Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 32]. In those days:

13 ¹³After Paul and those around him sailed from Paphos, they came to Perga of Pamphylia; and John, having departed from them, turned back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴But after they passed through from Perga, they came into Antioch of Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and sat down. ¹⁵And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent off to them, saying, “Men, brethren, if there is among you a word of exhortation for the people, say on.” ¹⁶And Paul rose up and made a motion with his hand, and said, “Men, Israelites, and those who fear God, hearken: ¹⁷“The God of this people Israel chose for Himself our fathers, and exalted the people during the sojourn in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm He led them out of it. ¹⁸“And for a time of about forty years He bore with their manners in the wilderness. ¹⁹“And after He pulled down seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed by lot their land to them. ²⁰“And after these things, He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. ²¹“And afterwards they asked a king for themselves; and God gave them Saul, son of Kis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²“And after He removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He bore witness, and said, ‘I found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to Mine own heart, who shall do all My will [cf. Ps. 88(89):19(20); 1 Kgs. (1 Sam.) 13:14].’ ²³“Of this one, God, from his seed, according to promise, raised up to Israel a Savior—Jesus— ²⁴“after John heralded beforehand, before the face of His entrance, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 18]. At that time:

6 ⁵Jesus, having lifted up His eyes and having beheld that a great crowd was coming toward Him, saith to Philip, “From what place shall we buy loaves, that these might eat?” ⁶But this He was saying putting him to the test, for He knew what He was about to do. ⁷Philip answered Him, “Loaves worth two hundred denarii are not sufficient for them in order that each of them might take a little.” ⁸One of His disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to Him, ⁹“There is one little boy here who hath five barley loaves and two small fish; but what are these for so many?” ¹⁰And Jesus said, “Make the people recline.” Now there was much grass in the place. Then the men reclined, in number about five thousand. ¹¹And Jesus took the loaves; and after He gave thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those reclining; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wished. ¹²And when they were filled, He saith to His disciples, “Gather together the fragments which remain over, that nothing might be lost.” ¹³Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five loaves of barley which remained over to those who had eaten. ¹⁴Then the people, having seen what sign Jesus did, began to say, “This is truly the Prophet Who cometh into the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Theodore the Sanctified, disciple of St. Pachomios the Great.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 29th – Civil Calendar
May 16th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Theodore the Sanctified.

He was a disciple of St. Pachomios, being born and growing up an unbeliever. Coming to the true Faith as a young man, he was baptized, and having heard of St. Pachomios, fled to him in his monastery, unknown to his parents. St. Pachomios made him a monk and came to love him for his rare zeal and his obedience. When his mother came to fetch him back home, he would not let her see him, but prayed to God to enlighten her with the truth. And indeed, his mother not only did not take her son back home, but herself did not return. Seeing a women’s monastery close by, ruled by Pachomios’ sister, she entered it and was tonsured. After a certain time, Paphnutios, Theodore’s brother, also came to the monastery and was tonsured. It once happened that the Bishop of Panopolis invited Pachomios to build a monastery for the many people who were desirous of the monastic life. Pachomios took Theodore with him, and entrusted to him the duty of building the monastery. Upon Pachomios’ death, Theodore became abbot of all Pachomios’ monasteries and lived until great old age, guiding a multitude of monks on the way of salvation. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of eternal light in the year 368.

2. The Blessed Maiden Musa.

St. Gregory the Dialogist relates of her that she was a mere nine years old when the most holy Mother of God appeared to her on two occasions, surrounded by virgins bathed in light. When Musa expressed her desire to be included in the resplendent company of the Queen of heaven, the Mother of God told her that she would come for her and take her within a month, outlining for her how she should spend those thirty days. On the twenty-fifth day, Musa took to her bed and on the thirtieth day the most pure and holy Mother again appeared to her, calling to her in a quiet voice, to which Musa replied: ‘Here I am waiting, my Lady! I’m ready!’ and she breathed forth her spirit. She passed from this life to life eternal in the fifth century.

3. St. Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

‘Mystikos’ signifies the senior member of the imperial council. This saint was such at first, then a high-ranking courtier, but after this he forsook the vanity of the world and was tonsured. He was renowned for the rare austerity of his life. The Emperor Leo VI had married four times, and the patriarch therefore forbade him entry to the church, and the priests who had married him were defrocked. The emperor cast the patriarch out and drove him into a monastery. The delegates of the Roman Pontiff, Sergius III, gave their approval to the emperor’s fourth marriage, but when the emperor died, Nicholas was restored to the patriarchal throne and called a council in 925, at which fourth marriages were in general forbidden to Christians. He died peacefully in 930.

4. The Holy New-Martyr Nicholas.

He was born in Metsovon of Epirus, of pious parents. He left home while quite young and traveled to Trikala, where he found employment with a Turkish baker. There he denied the Faith and embraced Islam. He then returned home and repented. A neighbor of his former employer came upon Nicholas one day and discovered his return to Christianity. He blackmailed Nicholas for several years. Finally, Nicholas decided that his succumbing to this blackmail was tantamount to further denying Christ, and he became determined to become a martyr to correct his denial of Christ. He confessed his intentions to his parish priest, who advised him not to proceed with his plan, lest he be unable to endure their tortures and fall a second time. Nicholas was determined, however, and his priest blessed and strengthened him for his ordeal. Nicholas then traveled back to Trikala, where he refused to pay his blackmailer any further. He was brought before the Turkish judge for having embraced and then renounced Islam. He was beaten with rods, and finally burned alive in Trikala on May 16, 1617. He was twenty-six years old. A pious Christian secretly recovered his skull from the ashes, and hid it in the wall of a house he was building at the time. Later, a man named Melandros bought the house. Every year, for several years, on the day of Nicholas’ martyrdom, Melandros beheld a strange light emanating from the wall of the house. He received a divine revelation in his sleep, disclosing that at the place the light appeared was hidden the holy skull of Nicholas the Martyr. Melandros dug into the wall where he had beheld the light, and found the martyr’s relics. Feeling himself unworthy to possess such a treasure, he turned it over to his brother, a monk at a monastery of Meteora. The martyr’s head is preserved to this day in one of the monasteries of the Meteora in Thessaly, and performs many miracles, heals the gravest sicknesses and is particularly renowned for driving locusts from crops.

5. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of St. Sava’s.

In the time of the Emperor Herakleios, in about 610, forty-four monks of the community of St. Sava the Sanctified suffered for the Christian Faith. Their heroism and sufferings were recorded by St. Antiochus (Dec. 24th).

FOR CONSIDERATION

When Theodore the Sanctified was in Panopolis with his spiritual father, St. Pachomios, a philosopher came to him and sought to dispute with him about faith. The philosopher posed these three questions to Theodore: ‘Who was not born, but died? Who was born, but did not die? And who died, but did not decay?’ To those questions, St. Theodore made answer: ‘Adam was not born, but died. Enoch was born, but did not die. Lot’s wife died, but did not decay.’ The saint added this advice to the philosopher: ‘Take note of this sound advice of ours: shun vain questionings and scholastic syllogisms; draw near to Christ, Whom we serve, and you will receive the forgiveness of your sins.’ The philosopher was rendered speechless by such a shrewd answer, and went away ashamed. From this, one sees clearly the difference between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The one loses himself in abstractions, in skilful juggling with words, in contests of logic and mental gymnastics, while the other centers his whole mind on the living God and on the salvation of his soul. The one is abstract and dead; the other is practical and alive.

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.