Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 117]. Brethren:

15 ⁷Be receiving one another, even as also the Christ Himself received us to the glory of God. ⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ hath become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, in order to confirm the promises to the fathers, ⁹and so that the nations might glorify God for His mercy, even as it hath been written: “For this cause I will confess to Thee among the nations, and I will chant to Thy name [Ps. 17(18):50(49)].” ¹⁰And again he saith: “Rejoice, ye nations, with His people [Deut. 32:43]!” ¹¹And again: “Praise the Lord, all the nations; and praise Him, all the peoples [Ps. 116(117):1].” ¹²And again, Esaias saith: “There shall be a root of Jesse; and the One Who riseth up to rule over the nations, on Him shall the nations hope [Is. 11:10].” ¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, in order for you to abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴And I myself also am persuaded concerning you, my brethren, that ye yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, being able also to admonish one another. ¹⁵But I am writing more boldly to you, brethren, in part, as reminding you, because of the grace which was given to me by God, ¹⁶in order for me to be a liturgist of Jesus Christ to the nations, ministering as priest in sacred sacrifice the Gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 48]. At that time:

12 ³⁸Some of the Scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from Thee.” ³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign; and there shall be no sign given to it, except the sign of Jonas the prophet. ⁴⁰“For even as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹“Men, Ninevites, shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the proclamation of Jonas; and behold, something more than Jonas is here. ⁴²“A queen of the south shall be raised in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something more than Solomon is here. ⁴³“But whenever the unclean spirit should go out from the man, he goeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. ⁴⁴“Then he saith, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ And after he cometh, he findeth it unoccupied, swept clean, and adorned. ⁴⁵“Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the latter things of that man become worse than those of the former. Thus it shall be also to this wicked generation.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Martyr Ephemia the All-praised, the standard of the Fathers when she ratified the definition of the Faith, and the repose of the Equal-to-the-apostles Olga, Princess of Russia, in Baptism called Helen.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 181]. Brethren:

6 ¹We, working together, beseech you also not to receive the grace of God in vain— ²for He saith, “In an acceptable time I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I helped thee [Is. 49:8]”; behold, now is an acceptable time; behold, now is a day of salvation— ³by not giving even one cause of stumbling in anything, that the ministry might not be blamed. ⁴But in all things commending ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits, ⁵in blows, in imprisonments, in instabilities, in toils, in vigils, in fastings, ⁶in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness of the right hand and of the left, ⁸by glory and dishonor, by ill-fame and good fame; as deceivers and yet true; ⁹as unknown and well-known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not put to death; ¹⁰as ones sorrowful, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 33]. At that time:

7 ³⁶A certain one of the Pharisees was asking Jesus that He would eat with him. And He entered into the house of the Pharisee, and reclined at table. ³⁷And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of perfumed ointment, ³⁸and she stood beside His feet behind Him, weeping; and she began to wet His feet with tears, and was wiping them off with the hairs of her head; and she was kissing His feet ardently and anointing them with the perfumed ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, “This One, if He were a prophet, would know who and of what sort the woman is who toucheth Him, for she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to thee.” And he saith, “Teacher, say it.” ⁴¹“There were two debtors to a certain creditor: the one was owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²“But when they had nothing to pay back the debt, he showed himself gracious to both. Say which of them then will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered and said, “I suppose that he, to whom he showed himself the more gracious.” And He said to him, “Rightly thou didst judge.” ⁴⁴And He turned to the woman, and said to Simon, “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; water thou gavest Me not for My feet, but she with tears did wet My feet, and with the hairs of her head wiped them off. ⁴⁵“A kiss thou gavest Me not, but she from the time that I entered did not cease from ardently kissing My feet. ⁴⁶“With oil thou didst not anoint My head, but she anointed My feet with perfumed ointment. ⁴⁷“For which reason I say to thee, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” ⁴⁸And He said to her, “Thy sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹And those reclining at table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this Who even forgiveth sins?” ⁵⁰And He said to the woman, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go thy way in peace.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 24th – Civil Calendar
July 11th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Ephemia.

This saint is commemorated on September 16th, the day on which she suffered. On this day is commemorated the miracle wrought by her precious relics, revealed at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon. This council was called together in the reign of the Emperor Marcian and the Empress Pulcheria, in 451, after the death of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, and was summoned because of the heresy of Dioscoros, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Eftyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, who had disseminated the false teaching that there were in Christ not two natures, divine and human, but only one, a divine nature. At this council, the chief role was played by Anatolios, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Because, through the quarrels and evidence on both sides, no decision could be reached, Patriarch Anatolios suggested that the Orthodox and the heretics each write down their confession of faith, and that they be put into the reliquary that contained the relics of St. Ephemia. All agreed to this. Two confessions of faith, then, were written and placed in the hands of the great martyr. The reliquary was closed and sealed with the imperial seal, a watch then being set over it. They then all spent three days in fasting and prayer. On the fourth day, when the tomb was opened, they saw the Orthodox confession of faith above the saint’s head and the heretical one beneath her feet. Thus was the conflict resolved by God’s power, on the side of Orthodoxy. In the time of the Emperor Herakleios, the relics of St. Ephemia were translated from Chalcedon to Constantinople, to the church dedicated to her near the Hippodrome. The iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian ordered that her relics be thrown into the sea; but by a wonderful act, the reliquary was brought to the island of Lemnos and placed in the church of the Holy Martyr Glykeria. Then, in the time of the Empress Irene, the reliquary with its relics was again taken to Constantinople, to its former place. Blood has flowed from these relics from time to time, to the succour of the sick and the feeble.

2. St. Elena (Olga).

A great Russian princess, the wife of Prince Igor, she was called Olga before her Baptism. She was baptized in Constantinople by Patriarch Polyefktos, and was greatly zealous for the Orthodox Faith in Russia. She entered into rest in 969.

3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Nikodemos (Nicodemus).

Born in Elbasan, he was married and had children. Duped by the Turks, he embraced Islam and forced his children to do likewise, with the exception of one son who fled to the Holy Mountain and became a monk. Nikodemos went to Athos to take his son back, but the place made such an impression on him that he repented, returned to the Christian Faith and became a monk himself. He bewailed his apostasy for three years, then decided to return to Albania, to expiate his sin there where he had committed it. He therefore returned, informed the Turks that he was a Christian and was beheaded on July 11th, 1722. His wonder-working relics are preserved today whole and incorrupt.

4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Nectarios.

Born in Vryoulla in Asia Minor, he was forced to accept Islam at the age of seventeen. His outcome was similar to that of St. Nikodemos. When he showed himself to his mother as a Turk, she cried at him: ‘Get away from me! I don’t know you. I bore you as a Christian, not as a Turk!’ He repented bitterly, went to the Holy Mountain and there, in the skete of St. Anne, became a monk. Having resolved to die for Christ and thus take away his sin, he went again to Vryoulla, where he suffered. He was beheaded for Christ by the Turks in his birthplace on July 11th, 1820, at the age of twenty-one.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A change of fortune hits hardest when it comes unexpectedly. But, to him who is prepared for the blow and is armed against it, can it be unexpected? The Emperor Charlemagne ensured that his sons learn some craft and his daughter to weave, so that they should have something to live on if their fortunes changed. The renowned Belissarios, a great general and conqueror, was slandered to the king by some malicious men, and on the foundation of this slander, was blinded and stripped of all his goods. The blind Bellisarios sat at the gate of Rome and begged for alms, saying to the passers-by: ‘Give to Bellisarios, whom fortune raised up but envy struck down and deprived of his sight!’ ‘Is not man as a soldier in arms on earth?’ says Righteous Job (7:1). One must be as a vigilant watch-man, ready for anything that may happen. What is there that cannot happen to a man? One must have hope in God in every suffering. Righteous Job, on his dung-heap, cried out from among the filth: ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!’ (13:15).

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.