Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Fourth Week

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 John [§ 31].

8 ³¹The Lord Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If ye abide in My word, truly ye are My disciples; ³²“and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” ³³They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how sayest Thou, ‘Ye shall become free?’” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, that everyone who doeth sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵“And the slave abideth not in the house forever; the Son abideth forever. ³⁶“If therefore the Son should set you free, verily ye shall be free. ³⁷“I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because My word findeth no room in you. ³⁸“I am speaking that which I have seen by the side of My Father; and ye therefore are doing that which ye have seen from the side of your father.” ³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If ye were children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰“But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man Who hath spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. ⁴¹“Ye are doing the works of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We have not been born of fornication; we have one Father, God.” ⁴²Then Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I came forth out of God and am come; for neither have I come of Myself, but that One sent Me forth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy and all-praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, and our venerable Father Arsensios the Great.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 68 B].

1 ¹That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands touched, concerning the Logos of the Life— ²and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and relate to you the Life, the Eternal One, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³that which we have seen and heard we relate to you, in order that ye also may have communion with us; and our communion also is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴And these things we write to you in order that our joy may be made full.

⁵And this is the message which we have heard from Him and we announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we should say that we have communion with Him, and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practise the truth; ⁷but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have communion with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Gospel

For the Apostle:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§§ 61, mid 67]. At that time:

19 ²⁵There had stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Then Jesus, having seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, saith to His Mother, “Woman, behold thy son.” ²⁷Then He saith to the disciple, “Behold, thy Mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home....

21 ²⁴This is the disciple who beareth testimony concerning these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵And there are also many other things, which if as much as Jesus did may be written one by one, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

For the venerable Father:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 21st – Civil Calendar
May 8th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John.

The main commemoration of this great apostle and evangelist is on September 26th, but on May 8th is commemorated a wonderful revelation about his grave. When St. John was more than a hundred years old, he took seven of his disciples, went outside the city of Ephesus and told the disciples to dig a grave in the form of a cross. Then the elder went down alive into the grave, gave up his soul to the Lord, and was buried. When the faithful later opened John’s grave, they did not find the body in it. And on May 8th each year a dust arose from the grave, from which those suffering from many diseases were healed.

2. Our Holy Father Arsenius the Great.

This famous saint was born of a patrician family in Rome, and was well-educated both in secular learning and philosophy and in spiritual wisdom. Abandoning all secular studies, he gave himself to the service of the Church and was deacon in a large church in Rome. Unmarried, retiring, silent and prayerful, Arsenius thought that he would spend his whole life in that way. But, by the providence of God, his life was directed in a different way. The Emperor Theodosios summoned him to bring up and educate his two sons, Arkadios and Honorios, and made him a senator, surrounding him with wealth, honor and luxury. But this was a greater burden than pleasure to the heart of Arsenius. It happened at one time that Arkadios was at fault, and Arsenius punished him for it. The insulted Arkadios thought up a harsh revenge on his teacher, and when Arsenius discovered this, he dressed himself in simple clothing, went to the coast, got into a boat and sailed off to Egypt. When he arrived at the famous Sketis, he became a disciple of John Kolovos and gave himself to asceticism. He considered himself as one dead, and when he was informed that a rich kinsman had died and left him all his goods, he replied: ‘I died before he did. How, then, can I be his heir?’ He retired to a cell in the desert as into a grave, and there he spent his days weaving baskets from palm leaves and his nights in prayer. He fled from men and from every conversation with men. Only on feast days did he leave his cell and come to the church for Communion. In order not to become idle, he often put this question to himself: ‘Arsenius, why did you come into the desert?’ He spent thirty-five years as a hermit, and all that time he was an example to the monks and the glory of monasticism. In all, he lived a hundred years and departed this life peacefully in 448, after long labors and trials voluntarily taken on himself. He went to the kingdom of Christ the Lord, Whom he had loved with all his heart and soul.

3. St. Emilia.

She was the mother of St. Basil the Great. In her youth, she desired to remain a life-long virgin, but was forced to marry. She bore nine children, and so endowed each of them with a Christian spirit that five of them became Christian saints: Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Peter of Sebaste, Makrina and Theosevia. She founded a monastery in her old age, where she lived with her daughter Makrina, and where she entered into rest in the Lord on May 8th, 375.

4. Our Holy Father Arsenius the Lover of Labor.

A monk of Kiev, he never gave himself any rest, but worked without pause. He ate only once a day, at sunset. He lived in asceticism and died in the 14th century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A monk complained to St. Arsenius that, while reading the holy Scriptures, he felt neither the power of the words he read nor any sweetness in his heart. To this the great saint replied: ‘My child, just read! I have heard that snake-charmers, when they cast a spell on the snakes, pronounce words that they themselves do not understand; but the snakes, hearing the words spoken, feel their power and are tamed. So with us, when we constantly keep the words of holy Scripture on our lips; even if we cannot feel their power, the evil spirits, hearing these words, flee in terror, for they cannot abide the word of the Holy Spirit. My child, just read. The Holy Spirit, Who wrote the divine words through those He inspired, will hear and understand, and will hasten to your aid; and the demons will hear and understand, and will flee from you. That is: He Whom you summon to your aid will understand, and he whom you want to drive from you will understand, and both goals will be reached.’

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.