makrina, sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, and our venerable Father Dios the Wonder-worker, and our venerable and God-bearing father, Seraphim, Wonder-worker of Sarov.

Jump to Prologue

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Ninth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 113]. Brethren:

14 ⁶The one who mindeth the day, mindeth it to the Lord; and the one who mindeth not the day, mindeth it not to the Lord. The one who eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth thanks to God; and the one who eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth thanks to God. ⁷For none of us liveth to himself, and no one dieth to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this purpose Christ both died and rose and came to life again, in order that He might become Lord both of the dead and the living.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 64]. At that time:

15 ³²Jesus called to Himself His disciples and said, “I am moved with compassion toward the crowd, because they continue with Me now three days, and have nothing that they might eat. And I am not willing to dismiss them fasting, lest they should be faint in the way.” ³³And His disciples say to Him, “From what place should come so many loaves in a wilderness, as to fill so great a crowd?” ³⁴And Jesus saith to them, “How many loaves have ye?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵And He commanded the crowds to recline on the ground. ³⁶And having taken the seven loaves and the fish, He gave thanks and broke them and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the crowd. ³⁷And they did all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that which was over and above—seven large provision baskets full. ³⁸And they who ate were four thousand men, apart from women and children. ³⁹And He dismissed the crowds, and embarked into the ship, and came to the borders of Magdala.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

Epistle

For St. Seraphim:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

For the Wonder-worker:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 1st – Civil Calendar
July 19th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Mother Makrina.

The eldest sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, she was as a girl betrothed to a young nobleman, and when her betrothed died, Makrina vowed never to enter into marriage, saying: ‘It is not right for a girl, having once been betrothed, to turn to another; according to natural law there must be one marriage, as there are one birth and one death.’ She justified this by her belief in the resurrection of the dead, regarding her betrothed not as dead, but as alive in God. ‘It is a sin and a shame,’ she said, ‘if the spouse does not keep faith when the partner goes to distant climes.’ Then, with her mother Emilia, she became a nun in a monastery of virgins, where she lived in asceticism with the other nuns. They lived by the work of their hands, devoting the greater part of their time to pondering on God, to prayer and to a ceaseless lifting-up of their minds to Him. After a time, her mother died, and then her brother Basil. In the ninth month after Basil’s death, Gregory came to visit his sister and found her on her deathbed. At the time of her death, Makrina made this prayer to God: ‘Thou, O Lord, givest rest to our bodies in the sleep of death for a little time, then Thou wilt waken them again with the last trumpet. Forgive me, and grant that, when my soul is parted from my body, it may be presented before Thee stainless and without sin, and that it may be as incense before Thee.’ She then made the sign of the Cross on her brow, eyes, face and heart, and breathed her last. She entered into rest in the Lord in 379.

2. Our Holy Father Dios.

Born in Syrian Antioch of Christian parents, he was trained in his youth by godly men for the ascetic path of monasticism. He endured a lengthy and hard struggle with the devil and with fleshly lusts, and God rewarded him with great wonder-working gifts. In his prayers, he most frequently turned to the Holy Trinity. He worked great miracles by the power of his prayers, making a dry stick bud forth, a dry well fill with water and an unbelieving man die and return to life. After a twofold heavenly vision, he left Antioch and moved to Constantinople, resuming his ascetic life near the city. His fame quickly spread, to such an extent that the Emperor Theodosios the Younger paid him a visit to ask his advice, and Patriarch Attikos was impressed by him and ordained him priest. Having lived many years, he prepared for death, received Communion, gave his last teaching to the brethren, lay down on his bed, and to the eyes of all, was dead. The news of his death brought many people: Patriarch Attikos came, with Patriarch Alexander of Antioch. But, when they went to bury him, he suddenly got up as if waking from sleep, and said: ‘God has given me fifteen more years of this life.’ St. Dios lived exactly fifteen years longer, and set many on the way of salvation, healed many, gave aid to many in diverse needs and weaknesses, and then finally gave his soul to the Lord Whom he had served faithfully all his life. He entered into rest in 430, in great old age.

3. St. Milica (Militsa), Princess of Serbia.

Wife of the holy Prince Lazar, she ruled the people after her husband’s death at Kosovo until her son Stefan came of age. She then retired to her foundation of Lubostinja, and as the nun Evgenia (later Ephrosynia, on taking the Great Habit), lived in great wisdom and devotion. She died on November 11th, 1405.

4. Commemoration of Stefan the Tall, son of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica.

A protector of Christianity in the Balkans in the most difficult days, he was the founder of the beautiful monasteries of Manasija and Kalenić. After many labors and trials, he died on July 19th, 1427.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A woman’s greatest beauty is modesty, as immodesty in a woman is the most unnatural and repulsive vice in the world. A wonderful example of womanly modesty is given by St. Makrina. In her youth, she received a serious wound in the breast. Although her mother urged her to show this wound to a doctor and seek medicine, Makrina would not do so. She was utterly consecrated to God, and could not even entertain the thought of baring her body before others, even before her own mother. One night, Makrina was praying quietly to God. Tears spilled from her eyes onto the dust in front of her. With firm trust in God, she mixed the dust and tears together and anointed the wound with them, and the next day she was completely healed. When her mother, with great concern, went in to see her daughter, Makrina did not want to tell her that the Lord had healed her (from humility, hiding the wonder that she herself had worked through prayer), but begged her mother, saying: ‘I shall be healed, Mother dear, if you lay your hand on my bosom and make the sign of the Cross over the place where it hurts.’ Her mother stretched out her hand and made the sign of the Cross over the place, but did not find the wound—only the scar of the healed wound. Thus St. Makrina hid her body through modesty and her miracles through humility.

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.