Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirtieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 327]. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, see Heb. 11:8-16; for Sl. usage, see Heb. 11:8, 11-16.

11 ⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into the place which he was about to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he sojourned in the land of the promise, as in a foreign land, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the joint-heirs of the same promise; ¹⁰for he was waiting for the city which hath the foundations of which the artificer and maker is God. ¹¹By faith also Sarah herself received power for the begetting of seed, and she brought forth when she was past age, since she deemed faithful Him Who promised. ¹²Wherefore, even from one, and that of one who hath been deadened, were born so many “even as the stars of the heaven” in multitude, “and as sand which is by the shore of the sea innumerable [cf. Gen. 15:5, 22:17].” ¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and having been persuaded, and having embraced them, also confessed that they were “strangers and sojourners on the earth [cf. Gen. 23:4].” ¹⁴For they who say such things make manifest that they are seeking a fatherland. ¹⁵And if indeed they had kept on remembering from where they came out, they would have kept on having opportunity to have returned. ¹⁶But now they themselves are reaching after a better fatherland, that is, a heavenly one. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He prepared a city for them.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 108]. At that time:

21 ³⁷During the days He was teaching in the temple; and during the nights He went out and was taking up His abode in the mount which is called the Mount of Olives. ³⁸And all the people were coming early in the morning to Him in the temple to hear Him.

22 ¹Now the feast of the unleavened bread was drawing near, which is called passover. ²And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking as to how they might kill Him; for they were fearing the people.

³And Satan entered into Judas, who is called Iscariote, being of the number of the twelve. ⁴And he went away and talked with the chief priests and the captains of the temple-guards as to how he might deliver Him up to them. ⁵And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. ⁶And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver Him up to them apart from the crowd.

⁷And the day of the unleavened bread came, in which it was necessary for the passover to be sacrificed. ⁸And He sent forth Peter and John, having said, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we might eat it.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy Father Patapios of Thebes.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 276]. Brethren:

2 ¹³We are bound to give thanks to God always concerning you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you for Himself from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, ¹⁴to which He called you through our Gospel, to acquisition of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brethren, be standing firm and holding fast the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. ¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, the One Who loved us and gave everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

3 ¹For the rest, brethren, be praying for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also it is with you, ²and that we might be delivered from wayward and evil men; for not all have the faith. ³But faithful is the Lord, Who shall establish you and guard you from the evil one. ⁴And we trust in the Lord as to you, that ye both do and will do what we command you. ⁵And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

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

1. Our Holy Father Patapios.

Born and brought up in the Faith and in the fear of God by pious parents in the Egyptian city of Thebes, he early perceived and rejected the empty vanity of the world and went into the Egyptian desert, where he devoted himself to cleansing his heart from every worldly thought and desire for the sake of divine love. When his virtues became known among the people, they began to come to him and seek relief from their troubles. Afraid of human glory, which darkens a man’s mind and separates it from God, Patapios fled from the desert to Constantinople, for this wonderful saint thought that he could more easily hide himself from men in the heart of a city than in the desert. He built himself a hut close to the Vlachernai church and there, enclosed and unknown, took up again his interrupted life of asceticism. But the light cannot be hidden. A child, blind from birth, was led by divine providence to St. Patapios and begged him to offer a prayer that he might be given his sight and look upon God’s creation, and praise God all the more. Patapios had pity on the suffering child and prayed to God, and the child saw. Through this miracle, Patapios’ godly life became known throughout the entire capital, and people began to turn to him for healing, comfort and teaching. Patapios healed one eminent man of dropsy after blessing him with a cross and anointing him with oil. Making the sign of the Cross in the air, he freed a youth from an unclean spirit which had cruelly tormented him, and the evil spirit went out of God’s creature like smoke, uttering a great cry. He made the sign of the Cross over a woman who had sores on her breasts all filled with worms, and she was healed. St. Patapios worked many other miracles, all through prayer in the name of Christ and by the power of the Cross. He entered into rest in great old age, going to the kingdom of God in the seventh century.

2. The Holy Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Onesiphorus, Cephas and Caesar.

All these are commemorated on January 4th with the other lesser apostles. St. Apollos is also commemorated on September 10th, St. Onesiphorus on September 7th, and Cephas and Caesar on March 30th. St. Sosthenes was Bishop of Caesarea and Tychicus succeeded him in the same city. Epaphroditus was bishop in Colophon in Pamphylia, Cephas in Iconium and Caesar in the Peloponnese. They all preached the Gospel of Christ with burning love, and endured suffering for His name’s sake before they entered into the kingdom of eternal joy.

FOR CONSIDERATION

He who entrusts himself completely to God is led by Him towards salvation, and is used by Him for the good of many others. St. Nicholas, entrusting himself to the will of God, fled from human vanity, from his town of Patara, and came to the city of Myra in Lycia, where he knew no one and was known by none. With no means at all of supporting himself (for, although he had been rich, he had abandoned everything), without acquaintance and without any plan, he went unnoticed about the city, waiting for God to direct his footsteps. At that time, John, the archbishop of the city, died and the synod that was assembled for the election of a new archbishop could not agree on any one candidate. Finally, the members of the synod decided to fast and pray that God would show them who was most worthy of the position. God heard the prayers of His servants, and disclosed to them who was the most worthy. While the presiding bishop was standing at prayer, a man appeared to him, clothed in white, and told him to go out early and stand in front of the church, awaiting the first man to arrive for morning prayer. ‘Make him archbishop; he is called Nicholas,’ he said. The bishop informed the others of what he had heard and seen, and he went to the church early the next morning and waited. St. Nicholas, who was accustomed to rising early to pray, came to the church. Seeing him, the bishop asked: ‘What is your name, my son?’ Nicholas was silent. The bishop asked him again, and this time he answered: ‘I am called Nicholas, and am your lordship’s servant.’ Then the bishop took him by the hand, and leading him into the synod, said: ‘Receive, my brethren, your pastor, whom the Holy Spirit has anointed and who has been elected not by a human synod, but by divine providence.’

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.