Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 180]. Brethren:

5 ¹⁵Christ died for all, in order that they who are living no longer are living to themselves, but to Him Who died for them and was raised. ¹⁶So that from now we know no one according to the flesh; and even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we know Him no more. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸But all things are from God Who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹that is, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not reckoning their transgressions to them, and He put in us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰On behalf of Christ therefore we are ambassadors, as though God were beseeching you by us; we beseech on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. ²¹For Him Who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 3]. At that time:

1 ¹⁶As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” ¹⁸And straightway they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹And after He went a little farther from that place, He saw Iakovos the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; and they were in the ship mending the nets. ²⁰And straightway He called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went away after Him.

²¹And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath days He entered into the synagogue and began to teach. ²²And they were astonished at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the holy Martyr Myron of Kyzikos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 30th – Civil Calendar
August 17th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Myron the Priest.

He was a priest in Achaia, of rich and eminent parents, by nature kind and meek, and loving towards God and man. In the time of the Emperor Decius, on the Feast of the Nativity itself, pagans rushed into the church, dragged Myron away from the service and put him to torture. While he was being tortured by fire, an angel appeared to him and strengthened him. The torturers then cut off his skin in strips from head to foot. The martyr took one of these strips, and with it, struck the torturer on the face. The torturer, as though possessed, took a sword and killed himself. Myron was finally taken to the town of Kyzikos and there killed with the sword, in 250.

2. The Holy Martyr Patroclus.

A citizen of the city of Trychasia, the present-day Troyes in Gaul, he inherited great wealth from his parents, and as a true Christian, used it for daily alms to the poor. He himself lived as an ascetic, taking food only once a day after sunset. For his holiness of life, the Lord gave him healing power, and he became known everywhere as a wonder-working healer. The Emperor Aurelian, coming to Gaul, commanded that Patroclus be brought before him. Holy Patroclus confessed his faith in Christ, concealing nothing. ‘If, O king, you desire some of my goods, I will give them to you, for I can see your wretchedness,’ St. Patroclus said to the emperor. To this, the emperor replied: ‘How do you call me, the emperor, wretched, having immeasurable wealth?’ St. Patroclus said: ‘You have earthly, transitory riches, but you are wretched, for you are not only not in possession of yourself; you have no faith in Christ in your heart.’ He was condemned to death and handed over to the soldiers, with orders that he be taken to a swampy spot and beheaded, his body being left in the mud. But the saint prayed to God that his body should not be left thus in the mud, and by God’s power, he suddenly became invisible to the soldiers and taken across to the other side of the river. After seeking him at some length, the soldiers found him and beheaded him in that dry place. Two beggars, to whom Patroclus had often given alms, came along this way, and recognising the body of their benefactor, buried it. He died at the end of the third century.

3. Our Holy Father Elias of Calabria.

A Greek by birth, he was superior of the monastery of Mellicia in southern Italy. At the time of the iconoclast controversy in the East, many eastern monks fled with their icons to Calabria. In time, the monastic life spread very widely there. The Calabrian monks were distinguished for their learning and the strictness of their lives. At one time, there were so many Orthodox monasteries and monks there that Calabria was likened to Egypt in former times. Orthodox Calabria was later put under the administration of the Archbishop of Ochrid. Our holy father Elias entered into rest in Thessalonica in the year 903.

4. Our Holy Father Alypy the Iconographer of the Kiev Caves.

Making copies of the faces of the saints on wood, he copied their virtues in his own soul. He healed a man of leprosy, saw an angel of God and died peacefully in the Lord in old age, in 1114.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The Lord does not let His faithful servants be put to shame. It often happens that Christ’s martyrs, mocked and sneered at by their judges, suddenly work some wonder that brings terror to the godless. Idols have fallen, thunderbolts have destroyed pagan temples, unexpected downpours have put out fires prepared for their burning, stones and staves have turned back on the torturers themselves, and other similar things have happened. Thus Antipater, the torturer of St. Myron, during the torturing of this man of God, suddenly went out of his mind.

St. Alypy (Alypius) the Iconographer was already near the end of his life when he received an order to paint an icon of the dormition of the most holy Mother of God. As the feast drew near, the man returned several times, to see if the icon was finished. But it was not even begun on the Eve of the Dormition itself, when it should have been placed in the church. When this man had gone home in despair, a young man suddenly appeared in Alypy’s cell, sat down and began to work on the icon. He worked very quickly and with great skill. When the icon was ready, it shone like the sun. Showing it to the amazed Alypy, the young man took the icon and went to the church for which it had been ordered. On the following day, the man who had ordered it came to the church, and in sheer astonishment, saw the icon in its place. The man then went to the monastery, and together with the abbot, went into Alypy’s cell. ‘How was this icon painted, and by whom?’ asked the abbot. The sick Alypy replied: ‘It was painted by an angel, and he is standing here, waiting to take me.’ Thus saying, he breathed his last.

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.