Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Holy and Great Monday

Epistle

There is no Epistle Reading this day because of Holy Week.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 84]. At that time:

21 ¹⁸As Jesus returned into the city, He hungered. ¹⁹And having seen a single fig tree in the way, He came to it and found nothing on it, except leaves only, and said to it, “Let there be no more fruit from thee forever.” And forthwith the tree was withered. ²⁰And after the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, “How was the fig tree withered forthwith?” ²¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Verily I say to you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do that which was done to the fig tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, ‘Be thou taken away, and be thou cast into the sea,’ it shall come to pass. ²²“And all things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

²³And after He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He taught, saying, “By what authority doest Thou these things? And who gave Thee this authority?” ²⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will question you for one word, which if ye tell Me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵“The baptism of John—from what place was it? From heaven or from men?” And they were reasoning with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did ye not believe him?’ ²⁶“But if we should say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude; for all hold John as a prophet.” ²⁷And they answered and said to Jesus, “We know not.” And He said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁸“But what think ye? A certain man had two children, and he came to the first and said, ‘Child, go today and work in my vineyard.’ ²⁹“And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he felt regret and went forth. ³⁰“And he came to the second and spoke in like manner. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir’; and he went not forth. ³¹“Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say to Him, “The first.” Jesus saith to them, “Verily I say to you that the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³²“For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and ye, having seen, felt no regret afterward in order to believe him.

³³“Hear another parable: There was a certain man, a master of a house, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge around it, and dug a wine-vat in it in which to press grapes, and built a tower. And he let it out to vinedressers, and went abroad. ³⁴“And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent forth his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. ³⁵“And the vinedressers took his slaves, and indeed beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶“Again he sent forth other slaves, more than the first; and they did to them in like manner. ³⁷“But afterwards he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸“But after the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us gain possession of his inheritance.’ ³⁹“And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ⁴⁰“Whenever the lord, therefore, of the vineyard should come, what shall he do to those vinedressers?” ⁴¹They say to Him, “He will evilly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vinedressers who shall render to him the fruits in their seasons.” ⁴²Jesus saith to them, “Did ye never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner; this came to be from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes [Ps. 117(118):22, 23; cf. Is. 28:16]’? ⁴³“On this account I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and it shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”

In the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 98]. At that time:

24 ³As Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the completion of the age?” ⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “Be taking heed, lest anyone lead you astray. ⁵“For many shall come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ’; and they shall lead astray many. ⁶“But ye are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars; keep on looking out and cease being clamorous; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷“For nation shall be stirred up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines, and plagues, and earthquakes, in place after place. ⁸“But all these are a beginning of birth pangs. ⁹“Then they shall deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated by all the nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰“And then many shall be made to stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. ¹¹“And many false prophets shall be raised up, and shall lead astray many. ¹²“And because lawlessness shall have been multiplied, the love of the multitude shall grow cold. ¹³“But the one who endureth to the end, this one shall be saved. ¹⁴“And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the inhabited world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁵“Whenever ye therefore see ‘the abomination of the desolation [cf. Dan. 9:27, 12:11],’ which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”—the one who readeth, let him understand— ¹⁶“then let those in Judæa flee to the mountains. ¹⁷“The one on the housetop, let him not come down to take away anything out of his house. ¹⁸“And the one in the field, let him not return back to take up his clothes. ¹⁹“And woe to those who are with child and to those who give suck in those days. ²⁰“But be praying that your flight might not take place in winter, neither on a sabbath. ²¹“For then there shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until the present, no, nor ever shall be. ²²“And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ²³“Then if anyone should say to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘Here,’ do not begin to believe it. ²⁴“For false christs and false prophets shall be raised up, and they shall produce great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵“Behold, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶“If then they should say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert,’ do not begin to go forth; ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers,’ do not begin to believe it. ²⁷“For even as the lightning cometh forth from the east and appeareth as far as the west, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸“For wheresoever the corpse may be, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹“And straightway after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ³⁰“And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven, and then the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. ³¹“And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the heavens unto their extremities. ³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch at once should become tender and put forth leaves, ye know that the summer is near. ³³“Thus also ye, whenever ye see all these things, know ye that it is near, even at the doors. ³⁴“Verily I say to you, in no wise shall this generation pass away until all these things shall have taken place. ³⁵“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Martyr Efpsychios of Cæsarea in Cappadocia.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 22nd – Civil Calendar
April 9th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Efpsychios (Eupsychius).

He was of gentle birth and was reared in faith and devotion. In the time of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, when St. Basil the Great was governing the Church in Caesarea, Efpsychios married a girl of good family. But he was not given even one day to live in wedlock, for, on his wedding day itself, there was a pagan festival with sacrifices to the idol of Fortune. Efpsychios went out with some others and smashed all the idols in the temple, then pulled down the temple itself. Julian was furious, and commanded that the culprits be beheaded, that many Christians be taken into the army, that an enormous levy be imposed on Christians, the proceeds of which were to be used to rebuild the Temple of Fortune, and that the town cease to be called Caesarea (as it had been named by Claudius Caesar), and revert to its former name, Maza. Efpsychios was first bound to a tree and cruelly tortured, and then beheaded, in 362. A little after this time, the wicked Emperor Julian visited that town on his way to Persia, against which he was waging war. St. Basil went to meet him, bearing three barley loaves as a sign of honor and welcome. The emperor ordered that, as a return gift, the saint be given a fistful of hay. Basil said to the Emperor: ‘You ridicule us now, O king; we bring you bread, by which we are fed, and you give us miserable food which you, with all your power, are not able to turn into nourishment for men!’ To this the emperor replied: ‘You can be sure that I will feed you with this hay when I return from Persia!’ But the wicked apostate did not return alive from Persia, but perished there by a fitting and unnatural death.

2. Our Holy Father Vadim the Martyr.

In the time of the Persian King Sapor, Vadim, abbot of a monastery and a man famed for his grace, was thrown into prison with seven of his disciples. With him in prison was a Prince Nirsan, also a Christian. Every day they were taken out and flogged. Prince Nirsan was afraid, and promised to forsake his faith and worship the sun. This was pleasing to Sapor, and he promised Nirsan all the possessions of Vadim’s monastery if he would, with his own hands, behead Vadim. Nirsan agreed to this. With trembling hands, terrified by the dignity of St. Vadim’s face, he let the sword fall several times on the holy man’s neck, barely succeeding in beheading him. But, very quickly after that, he fell into despair and ran himself through with his own sword; thus receiving at his own hands the punishment for slaying a righteous man. St. Vadim suffered in 376.

3. New-martyrs Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene of Mytilene

On the island of Mytilene (Lesbos) in the Aegean Sea, there was an ancient monastery in the fifteenth century. Its archimandrite was Father Raphael, and there also lived there the Hierodeacon Nicholas and other monks. During their lifetime, the city of Constantinople fell to the Turks (in 1453), and the Muslims continued their incursions into the surrounding areas, and soon they also wrested control of Mytilene away from the Genovese. In 1463, on this island there was an uprising, and Turkish reprisals against the Christian islanders were brutal. The mayor of the village of Thermi, Basil, together with his wife and daughter, and also the teacher Theodore, ran up to the monastery to warn the fathers of the danger, but were instantly arrested there by a company of Turks. It was Great Thursday, and the Muslims subjected the inhabitants of the monastery to torments for several days. In order to force the mayor to reveal the whereabouts of the other rebels, the Turks tortured his twelve-year-old daughter, Irene, before her parents’ eyes; finally she was burned alive in a large earthenware jar. Then they slaughtered her parents and beheaded the teacher. Finally, on the evening of Bright Tuesday, they took Saint Raphael and, tying him to a tree by his hair, severed his head from his body by cutting through his jaws with a saw. Saint Nicholas, who was tied to a tree and forced to watch, died of a heart attack when he witnessed this horrific execution of his beloved elder. The Turks threw the bodies of the saints into the spring, set fire to the monastery, and left. After many centuries, the locals only had a vague memory of what had happened at that ruined monastery. But God, Who never forgets the exploits of His saints, deigned to reveal those holy martyrs in modern times, and when some builders happened to dig up some of the sacred relics in 1959, the martyrs appeared to many different islanders in visions for the next several years in order to reveal the location of their relics and tell the story of what had happened to them. These miraculous revelations sent by the Church Triumphant are a great consolation to the Orthodox faithful of the last times, manifesting a living connection between the Faith we hold today and the Faith of those who have gone before.

FOR CONSIDERATION

It is said of Pericles that he was a man of almost perfect human form, except that his head was rather too long and narrow-like, so that he invited ironic smiles whenever he appeared bare-headed. To conceal this shortcoming of this great man of his people, Greek sculptors always portrayed him wearing a helmet. If pagans thus strove to conceal the shortcomings of their fellows, how much more should we Christians do so! ‘In honor preferring one another’ (Rom. 12:10), the apostle commands all who follow Christ. How can we say that we follow Him in meekness and purity if we poison the air every day with our talk of others’ sins and weaknesses? To conceal your own virtues and the shortcomings of others—in that lies the greatest spiritual wisdom.

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.