Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Fifteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 210]. Brethren:

4 ⁸When ye knew not God, ye slaved for those which are not gods by nature; ⁹but now, having come to know God—indeed rather having been known by God—how do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, which ye wish again to slave for anew? ¹⁰Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! ¹¹I am afraid for you, lest perchance in vain I have labored in regard to you.

¹²Brethren, I entreat you, keep on becoming as I am, for I was also as you. Ye wronged me in nothing. ¹³But ye know that through weakness of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you for the first time. ¹⁴And my temptation which was in my flesh ye neither despised, nor spat at; but as an angel of God ye received me, as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵What then was your happiness? For I bear witness to you that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I therefore become your enemy, because I spoke the truth to you? ¹⁷They zealously court you, but not rightly; and they desire to shut you out, that ye may be zealous toward them. ¹⁸But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹My little children, for whom I again travail until Christ should be formed in you! ²⁰And I was wishing to be present with you just now, and to change my voice, for I am at a loss concerning you.

²¹Tell me, ye who wish to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 26]. At that time:

6 ⁴⁵Jesus constrained His disciples to embark into the ship, and to go before to the other side toward Bethsaida, until He should dismiss the crowd. ⁴⁶And after He bid farewell to them, He departed into the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷And evening having come to pass, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. ⁴⁸And He saw them being put to the test in the rowing; for the wind was contrary to them. And about the fourth watch of the night He cometh to them, walking upon the sea, and was intending to pass by them. ⁴⁹But after they saw Him walking upon the sea, they thought it to be a phantom, and cried out; ⁵⁰for all saw Him and were troubled. And straightway He talked with them and saith to them, “Be of good courage! I am; cease being afraid.” ⁵¹And He went up to them into the ship, and the wind abated. And they were amazed in themselves exceedingly beyond measure, and kept on wondering. ⁵²For not only did they not understand, so far as regards the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

⁵³And having passed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret, and were brought to anchor at the shore.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the return of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew from Anastasiopolis to Lipari, and the holy Apostle Titus of the Seventy, Bishop of Crete.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Titus [§ 300].

For Gk. usage, see Tit. 1:1-5, 2:15-3:2, 12-15; for Sl. usage, see Tit. 1:1-4, 2:15-3:3, 12, 13, 15.

1 ¹Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God’s elect, and full knowledge of the truth which is according to piety, ²in the hope of eternal life, which the God, Who cannot lie, Himself promised before the times of the ages, ³but manifested in His own seasons His word in a proclamation, which I was entrusted with, according to the command of God our Savior; ⁴to Titus, my genuine child according to the common faith: grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

⁵For this cause I left thee behind in Crete, in order that thou shouldest set right the things wanting, and ordain presbyters in every city, as I ordered thee....

2 ¹⁵These things be speaking and exhorting and reproving with all command; let no one despise thee.

3 ¹Be reminding them to submit themselves to rulers and authorities, to obey a superior, to be ready for every good work, ²to speak evil of no one, to not be contentious, but equitable, showing forth meekness toward all men. ³For we also were once without understanding, disobedient, deceived, slaving for various desires and pleasures, passing life in wickedness and envy, hateful, hating one another....

¹²Whenever I should send Artemas to thee, or Tychikos, hasten to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to winter there. ¹³Send forth with haste Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, in order that nothing may be lacking to them. ¹⁴And let ours also be learning to set before themselves good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All those with me salute thee. Greet those who love us in faith.

Grace be with you all. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 7th – Civil Calendar
August 25th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Bartholomew.

Today is the commemoration of the translation of St. Bartholomew’s relics, while his main feast falls on June 11th. When this great apostle was crucified in Ourbanopolis in Armenia, Christians took his body and buried it in a leaden coffin. When numerous miracles had been wrought over the apostle’s grave, especially healings of the sick—which led to an increase in the number of Christians—the pagans took the coffin containing Bartholomew’s relics and cast it into the sea. At the same time, they threw in four other coffins with the relics of four martyrs: Papian, Lucian, Gregory and Acacius. By God’s providence, the coffins did not sink, but floated, carried by the waves, to various places: Acacius’ to the city of Askalon, Gregory’s to Calabria, Lucian’s to Messina, Papian’s to another place in Sicily and Bartholomew’s to the island of Lipara. By divine revelation, the Bishop of Lipara, Agathon, learned of the approach to Lipara of the relics of St. Bartholomew. Agathon, with his clergy and people, went out to the shore and awaited the coffin with great joy. On that occasion, many of the sick were healed by the holy apostle’s relics. They were placed in the church of St. Bartholomew and lay there until the time of Theophilus the Iconoclast (about 839), then, when the Moslems threatened the Liparites, the apostle’s relics were taken to the town of Benevento. Thus God glorified His apostle by miracles, both during his lifetime and after his death.

2. The Holy Apostle Titus.

One of the Seventy, he was born in Crete and educated in Greek philosophy and poetry. Led by a dream, he read the Prophet Isaias and came to doubt all Hellenic learning. Hearing of Christ the Lord, he went to Jerusalem with some other Cretans, and himself heard the words of the Savior and saw His mighty works. His youthful heart clave utterly to Christ. He was later baptized by the Apostle Paul, whom he served in the works of the Gospel as a son serves his father. Paul loved Titus so greatly that he sometimes called him his son (Titus 1:4), and sometimes his brother (II Cor. 12:18). Titus travelled widely with the great apostle of the nations, and was by him made Bishop of Crete. At the time of Paul’s suffering in Rome, Titus was there, and buried the body of his teacher and spiritual father. He then returned to Crete, where he had great success in baptising the pagans, and wisely governed the Church to great old age. He entered into rest at the age of ninety-four.

3. The Holy Confessors of Edessa.

They suffered greatly in imprisonment and exile for the Orthodox Faith in the time of the Emperor Valens, who held the Arian heresy. They were freed under the Emperor Theodosios.

4. St. Menas, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He governed the Church wisely from 536 to 552. Before that, he ran the Home of St. Sampson for the poor and needy (see June 27th). Pope Agapetus, who had come to Constantinople at that time to oppose and depose the heretical Patriarch Anthimos, participated in Menas’ consecration as bishop there. It is said that the following marvel came to pass in Constantinople in the time of Patriarch Menas: a Jewish boy went to church with his friends, and following their example, received holy Communion. The boy’s father, a glassblower, when he heard of his son’s action, seized him and threw him into the red-hot kiln that he had prepared for the firing of glass. The boy remained shut in this kiln for three days and nights, but when the kiln was opened, he was found alive and unharmed, preserved by God’s providence.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The superhuman courage of our Christian forbears and their readiness to undergo all manner of sufferings and voluntary death for Christ was a source of terror to their torturers. The Emperor Maximian, a fierce and shameless persecutor of Christians, commanded his proconsul in Antioch to set St. Andrew Stratelates free from prison, for fear that the people, who had more respect for Andrew than for the emperor, would revolt. The Emperor Valens commanded his eparch in Edessa to slay all the Christians who were opposed to Arius. The eparch had more human compassion than the emperor, and warned the Christians secretly by night not to leave the city the following day for the fields where they usually held their services (for the Arians had seized all the churches), or they would be slaughtered. Heedless of this warning, the Christians all went to the field in the morning with great joy, rejoicing that they would suffer for the true Faith. The eparch, coming out of the city with his soldiers, saw a Christian woman with a child in her arms, hurrying past the soldiers near the field. The eparch said to her: ‘Have you not heard that the eparch is coming with all his soldiers, to kill everyone he finds?’ The woman replied: ‘I have; and that is why I’m hurrying to die for Christ with the others.’ The eparch continued: ‘But why are you taking that child with you?’ The woman replied: ‘I want my child to be made worthy of martyrdom along with me.’ Seeing and hearing this, the eparch returned in fear to the city and informed the emperor. The emperor was filled with fear, and withdrew his order to massacre.

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.