Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 21]. In those days:

8 ⁴⁰Philip was found in Azotos. And passing through, he preached the Gospel to all the cities till he came to Cæsarea.

9 ¹But Saul, still breathing in threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ²and asked from him letters for himself to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he should find any being of the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³But as he was proceeding, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly there flashed a light around him from the heaven. ⁴And he fell on the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” ⁵And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest; ⁶“but rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what is needful for thee to do.” ⁷But the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing, indeed, the voice, but seeing no one. ⁸And Saul was raised up from the ground; and when his eyes were opened he saw no one; but they led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus. ⁹And he was three days not seeing, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰And there was a certain disciple in Damascus, by name Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, I am here, Lord.” ¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a Tarsian, by name Saul; for behold, he prayeth. ¹²“And he saw in a vision a man, by name Ananias, who came in and laid his hand on him, so that he might recover his sight.” ¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man, how many bad things he did to Thy saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴“And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all those who call upon Thy name.” ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go thy way, for this one is a vessel of election to Me, to bear My name before the nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel. ¹⁶“For I will show him how much it is necessary for him to suffer for My name’s sake.” ¹⁷And Ananias went away and entered into the house. And having laid his hands upon him he said, “Saul, brother, the Lord, Jesus, Who appeared to thee in the way in which thou wast coming, hath sent me forth, in order that thou mightest recover sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And straightway, as if scales fell from his eyes, he both recovered sight forthwith and rose up and was baptized. ¹⁹And having received food, he was strengthened.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 23]. The Lord said to the Jews who had believed in Him:

6 ⁴⁸“I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. ⁵⁰“This One is the bread, the One coming down out of the heavens, in order that anyone might eat of it and not die. ⁵¹“I am the bread, the living one, the One having come down out of the heavens; if anyone should eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And indeed the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” ⁵²Then the Jews began quarreling with one another, saying, “How is this One able to give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³Then Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, unless ye should eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye are not having life in yourselves. ⁵⁴“The one who partaketh of My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up in the last day.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Iakovos, son of Zebedee.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 29].

12 ¹At that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to maltreat some of those from the Church. ²And he killed Iakovos the brother of John with a sword. ³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he in addition went on to seize Peter also—and they were the days of unleavened bread— ⁴whom after he laid hold of, he also put in prison, and delivered him up to four sets of four soldiers to guard him, purposing after the passover to bring him forth to the people. ⁵Peter, therefore, on the one hand, was being guarded in the prison, but on the other hand, earnest prayer was being made by the Church to God on his behalf. ⁶And when Herod was about to bring him forth, on that very night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and guards also were before the door keeping the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the chamber; and he struck the side of Peter, and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And the chains from his hands fell off of him. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird thyself about, and bind on thy sandals.” And so he did. And he saith to him, “Cast about thee thine outer garment, and follow thou me.” ⁹And he went out and kept on following him, and did not know that it was real that which was happening by means of the angel, but he kept on thinking he saw a vision. ¹⁰And after they passed a first guard and a second, they came up to the gate, the iron one, which leadeth into the city, which was opened to them of itself; and having gone out, they advanced one street, and straightway the angel departed from him. ¹¹And after Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know of a truth, that the Lord sent forth His angel, and took me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 40]. At that time:

9 ¹After Jesus called together to Himself His twelve disciples, He gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to cure diseases. ²And He sent them forth to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal those who were sick. ³And He said to them, “Cease taking anything for the way, neither staves, nor leathern pouch, nor bread, nor money, nor having two tunics apiece. ⁴“And into whatsoever house ye enter, be lodging there, and from that place be going forth. ⁵“And as many as will not receive you, when ye go forth from the city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them.” ⁶And as they went forth, they were passing through village by village, preaching the Gospel, and curing everywhere.

for Sl. usage, see [Lk. 5:1-11].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 13th – Civil Calendar
April 30th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Iakovos (James).

He was the son of Zebedee and brother of John, and was one of the Twelve Holy Apostles. At the call of the Lord Jesus, he left his fishing nets and his father, and together with John, immediately followed Christ. He was one of the three apostles to whom the Lord revealed the greatest mysteries: before whom He was transfigured on Tabor and before whom He was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion. After receiving the Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel in various places, going as far as Spain. On his return from Spain, a violent quarrel broke out between the Jews and himself on the holy Scriptures, and being unable to withstand him, they hired a magician, Hermogenes. But Hermogenes and Philip, his pupil, were overcome by the power and truth that Iakovos preached, and were baptized. Then the Jews denounced him to Herod, and persuaded one Josias to slander the apostle. This Josias, seeing Iakovos’ manly bearing and hearing his clear preaching of the truth, repented and came to faith in Christ. When Iakovos was condemned to death, this Josias was also condemned. Mounting the scaffold, Josias begged Iakovos’ forgiveness for the sin of slander, and Iakovos embraced him, kissing him and saying: ‘Peace be to thee, and forgiveness.’ And they both laid their heads under the sword and were beheaded for the sake of the Lord Whom they had loved and served. St. Iakovos suffered in Jerusalem in the year 45. His body was taken to Spain, where to this day miracles of healing are performed at his tomb.

2. St. Donatus.

Bishop of Evria in Albania, he was endowed by God with great gifts of wonder-working, and performed many miracles for the sake of the people. He turned brackish water into sweet, brought rain in a drought, healed the king’s daughter of insanity and raised a dead man. This dead man had paid off a debt to some creditor, but the unscrupulous creditor wanted the debt paid a second time, so he used the death of his debtor to come to the widow and demand that the debt be paid immediately. The widow wept and complained to the bishop. St. Donatus told the creditor to wait until the man had been buried, then they would talk about the debt. But the creditor angrily demanded his own. Then Donatus went up to the corpse, took hold of it and cried: ‘Get up, brother, and see what’s up with this creditor of yours!’ The corpse got up, and with a terrible gaze, looked at its creditor, telling him when and where it had paid the debt. It also demanded a written receipt from him. The terrified creditor gave the receipt into its hands. The corpse tore it up, then lay down again and died. St. Donatus entered peacefully into rest in great old age, and went to the Lord in 387. His relics are still preserved for the help of the faithful in Evria in Albania.

3. The Holy Martyr Argyre.

This new-martyr was born in Prousa (Bursa) of devout parents. As soon as she was married to a Christian man, a Turk from the neighborhood looked on her and invited her to live with him. The Christ-loving Argyre rejected the Turk’s foul suggestion, and he was enraged and accused her to the judge of having intended to become a Moslem and afterwards retracted. From trial to trial, from prison to prison, St. Argyre spent fifteen whole years suffering for Christ, for she loved Him more than anything in the world. She finally died in prison in Constantinople in 1725.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A devout elder was lying on his deathbed. His friends were gathered round him, weeping for him. The elder sighed three times. The monks asked him why he had sighed. The elder replied: ‘I sighed the first time because you are afraid of death; the second time because you are not ready for death; and the third time because I am going from toil to rest.’ You see how a righteous man enters into rest? He does not fear death; he is ready for death, and he sees that, through death, he passes from a life of toil to eternal rest. When human nature is conceived in its natural state in Paradise, then death is unnatural, as sin is unnatural. Death comes from sin. Repentant and cleansed from sin, a man does not regard death as annihilation but as the gate of immortal life. And if the righteous prayed for their earthly life to be prolonged, this was not from love of this life, nor from fear of death, but only that they might be given more time for repentance and cleansing from sin, so that they might be purer and more sinless to go before God. And if they sometimes showed fear in the face of death, this was not fear of death but of God’s judgement. What sort of fear must unrepentant sinners have in the face of death?

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.