Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

First Period

Monday of the Holy Spirit

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 229]. Brethren:

5 ⁸Be walking as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth— ¹⁰proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹And cease having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³But all things which are reproved are made manifest by the light; for all which is made manifest is light. ¹⁴Wherefore, He saith, “Rouse thyself, thou who sleepest, and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine on thee [cf. Is. 9:2, 26:19, 52:1, 60:1, 2].”

¹⁵Be taking heed then how exactly ye walk, not as unwise ones, but as wise ones, ¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷On this account cease becoming foolish, but become as ones understanding what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸And cease being drunk with wine, in which is prodigality, but keep on being filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting in your heart to the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 75]. The Lord said:

18 ¹⁰“Be taking heed that ye do not ever despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in the heavens their angels continually behold the face of My Father Who is in the heavens. ¹¹“For the Son of Man came to save that which hath been lost. ¹²“What think ye? If there should belong to any man a hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray, doth he not leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and go and seek that which is gone astray? ¹³“And if he should happen to find it, verily I say to you, that he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴“Thus it is not the will of your Father Who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should perish. ¹⁵“But if thy brother should commit a sin against thee, go and reprove him between thee and him alone. If he should hear thee, thou didst gain thy brother. ¹⁶“But if he should hear thee not, take along with thee one or two more, that ‘at the mouth of two witnesses, or three, every word might be made to stand [cf. Deut. 19:15].’ ¹⁷“And if he should take no heed of them, tell it to the Church. But if also he should take no heed of the Church, let him be to thee even as the heathen and the tax collector. ¹⁸“Verily I say to you, whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens. ¹⁹“Again I say to you, that if two of you should agree on the earth concerning any matter—whatsoever they ask for themselves—it shall come to pass for them from My Father Who is in the heavens. ²⁰“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Hermeas at Comana.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 13th – Civil Calendar
May 31st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Hermas.

One of the Seventy, he is mentioned in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (16:14). A Greek by birth, he spent a long time in Rome. He was bishop in Philippoupolis, and finished his life a martyr. He compiled the very instructive book ‘The Shepherd’ through revelations from the angels of God. Hermas was a rich man, but fell into extreme poverty through his own sins and those of his sons. A man appeared to him, clad in white and with a staff in his hand, and told him that he was the angel of repentance, sent to him before the end of his life. The angel gave him twelve commandments:

1. To believe in God.

2. To live in simplicity and innocence.

3. To love truth and flee from falsehood.

4. To guard his thoughts in chastity.

5. To learn patience and magnanimity of soul.

6. To know that a good and an evil spirit attend every man.

7. To fear God, but not the devil

8. To perform every good deed and to restrain himself from every evil one.

9. To pray to God in faith from the depths of his heart, so that his prayer might be heard.

10. To preserve himself from melancholy, the daughter of doubt, and from anger.

11. To try true and false prophecies.

12. To preserve himself from every evil desire.

2. The Holy Martyr Hermias.

He was a soldier in the imperial army till old age, when he suffered for another Emperor: Christ. The wicked judge tried in vain to make him renounce the Christian Faith and offer sacrifice to idols, then he ordered that Hermias’ teeth be broken with a stone and the skin stripped from his face with a knife. After that, he was thrown into a flaming furnace, but he remained unharmed, protected by the grace of God. He was then made to drink the strongest poison, which was given to him by a magician on the judge’s orders, but the poison did him no harm at all. When the magician saw this, he was so amazed that he confessed Christ himself, and was immediately slain with the sword. They then poked out both of Hermias’ eyes, and he said mildly to the judge: ‘Take the eyes of flesh which used to gaze upon the vanity of the world; I have other eyes in my heart with which I clearly see the true light.’ He was then hung upside down by the feet, and those who were torturing him became blind and staggered around him. St. Hermias called them to himself, laid his hands upon them and restored their sight by his prayers. Seeing all this, the judge became as furious as a lion, and drawing out his sword, cut off the head of the man of God. Christians came and took Hermias’ body in secret, and gave it burial. His relics gave healing to all the sick and wretched. St. Hermias suffered in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, in the year 160.

3. The Holy Martyr Philosophos.

This martyr of Christ’s was born near Alexandria. During a persecution of Christians, Philosophos refused to renounce Christ the Lord before the pagan princes and judges, and they therefore inflicted terrible tortures on him. After he had been tortured in various ways, they finally placed him on a soft bed, bound hand and foot, and put a harlot in with him to entice him into sin. When Philosophos felt passion awakening in himself through the touch of the woman’s hands, he took the tongue between his teeth, bit it through and spat it out in the harlot’s face. His passion was extinguished, and the harlot was so aghast that she fled from him at once. He was afterwards beheaded with the sword, in about 252, whilst still young in years, and entered into the kingdom of eternal youth. (In the Greek Prologue, St. Philosophos is commemorated on May 1st.).

FOR CONSIDERATION

This life is a spiritual battle: to conquer or be conquered. If we conquer, we shall enjoy the fruits of victory through all eternity; but if we are conquered, we shall suffer the horrors of defeat through all eternity. This life is a duel between man and everything that sets itself against God. God is the almighty Ally of every man who whole-heartedly calls upon Him for aid. Saint John of Kronstadt says: ‘This life is neither a joke nor a plaything, although men may turn it into either. They fritter away the time given to us to prepare for eternity, disporting themselves with empty words. They go about visiting, sitting and gossiping, playing this or that game. They get together in the theaters and amuse themselves there. Life is, for them, amusement. But woe to those who do nothing but amuse themselves!’

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.