Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Twentieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 168].

1 ⁸Brethren, we wish you not to be ignorant concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down excessively, beyond our power, so as for us to have been utterly at a loss even of living. ⁹But we ourselves have had the sentence of death in ourselves, in order that we should not have trust in ourselves, but in God Who raiseth the dead, ¹⁰Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in Whom we have hope that He shall yet deliver, ¹¹ye also helping together by entreaty on our behalf, that for the gracious gift, by means of many persons toward us, thanks might be given by many on our behalf.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 19]. At that time:

5 ¹⁷Jesus was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. ¹⁸And behold, there were men carrying upon a couch a man who was paralyzed. And they were seeking to bring him in and to lay him before Him. ¹⁹And after they did not find by what manner they might bring him in on account of the crowd, they went up on the housetop, and let him down with the small couch through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰And having seen their faith, He said to him, “Man, thy sins have been forgiven thee.” ²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this Who speaketh blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins, except God alone?” ²²But Jesus, having fully known their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why do ye reason in your hearts? ²³“Which is easier, to say, ‘Thy sins have been forgiven thee,’ or to say, ‘Arise and be walking’? ²⁴“But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority on the earth to forgive sins”—He said to the one who was paralyzed, “I say to thee, arise, and take up thy small couch, and go to thy house.” ²⁵And immediately he stood up before them, and took up that upon which he was lying, and departed to his house, glorifying God. ²⁶And astonishment seized all, and they began glorifying God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen paradoxical things today.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Hierotheos, Bishop of Athens.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 335]. Brethren:

13 ¹⁷Be obedient to those who lead you, and keep on submitting, for they are watchful for your souls, as those about to render an account, that they may do this with joy, and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable for you. ¹⁸Keep on praying for us; for we trust that we have a good conscience, in all things wishing to conduct ourselves well. ¹⁹But I beseech you more abundantly to do this, that I might be restored more quickly to you.

²⁰Now the God of peace Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep, the great One, in the blood of an everlasting covenant, ²¹may He render you perfect in every good work, in order to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before His face, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 17th – Civil Calendar
October 4th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Hierotheos.

He was a friend of Dionysius the Areopagite, and received the Christian Faith from the Apostle Paul a little after Dionysius. This apostle later made him bishop in Athens. At the time of the dormition of the most holy Mother of God, Hierotheos arrived in Jerusalem and took part in the funeral. With his divine singing, he brought heartfelt joy to many and showed himself to be greatly inspired. He labored greatly for the sake of the Gospel, brought many pagans to the truth, governed his flock well and finally ended a martyr for Christ, Who gave him a twofold wreath in His heavenly kingdom: of the hierarch and of the martyr.

2. St. Stefan Štiljanović.

A Serbian despot, born of the Paštrović family, he governed the Serbian people during a most difficult period, struggling courageously against the Turks and the Latins. A righteous and godly man and a patriot, this great prince can be compared with St. Alexander Nevsky or with the holy king John Vladimir. He entered into rest at the beginning of the sixteenth century (according to some, in 1515). A light appeared at his grave at night, by means of which his holy relics were found, being kept for a long time in the monastery of Šišatovac in the mountains of Fruška Gora* and then, during the Second World War, taken to Belgrade and placed in the Cathedral beside the body of Prince Lazar. His wife Helena, seeing Stefan’s incorrupt relics and the miracles wrought by them, became a nun and gave herself to asceticism till her death.

* Translator`s note: A mountain range in north-east Yugoslavia.

3. Our Holy Father Ammon of Nitria.

An Egyptian and a wine-grower by profession, he was forced by his kinsmen to marry against his will, but he would not live with a woman. On the first day, he called his bride his sister and counseled her, together with him, to guard her virginity for the sake of greater good things from heaven, and they lived thus for a whole eighteen years. Later, by mutual arrangement, his wife founded a women’s monastery in their house and Ammon went off to the Nitrian desert, where he gave himself to the ascesis of solitude. He received great gifts of insight and wonder-working from God for the purity of his heart. A man and woman brought him their insane son that he might heal him by his prayers, but Ammon would not do so. After long pestering on the part of the parents, Ammon said: ‘The sickness and health of your son are in your hands. Return the stolen ox to the widow (and he named her), and your son will be healed.’ The parents, amazed at such insight on the saint’s part, acknowledged their sin and promised that they would return the stolen ox as soon as they got home. Then holy Ammon prayed to God, and the child was healed. Ammon was a close friend of St. Anthony the Great. When Ammon died in Nitria in about 350, St. Anthony saw from his cell window the soul of Ammon in the heights, and said to the brethren: ‘Abba Ammon has today moved on, and I see his holy soul being borne by the angels into heaven.’

4. Our Holy Father Paul the Simple.

He lived in the world as a married man to the age of sixty. Catching his wife in sin, he left everything and went to St. Anthony in the desert, becoming a monk at his hands. Although he was simple and unlettered, he achieved such spiritual perfection that he saw every man’s soul as ordinary men see each other’s bodies. He was a great wonder-worker, and in some things, outstripped St. Anthony himself. He died in great old age, in 340, and went to angelic joy.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A vision of St. Andrew the Fool for Christ: St. Paul was not the only one to be caught up into Paradise and hear ‘unspeakable words’ (II Cor. 12:4). Over eight hundred and fifty years after St. Paul, this happened to St. Andrew. One winter night, holy Andrew was lying among the dogs on a dunghill, to warm his frozen body. An angel appeared to him and caught him up to Paradise (whether in the body or out of the body, Andrew himself was unable to explain) and kept him for two weeks in the heavenly world, bearing him to the third heaven. ‘I saw myself clad in shining garments like lightning, with a wreath of flowers on my head and girt with a kingly girdle, and I rejoiced greatly at this beauty, and marveled in mind and heart at the unspeakable loveliness of God’s Paradise, and I walked around it with great gladness.’

After that, Andrew writes of how he saw Christ the Lord: ‘And when a flaming hand drew aside the curtain, I saw my Lord as the Prophet Isaias saw Him aforetime, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up and surrounded by seraphim. He was clad in a red garment, His face shone and His eyes rested on me with great kindness. Seeing Him, I fell down before Him, worshipping before the awesome throne of His glory. I have no words for the joy that gripped me at the sight of His face; and now, remembering this vision, I am filled with unspeakable joy. And I heard my most merciful Creator speak three words to me with His most sweet and pure lips, which so sweetened my heart and inflamed it with love for Him that I melted as wax at such spiritual warmth.’ When St. Andrew asked also after this if it would be possible to see the most holy Mother of God, it was said to him that she was for the moment not in heaven, but had gone down to earth to be of help to the poor and needy.

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.