Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 79].

1 ¹Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, who hath been set apart for the Gospel of God, ²which He announced before through His prophets in holy Scriptures, ³concerning His Son Who came to be of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴and Who was marked out to be Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵by Whom we received grace and apostleship to an obedience of faith among all the nations in behalf of His name, ⁶among whom are ye also called of Jesus Christ, ⁷to all those who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.... ¹³But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I proposed to myself to come to you, but was hindered until the present, in order that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the remaining nations. ¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the unintelligent. ¹⁵Thus, as far as I am concerned, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome also. ¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of the Christ; for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believeth, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it God’s righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, even as it hath been written: “But the just shall live by faith [cf. Hab. 2:4].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 10]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Mt. 4:23-5:13; for Sl. usage, see Mt. 4:25-5:13.

4 ²³Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 ¹And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ²And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ⁴“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   ⁶“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   ¹⁰“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ¹¹“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   ¹²“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Theodore the Sanctified, disciple of St. Pachomios the Great.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 29th – Civil Calendar
May 16th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Theodore the Sanctified.

He was a disciple of St. Pachomios, being born and growing up an unbeliever. Coming to the true Faith as a young man, he was baptized, and having heard of St. Pachomios, fled to him in his monastery, unknown to his parents. St. Pachomios made him a monk and came to love him for his rare zeal and his obedience. When his mother came to fetch him back home, he would not let her see him, but prayed to God to enlighten her with the truth. And indeed, his mother not only did not take her son back home, but herself did not return. Seeing a women’s monastery close by, ruled by Pachomios’ sister, she entered it and was tonsured. After a certain time, Paphnutios, Theodore’s brother, also came to the monastery and was tonsured. It once happened that the Bishop of Panopolis invited Pachomios to build a monastery for the many people who were desirous of the monastic life. Pachomios took Theodore with him, and entrusted to him the duty of building the monastery. Upon Pachomios’ death, Theodore became abbot of all Pachomios’ monasteries and lived until great old age, guiding a multitude of monks on the way of salvation. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of eternal light in the year 368.

2. The Blessed Maiden Musa.

St. Gregory the Dialogist relates of her that she was a mere nine years old when the most holy Mother of God appeared to her on two occasions, surrounded by virgins bathed in light. When Musa expressed her desire to be included in the resplendent company of the Queen of heaven, the Mother of God told her that she would come for her and take her within a month, outlining for her how she should spend those thirty days. On the twenty-fifth day, Musa took to her bed and on the thirtieth day the most pure and holy Mother again appeared to her, calling to her in a quiet voice, to which Musa replied: ‘Here I am waiting, my Lady! I’m ready!’ and she breathed forth her spirit. She passed from this life to life eternal in the fifth century.

3. St. Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

‘Mystikos’ signifies the senior member of the imperial council. This saint was such at first, then a high-ranking courtier, but after this he forsook the vanity of the world and was tonsured. He was renowned for the rare austerity of his life. The Emperor Leo VI had married four times, and the patriarch therefore forbade him entry to the church, and the priests who had married him were defrocked. The emperor cast the patriarch out and drove him into a monastery. The delegates of the Roman Pontiff, Sergius III, gave their approval to the emperor’s fourth marriage, but when the emperor died, Nicholas was restored to the patriarchal throne and called a council in 925, at which fourth marriages were in general forbidden to Christians. He died peacefully in 930.

4. The Holy New-Martyr Nicholas.

He was born in Metsovon of Epirus, of pious parents. He left home while quite young and traveled to Trikala, where he found employment with a Turkish baker. There he denied the Faith and embraced Islam. He then returned home and repented. A neighbor of his former employer came upon Nicholas one day and discovered his return to Christianity. He blackmailed Nicholas for several years. Finally, Nicholas decided that his succumbing to this blackmail was tantamount to further denying Christ, and he became determined to become a martyr to correct his denial of Christ. He confessed his intentions to his parish priest, who advised him not to proceed with his plan, lest he be unable to endure their tortures and fall a second time. Nicholas was determined, however, and his priest blessed and strengthened him for his ordeal. Nicholas then traveled back to Trikala, where he refused to pay his blackmailer any further. He was brought before the Turkish judge for having embraced and then renounced Islam. He was beaten with rods, and finally burned alive in Trikala on May 16, 1617. He was twenty-six years old. A pious Christian secretly recovered his skull from the ashes, and hid it in the wall of a house he was building at the time. Later, a man named Melandros bought the house. Every year, for several years, on the day of Nicholas’ martyrdom, Melandros beheld a strange light emanating from the wall of the house. He received a divine revelation in his sleep, disclosing that at the place the light appeared was hidden the holy skull of Nicholas the Martyr. Melandros dug into the wall where he had beheld the light, and found the martyr’s relics. Feeling himself unworthy to possess such a treasure, he turned it over to his brother, a monk at a monastery of Meteora. The martyr’s head is preserved to this day in one of the monasteries of the Meteora in Thessaly, and performs many miracles, heals the gravest sicknesses and is particularly renowned for driving locusts from crops.

5. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of St. Sava’s.

In the time of the Emperor Herakleios, in about 610, forty-four monks of the community of St. Sava the Sanctified suffered for the Christian Faith. Their heroism and sufferings were recorded by St. Antiochus (Dec. 24th).

FOR CONSIDERATION

When Theodore the Sanctified was in Panopolis with his spiritual father, St. Pachomios, a philosopher came to him and sought to dispute with him about faith. The philosopher posed these three questions to Theodore: ‘Who was not born, but died? Who was born, but did not die? And who died, but did not decay?’ To those questions, St. Theodore made answer: ‘Adam was not born, but died. Enoch was born, but did not die. Lot’s wife died, but did not decay.’ The saint added this advice to the philosopher: ‘Take note of this sound advice of ours: shun vain questionings and scholastic syllogisms; draw near to Christ, Whom we serve, and you will receive the forgiveness of your sins.’ The philosopher was rendered speechless by such a shrewd answer, and went away ashamed. From this, one sees clearly the difference between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The one loses himself in abstractions, in skilful juggling with words, in contests of logic and mental gymnastics, while the other centers his whole mind on the living God and on the salvation of his soul. The one is abstract and dead; the other is practical and alive.

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.