Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The Sunday of the Holy Fathers

According to Gk. usage, if the 11th of October should fall on Sunday, we commemorate the service of The Holy Fathers of the Seventh Œcumenical Synod. If not, we commemorate the service on the following Sunday. According Sl. usage, if the 11th of October should fall on Wednesday or earlier, the service is commemorated on the preceding Sunday. If the 11th should fall on Thursday or later, then the service is commemorated on the following Sunday.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Titus [§ mid 302 A]: Child Titus:

3 ⁸Faithful is the word. And concerning these things I desire thee to be affirming, in order that they who have believed God may give heed to set before themselves good works. These things are good and profitable to men. ⁹But be shunning foolish inquiries, and genealogies, and strifes, and contentions relating to points of the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. ¹⁰A heretical man, after a first and second admonition, be rejecting, ¹¹knowing that such a one hath been perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned.

¹²Whenever I should send Artemas to thee, or Tychikos, hasten to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to winter there. ¹³Send forth with haste Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, in order that nothing may be lacking to them. ¹⁴And let ours also be learning to set before themselves good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All those with me salute thee. Greet those who love us in faith.

Grace be with you all. Amen.

For Sl. usage, see [Heb. 13:7-16].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

for Sl. usage, see [Jn. 17:1-13].

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Twenty-First Week

Mode Four — Tenth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 203]. Brethren:

2 ¹⁶Knowing then that a man is not being justified by the works of the law, except through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. ¹⁷But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is then Christ a minister of sin? May it not be! ¹⁸For if I build again these things which I destroyed, I constitute myself a transgressor. ¹⁹For I through the law died to the law, in order that I might live to God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live in faith, in that of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 35]. The Lord said this parable:

8 ⁵“The one who soweth went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed indeed fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the heaven devoured it. ⁶“And other seed fell upon the rock; and having sprung up, it was dried up, because it had no moisture. ⁷“And other seed fell in the midst of the thorns; and the thorns, having sprung up together, choked it. ⁸“And other seed fell upon the good ground; and having sprung up, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” And after He said these things, He cried, “The one who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” ⁹And His disciples were asking Him, saying, “What may this parable be?” ¹⁰And He said, “To you it hath been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, that ‘seeing they see not, and hearing they understand not [cf. Is. 6:9].’ ¹¹“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²“And those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil cometh and taketh away the word from their heart, lest after they believe they should be saved. ¹³“And those upon the rock are the ones who, whenever they hear, receive the word with joy; and yet these, who for a time believe, have no root, and in time of temptation withdraw. ¹⁴“And that which fell into the thorns, these are the ones who heard, and while they are going on their way, they are being choked by cares and wealth and pleasures of life, and do not bring fruit to perfection. ¹⁵“But that in the good ground, these are they who, after they hear the word with a noble and good heart, held fast and bore fruit in patience.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Longinos, the centurion who stood at the foot of the Cross of the Lord.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 292]. Child Timothy:

2 ¹Be thou empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and the things which thou heardest from me in the midst of many witnesses, commit thou these things to faithful men who shall be competent also to teach others. ³Thou therefore suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴No one serving as a soldier is entangled with the affairs of life, in order that he might please the one who enlisted him. ⁵And if anyone also contend as an athlete in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully. ⁶The farmer who laboreth must be first to partake of the fruits. ⁷Be considering what I say; O may the Lord give thee understanding in all things! ⁸Be remembering Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, Who hath been raised from the dead, according to my Gospel, ⁹in which I suffer hardship even to bonds as a malefactor, but the word of God hath not been bound. ¹⁰On this account I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might also attain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 113]. At that time:

27 ³³After the soldiers came to a place called Golgotha, which is called Place of a Skull, ³⁴they gave Jesus vinegar to drink mingled with gall. And after He tasted it, He would not drink. ³⁵And having crucified Him, they parted His garments among themselves, casting a lot; ³⁶and sitting down, they were watching over Him there. ³⁷And they put over His head His accusation, it having been written: “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹And those passing by were blaspheming Him, shaking their heads, ⁴⁰and saying, “Thou Who destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days! Save Thyself; if Thou art God’s Son, come down from the Cross.” ⁴¹And in like manner also the chief priests, mocking with the scribes and elders and Pharisees, were saying, ⁴²“Others He saved, Himself He is not able to save. If He is King of Israel, let Him come down now from the Cross, and let us believe on Him. ⁴³“He hath trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He taketh pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” ⁴⁴And also the robbers who were crucified together with Him began to reproach Him with the same thing. ⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there came to be a darkness over all the earth. ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why didst Thou forsake Me?” ⁴⁷And some of those who were standing there, after they heard that, were saying, “This One calleth Elias.” ⁴⁸And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and was attempting to give Him to drink. ⁴⁹But the rest were saying, “Let be; let us see if Elias is coming to save Him.” ⁵⁰And Jesus, having cried again with a loud voice, gave up the spirit. ⁵¹And behold, the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom; and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were rent; ⁵²and the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the saints who were asleep were raised, ⁵³and came out of the sepulchers after His arising, and entered into the holy city and were manifested to many. ⁵⁴Now after the centurion and those with him, who were watching over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things which took place, they were exceedingly afraid, saying, “Truly this was God’s Son.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

Special Commemorations

Commemoration of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

This Council was held in 787 in Nicaea. in the reign of the devout Empress Irene and her son Constantine, and in the time of Patriarch Tarasius. This Council finally upheld the veneration of icons, expounding it from Holy Scripture, the witness of the holy fathers and the examples of miracles in connection with the holy icons. Among other examples cited, the Cypriot bishop, Constantine, brought forward this one: A herdsman from the city of Constantia, driving his flock out to pasture one day, saw an icon of the Mother of God adorned with flowers by the devout. ‘Why give so much honour to a rock?’, said the herdsman, obviously brought up in iconoclasm, and threw his iron stave at the icon, damaging the right eye of the Mother of God. As soon as he had left that spot, he stumbled over the same stave and put out his own right eye. Returning blinded to the city, he cried out tearfully that it was a punishment from the Mother of God.

This Council also decided that the relics of the martyrs be placed in the antimins.* Three hundred and sixty-seven fathers took part in the Council. May the Lord have mercy on us and save us by their prayers.

*Antimins: A cloth containing relics of the saints that is spread on the Holy Table for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy—Tr.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

October 29th – Civil Calendar
October 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Longinus.

The divine Matthew the Evangelist, describing the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, says: ‘Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that were done, they feared greatly, saying: “Truly this was the Son of God”’ (Matt. 27:54). That centurion was this blessed Longinus, who, with two other of his soldiers, came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. He was the officer in command both at the Lord’s crucifixion on Golgotha and in the watch that guarded the tomb. When the Jewish elders learned of Christ’s Resurrection, they bribed the soldiers to spread the falsehood that Christ had not risen, but that His disciples had stolen His body. The Jews tried to bribe Longinus also, but without success. Then the Jews resorted to their usual practice: they conspired to kill Longinus. Discovering this, Longinus took off his army belt, received Baptism from the apostles together with his two friends, and with them secretly left Jerusalem and went to Cappadocia. There he gave himself to fasting and prayer, and as a living witness of the Resurrection of Christ, turned many pagans to the true Faith by his testimony. He then went off to a village where his father had property, but the wicked Jews would not even there leave him in peace. In response to slander on their part, Pilate sent soldiers to behead Longinus. Holy Longinus foresaw in his spirit the approach of his executioners, and going out to meet them, took them to his home without telling them who he was. The soldiers lay down to sleep, and St. Longinus spent the whole night preparing for death. In the morning, he went and brought his two friends, dressed himself in white grave-clothes, told the others in the house what was happening and showed them a place on a hillock to bury him. He then revealed himself to the soldiers as the Longinus whom they were seeking. The soldiers were embarrassed and ashamed, and would not think of beheading Longinus, but he laid it on them to carry out their superior’s command, and he and his two friends were beheaded. Longinus’ head was taken by the soldiers to Pilate; Pilate gave it to the Jews and they flung it onto a dung-heap outside the city.

2. Our Holy Father Longinus the Lover of Labor.

A monk of the Kiev Caves in the eleventh century, he was doorkeeper in the monastery and had such a pure and grace-filled heart that he knew the disposition of everyone who went into the monastery, and with what disposition others left it. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the cave of St. Theodosius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The first appearance of the holy martyr Longinus: A long time had elapsed since St. Longinus’ death by martyrdom when it happened that a widow in Cappadocia became blind. Doctors were able to do nothing more for her. Suddenly, the thought came to her to go to Jerusalem and venerate the holy places, hoping that she might be helped there. She had an only son, a lad who served her as a guide. As soon as they arrived in Jerusalem, the boy fell ill and died. The grief of the blind mother was without measure: having lost her eyes, she had now lost her only son, whose eyes had guided her till then. In her pain and grief, St. Longinus appeared to her, and comforted her with the promise that he would both restore her sight to her and show her her son in heavenly glory. Longinus told her all about himself, then told her to go outside the walls of the city to the rubbish heap and dung-hill and dig up his head, and then she would see what would happen next. The woman got up and groped her way out of the city, then called out to someone to take her to the biggest dung hill and leave her there. When she was led to the dung-hill, she bent down and began to dig with her hands, having a strong faith that she would find what the saint had told her to search for. Digging thus, her fingers came upon the head of the holy martyr, and at that moment, her eyes were opened and she saw a man’s skull under her hands. Filled with great joy and thanksgiving to God, she took the head of St. Longinus, washed it, perfumed it and put it in her home as the most precious thing in all the world.

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.