Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 81]. Brethren:

1 ²⁸Even as they did not approve to have God in full knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do things which are not fitting; ²⁹having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, guile, malignity; being whisperers, ³⁰slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; ³²who, having fully known the ordinance of God that those who practise such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also consent to those who practise them.

2 ¹Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man—everyone that judgeth—for in what thou judgest the other, thou condemnest thyself; for thou who judgest dost practise the same things. ²But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth upon those who practise such things. ³But reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest those who practise such things, and doest them thyself, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or despiseth thou the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leadeth thee to repentance? ⁵But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou storest up to thyself wrath in a day of wrath and revelation of a righteous judgment of God, ⁶Who will render to each according to his works: ⁷to those on the one hand who with patience in good work seek glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life; ⁸but to those on the other hand who are factious and disobey the truth, and suffer themselves to be persuaded to unrighteousness, anger and wrath— ⁹affliction and straits upon every soul of man that worketh out evil, both of the Jew first and also of the Greek.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 13]. The Lord said:

5 ²⁷“Ye heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery [Ex. 20:14].’ ²⁸“But I say to you that everyone who looketh on a woman in order to lust after her did already commit adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹“And if thy right eye cause thee to stumble, remove it and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Gehenna. ³⁰“And if thy right hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Gehenna. ³¹“And it was said, ‘Whosoever shall divorce his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce [cf. Deut. 24:3].’ ³²“But I say to you that whosoever shall divorce his wife except it be on account of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her who hath been divorced committeth adultery.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Theodotos at Ankyra, and the holy five Virgin-martyrs, Martha, Mary, Kyria, Vareria (Valeria), and Markia of Palestine (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 6^th of June).

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 20th – Civil Calendar
June 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Theodotus of Ankyra.

This martyr was a secret Christian, and as such, used to help the Church and give burial to the bodies of the martyrs. He buried the bodies of seven young maidens who had suffered for Christ. When the pagans discovered this, they attacked him and he was killed (see May 18th for more about him).

2. The Holy Martyrs Kyria, Valeria and Maria.

All three of these martyrs were from Caesarea in Palestine. When a persecution of Christians arose, they withdrew from the city to a hut, where they prayed unceasingly to God with fasting and tears that the Christian Faith might be spread throughout the entire world and that persecution might cease. As the result of slander, they were brought to trial and tortured, and died under their torments in the year 304. And so these glorious virgins were crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.

3. The Hieromartyr Marcellus, Pope of Rome.

In the reign of the Emperor Maximian, Marcellus was condemned to keep cattle in a certain place. In order to please Diocletian, who had taken him as co-emperor, Maximian began to build the Thermae, the baths in Rome, and forced the Christians to work on them as Pharaoh had once forced the Jews in Egypt. Many Christians perished there. The deacon Kyriakus, who had healed Artemia, Diocletian’s daughter, of an evil spirit (for he had great power over demons), suffered at this time. He had also healed Jovia, the daughter of the Persian king, and had baptized them both. Artemia, the deacon Sisinius, two friends of Kyriakus, Smaragdus and Largius, the deacon Aphronianus and two newly baptized Roman soldiers, Papius and Maurus, the elder Saturninus and Crescentianus, the blessed maidens Priscilla and Lucina, who used their great wealth to have graves made for the Christian martyrs—all these suffered at this time. The holy Pope Marcellus cared for the cattle for a long time, but finally became weakened from hunger and humiliation and the tortures of the soldiers, and surrendered his soul to God.

4. The Hieromartyr Marcellinus, Pope of Rome.

Marcellinus was Pope Marcellus’ predecessor on the Roman throne. When the Emperor Diocletian summoned him and threatened him with torture, he offered sacrifice to idols and was, because of this, rewarded by the emperor with a costly garment. But Marcellinus repented bitterly and began to weep both day and night for his rejection of Christ, even as the Apostle Peter had before him. A synod of bishops was held at that time in Campania, and the pope dressed himself in sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on his head, and going before the synod, confessed his sin and asked them to judge him. The fathers said: ‘Let him judge himself.’ Then he said: ‘I strip myself of the sacerdotal rank of which I am not worthy; and further, let my body not be buried after my death, but let it be thrown to the dogs.’ Having said this, he pronounced a curse on any who should dare to bury him. He then went to the Emperor Diocletian, and casting the precious garment in front of him, confessed his faith in Christ and cursed the idols. The enraged emperor ordered that he be tortured and killed outside the city, together with three other men: Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus. The bodies of these three were buried at once, but the pope’s body lay there for thirty-six days. Then St. Peter appeared to Marcellus, the new pope, and told him to bury Marcellinus’ body, saying: ‘Who so humbleth himself shall be exalted.’

5. Our Holy Father Daniel of Sketis.

The abbot of the famous Sketis in Egypt, he was a disciple of St. Arsenius and a teacher of many. Many of his words and teachings are like celestial signposts for monks. Once, when the barbarians were attacking Sketis, the brethren called to him to flee with them, but he replied: ‘If God does not care for me, what reason is there for me to live?’ He also once said: ‘Insofar as your body grows fat, even so does your soul wither away.’ He lived the communal life as an ascetic for forty years, and then in the year 420 took himself off to the desert. He happened to be in Alexandria when an evil man murdered his son’s wife because of her chastity. This was St. Thomaïs (see April 13th), and he buried the martyr with the help of his disciples.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A saint has a very sensitive conscience. What ordinary people may consider a small sin, a saint sees as a great crime. It is said of Abba Daniel that highwaymen attacked him on three occasions and took him off into the mountains. Twice he was rescued, but the third time, in attempting to escape, he struck one of them with a stone and killed him, and then made his escape. That murder lay on his conscience like a lead weight. In perplexity as to what he should do, he went to Timothy, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and asked his advice. The patriarch soothed him, and released him from all penance. But his conscience continued to gnaw at him, and he went to Rome, to the pope. The pope gave him the same reply as had the patriarch. Still dissatisfied, Daniel visited the remaining patriarchs in turn; going to Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem, confessing to each of them and asking for advice. But he could find no peace. So he returned home to Alexandria and declared himself to the authorities as a murderer, and was flung into prison. At his trial before the governor, Daniel told how everything had come about, and pleaded that he might be killed too, that his soul might be saved from eternal fire. The governor was amazed at the whole thing and said to him: ‘Go your way, father, and pray to God for me, even if you kill seven more!’ Still dissatisfied with this, Daniel resolved to take a leper into his cell and care for him until he died, and then find another. He did as he had resolved, and in this way brought peace to his conscience.

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.