Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Fifth Week

Mode Four — Fifth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 103].

10 ¹Brethren, indeed the good pleasure of my heart and entreaty to God on behalf of Israel is for their salvation. ²For I bear witness to them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to full knowledge. ³For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, submitted not to the righteousness of God. ⁴For Christ is the end of the law in regard to righteousness for everyone who believeth. ⁵For Moses writeth of the righteousness which is of the law, that “the man who doeth those things shall live in them [cf. Lev. 18:5].” ⁶But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh thus, “Say not in thy heart, ‘Who shall ascend into the heavens [cf. Deut. 30:12]?’” (that is, to bring down Christ) ⁷or, “‘Who shall descend into the abyss [cf. Ps. 106(107):26]?’” (that is, to bring up Christ from the dead). ⁸But what saith it? “The word is near to thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart [Deut. 30:14]” (that is, the word of faith which we proclaim): ⁹That if thou confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesseth unto salvation.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 28]. At that time:

8 ²⁸After Jesus came into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed by demons coming out of the sepulchers, exceedingly fierce, so that no one was able to pass by that way. ²⁹And behold they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of God? Art Thou come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰Now there was far off from them a herd of many swine feeding. ³¹And the demons besought Him, saying, “If Thou cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” ³²And He said to them, “Go.” And they came out and went away into the herd of swine. And behold all the herd of swine rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the waters. ³³And they who fed them fled, and went away into the city and related everything, and the matter of those possessed by demons. ³⁴And behold, the whole city went out to meet Jesus. And after they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart from their borders.

9 ¹And He embarked into the ship, and went across, and came into His own city.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Proclos and Hilarion, and our venerable Father Michael of Maleinos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 25th – Civil Calendar
July 12th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Proklos and Hilarion.

These martyrs were born in Kallippi in Asia, Proklos being Hilarion’s uncle. They suffered in the time of Trajan. The judge asked Proklos: ‘Of what race are you?’ Proklos replied: ‘I am of the race of Christ, and my hope is in my God.’ When the judge threatened him with torture, he said: ‘When you are afraid to transgress the emperor’s commands and risk falling into temporal punishment, how much more do we Christians fear to transgress against God’s commands and fall into eternal torment!’ While Proklos was being tortured, Hilarion came up to the judge and said: ‘I too am a Christian!’ After many tortures, the two of them were condemned to death, Proklos being crucified and Hilarion beheaded with the sword. They both entered into the joy of their Lord.

2. Our Holy Father Michael Maleinos.

He was a wealthy man of noble birth. Scorning worldly goods in his youth, he withdrew to Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, where he lived in asceticism, purifying his heart by fasting and prayer. He later had many disciples, of whom the best-known is St. Athanasius the Athonite. He died peacefully in the middle of the tenth century.

3. St. Veronica.

This is the woman with the issue of blood, whom the Lord healed (Matt. 9:20). In gratitude to the Lord, her healer, Veronica caused a statue of the Lord Jesus to be made, before which she prayed to God. By tradition, this statue was preserved up to the time of Julian the Apostate, when it was altered to become a statue of Zeus. This is one of the very rare occasions that a statue has been used in the Eastern Church. St. Veronica remained faithful to Christ till death, and entered peacefully into rest.

4. The Holy Martyrs Theodore and John.

Father and son, they settled after their Baptism in the pagan city of Kiev. The infuriated pagans pulled their house down about their ears, and the two of them perished for the sake of Christ. Their relics are preserved in St. Anthony’s caves. The barren and women who miscarry pray especially to them.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The fabric of righteousness is finer than silk, but is enduring and indestructible and embraces both worlds, while the fabric of unrighteousness and violence is thick and easily rent. In the time of the Kievan Prince Vladimir, there lived in Kiev only one Christian family, Theodore and his son John. When there was a wicked, idolatrous festival, the pagans of Kiev, urged on by demons, plotted to offer John, Theodore’s son, as a sacrifice to the idols. When some of them went to Theodore to demand his son in the name of their ‘gods,’ he said to them: ‘If your gods are alive, let them come themselves and take my son!’ The furious pagans rushed to Theodore’s house, destroyed it and left the bodies of the godly Theodore and his son John in the ruins. Thus far did the fabric of unrighteousness extend. But the fabric of righteousness went further: Prince Vladimir was baptized soon after this, and also baptized the nation, and on the very spot where the house and grave of Theodore and John had been, the church of the most holy Mother of God was built.

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.