Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Sixth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 39]. In those days:

For Gk. usage, see Acts 17:1-9; for Sl. usage, Acts 17:1-15.

17 ¹After Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ²And according to what was customary to Paul, he went in to them, and for three sabbaths was discoursing with them from the Scriptures, ³laying open and setting forth that it was needful for the Christ to have suffered, and to have risen from the dead, and that “this Jesus Whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.” ⁴And some of them were persuaded and were allotted to Paul and Silas—both of the Greeks who were reverent, a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. ⁵But those Jews who were not persuaded became jealous, and took to themselves certain evil men of the market-loungers, and formed a crowd, and made an uproar in the city; and having taken a stand against the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. ⁶But not having found them, they were dragging Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have upset the inhabited world are present here also, ⁷“whom Jason hath received. And these all practise contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” ⁸And they agitated the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. ⁹And after they took bail from Jason and the rest, they dismissed them. ¹⁰And the brethren straightway by night sent off to Verea both Paul and Silas, who, having arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹Now these, who received the word with all readiness and who daily examined the Scriptures if these things were so, were more noble than those in Thessalonica. ¹²Many indeed therefore from among them believed, and of the Greek women, those of noble rank, and of the men, not a few. ¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica came to know that in Verea also the word of God was proclaimed by Paul, they came there also stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴And then straightway the brethren sent forth Paul to go as far as the sea; but both Silas and Timothy were staying behind there. ¹⁵And those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and having received a command for Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they went forth.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 40]. At that time:

11 ⁴⁷The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together for a session of the sanhedrin, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this Man is doing many signs. ⁴⁸“If we should let Him thus alone, all will believe in Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and the nation.” ⁴⁹But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest of that year, said to them, “Ye know nothing at all, ⁵⁰“nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹But he said this not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation; ⁵²and not for the nation only, but that He also should gather together into one the children of God who have been scattered abroad. ⁵³Then from that day they took counsel together among themselves, in order that they might put Him to death. ⁵⁴Jesus therefore was no longer walking openly among the Jews, but went away from that place into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there He stayed with His disciples.

Sl. usage adds Jn. 11:55-57.

⁵⁵And the passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, in order that they might purify themselves. ⁵⁶Then were they seeking Jesus and were speaking with one another, as they stood in the temple, “What think ye, that He will come to the feast?” ⁵⁷Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone should know where He is, he should make it known, in order that they might lay hold of Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Great-martyr Irene of Magedon.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 18th – Civil Calendar
May 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Irene.

She lived in the Balkans in apostolic times, in the town of Magedon where her father Licinius was governor of a small region. She was born a pagan of pagan parents. Penelope—for that was her pagan name—learned the Christian Faith from her teacher, Appelianus. St. Timothy, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, baptized her and her lady-in-waiting, and brought her a letter from the Apostle Paul to read. She infuriated her father by her embracing Christianity, and he intended to have her trampled to death by horses. The horses turned on him, however, slaying him. She prayed to God on behalf of her father, who had just tried to kill her, and the Lord resurrected him. He subsequently embraced Christianity. Irene was tortured in different ways by four kings, other than her father, but God saved her through His angels. King Sedekias had her cast headlong into a deep pit full of snakes and reptiles. The saint persevered there for fourteen days, and emerged unscathed. Then the same king attempted to saw off her feet, but the sword broke against her body as against stone. This same king once again bound her to the wheel of a water-mill, then let the water in to drown her, but the water would not flow, but stood still, and the maiden remained whole and alive. After Sedekias was ousted from his domain, Sapor, his son, marched against those who deposed his father. St. Irene met Sapor and his army in the city of Magedon. By her prayers, his entire army was stricken blind. Again, she prayed and their eyesight was restored by divine grace. Nonetheless, the ungrateful ones shod her with nails, loaded a sack of sand onto her, put a bridle on her and commanded that she be led like an animal far outside the city. ‘Truly I am as a beast before Thee, O Lord!’ said the holy martyr as she ran bridled behind her torturers. But an angel of God caused an earthquake, and the earth opened and swallowed up ten thousand infidels—but brought thirty thousand to the Faith. Despite this, the king persisted in his paganism, for which he was smote by an angel of the Lord. Surviving all these tortures, by which an enormous number of pagans were brought to Christianity, Irene went to the city of Kallinikos, where she preached the Christian Faith. The local king, Numerian, tried to kill her, throwing her into three burning metal oxen one after the other. But the maiden was preserved and remained alive, and many saw and believed. The eparch, Vavdonos, sought to kill her by putting her onto a burning grid, but this did not harm St. Irene, and brought him to the true Faith. She then went to the city of Constantina, where Shapur II the Great, King of the Persians, had her head cut off. But she was resurrected by an angel of God. The king, seeing this, together with many of the people, believed in Christ and was baptized. And thus St. Irene, by her sufferings and miracles, brought over 100,000 pagans to faith in Christ. At last she laid herself in a grave and commanded Appelianus, her former teacher, to close it. After four days, when the grave was opened, her body was not in it. Thus God glorified forever the maiden and martyr Irene, who had sacrificed all and endured all, that God should be the more greatly glorified among men.

2. Ss. Martin and Heraclius.

Slavs, they were persecuted by heretical Arians in Illyria. Sent into exile, these knights of Orthodoxy finished their earthly course in the 4th century and went to the Lord.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Prayer with words is of no use if the heart does not participate. God only hears prayer from the heart. Abba Zoilos of the Thebaid, returning once from Mount Sinai, met a monk who complained that in the monastery, they were greatly suffering from drought. Zoilos asked: ‘Why don’t you pray to God, and implore Him?’ The monk replied: ‘We have prayed and implored, but there is no rain!’ To this Zoilos answered: ‘It is obvious that you are not praying from the heart. Do you want to be convinced that this is so?’ And, thus speaking, the elder raised his hands to heaven and began to pray, and abundant rain fell onto the earth. Seeing this, the marveling monk fell to the ground before the elder and did him reverence, but the elder, fearing the praise of men, quickly fled from him. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you,’ said the Lord Himself. But vain are mouthfuls of prayers if the heart is empty. God does not stand and listen to the lips, but to the heart. Let the heart be filled with prayer and the lips be silent. God will hear and receive the prayer, for He only hearkens to heartfelt prayer.

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.