Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 24]. In those days:

10 ¹There was a certain man in Cæsarea, by name Cornelius, a centurion from a cohort which is called Italic, ²a pious man and one who feared God with all his house, who both did many alms to the people and entreated God continually. ³He saw in a vision plainly, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God come in to him and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴And after he looked intently on him, he became afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God. ⁵“And now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon, who is surnamed Peter. ⁶“This man is staying as a guest with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷And when the angel who spoke to Cornelius departed, he called two of his household servants, and a pious soldier of those who remained in service to him. ⁸And after he related in full all things to them, he sent them forth to Joppa. ⁹And on the morrow, as they sojourned and drew near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. ¹⁰And he became very hungry, and was wishing to taste food. But while they prepared, a state of ecstasy fell upon him. ¹¹And he beholdeth the heaven having been opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as a great sheet bound at the four corners, and being let down upon the earth, ¹²in which were all the quadrupeds of the earth, and the beasts, and the creeping things, and the birds of the heaven. ¹³And there came a voice to him, “Rise up, Peter, slay and eat.” ¹⁴But Peter said, “Not at all, Lord; for I never ate anything common or unclean.” ¹⁵And a voice again came for the second time to him, “What God cleansed, cease thou making common.” ¹⁶And this took place thrice; and the vessel was taken up again into the heaven.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 24]. The Lord said to those Jews who had believed Him:

6 ⁵⁶“The one who eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷“Even as the living Father sent Me forth, and I live because of the Father, also the one who eateth Me, even he shall live because of Me. ⁵⁸“This One is the bread, the One having come down out of the heavens—not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. The one who eateth this bread shall live forever.” ⁵⁹These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Many of His disciples, therefore, after they heard this, said, “Hard is this saying; who is able to hear it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were murmuring about this, said to them, “Doth this offend you? ⁶²“What if then ye should see the Son of Man ascending where He was before? ⁶³“It is the spirit that maketh alive; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴“But there are some of you who believe not.” For Jesus knoweth from the beginning who they are who believe not, and who is the one who shall deliver Him up. ⁶⁵And He was saying, “Therefore, I have told you, that no one is able to come to Me, except it be given to him from My Father.” ⁶⁶From this time on, many out of His disciples went away to the things left behind, and no longer walked about with Him. ⁶⁷Then said Jesus to the twelve, “Ye do not also wish to go away, do ye?” ⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; ⁶⁹“and we have believed and have come to know that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, the living One.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the appearance of the Sign of the precious Cross in the sky over Jerusalem in A.D. 351, the holy Martyr Akakios the Cappadocian at Byzantium, and our venerable Father Nilos, Wonder-worker of Sora.

Epistle

For the Cross:

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 49]. In those days:

26 ¹Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted thee to speak for thyself.” Then Paul, stretching forth his hand, began to defend himself:

For Gk. usage, skip to Acts 26:12-20; for Sl. usage, read Acts 26:2-5, 12-20.

²“Concerning all the things of which I am being accused by the Jews, king Agrippa, I deem myself happy, because I am about to defend myself before thee today, ³“especially because thou art one acquainted with all of the customs and also the subjects of dispute among the Jews. Wherefore I entreat thee to hear me with forbearance. ⁴“So then, my way of life from my youth which was from the beginning among mine own nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know, ⁵“who knew me before, from the beginning—if they would be willing to testify—that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.... ¹²“And during these things,...

Gk. and Sl. usages continue the Reading from here, Acts 26:12-20.

¹²“As I went to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests, ¹³“at midday, in the way, I saw, O king, a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and those traveling with me. ¹⁴“And after all of us fell down to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵“And I said, ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest. ¹⁶“‘But rise up and stand on thy feet; for I appeared to thee for this purpose, to appoint thee a servant and a witness both of what thou didst see and of what I shall appear to thee in visions, ¹⁷“‘taking thee out for Myself from the people and the nations, to whom now I send thee forth, ¹⁸“‘to open their eyes, in order to turn them about from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, in order to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith that is in Me.’ ¹⁹“Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I did not become disobedient to the heavenly vision; ²⁰“but I was bringing tidings to those in Damascus first and in Jerusalem, and in all the land of Judæa, and to the nations, to repent and turn to God, practising works worthy of repentance.”

for Sl. usage, see [1 Cor. 1:18-24].

For the venerable Father:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

For the Cross:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§§ 60, 61]. At that time:

19 ⁶When the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they cried out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him.” Pilate saith to them, “Ye take Him and crucify Him, for I find no cause for accusation in Him.” ⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself Son of God.” ⁸Therefore, when Pilate heard this saying, he was the more afraid. ⁹And he entered into the Prætorium again, and saith to Jesus, “From what place art Thou?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. ¹⁰Then Pilate saith to Him, “Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have authority to crucify Thee, and authority to release Thee?” ¹¹Jesus answered, “Thou wouldest have no authority at all against Me, except it were given to thee from above.”... ¹³Therefore Pilate, having heard this saying, brought out Jesus, and took his seat upon the tribunal in a place which is called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. And he saith to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵But they cried out, “Take Him away, take Him away, crucify Him.” Pilate saith to them, “Your King shall I crucify?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Cæsar.” ¹⁶Therefore he then delivered Him up to them, in order that He might be crucified.

And they took Jesus and led Him away. ¹⁷And bearing His Cross, He went out to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, ¹⁸where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on the one side and the other, and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. And it was written: “Jesus the Nazaræan, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin. ²¹Then the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Write not, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘He said, “I am King of the Jews.”’” ²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic; but the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout. ²⁴They said therefore to one another, “Let us not tear it, but let us obtain it by lot for whom it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, “They parted My garments among themselves, and upon My clothing they cast a lot [Ps. 21(22):18].” These things therefore the soldiers did. ²⁵Now there had stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Then Jesus, having seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, saith to His Mother, “Woman, behold thy son.” ²⁷Then He saith to the disciple, “Behold, thy Mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. ²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all things now have been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, “I thirst.”... ³⁰Then, when Jesus took the vinegar, He said, “It hath been finished.” And having bowed His head, He delivered up the spirit.

³¹The Jews therefore, since it was the preparation, in order that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath—for great was the day of that sabbath—asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³²Then the soldiers came and indeed broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and straightway blood and water came out. ³⁵And the one who hath seen it hath borne witness, and his testimony is true; and that one knoweth that he speaketh true things, that also ye might believe.

For the venerable Father:

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)

May 20th – Civil Calendar
May 7th – Church Calendar

1. Commemoration of the Appearance of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem.

In the time of the Emperor Constantius, St. Constantine’s son, and Patriarch Kyril of Jerusalem, the Precious Cross appeared one day at nine o’clock in the morning above Golgotha, and spread as far as the Mount of Olives. This Cross was brighter than the sun and more beautiful than the loveliest rainbow. The whole people—believers and unbelievers—left their work and watched this heavenly sign in fear and wonder. Many unbelievers were converted to faith in Christ, and also many Arians abandoned their wicked heresy and returned to Orthodoxy. Patriarch Kyril wrote a letter to the Emperor Constantius about this sign, the emperor himself being inclined towards Arianism. This took place on May 7th, 357. Thus was it demonstrated by this means that the Christian Faith does not lie in the worldly theorizing of the sensual understanding of men, but in the power of God, shown forth through wonders and signs without number.

2. The Holy Martyr Akakios.

This saint was an officer in the Roman army in the time of the Emperor Maximian. Answering at judgement for his faith in Christ, he said that he had inherited a devout faith from his parents, and that he would be steadfast in it, seeing the many miracles of healing that came from the relics of the Christian saints. After harsh torture endured courageously in the Thracian city of Pyrrinthus, Akakios was taken to Byzantium, where he underwent further torture and was finally beheaded with the sword. He suffered with honor and went to the kingdom of eternal joy in the year 303.

3. Our Holy Fathers of Georgia.

In the sixth century, two hundred years after St. Nina had preached the Gospel in Georgia, the most holy Mother of God appeared to John, an ascetic of Antioch, and commanded him to choose twelve of his disciples and go to Georgia, to strengthen the Orthodox Faith there. John did so. Reaching Georgia, these twelve missionaries were formally welcomed by the prince of that country and the Catholicos (Patriarch) Evlalius, and immediately began their work with great zeal. The people gathered around them in hordes, and they strengthened them in the Faith with great wisdom and many miracles. The chief of these Christ-loving missionaries was St. John of Zedan, and the names of the others were: Abidus, Anthony, David, Zeno, Thaddeus, Jesse, Isderius, Joseph, Michael, Pyrrus, Stefan and Shio. With apostolic zeal, they all strengthened the Christian Faith in Georgia, founded many monasteries and left many disciples to follow them. Thus they became worthy of glory in heaven and power on earth.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘I know that my debt was greater, and that more was forgiven me. I was called from juridical and public work to the priesthood; and therefore I show myself ungrateful if I love less than the measure to which I am forgiven.’ These are the words of St. Ambrose, who was unexpectedly called by God to change his calling, and from the practice of law to become a hierarch in the Church of Christ. By these words, the saint shows how the priestly calling is higher than the worldly, how he came to it at the call of God, and how he who is called owes gratitude to God. The debt of gratitude is regarded by all the saints as their greatest debt. Without gratitude to God, no advance can be made in the spiritual life. Ceaseless gratitude to God is a seed of grace from which, if it is watered with tears of unceasing repentance, grows a beautiful fruit—love towards 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.