Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 20]. In those days:

8 ²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Rise up and go toward the south, on the way which goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza”; the same is desert. ²⁷And having risen, he went. And behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a potentate under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, and who had come to Jerusalem to make obeisance, ²⁸was returning, and he was both sitting in his chariot and reading the Prophet Esaias. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot.” ³⁰And Philip ran up and heard him reading the Prophet Esaias, and said, “So then dost thou really understand what thou readest?” ³¹But he said, “No. How can I, unless someone should guide me?” And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²And the section of the Scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb dumb before him who sheareth him, thus He openeth not His mouth [cf. Is. 53:7]. ³³“In His humiliation, His judgment was taken away; but who shall describe His generation? For His life is being taken away from the earth [cf. Is. 53:8].” ³⁴And the eunuch answered and said to Philip, “I entreat thee, concerning Whom speaketh the prophet this? Concerning himself or concerning some other?” ³⁵And Philip opened his mouth and began from this Scripture, and preached the good tidings to him—Jesus. ³⁶And as they were going along the way, they came upon some water. And the eunuch saith, “Behold, water; what hindereth me to be baptized?” ³⁷And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thy heart, it is possible.” And he answered and said, “I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.” ³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried off Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer; then he went on his way rejoicing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 22]. The Lord said to the Jews who had believed in Him:

6 ⁴⁰“This is the will of the One Who sent Me, that everyone who seeth the Son and believeth in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day.” ⁴¹The Jews then were murmuring about Him, because He said, “I am the bread, the One having come down out of the heavens.” ⁴²And they were saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Whom we know the father and the Mother, is it not? How is it then that this One saith, ‘I have come down out of the heavens’?” ⁴³Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Cease murmuring with one another. ⁴⁴“No one is able to come to Me unless the Father, the One Who sent Me, should draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, and those with him, and Hieromartyr Theodore of Perge in Pamphylia and those with him, and our venerable Father Anastasios of Sinai (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 20^th of April).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 4th – Civil Calendar
April 21st – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Januarius, and those with him.

This saint was Bishop of Benevento in Italy. In the time of a persecution under Maximian, he was brought before the judge and tormented with various tortures, which he endured patiently. When they threw him into the flames, they were cooled by an invisible dew and the martyr stood uninjured in it and sang the praises of God. Then they flayed his body with iron flails until the bones showed white, but the martyr patiently endured all. His deacon, Faustus, and his reader, Desiderius, were watching the torture and wept for their spiritual father. Then they too were bound and taken with their bishop to the town of Puteoli (Pozzuoli), and cast into prison. There were in the same prison for the sake of Christ the Puteolian deacons Proclus and Sossus and two simple, Christian men, Eutychius and Acutius. All seven were thrown next day to the wild beasts, but the beasts would not touch them. They were all then beheaded, and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly took the body of St. Januarius to their city and buried it in the church where they work miracles to those who approach with faith. One among many remembered is this: a poor widow, whose only son had died, took the icon of St. Januarius out of the church and laid it on her dead son, weeping and imploring the saint’s aid, and her son was restored to life. St. Januarius suffered with honor in 305.

2. The Holy Martyr Theodore, and others with him.

He suffered for the Christian Faith in Perga of Pamphylia in the time of the Emperor Antoninus. Theodore was young and fair of face. When the governor of that district chose him, along with several other young men, for service at the imperial court, Theodore refused and declared himself to be a Christian. Because of this, he was tortured in various ways and then thrown into the flames, but water gushed from the earth and put out the fire. The governor ascribed this to some magic of Theodore’s, but the martyr said to him: ‘This is not the work of any power of mine, but of Christ my God; and if you want to test the power of your gods, light another fire and throw in one of your soldiers—then I hope you will understand the strength and almighty power of my God.’ The governor really wanted to throw in one of the soldiers, but they, in terror, begged him to throw in the pagan priest, Dioscoros, in their place. The priest begged him to throw in only the idol of Zeus and the other idols, for, he said, if they were gods they would easily save themselves. Dioscoros spoke thus because he had already in his heart turned to Christ, having seen the marvel wrought concerning Theodore. Discovering this, the governor condemned Dioscoros to death by burning. He also delivered Theodore and two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, and Theodore’s mother Philippa, to death. Theodore was crucified, and breathed his last on the cross only on the third day. Socrates and Dionysius were run through with spears and Philippa was beheaded. They were all crowned with wreaths of glory in the kingdom of Christ.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Guard your hearts!’—said experienced ascetics of old. And Saint John of Kronstadt, in our day, says the same: ‘The heart is fine, spiritually light and heavenly in nature. Guard it; do not burden it; do not bring it low; be extremely abstinent in eating and drinking and especially in bodily comforts. The heart is the temple of God, and “he who defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (I Cor. 3:17).’ Spiritual experience in olden times and spiritual experience in our day are identical—on the condition that the confession of faith is identical. The heavenly knowledge to which the ancient ascetics came, in no way differs from the heavenly knowledge to which modern ascetics come. For, as Christ is the same today as yesterday, so also is human nature. And, what is most important, the heart of man is the same, and nothing can satisfy it but the glory and power and richness of God.

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.