Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 101]. Brethren:

9 ⁶It is not as though the word of God hath failed. For they are not all Israel those who are of Israel; ⁷nor because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children, but, “In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee [Gen. 21:12]”; ⁸that is, the children of the flesh, these are not children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for a seed. ⁹For this word is of promise: “According to this time will I come, and there shall be a son to Sarah [cf. Gen. 18:10, 14].” ¹⁰And not only this, but when Rebecca also conceived by one, our father Isaac ¹¹(for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works, but of the One Who calleth), ¹²it was said to her, “The greater shall serve the lesser [Gen. 25:23].” ¹³Even as it hath been written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated [Mal. 1:2, 3].”

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it not be! ¹⁵For He saith to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomsoever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomsoever I will have compassion [Ex. 33:19].” ¹⁶So then it is not of the one who willeth, nor of the one who runneth, but of God Who showeth mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, “For this very thing I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and so that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth [Ex. 9:16].” ¹⁸So then to whom He will, He hath mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. ¹⁹Thou wilt say then to me, “Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath withstood His express will?”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 38]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ³²“Everyone who shall confess in Me before men, I also will confess in him before My Father Who is in the heavens. ³³“But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Who is in the heavens. ³⁴“Never think that I came to cast peace on the earth; I came not to cast peace, but a sword. ³⁵“For I came to divide in two a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶“and a man’s enemies shall be those of his own household.”

11 ¹And it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, He passed over from that place to teach and preach in their cities.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Timothy, Bishop of Prusa, and the Martyrs Alexander and Antonina at Constantinople.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 23rd – Civil Calendar
June 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Timothy, Bishop of Prousa.

For his great spiritual purity, God gave him the gift of wonder-working, and he healed all manner of diseases and pains among the people. During the reign of the evil Emperor Julian, who had renounced Christ, holy Timothy was thrown into prison. The faithful visited him there to listen to the wise teaching of their bishop. When this came to his ears, Julian commanded that the executioner behead him in the prison. This was in 362, and his soul entered into Paradise while his relics remained, full of miraculous power, to help the people and declare the power of the Lord.

2. The Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina.

Antonina was a virgin and Alexander an imperial soldier, both from Alexandria and both Christians. Antonina was first taken before the judge and tortured. When they threw her into prison, Alexander went to it at the command of an angel of God (being up to that time a stranger to Antonina), draped her in his military cloak and told her to keep her head lowered and go out through the guardhouse in front of the gates. In this way, she escaped and he remained in the prison. They brought Alexander before the judge, and began to interrogate him for the name of Christ. When Antonina heard of this, she came before the judge herself, and he put them both to various tortures. He cut off their hands and then flayed their naked bodies, scorching their wounds with torches, and finally cast them into a fire set in a hole in the ground, covering them with earth. They suffered with honor for the name of Christ and entered into the courts of the heavenly King on May 3rd, 313. The wicked judge, Festus, became dumb at the time of the martyrs’ deaths, and an evil spirit fell on him, torturing him for seven days before killing him.

3. St. Bassian, Bishop of Lodi.

A pagan born in Syracuse of eminent and wealthy parents, he studied philosophy in Rome. At his own desire, he was baptized by the devout elder Gordianus. This offended his parents, and to escape their wrath, he went to Ravenna on the advice of St. John the Theologian, who appeared to him, and there in Ravenna made himself known to the bishop, Ursus, a kinsman of his. On the bishop’s instructions, Bassian found lodgings near the Church of the Holy Martyr Apollinarius outside the city, and there labored a long time in toil, fasting and prayer. When the Bishop of Lodi in Liguria died, Bassian was elected, not according to his own desire but through a revelation in a dream. He was consecrated by St. Ambrose of Milan and Ursus of Ravenna. He had a great gift of healing, and could even raise the dead. He was present during St. Ambrose’s last hours and heard from those holy lips how St. Ambrose had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived to a great age in toil and asceticism and finished his earthly course at the age of ninety, entering into the kingdom of God in about 409. His holy relics continue to work miracles as a witness to the power of God and the greatness of His saint.

FOR CONSIDERATION

It is not the same thing to eat your meal with a blessing and to eat it without one. Every meal is eaten at God’s table which He Himself has laid for us, and we must thank God, our Host, and ask His blessing. Food which is blessed is both sweeter and more satisfying, but unblessed food is both bitter and unsatisfying—and unhealthy. The Emperor Theodosios the Younger was once walking in the outskirts of Constantinople, and seeing the little house of a monk, called in on him. The elder asked the emperor if he would like something to eat. The emperor accepted, and the elder brought him bread, oil, salt and water. The emperor ate and drank, and then asked the monk: ‘Do you know who I am?’ ‘God knows who you are,’ answered the monk. ‘I am the Emperor Theodosios.’ The monk silently prostrated before him. The emperor then said to him: ‘I am an emperor and the son of an emperor, but believe me, I have never before in my life eaten such sweet-tasting food as here today with you.’ ‘And do you know the reason?’ asked the elder, and went on: ‘It is because we monks always prepare our food with prayer and a blessing, and therefore even bad food will turn into sweet for us. They certainly take a lot of trouble over the preparation of your food, but they do not ask a blessing from God, and so the most delicious food is tasteless.’

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.