Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Twenty-Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 269].

4 ¹Brethren, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, even as ye received from us how ye ought to walk and to please God, in order that ye may abound more and more; ²for ye know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: for you to be abstaining from fornication, ⁴for each of you to know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor— ⁵not in the passion of lust, even as also the nations which know not God— ⁶in order not to overstep and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger concerning all these things, even as we also told you before and bore witness. ⁷For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. ⁸The one therefore who refuseth, refuseth not man, but God, Who also gave His Holy Spirit to you.

⁹But concerning brotherly love, ye have no need for me to write to you, for ye yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, to abound more and more, ¹¹and endeavor earnestly to be quiet, and to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we commanded you, ¹²in order that ye may walk in a manner becoming toward those outside, and that ye may have need of nothing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 69]. The Lord said:

12 ⁴⁸“Everyone to whom much was given, much shall be required from him; and to whom much was committed, the more they will ask of him. ⁴⁹“I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled! ⁵⁰“But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am constrained until which time it should be accomplished! ⁵¹“Do ye suppose that I came to give peace on the earth? By no means, I say to you, but rather division. ⁵²“For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. ⁵³“They shall be divided, a father against a son and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” ⁵⁴And He was also saying to the crowds, “Whenever ye see a cloud rise up from the west, straightway, ye say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it cometh to pass. ⁵⁵“And whenever ye see a south wind blow, ye say, ‘There will be heat’; and so it cometh to pass. ⁵⁶“Hypocrites, ye know how to scrutinize the face of the heaven and of the earth, but how is it that ye do not scrutinize this time? ⁵⁷“And why even of yourselves do ye not judge what is right? ⁵⁸“For when thou goest with thine adversary before a magistrate, as thou art in the way, endeavor to be released from him, lest he should drag thee to the judge, and the judge should deliver thee up to the exactor, and the exactor shall cast thee into prison. ⁵⁹“I say to thee, in no wise shalt thou come out from that place, until which time thou shouldest pay even the last lepton.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostles Olympas, Rodion, Sosipater, Tertius, Erastos, and Quartus of the Seventy.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

November 23rd – Civil Calendar
November 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostles Olympas, Erastus, Quartus, Herodion, Sosipater and Tertius.

They were all among the Seventy. The last three are also commemorated elsewhere: Herodion on April 8th, Sosipater on April 28th and Tertius on October 30th. Ss. Olympas and Herodion were followers of the Apostle Peter, and when Peter suffered, they suffered too, being beheaded at Nero’s command. Erastus was steward of the Church in Jerusalem, and later became Bishop of Paneas in Palestine. Quartus was bishop in Beirut; he suffered greatly and brought many to the Christian Faith. Sosipater was bishop in Iconium, and Tertius followed him as bishop there. They strove in spirit, became victors and were crowned with wreaths of glory.

2. The Holy Martyr Orestes.

From the town of Tyana in Cappadocia, St. Orestes was a cradle Christian and a doctor by profession. He was harshly interrogated by a wicked governor, Maximinus, in the reign of Diocletian (284-305). When the governor urged him to deny Christ and worship idols, Orestes replied: ‘If you knew the power of the Crucified, you would reject idolatrous lies and worship the true God.’ For this he was harshly beaten, then flayed and cut about, then burned in boiling lead and finally thrown into prison to die of hunger. The young Orestes spent seven days without bread or water. On the eighth day, he was brought before the governor, who began to threaten him with terrible tortures. To this Orestes replied: ‘I am ready to undergo every torture, having the sign of my Lord Jesus Christ inscribed on my heart.’ Then the governor ordered that twenty nails be hammered into his legs and that he be bound behind a horse and dragged through thistles and rocks until he expired. In the place where Orestes’ body was thrown, a man radiant as the sun appeared, gathered the bones and took them to a hill near Tyana, burying them there. This great saint, Orestes, appeared to St. Dimitri of Rostov and showed him all his wounds.

3. St. Nonnus, Bishop of Heliopolis.

He was renowned as a great ascetic in the Tabennisiot monastery in Egypt, because of which he was chosen as bishop in 448, in the diocese of Edessa. He was later translated to the diocese of Heliopolis, and there brought thirty thousand Arabs to the Christian Faith. After the death of Bishop Ibo, St. Nonnus returned to Edessa, where he remained till his death in 471. Through his prayers, the notorious sinner Pelagia was brought to the Christian Faith. She was later glorified for the holiness of her life (see Oct. 8th).

FOR CONSIDERATION

The strange paths of God’s providence are demonstrated in an exceptional and strange event in the monastery of Docheiariou in the time of Blessed Neophytos, the nephew of St. Efthymios. When, after Efthymios’ death, Neophytos began to build a new, bigger church to St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker, he ran out of funds and prayed to God for help, and God helped him in a strange way. Near the monastery of Docheiariou there lay a peninsular called ‘Longos’. On this peninsular, Neophytos had a smallish patch of monastic land, near which there was a stone statue of a man. On the sculpture was written: ‘He who smites me on the head will find much gold.’ Many had struck at the statue’s head but had found nothing. Neophytos sent a novice, Basil, off on some task. This Basil was standing one day in front of the statue, ruminating on the mystery of this inscription. At that moment, the sun came out and the statue’s shadow was thrown to the west. Basil took a stone and smote the head of the shadow, then began to dig there, finding a metal pot of gold. He immediately ran and told Abbot Neophytos. The abbot told three trusted monks to go with Basil in the monastery’s boat and bring the gold. The monks set off, loaded the gold into the ship and started for home. But while they were on the sea, the devil put it into their heads to keep the gold for themselves.

The three older monks, deluded by the devil, bound Basil with cords, tied a rock round his neck and threw him into the sea. When Basil had sunk into the depths of the sea, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel suddenly appeared to him in the form of two resplendent youths, and taking hold of him, carried him to the church at Docheiariou, depositing him in front of the Beautiful Gates of the locked church. The next day, when the monks went into the church, they found Basil lying bound before the altar. The abbot questioned him, and learned of the strange thing that had happened to him. The three monks then arrived, and seeing Basil alive, were thunderstruck. The abbot punished them fittingly, took the gold, and completed the church. He dedicated it, not to St. Nicholas, but to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. This is the reason why Efthymios’ old church at Docheiariou is dedicated to St. Nicholas, but the new one to the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel.

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.