Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Fourteenth Week

Mode Plagal One — Third Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 170]. Brethren:

1 ²¹The One Who establisheth us with you in Christ, and Who anointed us, is God, ²²Who also sealed us and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³And I invoke God as witness upon my soul, that I spared you, and came not now to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we lord it over your faith, but are fellow workers of your joy; for by faith ye stand.

2 ¹But I decided this within myself, not to come again to you in grief. ²For if I grieve you, who then is the one who maketh me glad, except the one who is grieved by me? ³And I wrote this same thing to you, lest, after I come, I should have grief from those of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly toward you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 89]. The Lord said this parable:

22 ²“The kingdom of the heavens hath been likened to a man, a king, who made wedding festivities for his son. ³“And he sent forth his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding festivities; and they were not willing to come. ⁴“Again, he sent forth other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I prepared the midday meal; mine oxen and the fatlings have been slain, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding festivities.”’ ⁵“But having no care for it they went away, the one to his own field, and another to his commerce; ⁶“and the rest laid hold of his slaves, and insulted them, and slew them. ⁷“Now after the king heard it, he was provoked to anger; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸“Then he saith to his slaves, ‘The wedding indeed is ready, but those who had been invited were not worthy. ⁹“‘Go therefore into the thoroughfares of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, call them to the wedding festivities.’ ¹⁰“And those slaves went out into the highways and gathered together all, as many as they found, both evil and good; and the wedding was filled full of those reclining at table. ¹¹“And after the king came in to see those who reclined at table, he saw there a man who had not clothed himself with a wedding garment. ¹²“And he saith to him, ‘Comrade, how didst thou enter here not having a wedding garment?’ And he was put to silence. ¹³“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and take him away, and cast him out into the darkness, the outer one.’ There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth. ¹⁴“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Moses the Ethiopian of Scete, and the venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves, whose incorrupt relics rest in the Far Cave, and the venerable God-bearing wonder-worker, Abbot Job of Pochaev.

Epistle

For the venerable Fathers:

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

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 10th – Civil Calendar
August 28th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Moses the Black.

An Ethiopian, he was at first a robber and the leader of a robber band, but he then became a penitent and a great ascetic. As a slave, Moses escaped from his owner and became a robber. Because of his great physical strength and recklessness, the robbers chose him as their leader. Suddenly his conscience was filled with remorse and repentance for the crimes he had committed. He left the band, went to a monastery and gave himself entirely to obedience to his spiritual father and to the rule of the monastery. He made great use of the teaching of Saints Makarios, Arsenius and Isidore. Later, he withdrew to solitude in a cell, where he gave himself utterly to physical labor, prayer, vigils—and pondering on God. Tormented by the demon of lust, he confessed to his spiritual father, Isidore, and received from him the advice to fast as much as possible, and never to eat his fill. When this proved to be of no help, he, at the elder’s advice, began to keep night-vigils and to pray standing; he then got into the way of carrying water from a distant well for the older monks. After six years of terrible striving, St. Isidore finally healed him miraculously of the lustful thoughts, imaginings and dreams visited on him by the demon. He was ordained priest in old age. He founded a monastery of his own, and had seventy-five disciples, himself living to the age of seventy-five. He foresaw his own death, and one day told his disciples to flee, as barbarians were coming to attack the monastery. When his disciples urged him to flee as well, he told them that he must perish in the attack, for he had himself at one time done violence, according to the words: ‘All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). So he stayed, with six of his brethren. The barbarians came and ran them through. One of the brethren, hiding nearby, saw seven shining wreaths descend upon the seven martyrs.

2. Our Holy Father Sava of Pskov and Krypetsk.

A Serb by birth, he lived first in asceticism in the monastery of the holy Mother of God in Pskov, and was abbot of that monastery. But he was praised, so he fled from the glory of men and withdrew to an island in the lake of Krypetsk, where he founded a new community dedicated to St. John the Theologian. However, he was not able there, either, to hide from praise and eminence. Prince Yaroslav of Pskov visited him with his wife. Sava would not allow the woman to enter the monastery, but blessed her and prayed for her outside it, healing her of an infirmity. This godly saint entered into rest in 1495, and his relics had wonder-working power. Of those he received at Krypetsk, Abbot Dositheus is the best-known.

FOR CONSIDERATION

True Christians flee the praise of men. They not only flee it; they have a real fear of it. St. Sava of Pskov left his abbacy, the monastery and the good brethren in it, and went to a barren region, only to escape the praise of men. For the praise of men steals our hearts. A devout prince, hearing of the ascetic feats of St. Moses the Black, set off to the desert with his retinue to see him. Moses was informed that the prince was coming to his monastery. He ran out quickly, to escape and hide somewhere, but unexpectedly came on the noble visitors. ‘Where is Abba Moses’ cell?’ asked the prince’s servant, not suspecting that this was Moses himself. Moses opened his mouth and said: ‘What can he do for you? He is a foolish man, given to lying, and of unclean life.’ The visitors were amazed at these words, and went on their way. When they arrived at Moses’ cell, they asked for the elder and were told that he was not there. The visitors then related what a monk had told them on the way about Moses. The monks were greatly saddened, then asked: ‘What was he like, this old man who spoke such scurrilous words about the holy man?’ When they said that he was very dark-skinned, tall and poorly-clad, the monks exclaimed aloud: ‘That was Abba Moses!’ This incident was of great spiritual help to the prince, and he went home rejoicing.

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.