Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Seventeenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 226]. Brethren:

4 ¹⁷This I say and testify in the Lord: ye are no longer to walk even as also the rest of the nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, ¹⁸who have been darkened in thought and alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; ¹⁹who, having become insensible, gave themselves up to licentiousness, for the working of all uncleanness with greediness. ²⁰But ye have not thus learned the Christ— ²¹if indeed ye heard Him and were taught in Him, as truth is in Jesus: ²²to put off from yourselves the old man, with respect to the former manner of life, who is being corrupted according to the desires of the deceit, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and to put on the new man, who, according to God, was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵Wherefore, having put off the falsehood, “Be speaking truth each one with his neighbor [cf. Zach. 8:16].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 53]. The Lord said this parable:

12 ¹“A man planted a vineyard, and put a hedge around it, and dug a trough underneath the winepress, and built a tower. And he let it out to vinedressers and went abroad. ²“And at the season he sent forth a slave to the vinedressers, in order that he might receive from the vinedressers of the fruit of the vineyard. ³“And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty. ⁴“And again he sent forth to them another slave, and that one they stoned, and smote him on the head; and sent him away having suffered dishonor. ⁵“And again he sent forth another, and that one they killed, and many others—some, on the one hand, beating, and others, on the other hand, killing. ⁶“Having yet therefore one son, his own beloved, he also sent him forth to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷“But those vinedressers, having seen him coming, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.’ ⁸“And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹“What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰“Did ye not even read this Scripture? ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner; ¹¹“‘this came to be from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes [Ps. 117(118):22, 23; cf. Is. 28:16]’?” ¹²And they were seeking to lay hold of Him, but were afraid of the crowd; for they knew that He spoke the parable against them. And they left Him and went away.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of the Nativity of the Theotokos, and Hieromartyr Autonomus, Bishop of Italy.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 25th – Civil Calendar
September 12th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Autonomos.

A bishop, he left Italy for Bithynia in Asia during Diocletian’s persecution, going to a place called Soreos, where he brought many to the Christian Faith and built them a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. He stayed in the house of a devout Christian, Cornelius, whom Autonomos ordained priest and then consecrated bishop. Not far from the town of Soreos was a place called Limnae, entirely inhabited by pagans. St. Autonomos went to this place and quickly brought many to the light by the Gospel of Christ. This roused the pagans, and they hurried one day to the church of the Archangel Michael in Soreos, and during divine service, slew Autonomos in the altar, killing also many other Christians in the church. In the time of the Emperor Constantine, a noble courtier, Severian, built a church over St. Autonomos’ grave. Two hundred years after his death, St. Autonomos appeared to a soldier called John. This soldier dug up the saint’s relics and found them to be completely incorrupt, and many of the sick received healing from them. Thus God glorified him who glorified Him while in the body.

2. The Hieromartyr Cornutos, Bishop of Iconium.

Born in Nikomedia, in the village of Sarsalus, he was already very old when a persecution arose under Decius and Valerian. A torturer, Perinius, came to Nikomedia and began to seek out the Christians. They went out of the city and hid, but their aged bishop would not leave and presented himself to Perinius, proclaiming himself a Christian. The torturer bound him hand and foot and ordered that he be dragged through the town until his blood flowed. He gave his holy soul to God under the sword.

3. The Holy Martyr Julian, with his 40 companions.

They all suffered in about the year 300, being first tortured and then beheaded. In the face of death, St. Julian prayed thus: ‘To those who take some of my dust, grant, O Lord, the forgiveness of their sins and the subduing of their passions; may marauding birds never invade their fields, nor grasshoppers nor caterpillars, nor any other such dangerous or deadly thing; and do Thou receive my soul in peace.’

4. Our Holy Father Daniel of Thasos.

An ascetic and the founder of a great monastery, he was a contemporary of St. Ioannikios the Great and was present when Ioannikios visited the island of Thasos, where the people besought him to free them from an infestation of snakes. The saint prayed to God, and the snakes, in large numbers, rushed into the sea and were drowned.

5. The Holy Martyrs Makedonios, Tatianos and Theodoulos.

They suffered for Christ the Lord in the time of Julian the Apostate at Myropolis in Phrygia. They were harshly tortured for destroying the statue of an idol, and burned on an iron grid until they gave their souls to God. While they were burning over the fire, these courageous men cried out mockingly to the torturer: ‘Why not try our meat, to see if it’s done!’ and also, like the glorious Archdeacon Laurence: ‘Turn us over; we’re done on this side!’ Seeing and hearing the holy martyrs on the fire, the torturers were infinitely more confused and frightened than they were.

FOR CONSIDERATION

What sort of relationship must a man have with God? Uninterrupted and constant. ‘Cleave to God as a son to his father,’ counsels St. Anthony. St. Alonius says: ‘If a man does not have a heartfelt sense that, besides him and God, there is no one else in the world, he cannot find peace of soul.’ The one God is enough, and more than enough, for all that the heart of man can desire. Blessed Theodora took on a strange child without a word, accepting it from her slanderers as her own. Out of love, she brought the child up in the fear of God. At the time of her death, she counselled the child thus: ‘What more does a man need than God and His divine love? He is our treasure, our riches, our food and drink, our clothing and shelter, our health and strength, our mirth and joy, our hope and our confidence. Strive to find Him, my son. If you find the one God, that is enough for you, you will find more joy in Him than if you had found the whole world.’ In thus saying, St. Theodora was not speaking from books or using another’s words; she was speaking from her own experience. She had lived for seven years driven out and scorned by men, and during this time she had discovered by experience that God was all in all to her, and that the one God is sufficient for all that the heart of man can desire.

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.