Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 218]. Brethren:

1 ¹⁶I cease 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, ¹⁸having the eyes of your heart enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the energy of the might of His strength, ²⁰which He energized in the Christ, after He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right in the heavenlies, ²¹above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name which is named, not only in this age, but also in the coming one. ²²And He put in subjection all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all things in all.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 72]. The Lord said this parable:

13 ¹⁸“To what is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I liken it? ¹⁹“It is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and cast into his own garden; and it grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the heaven settled in its branches.” ²⁰And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? ²¹“It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat meal until the whole was leavened.”

²²And He was going through, by cities and villages, teaching, and making His way toward Jerusalem. ²³And one said to Him, “Lord, are they few who are being saved?” And He said to them, ²⁴“Be striving to enter in through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. ²⁵“From the time when the Master of the house riseth and shutteth the door, and ye begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us,’ and He shall answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where ye are from,’ ²⁶“then ye shall begin to say, ‘We ate before Thy face and drank, and Thou didst teach in our streets.’ ²⁷“But He shall say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where ye are from; stand off from Me, all ye workers of unrighteousness.’ ²⁸“There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth, whenever ye see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves being cast out. ²⁹“And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall be made to recline in the kingdom of God.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable father among the saints, Daniel the Stylite, the holy Martyr Myrax of Egypt, and St. Nicon the Dry of the Kiev Caves.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 270].

4 ¹³Brethren, we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not be grieving, even as the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and is risen, so also those who fell asleep through Jesus will God bring with Him. ¹⁵For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we the living, the ones remaining over until the coming of the Lord, in no wise shall precede those who fell asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout of command, with a voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. ¹⁷Then we the living, the ones remaining over, shall be carried off together with them in clouds to a meeting of the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 16]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

5 ²⁴“Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of death into life. ²⁵“Verily, verily, I say to you, that an hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. ²⁶“For even as the Father hath life in Himself, so He also gave to the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷“and He also gave to Him authority to execute judgment. That He is Son of Man, ²⁸“cease marvelling at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the graves shall hear His voice, ²⁹“and shall go forth—they who did good things to a resurrection of life, but they who practised bad things to a resurrection of condemnation. ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 24th – Civil Calendar
December 11th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Daniel the Stylite.

Born in the village of Maroutha, near the city of Samosata in Mesopotamia, of Christian parents, Elias and Martha, he was a gift of God through the tearful prayers of his mother, who was barren, and was dedicated to God in his youth. He embraced the monastic state at the age of twelve and visited St. Simeon the Stylite, receiving his blessing. Desirous of solitude, Daniel left his monastery and withdrew to an abandoned pagan temple on the shore of the Black Sea. He endured many assaults from demons, but overcame them all by prayer, endurance and the sign of the Cross. After that, he climbed up onto a pillar, where he remained till his death, enduring with equanimity both heat and cold, and attacks from both men and demons. Many disciples gathered around his pillar, and he led them towards eternal life by his example and his words. God rewarded His devoted servant with great grace in this life, and he worked many miracles of help to men, and foretold future events. People came to his pillar from all parts, seeking help and advice from the saint of God. Kings and patriarchs came to him, as well as simple folk. The Emperor Leo the Great used to bring his foreign guests, princes and nobles, and show them Daniel on his pillar, saying: ‘Here is the wonder of my empire!’ Daniel foretold the day of his own death, taught his disciples as a father would his children, and took leave of them. At the time of his death, his disciples saw angels, prophets, apostles and martyrs around the pillar. Having lived in asceticism for eighty years, this angelic man entered into rest, and into the kingdom of Christ, in 489.

2. Our Holy Father Luke the Stylite.

Luke lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. He fought as a soldier in the war against the Bulgars and witnessed the slaughter of many thousands, but he himself emerged from the war alive and unharmed. Seeing the finger of God in his deliverance, he scorned all the vanity of this world, took himself off to a pillar near Chalcedon and there spent forty-five years in asceticism, cleansing his soul from every sinful thought and desire. He entered into rest after a life pleasing to God, some time between 970 and 980, and went to the better life.

3. Our Holy Father Nikon the Dry.

He was enslaved by the Tartars as a monk of the Kiev Caves, and spent three years in captivity, fettered, tortured and abused. When his kinsmen brought the money to ransom him from his owner, he refused, saying: ‘If the Lord had wanted me to be free, He would not have given me into the hands of these lawless men.’ Once he told his owner that Christ would free him in three days. The Tartar thought that this meant that his slave was going to run away, so he cut his tendons below the knee. On the third day, though, Nikon was indeed carried by invisible hands to Kiev. After a time, the Tartar came to Kiev and recognized his former slave. He repented and was baptized, and the former owner became the servant and disciple of his erstwhile slave. Nikon, called ‘the Dry’ because of the great emaciation of his body, was a great visionary and wonder-worker. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord on December 11th, 1101.

4. The Holy Martyr Meirax.

An Egyptian, he was tricked by the Mohammedan emir into accepting Islam. He later repented, went into a mosque bearing a cross, declared himself a Christian and called upon the Moslems to forsake their errors and turn to the Truth. He was tortured and martyred in about 640.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘The Lord preserveth all them that love Him’ (Ps. 144:21). The lives of the saints affirm this with sun-like clarity. Certain envious priests complained to Patriarch Anatolios about St. Daniel, slandering him and saying that he was a magician. This sprang from their jealousy of the young ascetic, who had outstripped them in every virtue and had drawn many to himself by his manner of life. The patriarch summoned Daniel, and examined him in his faith and his way of life. Daniel having laid all before him, the patriarch rose from his seat and embraced him, speaking highly of him and sending him away in peace. Several days later, Patriarch Anatolios fell ill, and he called Daniel and asked him to pray to God for his recovery. Daniel prayed, and the patriarch was instantly restored to health. When the patriarch sought to reward Daniel in some way, the young saint asked, as his reward, that his slanderers be pardoned. The patriarch said: ‘How could I not forgive them when they are the means of such a great blessing—that I should come to know you and obtain healing through you?’ Indeed, ‘the Lord preserveth all them that love Him,’ and turns to good the evil that men devise.

While St. Nikon the Dry was a slave among the Tartars, his master became sick and was at the point of death. Realizing that he was in this state, he ordered his sons to crucify Nikon on his grave. St. Nikon foresaw the future Baptism of his cruel master, and prayed to God for his recovery. Against all expectation, the Tartar recovered. Thus, through prayer, Nikon saved himself from physical death and his master from the death of his soul.

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.