Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 118]. Brethren:

15 ¹⁷I have my boasting in Christ Jesus as to the things pertaining to God. ¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of anything which Christ hath not worked out through me for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed, ¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God, so as for me to have set forth fully the Gospel of the Christ from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum. ²⁰And so I am thus exerting myself eagerly to announce the Gospel where Christ was not named, lest I should build upon another’s foundation. ²¹But as it hath been written: “To whom it was not announced concerning Him, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall comprehend [Is. 52:15].”

²²Wherefore also I was hindered many times from coming to you. ²³But now having no more place in these regions, and having an earnest desire to come to you for many years, ²⁴whensoever I go into Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you while passing through, and to be sent forth to that place by you, if first in part I should take my fill of you. ²⁵But now I am going to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints. ²⁶For they of Macedonia and Achaia were well pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. ²⁷For they were well pleased; and they are their debtors. For if the nations participated in their spiritual things, they are indebted also in the fleshly things to minister to them. ²⁸This then having finished, and having sealed this fruit to them, I will go forth by way of you into Spain. ²⁹And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 49]. At that time:

12 ⁴⁶While Jesus yet talked to the crowds, behold, His Mother and His brethren were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. ⁴⁷And one said to Him, “Behold Thy Mother and Thy brethren are standing outside, seeking to speak to Thee.” ⁴⁸But He answered and said to the one who spoke to him, “Who is My mother? And who are My brethren?” ⁴⁹And stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold, My mother and My brethren. ⁵⁰“For whosoever shall do the will of My Father Who is in the heavens, the same is My brother and sister and mother.”

13 ¹And in the course of that day, Jesus, having gone out of the house, was sitting by the sea. ²And great crowds were gathered together before Him, so that He stepped into the ship and sat; and the whole crowd was standing on the seashore. ³And He spoke many things to them in parables.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Proclos and Hilarion, and our venerable Father Michael of Maleinos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 25th – Civil Calendar
July 12th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Proklos and Hilarion.

These martyrs were born in Kallippi in Asia, Proklos being Hilarion’s uncle. They suffered in the time of Trajan. The judge asked Proklos: ‘Of what race are you?’ Proklos replied: ‘I am of the race of Christ, and my hope is in my God.’ When the judge threatened him with torture, he said: ‘When you are afraid to transgress the emperor’s commands and risk falling into temporal punishment, how much more do we Christians fear to transgress against God’s commands and fall into eternal torment!’ While Proklos was being tortured, Hilarion came up to the judge and said: ‘I too am a Christian!’ After many tortures, the two of them were condemned to death, Proklos being crucified and Hilarion beheaded with the sword. They both entered into the joy of their Lord.

2. Our Holy Father Michael Maleinos.

He was a wealthy man of noble birth. Scorning worldly goods in his youth, he withdrew to Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, where he lived in asceticism, purifying his heart by fasting and prayer. He later had many disciples, of whom the best-known is St. Athanasius the Athonite. He died peacefully in the middle of the tenth century.

3. St. Veronica.

This is the woman with the issue of blood, whom the Lord healed (Matt. 9:20). In gratitude to the Lord, her healer, Veronica caused a statue of the Lord Jesus to be made, before which she prayed to God. By tradition, this statue was preserved up to the time of Julian the Apostate, when it was altered to become a statue of Zeus. This is one of the very rare occasions that a statue has been used in the Eastern Church. St. Veronica remained faithful to Christ till death, and entered peacefully into rest.

4. The Holy Martyrs Theodore and John.

Father and son, they settled after their Baptism in the pagan city of Kiev. The infuriated pagans pulled their house down about their ears, and the two of them perished for the sake of Christ. Their relics are preserved in St. Anthony’s caves. The barren and women who miscarry pray especially to them.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The fabric of righteousness is finer than silk, but is enduring and indestructible and embraces both worlds, while the fabric of unrighteousness and violence is thick and easily rent. In the time of the Kievan Prince Vladimir, there lived in Kiev only one Christian family, Theodore and his son John. When there was a wicked, idolatrous festival, the pagans of Kiev, urged on by demons, plotted to offer John, Theodore’s son, as a sacrifice to the idols. When some of them went to Theodore to demand his son in the name of their ‘gods,’ he said to them: ‘If your gods are alive, let them come themselves and take my son!’ The furious pagans rushed to Theodore’s house, destroyed it and left the bodies of the godly Theodore and his son John in the ruins. Thus far did the fabric of unrighteousness extend. But the fabric of righteousness went further: Prince Vladimir was baptized soon after this, and also baptized the nation, and on the very spot where the house and grave of Theodore and John had been, the church of the most holy Mother of God was built.

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.