Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Sixth Week - Apodosis of Pascha

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 41]. In those days:

18 ²²After Paul came down from the high seas to Cæsarea, he went up and greeted the Church, and went down to Antioch. ²³And having spent some time there, he went forth and passed through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, one after the other, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴And a certain Jew, by name Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came down to Ephesus, being mighty in the Scriptures. ²⁵This man, having been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. ²⁶And this one began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And after Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him to themselves, and set forth the way of God to him more accurately. ²⁷And when he purposed to pass through into Achaia, the brethren wrote to the disciples, urging them to welcome him, who, after he arrived, contributed much to those who had believed through grace; ²⁸for he was vigorously confuting the Jews publicly, showing by the Scriptures the Christ to be Jesus.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 43]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

12 ³⁶“While ye have the light, keep on believing in the light, that ye might become sons of light.” Jesus spoke these things, and departed, and was hidden from them.

³⁷But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they kept on not believing in Him, ³⁸that the word of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, “Lord, who believed our report? And to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed [Is. 53:1]?” ³⁹On this account they were not able to believe, because Esaias said again, ⁴⁰“He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and should be converted; and I shall heal them [cf. Is. 6:9, 10].” ⁴¹These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him. ⁴²Yet, nevertheless, from among the rulers also many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be expelled from the synagogue; ⁴³for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. ⁴⁴But Jesus cried and said, “The one who believeth in Me, believeth not in Me, but in the One Who sent Me; ⁴⁵“and the one who seeth Me, seeth the One Who sent Me. ⁴⁶“I have come a light into the world, that everyone who believeth in Me should not abide in the darkness. ⁴⁷“And if anyone hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not that I might judge the world, but that I might save the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada, and the uncovering of the relics of our father among the saints, Leontios, Bishop and Wonder-worker of Rostov.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 318]. Brethren:

8 ³Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is necessary for this One to have something also which He might offer. ⁴For if, indeed, He were on earth, He would not even be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, ⁵who worship a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses had been divinely warned when he was about to execute the tabernacle; for, “See,” saith He, “that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown to thee in the mount [cf. Ex. 25:40].” ⁶But now He hath attained a more excellent liturgy, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 5th – Civil Calendar
May 23rd – Church Calendar

1. St. Michael, Bishop of Synnada.

From his childhood, this wise and holy hierarch consecrated himself to the service of Christ. He labored in asceticism together with Saint Theophylact of Nikomedia. Once, in a time of drought, these two holy men caused an abundance of rain to fall on the earth by their prayers. Because of the life of asceticism and chastity that Michael had led from his early youth, he was chosen and consecrated by Patriarch Tarasios as Bishop of Synnada. He took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787. At the wish of the emperor, he visited Caliph Harun al-Rashid to conduct peace negotiations. In the time of the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, he was deposed from his episcopal throne for his veneration of the holy icons and sent into exile, where he died in want and poverty, faithful to Orthodoxy to the end. He entered into the kingdom of Christ the King in 818.

2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Michael.

On the death of his parents, this Michael gave all his goods away to orphans and went on pilgrimage to the holy places in Jerusalem. He then entered the monastic community of St. Sava the Sanctified and became a monk. Although quite young and ruddy of face, he became withered and pale from much fasting. At that time, the Arabs held sway over Jerusalem. It once happened that Michael’s spiritual father sent him to the town to sell some handwork. A eunuch of an Arab princess met him on the street and took him to the princess to display his wares. When the princess beheld the handsome monk, she began to burn with an impure lust, and proposed to the monk a carnal sin such as Potiphar’s wife once proposed to chaste Joseph. When Michael refused her impure suggestion and turned to flee, the enraged princess gave orders that he be beaten with staves and taken to the sultan with the false accusation of blasphemy against Mohammed. The sultan urged him to accept Islam, but he refused. They gave him strong poison, hoping to kill him, but he drank it all up with no ill-effect at all. Then the sultan commanded that he be slain with the sword in the center of Jerusalem. The monks found his body and carried it to St. Sava’s monastery, where they gave it burial. St. Michael suffered for Christ and was glorified in the 9th century.

3. Our Holy Mother Ephrosyne, Princess of Polotsk.

She was the daughter of Prince Vseslav of Polotsk. When her parents wished her to be married, she ran away to a monastery and became a nun. An angel of the Lord appeared to her three times to show her the place where she was to build a new monastery for virgins. She brought her own sister, Evdokia, into monasticism and many other young girls from the ranks of the aristocracy. One kinswoman of hers, Zvenislava, a princess of Borisov, brought all her wealth, clothing and precious jewels, and said: ‘I count all the beauty of this world as naught, and wish to give these fine things, prepared for my marriage, to the Church of the Savior. And I desire to espouse myself to Him in a spiritual marriage, and to bow my head beneath His good and light yoke.’ Ephrosyne professed her too, and gave her the name Evpraxia. In old age, Ephrosyne evinced a desire to die in Jerusalem, and prayed for this boon. God heard her prayer, and she did indeed die in the monastery of St. Theodosius in Jerusalem on May 23rd, 1173, during a visit there.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A spiritual man interprets all creation and all natural phenomena in a spiritual and symbolic way, and draws from all things something useful to his soul. Some of the brethren once came to St. John Kolovos and began to speak of how the welcome rain had come and watered the palm trees, and how the new branches on the trees had begun to swell, so that the monks would have material for their handwork. St. John became lost in thought for a while, and then said: ‘Even so does the Holy Spirit descend into the hearts of the saints, and they are renewed and put forth the shoots of the fear 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.