Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 18]. In those days:

8 ⁵Philip went down into a city of Samaria and was preaching the Christ to them. ⁶And the crowds with one accord were giving heed to the things being said by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he was doing for them. ⁷For of those who had unclean spirits, many were made to come out, shouting with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed and lame were cured. ⁸And there came to be great joy in that city. ⁹But there was a certain man, by name Simon, who previously used magic arts in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, counting himself to be some great one, ¹⁰to whom all were giving heed, from the small to the great, saying, “This one is the power, the great one, of God.” ¹¹And they were giving heed to him because for a considerable time he had amazed them with the magic arts. ¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached as good tidings the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³And Simon himself also believed; and having been baptized, he persisted with Philip; and beholding the works of power and signs being done, he was himself amazed. ¹⁴Now after the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent forth to them Peter and John, ¹⁵who, after they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For He had not yet fallen upon any of them, but only in the name of the Lord Jesus had they been baptized. ¹⁷Then were they laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 20]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

6 ²⁷“Cease working for the meat which perisheth, but for the food which abideth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you; for this One did God the Father seal.” ²⁸Then they said to Him, “What may we do that we may be working the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that ye should believe in Him Whom that One sent.” ³⁰They said therefore to Him, “What sign doest Thou then, in order that we might see, and believe Thee? What dost Thou work? ³¹“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, even as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of the heaven to eat [cf. Ex. 16:4, 15, 16].’” ³²Then Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses hath not given you the bread out of the heaven, but My Father giveth you the bread, the true one, out of the heavens. ³³“For the bread of God is the One coming down out of the heavens and giving life to the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Symeon, the kinsman of Jesus.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 131]. Brethren:

4 ⁹I think that God showed forth us the apostles last, as condemned to death; for we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are held in honor, but we are dishonored. ¹¹Until the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are being buffeted, and never at rest. ¹²And we toil working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we bear up; ¹³being evilly spoken of, we beseech. We became as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things shaming you, but admonishing you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For if ye have myriads of tutors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel. ¹⁶Therefore, I beseech you, keep on becoming imitators of me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 56]. At that time:

13 ⁵⁴After Jesus came into His own country, He was teaching the crowds in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, “From what place hath this One this wisdom and the works of power? ⁵⁵“This is the carpenter’s Son, is it not? His Mother is called Mariam, is she not, and His brothers, Iakovos, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶“And His sisters are all with us, are they not? From what place then hath this One all these things?” ⁵⁷And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” ⁵⁸And He did not do many works of power there because of their unbelief.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 10th – Civil Calendar
April 27th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Simeon.

One of the Seventy, he was the son of Cleopas, and Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God. Seeing the miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Simeon was converted and included among the Seventy apostles. With great zeal and courage, he preached the Gospel everywhere in Judea. When the wicked Jews killed Iakovos, the Lord’s brother and first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, throwing him down from the top of the Temple and then stoning him to death, this Simeon, Joseph’s nephew, was installed as bishop in Jerusalem. He, as the second bishop of the holy city, governed the Church of God with wisdom and strength to a great age. He was more than a hundred years old when he suffered, and his sufferings came about as follows: in the time of the Emperor Trajan there was a double persecution begun in Palestine, against the descendants of David and against the Christians. The wicked people condemned Simeon on both counts. St. Simeon endured harsh torture and was finally crucified, as had been the Lord Whom he had faithfully served on earth.

2. Our Holy Father Stefan, Bishop of Vladimir.

A disciple of St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, Stefan was at one time abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and labored greatly in the regulation and organization of the monastic life and in the beautifying of the churches. But the enemy inflamed an evil monk against him, and he was not only removed from the abbacy but driven from the monastery. But God, Who does not leave the righteous long under the humiliation of the unrighteous, so guided the life of blessed Stefan that he was chosen as Bishop of Vladimir. As God’s hierarch, Stefan guided the Church to old age and departed this life in the Lord peacefully in 1094.

3. The Burning of the Relics of St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia.

The body of St. Sava was buried at Mileševa. In the time of the Turkish occupation, the Serbian people gathered together round the relics of their saint, to seek support and healing. Fearing that a rebellion against the Turks might be stirred up in that place, Sinan Pasha of Belgrade commanded that St. Sava’s relics be brought to Belgrade and burned there at Vračar. This was done on April 27th, 1594. But, with the burning of the saint’s relics, the wicked pasha did not burn the saint, who remains alive before the throne of God in heaven and in the hearts of his people on earth.

4. Our Holy Father John the Confessor.

He was the abbot of the community ‘of the Pure’ (the Katharoi). This community was founded near Nicaea during the reign of Justin, in the 6th century. For his veneration of icons during a ban on such veneration, John suffered much at the hands of the Emperors Leo and Theophilus, and died under their persecution in about 832.

FOR CONSIDERATION

True faith will be persecuted in this world. The Savior Himself said this to His apostles clearly and publicly (Jn 16:32). And St. Apollinarius of Hierapolis, writing against the Montanist heretics, asserts: ‘Let them tell us, before God, who of all their prophets, beginning with Montanus and his wives, has been persecuted by the Jews and killed by the ungodly. No one. Who among them has been arrested for the name of Christ, and crucified? Again, no one. Have any of their women been flogged or stoned in the Jewish synagogues? No.’ This Orthodox saint means to say that it is true faith that will be persecuted in this world. Heresies are usually closer to the worldly and demonic spirit, and therefore the world and the demons do not persecute their own. To be constantly under persecution—with short breathing-spaces—is a distinguishing mark of the Faith and of the Orthodox Church. This persecution has existed throughout the whole of history, whether externally or internally; externally from unbelievers and internally from heretics.

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.