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Daily Devotional

Tuesday, June 6, 2028 (NS), May 24, 2028 (OS)

No Fasting.

Tuesday of the First Week

The commemoration of our venerable Father Symeon of the Wondrous Mountain.

Jump to Prologue

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 79].

1 1Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, who hath been set apart for the Gospel of God, 2which He announced before through His prophets in holy Scriptures, 3concerning His Son Who came to be of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4and Who was marked out to be Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord, 5by Whom we received grace and apostleship to an obedience of faith among all the nations in behalf of His name, 6among whom are ye also called of Jesus Christ, 7to all those who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.... 13But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I proposed to myself to come to you, but was hindered until the present, in order that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the remaining nations. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the unintelligent. 15Thus, as far as I am concerned, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of the Christ; for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believeth, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it God’s righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, even as it hath been written: “But the just shall live by faith [cf. Hab. 2:4].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 10]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Mt. 4:23-5:13; for Sl. usage, see Mt. 4:25-5:13.

4 23Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. 25And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 1And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   4“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   5“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   6“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   10“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   11“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   12“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Symeon of the Wondrous Mountain.

Epistle

No reading given.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 14“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. 15“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. 16“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

17“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. 18“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. 19“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

for Sl. usage, see [Mt. 11:27-30].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 6th – Civil Calendar
May 24th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Simeon the Stylite of the Wondrous Mountain.

This wondrous and holy man was born in Antioch in 521, in the reign of the Emperor Justin I the Elder. His father perished in an earthquake and he was left alone with his mother, Martha. When he was six years old, he went away into the desert to John, a spiritual teacher there, and under his guidance, gave himself to a strict asceticism of fasting and prayer, to the wonderment of all who saw him. Whilst enduring fearful demonic trials, he received great comfort and grace from the Lord and His angels. Christ the Lord appeared to him in the form of a handsome youth, and after this vision, Simeon’s heart was inflamed with great love for Christ. He spent many years on a pillar, praying and singing psalms. Led by God, he took himself off to the mountain called ‘Wondrous’ by the Lord Himself, and is known as ‘of the Wondrous Mountain’ because of this. The measure of his love for God was such that rare grace was given him, by the help of which he was able to heal every sort of illness, tame wild beasts and perceive the most distant regions of the earth and the hearts of men. He was taken to see the heavens, conversed with angels, harried the demons, prophesied, spent thirty days at a time without sleep and even longer without food, receiving nourishment at the hands of angels. The words of the Savior: ‘He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do’ (Jn 14:12), were completely fulfilled in him. In the year 596, at the age of seventy-five, Simeon went to the Lord, to the eternal enjoyment of the vision of the face of God in the company of the angels.

2. The Holy Martyr Meletius Stratelates, with 1218 soldiers and their wives and children.

Accused of the destruction of a pagan temple in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, Meletius gave forth his holy soul nailed to a tree. Many solders under his command, who refused to deny Christ their Lord, suffered with honor in the second century, and went to the kingdom of Christ our God.

3. Our Holy Father Nikita the Stylite.

He lived an unrestrained and vicious life as a youth. When once he happened to enter a church, he heard the words of the Prophet Isaias: ‘Wash you (your sins), make you clean’ (1:16). The words penetrated deeply into his soul, and effected a complete change in his life. Nikita left his home, his wife and his land and entered a monastery close to Pereyaslavl, where he labored until his death in strict asceticism. He enveloped his body in chains and shut himself up in a pillar, being therefore known as a stylite. God granted him great grace, and he healed people afflicted with various torments. He healed Michael, Prince of Chernigov, of palsy. One day some evildoers saw the chains on him, and seeing them gleam, thought them to be silver, so they killed him one night, took the chains off him and carried them away. This happened on May 16th, 1186. He appeared to a certain elder, Simeon, after his death and told him to place the chains, when they were found, in the grave beside his body.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘To the pure, all things are pure,’ says the apostle. The food that a man eats cannot be called unclean in itself; however, some foods may evoke impure thoughts and desires in a man. St. Simeon the Stylite pondered beautifully on this in a conversation with his elder, John. The elder said: ‘A man cannot make either food or drink impure, because the Lord says in the Scriptures: “Even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Gen. 9:3)’. Holy Simeon replied: ‘Although food cannot make a man impure, it can cause impure thoughts to arise and darken the mind; it can give birth to the passions and flesh them out, transforming a spiritual man into a carnal, and turning his thoughts to earthly desires.’ Is not the water that falls from a cloud pure? But when too much rain falls, the crops rot because of it. Likewise, strong food brings about the corruption of a man’s spiritual and moral being.

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.