Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eighth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 148]. Brethren:

11 ⁸Man is not of woman, but woman of man. ⁹For also man was not created on account of the woman, but woman on account of the man. ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have authority on the head on account of the angels. ¹¹However neither is man without woman, nor woman without man in the Lord. ¹²For as the woman is of the man, so also the man is by the woman; but all things of God. ¹³Judge in yourselves: Is it becoming for a woman to be praying to God uncovered? ¹⁴Or doth not nature herself teach you that on the one hand if a man should have long hair, it is a dishonor to him, ¹⁵but on the other hand if a woman should have long hair, it is to her glory? For the long hair hath been given to her for a covering. ¹⁶But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God.

¹⁷Now giving this order, I praise ye not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. ¹⁸For indeed, first, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be schisms among you, and in part I believe it. ¹⁹For there must be also heresies among you, that the approved might become manifest among you. ²⁰When ye come together therefore in one place, it is not to eat a Lord’s Supper. ²¹For in eating each one taketh before others his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunk. ²²Have ye not houses in order to eat and to drink? Or do ye despise the Church of God, and put to shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. ²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 71]. At that time:

17 ¹⁰The disciples of Jesus asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that it is necessary for Elias to come first?” ¹¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Elias indeed cometh first and shall restore all things. ¹²“But I say to you that Elias already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him as much as they wished. Thus also the Son of Man is about to suffer under them.” ¹³Then the disciples comprehended that He spoke to them concerning John the Baptist.

¹⁴And after they came to the crowd, there came to Him a man, kneeling down to Him and saying, ¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth badly; for often he falleth into the fire, and often into the water. ¹⁶“And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they were not able to cure him.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “O unbelieving and wayward generation, until when shall I be with you? Until when shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked it, and the demon came out from him; and the boy was cured from that hour.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Great-martyr Kyriake (Gk. calendar only), and our venerable Father Thomas of Mount Maleon, and our venerable Father Akakios of Sinai (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 26^th of November).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 20th – Civil Calendar
July 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Kyriake (Dominica).

In the time of the Emperors Diocletian and his son-in-law Maximian, both adversaries of Christ, there lived in Anatolia two elderly, devout souls, Dorotheos and Evsevia. They were devoted Christians, rich but childless. With unceasing prayer, they besought God for a child, and their prayers were answered in this holy Kyriake. She consecrated herself to God from her childhood, holding herself apart from the activities of carefree children. When she had grown up, beautiful in body and soul, she had many suitors but refused them all, saying that she had betrothed herself to Christ the Lord and desired nothing other than to die a virgin. One of these rejected suitors denounced Kyriake and her parents to the Emperor Diocletian as Christians. The emperor ordered that her parents be tortured, and after torture had them exiled to the town of Melitene, where they died under further torture. Diocletian sent Kyriake to Maximian for trial. When she affirmed her faith in Christ the Lord before Maximian, he ordered that she be thrown to the ground and flogged with bull-whips. Then the emperor handed her over to the generals—firstly to Hilarion and then, after his death, to Apollonius. They tortured her bestially in all possible ways, but in vain. While holy Kyriake lay in prison wounded all over, Christ the Lord appeared to her, healed her and said to her: ‘Don’t be afraid of the torture, Kyriake; My grace is with thee.’ And indeed Christ’s grace saved this martyr from fire and from wild beasts, which the godless torturers were certain would bring about her death. Seeing the miraculous saving of Kyriake from such a death, many of the pagans came to belief in Christ. All were beheaded. Kyriake said to Apollonius: ‘There is no way that you can turn me from my faith. Throw me into the fire—I have the example of the Three Children; throw me to the wild beasts—I have the example of Daniel; throw me into the sea—I have the example of Jonah the prophet; put me to the sword—I shall remember the honored Forerunner. For me, to die is life in Christ.’ Then Apollonius ordered that she be beheaded. Kyriake knelt and raised her hands to heaven in prayer to God, that He would have mercy on and save all those who would celebrate her memory, and that He would give rest to her soul and those of her parents. Finishing her prayer, she gave her soul to God before the sword descended on her head. She suffered with honor in Nikomedia and went to eternal joy in the year 289.

2. Our Holy Father Thomas of Malea.

This Thomas was a general, famed for his courage and wealth. He was massive of body and a source of fear to his enemies. But, when he came to love Christ more than the world or anything in the world, he left everything and retired to the desert, where he became a monk and gave himself to asceticism. The Prophet Elias appeared to him and led him to the mountain called Malea, near the Holy Mountain. There he lived in solitude, alone with God, in unceasing prayer day and night. Although he hid from the world, he could not succeed in concealing himself. Learning of the holiness of his life, people began to go to him, bringing their sick. St. Thomas healed them of all ills and weaknesses. When he went to God (in the tenth century), his relics continued to give aid to all who drew near to them in faith.

3. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Epictetus and Astius.

Epictetus, a priest, brought Astius, the only son of his parents, to the Christian Faith, baptized him and made him a monk. They then went off eastwards, to the region of Scythia, and settled in the Scythian town of Almirida (now Ramzina), at the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea. They were tortured and killed for the Christian Faith in about 290. They both appeared after their deaths in great light to St. Astius’ parents, Alexander and Marcellina, who turned to Christ and were baptized by Bishop Evangelus, who was himself then executed for Christ; ‘Evangelus, another angel,’ as is sung of him.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The example of St. Kyriake, a beautiful maiden, and of St. Astius, a rich young man, who both gave themselves over to torture and death for the sake of Christ the Lord, leads us to the thought that there is no equal in history to the power of Christ, by Whose aid young people conquer themselves, and through that conquest, conquer all else. Victory over oneself is the greatest victory. The Church counts such victors in their thousands, in their many thousands. St. Cyprian, writing on virginity, says: ‘To be victorious over pleasure is the greatest pleasure, and there is no greater victory than victory over one’s desires. He who has overcome an enemy shows himself stronger than the other, but he who has overcome his desires shows himself stronger than himself. Every other evil is easier to overcome than pleasure, for all other evils are repulsive, while pleasure is an attractive evil. Those who free themselves from their desires are freed also from fear, for desire is the root of fear.’

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.