Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Twenty-First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians [§ 253]. Brethren:

2 ¹I wish you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ²that their hearts might be comforted, having been knit together in love and unto all wealth of the full assurance of understanding, to a full knowledge of the mystery of the God and Father, and of the Christ, ³in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴And this I say, in order that no one may be beguiling you by persuasive speech; ⁵for even though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

⁶As ye therefore received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him, ⁷rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in it in giving of thanks.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 32].

7 ³¹The Lord said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like? ³²“They are like little children sitting in a marketplace and calling to one another, and saying, ‘We played on the flute to you, and ye danced not; we sang a dirge to you, and ye wept not.’ ³³“For John the Baptist hath come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, ‘He hath a demon.’ ³⁴“The Son of Man hath come eating and drinking, and ye say, ‘Behold, a man, a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ ³⁵“And yet wisdom is justified by all of her children!”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

10. The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Evlampios and Evlampia, and the 26 Martyrs of Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos martyred by the Papists, and the Synaxis of the 14 venerable Fathers of Optina.

Epistle

For the holy Martyrs Evlampios and Evlampia:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 99]. Brethren:

8 ²⁸We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformable to the image of His Son, in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰But whom He foreordained, these also He called; and whom He called, these also He justified; and whom He justified, these also He glorified. ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He Who indeed spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifieth. ³⁴Who is the one who condemneth? Christ is the One Who died, but much more is He the One also Who was raised, Who also is at the right of God, Who also intercedeth for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it hath been written: “For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the whole day; we were counted as sheep of slaughter [Ps. 43(44):23(22)].” ³⁷But in all these things we more than conquer through the One Who loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things coming, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For the 26 Martyrs of Zographou Monastery:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

For the 14 Optina Fathers:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

For the 26 Martyrs:

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 the 14 Optina Fathers:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 23rd – Civil Calendar
October 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Evlampios and Evlampia.

They were brother and sister from Nikomedia. At the time of a vicious persecution of Christians by the Emperor Maximian (286-305), some of the faithful of Nikomedia fled the city and hid. The young Evlampios was sent into the city for bread. Entering it, he saw the imperial decree on the persecution and killing of Christians stuck onto a wall, and laughing at it, took it down and tore it up. He was immediately brought to trial for this. When the judge urged him to deny Christ, Evlampios began in return to urge the judge to deny the false idols and accept Christ as the one, living God. Then the judge ordered that he be flogged until the blood flowed, and tortured in other ways. Hearing of the torture of her brother, the maiden Evlampia ran to join him in suffering for Christ, and she was likewise beaten till the blood flowed from her nose and mouth. After that, they were thrown into boiling pitch then into a red-hot furnace, but they, by the power of the sign of the Cross and the name of Christ, rendered the fire harmless. Finally, St. Evlampios was beheaded, but St. Evlampia breathed her last before the same could be done to her. Two hundred other Christians, who had come to faith in Christ by seeing the power and miracles of St. Evlampios and his sister, were slaughtered. All were crowned with wreaths of martyrdom and entered into their immortal, heavenly home.

2. The Holy Martyrs of Zographou.

When the Emperor Michael Palaiologos contracted the ill-famed Union of Lyons with the pope, to receive his military assistance against the Turks and others, the monks of the Holy Mountain sent the emperor a protest against this Union, and urged him to set it aside and return to Orthodoxy. The pope sent an army to Michael’s aid, and this Latin army went onto the Holy Mountain and set about such barbarism as the Turks never perpetrated in five hundred years. Hanging the members of the council and slaughtering many of the monks in Vatopedi, Iviron and other monasteries, the Latins attacked Zographou. The blessed Abbot Thomas told the brethren by inspiration that those who desired to save themselves from the Latins should flee the monastery, and those who desired a martyr’s death should stay. Twenty-six men stayed: twenty-two monks with their abbot and four laymen who worked for the monastery. They all shut themselves in the monastery tower. When the Latins arrived, they set the tower alight, and these twenty-six heroes found a martyr’s death in the flames. While the tower was burning, they sang hymns and the Akathist to the Mother of God, and gave their holy souls into God’s hands on October 10th, 1282. In December of the same year, the dishonorable Emperor Michael died in poverty, the Serbian King Milutin having risen up against him in defence of Orthodoxy.

3. Our Holy Father Theophilus the Confessor.

By birth a Macedonian Slav from somewhere near Strumica, he became a monk very young and built himself a monastery. He suffered much for the sake of the holy icons in the time of Leo the Isaurian, and would have been killed then if he had not been able to convince the judge Hypaticus, governor of the area, of the principle and necessity of the veneration of icons. The governor freed him, and he returned to his monastery, where he died peacefully and entered into the joy of his Lord.

4. The Holy Martyr Theotecnus.

He was a Roman officer in Antioch in the time of Maximian (286-305). When the emperor pressed him to offer sacrifice to idols, he replied: ‘I believe in Christ my God, and shall offer myself to Him as a living sacrifice.’ After terrible torture, he was drowned in the sea with a stone round his neck, and suffering with honor for Christ, was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.

5. Our Holy Father Bassian.

In the time of the devout Emperor Marcian, in 450, this saint came from Syria to Constantinople. His asceticism was great, and the power that he received from God was great and miraculous. He had about three hundred disciples, among whom was St. Matrona. The Emperor Marcian built a church in his honor, which remains to this day.

FOR CONSIDERATION

By God’s providence, the greatest number of miracles and heavenly visions occurred at times of the martyrdom of His servants. On the day on which the Latins were making their way to the monastery of Zographou, one of the old monks had an obedience in a vineyard half an hour away from the monastery, and at the time ordained, read the Akathist before the icon of the Mother of God. When he began to pronounce the word: ‘Rejoice,’ a voice came from the icon: ‘Rejoice also, O elder. Flee from here without delay, that misfortune may not come upon you, and go and tell the brethren in the monastery to lock themselves in, for the enemies of my Son and myself have fallen upon this mountain that I have chosen, and are already close at hand.’ The terrified elder fell flat on the ground and cried out in fear: ‘How can I leave you here, my Queen and advocate?’ At that, the voice came again: ‘Don’t worry about me, but hurry!’ The elder went at once to the monastery, and saw this same icon of the Mother of God before the doors when he arrived; the icon, by some miraculous means, had arrived at the monastery before him. The amazed elder related all that had been revealed to him to the abbot and the brethren, and all of them, hearing this, gave glory to God and to His Mother.

On one occasion, during the feast of the twenty-six martyrs of Zographou, on October 10th, 1873, there was a great night-vigil. The night was moonless. Halfway through the night, while the monks were singing and reading the lives of the holy martyrs in the church, a slight noise was heard, and a burning pillar, stretching from earth to heaven, appeared over the church. So brilliant was it that night was turned to day. This wonder lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and then disappeared.

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.