Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Sixth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 129]. Brethren:

3 ¹⁸Let no one be deceiving himself. If anyone among you think himself to be wise in this age, let him become foolish, in order that he might become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it hath been written: “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness [cf. Job 5:13]”; ²⁰and again, “The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain [cf. Ps. 93(94):11].” ²¹Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: ²²whether Paul, or Apollos, or Kephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming—all are yours. ²³And ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 54]. At that time:

13 ³⁶Jesus sent the crowds away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Declare to us the parable of the darnel of the field.” ³⁷And He answered and said to them, “The One Who soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸“And the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the darnel are the sons of the evil one. ³⁹“And the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰“Therefore even as the darnel is gathered together and burned completely, thus it shall be in the consummation of this age. ⁴¹“The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather together out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks, and those doing lawlessness; ⁴²“and they shall cast them into the furnace of the fire. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth. ⁴³“Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Pedachtoe, and his ten disciples.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 29th – Civil Calendar
July 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.

He lived in a monastery near the town with ten of his disciples. In the time of Diocletian, a fierce persecutor of Christians called Philomarchus came to Sebaste. He arrested and killed many of the Christians in the town. When he saw Athenogenes and his disciples, he told the elder to sacrifice to idols, that they should not perish as had the other Christians. Athenogenes replied: ‘O torturer, those whom you describe as having perished have not perished, but are in heaven and make merry with the angels!’ There was a touching moment when a deer, which had been hand-fed by the compassionate Athenogenes, ran up to him, and seeing him in such straits, shed tears. Wild animals of the hills had more pity on the martyrs than did the pagans! After harsh torture, during which an angel of God comforted them, they were all beheaded, first the priests and fellow-workers of Athenogenes and then Athenogenes himself, and went to their heavenly home in the year 311.

2. The Holy Martyr Julia the Virgin.

She was born in Carthage of noble parents. When the Persians overran Carthage, many of the people were taken into slavery. St. Julia was one of these, and was given to a Syrian merchant, who was a pagan. Seeing that Julia was a Christian, he urged her many times to deny Christ and become of one faith with him, but Julia steadfastly refused. As Julia was faithful and reliable in her work, the merchant left her in peace and spoke no more about faith. One day, the merchant loaded his ship with goods, took Julia with him and set off across the sea to a distant land to ply his trade. When they arrived at Corsica, there was a pagan festival in progress, and the merchant took part in the foul idolatry while Julia remained in the ship, weeping that so many people lived in foolish error, not knowing the truth. The pagans somehow came to know about her, dragged her off the ship in spite of her owner’s efforts to prevent them, and began to torture her in terrible ways. They cut off her breasts and threw her onto the rock, then crucified her, at which Julia gave her soul to God. Her death was revealed to some monks on the nearby island of Margarita (or Gorgona), and they went and buried the martyr’s body. Many miracles were worked over St. Julia’s grave through the ages, and she herself appeared to various people from the other world. She suffered with honor and went to the kingdom of God in the sixth century.

After many years had passed, the faithful wanted to build a new church in honor of St. Julia in another place, because the old church was small and dilapidated. They prepared the materials: the stone, bricks, sand and everything else that was needed, on the new site. But it happened that, at night, on the night before the day on which the foundations were to be laid, that the materials were carried by invisible hands back to the old church. In great perplexity, the people carried them to the new site again, but again the same thing happened: the materials were taken to the old site and left beside the church. The night watchman saw a maiden bathed in light, using white oxen to carry the materials to the old church. By this, they understood that St. Julia did not wish her church to be built in another place, so they pulled down the old church and built the new one on the same spot.

3. The Fifteen Thousand Holy Martyrs of Persia.

They were beheaded for the Christian Faith in Persia.

4. The Holy Martyr Athenogenes.

The composer of the Vespers hymn ‘O Joyous Light,’ he perished for Christ in the flames and was made worthy of eternal glory in the kingdom of God.

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.