Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 196]. Brethren:

12 ²⁰I fear, lest perchance, after I come, I should not find you such as I wish, and that I should be found by you such as ye do not wish; lest perchance there be strifes, jealousies, fits of anger, intrigues, slanders, whisperings, inflatednesses, instabilities; ²¹and lest, after I come again, my God should humble me before you, and that I should mourn many of those who have previously sinned, and did not repent over the uncleanness and fornication and licentiousness which they practised.

13 ¹This is the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two witnesses, even of three, shall every word be established [cf. Deut. 19:15].” ²I have said before, and say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have previously sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come in regard to that again I will not spare.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 17]. The Lord said to His disciples:

4 ²⁴“Be taking heed what ye hear: With what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you; and to you who hear shall more be added. ²⁵“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and he who hath not, even what he hath shall be taken away from him.”

²⁶And He was saying, “So the kingdom of God is as if a man should cast the seed upon the earth, ²⁷“and be sleeping and rousing himself night and day, and the seed goeth on sprouting and being lengthened—how, he knoweth not. ²⁸“For the earth beareth fruit of herself, first a blade, then an ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹“But whenever the crop shall have permitted, straightway he sendeth forth the sickle, because the harvest hath come.”

³⁰And He was saying, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what kind of parable shall we compare it? ³¹“As to a grain of mustard which, whenever it is sown upon the earth, is smaller than all of the seeds that are upon the earth; ³²“and whenever it is sown, it doth spring up, and doth become greater than all of the herbs, and doth produce great branches, so that the birds of the heaven are able to roost under the shadow of it.”

³³And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴But without a parable He was not in the habit of speaking the word to them; but privately, He was explaining all things to His disciples.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of the Dormition, and the holy Martyr Louppos (transferred to the 22^nd of August on account of the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Dormition), and Hieromartyr Irenæos, Bishop of Lyons.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 5th – Civil Calendar
August 23rd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Loupos.

This holy man was a servant of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. When St. Demetrius was killed by being pierced with spears by order of the Emperor Maximian, Loupos dipped the hem of his garment and his ring in the martyr’s blood. Loupos worked many miracles in Thessalonica with this garment and ring, healing people of every pain and infirmity. The Emperor Maximian, who was still staying in Thessalonica, discovered this, and commanded that Loupos be tortured and killed. But the soldiers who drew their weapons on Loupos turned one on the other and wounded one another. After harsh torture, he was beheaded and entered into the heavenly kingdom.

2. The Hieromartyr Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons.

He was sent by St. Polycarp from Asia Minor to preach in Gaul. He became the first Bishop of Lyons and brought many pagans to Christianity. At the time of a persecution of Christians in the year 177, Pothinus was taken for trial; carried there, as he was ninety years old. ‘Who is the Christian God?’ the proconsul asked him. ‘You will find out, if you are worthy,’ old Pothinus answered him. The pagans assaulted him with sticks and stones, and belabored him without mercy. Thrown into prison, St. Pothinus died of the beating and entered into the heavenly kingdom.

3. The Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons.

He was in his youth a pupil of St. Polycarp, the disciple of the apostles, who sent him to preach in Gaul. After St. Pothinus’ death by martyrdom, Irenaeus was made bishop. In his numerous writings, Irenaeus both expounded the Orthodox Faith and defended it against heretics. He suffered for Christ in the time of the Emperor Severus, in 202, along with nineteen thousand Christians.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The mysterious power of the Cross, however inexplicable, is true and indisputable. St. John Chrysostom speaks of the custom that obtained in his time, of placing the sign of the Cross ‘on the imperial diadem and the soldiers’ accoutrements, and of making it on parts of the body: the head, the breast and the heart, both at the table of sacrifice and on lying down in bed.’ ‘If,’ he says, ‘we are striving to drive out demons, we use the Cross, and it is also of aid in healing sickness.’ St. Benedict made the sign of the Cross over a glass containing poison, and the glass shattered as if struck by a stone. St. Julian made the sign of the Cross over a cup of poison brought to him, and drank the poison, suffering no bodily harm from it. The holy martyr Vasilissa of Nikomedia protected herself with the sign of the Cross and stood in the midst of the flames, remaining completely untouched. The holy martyrs Audon and Senis crossed themselves when ravening wild animals were let loose on them, and the beasts became docile and meek as lambs. The sign of the Cross has been the most powerful weapon against great temptations from demons, from the early ascetics down to the present day. The most ferocious of the devil’s devisings are dispersed into nothing, like smoke, when a man signs himself with the Cross. Thus it was the good will of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that the erstwhile sign of wickedness and shame, the cross, should, after His crucifixion on the wood of the Cross, be the vehicle of all-conquering power and might.

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.