Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 187]. Brethren:

8 ¹⁶Thanks be to God, the One Who keepeth on giving earnestness into the heart of Titus for you. ¹⁷For indeed he accepted the exhortation; and being more than ordinarily earnest, of his own accord he went out to you. ¹⁸And we sent with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all of the churches— ¹⁹and not only that, but who was also ordained by the churches as our fellow traveler in the matter of this grace, which is ministered by us to the glory of the same Lord and your eagerness— ²⁰avoiding this for ourselves, lest anyone should blame us in this abundance which is ministered by us, ²¹we thought beforehand for what is good not only before the Lord, but also before men. ²²And we sent with them our brother whom we often proved to be earnest in many things, but now much more earnest by reason of his great confidence which he hath toward you. ²³Whether it be necessary to say anything on behalf of Titus, he is my partner and a fellow worker in regard to you; or whether ye wish to hear anything regarding our brethren, they are apostles of the churches, Christ’s glory. ²⁴Therefore show ye to them, and to the person of the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

9 ¹For indeed, concerning the ministration which is to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; ²for I know your eagerness, concerning which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia hath been prepared from last year; and the zeal of you provoked the majority. ³But I sent the brethren, that the basis for our boasting which is on your behalf should not be empty in this respect, that, just as I was saying, ye may be prepared; ⁴lest perchance if the Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we—that we may not say, ye—should be put to shame in this basis of the boasting. ⁵Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they should go before to you, and prepare beforehand your previously announced blessing, that the same is to be ready, even as a blessing, and not as extortion.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 12]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Mk. 3:13-21; for Sl.usage, see Mk. 3:13-19.

3 ¹³Jesus went up into the mountain and called to Himself whom He Himself was wanting; and they went forth to Him. ¹⁴And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, ¹⁵and to have authority to cure the diseases and to cast out the demons: ¹⁶And to Simon He gave the name, Peter; ¹⁷and Iakovos the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of Iakovos; and He gave them the name Boanerges, which is, sons of thunder; ¹⁸and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and Iakovos the son of Alphæos, and Thaddæos, and Simon the Cananite, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariote, who also delivered Him up.

²⁰And they come into a house; and a crowd cometh together again, so that it is not possible for them even to eat bread. ²¹And after those with Him heard of it, they went out to lay hold of Him; for they were saying, “He is beside Himself.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration, and our holy father among the saints, Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 21st – Civil Calendar
August 8th – Church Calendar

1. St. Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos.

He was bishop in Kyzikos in the time of the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, the iconoclast. Refusing to carry out the imperial directive on the removal of icons from the churches, he was, along with other Orthodox bishops, sent into exile. He spent five years in exile, enduring many ills and much humiliation for the sake of Christ. He died in 820, and joined the company of the citizens of heaven.

2. St. Myron the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Crete.

He was at first married, and was a laborer of the land, sharing the fruits of his farm joyfully and abundantly with the poor. He once caught some unknown thieves on his threshing-floor, stealing grain. Not saying who he was, St. Myron helped the thieves to fill their sacks, lift them onto their backs and escape. For his outstanding virtues, he was ordained priest and later consecrated bishop. He was a great wonder-worker and did many good and mighty works in the name of the Lord Jesus. He entered into rest in about 350, at the great age of a hundred.

3. Our Holy Father Gregory the Sinaite.

He was named ‘the Sinaite’ because he became a monk on Mount Sinai. In the time of the Emperor Andronikos Palaeologos, in about 1330, he went to the Holy Mountain to visit the monasteries and discover more about mental prayer and contemplation. But these two spiritual exercises were little known at that time among the monks of the Holy Mountain. The only one who was experienced in them and practised them perfectly was St. Maximus of Kapsokalyvia. Gregory spread his teaching on mental prayer through all the cells and monasteries of the Holy Mountain. His most famous pupil was Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople, who wrote Gregory’s life. After that, Gregory went to Macedonia and to other parts of the Balkans, and founded communities in which the monks engaged in mental prayer, thus helping many to deepen their prayer and come to salvation. His writings on mental prayer and asceticism are found in the Philokalia. Among other things, he wrote the hymn to the Holy Trinity: ‘It is meet and right...,’ which is sung in the Midnight Office on Sundays. He stands among the most famous ascetics and spiritual teachers of the Balkans. He entered peacefully into rest in 1346, after a life of great toil, and went to the kingdom of Christ.

4. The Holy New-Martyrs Triandaphyllos and Spaso.

Triandaphyllos was born in Zagora and Spaso in Radoviste, in the diocese of Strumica. They were both Slavs, both young and simple men. But the love of Christ drew them out of the world and out of this life. They gave their lives, and remained faithful to Christ, suffering under the Turks for their faith: Tryandaphyllos in Constantinople in 1680 and Spaso in Thessalonica in 1794.

5. The Holy Martyr Gormizdas.

He was a noble at the court of the Persian King Yazdgird. Because he refused to deny Christ, the king sadly deprived him of his rank and possessions and sent him to look after the animals, being convinced that Gormizdas would soon grieve for his rank and possessions, and would worship idols. Gormizdas peacefully minded the cattle and remained faithful. The king therefore put him to harsh torture, which succeeded only in weakening the body of Christ’s martyr without affecting his soul. Finally, Gormizdas was killed, in 418, immediately after the martyrdom of St. Abdus the Bishop (see March 31st). He suffered on earth, and was glorified in heaven.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Lo, I have set before you life and death,’ said Moses to the sons of Israel, ‘therefore choose life, that...you may live’ (Deut. 30:19). There are decisive moments in men’s lives, when a man is truly left to choose life or death. Judas, in the moment of decision, was so overcome by the lust for silver that he chose death, the death of cupidity. When the miltary governor wanted to make Marinus the soldier (see August 7th) an officer, an envious man denounced him as a Christian. The governor gave him three hours to think and choose life or death, to deny Christ or to die. Marinus, hearing the words of his superior, went to the local bishop, Theotechnos, to ask his advice. The bishop took him into the church, stood him before the Gospel and then, indicating first the Gospel and then the sword that Marinus was wearing, said to him: ‘Choose, brave man, one of these two: either carry a sword and serve the transient king, being lost eternally at your death, or become a soldier of the King of heaven and lay down your life for His holy name, recorded in this book, and reign with Him in immortal life.’ Marinus at once made up his mind, kissed the holy Gospel and went out—to go through death to eternal life.

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.