Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 7]. In those days:

3 ¹Peter and John were going up together into the temple during the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ²And a certain man, lame from his mother’s womb, was being carried, whom they used to lay daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those going into the temple; ³who, seeing Peter and John being about to go into the temple, began asking alms. ⁴And Peter, looking intently upon him with John, said, “Look on us.” ⁵And he began to give heed to them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, this I give to thee: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaræan, rise up and be walking.” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones were strengthened. ⁸And leaping up, he stood and went on walking and entered with them into the temple—walking and leaping and praising God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 7]. At that time:

2 ¹²Jesus went down to Capernaum, He, and His Mother, and His brethren, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. ¹³And the passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And He found in the temple those who sell oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting. ¹⁵And after He made a scourge out of cords, He cast out all from the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the small pieces of money, and turned upside down the tables of the money changers. ¹⁶And He said to those who sold doves, “Take away these things from this place. Cease making the house of My Father a house of merchandise.” ¹⁷And His disciples were reminded that it is written: “The zeal for Thy house shall eat me up [cf. Ps. 68(69):12(9)].” ¹⁸Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign showest Thou to us, seeing that Thou doest these things?” ¹⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it.” ²⁰Then the Jews said, “In forty and six years was this temple built, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?” ²¹But He was speaking about the temple of His body. ²²When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples were reminded that He was saying this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus said.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Virgin-martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia in Illyria.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 29th – Civil Calendar
April 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Agapia, Chionia and Irene.

They were sisters from the region of Aquileia. When the Emperor Diocletian was staying in Aquileia, he ordered that the famous spiritual guide, Chrysogonus, be executed. An old priest named Zoilus received a vision in which he was shown where the body of Chrysogonus lay unburied. The old man hurried off, found the body of the martyr, placed it in a coffin and carried it to his home. On the thirtieth day after that, St. Chrysogonus appeared to him and told him that the three maidens would be martyred in the next nine days, and that he, Zoilus, would himself enter into rest during that time. Anastasia the Clairvoyant also received the same tidings in a vision sent by Chrysogonus, who had been her teacher. The elder Zoilus did indeed find his rest after nine days, and the three sisters were brought to trial before the emperor. The emperor urged the holy maidens to worship idols, but they all refused, confessing their firm faith in Christ. Irene told the emperor that it was ridiculous to bow down to things made of wood and stone, made to order at an agreed price by the hands of a mortal man. The furious emperor flung them into prison. Now, when the emperor travelled to Macedonia, he took all his slaves and servants with him, including the three sisters. He gave them to Dulcitius, a general, for torture. Inflamed with a dark passion, he desired to defile the maidens, but when he tried to go into the prison, he lost his mind and fell upon the pots and cauldrons in front of the gate, embracing and kissing them, and was completely blackened with soot. When the emperor heard of this happening, he ordered another general to undertake the trial of the sisters. After terrible torture, the judge condemned the first two sisters to death by fire, but kept Irene for a time, hoping to defile her. But, when he sent Irene to the brothel along with some soldiers, an angel of God turned the soldiers back and led her out onto a high hill. The next day the general went out to the hill with his soldiers, and being unable to climb it, ordered that Irene be shot at with arrows. St. Anastasia gathered all three bodies together in one place and gave them burial. They suffered for Christ their King and Lord in about 304.

2. The Holy Martyr Leonides and those with him: Charissa, Nike, Galina, Kallis, Nunechia, Vasilissa and Theodora.

They were thrown into the sea, but it refused to receive them. They walked upon the sea as if it were dry land and sang praises to God: ‘I have won one battle, O Lord, and the soldiers have persecuted me, O Lord, and I have not denied Thee, O Lord; save Thou my soul!’ The pagans were at first astounded to behold this, but they then tied stones around their necks and again threw them into the deep, where they were drowned. They all suffered with honor for Christ our King and Lord in 281.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A story of the elder Barlaam: A man had three friends; two of these he loved sincerely, but avoided the third because he found him boring. It so happened that the emperor summoned the man to pay a debt. He turned to the first friend for aid, but he refused and went away. He asked help of the second, but he would not help him either. Somewhat shamefacedly, he turned to his third friend, who went willingly with him to the emperor. The meaning is this: the first friend is riches, the second is friends and family, and the third is the good deeds of a man in this world. The emperor is God, Who sends out His summons by means of death and demands payment of the debt. A man on the point of death looks for help from his riches, but they simply turn their back on him and pass into the hands of another. Then he turns to his kinsmen, but they go with him for a short distance, but then turn their backs on him, send him off and stay behind themselves tending to their own affairs. Then he begins to think on his good deeds, which he performed so grudgingly—and straightway these come with him on the road to the presence of the King and Judge. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The soul’s only companions into the other world are his deeds, be they good or bad. All that which was dear and precious to a man abandons him and turns its back on him; only his deeds, down to the very last one, go with him. He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.

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.