Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 136]. Brethren:

6 ²⁰Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

7 ¹Now concerning what you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²But on account of the fornications, let each have his own wife, and let each have her own husband. ³Let the husband render to the wife the good will due, and likewise also the wife to the husband. ⁴The wife hath not authority over her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not authority over his own body, but the wife. ⁵Cease defrauding one another, unless by agreement for a time, that ye may devote time for fasting and for prayer; and come together again for the same that Satan may not be tempting you through your incontinence. ⁶But I say this by way of concession and not by way of command. ⁷For I wish all men to be even as myself; but each one hath his own gift of grace from God, one in this manner and another in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they should abide even as I. ⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry; it is better to marry than to burn. ¹⁰And to those who have married I order, yet not I but the Lord: a wife is not to be separated from her husband. ¹¹But even if she should be separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and a husband is not to leave his wife. ¹²But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she consenteth to dwell with him, let him not leave her.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 57].

14 ¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, ²and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he was raised from the dead, and on account of this the works of power energize in him.” ³For Herod laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴For John kept on saying to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” ⁵And though he wished to put him to death, he was afraid of the crowd, because they were holding him as a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst, and pleased Herod. ⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask for herself. ⁸And she, having been urged on by her mother, said, “Give me here the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ⁹And the king was grieved; but on account of the oaths, and those who reclined with him at table, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl; and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came forward and took up the body and buried it; and they went and brought tidings to Jesus.

¹³And after Jesus heard it, He withdrew from that place by ship privately to a desolate place. And when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Synaxis of the holy Archangel Gabriel, and our venerable Father Stephen of the Monastery of St. Savvas.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 305]. Brethren:

2 ²If the word spoken by angels was confirmed, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, ³how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation, which received a beginning to be spoken of by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard, ⁴God also bearing them witness with both signs and wonders, and various works of power, and by distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to His will?

⁵For not to angels did He subject the coming inhabited world about which we speak; ⁶but one bore witness somewhere, saying, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that Thou visitest Him [Ps. 8:4]? ⁷“Thou didst make Him for a short time less than the angels; Thou didst crown Him with glory and honor [Ps. 8:5], ⁸“Thou didst subject all things under His feet [Ps. 8:6].” For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing not subject to Him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to Him. ⁹But we see Jesus, Who for a short time was made less than the angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for everyone. ¹⁰For it was becoming to Him, because of Whom are all things and by means of Whom are all things, bringing many sons to glory, to have perfected the originator of their salvation through sufferings.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 51]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ¹⁶“The one who heareth you heareth Me, and the one who rejecteth you rejecteth Me, and the one who rejecteth Me rejecteth the One Who sent Me forth.”

¹⁷And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are being made subject to us in Thy name.” ¹⁸And He said to them, “I was beholding Satan as lightning having fallen out of the heaven. ¹⁹“Behold, I give you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; and nothing in anywise shall injure you. ²⁰“However cease rejoicing in this, that the spirits are being made subject to you; but be rejoicing that your names were written in the heavens.” ²¹In the same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit, and said, “I give thanks to Thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and didst reveal them to babes. Yea, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing before Thee.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 26h – Civil Calendar
July 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Archangel Gabriel.

This great archangel of God is commemorated on March 26th. On this day his appearances and marvels through the whole history of the salvation of mankind are commemorated. It is reckoned that this observance was first instituted on the Holy Mountain in 982, during the patriarchate of Nicholas Chrysoverges (979-91), and was occasioned by the Archangel’s appearing in a cell near Karyes, where, with his finger, he wrote the hymn to the Mother of God: ‘Axion Estin’ (It Is Verily Worthy). As a result of this occurrence, the cell was named, and is called to this day, ‘Axion Estin’. Linked with this, other appearances of the Archangel Gabriel are commemorated, such as his appearing to Moses when he revealed to this great man, chosen by God, how the world was created and all the rest that Moses later wrote down in the Book of Genesis; his appearing to Daniel and the imparting of the mystery of the kingdoms to come and the coming of the Savior; his appearing to St. Anna and the promise of a daughter, the most blessed and pure Virgin Mary; his appearing to the holy Virgin while she was living in the Temple in Jerusalem; his appearing to Zacharias the high priest and the news of the birth of John the Forerunner, and the punishing of the same with dumbness because he did not believe the angel’s words; his appearing once again to the holy Virgin in Nazareth, and the annunciation of the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ; his appearing to righteous Joseph, to the shepherds near Bethlehem, to the Lord Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane when he strengthened the Lord, as Man, before His Passion: his appearing to the myrrh-bearing women, and his other appearances.

2. St. Julian, Bishop of Cenomanis (Le Mans).

Some think that he is none other than that Simon the Leper whom the Lord healed. The Apostle Peter made him bishop and sent him to pagan Gaul, where St. Julian endured great privation, but succeeded in bringing many of the people to the Christian Faith. When the prince, Defenson, was baptized, many of his subjects embraced the true Faith. By the grace of God, Julian worked many miracles: healing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead. He departed this life peacefully, and at the time of his death, appeared to Prince Defenson in full daylight, while the latter was at lunch.

3. The Holy Martyr Golinduc.

A Persian, she married a Persian noble and lived three years in wedlock. She then had a vision of an angel, who revealed the other world to her: the torment of sinners and unbelievers and the joy of the righteous. She left her husband and received Baptism, being given the name Maria. As a result of her husband’s persecution, she was condemned to lifelong imprisonment and spent eighteen years in prison, being steadfast in the Faith. She was then thrown into a pit, but was saved by God; then before a venomous snake, but the snake did not harm her. When some wicked youths were sent to her to defile her, God made her invisible to their eyes. Amazed at her sufferings, many Persians were converted to the Christian Faith. She visited Jerusalem, where she denounced the Severian heresy which taught that Christ’s divinity suffered, and therefore recited the Trisagion in this form: ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Who was crucified for us, have mercy on us.’ Preaching the true Faith up to the end of her life, she died peacefully near the town of Nisibis in 587.

4. Our Holy Father Stephen of St. Sava’s.

Nephew to St. John Damascene, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, and is therefore known as ‘of St. Sava’s’. He was a great imitator of the life of St. Sava and a resplendent star among the monks of Palestine. He entered into rest in the Lord in 794, at the age of sixty-nine.

5. Our Holy Mother Sarah the Egyptian.

She embraced asceticism as a young girl, and thus spent sixty years on the bank of the Nile not far from Alexandria. By her example, she drew many women to the monastic life. She entered into rest in the Lord in 370.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A man adorns simple clothing, but magnificent clothing adorns a man. Simple clothing attracts attention to the man, but magnificent clothing attracts attention only to itself. A passion for magnificent clothing simply dries up and consumes a man’s soul. This is the reason why the Church has always stood against magnificence in dress and urged simplicity. Among the innumerable horde of Christian saints, there is not one commemorated who was helped to sanctity by the magnificence of his apparel. Many great and wise kings, Christian and pagan alike, have loved simplicity of dress. Thus, it is said of the Emperor Augustus Octavius, during whose reign the Lord Jesus was born, that he wore one single garment, woven by his wife, his sister or his daughter. Of the Emperor Charles V it is said that he wore such simple clothing that ordinary citizens, his subjects, were better-dressed. The famous Greek general, Philopomenes, was once invited to lunch by some man, into whose house he had never previously been. Philopomenes arrived rather early. His host had not yet arrived, and his hostess, not knowing him personally and seeing this man in such simple garb, thought that he must be one of Philopomenes’ servants whom he had sent ahead to warn the household of his coming with his host. She therefore set him to chop wood. Philopomenes obeyed willingly, and began to chop the wood. When his host arrived and saw his honored guest thus employed, he was horrified, and asked him: ‘Who ventured to give such a task to Philopomenes?’ The general replied quietly: ‘My clothes.’

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.