Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 148]. Brethren:

11 ⁸Man is not of woman, but woman of man. ⁹For also man was not created on account of the woman, but woman on account of the man. ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have authority on the head on account of the angels. ¹¹However neither is man without woman, nor woman without man in the Lord. ¹²For as the woman is of the man, so also the man is by the woman; but all things of God. ¹³Judge in yourselves: Is it becoming for a woman to be praying to God uncovered? ¹⁴Or doth not nature herself teach you that on the one hand if a man should have long hair, it is a dishonor to him, ¹⁵but on the other hand if a woman should have long hair, it is to her glory? For the long hair hath been given to her for a covering. ¹⁶But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God.

¹⁷Now giving this order, I praise ye not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. ¹⁸For indeed, first, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be schisms among you, and in part I believe it. ¹⁹For there must be also heresies among you, that the approved might become manifest among you. ²⁰When ye come together therefore in one place, it is not to eat a Lord’s Supper. ²¹For in eating each one taketh before others his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunk. ²²Have ye not houses in order to eat and to drink? Or do ye despise the Church of God, and put to shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. ²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 71]. At that time:

17 ¹⁰The disciples of Jesus asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that it is necessary for Elias to come first?” ¹¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Elias indeed cometh first and shall restore all things. ¹²“But I say to you that Elias already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him as much as they wished. Thus also the Son of Man is about to suffer under them.” ¹³Then the disciples comprehended that He spoke to them concerning John the Baptist.

¹⁴And after they came to the crowd, there came to Him a man, kneeling down to Him and saying, ¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth badly; for often he falleth into the fire, and often into the water. ¹⁶“And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they were not able to cure him.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “O unbelieving and wayward generation, until when shall I be with you? Until when shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked it, and the demon came out from him; and the boy was cured from that hour.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of righteous Fathers Isaakios, Dalmatos, and Faustos, ascetics of the Dalmaton Monastery at Constantinople, and our venerable Father Anthony the Roman, Abbot and Wonder-worker of Novgorod.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 16th – Civil Calendar
August 3rd – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Fathers Isaac, Dalmatos and Faustos.

Isaac is commemorated separately on May 30th. St. Dalmatos was first an officer under the Emperor Theodosios the Great, who held him in great honor, but when his spirit awakened within him, he scorned all that is of this world, abandoning his rank, and took his only son Faustos off to the outskirts of Constantinople, to St. Isaac’s community, where they were both tonsured as monks. Dalmatos consecrated himself utterly to please God in his life, which was a joy to the elder, Isaac (Isaakios). When Isaac came to the hour of death, he installed Dalmatos as abbot in his place, and the community later came to be called after Dalmatos. He sometimes fasted for forty days at a time, conquering by his fasting the invisible power of the demons. He took part in the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, and battled against the Nestorian heresy. Being pleasing to God, he entered peacefully into rest in the 5th century. His son Faustos supported his father in everything, and after a godly life, died peacefully in that community.

2. Our Holy Father Kosmas the Eunuch.

A monk of the monastery of Pharan, he was very learned in the holy Scriptures. He so valued the works of St. Athanasius the Great that he said to his disciples: ‘When you hear something quoted from the writings of St. Athanasius, if you have no paper by you, write them on your handkerchief.’ In old age, he came to Antioch, to Patriarch Gregory (†596), and there ended his days. One particular man often came to Kosmas’ grave, and honoring the saint, prayed there. Asked why he did this, he explained that he had been paralysed for twelve years, and that St. Kosmas had healed him.

3. Our Holy Father Anthony the Roman.

He was born in Rome in 1086 of devout and affluent parents. At that time, the Roman Church broke away from the Eastern Church, and all who remained faithful to the Eastern Church were persecuted by the Roman clergy. Anthony was among those persecuted. He gave away all his goods and became a monk. Standing on a rock in the sea, he lived in asceticism for fourteen months. The rock meanwhile parted from its base, and by a strange providence, floated through the water to Novgorod. In Novgorod, Archbishop Nikita received him with kindness and helped him to build a church to the holy Mother of God, later to become a monastery. Anthony lived long as abbot of this monastery, and revealing great power by the grace of God through many miracles, died peacefully in 1148 and went to the courts of the Lord.

4. St. Salome the Myrrh-bearer.

The mother of the holy Apostles Iakovos and John, the wife of Zebedee and daughter of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God, she served the Lord during His earthly life, and was made worthy to be among the first bearers of the tidings of His Resurrection.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Holy souls were wont to read the holy Scriptures with great diligence, considering every word with care and placing themselves before the mirror of the word of God as before the Dreadful Judgement. Their diligence in this was so great that some undertook long journeys to come to some man of spiritual wisdom who would interpret for them some word or sentence in holy Scripture. Wherever it was possible, this took place through correspondence. Hence there remain various collections of letters of the saints, such as those of Ss. Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, Isidore of Pelusium, Nilus of Sinai and many others. St. Kosmas was pondering one day on the words of the Lord Christ, when, in Gethsemane, He asked His disciples if they had a sword. When His disciples said to Him: ‘Here are two swords,’ He said to them: ‘It is enough’ (Luke 22:38). Being unable to explain these words himself, Kosmas decided to go through the desert to the distant monastery of Pirga, to the famous Abba Theophilus, to ask him. It was only with great difficulty that he reached his goal. Theophilus explained to him: ‘The two swords denote the twofold state of a godly life: labor, and a mind steeped in thoughts of God and in prayer. He who has these two is perfect.’

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.