Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 94].

7 ¹Brethren, are ye ignorant (for I speak to those knowing the law), that the law ruleth over the man for as long a time as he liveth? ²For the woman who is under a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband should die, she is released from the law of her husband. ³So then if, while her husband liveth, she should become married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband should die, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she hath become married to another man. ⁴So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, to the end that ye become Another’s—to One Who was raised from the dead—in order that we should bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, which were through the law, were energizing in our members to bear fruit to death. ⁶But now we were released from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so as to serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it not be! But I knew not sin, except through the law. For I knew not coveting, except the law was saying, “Thou shalt not covet [Ex. 20:17].” ⁸But sin, taking occasion through the commandment, worked out in me every desire. For without the law sin was dead. ⁹And I was living without the law once; but after the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ¹⁰And the commandment, which was unto life, this was found for me to be unto death. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it slew me. ¹²So that the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. ¹³Hath then that which is good become death to me? May it not be! But sin, that it might appear sin, worked out death to me through that which is good, that sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 34]. At that time:

9 ³⁶Jesus, having seen the crowds, was moved with compassion for them, because they were wearied and cast down, as sheep not having a shepherd. ³⁷Then He saith to His disciples, “The harvest indeed is great, but the workers are few. ³⁸“Entreat therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth workers into His harvest.”

10 ¹And after He called to Himself His twelve disciples, He gave to them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every weakness. ²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; Iakovos the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; Iakovos the son of Alphæos, and Lebbæos, who was surnamed Thaddæos; ⁴Simon the Cananite, and Judas the Iscariote, who also delivered Him up. ⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, “Do not begin to go into the way of the nations, and do not begin to enter into a city of the Samaritans. ⁶“But go rather to the sheep, the lost of the house of Israel. ⁷“And as ye go, be preaching, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens hath drawn near.’ ⁸“Be healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons; freely ye received, freely give.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Bessarion the Wonder-worker of Egypt, and our venerable Father Hilarion the New, Abbot of the Dalmaton Monastery, and the holy five Virgin-martyrs, Martha, Mary, Kyria, Vareria (Valeria), and Markia of Palestine (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 7^th of June).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 19th – Civil Calendar
June 6th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Bessarion.

Born and educated in Egypt, he devoted himself to the spiritual life at an early age, and ‘never soiled the spiritual garment in which he was clothed at his Baptism’. He visited St. Gerasimos by the Jordan and learned from St. Isidore of Pelusium. He conquered his flesh in strict fasting and vigils, but as far as possible, hid his asceticism from men. He once spent forty days in prayer, neither eating nor sleeping, and had one single garment that he wore summer and winter. He had a great gift of wonder-working. He had no fixed abode, but lived in the mountains and forests, healing the sick and performing many other miracles to help men and glorify God. He entered peacefully into rest in 466. (In the Greek Prologue, this saint is commemorated on February 20th.)

2. Our Holy Father Hilarion the New.

Abbot of the Dalmatian monastery in Constantinople, he was a disciple of Gregory of Decapolis and an imitator of the life of Hilarion the Great, whose name he took. Strong in prayer, enduring and courageous in suffering, he suffered much for the sake of the holy icons in the days of the iconoclast emperors, Leo the Armenian and others. Then the Emperor Leo was killed by his personal bodyguard in the very church and at the very spot where he had first scoffed at the holy icons and from which he had removed the first icon, and holy Hilarion was let out of prison—but only for a while. He was again tortured and held in prison right up to the time of the Orthodox Empress Theodora. He was gifted with insight and discernment, and saw angels of God taking the soul of St. Theodore the Studite to heaven. Being pleasing to God, he entered into rest in the kingdom of heaven in 845, at the age of seventy.

3. Our Holy Mothers, the Martyrs Archelais, Thecla and Susanna.

As pure and virginal nuns, they lived the ascetic life in an unknown monastery near Rome. When a persecution of Christians arose under the wicked Emperor Diocletian, they fled to Campania and settled near the town of Nola. Their holy life could not be concealed, and people from nearby began to come to them for counsel, instruction and help in various trials and sicknesses, and they were finally seized by the pagans and taken for trial. They publicly and freely confessed their faith in Christ. When the judge, Leontius, questioned holy Archelais about the Christian Faith, she replied: ‘It is by the power of Christ that I overcome the power of the devil and teach the people understanding and knowledge of the one, true God. By the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, it is given that, through me His servant, the sick find healing.’ All three maidens were whipped, flogged with heavy staves, left to languish in prison and finally beheaded. When they were led out to the scaffold, angels appeared to them, which were seen by some of the executioners and inspired such fear in them that they dared not lift up their swords against the holy maidens. They, however, urged the executioners to finish their task. And thus, as lambs, were they beheaded in the year 293, and went to the kingdom of Christ to rest in eternity and delight in beholding the face of God.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Rejoicing in iniquity is a filthy garment in which our souls at times take pleasure in clothing themselves. At the hour in which you rejoice at your brother’s falling into sin, you also have fallen, to the joy of the devil, who has caught two fish with one hook. Brotherhood in the flesh is a great bond, but brotherhood in the spirit is greater. If you mourn at the sins of your brother in the flesh, how can you not mourn at the sins of your brother in the spirit? If you conceal the sin of your brother in the flesh, why do you proclaim to the housetops the sin of your brother in the spirit? Who are your brethren in the spirit? All Christians; all who communicate together with you from the one Cup, receiving the one life. Oh, how great was the brotherly love of the saints! How far removed from them was rejoicing in iniquity! The following is told of St. Bessarion: Once all the monks were gathered at prayer in the church. The abbot went up to one of the brethren, who had committed some sin, and told him to leave the church. The monk went outside, and Bessarion followed him, saying: ‘I also am so great a sinner.’

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.