Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 18]. In those days:

8 ⁵Philip went down into a city of Samaria and was preaching the Christ to them. ⁶And the crowds with one accord were giving heed to the things being said by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he was doing for them. ⁷For of those who had unclean spirits, many were made to come out, shouting with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed and lame were cured. ⁸And there came to be great joy in that city. ⁹But there was a certain man, by name Simon, who previously used magic arts in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, counting himself to be some great one, ¹⁰to whom all were giving heed, from the small to the great, saying, “This one is the power, the great one, of God.” ¹¹And they were giving heed to him because for a considerable time he had amazed them with the magic arts. ¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached as good tidings the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³And Simon himself also believed; and having been baptized, he persisted with Philip; and beholding the works of power and signs being done, he was himself amazed. ¹⁴Now after the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent forth to them Peter and John, ¹⁵who, after they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For He had not yet fallen upon any of them, but only in the name of the Lord Jesus had they been baptized. ¹⁷Then were they laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 20]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

6 ²⁷“Cease working for the meat which perisheth, but for the food which abideth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you; for this One did God the Father seal.” ²⁸Then they said to Him, “What may we do that we may be working the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that ye should believe in Him Whom that One sent.” ³⁰They said therefore to Him, “What sign doest Thou then, in order that we might see, and believe Thee? What dost Thou work? ³¹“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, even as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of the heaven to eat [cf. Ex. 16:4, 15, 16].’” ³²Then Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses hath not given you the bread out of the heaven, but My Father giveth you the bread, the true one, out of the heavens. ³³“For the bread of God is the One coming down out of the heavens and giving life to the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Great-martyr Irene of Magedon.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 18th – Civil Calendar
May 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Irene.

She lived in the Balkans in apostolic times, in the town of Magedon where her father Licinius was governor of a small region. She was born a pagan of pagan parents. Penelope—for that was her pagan name—learned the Christian Faith from her teacher, Appelianus. St. Timothy, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, baptized her and her lady-in-waiting, and brought her a letter from the Apostle Paul to read. She infuriated her father by her embracing Christianity, and he intended to have her trampled to death by horses. The horses turned on him, however, slaying him. She prayed to God on behalf of her father, who had just tried to kill her, and the Lord resurrected him. He subsequently embraced Christianity. Irene was tortured in different ways by four kings, other than her father, but God saved her through His angels. King Sedekias had her cast headlong into a deep pit full of snakes and reptiles. The saint persevered there for fourteen days, and emerged unscathed. Then the same king attempted to saw off her feet, but the sword broke against her body as against stone. This same king once again bound her to the wheel of a water-mill, then let the water in to drown her, but the water would not flow, but stood still, and the maiden remained whole and alive. After Sedekias was ousted from his domain, Sapor, his son, marched against those who deposed his father. St. Irene met Sapor and his army in the city of Magedon. By her prayers, his entire army was stricken blind. Again, she prayed and their eyesight was restored by divine grace. Nonetheless, the ungrateful ones shod her with nails, loaded a sack of sand onto her, put a bridle on her and commanded that she be led like an animal far outside the city. ‘Truly I am as a beast before Thee, O Lord!’ said the holy martyr as she ran bridled behind her torturers. But an angel of God caused an earthquake, and the earth opened and swallowed up ten thousand infidels—but brought thirty thousand to the Faith. Despite this, the king persisted in his paganism, for which he was smote by an angel of the Lord. Surviving all these tortures, by which an enormous number of pagans were brought to Christianity, Irene went to the city of Kallinikos, where she preached the Christian Faith. The local king, Numerian, tried to kill her, throwing her into three burning metal oxen one after the other. But the maiden was preserved and remained alive, and many saw and believed. The eparch, Vavdonos, sought to kill her by putting her onto a burning grid, but this did not harm St. Irene, and brought him to the true Faith. She then went to the city of Constantina, where Shapur II the Great, King of the Persians, had her head cut off. But she was resurrected by an angel of God. The king, seeing this, together with many of the people, believed in Christ and was baptized. And thus St. Irene, by her sufferings and miracles, brought over 100,000 pagans to faith in Christ. At last she laid herself in a grave and commanded Appelianus, her former teacher, to close it. After four days, when the grave was opened, her body was not in it. Thus God glorified forever the maiden and martyr Irene, who had sacrificed all and endured all, that God should be the more greatly glorified among men.

2. Ss. Martin and Heraclius.

Slavs, they were persecuted by heretical Arians in Illyria. Sent into exile, these knights of Orthodoxy finished their earthly course in the 4th century and went to the Lord.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Prayer with words is of no use if the heart does not participate. God only hears prayer from the heart. Abba Zoilos of the Thebaid, returning once from Mount Sinai, met a monk who complained that in the monastery, they were greatly suffering from drought. Zoilos asked: ‘Why don’t you pray to God, and implore Him?’ The monk replied: ‘We have prayed and implored, but there is no rain!’ To this Zoilos answered: ‘It is obvious that you are not praying from the heart. Do you want to be convinced that this is so?’ And, thus speaking, the elder raised his hands to heaven and began to pray, and abundant rain fell onto the earth. Seeing this, the marveling monk fell to the ground before the elder and did him reverence, but the elder, fearing the praise of men, quickly fled from him. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you,’ said the Lord Himself. But vain are mouthfuls of prayers if the heart is empty. God does not stand and listen to the lips, but to the heart. Let the heart be filled with prayer and the lips be silent. God will hear and receive the prayer, for He only hearkens to heartfelt prayer.

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.