Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 231]. Brethren:

5 ²⁵Husbands, be loving your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶in order that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her in the laver of the water with the word, ²⁷that He might present her to Himself the glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that she may be holy and unblemished. ²⁸So ought the husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loveth his own wife loveth himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as also the Lord the Church. ³⁰For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. ³¹“Because of this shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be into one flesh [cf. Gen. 2:24].” ³²This mystery is great; but I speak in regard to Christ and in regard to the Church. ³³However do ye severally be loving in this manner each one his own wife as himself, and the wife in this manner that she be fearing the husband.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 36]. At that time:

8 ³⁰Jesus strictly warned His disciples that they should tell no one about Him, that He is the Christ. ³¹And He began to teach them that it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things, and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and after three days to rise; ³²and He was speaking the saying openly. And Peter took Him to himself and began to rebuke Him. ³³But after He turned about and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get thee behind Me, Satan; for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.” ³⁴And having called to Himself the crowd with His disciples, He said to them, “Whosoever is willing to follow after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and keep on following Me.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Exaltation, and the holy Martyr Sophia, and her daughters, the Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 30th – Civil Calendar
September 17th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love, and their mother Sophia.

They lived and suffered in Rome in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. The wise Sophia (as her name—Sophia—wisdom, indicates) was left a widow, and as a Christian, steeped herself and her daughters in the Christian Faith. At the time that Hadrian’s persecuting hand stretched out over the virtuous house of Sophia, Faith was twelve, Hope ten and Love nine. The four of them were brought before the emperor, with their arms entwined ‘like a woven wreath,’ humbly but firmly confessing their faith in Christ the Lord and refusing to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. At the moment of their passion, the mother urged her valiant daughters to endure to the end. ‘Your heavenly Lover, Jesus Christ, is eternal health, inexpressible beauty and life eternal. When your bodies are slain by torture, He will clothe you in incorruption and the wounds on your bodies will shine in heaven like the stars.’ The torturers inflicted harsh torture on Faith, Hope, and Love one by one. They beat them, stabbed them and threw them into fire and boiling pitch, and finally beheaded them one after the other. Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters out of the town and buried them, and stayed by their grave in prayer for three days and nights, then gave her soul to God, hastening to the heavenly company where the blessed souls of her daughters awaited her.

2. The Holy Martyr Agathokleia.

She was a servant of one Nicholas and his wife Paulina, who were at first Christians but forsook Christianity and turned again to idol-worship. Holy Agathokleia refused to follow the example of her masters, and for this was harshly tortured both by them and by the judge. Finally, her mistress killed her by pouring burning coals on her neck, but God glorified His handmaid in His heavenly kingdom.

3. The 156 Holy Martyrs of Egypt.

They were all Egyptians, and suffered for Christ the Lord in 310, some by the sword and some by fire. Among them were two old bishops, Peleus and Nilus, a priest, Zeno, and two renowned men, Patermuthius and Elias. With them also suffered Bishop Silvanus and an eminent, blind old man, John, who knew the Scriptures by heart and recited them to gatherings of Christians. They were all crowned with wreaths and entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ.

4. The Holy Martyr Theodota.

She endured eight years of harsh torture on the part of the governor, Simplicius, who finally went out of his mind. She was beheaded with the sword in the time of the Emperor Alexander Severus, in about 230.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A God-fearing and faithful ruler is a blessing from heaven on his whole people. King Vatslav (Wenceslas) of the Czechs was such a ruler. His zeal for the holy things of the Faith and his strictness of life are reminiscent of the ancient ascetics. He devoted his days to administrative work and his nights to prayer, and he often prepared and cooked the holy bread, most especially when he himself was to receive holy Communion. He was concerned in the building of many churches, in which daily services were celebrated, and gave especial care to the poor and needy. He was a lover of peace, although a great and fearless hero. When the neighboring prince, Radislav, invaded the Czech lands, Vatslav sent him a letter, asking him what had roused him to make war against him. Radislav replied haughtily that he was after the whole of the Czech lands and Vatslav’s throne. Then Vatslav gathered together a large army and marched against his enemy. Then, seeing the two great armies, he mourned the coming loss of life and sent the following message to Radislav: ‘The quarrel is between the two of us. You want to conquer this land, and I refuse to let you. Let us settle this matter by single combat. What purpose would be served by a bloody conflict between our two armies?’ Prince Radislav agreed to single combat, and being overcome by Vatslav, begged his forgiveness on his knees.

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.