Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Twentieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 243]. Brethren:

2 ²⁴I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come quickly. ²⁵And I deemed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditos, the brother and my fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your apostle, and minister of my need, ²⁶since he was longing for you all, and was sorely troubled because ye heard that he was sick. ²⁷For indeed he was sick coming near to death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸I am sending him therefore the more quickly, so that, having seen him again, ye might rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor; ³⁰because for the sake of the work of the Christ he came near even to death, hazarding his life, in order that he might fill up the deficiency of your service toward me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 47]. The Lord said to His disciples:

9 ⁴⁴“Do ye yourselves put these words into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵But they were not understanding this saying, and it was veiled from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were fearing to question Him about this saying. ⁴⁶But a discussion entered in among them—the matter of which of them should be greater. ⁴⁷And Jesus, having perceived the reasoning of their heart, took hold of a little child and set him beside Himself, ⁴⁸and said to them, “Whosoever shall receive this little child in My name receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me receiveth the One Who sent Me forth. For the one who is least among you all, this same one shall be great.”

⁴⁹And John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out the demons in Thy name, and we tried to hinder him, because he followeth not with us.” ⁵⁰And Jesus said to them, “Cease hindering him; for whosoever is not against us is for us.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Hilarion the Great.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 188]. Brethren:

9 ⁶The one who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and the one who soweth with blessing shall also reap with blessing. ⁷Let each give even as he purposeth in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all self-sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work, ⁹even as it hath been written: “He dispersed, he gave to the poor; his righteousness abideth forever [Ps. 111(112):9].” ¹⁰Now the One Who supplieth seed to the sower and bread for eating, may He provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹being enriched in everything to all open-handedness, which worketh out through us giving of thanks to God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

November 3rd – Civil Calendar
October 21st – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Hilarion the Great.

As a rose growing among thorns, so was this great saint born of pagan parents in the village of Tabatha near Gaza in Palestine. His parents sent him to study in Alexandria, where the gifted youngster quickly assimilated both secular learning and spiritual wisdom. Coming to know Christ the Lord and receiving Baptism, he desired to serve the Lord with his whole heart. With this desire, Hilarion visited St. Anthony the Great in the desert and became his disciple. He then returned to his homeland and lived in asceticism near Maiuma, not far from Gaza. Demons tried to frighten him with various terrors, but he, with prayer to God and the sign of the Cross, overcame them all and drove them away. A great many who were desirous of the spiritual life gathered around him, and St. Hilarion became for Palestine what St. Anthony was for Egypt. A divine teacher, a strict ascetic, a marvellous wonder-worker, Hilarion was revered not only by Christians but also by pagans. He, though, fearing the praise of men and crying out through his tears: ‘Woe is me, for I am getting my reward in this life!’ fled from place to place simply to hide from men and remain alone with his soul and God. He therefore settled and lived for a time in Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and finally in Cyprus, where his life of great toil came to an end in about 372, when he had reached the age of eighty. Hilarion’s wonder-working relics were taken by Ezekiel, one of his disciples, to Palestine and laid in the monastery that he had founded.

2. St. Hilarion, Bishop of Meglin.

He was born of eminent and devout parents. His childless mother had long prayed to God to give her a child, and when she was at prayer, the most holy Mother of God appeared to her and comforted her with the words: ‘Don’t cry; you will have a son, and he will bring many to the light of truth.’ When Hilarion was only three years old, the hymn: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth’ was constantly heard on his lips. Well-educated, he became a monk at the age of eighteen and founded a monastery based on the rule of St. Pachomios. In 1134, he was consecrated Bishop of Meglin by Efstathius, Archbishop of Trnovo. St. Hilarion had an almost lifelong struggle against the Bogomils and the Armenian heretics, but by his spiritual learning and unequalled holiness, he put them all to shame and brought many of them to Orthodoxy. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of his Lord in 1164.

3. Our Holy Father Philotheus.

Born in Chrysopolis in Macedonia, he was taken from his mother, a widow, by the Turks and thrown into prison along with one of his brothers. They were miraculously delivered from prison by the most holy Mother of God and taken to a monastery in Neapolis in Asia Minor. Their mother later found her sons as monks, and herself became a nun. Philotheus went to the Holy Mountain, where he lived first in the monastery of Dionysiou and then in the wilds. A wonderful ascetic and a great conqueror of demonic powers, he entered peacefully into rest at the age of eighty-four. He left instructions that he was not to be buried, but that his body was to be thrown into the forest for the birds and wild beasts. Later, a fisherman saw a great light in the forest at night, and being frozen, went to warm himself at it, thinking it was a fire. The light was, however, coming from the wonder-working relics of St. Philotheus.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The all-seeing eye of God looks on all men, and in a wonderful way, guides the faithful to salvation. That which may seem to the faithful at first to be a great loss shows itself in time to be a great gain. The case of St. Philotheus and his brother, who were lost to their mother, is similar to that of St. Xenophon (January 26th), and to that of St. Efstathios Placidus and his wife and sons (Sept. 20th). When St. Philotheus and his brother were sitting in the Turkish prison in Macedonia, the most holy Mother of God appeared to them, in the form of their mother, and said to them: ‘Get up, my dear children, and follow me,’ and the young men suddenly found themselves in a monastery in the city of Neapolis in Asia Minor. When the young men told the abbot what had happened to them, he understood that this was of God, and he received them and made them monks. A long time passed, and their mother was in bitter grief. She finally decided to enter a women’s monastery and consecrate herself to God. The providence of God led her to the neighborhood of the monastery where her sons were. Once, when the monastery was keeping its festival, she came with some of the other nuns for the feast. She saw her sons in church, but did not recognize them. Then one of the brothers called the other by his secular name. The mother was touched to the heart by that beloved name, and looked carefully into his face. Then their mother recognized her sons and they her, and their joy was very great, and they thanked God with overflowing hearts. Believing Christians must not despair at even the greatest apparent loss.

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.