Daily Devotional

Friday, August 16, 2030 (NS), August 3, 2030 (OS)

Fast Day. No Meat, Fish, Dairy, Eggs, Alcohol or Olive Oil Allowed.

Friday of the Ninth Week

The commemoration of righteous Fathers Isaakios, Dalmatos, and Faustos, ascetics of the Dalmaton Monastery at Constantinople, and our venerable Father Anthony the Roman, Abbot and Wonder-worker of Novgorod.

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Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Ninth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 157]. Brethren:

14 ²⁶Whenever ye come together, each one of you hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done with a view to edify. ²⁷If anyone speak in a tongue, let it be by two or at the most three, and in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silent in church; and let him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others discern. ³⁰But if anything should be revealed to another sitting by, let the first keep silent. ³¹For ye can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be comforted. ³²And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

³⁴Let your women keep silent in the churches; for it hath not been permitted to them to speak, but to be subordinate, even as also saith the law. ³⁵And if they wish to learn anything, let them inquire of their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. ³⁶Or did the word of God come forth from you? Or did it come down only to you? ³⁷If anyone think to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge what I write to you, that they are commandments of the Lord. ³⁸But if any be ignorant, let him be ignorant. ³⁹Therefore, brethren, keep on being zealous to prophesy, and cease forbidding to speak in tongues. ⁴⁰Let all things be done decently and according to order.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 83]. At that time:

21 ¹²Jesus entered into the temple of God and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. ¹³And He saith to them, “It hath been written: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer [Is. 56:7]’; but ye made it ‘a den of robbers [Jer. 7:11].’” ¹⁴And the blind and lame came to Him in the temple; and He cured them. ¹⁵But after the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna, to the Son of David,” they were indignant, ¹⁶and said to Him, “Hearest Thou what these say?” And Jesus saith to them, “Yes; did ye never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise for Thyself [Ps. 8:2]’?” ¹⁷And He left them behind and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

¹⁸Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. ¹⁹And having seen a single fig tree in the way, He came to it and found nothing on it, except leaves only, and said to it, “Let there be no more fruit from thee forever.” And forthwith the tree was withered. ²⁰And after the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, “How was the fig tree withered forthwith?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 16th – Civil Calendar
August 3rd – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Fathers Isaac, Dalmatos and Faustos.

Isaac is commemorated separately on May 30th. St. Dalmatos was first an officer under the Emperor Theodosios the Great, who held him in great honor, but when his spirit awakened within him, he scorned all that is of this world, abandoning his rank, and took his only son Faustos off to the outskirts of Constantinople, to St. Isaac’s community, where they were both tonsured as monks. Dalmatos consecrated himself utterly to please God in his life, which was a joy to the elder, Isaac (Isaakios). When Isaac came to the hour of death, he installed Dalmatos as abbot in his place, and the community later came to be called after Dalmatos. He sometimes fasted for forty days at a time, conquering by his fasting the invisible power of the demons. He took part in the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, and battled against the Nestorian heresy. Being pleasing to God, he entered peacefully into rest in the 5th century. His son Faustos supported his father in everything, and after a godly life, died peacefully in that community.

2. Our Holy Father Kosmas the Eunuch.

A monk of the monastery of Pharan, he was very learned in the holy Scriptures. He so valued the works of St. Athanasius the Great that he said to his disciples: ‘When you hear something quoted from the writings of St. Athanasius, if you have no paper by you, write them on your handkerchief.’ In old age, he came to Antioch, to Patriarch Gregory (†596), and there ended his days. One particular man often came to Kosmas’ grave, and honoring the saint, prayed there. Asked why he did this, he explained that he had been paralysed for twelve years, and that St. Kosmas had healed him.

3. Our Holy Father Anthony the Roman.

He was born in Rome in 1086 of devout and affluent parents. At that time, the Roman Church broke away from the Eastern Church, and all who remained faithful to the Eastern Church were persecuted by the Roman clergy. Anthony was among those persecuted. He gave away all his goods and became a monk. Standing on a rock in the sea, he lived in asceticism for fourteen months. The rock meanwhile parted from its base, and by a strange providence, floated through the water to Novgorod. In Novgorod, Archbishop Nikita received him with kindness and helped him to build a church to the holy Mother of God, later to become a monastery. Anthony lived long as abbot of this monastery, and revealing great power by the grace of God through many miracles, died peacefully in 1148 and went to the courts of the Lord.

4. St. Salome the Myrrh-bearer.

The mother of the holy Apostles Iakovos and John, the wife of Zebedee and daughter of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God, she served the Lord during His earthly life, and was made worthy to be among the first bearers of the tidings of His Resurrection.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Holy souls were wont to read the holy Scriptures with great diligence, considering every word with care and placing themselves before the mirror of the word of God as before the Dreadful Judgement. Their diligence in this was so great that some undertook long journeys to come to some man of spiritual wisdom who would interpret for them some word or sentence in holy Scripture. Wherever it was possible, this took place through correspondence. Hence there remain various collections of letters of the saints, such as those of Ss. Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, Isidore of Pelusium, Nilus of Sinai and many others. St. Kosmas was pondering one day on the words of the Lord Christ, when, in Gethsemane, He asked His disciples if they had a sword. When His disciples said to Him: ‘Here are two swords,’ He said to them: ‘It is enough’ (Luke 22:38). Being unable to explain these words himself, Kosmas decided to go through the desert to the distant monastery of Pirga, to the famous Abba Theophilus, to ask him. It was only with great difficulty that he reached his goal. Theophilus explained to him: ‘The two swords denote the twofold state of a godly life: labor, and a mind steeped in thoughts of God and in prayer. He who has these two is perfect.’

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.