Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 177]. Brethren:

4 ¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to that which hath been written: “I believed, wherefore I spoke [Ps. 115(116):1],” we also believe, and therefore speak, ¹⁴knowing that the One Who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also through Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, which abounded through the majority, might cause the giving of thanks to abound more to the glory of God. ¹⁶Wherefore, we are not fainthearted; but even if our outward man is being utterly destroyed, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For the lightness of our momentary affliction worketh for us a more and more surpassing eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 100]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 ²⁷“For even as the lightning cometh forth from the east and appeareth as far as the west, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸“For wheresoever the corpse may be, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹“And straightway after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ³⁰“And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven, and then the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. ³¹“And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the heavens unto their extremities. ³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch at once should become tender and put forth leaves, ye know that the summer is near. ³³“Thus also ye, whenever ye see all these things, know ye that it is near, even at the doors. ³⁴“Verily I say to you, in no wise shall this generation pass away until all these things shall have taken place. ³⁵“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away. ³⁶“But concerning that day and hour, no one knoweth, not even the angels of the heavens, except My Father only. ³⁷“But even as the days of Noah were, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸“For even as in the days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark— ³⁹“and they knew not until the flood came and took all away—so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰“Then two shall be in the field: the one is taken and the one is left. ⁴¹“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. ⁴²“Be watching then, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh. ⁴³“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴“On this account, ye also keep on becoming ready, for in what hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom his lord appointeth over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶“Happy is that slave whom his lord, after he cometh, shall find so doing. ⁴⁷“Verily I say to you, that he shall appoint him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My lord taketh time to come,’ ⁴⁹“and should himself begin to strike his fellow slaves, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, ⁵⁰“the lord of that slave shall come in a day in which he expecteth not, and in an hour in which he knoweth not, ⁵¹“and will cut him in twain, and will place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Procession of the precious Wood of the life-giving Cross of the Lord, and the holy Seven Children of the Maccabees, and their mother Solomone, and their teacher Eleazar.

Epistle

For the Cross:

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 125]. Brethren:

1 ¹⁸The word, that of the Cross, on the one hand, to those who are perishing is foolishness, but on the other hand, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it hath been written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set at nought the comprehension of the intelligent [cf. Is. 29:14].” ²⁰Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world knew not God through its wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. ²²For indeed, Jews ask for a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom; ²³but we proclaim Christ Who hath been crucified, to Jews, on the one hand, a stumbling block, and to Greeks, on the other hand, foolishness, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom.

For the Maccabees:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§§ 330, 331]. Brethren:

11 ³³All the saints through faith struggled against kingdoms, wrought righteousness, attained to promises, stopped mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edges of the sword, were empowered out of weakness, became strong in battle, turned back encampments of aliens. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. And others were tortured, not accepting release, that they might attain a better resurrection. ³⁶And others received trial of mockings and of scourgings, and, moreover, of bonds and of imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted; they died, murdered by the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in need, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They were made to wander in deserts, and in mountains, and in caves, and in the holes of the earth. ³⁹And these all, having been approved by testimony through faith, received not for themselves the promise, ⁴⁰God having foreseen some better thing concerning us, that they should not be made perfect without us.

12 ¹Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses which is set around us, and having laid aside every weight and sin that is easily circumvented, let us by means of patience be running the course which is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the originator and accomplisher of our faith, Who, in exchange for the joy set before Him, endured a cross, having despised the shame, and hath sat down on the right of the throne of God.

for Sl. usage, see [Heb. 11:33-40].

Gospel

For the Cross:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§§ 60, 61]. At that time:

19 ⁶When the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they cried out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him.” Pilate saith to them, “Ye take Him and crucify Him, for I find no cause for accusation in Him.” ⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself Son of God.” ⁸Therefore, when Pilate heard this saying, he was the more afraid. ⁹And he entered into the Prætorium again, and saith to Jesus, “From what place art Thou?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. ¹⁰Then Pilate saith to Him, “Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have authority to crucify Thee, and authority to release Thee?” ¹¹Jesus answered, “Thou wouldest have no authority at all against Me, except it were given to thee from above.”... ¹³Therefore Pilate, having heard this saying, brought out Jesus, and took his seat upon the tribunal in a place which is called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. And he saith to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵But they cried out, “Take Him away, take Him away, crucify Him.” Pilate saith to them, “Your King shall I crucify?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Cæsar.” ¹⁶Therefore he then delivered Him up to them, in order that He might be crucified.

And they took Jesus and led Him away. ¹⁷And bearing His Cross, He went out to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, ¹⁸where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on the one side and the other, and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. And it was written: “Jesus the Nazaræan, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin. ²¹Then the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Write not, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘He said, “I am King of the Jews.”’” ²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic; but the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout. ²⁴They said therefore to one another, “Let us not tear it, but let us obtain it by lot for whom it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, “They parted My garments among themselves, and upon My clothing they cast a lot [Ps. 21(22):18].” These things therefore the soldiers did. ²⁵Now there had stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Then Jesus, having seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, saith to His Mother, “Woman, behold thy son.” ²⁷Then He saith to the disciple, “Behold, thy Mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. ²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all things now have been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, “I thirst.”... ³⁰Then, when Jesus took the vinegar, He said, “It hath been finished.” And having bowed His head, He delivered up the spirit.

³¹The Jews therefore, since it was the preparation, in order that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath—for great was the day of that sabbath—asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³²Then the soldiers came and indeed broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and straightway blood and water came out. ³⁵And the one who hath seen it hath borne witness, and his testimony is true; and that one knoweth that he speaketh true things, that also ye might believe.

For the Maccabees:

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.”

for Sl. usage, see [Mt. 10:32, 33, 37, 38; 19:27-30].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 14th – Civil Calendar
August 1st – Church Calendar

1. The Seven Maccabees, their Mother Solomonia and Eleazar the Priest.

They all suffered for the purity of the Israelite faith under King Antiochus, called by some ‘Epiphanes’— God manifest—and by others, ‘Epimanes’—mad. For the great sins of Jerusalem, and especially for the wresting-away of the high-priestly power and the wickedness that ensued, the Lord let loose great calamity on the holy city. Antiochus desired after that to bring the Jews to idolatry in place of their faith in the one, living God, and did all he could to this end. He was helped in his intention by several disaffected high priests and elders of Jerusalem. The king once came himself to Jerusalem and commanded that all Jews eat pork, which was against the law of Moses and was therefore a recognizable sign of apostasy from the Jewish faith. The elder Eleazar, a priest and one of the seventy translators of the Old Testament into Greek, refused to eat pork. He was therefore tortured and burned. Returning to Antioch, the king took the seven young men, the Maccabees, and their mother Solomonia (II Macc. 6:18-7:41). The seven Maccabean brothers were called: Avim, Antonius, Eleazar, Gurius, Evsebon, Achim and Marcellus. Before their mother’s eyes, the wicked king tortured her sons one after the other, flaying the skin from their faces and then throwing them into the flames. They all endured torture and death with courage, remaining steadfast in their faith. Finally their mother, when she saw her three-year-old son in the fire, threw herself into the flames and perished, giving her soul into God’s hands. They all suffered with honor for their faith in the one, living God in about 167 B.C.

2. The Procession of the Precious Cross.

This feast was established jointly by the Greeks and Russians in the time of the Greek Emperor Manuel and the Russian Prince Andrei, as a memorial of the simultaneous victories of the Russians over the Bulgars and the Greeks over the Saracens. In both battles, the soldiers carried crosses, from which a heavenly radiance shone forth, with the army. It was therefore instituted that, on August 1st, the Cross be carried from the Church of Hagia Sophia, first around the interior of the church and then through the streets, to give the people the chance to venerate it, as a memorial of the miraculous help given by the Cross in earlier wars. This was not just any cross, but the true Precious Cross itself, which was kept in the church of the imperial court. On July 31st, the Precious Cross was taken from the imperial court to Hagia Sophia, and thence carried through the streets, to consecrate the earth and the air. Finally, on August 14th, it was taken back to the church in the imperial palace.

3. The Nine Holy Martyrs: Leontius, Attus, Alexander, Cindeus, Mnesitheus, Cyriacus, Menaeus, Catunus and Eucieus.

The first was a carpenter and the others workers of the land. For their bold confession of the Christian Faith and for their destruction of the temple of Artemis, they were harshly tortured and beheaded in Perga of Pamphylia in the time of Diocletian, in about 300, and became inheritors of the kingdom of Christ.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A weak man habitually defends himself by hypocrisy and a strong man by tyranny, but no man can protect his life before God either by hypocrisy or tyranny. This is clearly shown to us by the example of the holy elder Eleazar and King Antiochus. When the tyrannical king brought Eleazar out for trial and urged him to eat pork, desiring to preserve his life, Eleazar firmly refused. Then some of Eleazar’s friends handed him a piece of some other meat, not pork, begging him to eat that in front of the king and thus save his life and salve his conscience. The elder rejected this suggestion, saying to his friends: ‘It would not be fitting for me, an old man, to be a stumbling-block to the young by hypocrisy,’ and the elder perished in the flesh, but saved his soul. God’s punishment came upon the tyrannical king even in this life. A terrible internal illness fell on him; his body was infested with worms and the stench spread far. In his despair, he called to mind the shedding of the innocent blood of the thousands of human beings who had, on his orders, been inexcusably slaughtered. Fear of God came upon him, and he began to confess the one God, Whom he had formerly persecuted in persecuting His faithful ones. But there was no sign from heaven towards him.

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.