Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 81]. Brethren:

1 ²⁸Even as they did not approve to have God in full knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do things which are not fitting; ²⁹having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, guile, malignity; being whisperers, ³⁰slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; ³²who, having fully known the ordinance of God that those who practise such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also consent to those who practise them.

2 ¹Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man—everyone that judgeth—for in what thou judgest the other, thou condemnest thyself; for thou who judgest dost practise the same things. ²But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth upon those who practise such things. ³But reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest those who practise such things, and doest them thyself, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or despiseth thou the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leadeth thee to repentance? ⁵But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou storest up to thyself wrath in a day of wrath and revelation of a righteous judgment of God, ⁶Who will render to each according to his works: ⁷to those on the one hand who with patience in good work seek glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life; ⁸but to those on the other hand who are factious and disobey the truth, and suffer themselves to be persuaded to unrighteousness, anger and wrath— ⁹affliction and straits upon every soul of man that worketh out evil, both of the Jew first and also of the Greek.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 13]. The Lord said:

5 ²⁷“Ye heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery [Ex. 20:14].’ ²⁸“But I say to you that everyone who looketh on a woman in order to lust after her did already commit adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹“And if thy right eye cause thee to stumble, remove it and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Gehenna. ³⁰“And if thy right hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Gehenna. ³¹“And it was said, ‘Whosoever shall divorce his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce [cf. Deut. 24:3].’ ³²“But I say to you that whosoever shall divorce his wife except it be on account of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her who hath been divorced committeth adultery.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Peter, Dionysios, Andrew, Paul, Christine, Herakleos, Paulinos, and Venedimos, and the seven Virgin-martyrs at Ankyra in Galatia, Tekouse, Alexandra, Claudia, Phaenee, Ephrasia, Matrona, and Julia, and the holy Martyr Theodotos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 31st – Civil Calendar
May 18th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Theodotus, and the seven maiden martyrs: Tecusa, Alexandra, Claudia, Favina, Euphrasia, Matrona and Julia.

Theodotus was a married man and an innkeeper in Ankyra in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Although he was married, he lived according to the words of the apostle: ‘They who have wives be as though they did not have’ (I Cor. 7:29). But he kept the inn open, in order to be able unsuspectedly to help Christians, and his inn was a refuge for persecuted Christians. Theodotus secretly sent help to the Christian refugees in the mountains, and secretly gathered the bodies of those who had been killed, giving them burial. At that time, seven maidens were taken for trial and tortured for Christ. They were tortured, mocked and then thrown into a lake. One of them, St. Tecusa, appeared to St. Theodotus and told him to take her body out of the lake and bury it. Under cover of night, Theodotus set off with a companion to carry out the martyr’s wishes, and led by an angel of God, succeeded in finding all seven bodies and burying them. But this friend betrayed him to the authorities and the judge put him to harsh torture. Theodotus endured all the tortures as though not in his own body, having his whole mind steeped in God. When the torturers had made his body one great wound and broken his teeth with stones, it was ordered that he be beheaded. When he was taken to the scaffold, many Christians wept for him, but St. Theodotus said to them: ‘Don’t weep for me, my brethren, but glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whose aid I am finishing my course and overcoming the enemy.’ Saying this, he laid his head on the block under the sword and was beheaded, in the year 303. A priest buried the martyr’s body on a hill outside the city and a church dedicated to St. Theodotus was later built on the site.

2. The Holy Martyrs Peter, Dionysius, Andrew, Paul and Christina.

Peter was a young and gifted man; Dionysius was a nobleman; Andrew and Paul were soldiers; and Christina was a sixteen-year-old girl. They all courageously confessed Christ the Lord and underwent torture and death for His name in the year 250. One Nicomachus, who was tortured with them, denied Christ under torture, and instantly lost his mind, tearing at his body with his teeth and foaming at the mouth until he breathed his last.

3. The Holy Martyrs Herakleios, Paulinos and Benedimos.

They were Athenians, and suffered for the Faith in the time of Decius. They were thrown into a burning furnace for the name of Christ.

4. St. Stephen, Patriarch of Constantinople.

The son of the Emperor Basil the Macedonian and brother of Leo the Wise, he came to the patriarchal throne after Photius, and governed the Church of God from 886 to 893. He died peacefully, and went to the Lord Whom he had greatly loved.

FOR CONSIDERATION

To hide one’s virtues and ascetic practices has been normal with ascetics, not only in the first periods of Christianity but also through the ages to the present day. Evdokia, the wife of the famous Prince Dimitri of the Don, the liberator of Russia from the Tartars, was left a widow in 1389, while still fairly young. Imbued with devotion, this princess built churches, gave alms and secretly wore her body out with fastings and vigils. She wore iron chains around her body. However, she showed a smiling face to the world and dressed luxuriously, decking herself with pearls. The world said all sorts of things about her; voices began to be raised about her immoral life. Her sons came to hear about this, and insultingly and bitterly told their mother openly what was being said about her. Their mother undid her luxurious robe and her sons saw, with great amazement, her body all shrivelled and dried up, and bound with iron chains.

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.