Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Ninth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 155].

14 ⁶Brethren, if I should come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation, or in knowledge, or in prophecy, or in teaching? ⁷Likewise, when lifeless things give a sound, whether flute or harp, if a distinction is never given in the sounds, how shall it be known what is being piped or being harped? ⁸For also if a trumpet should give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for war? ⁹Thus also, unless by the tongue ye should give an easily understood speech, how shall it be known what is being spoken? For ye shall speak into the air. ¹⁰There are, if it should happen, so many kinds of speech in the world, and none of them is without its distinctive sound. ¹¹Therefore, if I do not know the force of the speech, I shall be a barbarian to the one who speaketh, and the one who speaketh shall be a barbarian to me. ¹²Even so ye, since ye are zealots of spiritual gifts, keep on seeking that ye may abound to the building up of the Church. ¹³Wherefore let the one who speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I should pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁵What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the understanding. I will chant with the spirit, and I will chant also with the understanding. ¹⁶Else if thou bless with the spirit, how shall the one who filleth the place of the unlearned say the “Amen” at thy giving of thanks, since what thou sayest he knoweth not? ¹⁷For thou indeed givest thanks well, but the other is not being edified. ¹⁸I thank my God I speak with tongues more than all of you; ¹⁹but in the church I wish to speak five words with my understanding, in order that I might instruct others also, than myriads of words in a tongue.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 81]. At that time:

20 ¹⁷When Jesus went up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said to them, ¹⁸“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, ¹⁹“and shall deliver Him up to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He shall raise Himself.” ²⁰Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, making obeisance and asking something from Him. ²¹And He said to her, “What dost thou wish?” She saith to Him, “Command that these two sons of mine might sit, one on Thy right and one on Thy left, in Thy kingdom.” ²²But Jesus answered and said, “Ye know not what ye ask for yourselves. Are ye able to drink the cup which I am about to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They say to Him, “We are able.” ²³And He saith to them, “Ye shall indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized; but to sit on My right and on My left is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to those for whom it hath been prepared by My Father.” ²⁴And after the ten heard it, they were indignant on account of the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “Ye know that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them. ²⁶“But it shall not be so among you. But whosoever doth wish to become great among you shall be your servant; ²⁷“and whosoever doth wish to be first among you shall be your slave— ²⁸“even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Kallinikos of Gangra in Asia Minor, and the Martyr Theodote and her three sons in Bithynia (commemorated on some Greek calendars on the 22^nd of December).

Epistle

For St. Kallinikos:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 99]. Brethren:

8 ²⁸We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformable to the image of His Son, in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰But whom He foreordained, these also He called; and whom He called, these also He justified; and whom He justified, these also He glorified. ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He Who indeed spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifieth. ³⁴Who is the one who condemneth? Christ is the One Who died, but much more is He the One also Who was raised, Who also is at the right of God, Who also intercedeth for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it hath been written: “For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the whole day; we were counted as sheep of slaughter [Ps. 43(44):23(22)].” ³⁷But in all these things we more than conquer through the One Who loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things coming, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 11th – Civil Calendar
July 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Kallinikos.

Born in Cilicia and brought up in Christian piety, he left all and began to preach the Gospel. He was arrested in Ankyra by the pagan governor, Sacerdos. When the governor, in fury, threatened him with torture if he would not worship idols, St. Kallinikos replied: ‘Every torture for my God is as welcome to me as bread is to a hungry man.’ After harsh torture and beating, the governor shod him with iron shoes, with the nails sticking inwards, and ordered that he be driven out to the town of Gangra, for he did not dare to have him further tortured or killed in Ankyra, as many men, beholding the heroic endurance of the man of God, were turning to the Christian Faith. On the way, the soldiers became thirsty and there was no water. St. Kallinikos prayed to God and brought forth water from a rock. When they arrived in Gangra, the torturers threw Kallinikos into a fiery furnace. The saint prayed to God, saying: ‘I thank Thee, O heavenly Father, that Thou makest me worthy in this hour to die for Thy holy name!’ He then went into the fire. When the fire was extinguished, his dead body was found whole and untouched by the flames. He suffered with honor, and was crowned with a wreath of eternal glory, in about 250.

2. The Holy Martyr Seraphima.

A maiden from Antioch, she lived in the house of one Sabina, wife of a senator, whom she brought to the Christian Faith. Hearing of her, Virilos, a torturer of Christians, ordered that she be brought before him. As Seraphima remained steadfast in her faith, the torturer ordered that she be cast into prison, and he sent some young men to spend the night with her and defile her. Seraphima was praying to God in the prison when the young men arrived at the door. There, suddenly, an angel of God appeared in light before them with a sword in his hand, and they fell as dead, utterly without consciousness and incapable of movement. The following day, a torturer begged Seraphima to restore the young men to consciousness by her prayers. Dismissing all this as magic, Virilos ordered that this holy maiden be burned with torches and then beaten with rods. When they were beating her, a piece of rod broke off and flew through the air, striking Virilos in the eye and blinding him. Finally, this handmaid of Christ was beheaded and gave her soul to God. The devout Sabina buried her body, from which a healing myrrh began to flow. St. Seraphima suffered during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138).

3. The Holy Martyr Theodotia.

A young widow with three children, Theodotia labored in the service of God in Thessalonica, together with St. Anastasia (see December 22nd). In the time of Diocletian’s persecution, she was condemned to death and thrown into a fiery furnace together with her three children. Their holy souls soared up to their heavenly abode.

4. The Holy Martyr Eustathius (Evstati) of Mtskheta.

A Persian, born in the village of Arbuket, he went to the town of Mtskheta at the age of thirty, and seeing the life and faith of the Christians, received Baptism. He was tortured for Christ and beheaded in Tiflis in 589. His relics are preserved in the cathedral at Mtskheta, and give healing to the faithful.

FOR CONSIDERATION, From “My Life in Christ”—St. John of Kronstadt.

Our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” He is not a God of torments and punishments. Our torments are the fruit of our sins and the work of the incorporeal fallen spirits. Therefore if you suffer grievously, only blame your sins and the devil, but chiefly yourself, because the devil would not do you any harm if he did not find anything in you that he could fasten on to.

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.