Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Twenty-Ninth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 317]. Brethren:

7 ¹⁸On the one hand there is an annulling of the foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, ¹⁹for the law made nothing perfect; but on the other hand there is the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw near to God. ²⁰And inasmuch as not without taking an oath He was made priest (for they indeed have become priests without taking an oath, ²¹but He with the taking of an oath, by Him saying to Him, “The Lord swore and will not regret, ‘Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek [Ps. 109(110):4]’”), ²²by so much Jesus hath become a surety of a better covenant. ²³And they on the one hand who have become priests are many, being hindered from continuing by reason of death; ²⁴but He on the other hand, because He abideth forever, hath the intransitive priesthood. ²⁵Wherefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever liveth to intercede on their behalf.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 101]. At that time:

20 ¹⁹The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands upon Jesus in the same hour, but they were afraid of the people; for they knew that He was speaking this parable against them.

²⁰And having watched carefully for an opportunity, they sent forth suborned men, which feigned themselves to be righteous, in order that they might take hold of a word of His, so as to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor. ²¹And they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that Thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest not the person of any, but teachest the way of God in truth. ²²“Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Cæsar or not?” ²³But He perceived their knavery, and said to them, “Why are ye trying to tempt Me? ²⁴“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription hath it?” And they answered and said, “Cæsar’s.” ²⁵And He said to them, “Render therefore the things of Cæsar to Cæsar, and the things of God to God.” ²⁶And they were not able to take hold of His saying in the presence of the people; and having marvelled at His answer, they kept silent.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Prophet Nahum.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 156].

14 ²⁰Brethren, cease becoming children in your minds, but be ye infants in malice; and keep on becoming mature in your minds. ²¹In the law it hath been written: “By other tongues and by other lips will I speak to this people; and not even thus will they hear Me [cf. Is. 28:11, 12],” saith the Lord. ²²Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to the unbelievers; and prophecy is not for the unbelievers, but to those who believe. ²³If therefore the whole church should come together in the same place, and all be speaking with tongues, and those who are unlearned or unbelievers should come in, will they not say that ye are mad? ²⁴But if all be prophesying, and some unbeliever or one unlearned should come in, he is reproved by all, he is examined by all. ²⁵And thus are the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling upon his face, he will make obeisance to God, reporting that God is verily among you.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

December 14th – Civil Calendar
December 1st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Prophet Naum (Nahum).

Born of the tribe of Simeon in a place called Elkosh, on the further side of the Jordan, he lived seven hundred years before Christ and foretold the fall of Nineveh two hundred years after the Prophet Jonah. The people of Nineveh had repented after hearing Jonah’s preaching, and God had protected them and not destroyed them. But, with the passage of time, they came to forget God’s mercy and turned again to evil. Naum foretold their doom, warning them that, if they showed no repentance, they would receive no protection. The entire city was so utterly destroyed by earthquake, flood and fire that its location is no longer known. Holy Naum lived for forty-five years before going to his rest in the Lord, leaving us a small book of his true and genuine prophecies.

2. St. Philaret the Merciful.

From the village of Amnia in Paphlagonia, Philaret was at first a man of some substance, but as a result of his constant almsgiving, he became utterly destitute. He was not afraid of poverty, and went on with his charitable works with trust in the Lord Who has said: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,’ paying no attention to the disapproval of his wife and children. Once, when he was ploughing in his meadow, a man came to him with the news of the death of his ox in harness, and of his inability to plough with only one ox, so Philaret unharnessed his own and gave it to him. He gave away his remaining horse to a man who was called away to battle, and the calf from his remaining cow—and, when he saw how the cow pined after her calf, gave the man the cow as well. And so the aged Philaret was left hungry in an empty house. But he prayed to God, entrusting himself to Him. God does not abandon the righteous man, allowing him to be shamed in his hope. At that time, the Empress Irene was on the throne with her young son Constantine, and in accordance with the custom of the time, the empress sent men through the whole empire to find the best and most distinguished maiden to wed her son. By divine providence, these men happened upon Philaret’s home and beheld his very beautiful and modest grand-daughter Maria, the daughter of Hypatia, and they took her to Constantinople. The emperor was well-pleased with her and took her to wife, and brought Philaret and all his family to the capital, showering honor and wealth upon them. Philaret did not become proud in this change of fortune, but with gratitude to God, performed still greater deeds of charity than before, remaining thus for the rest of his days. At the age of ninety, he called all his children to him, and having blessed them and instructed them to cleave to God and His law, foretold to each of them how their lives would develop, just as our forefather Jacob did aforetime. When he had done this, he went to a monastery and there gave his soul into God’s hands. At his death, his face shone like the sun and a sweet fragrance arose from his body, and miracles were worked over his relics. This righteous man of God went to his rest in 797. His wife and all his children and grandchildren lived and died in the Lord.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Virtue is like a thirst. When a man begins to drink, he becomes yet more thirsty and seeks to drink more and more often. Whoever begins to practice the virtue of compassion knows and acknowledges no limit. St. Philaret was no less generous in poverty than he was in wealth. When his grand-daughter became empress, he became a rich man once again, and not a wit less generous. One day, he told his wife and children to prepare the most lavish feast they could, and said: ‘Let us invite our King and Lord and all His great men to our feast’. Everyone thought that the elder meant to invite his son-in-law, the emperor, and so they worked especially hard to prepare the feast. However, Philaret went around the streets and gathered all the poor, the wretched, the despised, the lame and the enfeebled, and brought them to the feast. He sat them down at table and told his wife and sons to serve them. At the end of the feast, he gave each guest a gold coin. Then everyone understood that by ‘the King,’ he meant the Lord Christ Himself, and by the ‘great men,’ the poor and helpless. He used to say that one must not decide beforehand what money to give to the poor, but to give whatever was in the hand when it came out of one’s pocket, for the hand would find whatever God in His providence had given.

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.