Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The Saturday Before the Nativity of Christ

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 205]. Brethren:

3 ⁸The Scripture, having foreseen that God justifieth the nations by faith, proclaimed the good tidings beforehand to Abraham that “in thee all the nations shall be blessed [cf. Gen. 12:3].” ⁹Therefore those who are of faith are being blessed with the faithful Abraham. ¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it hath been written: “Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all the things which have been written in the book of the law to do them [cf. Deut. 27:26].” ¹¹Now that no one is being justified by the law before God is manifest, for “the just shall live by faith [cf. Hab. 2:4].” ¹²And the law is not of faith, but “the man who doeth these things shall live in them [cf. Lev. 18:5].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 72]. The Lord said this parable:

13 ¹⁸“To what is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I liken it? ¹⁹“It is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and cast into his own garden; and it grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the heaven settled in its branches.” ²⁰And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? ²¹“It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat meal until the whole was leavened.”

²²And He was going through, by cities and villages, teaching, and making His way toward Jerusalem. ²³And one said to Him, “Lord, are they few who are being saved?” And He said to them, ²⁴“Be striving to enter in through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. ²⁵“From the time when the Master of the house riseth and shutteth the door, and ye begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us,’ and He shall answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where ye are from,’ ²⁶“then ye shall begin to say, ‘We ate before Thy face and drank, and Thou didst teach in our streets.’ ²⁷“But He shall say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where ye are from; stand off from Me, all ye workers of unrighteousness.’ ²⁸“There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth, whenever ye see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves being cast out. ²⁹“And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall be made to recline in the kingdom of God.”

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Thirty-Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 273].

5 ¹⁴Brethren, we exhort you, be admonishing the disorderly, be consoling the fainthearted, be supporting the weak, be long-suffering toward all. ¹⁵See ye that no one render evil for evil to anyone, but always be pursuing the good both toward one another and toward all. ¹⁶Be rejoicing always; ¹⁷be praying unceasingly. ¹⁸In everything be giving thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹Cease quenching the Spirit. ²⁰Cease setting at nought prophecies. ²¹Be testing all things, holding fast to the good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil. ²³Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 81]. The Lord said:

16 ¹⁰“The one who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and the one who is unjust in that which is least is unjust also in much. ¹¹“If then ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true wealth? ¹²“And if in that which is another’s ye have not been faithful, who shall give you that which is your own? ¹³“Not one household slave is able to serve two lords; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye are not able to serve God and mammon.” ¹⁴And the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things and were turning up their noses at Him. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Ye are they who justify yourselves before the face of men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is exalted among men is an abomination before the face of God.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Ten Martyrs of Crete, and the holy Nahum, Equal-to-the-apostles and Wonder-worker of Okhrid.

Epistle

For the Martyrs:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

For the Wonder-worker:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 335]. Brethren:

13 ¹⁷Be obedient to those who lead you, and keep on submitting, for they are watchful for your souls, as those about to render an account, that they may do this with joy, and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable for you. ¹⁸Keep on praying for us; for we trust that we have a good conscience, in all things wishing to conduct ourselves well. ¹⁹But I beseech you more abundantly to do this, that I might be restored more quickly to you.

²⁰Now the God of peace Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep, the great One, in the blood of an everlasting covenant, ²¹may He render you perfect in every good work, in order to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before His face, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Gospel

For the Martyrs:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 106]. The Lord said to His disciples, “Be taking heed of men:

21 ¹²“For they shall lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of My name; ¹³“but it shall prove to be a testimony for you. ¹⁴“Therefore settle it for yourselves in your hearts not to premeditate to make a defense; ¹⁵“for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all those who oppose you shall not be able to contradict nor withstand. ¹⁶“And ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and kinfolk, and friends, and brethren; and they shall put some of you to death. ¹⁷“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake. ¹⁸“But a hair of your head in no wise shall perish. ¹⁹“In your patience win your souls.”

For the Wonder-worker:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 5th – Civil Calendar
December 23rd – Church Calendar

1. The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete.

They suffered for Christ the Lord during Decius’ persecution, in the year 250. Their names were: Theodulus, Saturninus, Evporus, Gelasius, Evnikian, Zoticus, Pompey, Agathopous, Basilides and Evaristus. They were all honored and eminent citizens, the cream of the cream. When they were taken to the scaffold, they were filled with joy and discussed among themselves who would be the first to be beheaded, because each wanted to be the first to go to his beloved Christ. Then they prayed: ‘O Lord, forgive Thy servants and accept our outpoured blood on our own behalf and that of our kinsfolk and friends and all our fatherland, that all may be released from the darkness of ignorance and come to know Thee, the true light, O eternal King!’ They were beheaded and entered into the kingdom of glory, to eternal rejoicing.

2. St. Niphon the Wonder-worker.

Born in Paphlagonia, he was brought up in Constantinople at the court of a great commander. Falling into low company, the young Niphon became dissolute and gave himself to great sin and vice. Because of his sin, he could not even pray to God. By the mercy of the most holy Mother of God, he was brought back to the way of righteousness and became a monk. He had innumerable visions of the heavenly world and waged a four-year war with the demons, who whispered to him incessantly: ‘There is no God! There is no God!’ but when the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to him alive on an icon, Niphon received great power over the evil spirits and was freed from these heavy temptations. He had such insight that he saw angels and demons around men as clearly as he saw the people themselves, and he could discern men’s thoughts. He often spoke with angels and disputed with demons. He built a church to the most holy Mother of God in Constantinople, gathered many monks together and saved many souls. Alexander, the Archbishop of Alexandria, through a heavenly revelation, consecrated him bishop of the town of Constantia on Cyprus. Niphon was already old by that time, and governing the Church of God well for a short period, entered into Christ’s eternal kingdom. St. Athanasius the Great visited him at the time of his death, being then archdeacon of the church in Alexandria, and he saw Niphon’s face shine like the sun.

3. Our Holy Father Naum, the Wonder-worker of Ochrid.

He was a disciple of Ss. Kyril and Methodius, and one of the Five Followers—those zealous fellow-workers with these apostles of the Slavs. St. Naum traveled to Rome, where he was renowned both for his wonder-working power and his great learning. He knew many languages. At the time of his return from Rome, he settled, with the help of the Emperor Boris-Michael of Bulgaria, on the shores of Lake Ochrid. While St. Clement was working in Ochrid as bishop, St. Naum built a monastery on the southern shore of the lake. This monastery adorns that shore till this day, as the name of St. Naum adorns the history of Slav Christianity, and has been through the ages a fount of strength and recourse for the sick and the wretched. Many monks from all over the Balkans gathered around St. Naum, who was a wise teacher, a strict ascetic, a wonder-worker and a man of prayer. A tireless worker, St. Naum labored especially to translate the holy Scriptures from Greek into Slavonic. He worked wonders both during his lifetime and after his death, and his wonder-working relics to this day perform many miracles, particularly healing from grave illness and from madness. He entered into rest in the first half of the tenth century, and went to the joy of his beloved Christ.

In the Greek Synaxarion, Ss. Clement and Naum are called the new Moses and Aaron, and this marvel is recorded of them: heretics in Germany bound them and threw them into prison, but by God’s power, the prison shook, the chains fell off them, the doors of the prison opened and they went out freely.

FOR CONSIDERATION

While still in the flesh, the saints had great revelations from God and visions both from heaven and of the infernal powers. All the visions and revelations they had confirmed the Orthodox Faith in all its tenets. The saints are thus a very great joy to the faithful. St. Niphon saw the Mother of God and the Lord Christ alive in glory; he saw men’s souls leaving their bodies and their guardian angels meeting them. He spoke with angels in visions and disputed with demons. The Church teaches that sincere repentance on the part of a sinner, even at the eleventh hour, saves the soul of the penitent. St. Niphon saw the soul of one such sinner repenting at the last moment; he saw how an angel defended it from the bullying demons and carried it to Paradise. The Church teaches that suicide is a mortal sin; St. Niphon saw the soul of a suicide being dragged down to Hades by the devil, while the guardian angel of this soul went off, weeping bitterly. That was the soul of a servant who had committed suicide because his master was merciless and he was not willing to endure to the end and be saved.

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.