Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 117]. Brethren:

15 ⁷Be receiving one another, even as also the Christ Himself received us to the glory of God. ⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ hath become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, in order to confirm the promises to the fathers, ⁹and so that the nations might glorify God for His mercy, even as it hath been written: “For this cause I will confess to Thee among the nations, and I will chant to Thy name [Ps. 17(18):50(49)].” ¹⁰And again he saith: “Rejoice, ye nations, with His people [Deut. 32:43]!” ¹¹And again: “Praise the Lord, all the nations; and praise Him, all the peoples [Ps. 116(117):1].” ¹²And again, Esaias saith: “There shall be a root of Jesse; and the One Who riseth up to rule over the nations, on Him shall the nations hope [Is. 11:10].” ¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, in order for you to abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴And I myself also am persuaded concerning you, my brethren, that ye yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, being able also to admonish one another. ¹⁵But I am writing more boldly to you, brethren, in part, as reminding you, because of the grace which was given to me by God, ¹⁶in order for me to be a liturgist of Jesus Christ to the nations, ministering as priest in sacred sacrifice the Gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 48]. At that time:

12 ³⁸Some of the Scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from Thee.” ³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign; and there shall be no sign given to it, except the sign of Jonas the prophet. ⁴⁰“For even as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹“Men, Ninevites, shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the proclamation of Jonas; and behold, something more than Jonas is here. ⁴²“A queen of the south shall be raised in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something more than Solomon is here. ⁴³“But whenever the unclean spirit should go out from the man, he goeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. ⁴⁴“Then he saith, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ And after he cometh, he findeth it unoccupied, swept clean, and adorned. ⁴⁵“Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the latter things of that man become worse than those of the former. Thus it shall be also to this wicked generation.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Synaxis of the holy, glorious, and all-praised Twelve Apostles.

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

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 34]. At that time:

9 ³⁶Jesus, having seen the crowds, was moved with compassion for them, because they were wearied and cast down, as sheep not having a shepherd. ³⁷Then He saith to His disciples, “The harvest indeed is great, but the workers are few. ³⁸“Entreat therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth workers into His harvest.”

10 ¹And after He called to Himself His twelve disciples, He gave to them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every weakness. ²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; Iakovos the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; Iakovos the son of Alphæos, and Lebbæos, who was surnamed Thaddæos; ⁴Simon the Cananite, and Judas the Iscariote, who also delivered Him up. ⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, “Do not begin to go into the way of the nations, and do not begin to enter into a city of the Samaritans. ⁶“But go rather to the sheep, the lost of the house of Israel. ⁷“And as ye go, be preaching, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens hath drawn near.’ ⁸“Be healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons; freely ye received, freely give.”

For Sl. usage, see [Mk. 3:13-19].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 13th – Civil Calendar
June 30th – Church Calendar

1. The Assembly of the Holy, Glorious and All-praised Apostles.

Although each of the Twelve Apostles has his own feast day during the year, the Church has set aside this day for a general feast of all of them together, including St. Paul. The names and feast days of the Twelve are:

Peter—June 29th and January 16th.
Andrew—November 30th.
Iakovos the Son of Zebedee—April 30th.
John the Theologian—September 26th and May 8th.
Philip—November 14th.
Bartholomew—June 11th and August 25th.
Thomas—October 6th.
Matthew the Evangelist—November 16th.
Iakovos the Son of Alphaeus—October 9th.
Thaddeus (or Jude the brother of Iakovos)—June 19th.
Simon the Zealot—May 10th.
Matthias—August 9th.
Paul—June 29th.

Let us also remember here how these most holy and selfless men in the history of the world died and finished their earthly course:

Peter was crucified upside-down.
Andrew was crucified.
Iakovos was beheaded.
John the Theologian died peacefully in a miraculous way.
Philip was crucified.
Bartholomew was crucified, then flayed and beheaded.
Thomas was pierced with five spears.
Matthew was burned by fire.
Iakovos the Son of Alphaeus was crucified.
Thaddeus was crucified.
Simon the Zealot was crucified.
Matthias was stoned, then beheaded with an axe when dead.
Paul was beheaded.

2. Blessed Peter the Heir.

A Tartar by race and the nephew of the Tartar King Berkai, he once listened to a sermon on salvation by Kiril, Bishop of Rostov, and the words embedded themselves deeply in his heart. When he saw the miraculous healing of Berkai’s son by Kiril’s prayers, he secretly left the Cossack (Golden) Horde and ran off to Rostov, where he was baptized and devoted himself heart and soul to the ascetic life and to training himself in faith and devotion. Once he spent the night on the shore of a lake, and the Apostles Peter and Paul appeared to him in his sleep and told him to build a church dedicated to their memory on that spot, giving him the money he would need to accomplish this. Peter built a beautiful church there, and was there made a monk in old age, after the death of his wife. He finished his earthly course peacefully on June 29th, 1290, and his church became and remains the Petrovski monastery.

3. Our Holy Father George the Georgian.

Born in Iberia or Georgia in 1014, he was a kinsman of the Georgian king, Bagrat. He received a good classical education in his early years, but his heart ever drew him towards the spiritual life. He labored in asceticism under the renowned spiritual teacher George on the Black Mountain. He then went off to the Holy Mountain and continued his asceticism in the monastery of Iviron, becoming the abbot of that monastery. With the assistance of the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Monomachus, he restored Iviron and roofed the church with lead. This same leaden roof remains to this day. He translated the holy Scriptures, the Prologue and the books for divine services into Georgian. Bagrat summoned him back to Georgia to teach the people, and he received a royal welcome in his homeland. He travelled far and wide, instructing the clergy and the people. Reaching old age, he desired to depart this life on the Holy Mountain and set out on the road, but death overtook him in Constantinople in 1067. His relics were taken to Iviron. Although he died on May 24th, the Georgians celebrate his memory on June 30th, counting him as equal to the apostles.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Concern for the good of all men. Such concern filled the exalted spirits and noble hearts of the apostles to overflowing. St. John Chrysostom wrote about the Apostle Paul, calling him ‘the father of all the world, as if he himself had given birth to all men, for he was so concerned and strove so greatly to bring all into the kingdom’. ‘Father of all the world’ is indeed a very high title, and if there is anyone, under God, to whom this title should be given, it is the apostles of Christ. Having the concern of a parent for the whole world, they were truly ‘fathers of all the world’. There are many mothers in the world who care less for their own children than did the apostles for the good of their persecutors and adversaries. The Apostle Peter twice saved his most bitter adversary, Simon the Magician, from death; once when the crowd wanted to set fire to him and once when a dog tried to tear him to pieces. Just think of the way that the world paid its debt to these workers of good! As if they were the greatest robbers and evil-doers! How true are St. Cyprian’s words: ‘While we are in the body, we Christians look the same on the surface as pagans. The difference lies in the spirit.’

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.