Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 294]. Child Timothy:

2 ²⁰In a great house there are not only golden and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen, and some indeed to honor, but some to dishonor. ²¹If therefore one should cleanse himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, which hath been sanctified, and made useful to the master, having been prepared for every good work. ²²Now keep on fleeing youthful lusts, but be pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³But keep on rejecting foolish and undisciplined inquiries, knowing that they engender fights. ²⁴And there is no need for a slave of the Lord to fight, but to be gentle toward all, apt to teach, forbearing, ²⁵in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves, if perhaps God might give them repentance to a full knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they might recover from out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by Him, in order to do the will of that One.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 33]. At that time:

8 ¹¹The Pharisees came to Jesus and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from the heaven, putting Him to the test. ¹²And having groaned in His spirit, He saith, “Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say to you, there shall be no sign given to this generation.” ¹³And having left them, He embarked into the ship again and went away to the other side. ¹⁴And they forgot to take loaves. And except for one loaf, they did not have any with them in the ship. ¹⁵And He repeatedly gave them express orders, saying, “Be taking heed and be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” ¹⁶And they were reasoning with one another, saying, “It is because we have no loaves.” ¹⁷But Jesus, having known it, saith to them, “Why reason ye, because ye have no loaves? Do ye not yet perceive nor comprehend? Have ye still hardened your heart? ¹⁸“Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? ¹⁹“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?” They say to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰“And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large provision baskets full of fragments took ye up?” And they said, “Seven.” ²¹And He was saying to them, “Do ye not yet comprehend?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Synaxis of the holy Martyrs Thyrsos, Lefkios, and Kallinikos of Bithynia, and the Martyrs Philemon, Apollonios, Arrianos of the Thebaid in Egypt, and those with them.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 27th – Civil Calendar
December 14th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Thyrsos, Lefkios, and Kallinikos.

Saints Thyrsos (Thyrsus) and Lefkios (Leucius) were eminent citizens of Bithynian Caesarea; the latter being baptized and the former still a catechumen. Kallinikos (Callinicus), however, was a pagan priest who offered sacrifice to idols. When Cumbricius, heir to the Emperor Decius, began to torture and murder the Christians, the intrepid Lefkios stood before him and reproached him: ‘Why have you begun to make war on your own soul, Cumbricius?’ The enraged judge ordered that he be flogged and tortured, and then beheaded with the sword. In terrible torment, Lefkios went to his execution as joyfully as if he were going to a wedding. When he beheld Lefkios’ courageous death, blessed Thyrsos was inflamed with divine zeal, and like Lefkios, went before the judge and rebuked him for his crimes and his lack of belief in the one, true God. He was therefore beaten and cast into prison. He was healed of his wounds by the invisible hand of God, which also opened the prison doors and led him forth. Thyrsos went at once to Phileas, the Bishop of Caesarea, to be baptized by him. After his Baptism, he was again seized and tortured, but he endured all the torments as if in a dream and not in reality. Many idols fell down through the power of his prayer. When he saw this, Kallinikos, a pagan priest, was converted to the Christian Faith, so both he and Thyrsos were condemned to death. Kallinikos was beheaded with the sword, and Thyrsos was placed in a wooden coffin to be sawn asunder, but God’s power prevented this and the saw could not penetrate the wood. Then Thyrsos arose from the coffin, praying and thanking God for his sufferings, and he peacefully gave his soul into the Lord’s hands. At the end of the fourth century, the Emperor Flavian built a church to St. Thyrsos near Constantinople, and placed his holy relics in it. The saint appeared in a vision to the Empress Pulcheria, and suggested that she bury the relics of the Forty Martyrs beside his own.

2. The Holy Martyrs Philemon, Apollonios, Arrianos and others.

During the reign of Diocletian, Arrianos, a judge in Egypt, cruelly persecuted the Christians there. He seized Apollonios and threatened him with torture. Apollonios became afraid of the tortures, and bribed an unknown musician, Philemon, a pagan, to offer sacrifice to the idols in his place, dressed in his clothes. When Philemon went before the idols, the light of the Christian Faith suddenly shone in his heart, and he made the sign of the Cross. He then went out of the temple and began to shout: ‘I am a Christian, a servant of Christ the living God!’ Hearing this, the judge laughed, thinking that Philemon was mocking the Christians. Later, Philemon was subjected to fearful tortures. Finally, both Philemon and Apollonios were beheaded by Arrianos the judge. Then Arrianos himself became a Christian, because his blind eye was healed in a miraculous way at Philemon’s grave. He was condemned to death by the emperor, and was martyred together with four soldiers who had likewise declared themselves to be Christians.

FOR CONSIDERATION

There are three sorts of praiseworthy zeal: zeal in cleansing oneself from sinful desires and thoughts, zeal for the truth of the Faith and zeal for God’s justice among men. All three were perfectly present in the soul of St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker. He showed zeal in self-purification through his whole life, keeping a careful watch over his heart. His zeal for the truth of the Faith was especially evident at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, where he entered into a fearful conflict with Arius. His zeal for God’s justice among men was seen especially in two notable events, when on each occasion he saved three innocent men from the death penalty. Once, in his absence from Myra, the avaricious military governor, Efstathios, sentenced three men to be beheaded, he having accepted a bribe from their enemies. When he was informed of this, St. Nicholas returned to Myra in the greatest haste. The condemned men had been led out to the place of execution, and the executioner had already raised his sword over them. At that instant, St. Nicholas seized the sword, pulled it out of the executioner’s hand and set the condemned men free. He then rebuked Efstathios and brought him to shame and repentance. In a similar way, three generals, Nepotianus, Ursus and Erpilionus, were slandered before Evlavios the governor of Constantinople and the emperor himself. The emperor signed the death-warrant. On the eve of their execution, the three men prayed to God, saying: ‘O God of Nicholas, deliver us innocent men from death!’ That night, St. Nicholas appeared to both the emperor and the governor in their sleep, denounced them for their injustice and ordered them to free the three men from prison at once. The next day, the emperor and the governor each related to the other the selfsame nocturnal vision, and they set the generals free both from their death-sentence and from prison.

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.