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 our fathers among the saints, Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus, and Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Epistle

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.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 25th – Civil Calendar
May 12th – Church Calendar

1. St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus.

He was born a Jew, but seeing the power of the Christian Faith, was baptized together with his sister, Kallithrope. He became a monk at the age of twenty-six, in the monastery of St. Hilarion. He later founded a monastery of his own, and became famed throughout Palestine and Egypt for his asceticism, his spiritual wisdom and the wonders he worked. Fleeing the praise of men, he went off to Egypt. On the way, he met Paphnutios the Great, who prophesied that he would be a hierarch on the island of Cyprus. And indeed, many years later, by God’s providence, Epiphanios came to Cyprus, where he was unexpectedly chosen as bishop. He became bishop of the town of Salamis at the age of fifty, and governed the Church of God for thirty-six years. In all, he lived nearly ninety years on this earth, and entered into rest from this life to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ. Before his death, he was invited to Constantinople by the Emperor Arkadios and his wife, Evdoxia, for the council of bishops which was forced, at the desire of the emperor and empress, to condemn St. John Chrysostom. Arriving in Constantinople, he came to the emperor’s court, where the emperor and empress talked with him at great length, endeavoring to make him declare against Chrysostom. The citizens and St. Chrysostom heard that Epiphanios had agreed with the emperor against him. Chrysostom therefore wrote him a letter: ‘My brother Epiphanios, I hear that you have advised the emperor that I should be banished: know that you will never again see your episcopal throne.’ To this, Epiphanios wrote in return: ‘John, my suffering brother, withstand insults, but know that you will not reach the place to which you are exiled.’ And these two prophecies of the two saints soon came about. Refusing to agree with the emperor on the exile of Chrysostom, Epiphanios took ship and set off for Cyprus, but died on the voyage. The emperor sent St. Chrysostom into exile in Armenia, but the saint died on the road. Saint Epiphanios entered into rest in the year 403. Of his many writings the best-known is his ‘Medicine Chest,’ in Greek, in which he explains and refutes eighty heresies.

2. St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He was the son of the head of the imperial senate, who was killed by the Emperor Constantine Pogonatos. This same wicked emperor castrated the senator’s son, this Germanos, and drove him by force into a monastery. As a monk, Germanos shone like a star by his life of good works. Because of this, he was chosen first as Bishop of Kyzikos (Cyzicus) and then, when Anastasios II became emperor in 715, as Patriarch of Constantinople. As patriarch, he baptized the infamous Kopronymos who, at the time of his Baptism, fouled the water with filth, and the patriarch prophesied that, when he became emperor, he would bring some foul heresy into the Church. And this came to pass. When Kopronymos became emperor, he restored the iconoclast heresy. Leo III the Isaurian, Kopronymos’ father, began the persecution of icons, and when Patriarch Germanos opposed him, the furious Leo cried: ‘I am emperor and priest!’ then deposed Germanos from his throne and sent him into exile to a monastery, where the saint spent ten further years until God called him to Himself in the kingdom of heaven, in 740.

3. The Holy Martyr Pancratius.

He came from Phrygia to Rome, where, as a boy of fourteen, he was martyred for Christ in 304. This saint is much revered in the West. There is a church in Rome dedicated to his name, and his holy relics are preserved there.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Clement of Alexandria quotes a horrible barbaric custom. When they took their enemies captive, he says, they bound them each back-to-back with a dead man, and left the two together thus until the living and the dead rotted together. We might say: ‘Thank God that this barbaric custom has ceased.’ In fact it has not ceased, but holds sway today with undiminished strength. Everyone who binds his living soul to a dead body, a body deadened by passions, is just as barbaric as those who bound a living man to a corpse and left them to rot.

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.