Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Seventh Sunday of Pascha, or the Sunday of the Holy Fathers

Mode Plagal Two — Tenth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 44]. In those days:

20 ¹⁶Paul decided to sail by Ephesus, so that to spend time in Asia might not happen to him; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to himself the presbyters of the church. ¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them,... ²⁸“Be taking heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit set you for Himself as bishops, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which He preserved for Himself through His own blood. ²⁹“For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock, ³⁰“and among your own selves men shall rise up, speaking things which have been perverted, to draw away the disciples after themselves. ³¹“Wherefore keep on watching, remembering that for three years I ceased not admonishing each one night and day with tears. ³²“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build up and to give you an inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. ³³“I desired of no one silver or gold or clothing; ³⁴“but ye yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs, and those who were with me. ³⁵“I showed you by example all things, that so toiling it is needful to help those who are weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” ³⁶And having said these things, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.

Gospel

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

17 ¹Jesus lifted up His eyes to the heaven, and said, “Father, the hour hath come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son might glorify Thee, ²“even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, in order that all whom Thou hast given Him, He should give to them life eternal. ³“And this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou didst send forth. ⁴“I glorified Thee on the earth. I finished the work which Thou hast given Me that I should do. ⁵“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world came to be. ⁶“I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou hast given them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. ⁷“Now they have come to know that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee. ⁸“For the words which Thou hast given Me, I have given them; and they received them, and know truly that I came forth from Thee; and they believed that Thou didst send Me forth. ⁹“I make request concerning them. I do not make request concerning the world, but concerning these whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine; ¹⁰“and all My things are Thine, and Thy things are Mine, and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹“And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep in Thy name those whom Thou hast given Me, in order that they may be one, even as We. ¹²“When I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Thy name. Those whom Thou hast given Me I guarded, and none of them perished, except the son of the perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³“And now I come to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in them.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Peter, Dionysios, Andrew, Paul, Christine, Herakleos, Paulinos, and Venedimos, and the seven Virgin-martyrs at Ankyra in Galatia, Tekouse, Alexandra, Claudia, Phaenee, Ephrasia, Matrona, and Julia, and the holy Martyr Theodotos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 31st – Civil Calendar
May 18th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Theodotus, and the seven maiden martyrs: Tecusa, Alexandra, Claudia, Favina, Euphrasia, Matrona and Julia.

Theodotus was a married man and an innkeeper in Ankyra in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Although he was married, he lived according to the words of the apostle: ‘They who have wives be as though they did not have’ (I Cor. 7:29). But he kept the inn open, in order to be able unsuspectedly to help Christians, and his inn was a refuge for persecuted Christians. Theodotus secretly sent help to the Christian refugees in the mountains, and secretly gathered the bodies of those who had been killed, giving them burial. At that time, seven maidens were taken for trial and tortured for Christ. They were tortured, mocked and then thrown into a lake. One of them, St. Tecusa, appeared to St. Theodotus and told him to take her body out of the lake and bury it. Under cover of night, Theodotus set off with a companion to carry out the martyr’s wishes, and led by an angel of God, succeeded in finding all seven bodies and burying them. But this friend betrayed him to the authorities and the judge put him to harsh torture. Theodotus endured all the tortures as though not in his own body, having his whole mind steeped in God. When the torturers had made his body one great wound and broken his teeth with stones, it was ordered that he be beheaded. When he was taken to the scaffold, many Christians wept for him, but St. Theodotus said to them: ‘Don’t weep for me, my brethren, but glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whose aid I am finishing my course and overcoming the enemy.’ Saying this, he laid his head on the block under the sword and was beheaded, in the year 303. A priest buried the martyr’s body on a hill outside the city and a church dedicated to St. Theodotus was later built on the site.

2. The Holy Martyrs Peter, Dionysius, Andrew, Paul and Christina.

Peter was a young and gifted man; Dionysius was a nobleman; Andrew and Paul were soldiers; and Christina was a sixteen-year-old girl. They all courageously confessed Christ the Lord and underwent torture and death for His name in the year 250. One Nicomachus, who was tortured with them, denied Christ under torture, and instantly lost his mind, tearing at his body with his teeth and foaming at the mouth until he breathed his last.

3. The Holy Martyrs Herakleios, Paulinos and Benedimos.

They were Athenians, and suffered for the Faith in the time of Decius. They were thrown into a burning furnace for the name of Christ.

4. St. Stephen, Patriarch of Constantinople.

The son of the Emperor Basil the Macedonian and brother of Leo the Wise, he came to the patriarchal throne after Photius, and governed the Church of God from 886 to 893. He died peacefully, and went to the Lord Whom he had greatly loved.

FOR CONSIDERATION

To hide one’s virtues and ascetic practices has been normal with ascetics, not only in the first periods of Christianity but also through the ages to the present day. Evdokia, the wife of the famous Prince Dimitri of the Don, the liberator of Russia from the Tartars, was left a widow in 1389, while still fairly young. Imbued with devotion, this princess built churches, gave alms and secretly wore her body out with fastings and vigils. She wore iron chains around her body. However, she showed a smiling face to the world and dressed luxuriously, decking herself with pearls. The world said all sorts of things about her; voices began to be raised about her immoral life. Her sons came to hear about this, and insultingly and bitterly told their mother openly what was being said about her. Their mother undid her luxurious robe and her sons saw, with great amazement, her body all shrivelled and dried up, and bound with iron chains.

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.