Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 222]. Brethren:

2 ¹⁹Ye are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of God, ²⁰who were built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone, ²¹in Whom every building, being joined together, increaseth to a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in Whom ye also are being built up together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

3 ¹For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of the Christ, Jesus, on behalf of you, the nations— ²if, indeed, ye heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me in regard to you, ³that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (even as I wrote before briefly, ⁴according to which reading ye are able to perceive my understanding in the mystery of the Christ), ⁵which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as now it was revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit: ⁶the nations are to be joint-heirs, and fellow members of the body, and joint-partakers of His promise in the Christ, through the Gospel, ⁷of which I became a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the energy of His power.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 50]. At that time:

11 ¹¹Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And after He looked about for Himself at all things, as it was already the evening hour, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹²And on the morrow, after they came out from Bethany, He hungered. ¹³And having seen from afar a fig tree having leaves, He came, if perhaps He might find something on it. And after He came to it, He found nothing except leaves; for it was not the season of figs. ¹⁴And Jesus began to speak and said to it, “May no one any more eat fruit of thee forever.” And His disciples were listening. ¹⁵And they came to Jerusalem. And having entered into the temple, Jesus began to cast out those who sold and bought in the temple. And He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold the doves. ¹⁶And He did not permit that anyone should carry a vessel through the temple. ¹⁷And He was teaching, saying to them, “It hath been written, hath it not, that ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations [Is. 56:7]’? But ye made it ‘a den of robbers [cf. Jer. 7:11].’” ¹⁸And the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests heard it, and they sought how they might destroy Him; for they were fearing Him, because all the crowd was astonished at His teaching. ¹⁹And when it came to be evening, He went forth out of the city. ²⁰And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹And Peter, having remembered, saith to Him, “Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which Thou cursedst hath been withered.” ²²And Jesus answered, saying to them, “Be having faith in God. ²³“For verily I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea,’ and doubt not in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith is coming to pass, it shall be to him whatsoever he shall say.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Exaltation, and the holy Great-martyr Ephemia the All-praised.

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 Luke [§ 33]. At that time:

7 ³⁶A certain one of the Pharisees was asking Jesus that He would eat with him. And He entered into the house of the Pharisee, and reclined at table. ³⁷And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of perfumed ointment, ³⁸and she stood beside His feet behind Him, weeping; and she began to wet His feet with tears, and was wiping them off with the hairs of her head; and she was kissing His feet ardently and anointing them with the perfumed ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, “This One, if He were a prophet, would know who and of what sort the woman is who toucheth Him, for she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to thee.” And he saith, “Teacher, say it.” ⁴¹“There were two debtors to a certain creditor: the one was owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²“But when they had nothing to pay back the debt, he showed himself gracious to both. Say which of them then will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered and said, “I suppose that he, to whom he showed himself the more gracious.” And He said to him, “Rightly thou didst judge.” ⁴⁴And He turned to the woman, and said to Simon, “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; water thou gavest Me not for My feet, but she with tears did wet My feet, and with the hairs of her head wiped them off. ⁴⁵“A kiss thou gavest Me not, but she from the time that I entered did not cease from ardently kissing My feet. ⁴⁶“With oil thou didst not anoint My head, but she anointed My feet with perfumed ointment. ⁴⁷“For which reason I say to thee, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” ⁴⁸And He said to her, “Thy sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹And those reclining at table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this Who even forgiveth sins?” ⁵⁰And He said to the woman, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go thy way in peace.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 29th – Civil Calendar
September 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Ephemia (Euphemia).

Born in Chalcedon, her father was the senator Philophronus and her mother’s name was Theodorisia, both devout Christians. Ephemia was a girl beautiful in both body and soul. When the proconsul, Priscus, celebrated a festival of sacrifice to Ares in Chalcedon, forty-nine Christians absented themselves from the festivities and hid themselves. But they were discovered and brought before Priscus, holy Ephemia being among them. When the furious Priscus asked them why they had not carried out the imperial command, they replied: ‘Both the emperor’s commands and yours must be obeyed if they are not contrary to the God of heaven. If they are, they must not only not be obeyed; they must be resisted.’ Then Priscus put them to various tortures for nineteen days, from day to day. On the twelfth day, he held Ephemia apart from the others and began to flatter her beauty, hoping to bring her thus to idolatry. When all his flattery proved fruitless, he ordered that she be tortured. First, she was put on a wheel, but an angel of God appeared and broke it. Then he had her thrown into a fiery furnace, but she was preserved by God’s power. Seeing this, two soldiers, Victor and Sosthenes, came to faith in Christ, for which they were thrown to the wild beasts and thus finished their earthly course with glory. After that, Ephemia was thrown into a pit filled with water and all kinds of poisonous reptiles, but she made the sign of the Cross over the water as she went into the pit, and remained unharmed. She was finally thrown to the wild beasts, and with a prayer of thanksgiving, gave her soul into God’s hands. Her parents buried her body. She suffered in the year 303, and entered into eternal joy. (St. Ephemia is also commemorated on July 11th.)

2. Our Holy Father Dorotheos.

An Egyptian hermit of the fourth century, he lived in asceticism for sixty years in a cell in the Thebaid. He was distinguished by a rare love of labor and by wonder-working power. By day he built cells for the new monks and by night plaited mats, never interrupting his prayer and psalmody.

3. St. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev.

Born in Trnovo and given a Serbian* upbringing on the Holy Mountain, he devoted himself especially to the translation and writing of books. His patron was Patriarch Philotheos of Constantinople, who came to know him on the Holy Mountain, took him into his service and then sent him to Kiev as metropolitan. He lived through all this with greatness of soul, and by his fruitful labors, brought much benefit to the Russian Church, spending almost thirty years as metropolitan. At the time of his death, he wrote a Farewell which was read at his graveside. He entered into rest on September 16th, 1406, and his wonder-working relics are preserved in the Church of the Dormition in Moscow.

* Author’s note: Metropolitan Philaret writes that Cyprian was a Serb. See his ‘Lives’.

4. The Holy Martyr Ludmilla.

The grandmother of the Czech King Vatslav (Wenceslas) and wife of the Czech Prince Borivoy, she was very zealous for the Christian Faith and was greatly instrumental in freeing the Church from paganism. Her daughter-in-law hated her, and sent men to kill the aged Ludmilla in Techino in 927. Vatslav buried her in the Church of St. George in Prague, and many miracles were wrought over her relics. Holy Vatslav, a great zealot for the Orthodox Faith, was murdered by his brother Boleslav.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Often some unexpected misfortune comes upon us, and we vainly ask why. The Church of Christ alone is able to explain the cause of every misfortune. The Church places all misfortunes in two groups: One, those that come upon sinners because of their old, unrepented sin, and two, those that come upon the righteous and serve, according to the words of St. Chrysostom, ‘as a means of receiving a wreath, as was the case with Lazarus and Job.’ The Empress Evdokia was secretly in sympathy with the Eftychian heresy, hearkening in this to the counsel of the treacherous eunuch Chrysaphios. Misfortune suddenly came upon her. One day her husband, the Emperor Theodosios, brought her a large apple. The empress sent the apple to the sick senator Paulinos. He, out of love for the emperor, sent this same apple to Theodosios. This gave rise in the emperor to suspicion and uncertainty towards his wife and the senator, and he asked his wife where the apple was. She lied, and said that she had eaten it. This added to the emperor’s suspicions, and he exiled Evdokia to Palestine. In time, Evdokia recovered from her heresy, and acting on the advice of the great Palestinian spiritual teachers, returned whole-heartedly to Orthodoxy. The empress’ misfortune did not arise from any misconduct with Paulinos—in this she was completely innocent—but because of her heretical beliefs. Another and different example: the Emperor Marcian, as a military commander, was traveling one day near Philippopolis when he saw the dead body of a man on the highway. From simple compassion, he got off his horse and began to bury the man. Someone came upon him, and brought the commander to trial as a murderer. Marcian would have been punished by death if God had not quickly revealed who was the real murderer. This misfortune falls in the second group: ‘for the receiving of a wreath’. General Marcian was soon after this chosen as emperor.

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.