Daily Devotional

Tuesday, September 4, 2029 (NS), August 22, 2029 (OS)

No Fasting.

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the holy Martyr Agathonikos of Nicomedia, and his companions, Zotikos, Zenonos, Theoprepios, Akindynos, and Severianos, and the holy Martyr Louppos (transferred to this date on account of the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Dormition on the 23^rd of August).

Jump to Prologue

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 204]. Brethren:

2 ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought.

3 ¹O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you so as not to be persuaded to the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth among you crucified? ²This only I desire to learn from you: Did ye receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now being brought to perfection in the flesh? ⁴Did ye suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it really is in vain. ⁵Therefore the One Who supplieth the Spirit to you and energizeth works of power in you, is it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? ⁶Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness [Gen. 15:6].” ⁷Know ye therefore that they who are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 22]. At that time:

6 ¹Jesus came into His own country; and His disciples followed Him. ²And a sabbath having come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “From what place came these things to this One? And what is the wisdom which hath been given to Him, that even such works of power are done by His hands? ³“This is the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and Brother of Iakovos, and Joses, and Juda, and Simon, is it not? And His sisters are here with us, are they not?” And they were made to stumble in Him. ⁴But Jesus was saying to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kinfolk, and in his own house.” ⁵And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick and cured them. ⁶And He was marvelling because of their unbelief. And He was going around the villages in a circuit, teaching. ⁷And He calleth to Himself the twelve, and began to send them forth two by two; and He was giving them authority over the spirits, the unclean ones.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 4th – Civil Calendar
August 22nd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Agathonikos and Zotikos, and others with them.

St. Agathonikos was a citizen of Nikomedia and a Christian. He turned the Greeks from idolatry with great fervor, and instructed them in the true Faith. The imperial governor, on orders from the Emperor Maximian, was persecuting Christians with great harshness. In this persecution, he seized St. Zotikos in a place called Carpe, crucified his disciples and took him off to Nikomedia, where he also seized and bound Agathonikos, Princeps, Theoprepios, Akyndinos, Severianos, Zeno and many others. They were taken, securely bound, to Byzantium. On the way, Zotikos, Theoprepios and Akyndinos died from exhaustion and of their wounds. Severianos was killed near Chalcedon and Agathonikos and the others were taken to Thrace, to a place called Silybria, where, after torture before the emperor himself, they were beheaded with the sword and entered into eternal life and the joy of their Lord.

2. The Holy Martyr Eulalia.

At the time of a terrible persecution of Christians in Spain, there was a maiden called Eulalia, born of Christian parents in Barcelona. Utterly consecrated to Christ her Bridegroom, and steeped in the holy Scriptures, she applied herself steadfastly to voluntary asceticism of soul and body. When the torturer, Dacian, who was mercilessly slaughtering Christians in Spain, came to Barcelona, Eulalia slipped away from her parents by night, came before the torturer, and in the presence of many of the people, denounced him as a murderer of innocent people, and also pulled down idols, openly confessing her faith in Christ the living Lord. Dacian commanded in fury that she be stripped and beaten with rods, but the holy maiden showed that she did not feel the pain of the torture for her Christ. Then the torturer had her tied to a tree in the form of a Cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. The torturer asked her, where was her Christ to save her? Eulalia answered: ‘He is here with me, but you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ Under great torture, Eulalia gave her soul to God, and when she breathed her last, the people saw a white dove emerge from her mouth. Then a sudden snowstorm came and covered the naked body of the martyr like a white garment. On the third day, St. Felix came, and in grief, wept before the hanging body of Eulalia, and a smile appeared on the saint’s dead face. Her parents came, and together with other Christians, buried the body of the holy maiden. She suffered for her Lord and entered into eternal joy at the beginning of the fourth century.

3. The Holy Martyr Anthusa, and others with her.

The daughter of rich, pagan parents in Seleukeia in Syria, Anthusa heard of Christ and believed in Him with all her heart. She went secretly to Bishop Athanasius, who baptized her, and an angel of God appeared at that moment. After that, Anthusa went off to the desert to live in asceticism, not daring to return to her parents. She lived in the desert for thirty-three years, until, while kneeling in prayer on a rock, she gave her soul into God’s hands. She was buried, at her prior request, under this rock. Athanasius and two of Anthusa’s servants, Charismus and Neophytus, were beheaded for their faith in Christ in the time of the Emperor Valerian, in about the year 257. They suffered with honor and were crowned with wreaths.

FOR CONSIDERATION

When once a man has truly repented, he must think no more of the sins committed, lest he fall again into sin. St. Anthony advises: ‘Guard yourself, that your mind be not fouled with the memory of former sins, and that the memory of them be not renewed within you.’ And, in another place, he says: ‘Don’t establish the sins that you have formerly committed in your soul by pondering on them, lest they be renewed in you. Be assured that they are forgiven from the moment that you turn to God in repentance. Be in no doubt about this.’ It was said of St. Ammon that he achieved such perfection that, in his great goodness, he no longer recognized the existence of evil. When he was asked what was the ‘narrow and hard’ way, he replied: ‘It is the curbing of one’s thoughts and the mortifying of one’s own will for the fulfilling of the will of God.’ He who curbs sinful thoughts thinks neither of his own sin nor of another’s, nor of anything corruptible or earthly. The mind of such a man is constantly in heaven, where there is no evil. Thus, little by little, evil is cast out from us, even in our thoughts.

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.