Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Twelfth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ mid 125].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Cor. 1:26-2:5; for Sl. usage, see 1 Cor. 1:26-29.

1 ²⁶Brethren, ye see your calling, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many well-born. ²⁷But God chose for Himself the foolish things of the world, that He may put to shame the wise; and God chose for Himself the weak things of the world, that He may put to shame the mighty things. ²⁸And God chose for Himself the low-born of the world and the despised, and the things that are nothing, that He might make of no effect the things that are, ²⁹so that no flesh should boast before Him. ³⁰But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹in order that, even as it hath been written: “He that boasteth, in the Lord let him boast [cf. Jer. 9:23, 24].”

2 ¹And I, brethren, having come to you, came not according to excellency of speech or of wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God. ²For I decided not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, even this One Who was crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 82]. At that time:

20 ²⁹As Jesus went forth from Jericho, a great crowd followed Him. ³⁰And behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, after they heard “Jesus is passing by,” cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David.” ³¹And the crowd rebuked them that they should be silent; but they kept on crying out the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David.” ³²And Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do ye wish that I should do to you?” ³³They say to Him, “Lord, that our eyes might be opened.” ³⁴And Jesus was moved with compassion and touched their eyes; and straightway their eyes recovered sight, and they followed Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Transfiguration, and our venerable Father Maximos the Confessor (transferred to the 12^th of August on account of the Leave-taking), and our holy father among the saints, Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh and Wonder-worker of Zadonsk.

Epistle

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 26th – Civil Calendar
August 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Hippolytus.

Hippolytus was a military supervisor and prison governor in Rome, born and brought up a pagan. When St. Laurence the archdeacon was thrown into prison, Hippolytus was ordered by the emperor to keep a strict eye on this prisoner. Hippolytus saw with his own eyes how Laurence restored the sight of the blind Lucillus and how he healed many other of the sick, and he became a Christian. When St. Laurence baptized him, Hippolytus had a heavenly vision and said: ‘I see innocent souls in great joy’. He then took Laurence into his own home, and all those in it were baptized, including his old nurse Concordia, nineteen souls in all. When Laurence was slain for Christ, Hippolytus took the martyr’s body by night, wrapped it in a winding-sheet and buried it. This somehow came to the ears of the Emperor Valerian, and on the third day after Laurence’s death, Hippolytus was arrested and taken before the emperor. Refusing to deny the true Faith, he was struck on the mouth with stones. The emperor then ordered that he be stripped and flayed. Naked before the emperor, Hippolytus said to him: ‘You have not stripped me, but have begun to clothe me!’ They then threw him to the ground and flayed him mercilessly, but Hippolytus only cried out: ‘I am a Christian!’ The emperor, hearing that Hippolytus and his whole household were Christians, ordered that they all be brought. Old Concordia said: ‘We prefer to die in honor in the Christian Faith with our master than to live in dishonor with you.’ She was killed first, and then the other eighteen, all before Hippolytus’ eyes. Finally, Hippolytus was bound behind a wild horse and dragged hither and thither, until the martyr gave his soul to God.

2. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.

Born in 1724 in the village of Korotsk, in the Novgorod region, into a simple, peasant family, he received the monastic schema at the age of thirty-four and very soon, because of his ascesis and spiritual wisdom, was given higher and higher service until he was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. He served as bishop for a little under seven years and then, because of ill-health, retired to the monastery of Zadonsk and entered into rest there in 1783. His wonder-working relics are kept there to this day. A great ascetic of the Russian Church, he was a rare shepherd, a man of prayer and the writer of beautiful spiritual works. In his wisdom, his holiness and asceticism, he could be counted an equal of the great fathers of the Orthodox Church of former times. Because of the many witnessed miracles that were performed over his relics, he was first proclaimed a saint by the people, and then officially by the Church in 1861.

3. Our Holy Mother, the Empress Irene, in monasticism, Xenia.

She was the wife of the Emperor Kalo-John (John II Komnenos, 1118-1143). Apart from her monastic asceticism and good works, she is famed for having founded the Monastery of the Pantocrator in Constantinople, one of the most famous and most beautiful monasteries in that city. St. Stefan of Dečani later lived there in asceticism.

4. Our Holy Father Seridos.

Famed for founding a community near Gaza in Palestine, in which famous men such as St. Barsanuphius, St. John, Abba Dorotheos, Dositheos and others lived the ascetic life, St. Seridos departed this earthly life in the sixth century and went to the eternal joy of his Lord.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Give thanks to the Lord and do not forget His great ones, the poor and needy; they can do much for the Lord God.’ These are the words of the great Russian ascetic of the nineteenth century, Father Nazariah, abbot of Valaam. He spoke these words to the wife of a high dignitary in St. Petersburg who had fallen under the tsar’s displeasure because of some serious accusation. The accused official fell ill from anxiety and lay in bed. Hearing that Father Nazariah was in St. Petersburg, the wife of this official hurried off to find him, recounted to him the misfortune that had befallen and begged him to pray for her husband. ‘Have you got any small change?’ asked Father Nazariah. The woman brought some and gave it to him, and Father Nazariah went away. He returned the same evening and gladdened the woman with this news: ‘Glory to God! All those close to the tsar have promised their prayers!’ The woman naturally thought of Tsar Alexander Pavlovitch and his courtiers, while the elder was thinking of the beggars in the streets, among whom he had distributed the coins and whom he had set to pray for this woman’s husband. The news came that the tsar had ordered that the matter of this official be put to debate. This was just what the official had desired. When his wife began to thank Father Nazariah, he said: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, and do not forget His great ones, the poor and needy; they can do much for the Lord 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.