Daily Devotional
Friday, July 18, 2025 (NS)
July 5, 2025 (OS)
Commemorations
Pascalion — Movable Calendar
Friday of the Sixth Week
Menaion — Fixed Calendar
The commemoration of our venerable Father Athanasios of Athos, and the uncovering of the precious relics of our venerable and God-bearing Father Sergius the Wonder-worker, Abbot of Radonezh.
Fasting Information
Fast day. No Meat, Fish, Dairy, Eggs, Alcohol or Olive Oil Allowed.
Scripture Readings
Pascalion — Movable Calendar
Friday of the Sixth Week
Epistle:
The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ mid
130]. Brethren:
4 5Cease judging anything before the time, until the Lord should
come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels
of the hearts; and then to each one there shall be the praise from God.
6And these things, brethren, I transferred in a figure to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think above what hath been written, that not one of
you be puffed up one against the other. 7For who maketh thee to differ? And what hast
thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive, why boastest thou as if thou
didst not receive? 8Already ye are filled; already ye became enriched. Ye did come to
reign without us—and would that ye indeed did come to reign, that we also might reign with
you.
Gospel:
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 55]. The
Lord said this parable:
13 44“The kingdom of the heavens is like treasure which hath been
hidden in the field, which, after a man found, he hid; and for the joy of it, he goeth and
selleth all things, as much as he hath, and buyeth that field. 45“Again, the
kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a merchant, seeking beautiful pearls,
46“who, after he found one very precious pearl, went away and sold all things,
as much as he had, and bought it. 47“Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a
dragnet which was cast into the sea and brought together of every kind,
48“which, when it was full, they drew up on the shore; and they sat down and
gathered together the good into vessels, but the rotten they cast out. 49“Thus
shall it be in the consummation of the age: the angels shall go forth, and shall separate the
evil from the midst of the righteous, 50“and shall cast them into the
furnace of the fire. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”
51Jesus saith to them, “Did ye understand all these things?” They say to
Him, “Yes, Lord.” 52And He said to them, “On this account every
scribe who was instructed into the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a master
of a house, who putteth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”
53And it came to pass, when Jesus finished these parables, He departed from that
place. 54And after He came into His own country, He was teaching them in their
synagogue.
Menaion — Fixed Calendar
The commemoration of our venerable Father Athanasios of Athos, and the uncovering of the precious relics of our venerable and God-bearing Father Sergius the Wonder-worker, Abbot of Radonezh.
Epistle:
The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213].
Brethren:
5 22The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23meekness, self-control; against
such things there is no law. 24But they who are of the Christ crucified the
flesh with the passions and the lusts. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also
be walking by the Spirit. 26Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one
another, envying one another.
6 1Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken
in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness,
looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Keep on bearing one
another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.
Gospel:
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that
time:
6 17Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of
His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the
seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases—
18even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured.
19And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and
healing all. 20And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be
filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
22“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they
separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of
Man.
23“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your
reward is great in the heavens.”
Lives of the Saints
(Prologue)
July 18th – Civil Calendar
July 5th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Athanasius the Athonite.
Born in Trebizond of
God-fearing parents, he was early left destitute, but by the providence of God, a high-ranking
army officer took him, removed him to Constantinople and had him educated there. He was beloved
by all his contemporaries for his meekness and humility. In their childish games, they appointed
one of themselves to be emperor, another commander and so forth. Athanasius was always chosen
Abbot, as if in prophecy. Finishing his schooling, Athanasius (called Abraham until his
tonsuring) retired to Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, where he lived in asceticism as a disciple of
the famous Michael Maleinos. Desiring yet stricter asceticism, he moved to the Holy Mountain, to
live in silence. Many, desirous of the ascetic life, began to gather round him and he was
constrained to build the famous Lavra. The Byzantine emperors gave him generous help in this,
especially Nikephoros Phokas, who himself had the intention of retiring and becoming a monk.
Later, John Tzimiskes also gave him great help. Manifold temptations were visited upon
Athanasius, from demons and from men, but he, as a valiant soldier of Christ, resisted and
overcame them all by his immense humility and unceasing prayer to the living God. Filled with the
grace of God, he was found worthy to behold the most holy Mother of God, who miraculously brought
forth water from a rock and promised him that she would evermore be the abbess of his monastery.
Athanasius surpassed his brethren in work and in prayer, and loved them all with the love of a
spiritual father and shepherd. Death came to him suddenly. He, together with six of his monks,
had climbed up onto a newly-constructed part of the church to inspect a wall that was in building
when the dome fell in and buried them all. So died this great light of monasticism in 1003. He
appeared a number of times to his brethren after his death, to console or rebuke them.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Cyprian the New.
Born in the village of Klitzos in Epirus, Cyprian went off to the Holy Mountain after the
death of his devout parents. He became a monk there and gave himself to asceticism in a cell near
the monastery of Koutloumousiou. He heaped labor upon labor on himself, asceticism upon
asceticism, until he became known and respected all over the Holy Mountain. But he was not
satisfied. He was tormented by the thought that he could not be saved but by martyrdom for
Christ. He therefore left the Holy Mountain and went to Thessalonica, appeared before the Pasha
of Thessalonica and urged him to discard the false, Mohammedan faith and receive the true Faith
of Christ. The pasha ordered that he be whipped and driven out of the city. Dissatisfied with
such little suffering for Christ, Cyprian went to Constantinople and wrote a letter to the grand
vizier in which he set down the falseness of Mohammed and the truth of Christ the Lord. The
enraged vizier sent him to Sheik ul-Islam, and the latter heard all that Cyprian had to say, then
ordered that he be beheaded. Cyprian was filled with joy beyond measure, and went to the scaffold
as to his wedding. Thus this godly man suffered for Christ on July 5th, 1679, and fulfilled his
strong desire.
3. Our Holy Father Lampados.
Loving Christ with a strong love from childhood, Lampados withdrew to the desert near
Irenopolis, where he gave himself to asceticism. Having overcome all passions and fleshly
desires, his soul was made resplendent with heavenly light and an inexpressible peace not of this
world. He was a wonder-worker both in his lifetime and after his death. He lived the monastic
life probably in the 10th century.
4. New-martyr Great Princess Elizabeth and Nun-martyr Barbara.
Elizabeth, affectionately called “Ella,” was the older sister of Tsaritsa-martyr
Alexandra and a daughter of Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the most beautiful princess
in Europe at the time but was even more lovely in her virtuous Christian spirit, gentle heart,
compassionate soul, and moral nobility. In 1884 she married Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich and
thereafter lived as a devout Orthodox Christian. The saint always considered Orthodoxy “the
genuine and true Faith, the only faith which has remained undistorted down the centuries and has
retained its original purity.” During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the great princess
organized sewing workshops for the needs of the army, equipped several hospital trains at her own
expense, provided for camp churches equipped with everything necessary for the divine
services, and daily visited hospitals. Then tragedy struck in 1905 when a revolutionary
terrorist murdered her husband Sergius with a bomb in Moscow. Great Princess Elizabeth, with a
true Christian spirit, visited the murderer in prison and forgave him, although the wretched man
showed no signs of repentance. Afterwards, Elizabeth devoted herself entirely to the service of
God and her neighbor, opening two hospitals and dividing her property among the poor. She
embraced the monastic life, and with the blessing of the elders of the Zosima Hermitage, she
founded the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary in Moscow, which included a hospital for
helping the destitute. The sisterhood was devoted to charitable activities and selfless service
to the needy. Their Abbess Elizabeth afflicted herself with ascetic exploits yet still summoned
the strength to treat all the hospital patients as a loving mother, encouraging them with kind
words and remaining at their side when they suffered unbearable pain. When the revolution broke
out in 1917, the saint was invited to flee to Germany, but she refused, submitting herself to the
will of the Lord. In 1918, she wrote, “We on this earth must look to that heavenly homeland
with understanding and say with resignation, ‘Let Thy will be done.’ Great Russia is
completely destroyed, but Holy Russia and the Orthodox Church, which ‘the gates of Hades
cannot overcome,’ still exist and exist more than ever.” On the third day of Pascha, the
communists arrested Mother Elizabeth and her cell-attendant Barbara. They took them, together
with other royal prisoners, to Alapayevsk in the Urals. On the night of July 4th/5th, just one
day after the martyrdom of the royal family, the prisoners were taken to a nearby abandoned mine
and thrown into a deep mine shaft. Some of them died from their injuries, and the rest starved to
death. Mother Elizabeth remained alive for a long time and the guards could hear her chanting.
The new-martyrs also included Nun Barbara, the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Princes Ioann
Konstantinovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich, Igor Konstantinovich, and Vladimir Pavlovich Paley;
and the secretary Fyodor Remez. They were all crowned with incorruptible crowns in the heavenly
kingdom.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How did Moses, with a blow from his staff, draw forth water from the rock? How did God rain
down manna from heaven and feed the Israelites in the wilderness? So question those who have a
very weak notion of the power of almighty God. They wonder why such miracles do not happen now,
to bring all men to belief in God. But the Israelites saw with their own eyes the innumerable
wonders of God, and even they did not believe. However, God renews the great wonders of old as
and when they are needed. When there was, at one time, a famine in Saint Athanasius’ Lavra, the
brethren scattered in all directions. Athanasius, in distress, set off also to find some other
place. ‘Where are you going?’ asked a Woman he met on the way. ‘Who are
you?’ Athanasius asked her, amazed to see a woman on the Holy Mountain, where the presence
of women is forbidden. ‘I am she to whom you have dedicated your community. I am the Mother
of your Lord.’ ‘I am afraid to believe you,’ said Athanasius, ‘for a
demon can make himself appear an angel of light. How will you assure me of the truth of your
words?’ Then the holy Mother of God said to him: ‘Strike this rock with your staff,
and learn who it is that talks with you. Be assured that I will always remain abbess of your
Lavra.’ Athanasius struck the rock with his staff, at which the rock shook and cracked as
if struck with a thunderbolt, and a gush of water came forth from it. In great fear, Athanasius
turned to bow down to the all-holy one, but she had already disappeared. He returned to his
lavra, and to his even greater amazement, found all his granaries filled with wheat. Here are
renewed the great wonders by which the faithful are confirmed in their faith.
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.
