Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 47]. In those days:

23 ¹Paul, having looked intently on the sanhedrin, said, “Men, brethren, I, in all good conscience, have conducted myself as a citizen to God even to this day.” ²But the high priest Ananias ordered those standing by him to smite his mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, “God is about to smite thee, thou whitewashed wall. And thou sittest judging me according to the law, and acting contrary to the law thou commandest me to be smitten!” ⁴And those having stood by said, “Revilest thou the high priest of God?” ⁵And Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he is high priest; for it hath been written, ‘Thou shalt not speak ill of a ruler of thy people [cf. Ex. 22:28].’” ⁶But Paul, having perceived that the one part was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrin, “Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee; I am being judged concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead.” ⁷And after he spoke thus, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. ⁸For Sadducees indeed say there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. ⁹And there arose a great cry; and the scribes of the part of the Pharisees rose up and were contending, saying, “We find nothing evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, let us not fight against God.” ¹⁰And after a great dissension arose, the tribune, fearing lest Paul should be torn in pieces, commanded the troops to go down, and to snatch him up out of their midst, and to bring him into the barracks. ¹¹And on the coming night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good courage, Paul; for as thou didst testify concerning the things of Me in Jerusalem, so also it is necessary for thee to bear witness in Rome.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 54]. The Lord said to His disciples:

16 ¹⁵“All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine; on this account I said that He shall receive of Mine and shall announce it to you. ¹⁶“A little while, and ye behold Me not; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go away to the Father.” ¹⁷Then some of the disciples said to one another, “What is this which He saith to us, ‘A little while, and ye behold Me not; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me’; and ‘because I go away to the Father’?” ¹⁸They were saying therefore, “What is this which He saith, ‘A little while’? We know not what He speaketh.” ¹⁹Now Jesus knew that they were wishing to question Him, and He said to them, “Concerning this do ye inquire among one another, because I said, ‘A little while and ye behold Me not, and again, a little while and ye shall see Me’? ²⁰“Verily, verily, I say to you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall be glad; and ye shall be grieved, but your grief shall become joy. ²¹“The woman, whenever she is about to bring forth, hath grief, because her hour is come; but whenever she should bear the child, she no longer remembereth the affliction, on account of the joy that a man is born into the world. ²²“And therefore ye now on the one hand have sorrow; but on the other hand I will see you again and your heart shall be glad, and your joy no one taketh away from you. ²³“And in that day ye shall ask Me for nothing. Verily, verily, I say to you that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Karpos of the Seventy.

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

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 8th – Civil Calendar
May 26th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Carpus.

One of the Seventy, he was a follower and companion of the Apostle Paul, who installed him as Bishop of Varna in Thrace. But he also preached the Gospel in Crete, where he was host to St. Dionysius the Areopagite. St. Dionysius testifies that he was a man with an exceptionally pure mind, of great humility and guilelessness. He further relates how the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to Carpus in a vision with His angels, and how he never began the Liturgy without first receiving a heavenly vision. He endured many assaults for the name of Christ, and finally suffered at the hands of the faithless Jews and was murdered. His soul entered into the kingdom of God, to delight forever in the vision of the Lord in glory.

2. The Holy Apostle Alphaeus.

He was the father of two of the Twelve Apostles: Iakovos the son of Alphaeus, and Matthew the Evangelist. He entered peacefully into rest.

3. Our Holy Father John of Psychaita.

He left the world at an early age and retired to the Lavra of Psychaita in Constantinople, where he labored in asceticism for many years for the love of Christ. He was exiled in the eighth century for his veneration of the holy icons.

4. The Holy New-Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica.

This martyr of Christ’s was born in Thessalonica during the Turkish oppression. He was tricked by the Turks as a young man into accepting Islam, and at first his conscience did not trouble him for such an act, and he went on pilgrimage with some other Moslem pilgrims and became a dervish. But, living as a dervish in Thessalonica, he began to repent bitterly, and in his repentance the thought came to him that there was no way in which he could cleanse himself from the terrible sin except with his own blood. So, having repented and resolved on martyrdom, he appeared before the Turks dressed as a Christian. They threw him into prison and put him to various tortures. But Alexander would only cry out: ‘I was born a Christian, and as a Christian I shall die!’ Finally the Turks sentenced him to death, which filled the repentant Alexander with joy, realizing that the sentence was a sign of God’s forgiveness of his sins and acceptance of his sacrifice. He was slain by the sword in Smyrna in 1794, and was glorified in the Church both in heaven and on earth.

FOR CONSIDERATION

We must not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing so saddens the Lord Who suffered on the Cross for sinners as when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and his removal from our path. It once happened that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray God to send death upon two sinful men, one a pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. The Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Behold, here I am; ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men.’ St. Carpus related this event to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson for all in the Church that we must pray for the salvation of sinners and not for their destruction. For the Lord ‘is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (II Peter 3:9).

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.