Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Sixth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 121].

16 ¹⁷Brethren, I beseech you to look out for those who cause the divisions and the stumbling blocks contrary to the teaching which ye learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸For such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by smooth speech and fine speaking, they deceive the hearts of the simple. ¹⁹For your obedience reached to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But on the one hand, I wish you to be wise indeed in regard to the good, and on the other hand, pure in regard to the evil. ²⁰And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet quickly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

²¹Timothy my fellow worker, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you. ²²I, Tertius, who wrote down the epistle, greet you in the Lord. ²³Gaios, my host and host of the whole church, greeteth you. Erastos, the administrator of the city, greeteth you, and Quartus the brother.

²⁴The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 51]. At that time:

13 ¹⁰The disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “Why speakest Thou to them in parables?” ¹¹And He answered and said to them, “Because it hath been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it hath not been given. ¹²“For whosoever hath, to him it shall be given, and he shall be made to abound; but whosoever hath not, even what he hath shall be taken from him. ¹³“On account of this I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, nor do they understand. ¹⁴“And in them is being fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, ‘In hearing ye shall hear, and in no wise shall understand; and seeing ye shall see, and in no wise shall perceive [Is. 6:9]. ¹⁵“‘For the heart of this people was made fat; and with their ears they heard heavily; and their eyes they closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart and be converted; and I shall heal them [cf. Is. 6:10].’ ¹⁶“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. ¹⁷“For verily I say to you that many prophets and righteous ones desired to see what ye see, and saw not, and to hear what ye hear, and heard not. ¹⁸“Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower: ¹⁹“When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, the evil one cometh and seizeth that which hath been sown in his heart. This is the one who was sown by the wayside. ²⁰“But the one who was sown upon the rocky places, this is the one who heareth the word and straightway with joy receiveth it, ²¹“but hath no root in himself, but is temporary. And after affliction or persecution ariseth on account of the word, straightway he is made to stumble. ²²“And the one who was sown among the thorns, this is the one who heareth the word, and the care of this age and the deceit of wealth together choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. ²³“But the one who was sown on the good ground, this is the one who heareth and understandeth the word, who truly beareth fruit and produceth: some indeed a hundred, but some sixty, and some thirty.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Pedachtoe, and his ten disciples.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 29th – Civil Calendar
July 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.

He lived in a monastery near the town with ten of his disciples. In the time of Diocletian, a fierce persecutor of Christians called Philomarchus came to Sebaste. He arrested and killed many of the Christians in the town. When he saw Athenogenes and his disciples, he told the elder to sacrifice to idols, that they should not perish as had the other Christians. Athenogenes replied: ‘O torturer, those whom you describe as having perished have not perished, but are in heaven and make merry with the angels!’ There was a touching moment when a deer, which had been hand-fed by the compassionate Athenogenes, ran up to him, and seeing him in such straits, shed tears. Wild animals of the hills had more pity on the martyrs than did the pagans! After harsh torture, during which an angel of God comforted them, they were all beheaded, first the priests and fellow-workers of Athenogenes and then Athenogenes himself, and went to their heavenly home in the year 311.

2. The Holy Martyr Julia the Virgin.

She was born in Carthage of noble parents. When the Persians overran Carthage, many of the people were taken into slavery. St. Julia was one of these, and was given to a Syrian merchant, who was a pagan. Seeing that Julia was a Christian, he urged her many times to deny Christ and become of one faith with him, but Julia steadfastly refused. As Julia was faithful and reliable in her work, the merchant left her in peace and spoke no more about faith. One day, the merchant loaded his ship with goods, took Julia with him and set off across the sea to a distant land to ply his trade. When they arrived at Corsica, there was a pagan festival in progress, and the merchant took part in the foul idolatry while Julia remained in the ship, weeping that so many people lived in foolish error, not knowing the truth. The pagans somehow came to know about her, dragged her off the ship in spite of her owner’s efforts to prevent them, and began to torture her in terrible ways. They cut off her breasts and threw her onto the rock, then crucified her, at which Julia gave her soul to God. Her death was revealed to some monks on the nearby island of Margarita (or Gorgona), and they went and buried the martyr’s body. Many miracles were worked over St. Julia’s grave through the ages, and she herself appeared to various people from the other world. She suffered with honor and went to the kingdom of God in the sixth century.

After many years had passed, the faithful wanted to build a new church in honor of St. Julia in another place, because the old church was small and dilapidated. They prepared the materials: the stone, bricks, sand and everything else that was needed, on the new site. But it happened that, at night, on the night before the day on which the foundations were to be laid, that the materials were carried by invisible hands back to the old church. In great perplexity, the people carried them to the new site again, but again the same thing happened: the materials were taken to the old site and left beside the church. The night watchman saw a maiden bathed in light, using white oxen to carry the materials to the old church. By this, they understood that St. Julia did not wish her church to be built in another place, so they pulled down the old church and built the new one on the same spot.

3. The Fifteen Thousand Holy Martyrs of Persia.

They were beheaded for the Christian Faith in Persia.

4. The Holy Martyr Athenogenes.

The composer of the Vespers hymn ‘O Joyous Light,’ he perished for Christ in the flames and was made worthy of eternal glory in the kingdom of God.

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.