Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 6]. In those days:

2 ³⁸Peter said to the people, “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those at a distance, as many as the Lord our God shall call forth.” ⁴⁰With more and other words was he both testifying and exhorting, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹Then they indeed who gladly welcomed his words were baptized; and in that day about three thousand souls were added. ⁴²And they were persevering in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion, and in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. ⁴³And fear came to be in every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 8]. At that time:

3 ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemos, a ruler of the Jews. ²This one came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou hast come from God as a teacher; for no one is able to do these signs which Thou doest unless God be with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, except one should be born again, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemos saith to Him, “How is a man able to be born when he is old? He is not able to enter the womb of his mother a second time, and be born, is he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless one should be born of water and of the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶“That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷“Do not begin to wonder that I said to thee, ‘It is needful for you to be born again.’ ⁸“The wind bloweth wheresoever it is naturally disposed, and thou hearest its sound, but thou knowest not from what place it cometh and where it goeth; thus is everyone who hath been born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemos answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Thou art the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹“Verily, verily, I say to thee that We speak that which We know, and We bear witness of that which We have seen; and ye receive not Our testimony. ¹²“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³“And no one hath gone up into the heavens, except the One Who came down from out of the heavens, the Son of Man, Who is in the heavens. ¹⁴“And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus it is needful for the Son of Man to be lifted up; ¹⁵“that everyone who believeth in Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy and glorious Wonder-worker and Great-martyr George the Trophy-bearer.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 29].

12 ¹At that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to maltreat some of those from the Church. ²And he killed Iakovos the brother of John with a sword. ³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he in addition went on to seize Peter also—and they were the days of unleavened bread— ⁴whom after he laid hold of, he also put in prison, and delivered him up to four sets of four soldiers to guard him, purposing after the passover to bring him forth to the people. ⁵Peter, therefore, on the one hand, was being guarded in the prison, but on the other hand, earnest prayer was being made by the Church to God on his behalf. ⁶And when Herod was about to bring him forth, on that very night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and guards also were before the door keeping the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the chamber; and he struck the side of Peter, and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And the chains from his hands fell off of him. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird thyself about, and bind on thy sandals.” And so he did. And he saith to him, “Cast about thee thine outer garment, and follow thou me.” ⁹And he went out and kept on following him, and did not know that it was real that which was happening by means of the angel, but he kept on thinking he saw a vision. ¹⁰And after they passed a first guard and a second, they came up to the gate, the iron one, which leadeth into the city, which was opened to them of itself; and having gone out, they advanced one street, and straightway the angel departed from him. ¹¹And after Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know of a truth, that the Lord sent forth His angel, and took me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 52]. The Lord said to His disciples:

15 ¹⁷“These things I command you, that ye be loving one another.

¹⁸“If the world hate you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hath hated you. ¹⁹“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world—but I chose you for Myself out of the world—therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰“Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they know not the One Who sent Me. ²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no pretext for their sin. ²³“The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also. ²⁴“If I did not do the works among them which no other one hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵“But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which hath been written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause [cf. Ps. 34(35):22, 68(69):5(4)].’ ²⁶“But whenever the Paraclete should come, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth Who proceedeth from the Father, that One shall bear witness concerning Me. ²⁷“And ye also are bearing witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.

16 ¹“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye should not be made to stumble. ²“They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea moreover, there cometh an hour that everyone who killeth you should think that he offereth God a service.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 6th – Civil Calendar
April 23rd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr George.

This renowned and glorious martyr was born in Cappadocia, the son of rich and God-fearing parents. His father suffered for Christ, after which his mother moved to Palestine. When George grew up, he went into the army, in which he rose, by the age of twenty, to the rank of tribune, and as such was in service under the Emperor Diocletian. When this emperor began a terrible persecution of Christians, George came before him and boldly confessed that he was a Christian. The emperor threw him into prison, and commanded that his feet be put in the stocks and a heavy weight placed on his chest. After that, he commanded that he be bound on a wheel, under which was a board with great nails protruding, and thus be turned. He then had him buried in a lime pit with only his head above the ground, and left there for three days and nights. Then, through some magician, he gave him deadly poison, but in the face of all these tortures, George prayed unceasingly to God, and God healed him instantly and saved him from death, to the great amazement of the people. When he also raised a dead man to life by his prayers, many embraced the Christian Faith. Among these was the emperor’s wife, Alexandra, and the chief pagan priest, Athanasius, the governor Glycerius and Valerius, Donatus and Therinus. Finally, the emperor commanded that George and the Empress Alexandra be beheaded. Blessed Alexandra died on the scaffold before being killed, and St. George was beheaded. This happened in the year 303. The miracles that have been performed at his grave are without number, as also are his appearances in dreams to those who, thinking on him, have sought his help, from that time up to the present day. Consumed by love for Christ, it was not difficult for holy George to leave all for this love—his status, wealth and imperial favor, his friends and the whole world. For this love, the Lord rewarded him with a wreath of unfading glory in heaven and on earth, and with eternal life in His kingdom. The Lord further endowed him with the power to help in need and distress all who honor him and call on his name. The holy Great-Martyr and Trophy-Bearer George is the first among the choir of all the martyrs of the Church. He is like their chief or general.

2. The Holy Martyr Lazarus the New.

This new-martyr was a Bulgarian from Gabrovo. As a young man, he left his home and went off to Anatolia, becoming a shepherd in a village called Soma. As a Christian he brought the wrath of Turks down on his head and was thrown into prison by some agha. After great torment from inhuman torturers, which Lazarus endured heroically from love of Christ, this young martyr was murdered on April 23rd, 1802, at the age of 28. The Lord received him into His eternal courts and glorified him in heaven and on earth. Many miracles have been performed over the relics of St. Lazarus.

FOR CONSIDERATION

During a period of unrest in Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Constantine, some embittered men knocked the nose and ears off the statue of the emperor in the city. Sycophants hurried to the emperor, and as though with great disgust, informed him of how rebels had done this thing, asking the emperor to punish the miscreants with the harshest punishment. But this great emperor fingered his nose and ears, and then said to the petitioners: ‘I can feel my nose and ears whole and untouched.’ The petitioners were shamed and removed themselves. With such kingly greatness of soul must we endure insults from others. And more: to listen with particular care to calumny from others, passed on to us by those who flatter us. It is always essential to confess before God and ourselves that, because of our sins, we deserve much greater insult from others than we do, in fact, receive.

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.