Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Twentieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 244].

3 ¹Brethren, be rejoicing in the Lord. To write the same things to you, for me indeed is not troublesome, but it is safe for you. ²Be wary of the dogs, be wary of the evil workers, be wary of the mutilation; ³for we are the circumcision, those who worship God in spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and trust not in the flesh, ⁴although I also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I more: ⁵in circumcision on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶according to zeal, persecuting the Church; according to righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. ⁷But whatsoever things were gain to me, these I have deemed a loss for the Christ. ⁸But yea rather I also deem all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whom I suffered the loss of all things, and deem them to be dung, that I might win Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 31]. At that time:

7 ¹⁷The report concerning Jesus went forth in all Judæa and in all the country round about.

¹⁸And His disciples brought tidings to John concerning all these things. ¹⁹And John called to himself a certain two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, saying, “Art Thou the coming One, or do we look for another?” ²⁰And after the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist hath sent us to Thee, saying, ‘Art Thou the coming One, or do we look for another?’” ²¹And in the same hour He cured many of diseases and plagues, and of evil spirits; and to many blind He graciously gave the power of sight. ²²And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what ye saw and heard: the blind are recovering their sight, the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised, the poor are being preached the Gospel; ²³“and happy is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” ²⁴And after the messengers of John departed, He began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What have ye gone out into the wilderness to behold? A reed being shaken by the wind? ²⁵“But what have ye gone out to see? A man who hath been clothed in soft garments? Behold, those in glorious garments and in luxury are in the palaces. ²⁶“But what have ye gone out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and much more than a prophet. ²⁷“This is he concerning whom it hath been written: ‘Behold, I send forth My messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee [cf. Mal. 3:1].’ ²⁸“For I say to you, among those born of women, no one is a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹And all the people who heard Him—even the tax collectors—justified God and were baptized with the baptism of John. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the doctors of the law, who were not baptized by him, set aside the counsel of God in regard to themselves.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Thomas.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 131]. Brethren:

4 ⁹I think that God showed forth us the apostles last, as condemned to death; for we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are held in honor, but we are dishonored. ¹¹Until the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are being buffeted, and never at rest. ¹²And we toil working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we bear up; ¹³being evilly spoken of, we beseech. We became as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things shaming you, but admonishing you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For if ye have myriads of tutors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel. ¹⁶Therefore, I beseech you, keep on becoming imitators of me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [ § 65].

20 ¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first of the week—and the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews—Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith to them, “Peace be to you.” ²⁰And after He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, after they saw the Lord. ²¹Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you; even as the Father hath sent Me forth, I also send you.” ²²And after He said this, He breathed on them, and saith to them, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: ²³“if ye forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven to them; if ye retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymos, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples therefore were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I should see in His hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, in no wise will I believe.” ²⁶And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Then cometh Jesus, the doors having been shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you.” ²⁷Then He saith to Thomas, “Bring thy finger here, and behold My hands; and bring thy hand, and put it into My side. And cease being unbelieving, but believing.” ²⁸And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God.” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

³⁰Then indeed Jesus also did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these things have been written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His name.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

October 19th – Civil Calendar
October 6th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Thomas.

He was one of the twelve great apostles. Through his doubt of the Resurrection of the Lord Christ, a new confirmation was given of that wonderful and saving event, for the risen Lord appeared again to His disciples, to convince Thomas. The Lord said to Thomas: ‘Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing,’ and Thomas cried: ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20). After the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the apostles cast lots to see who would go where to preach the Gospel, it fell to Thomas to go to India. He was somewhat saddened at having to go so far away, but the Lord appeared to him and comforted him. In India, St. Thomas converted many, both rich and poor, to the Christian Faith, and founded a Church there, making priests and bishops. Among others, St. Thomas converted two sisters, Tertiana and Mygdonia, wives of Indian princes. Both sisters were ill-treated for their faith by their husbands, who would not live with them after their Baptism, and divorced them. Being freed from their marriages, they lived godly lives till their deaths. Dionysius and Pelagia, a couple at first betrothed to each other, heard the apostle’s teaching and did not live together, but devoted themselves to the ascetic life. Pelagia died a martyr for the Faith and Dionysius was made bishop by the apostle. Prince Misdaeus, the husband of Tertiana, whose wife and son Iuzanes Thomas baptized, condemned the apostle to death, and sent five soldiers, who ran him through with their lances, and thus the holy Apostle Thomas gave his soul into the hands of his Christ. Before his death, he, with the other apostles, was miraculously borne to Jerusalem for the funeral of the most holy Mother of God. Arriving late, he grieved bitterly, and at his request, the tomb of the most pure one was opened, but the body was not there: the Lord had taken His Mother to His heavenly home. Thus St. Thomas first, by his unbelief, confirmed the faith in the Resurrection of the Lord and then, by his late arrival, revealed to us the wondrous glorification of the Mother of God.

2. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Makarios.

Born in Kion in Bithynia, of Christian parents Peter and Anthusa, he was baptized with the name Manuel. His parents had him taught tailoring as a trade, then his father embraced Islam and moved to Prousa. Once, when Manuel went to Prousa in the course of his work, his father found him and put great pressure on him to follow his example. Manuel refused, but in vain: the Turks circumcised him by force. Then Manuel fled to the Holy Mountain and became a monk in the skete of St. Anne, receiving the name Makarios. He was a model monk for twelve years, but his soul could find no peace. ‘Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father’ (Matt. 10:33)—these words of Christ’s were constantly ringing in Makarios’ ears. He therefore resolved, with his elder’s blessing, to go to Prousa and openly confess his faith in Christ before the Turks, calling Mohammed a false prophet. After being flogged for a hundred and thirty days and enduring even harsher tortures, he was beheaded with the sword in Prousa on October 6th, 1590. A part of his wonder-working relics is preserved in the skete of St. Anne on Mount Athos.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’ (II Cor. 5:1), says the discerning Apostle Paul. All our labor on earth for God has this one aim: to strive with all our strength to attain to that eternal home not made with hands in the heavens. An Indian king, Gundafor, decided to build himself a magnificent palace, the like of which had never been seen on earth. When his envoy, Havan, sought skilled workers capable of building such a palace for the king, they came, by God’s providence, to meet the Apostle Thomas, who told them that he was skilled in such work and that no one could build the king what he wanted without his, Thomas,’ help. Thomas therefore received a great sum of gold from the king to build this palace. As soon as he left the king’s presence, he gave all the gold away to the poor. After two years, the king sent servants to ask Thomas if the palace was ready, as it was being built at some distance from the capital. Thomas replied: ‘All is ready except for the roof,’ and he asked for more money from the king and was given it. Thomas again gave it all away to the poor and went around the kingdom doing his own work, which was the preaching of the Gospel. The king discovered that Thomas had not even begun to build the palace, so he seized him and threw him into prison. That night, the king’s brother died, and the king was grief-stricken. An angel took the dead man’s soul and carried it to Paradise, and showed him a wonderful palace such as the mind of man could not imagine. The soul of the dead man wanted to go into that palace, but the angel told him that he could not, as it was the palace that the Apostle Thomas had built for his brother with the alms he had given. Then the angel returned the man’s soul to his body. When the man came to himself, he said to the king, his brother: ‘Swear that you will give me anything I ask of you.’ And the king swore that he would. His brother then said: ‘Give me the palace you have in heaven.’ The king was amazed, and doubted greatly that there could be any such palace in heaven, but when his brother explained it all to him, he was convinced and immediately released Thomas from prison. When they heard from the apostle’s lips the words of salvation and eternal life, the king and his brother were both baptized. The king gave himself to further almsgiving, that he might build himself a yet more wonderful palace in heaven.

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.