Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 114]. Brethren:

14 ⁹To this purpose Christ both died and rose and came to life again, in order that He might become Lord both of the dead and the living. ¹⁰But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou also treat thy brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the Christ. ¹¹For it hath been written: “As I live,” saith the Lord, “every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God [cf. Is. 45:23].” ¹²So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³Let us therefore no longer be judging one another; but judge this rather, not to put a stumbling block in a brother’s way or an occasion of offense. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean by itself; except to the one who reckoneth anything to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. ¹⁵But if on account of food thy brother is grieved, thou no longer walkest according to love. Cease destroying with thy food that one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶Therefore let not your good be spoken of as evil; ¹⁷for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸For the one who serveth Christ in these things is well-pleasing to God and approved by men.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 46]. At that time:

12 ¹⁴The Pharisees held a council against Jesus, how they might destroy Him. ¹⁵Now Jesus, having perceived it, withdrew from there. And great crowds followed Him, and He cured them all. ¹⁶And He strictly warned them that they should not make Him manifest, ¹⁷in order that what was spoken through Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ¹⁸“Behold, My Servant Whom I chose, My Beloved, in Whom My soul is well pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall declare judgment to the nations [cf. Is. 42:1]. ¹⁹“He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets [cf. Is. 42:2]. ²⁰“A crushed reed He shall not break to pieces, and a smoking flax He shall not quench, until He should send forth the judgment to victory [cf. Is. 42:3, 4]. ²¹“And in His name the nations shall hope [Is. 42:4].”

²²Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He cured him, so that the blind and mute both spoke and saw. ²³And all the crowds were amazed and were saying, “This is not the Son of David, is it?” ²⁴But after the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This One casteth not out demons except by Beelzebul, ruler of the demons.” ²⁵But Jesus, having known their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is being brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. ²⁶“And if Satan cast out Satan, he was divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? ²⁷“And if I by Beelzebul cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? On this account they shall be your judges. ²⁸“But if I by the Spirit of God cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you. ²⁹“Or how is anyone able to enter into the house of the strong one and plunder his vessels, unless he should first bind the strong one? And then he will plunder his house. ³⁰“The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who gathereth not with Me scattereth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Aquilina, and our holy father among the saints, Triphyllios, Bishop of Lefkosia in Cyprus.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 26th – Civil Calendar
June 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Aquilina.

Born in the Palestinian town of Biblos of Christian parents, little Aquilina was already, at the age of seven, living as a true Christian, and by the age of ten was so filled with divine understanding and the grace of the Holy Spirit that she used to preach Christ with great power and zeal to her girl friends. When Diocletian’s persecution began, Aquilina was handed over to the imperial governor, Volusianus, who was more like a beast than a man. He ordered that she first be flogged and then that a heated rod be passed through her ears and brain. Until the last moment, the virgin Aquilina freely and clearly confessed Christ the Lord; but when her brains started flowing with her blood from her head, she fell as if dead. Believing her to be indeed dead, the governor ordered that her body be taken outside the city and thrown onto a dungheap for the dogs to eat. But, during the night, an angel of God appeared to her and said: ‘Arise and be healed!’ and the maiden arose and was restored to health, and stood a long time expressing her gratitude and praise to God and begging Him not to deny her a martyr’s death. A voice was heard from heaven: ‘Go; and it shall be to thee as thou desirest,’ and Aquilina went into the city. The city gates opened of their own accord for her, and she passed through them and went to the governor’s palace like a ghost, standing before his bed and showing herself to him. The governor was seized with unspeakable terror when he saw the maiden whom he had thought dead. On the following day, he ordered the executioner to take Aquilina out and behead her with the sword. Before her execution, she knelt in prayer and surrendered her spirit into God’s hands, leaving her dead body to be beheaded by the executioner. Her relics gave healing to many of the sick. St. Aquilina was twelve years old when she suffered for the Lord; she endured her Passion and was crowned with a wreath of martyrdom in the year 293.

2. St. Triphyllius, Bishop of Levcosia in Cyprus.

A pupil of St. Spiridon and later his fellow-bishop on the island of Cyprus, he was a merciful man, pure in thought, chaste in his life, a living fountain of tears, and a great ascetic. He governed Christ’s flock well, and when he went to his rest, received his crown among the great hierarchs in heaven. He entered peacefully into rest in 370.

3. St. Anna and her son John.

Taken as an orphan into the house of a nobleman and treated as an adopted child, she was cared for and educated in that house. The rich man considered her worthy to be married to his son. When the old man died, the family urged the son to put his wife away because of her low birth and to marry another more suited to his rank and wealth. The rich man’s son feared God and did not want to do this. Seeing her husband in difficulties with his family, Anna secretly left him and ran off to a distant island where there was not a living soul. She was pregnant, and soon gave birth to a son. They labored on the island for thirty years in fasting and prayer. Then, by divine providence, a hieromonk landed on the island. He baptized her son and named him John. Anna lived her ascetic life in the fifth century and died peacefully.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Meekness and gentleness adorned the saints and gave them the strength and the motive not to return evil for evil. When the Emperor Constantius, Constantine’s son, fell ill in Antioch, he summoned St. Spiridon to come and pray over him. In company with his deacon, Triphyllius, St. Spiridon left Cyprus, and arriving at the imperial court in Antioch, asked for admittance. He was clad in poor clothing, with a simple woven cap on his head and a palm staff in his hand, and he was clutching to his breast a small earthenware pot in which he had some oil that had been set before the Holy Cross (such being the custom among Christians in Jerusalem). Dressed in this way, worn out by fasting and the journey, the saint gave no hint of his rank and dignity. And so, when he wished to set foot in the emperor’s court, one of the imperial servants, taking him for a pauper, struck him a blow on one cheek. The meek and forgiving saint turned the other cheek to him. When he managed, with great difficulty, to reach the emperor, he placed his hand on Constantius’ head, and the emperor immediately recovered.

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.