Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 6]. In those days:

2 ³⁸Peter said to the people, “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those at a distance, as many as the Lord our God shall call forth.” ⁴⁰With more and other words was he both testifying and exhorting, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹Then they indeed who gladly welcomed his words were baptized; and in that day about three thousand souls were added. ⁴²And they were persevering in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion, and in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. ⁴³And fear came to be in every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 8]. At that time:

3 ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemos, a ruler of the Jews. ²This one came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou hast come from God as a teacher; for no one is able to do these signs which Thou doest unless God be with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, except one should be born again, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemos saith to Him, “How is a man able to be born when he is old? He is not able to enter the womb of his mother a second time, and be born, is he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless one should be born of water and of the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶“That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷“Do not begin to wonder that I said to thee, ‘It is needful for you to be born again.’ ⁸“The wind bloweth wheresoever it is naturally disposed, and thou hearest its sound, but thou knowest not from what place it cometh and where it goeth; thus is everyone who hath been born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemos answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Thou art the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹“Verily, verily, I say to thee that We speak that which We know, and We bear witness of that which We have seen; and ye receive not Our testimony. ¹²“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³“And no one hath gone up into the heavens, except the One Who came down from out of the heavens, the Son of Man, Who is in the heavens. ¹⁴“And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus it is needful for the Son of Man to be lifted up; ¹⁵“that everyone who believeth in Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Terence, Africanos, Maximos, Pompeios, and 36 others, and also the blessed Zenon, Alexander, and Theodore at Carthage, and our holy father among the saints, Hieromartyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Epistle

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

for Sl. usage, see [Heb. 13:7-16].

Gospel

For the Hieromartyr:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 67]. The Lord said:

12 ³²“Cease being afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draweth near nor moth destroyeth; ³⁴“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Let your loins be girded about and the lamps be kept burning; ³⁶“and be ye like to men waiting for their own lord—whenever he should depart from the wedding festivities—that when he cometh and knocketh, straightway, they might open to him. ³⁷“Happy are those slaves whom the lord, after he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say to you that he shall gird himself about and shall have them recline at table, and will come forth and minister to them. ³⁸“And if he should come in the second watch, and in the third watch should he come, and find them thus, happy are those slaves. ³⁹“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰“Ye therefore also keep on becoming ready, for in the hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

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

1. The Holy Martyrs Terence, Africanus, Maximus, Pompeius and 36 others with them.

They suffered for Christ and were crowned with wreaths of glory in the time of the Emperor Decius. By the emperor’s orders, the governor of Africa notified all the people that they must offer sacrifice to idols. In the case of opposition, the governor was to put the stubborn to harsh torture. Hearing this threat, many lapsed from the Faith and worshipped idols. But these forty martyrs remained steadfast, for which they were put to torture. St. Terence encouraged his companions with these words: ‘Let us, my brethren, keep ourselves from denying Christ our God; that He may not deny us before His heavenly Father and the holy angels.’ The governor divided them into two groups; thirty-six of them, after flogging and having salt rubbed in their open wounds, he beheaded. But the first four he cast into prison with heavy chains round their necks and on their hands and feet. An angel of God appeared to them in the prison and touched their chains, which fell from them. Then the angel brought them a table abundantly heaped with food, and fed them. They were again taken out and tortured, and again shut up in the prison. Also, the governor ordered sorcerers to gather as many poisonous reptiles as possible, such as snakes and scorpions, and to shut them up with the martyrs. But the reptiles would not touch the men of God, but huddled together in one corner, where they remained for three days. When the prison was opened on the third day, the reptiles fell on the sorcerers and bit them. At last the governor passed sentence of death on these four martyrs. When they were taken to the scaffold, they joyfully sang psalms and hymns of thanksgiving to God, Who had accounted them worthy of a martyr’s death. They suffered with honor and attained to the kingdom in the year 250.

2. The 6,000 Holy Martyrs in Georgia.

In the wilderness of David-Garejeli in Georgia, there were twelve monasteries in which monks had lived the ascetic life for centuries. In 1615, Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia, laid it waste and slew innumerable Christians. One day, while out hunting at dawn on the day of Pascha itself, he saw the light of many candles shining in the hills. This was the monks of all twelve monasteries in procession all round the Church of the Resurrection, walking with candles in their hands. When the shah discovered that it was monks, he asked in disbelief: ‘Isn’t the whole of Georgia put to the sword by now?’ and ordered his generals to go and slaughter the monks at once. An angel of God appeared to Abbot Arsenius, and revealed their imminent death to him, and Arsenius informed the brethren. They then all received Communion in the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. Then the attackers arrived, hacked the abbot to pieces when he came out ahead of the others, and then killed all the rest. They all suffered with honor and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615. Thus ended the history of these famous monasteries, which had been like a flame of spiritual enlightenment in Georgia for more than 1,000 years. There remain just two today: St. David and St. John the Baptist. The King of Georgia, Archil, gathered the remains of all the martyrs and buried them. Their relics are to this day full of myrrh for the healing of those in sickness. [These saints are commemorated on Bright Tuesday.]

FOR CONSIDERATION

When a man detaches his mind from the earth and opens it to God with the desire of pleasing Him, then God reveals His will to him in various ways. St. Peter Damascene writes: ‘If a man has a wholehearted desire to please God, to him will God show His will through his thoughts, or through some other person or through holy Scripture.’ Such a man will be careful and will await the promptings of God, both inward and outward. For him there is no such thing as chance, and the world becomes for him as a ten-stringed harp that gives forth no sound but in response to the finger of God.

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.