Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Sixteenth Week

Grave Mode — Fifth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 181]. Brethren:

6 ¹We, working together, beseech you also not to receive the grace of God in vain— ²for He saith, “In an acceptable time I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I helped thee [Is. 49:8]”; behold, now is an acceptable time; behold, now is a day of salvation— ³by not giving even one cause of stumbling in anything, that the ministry might not be blamed. ⁴But in all things commending ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits, ⁵in blows, in imprisonments, in instabilities, in toils, in vigils, in fastings, ⁶in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness of the right hand and of the left, ⁸by glory and dishonor, by ill-fame and good fame; as deceivers and yet true; ⁹as unknown and well-known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not put to death; ¹⁰as ones sorrowful, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 105]. The Lord said this parable:

25 ¹⁴“A certain man, going abroad, called his own slaves and delivered up to them his property. ¹⁵“And to one, indeed, he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own strength; and straightway he went abroad. ¹⁶“And the one who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷“And in like manner, the one who received two, he also gained another two. ¹⁸“But the one who received the one went away and dug in the earth, and hid the money of his lord. ¹⁹“And after a long time the lord of those slaves cometh, and settleth accounts with them. ²⁰“And the one who received the five talents came forward and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me five talents; behold, I gained another five talents above them.’ ²¹“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a little thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²²“And also the one who received two talents said, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me two talents; behold, I gained another two talents above them.’ ²³“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a few things thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²⁴“And also the one who received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Lord, I have come to know that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering together from where thou didst not winnow. ²⁵“‘And I was afraid and went away and hid thy talent in the earth; behold, thou hast thine own.’ ²⁶“And his lord answered and said to him, ‘O evil and reluctant slave! Thou knewest that I reap where I did not sow, and gather together from where I did not winnow! ²⁷“‘Then it was needful for thee to have put my money to the bankers, and I should have received for myself mine own with interest. ²⁸“‘Take away then the talent from him, and give it to him who hath the ten talents. ²⁹“‘For to everyone who hath, it shall be given, and he shall be in abundance; but from the one who hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. ³⁰“‘And cast ye out the unprofitable slave into the darkness, the outer one. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.’”

After He said these things, He cried aloud, “The one who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the universal Exaltation of the precious and life-giving Cross.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 125]. Brethren:

1 ¹⁸The word, that of the Cross, on the one hand, to those who are perishing is foolishness, but on the other hand, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it hath been written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set at nought the comprehension of the intelligent [cf. Is. 29:14].” ²⁰Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world knew not God through its wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. ²²For indeed, Jews ask for a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom; ²³but we proclaim Christ Who hath been crucified, to Jews, on the one hand, a stumbling block, and to Greeks, on the other hand, foolishness, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ mid 42]. The Lord said:

12 ²⁸“Father, glorify Thy name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I both glorified it and will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd then that stood by and heard it was saying that thunder had occurred; others were saying, “An angel hath spoken to Him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “This voice hath not occurred for My sake, but for your sakes. ³¹“Now is a judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. ³²“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.” ³³But He was saying this, signifying by what manner of death He was about to die. ³⁴The crowd answered Him, “We heard out of the law that the Christ abideth forever; and how sayest Thou, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵Then Jesus said to them, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Be walking while ye have the light, that darkness might not overtake you; and indeed the one who walketh in the darkness knoweth not where he goeth. ³⁶“While ye have the light, keep on believing in the light, that ye might become sons of light.” Jesus spoke these things, and departed, and was hidden from them.

In the Liturgy

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§§ 60, 61]. At that time: The high priest and elders took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And they delivered Him to Pilate, saying, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.”

19 ⁶Pilate saith to them, “Ye take Him and crucify Him, for I find no cause for accusation in Him.” ⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself Son of God.” ⁸Therefore, when Pilate heard this saying, he was the more afraid. ⁹And he entered into the Prætorium again, and saith to Jesus, “From what place art Thou?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. ¹⁰Then Pilate saith to Him, “Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have authority to crucify Thee, and authority to release Thee?” ¹¹Jesus answered, “Thou wouldest have no authority at all against Me, except it were given to thee from above.”... ¹³Therefore Pilate, having heard this saying, brought out Jesus, and took his seat upon the tribunal in a place which is called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. And he saith to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵But they cried out, “Take Him away, take Him away, crucify Him.” Pilate saith to them, “Your King shall I crucify?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Cæsar.” ¹⁶Therefore he then delivered Him up to them, in order that He might be crucified.

And they took Jesus and led Him away. ¹⁷And bearing His Cross, He went out to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, ¹⁸where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on the one side and the other, and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. And it was written: “Jesus the Nazaræan, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin....

²⁵Now there had stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Then Jesus, having seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, saith to His Mother, “Woman, behold thy son.” ²⁷Then He saith to the disciple, “Behold, thy Mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. ²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all things now have been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, “I thirst.” ²⁹A vessel therefore full of vinegar was set; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put around it hyssop, and brought it to His mouth. ³⁰Then, when Jesus took the vinegar, He said, “It hath been finished.” And having bowed His head, He delivered up the spirit.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 27th – Civil Calendar
September 14th – Church Calendar

1. The Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

On this day are commemorated two events connected with the Precious Cross of Christ: the first, the finding of the Cross on Golgotha and the second the returning of the Cross to Jerusalem from Persia.

Staying in the holy land, the holy Empress Helena decided to look for the Precious Cross of the Lord. An old Jew called Judah was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the Cross, and under pressure from the empress, he revealed that the Cross was buried under the Temple of Venus that the Emperor Hadrian had built on Golgotha. The empress ordered that this idolatrous temple be pulled down, and then, digging deep below it, she found three crosses. While the empress was in uncertainty about how to recognize which cross was the Lord’s, a funeral procession passed by. Then Patriarch Makarios told them to place the crosses one by one on the dead man. When they placed the first and second on him, the dead man remained unchanged, but when they placed the third on him, he was restored to life. By this, they knew that this was the Precious and life-giving Cross of Christ. After that, they placed it on a sick woman, and she recovered. Then the patriarch raised the Cross aloft for all to see, and the people sang with tears: ‘Lord, have mercy!’ The Empress Helena had a silver casing made, and placed the precious Cross in it.

Later, King Chozroes conquered Jerusalem, took the people into slavery and carried the Lord’s Cross off to Persia, where it remained for fourteen years. In 628, the Greek Emperor Herakleios was victorious over Chozroes and brought the Cross back to Jerusalem with great ceremony. Entering the city, Herakleios was carrying the Cross on his back, but suddenly the aged emperor was unable to take another step. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel directing the emperor to take off his imperial robes and walk beneath the Cross along the way that Christ had walked, barefoot and humiliated as He had been. He passed this vision on to the emperor, who stripped himself of his raiment, and in poor clothing and barefoot, took up the Cross, carried it to Golgotha and placed it in the Church of the Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the whole Christian world.

2. St. Plakilla (Flaccilla) the Empress.

The wife of the Emperor Theodosios the Great, she was a true Christian in both thought and deed. She was especially distinguished by her help to the poor and the sick. When someone told her that this was not consistent with her imperial dignity, she replied: ‘It befits the imperial state to help with money; my personal endeavors (towards the poor) I give to Him Whose good will it was to give me this state.’ She entered peacefully into rest in about 400.

3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Makarios of Thessalonica.

A disciple of Patriarch Niphon at the time that the latter was laboring in the asceticism of silence at Vatopedi, Makarios longed for martyrdom for the sake of Christ, and begged St. Niphon’s blessing to seek it. The discerning patriarch, perceiving that this was God’s will, blessed him for the way of martyrdom. Makarios went to Thessalonica, and in the midst of a crowd of Turks, began to speak of Christ as the one, true God. The Turks seized him and threw him into prison. When he was brought to trial, Makarios cried out to the Turks: ‘Oh, that you would come to know the truth and be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!’ The Turks beheaded him in 1527. At that moment, Niphon saw this in his spirit at Vatopedi, and told a monk of Makarios’ death by martyrdom, saying: ‘Know, my child, that your brother Makarios has today died a martyr, and is borne to heaven, triumphing and rejoicing in the Lord. May we be worthy of blessing by his prayers!’ (From the Athonite Patrology).

4. Our Holy Mother Maria of Tarsus.

She at first lived a life of harlotry. Two monks traveling through Tarsus stayed at the inn where Maria plied her trade. When she approached the monks, they rebuked her and pushed her away as unclean. She suddenly repented and vowed to sin no more from that moment. The monks took her with them to a women’s monastery, where Maria lived in asceticism till old age. She had the gift of wonder-working during her lifetime and after her death.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A nobleman decided to give a gold cross to a church, and found a young but experienced goldsmith, gave him a great measure of gold and told him to make whatever sort of cross he liked. The poor goldsmith, seeing such an offering made by the nobleman for the sake of his soul, was fired in his own heart with love for God, and decided to add ten gold pieces of his own to the nobleman’s heap of gold. When the cross was ready, the nobleman weighed it and found that it was heavier than the gold that he had given to the young man. He immediately began to abuse him as a thief, suspecting him of having abstracted some of the gold and substituted a heavier metal. When the young man saw the nobleman in such a rage, he confessed his deed. ‘I added,’ he said, ‘some gold of my own, as the widow gave her two mites, to receive Christ’s reward along with you.’ Hearing this, the nobleman’s heart was touched and he said to the young man: ‘From this day, you are my son and the inheritor of all my goods.’

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.