Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 5]. In those days:

Gk. usage, Acts 2:22-38; Sl. usage, Acts 2:22-36.

2 ²²Peter spoke to the people. “Men, Israelites, hear these words: Jesus the Nazaræan, a Man from God, Who hath been shown forth to you by works of power and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in your midst, even as ye yourselves know— ²³“this One, given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God—ye took and affixed to the Cross by lawless hands and did slay, ²⁴“Whom God raised up, having loosed the throes of death, inasmuch as it was not possible for Him to be held by it. ²⁵“For David saith in regard to Him, ‘I was foreseeing the Lord before my face continually, because He is on my right, that I should not be shaken [Ps. 15(16):8]. ²⁶“‘Therefore my heart was gladdened, and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also shall rest upon hope [Ps. 15(16):9], ²⁷“‘for Thou wilt not leave behind my soul in Hades, nor wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption [Ps. 15(16):10]. ²⁸“‘Thou madest known to me the paths of life; Thou shalt fill me full with good cheer with Thy countenance [Ps. 15(16):11].’ ²⁹“Men, brethren, it is allowed to speak with freedom of speech to you concerning the Patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his sepulcher is among us until this day. ³⁰“Therefore being a prophet—and knowing that God swore with an oath to him that from the fruit of his loins, according to his flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit upon his throne— ³¹“he foresaw and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left behind in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ³²“This Jesus did God raise up, of Whom we are all witnesses. ³³“Therefore having been exalted to the right of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which ye now see and hear. ³⁴“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he saith himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit Thou on My right, ³⁵“‘“until I should place Thine enemies as a footstool of Thy feet [Ps. 109(110):1].”’ ³⁶“Assuredly therefore, let all the house of Israel know that God made Him, this same Jesus Whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 4]. At that time:

1 ³⁵John was standing, and two of his disciples. ³⁶And having looked at Jesus walking, he saith, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷And the two disciples heard Him speaking, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith to them, “What seek ye?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where art Thou staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” Then they went and saw where He was staying. And they stayed with Him that day; and it was about the tenth hour. ⁴⁰Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard this from John, and followed Him. ⁴¹This same one first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is, being interpreted, the Christ), ⁴²and he led him to Jesus. And having looked at him, Jesus said, “Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas. Thou shalt be called Kephas” (which is interpreted, a stone).

⁴³On the morrow Jesus intended to go forth into Galilee; and He findeth Philip, and saith to him, “Follow thou Me.” ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, “We have found the One of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote—Jesus the son of Joseph, Who is from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶And Nathanael said to him, “Out of Nazareth can there be any good thing?” Philip saith to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and saith concerning him, “Behold, truly an Israelite in whom is no guile.” ⁴⁸Nathanael saith to Him, “From what place knowest Thou me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” ⁴⁹Nathanael answered, and saith to Him, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” ⁵⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to thee, ‘I saw thee underneath the fig tree,’ believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.” ⁵¹And He saith to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, henceforth ye shall see the heaven having been opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostles Aristarchos, Pudens, and Trophimos of the Seventy (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 15th of April), and our holy father among the saints, Martin, Pope of Rome (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 13th of April), and his fellow bishops, and the holy Martyrs Anthony, John, and Efstathios, slain for the Faith in Vilmius, Lithuania.

Epistle

For the Martyrs:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

For the Martyrs:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 36]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ¹⁶“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Become therefore wise as the serpents and guileless as the doves. ¹⁷“But continue being on guard against men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸“And also ye shall be brought before governors and kings on account of Me, for a testimony to them and to the nations. ¹⁹“But whenever they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what ye should speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak. ²⁰“For ye are not the ones who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father Who is speaking in you. ²¹“Now a brother shall deliver up a brother to death, and a father a child; and children shall rise up against parents and shall put them to death. ²²“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake; but the one who endureth to the end, this one shall be saved.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 27th – Civil Calendar
April 14th – Church Calendar

1. St. Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome.

Martin became Pope on July 5th, 649, at the time of a furious quarrel between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics. Constans the Second, Herakleios’ grandson, was on the throne at the time, and Paul was Patriarch of Constantinople. To restore peace in the Church, the emperor himself wrote a dogmatic decree, the Typos, which leaned heavily towards heresy. Pope Martin summoned a council of 105 bishops, at which the emperor’s statement was condemned. At the same time, the pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, begging him to uphold the purity of the Orthodox Faith and to counsel the emperor to reject the theories of the heretics. This letter infuriated both the patriarch and the emperor. The emperor sent one of his generals, Olympius, to take the pope to Constantinople in bonds. The general did not dare to bind the pope with his own hands, but instructed one of his soldiers to kill him with the sword in church. But, when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was instantly blinded. So, by the providence of God, Martin escaped death. At that time, the Saracens fell upon Sicily, and Olympius went off there, where he died. Then, by the intrigues of the heretic Patriarch Paul, the emperor sent a second general, Theodore, to bind and take the pope on the charge that he, the pope, was in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not reverence the most holy Mother of God. When the general arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the pope, he replied that it was libel; that he had no contact of any sort with the Saracens, the opponents of Christianity, ‘and whoever does not confess the most holy Mother of God and do her reverence, let him be damned in this age and in that which is to come’. But this did not affect the general’s decision. The pope was bound and taken to Constantinople, where he lay long in prison in great sickness, tortured by both anxiety and hunger, until he was finally sentenced to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years before his death. He gave his soul into the hands of the Lord, for Whom he had suffered so greatly, in 655. The evil patriarch, Paul, died two years before him, and when the emperor visited him on his deathbed, he smote his head against the wall, confessing with tears that he had greatly sinned against Pope Martin and asking the emperor to set Martin free.

2. The Holy Martyrs Anthony, John and Eustace.

These three were all at first pagans and fire-worshippers. They were slaves at the court of the Lithuanian Prince Olgard in Vilna. Their former names were Krugletz, Kumetz and Neghilo. All three were baptized by a priest called Nestor. The three of them were hanged, one behind the other, from the same oak tree in 1347. Christians cut down this oak and built a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, in which they laid the precious relics of these martyrs, making the Holy Table from the stump of the tree. Their relics are preserved in Vilna.

3. The Holy Martyr Ardalion the Actor.

The holy martyr Ardalion lived at the time of Maximian, 298 A.D. By profession he was an actor or a mimic, imitating the sorrows and woes of others. On one occasion he decided to imitate the resistance that Christians display when being martyred by the tyrants. So his friends staged an act where Ardalion was suspended from a height and supposedly mutilated because he would not sacrifice to the idols. The audience was so moved by his performance that they interrupted and gave him a standing ovation. Then Ardalion exclaimed in a great voice, telling the audience to stop their applause, and announced that he was a Christian in reality. The governor of that territory advised him to change his mind, but our martyr would not listen to him, and stayed firm in the Faith. He was cast into a bonfire which was lit on that spot, and thus he met his end and received the laurel of martyrdom.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘A monk must love God as a son and fear Him as a slave,’ says Evagrius. In fact, this is so of every Christian, even if he is not a monk. It is a great art to unite love for God to fear of Him. Many other of the holy fathers also, when they speak of the love of God, speak at the same time of fear of Him—and vice versa. St. John Chrysostom, in his homily ‘On Perfect Love,’ speaks at the same time of punishment and the torments of hell. Why? Because the greatest love towards God of which man is capable can be turned into pride if it is not accompanied by a sense of fear—and great fear without love leads to despair.

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.