Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 175]. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, see 2 Cor. 4:1-12; for Sl. usage, see 2 Cor. 4:1-6.

4 ¹Having this ministry, even as we received mercy, we are not fainthearted, ²but we renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of men before the face of God. ³But even if our Gospel is being veiled, it is hidden in those perishing, ⁴in whom the God of this age blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that the illumination of the Gospel of the glory of the Christ, Who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. ⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves your slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶Because it is God Who said, “Let there be light [cf. Gen. 1:3]” to shine out of darkness, Who shined in our hearts, for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the preeminence of the power may be of God, and not from us. ⁸In every way we are afflicted, but not straitened; we are at a loss, but not utterly at a loss; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed— ¹⁰always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. ¹¹For we, the living, are always being delivered to death on account of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. ¹²So that indeed death energizeth itself in us, but life in you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 99]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 ¹³“The one who endureth to the end, this one shall be saved. ¹⁴“And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the inhabited world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁵“Whenever ye therefore see ‘the abomination of the desolation [cf. Dan. 9:27, 12:11],’ which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”—the one who readeth, let him understand— ¹⁶“then let those in Judæa flee to the mountains. ¹⁷“The one on the housetop, let him not come down to take away anything out of his house. ¹⁸“And the one in the field, let him not return back to take up his clothes. ¹⁹“And woe to those who are with child and to those who give suck in those days. ²⁰“But be praying that your flight might not take place in winter, neither on a sabbath. ²¹“For then there shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until the present, no, nor ever shall be. ²²“And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ²³“Then if anyone should say to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘Here,’ do not begin to believe it. ²⁴“For false christs and false prophets shall be raised up, and they shall produce great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵“Behold, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶“If then they should say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert,’ do not begin to go forth; ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers,’ do not begin to believe it. ²⁷“For even as the lightning cometh forth from the east and appeareth as far as the west, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸“For wheresoever the corpse may be, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the translation of the holy Napkin from Edessa to Constantinople, and the Martyr Diomedes.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 284]. Child Timothy:

3 ¹³They who have served well as deacons acquire a good degree for themselves and much boldness in faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴These things I write to thee, hoping to come to thee more quickly. ¹⁵But if I delay, I write in order that thou mayest know how one ought to be conducting oneself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, pillar and stay of the truth. ¹⁶And confessedly, great is the mystery of piety: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

4 ¹Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons, ²speaking lies in hypocrisy, having been branded as to their own conscience, ³forbidding to marry, bidding to abstain from foods, which God created for partaking with giving of thanks by the faithful and those who have fully known the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be cast away, if it is received with giving of thanks; ⁵for it is sanctified by the word of God and intercessory prayer.

for Sl. usage, see [Col. 1:12-18], or see [2 Cor. 3:4-11].

Gospel

For Gk. usage, see [Lk. 9:51-57, 10:22-24, 13:22] herein below;

for Sl. usage, see [Lk. 9:51-56, 10:22-24].

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§§ 48, 52, 72]. At that time:

9 ⁵¹When the days were being fulfilled of the taking up of Jesus, He indeed set His face to go to Jerusalem; ⁵²and He sent forth messengers before His face. And they went and entered into a village of Samaritans, so as to make ready for Him. ⁵³And they did not receive Him, because His face was toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴And after His disciples Iakovos and John saw this, they said, “Lord, dost Thou wish that we should command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” ⁵⁵But He turned about and rebuked them, and said, “Ye know not of what manner of spirit ye are; ⁵⁶“the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save.” And they went to another village.

⁵⁷And it came to pass, as they went in the way,...

10 ²²He turned to the disciples and said, “All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know Who the Son is, except the Father, and Who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him.” ²³And He turned around to the disciples, and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what ye see. ²⁴“For I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see what ye see, but saw not, and to hear what ye hear, but heard not.”...

13 ²²And He was going through, by cities and villages, teaching, and making His way toward Jerusalem.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 29th – Civil Calendar
August 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Icon of our Lord Jesus Christ Not-made-with-hands.

In the time that our Lord was preaching the Gospel and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people, there was in the city of Edessa, on the banks of the Euphrates, a certain Prince Avgar, who was riddled with leprosy. He heard of Christ, the Healer of every pain and sickness, and sent a portrait-painter, Ananias, to Palestine with a letter to Christ, in which he begged the Lord to come to Edessa and heal him of his leprosy. In the event of the Lord’s not being able to come, the prince commanded Ananias to paint His likeness and bring it, believing that the portrait would heal him. The Lord replied that He could not come, as the time of His Passion was at hand, and He took a napkin and wiped His face, leaving a perfect reproduction of His most pure face on the napkin. The Lord gave this napkin to Ananias, with a message to say that the prince would be healed by it, but not entirely, and He would therefore send him later an envoy who would rid him of the remainder of the disease. Receiving the napkin, Avgar kissed it and the leprosy fell from his body, with just a little remaining on his face. Later, the Apostle Thaddaeus, preaching the Gospel, came to Avgar, healed him secretly and baptized him. Then the prince smashed the idols that stood at the city’s gateway and placed the napkin with the face of Christ above the entrance, stuck onto wood, surrounded with a gold frame and ornamented with pearls. The prince also wrote above the icon on the gateway: ‘O Christ our God, no one who hopes in Thee will be put to shame’. Later, one of Avgar’s great-grandsons restored idolatry, and the Bishop of Edessa came by night and walled-in the icon above the gateway. Centuries passed. In the time of the Emperor Justinian, the Persian King, Chozroes, attacked Edessa, and the city was in great affliction. The Bishop of Edessa, Evlavios, had a vision of the most holy Mother of God, who revealed to him the secret of the icon, walled in and forgotten. The icon was found, and by its power the Persian army was defeated. It was taken to Constantinople in 950 to heal the emperor, and was kept there for the veneration of countless multitudes of Christians. It was lost in the Fourth Crusade to undisciplined crusaders.

2. The Holy Martyr Diomedes.

A doctor from Tarsus of eminent parents, he taught the people the Christian Faith as he healed them. The Emperor Diocletian ordered that he be beheaded in Nicaea in 298. Those who beheaded him and took his head to the emperor were blinded, and when they restored the head to his body, with prayer, they were healed.

3. Our Holy Father Joachim of Osogovsk.

He lived the ascetic life in the second half of the eleventh century on the mountain of Osogovsk, in a cave in a place called Sarandopor. In that place another ascetic, Theodore of the Sheepfield, to whom St. Joachim appeared in a dream, built a church. Many miracles have been performed throughout the centuries over the relics of St. Joachim, and are being performed even to this day.

4. The Holy Martyr Stamatios.

He was a villager, born in Volos in Thessaly. When some inhuman agha collected the imperial tax from the people and left them in a terrible plight, Stamatios went to Constantinople with several companions, to complain to the vizier. The sultan’s nobles bore Stamatios a grudge for his stern accusation, and they arrested him. They first tried to convert him to Islam by flattery, promising him riches, glory and honor. Then the Turks tortured him and finally beheaded him in front of Hagia Sophia, in 1680. Thus this soldier of Christ was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The Orthodox Church surpasses all other so-called “Christian” groups in the richness of her Tradition. Protestants look only to the holy Scriptures, but the Scriptures can only be interpreted within the Tradition. The Apostle Paul himself commands: ‘Brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle’ (II Thess. 2:15). The tradition concerning Prince Avgar is doubtless an apostolic tradition, although it is not referred to by any of them in their epistles. The Apostle Thaddaeus wrote nothing, and therefore, according to Protestant thinking, he said nothing, and gave nothing to the faithful. Why was he then an apostle of Christ? The tradition about Prince Avgar is mentioned by St. John Damascene in his defence of the veneration of icons.

How marvellous and touching is Avgar’s letter to Christ! Having been inspired to write to Him, telling Him that he had heard of His miraculous power to heal the sick, and having begged Him to come and heal him, he continues: ‘I hear this also, that the Jews hate You and prepare some sort of wickedness against You. I have a city; it’s small but beautiful, and abounds in every good thing. Come to me here and live with me in my city, which will provide for all the needs of us both.’ Thus wrote a pagan prince, at the time that the princes of Jerusalem were preparing death for the Lord, the Lover of mankind.

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.