Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 8]. In those days:

3 ¹¹As the lame man who was healed held fast to Peter and John, all the people, utterly amazed, ran together toward them on the porch which is called Solomon’s. ¹²And after Peter saw it, he answered to the people, “Men, Israelites, why do ye wonder at this? Or why do ye look intently on us, as if by our own power or piety we have caused him to walk? ¹³“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, Whom ye delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, after the latter adjudged to release Him. ¹⁴“But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and ye yourselves asked for a man, a murderer, to be granted to you, ¹⁵“and ye killed the originator of life, Whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. ¹⁶“And in the power of His name by faith, this man, whom ye see and know, was strengthened by His name, and the faith which is by Him gave this complete soundness to him before you all.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 11]. At that time:

3 ²²Jesus came, and His disciples, to the Judæan land; and there He was spending time with them, and was baptizing. ²³And John was also baptizing in Ænon near Saleim, because there was much water there. And they were coming and were being baptized. ²⁴For John had not yet been cast into the prison. ²⁵Then there arose an inquiry from the disciples of John with a Jew about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He Who was with thee across the Jordan, to Whom thou hast borne witness, behold, this One is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷John answered and said, “A man is able to receive nothing unless it hath been given to him from the heavens. ²⁸“Ye yourselves bear witness to me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but that ‘I have been sent forth before that One.’ ²⁹“The one who hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy then, which is mine, hath been made full. ³⁰“It is needful for that One to go on increasing, but for me to go on decreasing. ³¹“The One Who cometh from above is above all. The one who is out of the earth is of the earth, and speaketh of the earth; the One Who cometh out of the heavens is above all. ³²“And what He hath seen and heard, this He testifieth; and no one receiveth His testimony. ³³“The one who receiveth His testimony hath set his seal to this, that God is true.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, and those with him, and Hieromartyr Theodore of Perge in Pamphylia and those with him, and our venerable Father Anastasios of Sinai (commemorated on Sl. calendar on the 20^th of April).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 4th – Civil Calendar
April 21st – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Januarius, and those with him.

This saint was Bishop of Benevento in Italy. In the time of a persecution under Maximian, he was brought before the judge and tormented with various tortures, which he endured patiently. When they threw him into the flames, they were cooled by an invisible dew and the martyr stood uninjured in it and sang the praises of God. Then they flayed his body with iron flails until the bones showed white, but the martyr patiently endured all. His deacon, Faustus, and his reader, Desiderius, were watching the torture and wept for their spiritual father. Then they too were bound and taken with their bishop to the town of Puteoli (Pozzuoli), and cast into prison. There were in the same prison for the sake of Christ the Puteolian deacons Proclus and Sossus and two simple, Christian men, Eutychius and Acutius. All seven were thrown next day to the wild beasts, but the beasts would not touch them. They were all then beheaded, and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly took the body of St. Januarius to their city and buried it in the church where they work miracles to those who approach with faith. One among many remembered is this: a poor widow, whose only son had died, took the icon of St. Januarius out of the church and laid it on her dead son, weeping and imploring the saint’s aid, and her son was restored to life. St. Januarius suffered with honor in 305.

2. The Holy Martyr Theodore, and others with him.

He suffered for the Christian Faith in Perga of Pamphylia in the time of the Emperor Antoninus. Theodore was young and fair of face. When the governor of that district chose him, along with several other young men, for service at the imperial court, Theodore refused and declared himself to be a Christian. Because of this, he was tortured in various ways and then thrown into the flames, but water gushed from the earth and put out the fire. The governor ascribed this to some magic of Theodore’s, but the martyr said to him: ‘This is not the work of any power of mine, but of Christ my God; and if you want to test the power of your gods, light another fire and throw in one of your soldiers—then I hope you will understand the strength and almighty power of my God.’ The governor really wanted to throw in one of the soldiers, but they, in terror, begged him to throw in the pagan priest, Dioscoros, in their place. The priest begged him to throw in only the idol of Zeus and the other idols, for, he said, if they were gods they would easily save themselves. Dioscoros spoke thus because he had already in his heart turned to Christ, having seen the marvel wrought concerning Theodore. Discovering this, the governor condemned Dioscoros to death by burning. He also delivered Theodore and two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, and Theodore’s mother Philippa, to death. Theodore was crucified, and breathed his last on the cross only on the third day. Socrates and Dionysius were run through with spears and Philippa was beheaded. They were all crowned with wreaths of glory in the kingdom of Christ.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Guard your hearts!’—said experienced ascetics of old. And Saint John of Kronstadt, in our day, says the same: ‘The heart is fine, spiritually light and heavenly in nature. Guard it; do not burden it; do not bring it low; be extremely abstinent in eating and drinking and especially in bodily comforts. The heart is the temple of God, and “he who defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (I Cor. 3:17).’ Spiritual experience in olden times and spiritual experience in our day are identical—on the condition that the confession of faith is identical. The heavenly knowledge to which the ancient ascetics came, in no way differs from the heavenly knowledge to which modern ascetics come. For, as Christ is the same today as yesterday, so also is human nature. And, what is most important, the heart of man is the same, and nothing can satisfy it but the glory and power and richness of God.

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.