Daily Devotional

Friday, May 27, 2022 (NS), May 14, 2022 (OS)

Fast Day, but Wine and Olive Oil Allowed.

Friday of the Fifth Week

The commemoration of the Martyr Isidore at Chios.

Jump to Prologue

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 36]. In those days:

15 ⁵There rose up certain of those from the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶And the apostles and the presbyters were gathered together to see about this matter. ⁷And after much discussion took place, Peter rose up and said to them, “Men, brethren, ye know that from former days God Himself chose among us for the nations to hear by my mouth the word of the Gospel, and to believe. ⁸“And God, the Knower of hearts, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as also to us; ⁹“and He made no distinction between both us and them, having purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰“Now then why tempt ye God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹“But through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe we are to be saved in like manner as they.” ¹²And all the multitude became silent, and were listening to Barnabas and Paul relating how many signs and wonders God wrought among the nations through them. ¹³And after they became silent, Iakovos answered, saying, “Men, brethren, hear me. ¹⁴“Symeon related how God first visited to take from the nations a people for His name. ¹⁵“And to this agree the words of the prophets, even as it hath been written: ¹⁶“‘“After these things I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and I will build again the things which have been dug down, and I will set it up [cf. Amos 9:11], ¹⁷“‘“so that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, even all the nations upon whom My name hath been called upon them,” saith the Lord Who doeth all these things [cf. Amos 9:12].’ ¹⁸“Known to God are all His works from eternity. ¹⁹“Wherefore I judge that we are not to trouble those who from the nations are turning to God, ²⁰“but that we write to them to abstain from the pollutions of the idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. ²¹“For Moses from generations of old hath in every city those proclaiming him, since he is read every sabbath day.” ²²Then it seemed good to the apostles and to the presbyters, with the whole Church, to send chosen men from among them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas surnamed Barsavas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, ²³having written by their hand thus: “The apostles and the presbyters and the brethren to those brethren who are of the nations in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. ²⁴“Whereas we have heard that certain from among us who went out troubled you with words, upsetting your souls, saying, ‘Be circumcised and keep the law’—to whom we gave no such command— ²⁵“it seemed good to us, having come to be of one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶“men who have handed over their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷“We have sent forth therefore Judas and Silas, who shall themselves also relate verbally the same things. ²⁸“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no further burden than these necessary things: ²⁹“that ye abstain from sacrifices to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication; from which, if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare-well.”

³⁰So when they were dismissed, they went to Antioch; and after they gathered together the multitude, they delivered the epistle. ³¹And having read it, they rejoiced for the consolation. ³²Both Judas and Silas, being themselves also prophets, by much discourse exhorted the brethren and confirmed them. ³³And after they continued for a time, they were sent forth in peace from the brethren to the apostles. ³⁴But it seemed good to Silas to abide there.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 37]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

10 ¹⁷“On this account My Father loveth Me, because I lay down My soul, that I might take it again. ¹⁸“No one taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. This commandment I received from My Father.” ¹⁹A division therefore again arose among the Jews on account of these words. ²⁰And many of them were saying, “He hath a demon and is mad; why hear ye Him?” ²¹Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who is possessed by a demon. A demon is not able to open the eyes of the blind, is he?”

²²And it came to be the feast of the dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. ²³And Jesus was walking about in the temple in Solomon’s porch. ²⁴Then the Jews came round about Him and were saying to Him, “Until when dost Thou lift up our soul? If Thou art the Christ, tell us openly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and ye believe not. The works which I do in the name of My Father, these bear witness concerning Me. ²⁶“But ye believe not; for ye are not of My sheep, even as I said to you. ²⁷“The sheep, those that are Mine, hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸“And I give them eternal life.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Martyr Isidore at Chios.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 27th – Civil Calendar
May 14th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Isidore.

In the reign of the Emperor Decius, this Isidore was taken by force by soldiers from the island of Chios. He had held the Christian Faith from his youth, and had spent his life in fasting, prayer and good works. So when, in the army, he declared himself to be a Christian, the commander took him to task for it, and urged him to deny Christ and offer sacrifice to idols. The saint replied: ‘Even if you kill my body, you have no power over my soul. I have the true and living God, Jesus Christ, Who lives in me and will be with me at my death; and I am in Him and shall remain in Him, and will not cease to confess His holy name while the spirit is in my body.’ The commander ordered that they first beat him with iron flails and then cut out his tongue. But, even without his tongue, Isidore was able to speak, and confessed the name of Christ by the Spirit of God. Meanwhile the punishment of God struck the commander, and he suddenly became mute. The mute commander finally gave the signal to behead Isidore. Isidore rejoiced at this sentence, and praising God, went out to the scaffold, where his head was cut off in the year 251. His friend, Ammon, buried his body, and after that, himself suffered and received the wreath of martyrdom.

2. Our Holy Father Serapion the Sindonite.

‘Sindon’ means ‘linen cloth,’ and this saint was called ‘the Sindonite’ because he covered his naked body only with a linen cloth. He carried the Gospels in his hand. Serapion lived like the birds, with no roof and no cares, moving from one place to another. He gave his linen cloth to a poor wretch who was shivering with cold, and himself remained completely naked. When someone asked him: ‘Serapion, who made you naked?’ he indicated the Gospels and said: ‘This!’ But, after that, he gave away the Gospels also for the money needed by a man who was being hounded to prison by a creditor for a debt. At one time in Athens, he did not eat for four days, having nothing, and began to cry out with hunger. When the Athenian philosophers asked him what he was shouting about, he replied: ‘There were three to whom I was in debt: two have quieted down, but the third is still tormenting me.’ The crowd was roused to aid him. They asked him who these were who were tormenting him. He replied: ‘The first creditor is carnal lust, which has tormented me from my youth; the second is love of money, and the third is the stomach. The first two have left me alone, but the third one still torments me.’ The philosophers gave him some gold to buy bread. He went to a baker, bought a single loaf, put down all the gold and went out. He went peacefully to the Lord in old age, in the 5th century.

3. Blessed Isidore the Fool for Christ.

He was of German birth. Going to Rostov from an attraction to the Orthodox Faith, he not only became a member of the Orthodox Church but took on himself the strict asceticism of folly for Christ. He lived in rags, spending the day pretending madness, and through this madness, teaching men; and spending the nights in prayer. He spent these nights in a hut outside the town, built in a lonely swamp. Great and mighty wonders were performed by this saint, both during his lifetime and after his death. He appeared to a merchant who had been thrown out of his ship and was drowning. Isidore came to him through the water and led him to the shore. He caused the wine in all the containers to dry up one day, when the servants had driven him from the door of the Prince of Rostov without giving him a single cup of water. When he died in his hut on May 24th, 1484, the whole of Rostov was aware of a fragrant aroma. The merchant who had been saved from the sea built a church in the place where the hut had stood.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A sin that is a cause of scandal to others is a twofold sin. A wise man tries to ensure that he gives scandal to no one by his sinful example and leads another into sin. St. Ambrose applauds such wisdom in the Emperor Valentinian, who died young, in this example from his life: ‘The emperor, hearing that he was being talked of all over Rome as a passionate hunter of wild beasts—which he, in fact, was not—and that this passion was taking the emperor away from his duties of state, immediately commanded that all the wild beasts in his forests be destroyed. Hearing, on another occasion, that some malicious person was spreading word that he lunched early (wanting by this to make him out to be a glutton), he took on himself a very strict fast, both publicly and privately. At public meals, he was rarely seen to put a morsel of food into his mouth. When, again, his sisters were in dispute with a man over some land, the emperor, although he had the right to try the case himself, submitted it to trial in open court, so that he could not be accused of partiality.’ Truly this devout emperor kept with godly fear to the words of the Lord: ‘Woe to him that causes offence to one of these little ones.’

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.