Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 189]. Brethren:

9 ¹²The ministration of this public work is not only filling up the needs of the saints, but is abounding also through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³since, through the proof of this ministration, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Gospel of the Christ, and for the open-handedness of your contribution toward them and toward all; ¹⁴and in their entreaty on your behalf, they are longing for you on account of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ¹⁵Now thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

10 ¹Now I, Paul, myself beseech you through the meekness and gentleness of the Christ, who in person, indeed, am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you: ²but I entreat you that when I am present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I am counting on myself to be daring against some, who count us as walking according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, ⁵overthrowing reasonings and every high thing which lifteth itself up against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of the Christ, ⁶and holding fast in readiness to avenge all disobedience, whenever your obedience should be fulfilled.

⁷Ye look at things according to appearance! If anyone hath persuaded himself to be of Christ, let him consider this of himself, that even as he is of Christ, even so are we of Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 13]. At that time:

3 ²⁰Jesus went into a house; and a crowd cometh together again, so that it is not possible for them even to eat bread. ²¹And after those with Him heard of it, they went out to lay hold of Him; for they were saying, “He is beside Himself.” ²²And the scribes, who were from Jerusalem, came down and kept on saying, “He hath Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casteth out the demons.” ²³And He called them to Himself, and was speaking to them in parables, “How is Satan able to cast out Satan? ²⁴“And if a kingdom should be divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand; ²⁵“and if a house should be divided against itself, that house is not able to stand. ²⁶“And if Satan hath risen up against himself, and hath been divided, he is not able to stand, but hath an end. ²⁷“No one in anywise, having entered into the strong one’s house, is able to plunder his vessels, unless he should first bind the strong one; and then he will plunder his house.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the holy Prophet Samuel.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 156].

14 ²⁰Brethren, cease becoming children in your minds, but be ye infants in malice; and keep on becoming mature in your minds. ²¹In the law it hath been written: “By other tongues and by other lips will I speak to this people; and not even thus will they hear Me [cf. Is. 28:11, 12],” saith the Lord. ²²Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to the unbelievers; and prophecy is not for the unbelievers, but to those who believe. ²³If therefore the whole church should come together in the same place, and all be speaking with tongues, and those who are unlearned or unbelievers should come in, will they not say that ye are mad? ²⁴But if all be prophesying, and some unbeliever or one unlearned should come in, he is reproved by all, he is examined by all. ²⁵And thus are the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling upon his face, he will make obeisance to God, reporting that God is verily among you.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 2nd – Civil Calendar
August 20th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Prophet Samuel.

The fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel, he lived eleven hundred years before Christ. He was of the tribe of Levi, born of Elkanah and Hannah in a place called Ramatha or Arimathea, where noble Joseph was later born. The barren Hannah besought Samuel of the Lord with tears, and dedicated him to God when he was three years old. Living in Shiloh near the Ark of the Covenant, Samuel, at the age of twelve, had a true revelation from God of the punishment which would come upon the house of the high priest, Eli, because of the worthlessness of his sons Hophni and Phineas. This revelation was swiftly fulfilled: the Philistines routed the Israelites, slew both of Eli’s sons and captured the Ark of the Covenant. When the messenger brought these bad tidings to Eli, he fell dead on the ground, breathing his last at the age of ninety-eight, and the same thing happened to his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas. Israel was under the Philistine yoke after this for twenty years. When this time had elapsed, God sent Samuel to the people to preach repentance to them as the one means of their salvation from their enemies. The people repented and cast out the foreign idols which they had served, accepting Samuel as prophet, priest and judge. Then Samuel set out with the army against the Philistines, and with God’s help, put them to confusion and slew them, freeing the land and the people. After that, Samuel judged the people in peace to old age. Seeing him growing old, the people asked him to give them a king in his place. In vain, Samuel urged the people against this, saying that God was their only king, but the people remained adamant in their desire. Although this desire was not pleasing to God, He commanded Samuel to anoint Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, as king. Saul reigned a short time, and God rejected him for impudence and disobedience, and then commanded Samuel to anoint David the son of Jesse as king in Saul’s place. At the time of his death, Samuel gathered all the people together and took leave of them, and when he died all Israel wept for him and buried him solemnly in his house at Ramah.

2. The Hieromartyr Philip, Bishop of Heraklion, with the Priest Severus and the Deacon Hermes.

It is almost certain that they were Slavs. They served God in Thrace, and were there first put to torture for Christ. When the pagans were running to set fire to a Christian church, Philip courageously said to their leaders: ‘Do you think that God is shut within walls? He lives in men’s hearts.’ The church was gutted, all the books burned and the clergy taken to Jedrene, where, after imprisonment and torture, they were thrown half-burned into the River Maritsa. Thirty-eight other Christians died a martyr’s death with them. It is thought that they suffered in the time of Diocletian.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Repent before death closes the door of your life and opens the door of the Judgement. Repent before death, and because you do not know the hour of your death, repent today, this instant, and stop repeating your sin. St. Ephraim the Syrian prayed thus to God:

   ‘Before the wheel of time comes to a stop in my life, have mercy on me!
   Before the wind of death blows, and sickness, the herald of death, appears in my body, have mercy on me!
   Before the majestic sun in the heavens becomes darkened for me, have mercy on me; and may Thy light shine for me from the heavens and drive out the fearful darkness of my mind.
   Before the earth returns to earth and becomes corruption, and before the destruction of all the features of its beauty, have mercy!
   Before my sins are revealed at the Judgement to my shame before the Judge, O most gracious Lord, have mercy on me!
   Before the armies come forth, escorting the King’s Son, to gather our miserable race together before the Judge’s throne, have mercy!
   Before the sound of the voice of the trumpet heralds Thy coming, spare Thy servant and have mercy, O our Lord Jesus!
   Before Thou shuttest Thy door to me, and before I become food for the unquenchable fires of Gehenna, have mercy on me!’

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.