Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Sixth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 43]. In those days:

20 ⁷On the first day of the week, after the disciples gathered together to break bread, Paul, who was about to depart on the morrow, kept on discoursing to them; and he was extending the discourse until midnight. ⁸And there were a considerable number of lamps in the upper room where they were assembled. ⁹And a certain young man, by name Eftychos, who sat on the window sill, was borne down by deep sleep. As Paul discoursed yet longer, because he was borne down by sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead. ¹⁰And Paul went down, and fell upon him, and having embraced him, said, “Cease being clamorous; for his life is in him.” ¹¹And after he went up, and broke bread and tasted food, he conversed for a considerable time until dawn, and so he went forth. ¹²And they brought the boy alive, and were not a little comforted.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 48]. The Lord said to His disciples:

14 ¹⁰“The words which I speak to you I speak not from Myself; but the Father Who abideth in Me, He doeth the works. ¹¹“Keep on believing Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; otherwise keep on believing Me on account of the works themselves. ¹²“Verily, verily, I say to you, the one who believeth in Me, the works which I do shall that one do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to My Father. ¹³“And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, this will I do, that the Father might be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴“If ye should ask anything in My name, I will do it.

¹⁵“If ye love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶“And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷“the Spirit of the truth, Whom the world is not able to receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He abideth by you, and shall be in you. ¹⁸“I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹“Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no longer, but ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also. ²⁰“In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. ²¹“The one who hath My commandments and keepeth them, that one is the one who loveth Me. And the one who loveth Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostles Andronikos and Junia.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 30th – Civil Calendar
May 17th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Andronicus.

One of the Seventy, he was a kinsman of the Apostle Paul, as Paul wrote (Rom. 16:17), remembering also St. Junia, Andronicus’ helper. Andronicus was made Bishop of Pannonia, and did not stay in one place, but preached the Gospel throughout the whole of Pannonia. With St. Junia, he was successful in bringing many to Christ and in demolishing many temples of idolatry. Both of them had the grace of wonder-working, by which they drove out demons and healed every sort of sickness and disease. They both suffered for Christ, and thus received a twofold crown: of apostleship and of martyrdom. Their holy relics were found in the excavations in Evgenios (see Feb. 2nd).

2. The Holy Martyr Solochon.

He was an Egyptian by birth, and a Roman soldier under the commander Campanus, in the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximian. When the imperial command that all soldiers offer sacrifice to idols arrived, Solochon revealed that he was a Christian. Two of his friends, Pamphamir and Pamphylon, also did the same. The commander ordered that they be beaten and tortured with great harshness, under which St. Pamphamir and St. Pamphylon breathed their last. Solochon remained alive, and was put to new torture: the commander ordered the soldiers to force his teeth open with a sword and stuff his mouth with food sacrificed to idols. The martyr broke the iron with his teeth and did not receive the foul, idolatrous sacrifice. Finally, they stabbed him with a quill through both ears and left him thus to die. Christians took the martyr and carried him to the home of a widow, where he gained a little strength with food and drink, and continued to give counsel to the faithful to be steadfast in their faith and in torture for it. After this, he breathed a thanksgiving to God, finished his earthly course and went to the kingdom of heaven, to the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully, in the year 298.

FOR CONSIDERATION

After a terrible earthquake in Antioch, St. John Chrysostom said to the people: ‘Great are the fruits of the earthquake. Behold, the Lord, Who loves mankind, Who shakes the city but confirms the souls; Who makes the foundations tremble but strengthens the thoughts; Who demonstrates the weakness of the city but makes the will strong! Behold His love for men: He makes to sway for a little, and makes strong forever. The earthquake lasts for two days, but the devotion will remain for all time; sorrow endures for a season, but strength is forever. A mother who wants to wean her child from frequent crying rocks the cradle strongly, not in order to kill it but to frighten it. Precisely thus, the Lord, Who holds His universe in His hand, shakes it—not in order to destroy it, but to bring those who love lawlessness back to salvation.’ This is how the holy fathers, the pillars of the universal Church, knew how to explain by God’s love for man both assaults and blessings, both misfortunes and pleasures. Let us be ashamed of our slowness in thanking God when He gives, and of our quickness in grumbling at Him when He takes away.

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.