Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 222]. Brethren:

2 ¹⁹Ye are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of God, ²⁰who were built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone, ²¹in Whom every building, being joined together, increaseth to a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in Whom ye also are being built up together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

3 ¹For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of the Christ, Jesus, on behalf of you, the nations— ²if, indeed, ye heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me in regard to you, ³that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (even as I wrote before briefly, ⁴according to which reading ye are able to perceive my understanding in the mystery of the Christ), ⁵which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as now it was revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit: ⁶the nations are to be joint-heirs, and fellow members of the body, and joint-partakers of His promise in the Christ, through the Gospel, ⁷of which I became a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the energy of His power.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 11]. At that time:

3 ²³Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began, being, as was supposed, a son of Joseph, the son of Eli, ²⁴the son of Matthan, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Joanna, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Naum, the son of Esli, the son of Nangai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semei, the son of Josech, the son of Juda, ²⁷the son of Joannan, the son of Resa, the son of Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Joreim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Symeon, the son of Juda, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakeim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Mainan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Booz, the son of Salmon, the son of Naason, ³³the son of Aminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Joram, the son of Esrom, the son of Phares, the son of Juda, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Thara, the son of Nachor, ³⁵the son of Saruch, the son of Ragav, the son of Phalek, the son of Ever, the son of Sala, ³⁶the son of Kainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Sem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Mathusala, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Maleleel, the son of Kainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

4 ¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was being led in the Spirit into the wilderness.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, and the holy Apostle Quadratus of the Seventy, and our father among the saints, Demetrios, Metropolitan of Rostov, the Wonder-worker.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 36]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

10 ⁹“I am the door; by Me if anyone should enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰“The thief cometh not, except that he might steal, and slay, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. ¹²“But the hireling, who indeed is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf seizeth them and scattereth the sheep. ¹³“Now the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling and careth not about the sheep. ¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine. ¹⁵“Even as the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶“And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; them also it is needful for Me to bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 4th – Civil Calendar
September 21st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Codratus.

One of the Seventy, he was a disciple of the great apostles. He preached the Gospel in Athens, and was at first bishop in Athens after St. Publius, and then in the city of Magnesia. He was very learned in the secular disciplines and rich with the grace of the Holy Spirit. His biographer says of him. ‘He was as a morning star among clouds,’ the clouds being the darkness of Hellenic paganism, lacking the light of devotion, and the holy Apostle Codratus shone to them—the Hellenes—as a great light, illumining the darkness, casting down the foul sacrifices and destroying demonic temples by his prayers. But darkness always hates the light, and the pagans hated holy Codratus. They first stoned him, as the Jews had earlier stoned St. Stephen, and then imprisoned him, leaving him without bread until his holy soul left his body and entered into the kingdom of Christ his God. St. Codratus wrote a defence of Christianity and gave it to the Emperor Hadrian. This defence acted so strongly upon the pagan emperor that he decreed that Christians should not be persecuted without especial cause. Holy Codratus suffered in about 130. He was buried in Magnesia, the place of his passion.

2. St. Dimitri, Bishop of Rostov.

He is commemorated on October 28th, and on this day is commemorated the finding of his wonder-working relics in 1752.

FOR CONSIDERATION

If we begin, with firm intention, to live according to God’s law, we must not fear any sort of attack by those who do not understand, for to him who has truly begun to live according to God’s law, all that happens to him at the hands of men, happens for his help and to the glory of God. It is especially necessary not to fear a move from a place we like to a place we dislike, a place of fear and of a depressed uncertainty about God’s intentions towards us. Did the wickedness of Joseph’s brethren do him harm? Was not rather his involuntary departure for Egypt the means of his rise to glory, the saving of his brothers from famine and the establishing of the conditions for all the wonderful works of God through Moses in Egypt and in the wilderness? Pagans and heretics often chased Orthodox Christians into barbarian regions. What happened then? Did this annihilate Orthodoxy? No; it rather confirmed it in the souls that were exiled and scattered among the barbarian peoples. The evil heretic Lucius drove the famous Makarios and several of the Tabennisiot hermits out of Egypt to a barbarian island, where all the inhabitants were idol-worshipers. But these holy men, by their teaching and example, quickly succeeded in baptising the whole island, and it later became known as the Isle of Repentance.

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.