Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fourth Sunday of Pascha, or the Sunday of the Paralytic

Mode Three — Fifth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 23]. In those days:

9 ³²It came to pass, as Peter passed through all quarters, he went down also to the saints that dwelt at Lydda. ³³And there he found a certain man, by name Æneas, who kept his bed for eight years, and was paralyzed. ³⁴And Peter said to him, “Æneas, Jesus the Christ healeth thee; rise up and make up thy bed for thyself.” And straightway he rose up. ³⁵And all those inhabiting Lydda and the Sharon Plain, who saw him, turned to the Lord. ³⁶Now there was in Joppa a certain disciple, by name Tabitha, which, being interpreted, is called Dorcas. She was full of good works and of alms which she used to do. ³⁷And it came to pass in those days she fell sick and died. And after they washed her, they laid her in an upper room. ³⁸And since Lydda was near to Joppa, and the disciples heard that Peter was in it, they sent forth two men to him, beseeching him not to delay to come over to them. ³⁹And Peter, having risen up, went with them, whom after he came, they brought him into the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing howsoever many tunics and garments Dorcas used to make while she was with them. ⁴⁰But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, rise up.” And she opened her eyes; and after she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and after he called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. ⁴²And it became known throughout all of Joppa; and many believed on the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 14]. At that time:

5 ¹Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now there is in Jerusalem by the gate a sheep pool, which is surnamed in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. ³In these was lying a great multitude of the infirm, blind, lame, withered, awaiting the moving of the water. ⁴For an angel used to come down from time to time into the pool and trouble the water; then after the troubling of the water, the one who first entered became well of whatsoever disease he was held by. ⁵And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. ⁶Jesus saw this one lying there, and knew that he had already been much time in that condition, and He said to him, “Dost thou wish to become well?” ⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man in order that whenever the water is troubled he may put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another goeth down before me.” ⁸Jesus saith to him, “Rise, take up thy bed and be walking.” ⁹And straightway the man became well, and took up his bed, and went on walking. And on that day it was a sabbath. ¹⁰The Jews therefore were saying to him who had been healed, “It is a sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up the bed.” ¹¹He answered them, “The One Who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up thy bed and be walking.’” ¹²Then they asked him, “Who is the Man Who said to thee, ‘Take up thy bed and be walking?’” ¹³But the one who was healed knew not Who it was, for Jesus turned aside, because a crowd was in the place. ¹⁴After these things Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, thou hast become well; no longer go on sinning, lest a worse thing should befall thee.” ¹⁵The man went away, and told the Jews that Jesus was the One Who made him well.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Symeon, the kinsman of Jesus.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 131]. Brethren:

4 ⁹I think that God showed forth us the apostles last, as condemned to death; for we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are held in honor, but we are dishonored. ¹¹Until the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are being buffeted, and never at rest. ¹²And we toil working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we bear up; ¹³being evilly spoken of, we beseech. We became as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things shaming you, but admonishing you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For if ye have myriads of tutors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel. ¹⁶Therefore, I beseech you, keep on becoming imitators of me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 56]. At that time:

13 ⁵⁴After Jesus came into His own country, He was teaching the crowds in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, “From what place hath this One this wisdom and the works of power? ⁵⁵“This is the carpenter’s Son, is it not? His Mother is called Mariam, is she not, and His brothers, Iakovos, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶“And His sisters are all with us, are they not? From what place then hath this One all these things?” ⁵⁷And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” ⁵⁸And He did not do many works of power there because of their unbelief.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 10th – Civil Calendar
April 27th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Simeon.

One of the Seventy, he was the son of Cleopas, and Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God. Seeing the miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Simeon was converted and included among the Seventy apostles. With great zeal and courage, he preached the Gospel everywhere in Judea. When the wicked Jews killed Iakovos, the Lord’s brother and first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, throwing him down from the top of the Temple and then stoning him to death, this Simeon, Joseph’s nephew, was installed as bishop in Jerusalem. He, as the second bishop of the holy city, governed the Church of God with wisdom and strength to a great age. He was more than a hundred years old when he suffered, and his sufferings came about as follows: in the time of the Emperor Trajan there was a double persecution begun in Palestine, against the descendants of David and against the Christians. The wicked people condemned Simeon on both counts. St. Simeon endured harsh torture and was finally crucified, as had been the Lord Whom he had faithfully served on earth.

2. Our Holy Father Stefan, Bishop of Vladimir.

A disciple of St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, Stefan was at one time abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and labored greatly in the regulation and organization of the monastic life and in the beautifying of the churches. But the enemy inflamed an evil monk against him, and he was not only removed from the abbacy but driven from the monastery. But God, Who does not leave the righteous long under the humiliation of the unrighteous, so guided the life of blessed Stefan that he was chosen as Bishop of Vladimir. As God’s hierarch, Stefan guided the Church to old age and departed this life in the Lord peacefully in 1094.

3. The Burning of the Relics of St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia.

The body of St. Sava was buried at Mileševa. In the time of the Turkish occupation, the Serbian people gathered together round the relics of their saint, to seek support and healing. Fearing that a rebellion against the Turks might be stirred up in that place, Sinan Pasha of Belgrade commanded that St. Sava’s relics be brought to Belgrade and burned there at Vračar. This was done on April 27th, 1594. But, with the burning of the saint’s relics, the wicked pasha did not burn the saint, who remains alive before the throne of God in heaven and in the hearts of his people on earth.

4. Our Holy Father John the Confessor.

He was the abbot of the community ‘of the Pure’ (the Katharoi). This community was founded near Nicaea during the reign of Justin, in the 6th century. For his veneration of icons during a ban on such veneration, John suffered much at the hands of the Emperors Leo and Theophilus, and died under their persecution in about 832.

FOR CONSIDERATION

True faith will be persecuted in this world. The Savior Himself said this to His apostles clearly and publicly (Jn 16:32). And St. Apollinarius of Hierapolis, writing against the Montanist heretics, asserts: ‘Let them tell us, before God, who of all their prophets, beginning with Montanus and his wives, has been persecuted by the Jews and killed by the ungodly. No one. Who among them has been arrested for the name of Christ, and crucified? Again, no one. Have any of their women been flogged or stoned in the Jewish synagogues? No.’ This Orthodox saint means to say that it is true faith that will be persecuted in this world. Heresies are usually closer to the worldly and demonic spirit, and therefore the world and the demons do not persecute their own. To be constantly under persecution—with short breathing-spaces—is a distinguishing mark of the Faith and of the Orthodox Church. This persecution has existed throughout the whole of history, whether externally or internally; externally from unbelievers and internally from heretics.

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.