Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 17]. In those days:

6 ⁸Stephen, full of faith and of power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹But there rose up some of those from the synagogue which is called that of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰And they were not able to stand against the wisdom and the spirit by which he was speaking. ¹¹Then they suborned men, who said, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes. And having set upon him, they seized him, and brought him to the sanhedrin. ¹³And they set up false witnesses, saying, “This man ceaseth not speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; ¹⁴“for we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazaræan shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵And having looked intently upon him, all those sitting in the sanhedrin saw his face as though it were a face of an angel.

7 ¹Then the high priest said, “Are then these things so?” ²And he began saying, “Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, ³“and said to him, ‘Get thee out from thy land and from thy kindred, and come here into a land which I shall show thee [cf. Gen. 12:1].’ ⁴“Then after he went out from the land of the Chaldæans, he dwelt in Haran. And from that place, after his father died, He removed him into this land in which ye now dwell. ⁵“And He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even the breadth of a footstep. And yet He promised to give it to him for a possession, and his seed after him, though he had no child.... ⁴⁷“But Solomon built Him a house. ⁴⁸“But the Most High dwelleth not in temples made by hand, even as the prophet saith, ⁴⁹“‘The heaven is a throne to Me, and the earth a footstool of My feet; what manner of house will ye build Me,’ saith the Lord, ‘or what is the place of My rest [cf. Is. 66:1]? ⁵⁰“‘My hand did make all these things, did it not [cf. Is. 66:2]?’ ⁵¹“O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in the heart and in the ears, ye always fall in a direction contrary to the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, also do ye. ⁵²“Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they slew those who announced beforehand about the coming of the righteous One, of Whom now ye have become betrayers and murderers, ⁵³“ye who received the law by the disposition of angels, and guarded it not.” ⁵⁴And when they heard these things their hearts were sawn asunder, and they were gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed intently into the heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right of God; ⁵⁶and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens having been opened and the Son of Man standing on the right of God.” ⁵⁷And they cried out with a loud voice, and they held their ears together, and rushed upon him with one accord. ⁵⁸And they cast him outside of the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses themselves laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man who was called Saul. ⁵⁹And they kept on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰And having knelt down, he cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not make this sin stand against them.” And having said this, he fell asleep.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 13]. At that time:

4 ⁴⁶There was a certain king’s officer whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷After this one heard that Jesus had come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went off to Him, and was entreating Him that He would come down and heal His son, for he was about to die. ⁴⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Unless ye see signs and wonders, in no wise will ye believe.” ⁴⁹The king’s officer saith to Him, “Sir, come down before my little child die.” ⁵⁰Jesus saith to him, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” And the man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and started on his way. ⁵¹But already, as he was going down, his slaves met him and brought tidings, saying, “Thy child liveth.” ⁵²Then he learned from them the hour in which he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Thy son liveth.” And he himself believed, and his whole house. ⁵⁴Again, this second sign Jesus did, having come out of Judæa into Galilee.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father John, disciple of St. Gregory the Decapolite.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 1st – Civil Calendar
April 18th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father John.

He was a disciple of St. Gregory of Decapolis. In the time of the iconoclast heresy, the Emperor Leo the Armenian put John to torture, together with his teacher, Gregory, and Joseph the Hymnographer. When Gregory finished his earthly course, John became abbot of the Decapolite monastery in Constantinople. Becoming abbot, he intensified his asceticism for the sake of the kingdom of God. He died peacefully in about 820. After his death, St. Joseph buried him near the grave of St. Gregory.

2. The Holy Martyr John the New of Ioannina.

He was born in Ioannina, the ancient capital of King Pyrrhus. When his poor parents died, the young John went to Constantinople and there continued his trade, for he was a craftsman. The Turks had occupied Constantinople not long before this, and many Christians had, out of fear, denied Christ and accepted Islam. St. John had his workshop right in the midst of these men who had become Turks. The more inflamed St. John became with love for Christ, the more outwardly apparent this became to these apostates. He began to dispute with them about the Faith, and to reprimand them for their betrayal of Christ. They dragged him before the judge and falsely accused him of having earlier accepted Islam and having returned to Christianity. For this he was tortured—beaten and flogged with iron flails—and then cast into prison. On the second day, which was the day of Pascha, they brought him out for further torture, and John emerged full of joy and singing: ‘Christ is risen from the dead!’ He spoke courageously to his torturers, saying: ‘Do what you will to me, and send me as quickly as possible from this transient life into life eternal. I am Christ’s servant; I follow Christ, and I die for Christ that I may live with Him!’ After that, John was bound in chains and taken to the place of burning. Seeing the great flames prepared for him, John ran forward and leapt into them. But his torturers, seeing how he sought death in the fire, pulled him out of it and sentenced him to be beheaded. When they had cut off his head, they threw it and his body into the fire. Later, Christians gathered the ashes and some of his precious and wonder-working relics and buried them in the Great Church in Constantinople. Thus he died a martyr’s death and received the glorious wreath of martyrdom on April 18th, 1526.

3. The Holy Martyrs Victor, Zotikos, Zeno, Akyndios and Severian.

They were all martyred under the Emperor Diocletian. They were pagans until they witnessed the martyrdom of St. George the Great Martyr. Then, seeing the sufferings and courage of this glorious martyr and the many miracles that were wrought at that time, they embraced the Christian Faith. For this Faith they soon suffered, and were crowned with glory.

4. The Holy Martyr Apollonius.

He was a Roman senator. Denounced for his faith, he confessed it before the entire senate, for which he was beheaded in the year 186.

FOR CONSIDERATION

In one description of the Christian martyrs under the Persian King Sapor, it is said: ‘Swords become blunt, sword-bearers fall and sword-makers tire—but the Cross is ever higher and higher upraised and burnished with the blood of Christ’s martyrs.’ Times without number the persecutors of Christians have said complacently to themselves that they have done away with Christianity for good. In the event, their lives came to an end while Christianity sprouted and flowered anew. However, in the teeth of this experience, some of our contemporaries reckon that the Christian Faith can be uprooted forcibly. But—they do not say how. And they forget that this has already been attempted again and again without success. It was with reason that Tertullian cried to the pagans: ‘You are spilling our blood in vain; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity!’

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.