Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 177]. Brethren:

4 ¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to that which hath been written: “I believed, wherefore I spoke [Ps. 115(116):1],” we also believe, and therefore speak, ¹⁴knowing that the One Who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also through Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, which abounded through the majority, might cause the giving of thanks to abound more to the glory of God. ¹⁶Wherefore, we are not fainthearted; but even if our outward man is being utterly destroyed, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For the lightness of our momentary affliction worketh for us a more and more surpassing eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 100]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 ²⁷“For even as the lightning cometh forth from the east and appeareth as far as the west, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸“For wheresoever the corpse may be, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹“And straightway after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ³⁰“And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven, and then the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. ³¹“And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the heavens unto their extremities. ³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch at once should become tender and put forth leaves, ye know that the summer is near. ³³“Thus also ye, whenever ye see all these things, know ye that it is near, even at the doors. ³⁴“Verily I say to you, in no wise shall this generation pass away until all these things shall have taken place. ³⁵“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away. ³⁶“But concerning that day and hour, no one knoweth, not even the angels of the heavens, except My Father only. ³⁷“But even as the days of Noah were, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸“For even as in the days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark— ³⁹“and they knew not until the flood came and took all away—so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰“Then two shall be in the field: the one is taken and the one is left. ⁴¹“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. ⁴²“Be watching then, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh. ⁴³“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴“On this account, ye also keep on becoming ready, for in what hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom his lord appointeth over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶“Happy is that slave whom his lord, after he cometh, shall find so doing. ⁴⁷“Verily I say to you, that he shall appoint him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My lord taketh time to come,’ ⁴⁹“and should himself begin to strike his fellow slaves, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, ⁵⁰“the lord of that slave shall come in a day in which he expecteth not, and in an hour in which he knoweth not, ⁵¹“and will cut him in twain, and will place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Forefeast of the holy Transfiguration of our Lord, and the holy Martyr Efsignios of Antioch.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint Peter [§ 58].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Pe. 1:1-25, 2:1-10; for Sl. usage, see 1 Pe. 1:1, 2, 10-12, 2:6-10.

1 ¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are sojourners of the diaspora of Pontos, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and of Bithynia, ²elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy regenerated us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, which hath been kept in the heavens for you, ⁵who are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In which ye rejoice now for a little while, if it is needful, though ye have been grieved in diverse temptations, ⁷in order that the testing of your faith, much more precious than perishing gold, though it is being tested by fire, might be found to praise and honor and glory in the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸Whom not having seen, ye love; in Whom though now ye see Him not, but ye believe and are gladdened with a joy unspeakable and glorified, ⁹receiving for yourselves the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched out, who prophesied concerning the grace toward you, ¹¹searching in regard to what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ Who was in them was declaring when He testified beforehand of the sufferings in regard to Christ and the glories after these. ¹²To whom it was revealed that not to themselves, but to you, were they ministering the same things which now were announced to you by those who preached the Gospel to you in the Holy Spirit Who was sent forth from heaven—things into which angels desire to look into.

¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and perfectly hope on the grace which is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, ¹⁴as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance, ¹⁵but according as the One Who called you is holy, do ye also become holy in all manner of behavior, ¹⁶because it hath been written: “Become holy; for I am holy [cf. Lev. 11:44, 19:2, 20:7].” ¹⁷And if ye call upon as Father the One Who without respect of persons judgeth according to the work of each, conduct yourselves during the time of your sojourning in fear, ¹⁸knowing that ye were not ransomed with corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your empty manner of life which was handed down from your fathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, ²⁰Who indeed was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake, ²¹who through Him believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

²²Since ye have purified your souls in obedience to the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another intensely out of a pure heart, ²³which is begotten anew, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Logos of God Who liveth and abideth forever, ²⁴because “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth and its flower falleth out [cf. Is. 40:6-8; Ps. 102(103):13(15)]; ²⁵“but the word of the Lord abideth forever [cf. Is. 40:8].” And this is the word which was preached in the Gospel to you.

2 ¹Having then laid aside from yourselves all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speakings, ²as newborn babes, desire the pure rational milk, that by it ye might grow in regard to salvation, ³if indeed “ye tasted that the Lord is good [cf. Ps. 33(34):8].” ⁴To Whom coming, a living Stone—having indeed been rejected by men, but chosen by God—precious, ⁵ye also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Sion a cornerstone, chosen, precious; and the one who believeth on Him in no wise shall be put to shame [cf. Is. 28:16].” ⁷To you, therefore, who believe, is the honor, but to those who disobey—the “stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner [Ps. 117(118):22],” ⁸and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense [cf. Is. 8:14]”—they stumble at the word, being disobedient, in regard to that which they also were appointed. ⁹But ye are “a chosen race [Is. 43:20], a royal priesthood, a holy nation [Ex. 19:6, 23:22], a people for a possession [cf. Deut. 7:6, 14:2],” that ye might “tell forth the virtues [cf. Is. 43:21]” of the One Who called you out of darkness into His wondrous light, ¹⁰who once were “not a people,” but now are “a people of God,” who “had not been pitied,” but now “have been pitied [cf. Hos. 1:6, 8, 9, 2:23].”

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 18th – Civil Calendar
August 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Efsignios (Eusignius).

He was a soldier under the Emperor Maximian, the Emperor Constantine the Great, and Constantine’s sons, and was present at the martyrdom of the holy martyr Vasiliskos (see May 22nd). He saw many angels, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He received the soul of this holy martyr from the angel’s hands. He was a general under Constantine, and saw the Cross that appeared to the emperor. Spending a full sixty years in military service, he withdrew from it in the time of Constantine’s sons and went to Antioch, his hometown. There he lived a godly life of fasting, prayer and good works. In the time of Julian the Apostate, two men at variance in the street called him to judge between them. He adjudged right to the righteous, at which the one at fault became enraged, went to the emperor and denounced Efsignios as a Christian. The emperor summoned him to trial, at which he fiercely denounced the emperor for his apostasy from the Faith and rebuked him by citing the shining example of the great Constantine. The proud Julian ordered that he be beheaded. Efsignios suffered in great old age, in the year 362, and went to the kingdom of heaven.

2. The Hieromartyr Fabian, Pope of Rome.

A Roman by birth, Fabian was first a village priest, but then, when a white dove was seen to descend on him during a papal election, he was chosen. He was meek and kindly. He gathered the bodies of the holy martyrs for burial with great diligence, and built churches over their graves. He also built chapels and shrines in the caves where the martyrs had hidden during fierce persecutions. He baptized the Emperor Philip and his son and heir, also called Philip, and with the help of the senator, Pontius, who was also baptized, destroyed many idols and temples. But, when the wicked Decius became emperor, a terrible persecution of Christians arose in which Fabian suffered, being beheaded in the year 250. This Fabian established the custom of the blessing of oil on Holy Thursday.

3. The Holy Martyr Pontius the Senator.

Pontius was the son of the senator Marcus and his wife Julia, who was barren for twenty-two years before giving him birth. Baptized by Pope Pontianus, along with his friend Valerius (who wrote his life), he succeeded in bringing his father, Marcus, the Emperor Philip and his son, and many other eminent Romans to the Christian Faith. He gave great protection and help to the Church as a senator, and was a close friend of Pope Fabian. When Decius’ persecution began, Pontius fled from Rome and hid in the Alps, but in the time of Valerian, he was taken and put to harsh torture, during which many miracles of God were revealed and many turned to Christ. There happened to be many Jews there, who cried to the judge: ‘Kill him; kill this magician at once!’ At this, Pontius raised his hands to heaven and said: ‘I give thanks to Thee, O my God, that the Jews also cry against me, as their fathers once cried against Christ: “Crucify Him; crucify Him!”’ He was beheaded in 257 and was buried by his friend Valerius.

4. St. Nonna.

The mother of St. Gregory the Theologian, she was a Christian and a mighty wonder-worker through prayer. By her prayers, she brought her husband back from the folly of idolatry to the Christian Faith, and he later became bishop of the city of Nazianzus. By her prayers, St. Nonna also saved her son, Gregory the Theologian, from a storm. She entered peacefully into rest as a deaconess in 374.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Valerian thus begins the Life of his friend Pontius: ‘Who can believe, except by the gift of God? Who can embark on spiritual endeavor except with God’s help? Who can receive the wreath (of martyrdom) except it be given by Christ?’ God desires, and can perform, all that is needful for the salvation of men, but only if men ask Him. By her prayers, St. Nonna brought her husband Gregory and her son Gregory the Theologian to the Christian Faith. By his prayers, Basil brought his teacher Evoulios to Christ. By prayer, King Hezekiah prolonged his life for fifteen years. By prayer, St. Simeon the Stylite turned back the Persians and Scythians, that they should not strike a blow against the land of Greece with the armies they held in readiness. For the rest, all the stars in heaven could more easily be counted than all the wonders in the world performed by prayer.

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.