Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Wednesday of the Mid-Pentecost

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 34]. In those days:

14 ⁶The apostles fled for refuge to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the country round about; ⁷and there they were preaching the Gospel.

⁸And a certain man in Lystra, disabled in his feet, who was lame from his mother’s womb and who never had walked, was sitting. ⁹This same one heard Paul speaking, who, having looked intently on him and perceiving that he had faith to be made well, ¹⁰said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on thy feet.” And he leaped and was walking about. ¹¹And after the crowds saw what Paul did, they lifted up their voice in Lycaonian, saying, “The gods, having become like men, came down to us.” ¹²And they indeed began calling Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, since he was the leader of the discourse. ¹³And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was before their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gateways, and was intending to sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴But the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, after they heard this, tore their garments and rushed into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵and saying, “Men, why do ye these things? We also are men of like feelings with you, preaching the Gospel to you to turn you from these vanities to the living God, Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all the things in them, ¹⁶“Who in the generations which have gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷“And yet indeed, He left not Himself without witness, doing good, giving rain from heaven to us and fruit-bearing seasons, filling our hearts with food and good cheer.” ¹⁸And saying these things, they scarcely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 26].

7 ¹⁴It now already being the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵And the Jews were wondering, saying, “How knoweth this One letters, since He hath not learned?” ¹⁶Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but of the One Who sent Me. ¹⁷“If anyone be willing to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from Myself. ¹⁸“The one who speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory; but the One Who seeketh the glory of the One Who sent Him, this One is true, and unrighteousness is not in Him. ¹⁹“Moses hath given you the law, hath he not? And yet not one of you doeth the law. Why do you seek to kill Me?” ²⁰The crowd answered and said, “Thou hast a demon; who seeketh to kill Thee?” ²¹Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and ye all wonder on this account. ²²“Moses hath given you circumcision—not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers—and on a sabbath ye circumcise a man. ²³“If a man receive circumcision on a sabbath, in order that the law of Moses should not be broken, are ye bilious because I made a whole man sound on a sabbath! ²⁴“Cease judging according to appearance, but judge the righteous judgment.” ²⁵Then some of those from Jerusalem were saying, “This is the One Whom they seek to kill, is it not? ²⁶“But behold, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Can it be that the rulers indeed came to know that this is truly the Christ? ²⁷“But we know from what place this One is; but the Christ, whenever He may be coming, no one knoweth where He is from.” ²⁸Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “Ye both know Me, and ye know from what place I am; and I have not come of Myself, but the One Who sent Me is true, Whom ye know not. ²⁹“But I know Him; for I am from Him, and that One sent Me forth.” ³⁰Then they began seeking to lay hold of Him; but no one laid his hand upon Him, because His hour had not yet come.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Virgin-martyr Glykeria at Heraclea.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 26th – Civil Calendar
May 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Glykeria.

The daughter of a governor of Rome, she became poor after her father’s death and went to live in Trajanopolis in Thrace. In the time of the wicked Emperor Antoninus, Glykeria was brought to offer sacrifice to the idol of Zeus. She traced the Cross on her forehead, and when the governor asked her where was her lamp (for they all carried lamps in their hands), Glykeria indicated the Cross on her forehead and said: ‘This is my lamp!’ At her prayers, the idol was struck by lightning and broken into pieces. The governor was furious with her and commanded that she be thrown into prison. He sealed the door of the prison, intending to starve the maiden to death, but an angel of God appeared to Glykeria and gave her heavenly food. After a certain time, when the governor reckoned that the maiden must have died of hunger, he opened the prison and was astounded to see her in good health, bright and merry. The warder, Laodicius, seeing this marvel, himself confessed Christ the Lord and was at once beheaded. After that, Glykeria was thrown into a burning furnace, but she remained untouched by the flames. Standing in the midst of the fire, she praised the Lord, commemorating the wonder with the Three Children in the burning fiery furnace in Babylon. Finally, she was thrown to the lions, and praying to God, this holy maiden gave her soul into the hands of the Lord for Whom she had heroically suffered much torture. She suffered with honor in the year 141. A healing myrrh flowed from her relics, which healed the sick of the gravest illnesses.

2. The Holy Martyr Alexander.

He was a Slav, an eighteen-year-old soldier in the army of the Emperor Maximian. He refused to obey the imperial order to offer sacrifice to the Roman idols, because of which it fell to Captain Tiberian to tell him either to deny Christ or be tortured and killed. As all this advice was in vain, Tiberian arrested him and took him through Macedonia to Constantinople, whither he himself had an errand. In every place, the young Alexander was harshly tortured, but in every place also, Christians came out to him, begging his blessing and encouraging him in his sufferings. His mother, Pimenia, followed him. In the course of this journey, Alexander was many times visited by an angel of God, who eased his pains and encouraged him. In one place called Carasura, the martyr worked a miracle by his prayers: when the soldiers who were escorting him were tormented by thirst, he made a spring of cold water come out of a dry place. On the bank of the River Ergina, Tiberian ordered that the executioner behead Alexander and throw his body into the river. When the executioner swung his axe above Alexander’s head, he saw angels of God around him, resplendent with light, and was afraid and stayed his hand. Alexander asked him why he had done this, and he said that he had seen some young men in a nimbus of light surrounding him. Desiring to die and so be united with the Lord, Alexander prayed to God to take the angels away, so that the executioner would not be afraid. And so the executioner completed his work, in 298. Pimenia retrieved the body of her son and gave it burial. There were many healings at the martyr’s grave. After his death, he appeared to his mother and gave her tidings of her own imminent departure to the other world.

3. Our Holy Fathers John, Evthymius, George and Gabriel of Iviron.

They were the founders of the famous Iviron (Georgian) Monastery on the Holy Mountain. St. John (Ioane) lived in asceticism first in the Lavra of Athanasius, and then founded his own monastery, Iviron. He entered into rest in 998. Evthymius (Ekvtime) and George (Giorgi) translated the holy Scriptures into Georgian. Evthymius died in 1028 and George in 1066. Gabriel was found worthy to receive the wonder-working Portaïtissa icon of the Mother of God which was brought to the monastery by the sea.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Athanasius writes thus on the power of the death of Christ and His Cross: ‘Whose death has ever driven away demons? And whose death has ever been the cause of fear to demons, as was the death of Christ? Wherever the name of the Savior is invoked, there the demons are driven out. What has tamed man’s spiritual passions to such an extent that prodigals become chaste and murderers are no longer servants of the sword, and the fearful become brave? Has not the Christian Faith? Has not the sign of the Cross? And what else has so convinced man of immortality as the Cross of Christ and His bodily Resurrection?’ The death of the Sinless One and the Cross of the Lover of mankind have brought a greater and more enduring victory than all the kings of the earth with their milliard soldiers. For when has an army ever overcome one single demon? Only the invocation of the name of the Crucified puts the armies of demons to flight. Oh, when will all Christians know what riches they have in the name of Christ, and what a weapon in His Cross?

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.