Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Sixteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 217]. Brethren:

1 ⁷We have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace, ⁸which He caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed for Himself in Himself, ¹⁰in regard to a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to recapitulate all things in the Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, ¹¹in Him, in Whom we also were allotted inheritors, having been foreordained according to the purpose of the One energizing all things according to the counsel of His will, ¹²for us to be the praise of His glory, who have hoped before in the Christ; ¹³in Whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation—in Whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴Who is an earnest of our inheritance until redemption of the preserved possession to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵On this account I also, having heard of the faith among you in the Lord Jesus and the love which is toward all the saints, ¹⁶cease not giving thanks on behalf of you, making mention of you at the time of my prayers, ¹⁷in order that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the full knowledge of Him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 32]. At that time:

8 ¹The crowd being very great and having nothing that they might eat, Jesus called to Himself His disciples, and saith to them, ²“I am moved with compassion toward the crowd, because they continue with Me now three days and have nothing that they might eat. ³“And if I should dismiss them fasting to their home, they shall be faint in the way; for some of them have come from afar.” ⁴And His disciples answered Him, “From what place shall anyone here be able to fill these with bread in a wilderness?” ⁵And He asked them, “How many loaves have ye?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶And He commanded the crowd to recline on the ground. And having taken the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and kept on giving them to His disciples, in order that they might set them before them; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷And they had a few small fish; and He blessed them, and said to set them also before them. ⁸And they ate and were filled; and they took up over and above seven provision baskets of fragments. ⁹And they who ate were about four thousand; and He dismissed them. ¹⁰And straightway He embarked into the ship with His disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanoutha.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Exaltation, and the holy Martyr Sophia, and her daughters, the Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 30th – Civil Calendar
September 17th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love, and their mother Sophia.

They lived and suffered in Rome in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. The wise Sophia (as her name—Sophia—wisdom, indicates) was left a widow, and as a Christian, steeped herself and her daughters in the Christian Faith. At the time that Hadrian’s persecuting hand stretched out over the virtuous house of Sophia, Faith was twelve, Hope ten and Love nine. The four of them were brought before the emperor, with their arms entwined ‘like a woven wreath,’ humbly but firmly confessing their faith in Christ the Lord and refusing to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. At the moment of their passion, the mother urged her valiant daughters to endure to the end. ‘Your heavenly Lover, Jesus Christ, is eternal health, inexpressible beauty and life eternal. When your bodies are slain by torture, He will clothe you in incorruption and the wounds on your bodies will shine in heaven like the stars.’ The torturers inflicted harsh torture on Faith, Hope, and Love one by one. They beat them, stabbed them and threw them into fire and boiling pitch, and finally beheaded them one after the other. Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters out of the town and buried them, and stayed by their grave in prayer for three days and nights, then gave her soul to God, hastening to the heavenly company where the blessed souls of her daughters awaited her.

2. The Holy Martyr Agathokleia.

She was a servant of one Nicholas and his wife Paulina, who were at first Christians but forsook Christianity and turned again to idol-worship. Holy Agathokleia refused to follow the example of her masters, and for this was harshly tortured both by them and by the judge. Finally, her mistress killed her by pouring burning coals on her neck, but God glorified His handmaid in His heavenly kingdom.

3. The 156 Holy Martyrs of Egypt.

They were all Egyptians, and suffered for Christ the Lord in 310, some by the sword and some by fire. Among them were two old bishops, Peleus and Nilus, a priest, Zeno, and two renowned men, Patermuthius and Elias. With them also suffered Bishop Silvanus and an eminent, blind old man, John, who knew the Scriptures by heart and recited them to gatherings of Christians. They were all crowned with wreaths and entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ.

4. The Holy Martyr Theodota.

She endured eight years of harsh torture on the part of the governor, Simplicius, who finally went out of his mind. She was beheaded with the sword in the time of the Emperor Alexander Severus, in about 230.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A God-fearing and faithful ruler is a blessing from heaven on his whole people. King Vatslav (Wenceslas) of the Czechs was such a ruler. His zeal for the holy things of the Faith and his strictness of life are reminiscent of the ancient ascetics. He devoted his days to administrative work and his nights to prayer, and he often prepared and cooked the holy bread, most especially when he himself was to receive holy Communion. He was concerned in the building of many churches, in which daily services were celebrated, and gave especial care to the poor and needy. He was a lover of peace, although a great and fearless hero. When the neighboring prince, Radislav, invaded the Czech lands, Vatslav sent him a letter, asking him what had roused him to make war against him. Radislav replied haughtily that he was after the whole of the Czech lands and Vatslav’s throne. Then Vatslav gathered together a large army and marched against his enemy. Then, seeing the two great armies, he mourned the coming loss of life and sent the following message to Radislav: ‘The quarrel is between the two of us. You want to conquer this land, and I refuse to let you. Let us settle this matter by single combat. What purpose would be served by a bloody conflict between our two armies?’ Prince Radislav agreed to single combat, and being overcome by Vatslav, begged his forgiveness on his knees.

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.