Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 134]. Brethren:

5 ⁹I wrote to you in the epistle not to be associating with fornicators; ¹⁰and yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or rapacious, or idolaters, for otherwise then ye are obliged to go out of the world. ¹¹But now I am writing to you not to be associating with anyone, if called a brother, who is a fornicator, or coveter, or idolater, or reviler, or drunkard, or ravener—with such a one not even to eat. ¹²For what is it to me to judge also those outside? Ye judge those inside, do ye not? ¹³But God judgeth those outside. “And ye shall remove the evil one from among yourselves [cf. Deut. 17:7].”

6 ¹Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? ²Ye know that the saints shall judge the world, do ye not? And if the world is being judged in you, are ye unworthy of the smallest judgments? ³Ye know that we shall judge angels, do ye not? Not to mention the things of this life? ⁴If then indeed ye be holding courts of judgment pertaining to this life, appoint those who are of no account in the Church. ⁵For to your shame I speak. Is it so that there is not one wise one among you, not even one, who shall be able to decide between a brother and his brother? ⁶But brother goeth to law with brother, and this before unbelievers? ⁷Already indeed then there is altogether a loss among you that ye have lawsuits among yourselves. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸But ye do wrong and defraud, and these things to your brethren. ⁹Or do ye not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Cease being led astray; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor masturbators, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor raveners shall inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And such were some of you. But ye washed yourselves, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 56]. At that time:

13 ⁵⁴After Jesus came into His own country, He was teaching the crowds in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, “From what place hath this One this wisdom and the works of power? ⁵⁵“This is the carpenter’s Son, is it not? His Mother is called Mariam, is she not, and His brothers, Iakovos, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶“And His sisters are all with us, are they not? From what place then hath this One all these things?” ⁵⁷And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” ⁵⁸And He did not do many works of power there because of their unbelief.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Pedachtoe, and his ten disciples.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

July 29th – Civil Calendar
July 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.

He lived in a monastery near the town with ten of his disciples. In the time of Diocletian, a fierce persecutor of Christians called Philomarchus came to Sebaste. He arrested and killed many of the Christians in the town. When he saw Athenogenes and his disciples, he told the elder to sacrifice to idols, that they should not perish as had the other Christians. Athenogenes replied: ‘O torturer, those whom you describe as having perished have not perished, but are in heaven and make merry with the angels!’ There was a touching moment when a deer, which had been hand-fed by the compassionate Athenogenes, ran up to him, and seeing him in such straits, shed tears. Wild animals of the hills had more pity on the martyrs than did the pagans! After harsh torture, during which an angel of God comforted them, they were all beheaded, first the priests and fellow-workers of Athenogenes and then Athenogenes himself, and went to their heavenly home in the year 311.

2. The Holy Martyr Julia the Virgin.

She was born in Carthage of noble parents. When the Persians overran Carthage, many of the people were taken into slavery. St. Julia was one of these, and was given to a Syrian merchant, who was a pagan. Seeing that Julia was a Christian, he urged her many times to deny Christ and become of one faith with him, but Julia steadfastly refused. As Julia was faithful and reliable in her work, the merchant left her in peace and spoke no more about faith. One day, the merchant loaded his ship with goods, took Julia with him and set off across the sea to a distant land to ply his trade. When they arrived at Corsica, there was a pagan festival in progress, and the merchant took part in the foul idolatry while Julia remained in the ship, weeping that so many people lived in foolish error, not knowing the truth. The pagans somehow came to know about her, dragged her off the ship in spite of her owner’s efforts to prevent them, and began to torture her in terrible ways. They cut off her breasts and threw her onto the rock, then crucified her, at which Julia gave her soul to God. Her death was revealed to some monks on the nearby island of Margarita (or Gorgona), and they went and buried the martyr’s body. Many miracles were worked over St. Julia’s grave through the ages, and she herself appeared to various people from the other world. She suffered with honor and went to the kingdom of God in the sixth century.

After many years had passed, the faithful wanted to build a new church in honor of St. Julia in another place, because the old church was small and dilapidated. They prepared the materials: the stone, bricks, sand and everything else that was needed, on the new site. But it happened that, at night, on the night before the day on which the foundations were to be laid, that the materials were carried by invisible hands back to the old church. In great perplexity, the people carried them to the new site again, but again the same thing happened: the materials were taken to the old site and left beside the church. The night watchman saw a maiden bathed in light, using white oxen to carry the materials to the old church. By this, they understood that St. Julia did not wish her church to be built in another place, so they pulled down the old church and built the new one on the same spot.

3. The Fifteen Thousand Holy Martyrs of Persia.

They were beheaded for the Christian Faith in Persia.

4. The Holy Martyr Athenogenes.

The composer of the Vespers hymn ‘O Joyous Light,’ he perished for Christ in the flames and was made worthy of eternal glory in the kingdom 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.