Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 13]. In those days:

5 ¹A certain man, by name Ananias, with Sapphire his wife, sold a property, ²and appropriated for themselves part of the price, his wife also being privy to it. And he brought a certain part, and laid it at the feet of the apostles. ³But Peter said, “Ananias, why did Satan fill thy heart for thee to deceive the Holy Spirit, and to appropriate part of the price of the land? ⁴“While it remained, it did remain thine own, did it not? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own authority? Why didst thou put this thing in thy heart? Thou didst not lie to men, but to God.” ⁵And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and expired. And great fear came to be upon all who heard these things. ⁶And the younger men rose up and wrapped him round, and carried him out, and buried him. ⁷And there came to pass an interval of about three hours, and his wife, who knew not what had happened, entered. ⁸And Peter began to speak to her, “Tell me whether ye yourselves sold the land for so much?” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹And Peter said to her, “Why was it agreed together by you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.” ¹⁰And immediately she fell down at his feet and expired. And the young men entered and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her by her husband. ¹¹And great fear came to be upon the whole church and upon all those who heard these things.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 17]. The Lord said to the Jews having come to Him:

5 ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father. ³¹“If I bear witness concerning Myself, My witness is not true. ³²“It is Another Who beareth witness concerning Me, and I know that the testimony which He beareth witness to concerning Me is true. ³³“Ye have sent away to John, and he hath borne witness to the truth. ³⁴“But I receive not testimony from man. But I say these things that ye might be saved. ³⁵“That one was the lamp that burneth and shineth, and ye became willing to rejoice for an hour in his light. ³⁶“But I have the testimony greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave to Me in order that I should finish them, the very works which I do, bear witness concerning Me that the Father hath sent Me forth. ³⁷“And the Father Who sent Me, Himself hath borne witness concerning Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor have seen His form. ³⁸“And ye have not His word abiding in you, for He Whom that One sent forth, this One ye believe not. ³⁹“Keep on searching the Scriptures, for in them ye think to have eternal life; and these are they which testify concerning Me. ⁴⁰“And yet ye are not willing to come to Me in order that ye may have life. ⁴¹“I receive not glory from man. ⁴²“But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³“I have come in the name of My Father, and ye receive Me not; if another should come in his own name, that one ye will receive. ⁴⁴“How are ye able to believe, who receive glory from one another, and seek not the glory which is from the only God? ⁴⁵“Cease thinking that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuseth you—Moses, in whom ye have hoped. ⁴⁶“For if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for concerning Me that one wrote. ⁴⁷“But if ye believe not the writings of that one, how shall ye believe My words?”

6 ¹After these things Jesus went away across the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ²And a great crowd was following Him, because they had been seeing the signs which He brought about upon those who were sick.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Crescens in Myra of Lycia, and the holy Apostles Aristarchos, Pudens, and Trophimos of the Seventy (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 14th of April), and the Martyrs Vasilissa and Anastasia of Rome, disciples of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 28th – Civil Calendar
April 15th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus.

These were all numbered among the Seventy. Aristarchus was Bishop of Apameia in Syria. The Apostle Paul mentions him several times (Acts 19:29; Col. 4:10; Philem. v.24). He was seized in Ephesus, together with Gaius, by a mob that had risen up against Paul. The apostle wrote to the Colossians: ‘Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you,’ and in the Epistle to Philemon, Paul calls Aristarchus ‘my fellow-laborer,’ together with Mark, Demas and Luke. Pudens was an eminent Roman citizen. The Apostle Paul mentions him once (II Tim. 4:21). Pudens’ house was first the refuge of the chief apostles and was then turned into a church dedicated to the Good Shepherd. Trophimus was an Asian (Acts 20:4), and accompanied St. Paul on his journeys. In one place, Paul writes: ‘Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick’ (II Tim. 4:21). During Nero’s persecution, when the Apostle Paul was beheaded, these glorious martyrs were also beheaded.

2. The Holy Martyr Savvas the Goth.

There was a brutal persecution of Christians on the part of the Goths. A Gothic prince came to the village where this devout Savvas lived, and asked the villagers if there were any Christians there. They answered him on their honor that there were none. Then Savvas stood before the prince and the people, and said: ‘Let no one swear an oath on my behalf. I am a Christian.’ The prince, seeing this poor wretch, let him go in peace, saying: ‘This one can do neither harm nor good.’ The next year, just at Pascha, a priest, Sansal, came to the village and celebrated Pascha with Savvas. The pagans, coming to hear of this, descended suddenly on Savvas’ house and began to belabor the men of God without mercy, then, having dragged Savvas naked through thorns, bound them both to trees and tried to force them to eat meat offered to idols. But the men of God, remembering the apostle’s words, would not touch the unclean, diabolical sacrifices. The prince finally sentenced Savvas to death and handed him over to the soldiers. Savvas went to the place of execution full of joy, praising God. Recognising in him a good man, the soldiers sought to set him free on the way, but Savvas was greatly distressed by this and told the soldiers that they were in duty bound to carry out the prince’s command. Then the soldiers brought him to a river, tied a rock round his neck and threw him into the water. His body was cast up onto the bank. Later the Greek commander Ionnios Soranos, in the time of the Emperor Valens, found Savvas’ body during a war with the Goths and took it to Cappadocia. St. Savvas suffered in 372, at the age of 31.

3. The Holy Martyrs Vasilissa and Anastasia.

Two devout Roman women, they gathered the bodies of the apostles’ disciples for burial during Nero’s persecutions. They were arrested for this and imprisoned, and after prolonged torture in which their breasts were cut off and their tongues cut out, they were beheaded.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Gregory of Sinai writes on meditation: ‘We reckon that there are eight main subjects for meditation: first, God, unseen and invisible, without beginning and uncreated, the first Cause of all that is, threefold and one in His divine being; second, the order and state of the angelic powers; third, the structure of visible things; fourth, the incarnation of the Logos; fifth, the general resurrection; sixth, the dreadful Second Coming of the Lord; seventh, eternal torment; eighth, the kingdom of heaven. The first four have already been revealed and belong to the past. The last four have not yet been revealed and belong to the future, although these four are able to be considered by those who, with the help of the grace they have received, acquire a truly pure mind. He who approaches this labor (meditation) without the light of grace, let him know that he is building fantasies, not meditation.’ So writes the great and discerning Gregory of Sinai, whose knowledge came from experience.

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.