Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 29].

12 ¹At that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to maltreat some of those from the Church. ²And he killed Iakovos the brother of John with a sword. ³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he in addition went on to seize Peter also—and they were the days of unleavened bread— ⁴whom after he laid hold of, he also put in prison, and delivered him up to four sets of four soldiers to guard him, purposing after the passover to bring him forth to the people. ⁵Peter, therefore, on the one hand, was being guarded in the prison, but on the other hand, earnest prayer was being made by the Church to God on his behalf. ⁶And when Herod was about to bring him forth, on that very night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and guards also were before the door keeping the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the chamber; and he struck the side of Peter, and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And the chains from his hands fell off of him. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird thyself about, and bind on thy sandals.” And so he did. And he saith to him, “Cast about thee thine outer garment, and follow thou me.” ⁹And he went out and kept on following him, and did not know that it was real that which was happening by means of the angel, but he kept on thinking he saw a vision. ¹⁰And after they passed a first guard and a second, they came up to the gate, the iron one, which leadeth into the city, which was opened to them of itself; and having gone out, they advanced one street, and straightway the angel departed from him. ¹¹And after Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know of a truth, that the Lord sent forth His angel, and took me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 31].

8 ³¹The Lord Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If ye abide in My word, truly ye are My disciples; ³²“and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” ³³They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how sayest Thou, ‘Ye shall become free?’” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, that everyone who doeth sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵“And the slave abideth not in the house forever; the Son abideth forever. ³⁶“If therefore the Son should set you free, verily ye shall be free. ³⁷“I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because My word findeth no room in you. ³⁸“I am speaking that which I have seen by the side of My Father; and ye therefore are doing that which ye have seen from the side of your father.” ³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If ye were children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰“But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man Who hath spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. ⁴¹“Ye are doing the works of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We have not been born of fornication; we have one Father, God.” ⁴²Then Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I came forth out of God and am come; for neither have I come of Myself, but that One sent Me forth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prusa, and his companions, the Presbyters Akakios, Menander, and Polyainos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 1st – Civil Calendar
May 19th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prousa, with three priests: Akakios, Menander and Polyenos.

They suffered for the Christian Faith in the time of Julian the Apostate in Asian Prousa. The imperial governor, Junius, brought Patrick to a hot water spring and asked him: ‘Who created this healing water, if not our gods, Aesculapius and the others, whom we worship?’ St. Patrick answered: ‘Your gods are demons; and this water, like all other water, was created by Christ, our Lord and God.’ Then the governor asked: ‘And will this Christ of yours save you if I throw you into this boiling water?’ The saint replied: ‘If He wills, He can keep me whole and uninjured, although I would wish, in this water, to be parted from this temporal life, that I may live eternally with Christ; but let His holy will be done, without which not a hair of a man’s head can fall.’ Hearing this, the governor ordered that Patrick be thrown into the water. The boiling drops fell on all sides, and scalded many of the onlookers, but the saint remained untouched, as though he were standing in cold water. Seeing this, the governor was wild with shame and commanded that Patrick and three of his priests be beheaded with axes. So these goodly followers of Christ said their prayers and laid their heads under the executioner’s axe. When they had been beheaded, their souls were taken merrily to Christ’s kingdom of light, to reign eternally.

2. St. John, Bishop of the Goths.

He was bishop in Georgia, but when a local Tartar khan began to torture the Christians, he went off and spent four years among the Goths in Bessabara (a Gothic diocese formed in the time of Constantine the Great). Hearing of the death of the khan, he returned to his work and guided his flock with zeal and godliness. Before his death, he said: ‘In forty days I shall go to judgement with the khan’ (that is: through death, he was going before the throne of God). And thus it was. On the fortieth day, he passed away and went to the Lord. He entered peacefully into rest in the 8th century.

3. The Holy Prince Ivan of Vologda.

He was a wonder-worker. God-fearing and devout from his youth, he was thrown into prison by his uncle, Ivan Vasillievitch, together with his brother Dimitri, spending thirty-two years there. Ivan became a monk before his death, receiving the name Ignatius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Peter of Damascus laments, “I begin to see that my soul is being destroyed, and yet I make no effort to embark on a godly life. Why, O my soul, are you so indifferent about yourself? Why, when you sin, are you not as ashamed before God and His angels as you are before men? Alas, alas, for I do not feel the shame before my Creator and Master that I feel before a man. Before a man I cannot sin, but do all I can to appear to be acting righteously; yet standing before God I think evil thoughts and often am not ashamed to speak of them. What madness! Though I sin, I have no fear of God Who watches me, and yet I cannot tell to a single man what I have done so as to give him a chance to correct me. Alas, for I know the punishment and yet am unwilling to repent. I love the heavenly kingdom, and yet do not acquire virtue. I believe in God and constantly disobey His commandments. I hate the devil, and yet do not stop doing what he wants. If I pray, I lose interest and become unfeeling. If I fast, I become proud, and damn myself all the more. If I keep vigil, I think I have achieved something, and so I have no profit from it. If I read, I do one of two evil things in my obduracy: either I read for the sake of profane learning and self-esteem, and so am further benighted; or by reading, and not acting in the spirit of what I read, simply increase my guilt. If by God’s grace I happen to stop sinning in outward action, I do not stop sinning continually in what I say. And if God’s grace should protect me also from this, I continue to provoke His wrath by my evil thoughts. Alas, what can I do? Wherever I go, I find sin. Everywhere there are demons. Despair is worst of all. I have provoked God, I have saddened His angels, I have frequently injured and offended men.

“I desired, O Lord, to erase the record of my sins by tears, and through repentance to live the rest of my life according to Thy will. But the enemy deceives me and battles with my soul. Before I perish utterly, O Lord, save me.”

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.