Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 4]. In those days:

2 ¹⁴Peter, having taken his stand with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them, “Men, Jews, and all those who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and hearken to my words. ¹⁵“For these are not drunk, as ye suppose, for it is the third hour of the day. ¹⁶“But this is that which hath been spoken by the Prophet Joel, ¹⁷“‘And it shall be in the last days,’ saith God, ‘I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams [cf. Joel 2:28]; ¹⁸“‘and even upon My bondmen and upon My bondwomen in those days I will pour out of My Spirit [cf. Joel 2:29],’ and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹“‘And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke [cf. Joel 2:30]. ²⁰“‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come [Joel 2:31]. ²¹“‘And it shall be that everyone, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved [Joel 2:32].’”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 113]. At that time:

24 ¹²Peter arose and ran to the sepulcher; and having stooped to look, he saw the linen cloths lying alone, and departed to his home, wondering at that which had come to pass.

¹³And behold, two of them were going on the same day to a village, being sixty stadia from Jerusalem, which is named Emmaus. ¹⁴And they were conversing with one another about all these things which had taken place. ¹⁵And it came to pass, while they conversed and discussed, Jesus Himself drew near and was going together with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were held, so as not to recognize Him. ¹⁷And He said to them, “What words are these which ye exchange with one another, as ye walk and are sad in countenance?” ¹⁸And the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Art Thou sojourning alone as a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which came to pass in it in these days?” ¹⁹And He said to them, “What kind of things?” And they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazaræan, Who was a man, a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰“how both the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to a judgment of death, and crucified Him. ²¹“But we were hoping that He was the One Who was about to redeem Israel; but, beside all these things, this passeth as the third day today since these things took place. ²²“Yea, and certain women from among us astonished us, who were early at the sepulcher. ²³“And not having found His body, they came, declaring also to have seen a vision of angels who say, ‘He is living.’ ²⁴“And certain of those with us went away to the sepulcher, and found it thus, even as also the women said; but Him they did not see.” ²⁵And He said to them, “O ye without understanding and slow in heart to believe in all things which the prophets spoke! ²⁶“It was needful for the Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into His glory, was it not?” ²⁷And beginning from Moses and from all of the prophets, He went on interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. ²⁸And they drew near to the village where they were going; and He was making as if to be going further. ²⁹And they constrained Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day hath waned.” And He went in to stay with them. ³⁰And it came to pass, as He reclined at table with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and was giving it to them. ³¹And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He disappeared from them. ³²And they said to one another, “Our heart was burning in us as He was speaking to us in the way and as He was opening to us the Scriptures, was it not?” ³³And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those with them, ³⁴saying, “The Lord was raised indeed, and appeared to Simon.” ³⁵And they began relating those things that occurred in the way, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Martin, Pope of Rome (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 14th of April), and his fellow bishops, and Hieromartyr Artemon, presbyter of Laodicea.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene

     Archimandrite Raphael, Abbot of the Theotokos Monastery, and Hierodeacon Nicholas, settled on Lesvos (Mytilene) after the Fall of the City. In 1463, Muslims attacked on Great Friday. Archimandrite Raphael was pulled and tugged by his hair and beard along the rock-strewn ground. He was struck with clubs, spears, lances, and swords, while his hands were tied behind his back. He was stabbed all over and cast down paralyzed. His tongue was severed, and he was then suspended upside down from a large walnut tree, repeatedly beaten and whipped for 24 hours. He was cut down from the tree and stripped of his clothing from the waist up. After being positioned on his knees, five savage Muslims took up a saw and began cutting away his lower jaw. Nearly unconscious, he had his head placed on a square icon, where they struck him thrice on his mouth, extracting his lower jaw, thus separating his head from his body on Bright Tuesday, then the 9th of April.
     Deacon Nicholas, bound to a smaller walnut tree, witnessed these terrifying scenes. He, too, was stabbed, but he did not die immediately. It was only after his terror-stricken tender heart had borne the startling sight of his wounds and the punishments of the others, that he suffered cardiac arrest.
     Twelve-year-old Irene was seized and had boiling water poured into her mouth. One of her delicate hands was severed, the limb being tossed before the parents. The stump of her arm was bleeding profusely, as they chopped away one of her little feet. The lass was then pushed down into an earthen jar, where she was burned alive after being doused with flammable liquids and torching her bodice. As she stood trapped in the flaming cask, she lifted up her eyes heavenward and called upon Christ, commending her soul into the hands of the Lord.
     In 1959 and in the early 1960’s miraculous visions of the martyrs were granted to the islanders. The recovery of their relics has been the occasion of countless miracles and pilgrimages.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

April 26th – Civil Calendar
April 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Artemon.

He was a priest in Laodicea in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. He spoke thus of himself before the torturers’ tribunal: ‘I am called Artemon, a servant of Christ my God. Sixteen years I was a reader, and read the services in the Church of my God; twenty-eight years a deacon, and read the holy Gospel; and have now completed thirty years as a priest, teaching the people and setting them on the way of salvation with the help of Christ.’ The judge took him to the temple of Aesculapius, where the priests kept great snakes, regarding them as gods. They meant the snakes to bite Artemon, but he made the sign of the Cross, and by its power riveted the snakes to the ground so that they could not bite him. He then brought them out to the courtyard and breathed on them, and they died instantly. All who saw this were filled with amazement. But the chief of the pagan priests of that temple, Vitalis, seeing this marvel, fell to his knees before Artemon and cried: ‘Great is the Christian God!’ The martyr baptized him, along with several of his friends. But the evil judge stood firm in his wickedness and tortured the aged Artemon in various ways. He intended at one time to cast him into burning pitch, but fell off his horse into it himself and was burned. Two eagles were seen to descend on him, lift him from his horse and cast him into the pitch. St. Artemon remained free for a certain time and went about teaching the people, accompanied always by two tame deer. But he was arrested afresh and beheaded in the year 303. And his soul went to the kingdom of Christ our God, Whom he had served so faithfully.

2. The Holy Martyr Crescens.

From the city of Myra in Lycia, he was an honored and eminent citizen. He openly confessed his faith in Christ, and mocked at the lifeless idols. For this he was burned to death by the pagans.

3. The Holy Martyr Thomaïs.

Born in Alexandria of devout parents, she was instructed in piety from her youth and married to a devout man at the age of fifteen. But her father-in-law was a foul old man, and in the absence of his son, fell on his daughter-in-law with the intention of taking away her honor. Thomaïs was terrified, and in her terror, reminded her father-in-law of God’s law and slipped out of his hands. After a long struggle, the father-in-law took out a knife and slaughtered Thomaïs, cutting her into two pieces. At that moment the punishment of God fell upon him: he was instantly blinded and was unable to find the door to get out of the room. He was arrested right there and taken for trial, where he was condemned to death. Thus Thomaïs suffered for the commandments of God and for marital fidelity and purity. It happened after that, that those who were tormented by lustful passions lifted up their prayers to St. Thomaïs and received great help from her. The great ascetic Daniel translated her relics to Sketis and laid them in the priests’ cemetery. St. Thomaïs suffered in 476.

FOR CONSIDERATION

When the martyr Crescens, a nobleman of Myra in Lycia, was taken for trial, the judge put great pressure on him to worship idols. Being utterly unsuccessful in this, he finally said to Crescens: ‘Only let your body bow, but cleave in your soul to your God.’ To this the honest Crescens replied: ‘The body can do nothing independently of the soul, which gives it movement and guidance.’ Crescens was murdered for that clear teaching for Christians against two-facedness. And there is more to this. Christians have the responsibility of serving their Creator with their bodies, not just with their souls. By this is refuted the false position of some Christians who live in the flesh as pagans and meanwhile congratulate themselves on the belief in and love for God in their souls. They cut themselves in half and enter the service of two masters—although the holiest lips have stated the impossibility of that.

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.