Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Third Week

Mode Two — Third Eothinon

Epistle

For the Third Sunday

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 88]. Brethren:

5 ¹Therefore, having been justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through Whom also we have had access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only so, but we boast in afflictions also, knowing that the affliction worketh out patience; ⁴and patience, a tested character; and a tested character, hope. ⁵And the hope doth not put to shame, for the love of God hath been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. ⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God commendeth His own love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

For the New-martyrs Under the Turkish Yoke

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 99]. Brethren:

8 ²⁸We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformable to the image of His Son, in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰But whom He foreordained, these also He called; and whom He called, these also He justified; and whom He justified, these also He glorified. ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He Who indeed spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifieth. ³⁴Who is the one who condemneth? Christ is the One Who died, but much more is He the One also Who was raised, Who also is at the right of God, Who also intercedeth for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it hath been written: “For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the whole day; we were counted as sheep of slaughter [Ps. 43(44):23(22)].” ³⁷But in all these things we more than conquer through the One Who loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things coming, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel

For the Third Sunday

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 18]. The Lord said:

6 ²²“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be sound, thy whole body shall be full of light. ²³“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee is darkness, how great is the darkness? ²⁴“No one is able to serve two lords; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye are not able to serve God and mammon. ²⁵“On this account I say to you, cease being anxious for your soul, what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on. The soul is more than food and the body is more than raiment, is it not? ²⁶“Look at the birds of the heaven, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor do they gather into storehouses; and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Ye much more excel them, do ye not? ²⁷“And which of you, by being anxious, is able to add one cubit onto his stature? ²⁸“And why are ye anxious about raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, nor do they spin. ²⁹“And I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself as one of these. ³⁰“But if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into an oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹“Therefore do not become anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ ³²“For all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all of these things. ³³“But be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

For the New-martyrs Under the Turkish Yoke:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 106]. The Lord said to His disciples, “Be taking heed of men:

21 ¹²“For they shall lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of My name; ¹³“but it shall prove to be a testimony for you. ¹⁴“Therefore settle it for yourselves in your hearts not to premeditate to make a defense; ¹⁵“for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all those who oppose you shall not be able to contradict nor withstand. ¹⁶“And ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and kinfolk, and friends, and brethren; and they shall put some of you to death. ¹⁷“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake. ¹⁸“But a hair of your head in no wise shall perish. ¹⁹“In your patience win your souls.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Nativity of the honorable, glorious, prophet, forerunner, and Baptist John.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 112]. Brethren:

13 ¹¹Now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. ¹²The night is advanced, and the day hath drawn near. Let us therefore put away from ourselves the works of darkness, and let us put on the weapons of light. ¹³Let us walk becomingly, as in the day, not in revellings and drunkenness, not in acts of unlawful intercourse and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and cease taking forethought for the flesh, in regard to the lusts thereof.

14 ¹Now the one who is weak in the faith, be taking to yourselves, but not for passing judgments upon his opinions. ²One, on the one hand, hath faith to eat all things; but one, on the other hand, who is weak, eateth herbs. ³Let not the one who eateth despise him who eateth not, and let not the one who eateth not judge him who eateth; for God hath taken him to Himself. ⁴Who art thou who judgeth Another’s household slave? To his own Lord he standeth or falleth; but he shall be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§§ 3, mid 4]. At that time:

1 ²⁴Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias, conceived, and was concealing herself five months, saying, ²⁵“Thus the Lord hath done to me, in the days in which He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.”...

⁵⁷Now the time for Elisabeth was fulfilled for her to bring forth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸And the neighbors and her kinfolk heard that the Lord was magnifying His mercy with her, and they were congratulating her. ⁵⁹And it came to pass, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the little child; and they were going to call him Zacharias, after the name of his father. ⁶⁰And his mother answered and said, “By no means; but he shall be called John.” ⁶¹And they said to her, “There is no one among thy kinfolk who is called by this name.” ⁶²And they were making signs to his father as to what he might wish him to be called. ⁶³And having asked for a writing tablet he wrote, saying, “John is his name.” And they all marvelled. ⁶⁴And his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed, and he began speaking, blessing God. ⁶⁵And there came to be fear upon all those dwelling around them; and all these sayings were being talked of in the whole hill country of Judæa. ⁶⁶And all who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then shall this little child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him. ⁶⁷And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He visited and wrought redemption for His people.... ⁷⁶“And thou, little child, shalt be called a prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go ‘before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways [cf. Is. 40:3; Mal. 3:1].’”...

⁸⁰And the little child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his showing forth to Israel.

In the Liturgy

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§§ 1, mid 4].

1 ¹Forasmuch as many took in hand to set in order a narrative concerning those things which have been fulfilled among us, ²even as they delivered them to us who from the beginning became eyewitnesses and servants of the Logos, ³it seemed good to me also, having followed closely all things accurately from the beginning, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilos, ⁴that thou mightest fully know the certainty of those words concerning which thou wast instructed.

⁵There arose in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the course of Abia. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. ⁶And they were both righteous before the face of God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ⁷And they had no child, inasmuch as Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now advanced in their days. ⁸And it came to pass, as he was serving as priest in the presence of God in the order of his course, ⁹according to the custom of the priestly service, he obtained the lot to burn incense after he entered into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of the incense. ¹²And after Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Cease being afraid, Zacharias, because thine entreaty was heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴“And he shall be joy and exultation to thee, and many shall be glad over his birth. ¹⁵“For he shall be great before the face of the Lord, and in no wise shall drink wine and strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶“And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn around to the Lord their God. ¹⁷“And he shall go forth before His face in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn around the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the prudence of the just, to make ready a people having been prepared for the Lord.” ¹⁸And Zacharias said to the angel, “According to what shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days.” ¹⁹And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, the one who standeth before the face of God; and I was sent forth to speak to thee, and to announce to thee these good tidings. ²⁰“And behold, thou shalt be silent and not be able to speak until the day in which these things should come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words which shall be fulfilled in their season.” ²¹And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering, as he was taking time in the temple. ²²And after he came out, he was not able to speak to them; and they recognized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he was nodding to them and remained mute. ²³And it came to pass when the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house. ²⁴Now after these days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and was concealing herself five months, saying, ²⁵“Thus the Lord hath done to me, in the days in which He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.”...

⁵⁷Now the time for Elisabeth was fulfilled for her to bring forth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸And the neighbors and her kinfolk heard that the Lord was magnifying His mercy with her, and they were congratulating her. ⁵⁹And it came to pass, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the little child; and they were going to call him Zacharias, after the name of his father. ⁶⁰And his mother answered and said, “By no means; but he shall be called John.” ⁶¹And they said to her, “There is no one among thy kinfolk who is called by this name.” ⁶²And they were making signs to his father as to what he might wish him to be called. ⁶³And having asked for a writing tablet he wrote, saying, “John is his name.” And they all marvelled. ⁶⁴And his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed, and he began speaking, blessing God. ⁶⁵And there came to be fear upon all those dwelling around them; and all these sayings were being talked of in the whole hill country of Judæa. ⁶⁶And all who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then shall this little child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him. ⁶⁷And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He visited and wrought redemption for His people.... ⁷⁶“And thou, little child, shalt be called a prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go ‘before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways [cf. Is. 40:3; Mal. 3:1].’”...

⁸⁰And the little child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his showing forth to Israel.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 7th – Civil Calendar
June 24th – Church Calendar

1. The Nativity of St. John, the Forerunner and Baptist of Christ.

Six months before his appearing to the most holy Virgin Mary in Nazareth, the great Gabriel, archangel of the Lord, appeared to Zacharias the high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before he revealed the miraculous conception by a virgin who had not known a man, the archangel revealed the wondrous conceiving by an old and barren woman. Zacharias was unable at once to believe the words of God’s herald, and for this his tongue was bound in dumbness and remained thus until the eighth day after John’s birth. The kinsfolk of Zacharias and Elisabeth gathered together on that day for the infant’s circumcision and naming. When they enquired of the father how he wished the child to be called, he, being still dumb, wrote on a slate: ‘John’. At that moment his tongue was loosed and he began to speak. Zacharias’ house was on the heights between Bethlehem and Hebron. The news of the angel’s appearing to Zacharias, of his dumbness and of the loosening of his tongue at the exact moment that he wrote ‘John,’ was carried throughout all Israel, coming to Herod’s ears. So, when he sent men to kill all the infants around Bethlehem, he sent men off to Zacharias’ family house in the hills to slay John also. But Elisabeth hid ‘ the child in good time. The king was enraged at this and sent an executioner to the Temple to kill Zacharias (for it was then his turn to serve in the Temple again). Zacharias was killed between the court and the Temple, and his blood clotted and solidified on the paving slabs, and remained as an enduring witness against Herod. Elisabeth hid herself and the child in a cave, where she soon died. The young John remained in the wilderness alone, in the care of God and His angels.

2. St. Nikita, Bishop of Remesiana.

A friend and contemporary of St. Paulinus of Nola (see January 23rd), he was probably a Slav* and he preached the Gospel among the Slavs in the region around Niš and Pirot. The great impression that Nikita made on the Slavs is best shown by the hymn that St. Paulinus composed in his honor:

‘Oh, what a happy change!
The hilly, impassable haunts of bloodthirsty robbers
Now shelter peace-loving dwellers,
Bandits-turned-monk.
Where once the rule of the wild beast held sway,
The choir of angels is now to be heard.
The righteous now dwell in the caves,
Where before were infamous men.’

St. Nikita’s capital was the city of Remesiana, which some people reckon to be Pirot. He wrote several books, six of them on the Faith and one on a fallen woman who awoke many to repentance. St. Nikita entered into rest in the Lord in about 414.

* Author’s Note: Philaret says in his book: ‘The Saints of the Southern Slavs,’ that Nikita was a Slav and lived in Pirot.

3. The Holy Martyrs Orentius, Pharnacius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Cyriacus and Longinus.

They were all brothers, Roman soldiers during the reign of the Emperor Maximian. When the Romans were waging war against the Scythians beyond the Danube, St. Orentius fought a duel with Marathom, the Goliath of the Scythians, and killed him. In thanksgiving, the Roman army offered sacrifice to idols, but Orentius and his brothers declared themselves to be Christians and therefore unable to offer sacrifice to deaf and dumb idols. With no consideration for their military valour, they were tried and sentenced to exile in the Caspian region, but all of them died on the way, one after the other, from hunger and torture, and they went to their rest in the kingdom of Christ.

FOR CONSIDERATION

One of the differences between the eloquent philosophy of the Greeks and the faith of Christians is that the Greeks’ philosophy can be clearly expressed in words and comprehended through reading, whereas the Christian Faith cannot be fully expressed in words, and still less comprehended by reading alone. For the exposition of the Christian Faith, the example of its expounder is indispensable; and for its comprehension and assimilation, both reading and the practice of what is read are necessary to the reader. When Patriarch Photius read the writings of St. Mark the Ascetic on the spiritual life, he noticed a lack of clarity in the writer, about which he very sagely remarked: ‘This does not proceed from any obscurity of expression, but comes about because the truths here expressed are better understood by practice (rather than through words), and I cannot comprehend them through words alone.... And this,’ he added, ‘is not the case with these homilies alone or this writer alone, but is so in all the works that seek to expound the laws of asceticism, which are better understood in action.’

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.