Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 236]. Brethren:

1 ⁸God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. ⁹And this I pray, that your love be abounding yet more and more in full knowledge and all perception, ¹⁰for you to approve the things which are excellent, in order that ye may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, ¹¹having been filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹²But I wish you to know, brethren, that the things concerning me have come rather to the advancement of the Gospel, ¹³so that my bonds in Christ have become manifest in all the Prætorium, and to all the rest; ¹⁴and the majority of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my bonds, more abundantly dare to speak the word without fear.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 11]. At that time:

3 ²³Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began, being, as was supposed, a son of Joseph, the son of Eli, ²⁴the son of Matthan, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Joanna, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Naum, the son of Esli, the son of Nangai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semei, the son of Josech, the son of Juda, ²⁷the son of Joannan, the son of Resa, the son of Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Joreim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Symeon, the son of Juda, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakeim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Mainan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Booz, the son of Salmon, the son of Naason, ³³the son of Aminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Joram, the son of Esrom, the son of Phares, the son of Juda, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Thara, the son of Nachor, ³⁵the son of Saruch, the son of Ragav, the son of Phalek, the son of Ever, the son of Sala, ³⁶the son of Kainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Sem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Mathusala, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Maleleel, the son of Kainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

4 ¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was being led in the Spirit into the wilderness.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the conception of the honorable, glorious, prophet, forerunner, and Baptist John.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, see Gal. 4:22-27 [§ mid 210]; for Sl. usage, see Gal. 4:22-31 [§§ mid 210, 211].

4 ²²Abraham had two sons: one by the maidservant, and one by the free woman. ²³But on the one hand, the one of the maidservant hath been born according to the flesh; and on the other hand, the one of the free woman through the promise, ²⁴which things are allegorized. For these are the two covenants: one indeed from Mount Sinai which bringeth forth to slavery, which is Agar— ²⁵for the Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and correspondeth to the present Jerusalem, and she doth slave with her children— ²⁶but the Jerusalem above is free, which is Mother of us all. ²⁷For it hath been written: “Rejoice, thou barren, who bearest not; break forth and cry thou who travailest not; for many are the children of the desolate more than of her who hath the husband [Is. 54:1].” ²⁸Now we, brethren, after the manner of Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹But as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰But what saith the Scripture? “Cast out the maidservant and her son; for in no wise shall the son of the maidservant inherit with the son of the free woman [cf. Gen. 21:10].” ³¹So then, brethren, we are not children of a maidservant, but of the free woman.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 2]. At that time:

1 ⁵There arose in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the course of Abia. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. ⁶And they were both righteous before the face of God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ⁷And they had no child, inasmuch as Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now advanced in their days. ⁸And it came to pass, as he was serving as priest in the presence of God in the order of his course, ⁹according to the custom of the priestly service, he obtained the lot to burn incense after he entered into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of the incense. ¹²And after Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Cease being afraid, Zacharias, because thine entreaty was heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴“And he shall be joy and exultation to thee, and many shall be glad over his birth. ¹⁵“For he shall be great before the face of the Lord, and in no wise shall drink wine and strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶“And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn around to the Lord their God. ¹⁷“And he shall go forth before His face in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn around the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the prudence of the just, to make ready a people having been prepared for the Lord.” ¹⁸And Zacharias said to the angel, “According to what shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days.” ¹⁹And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, the one who standeth before the face of God; and I was sent forth to speak to thee, and to announce to thee these good tidings. ²⁰“And behold, thou shalt be silent and not be able to speak until the day in which these things should come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words which shall be fulfilled in their season.” ²¹And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering, as he was taking time in the temple. ²²And after he came out, he was not able to speak to them; and they recognized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he was nodding to them and remained mute. ²³And it came to pass when the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house. ²⁴Now after these days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and was concealing herself five months, saying, ²⁵“Thus the Lord hath done to me, in the days in which He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 6th – Civil Calendar
September 23rd – Church Calendar

1. The Conception of St. John the Baptist.

On this day are celebrated God’s mercy, His wondrous act and His wisdom: His mercy towards the devout and righteous parents of St. John, the aged Zacharias and Elisabeth, who had all their lives begged a child of God; the wonder of the conception of John in Elisabeth’s more-than-aged womb; and the wisdom of the dispensation of man’s salvation. For John, God had a specially great plan: that he should be a prophet and the forerunner of Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world. Through His angels, God revealed the birth of Isaac to the childless Sarah, and of Samson to the childless Manoah and his wife, and of John the Baptist to the childless Zacharias and Elisabeth. Through His angels, God revealed the birth of those for whom He had a special plan. How could children be born of aged parents? If someone is curious to find out, let him not ask men, for men do not know, nor does natural law (it being beyond natural law), but let him turn his gaze to the power of almighty God, Who made the whole world from nothing and Who, for the creation of Adam, the first man, used no parents, either young or old. Instead of being curious, let us thank God that He often reveals to us His power and mercy and wisdom beyond the natural law, by which we would otherwise be fettered, and without these special wonders of God, would fall into despair and forgetfulness of Him.

2. The Holy Martyr Iraida.

She is sometimes called Rais or Raida. A maiden from an Egyptian town called Batan, she was therefore probably an Egyptian. Iraida went out one day to draw water from a well near the sea, and saw a ship laden with bound Christians: priests, deacons, monks, women and maidens. Enquiring, she learned that pagan torturers were taking all this crowd to torture and death for the name of Christ the Lord. In the heart of the young Iraida, the desire flared up to suffer for the Lord. She left her pots by the well, went onto the ship and confessed that she was a Christian. She was immediately bound and taken with the others to the Egyptian town of Antinopolis. After diverse tortures, Iraida was the first to be beheaded, followed by the others. She suffered with honor and was glorified at the beginning of the fourth century.

3. The Holy New-Martyr Nicholas Pantopoles (The Grocer).

He suffered for the Christian Faith as a young man at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople in 1672, his father, a grocer, having moved there from Thessaly. He took the name of his father’s trade (in Greek, pantopoles). After great pressure to become a Turk, and torture because he refused, he was beheaded and entered into the kingdom of God. His relics are preserved in the monastery of Xeropotamou on the Holy Mountain.

4. The Holy New-Martyr John.

Born in a place called Konitsa in Albania, he was a Moslem of Moslem parents. Later, seeing the wonderful power of the Christian Faith in various places and events, he was baptized. He was arrested for this and brought before the Turkish judge. Tortured for the Christian Faith in Aetolia and beheaded in 1814, he cried out at the time of his death: ‘Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!’

FOR CONSIDERATION

He who gives to the poor gives to Christ. This is the meaning of the Gospel teaching emphasised by the saints from their experience. Peter the Merciful, when he had repented, began to give alms to the poor whenever he had the chance. On one occasion, a shipwrecked man, who had barely saved his naked body from the wreck, met him and begged for clothing. St. Peter took off his costly toga and clothed the naked man in it. Shortly afterwards, Peter saw his toga in the shop of some merchant, displayed for sale. Peter was very distressed that the shipwrecked man had sold his toga instead of making use of it. ‘I am not worthy,’ he said, ‘that the Lord should accept my alms.’ But the Lord appeared to him in a dream in the guise of a handsome Man, brighter than the sun, with a Cross on His head and wearing Peter’s toga. ‘What are you sad about, Peter?’ the Lord asked him. ‘How can I not be sad, Lord, when I see that what I gave to that poor wretch he went and sold in the bazaar?’ Then the Lord asked him: ‘Do you know this garment I’m wearing?’ St. Peter replied: ‘I know it, Lord; it’s the toga I gave to the naked man.’ The Lord then said to him: ‘Don’t be sad, then. You gave it to the poor man, and I received it and praise your action.’

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.