Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 25]. In those days:

10 ²¹Peter went down to the men who were sent forth to him from Cornelius, and said, “Behold, I am he whom ye seek; what is the cause for which ye are come?” ²²And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one fearing God, and whose character is approved by testimony by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely warned by a holy angel to send for thee to his house, and to hear words from thee.” ²³Then he called them in and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went forth with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴And on the morrow they entered into Cæsarea. And Cornelius was expecting them, and called together to himself his kinfolk and close friends. ²⁵And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and made obeisance. ²⁶But Peter raised him, saying, “Stand up; I myself also am a man.” ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many who were gathered together. ²⁸And he said to them, “Ye know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come near to one of another race; but God showed me not to call a person common or unclean. ²⁹“Wherefore, after I was sent for, I also came without gainsaying. I inquire therefore for what reason ye sent for me?” ³⁰And Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and I was keeping the ninth hour of prayer in my house; and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, ³¹“and said, ‘Cornelius, thy prayer was heard and thine alms were remembered before God. ³²“‘Send therefore to Joppa and call for Simon, who is surnamed Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon, a tanner beside the sea, who, after he cometh, shall speak to thee.’ ³³“At once therefore I sent to thee; and thou didst well in coming. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things that have been commanded thee by God.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 25]. At that time:

7 ¹Jesus was walking about in Galilee; for He was not willing to walk about in Judæa, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. ²Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was near. ³His brethren therefore said to Him, “Pass over from this place, and go into Judæa, in order that Thy disciples might see the works which Thou doest; ⁴“for no one doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known in public. Since Thou doest these things, manifest Thyself to the world.” ⁵For not even His brethren were believing in Him. ⁶Then Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. ⁷“The world is not able to hate you; but Me it hateth, because I bear witness concerning it that the works of it are evil. ⁸“Ye go up to the feast; I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time hath not yet been fulfilled.” ⁹And having said these things to them He stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰But when His brethren went up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as in secret. ¹¹Then the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is that One?” ¹²And there was much murmuring among the crowds concerning Him. Some, on the one hand, were saying, “He is good”; but others, on the other hand, were saying, “No, but rather He deceiveth the crowd.” ¹³No one, nevertheless, was speaking openly about Him for fear of the Jews.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our fathers among the saints, Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus, and Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 25th – Civil Calendar
May 12th – Church Calendar

1. St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus.

He was born a Jew, but seeing the power of the Christian Faith, was baptized together with his sister, Kallithrope. He became a monk at the age of twenty-six, in the monastery of St. Hilarion. He later founded a monastery of his own, and became famed throughout Palestine and Egypt for his asceticism, his spiritual wisdom and the wonders he worked. Fleeing the praise of men, he went off to Egypt. On the way, he met Paphnutios the Great, who prophesied that he would be a hierarch on the island of Cyprus. And indeed, many years later, by God’s providence, Epiphanios came to Cyprus, where he was unexpectedly chosen as bishop. He became bishop of the town of Salamis at the age of fifty, and governed the Church of God for thirty-six years. In all, he lived nearly ninety years on this earth, and entered into rest from this life to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ. Before his death, he was invited to Constantinople by the Emperor Arkadios and his wife, Evdoxia, for the council of bishops which was forced, at the desire of the emperor and empress, to condemn St. John Chrysostom. Arriving in Constantinople, he came to the emperor’s court, where the emperor and empress talked with him at great length, endeavoring to make him declare against Chrysostom. The citizens and St. Chrysostom heard that Epiphanios had agreed with the emperor against him. Chrysostom therefore wrote him a letter: ‘My brother Epiphanios, I hear that you have advised the emperor that I should be banished: know that you will never again see your episcopal throne.’ To this, Epiphanios wrote in return: ‘John, my suffering brother, withstand insults, but know that you will not reach the place to which you are exiled.’ And these two prophecies of the two saints soon came about. Refusing to agree with the emperor on the exile of Chrysostom, Epiphanios took ship and set off for Cyprus, but died on the voyage. The emperor sent St. Chrysostom into exile in Armenia, but the saint died on the road. Saint Epiphanios entered into rest in the year 403. Of his many writings the best-known is his ‘Medicine Chest,’ in Greek, in which he explains and refutes eighty heresies.

2. St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He was the son of the head of the imperial senate, who was killed by the Emperor Constantine Pogonatos. This same wicked emperor castrated the senator’s son, this Germanos, and drove him by force into a monastery. As a monk, Germanos shone like a star by his life of good works. Because of this, he was chosen first as Bishop of Kyzikos (Cyzicus) and then, when Anastasios II became emperor in 715, as Patriarch of Constantinople. As patriarch, he baptized the infamous Kopronymos who, at the time of his Baptism, fouled the water with filth, and the patriarch prophesied that, when he became emperor, he would bring some foul heresy into the Church. And this came to pass. When Kopronymos became emperor, he restored the iconoclast heresy. Leo III the Isaurian, Kopronymos’ father, began the persecution of icons, and when Patriarch Germanos opposed him, the furious Leo cried: ‘I am emperor and priest!’ then deposed Germanos from his throne and sent him into exile to a monastery, where the saint spent ten further years until God called him to Himself in the kingdom of heaven, in 740.

3. The Holy Martyr Pancratius.

He came from Phrygia to Rome, where, as a boy of fourteen, he was martyred for Christ in 304. This saint is much revered in the West. There is a church in Rome dedicated to his name, and his holy relics are preserved there.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Clement of Alexandria quotes a horrible barbaric custom. When they took their enemies captive, he says, they bound them each back-to-back with a dead man, and left the two together thus until the living and the dead rotted together. We might say: ‘Thank God that this barbaric custom has ceased.’ In fact it has not ceased, but holds sway today with undiminished strength. Everyone who binds his living soul to a dead body, a body deadened by passions, is just as barbaric as those who bound a living man to a corpse and left them to rot.

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.