Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 4]. In those days:

2 ¹⁴Peter, having taken his stand with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them, “Men, Jews, and all those who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and hearken to my words. ¹⁵“For these are not drunk, as ye suppose, for it is the third hour of the day. ¹⁶“But this is that which hath been spoken by the Prophet Joel, ¹⁷“‘And it shall be in the last days,’ saith God, ‘I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams [cf. Joel 2:28]; ¹⁸“‘and even upon My bondmen and upon My bondwomen in those days I will pour out of My Spirit [cf. Joel 2:29],’ and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹“‘And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke [cf. Joel 2:30]. ²⁰“‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come [Joel 2:31]. ²¹“‘And it shall be that everyone, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved [Joel 2:32].’”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 113]. At that time:

24 ¹²Peter arose and ran to the sepulcher; and having stooped to look, he saw the linen cloths lying alone, and departed to his home, wondering at that which had come to pass.

¹³And behold, two of them were going on the same day to a village, being sixty stadia from Jerusalem, which is named Emmaus. ¹⁴And they were conversing with one another about all these things which had taken place. ¹⁵And it came to pass, while they conversed and discussed, Jesus Himself drew near and was going together with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were held, so as not to recognize Him. ¹⁷And He said to them, “What words are these which ye exchange with one another, as ye walk and are sad in countenance?” ¹⁸And the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Art Thou sojourning alone as a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which came to pass in it in these days?” ¹⁹And He said to them, “What kind of things?” And they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazaræan, Who was a man, a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰“how both the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to a judgment of death, and crucified Him. ²¹“But we were hoping that He was the One Who was about to redeem Israel; but, beside all these things, this passeth as the third day today since these things took place. ²²“Yea, and certain women from among us astonished us, who were early at the sepulcher. ²³“And not having found His body, they came, declaring also to have seen a vision of angels who say, ‘He is living.’ ²⁴“And certain of those with us went away to the sepulcher, and found it thus, even as also the women said; but Him they did not see.” ²⁵And He said to them, “O ye without understanding and slow in heart to believe in all things which the prophets spoke! ²⁶“It was needful for the Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into His glory, was it not?” ²⁷And beginning from Moses and from all of the prophets, He went on interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. ²⁸And they drew near to the village where they were going; and He was making as if to be going further. ²⁹And they constrained Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day hath waned.” And He went in to stay with them. ³⁰And it came to pass, as He reclined at table with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and was giving it to them. ³¹And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He disappeared from them. ³²And they said to one another, “Our heart was burning in us as He was speaking to us in the way and as He was opening to us the Scriptures, was it not?” ³³And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those with them, ³⁴saying, “The Lord was raised indeed, and appeared to Simon.” ³⁵And they began relating those things that occurred in the way, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Claudius, Diodoros, Victor, Victorinos, Pappias, Nikephoros, and Serapion, and the holy Martyrs Theodoulos, Agathopodes, and those with them.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene

     Archimandrite Raphael, Abbot of the Theotokos Monastery, and Hierodeacon Nicholas, settled on Lesvos (Mytilene) after the Fall of the City. In 1463, Muslims attacked on Great Friday. Archimandrite Raphael was pulled and tugged by his hair and beard along the rock-strewn ground. He was struck with clubs, spears, lances, and swords, while his hands were tied behind his back. He was stabbed all over and cast down paralyzed. His tongue was severed, and he was then suspended upside down from a large walnut tree, repeatedly beaten and whipped for 24 hours. He was cut down from the tree and stripped of his clothing from the waist up. After being positioned on his knees, five savage Muslims took up a saw and began cutting away his lower jaw. Nearly unconscious, he had his head placed on a square icon, where they struck him thrice on his mouth, extracting his lower jaw, thus separating his head from his body on Bright Tuesday, then the 9th of April.
     Deacon Nicholas, bound to a smaller walnut tree, witnessed these terrifying scenes. He, too, was stabbed, but he did not die immediately. It was only after his terror-stricken tender heart had borne the startling sight of his wounds and the punishments of the others, that he suffered cardiac arrest.
     Twelve-year-old Irene was seized and had boiling water poured into her mouth. One of her delicate hands was severed, the limb being tossed before the parents. The stump of her arm was bleeding profusely, as they chopped away one of her little feet. The lass was then pushed down into an earthen jar, where she was burned alive after being doused with flammable liquids and torching her bodice. As she stood trapped in the flaming cask, she lifted up her eyes heavenward and called upon Christ, commending her soul into the hands of the Lord.
     In 1959 and in the early 1960’s miraculous visions of the martyrs were granted to the islanders. The recovery of their relics has been the occasion of countless miracles and pilgrimages.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

April 18th – Civil Calendar
April 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Agathopous and Theodulus.

Agathopous, adorned with the white hairs of age, was a deacon and Theodulus, with the chastity of youth, was a reader in the Church in Thessalonica. In the time of Diocletian’s hunting of Christians, these two were summoned for trial. They went there joyfully, and each holding the other by the hand, went in crying: ‘We are Christians!’ The whole court’s urging them to deny Christ and worship idols was in vain. After long imprisonment and starvation, they were condemned to death by drowning in the sea. Their hands were bound behind them and a large stone tied to their necks, and they were taken off to be drowned. When they went to throw Agathopous into the depths, he cried out: ‘Lo, by second Baptism we are washed from all our sins, and will go cleansed to Christ Jesus!’ The sea quickly threw their drowned bodies onto the shore, and Christians gave them burial. St. Theodulus appeared to his friends in the form of a shining angel in white raiment and commanded them to distribute all his remaining goods to the poor. These great soldiers of Christ suffered with honor under the Emperor Diocletian and Faustinus the governor of Thessalonica, in the year 303.

2. Our Holy Father Mark of Trache.

He is also known as ‘the Athenian’ because Athens was his birthplace. When he had finished his higher schooling in Athens, his parents died. He pondered within himself on the inevitability of death, and that one must prepare in good time for a holy departure from this world. He gave his goods away to the poor and seated himself on a plank in the sea, with profound faith in God’s help and the prayer that God would lead him wherever He desired. And, by the providence of God, he was kept safe and taken to Libya (or Ethiopia), to a mountain called Trache. Mark lived in asceticism on that mountain for ninety-five years, seeing neither man nor beast. For thirty whole years he had an intense struggle with evil sprits, and was tormented by hunger and thirst, cold and heat. He ate earth and drank sea-water. After thirty years of the most intense sufferings, the conquered demons fled from him and angels of God started bringing him food every day in the form of bread, fish and fruit. St. Serapion visited him just before his death, and later recorded the wonderful life of this saint. Mark was asking Serapion if there were in the world any Christians who could say to the mountain they were on: ‘Get up and cast yourself into the sea,’ and it would do so. At that moment the mountain began to move like a wave. But Mark raised a hand and quieted it, such being the miraculous power of this man of God. At the time of his death, he prayed for the salvation of all men and gave his soul into God’s hands. St. Serapion saw an angel bearing Mark’s soul, and a hand extended from heaven to receive it. St. Mark lived for a hundred and thirty years and entered into rest in about 400.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Live as though you were out of this world, and you will have peace.’ Thus St. Anthony spoke to his disciple. This is a strange teaching, but a true one. We experience the greatest trouble and unease in ourselves when we feel ourselves more and more to be in this world. But, the more a man withdraws from the world, the more often he contemplates this world as existing without him and the more strongly, in his thoughts, he ponders on the utter needlessness of his presence in this world, so much the closer will he stay to God and so much the deeper will be the spiritual peace that he will have. ‘I die daily’ (I Cor 15:31), says the Apostle Paul. That is, I feel every day that I am not in this world. But, because of this, he feels himself every day in spirit a citizen of heaven. When the torturer Faustinus asked St. Theodulus: ‘Isn’t life better than a harsh death?’ St. Theodulus replied: ‘Indeed, I bear in mind that life is better than death; and have therefore decided to scorn this mortal and transitory life on earth that I might be a partaker of life immortal.’

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.