Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 177]. Brethren:

4 ¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to that which hath been written: “I believed, wherefore I spoke [Ps. 115(116):1],” we also believe, and therefore speak, ¹⁴knowing that the One Who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also through Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, which abounded through the majority, might cause the giving of thanks to abound more to the glory of God. ¹⁶Wherefore, we are not fainthearted; but even if our outward man is being utterly destroyed, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For the lightness of our momentary affliction worketh for us a more and more surpassing eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 100]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 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.

²⁹“And straightway after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ³⁰“And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven, and then the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. ³¹“And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the heavens unto their extremities. ³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch at once should become tender and put forth leaves, ye know that the summer is near. ³³“Thus also ye, whenever ye see all these things, know ye that it is near, even at the doors. ³⁴“Verily I say to you, in no wise shall this generation pass away until all these things shall have taken place. ³⁵“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away. ³⁶“But concerning that day and hour, no one knoweth, not even the angels of the heavens, except My Father only. ³⁷“But even as the days of Noah were, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸“For even as in the days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark— ³⁹“and they knew not until the flood came and took all away—so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰“Then two shall be in the field: the one is taken and the one is left. ⁴¹“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. ⁴²“Be watching then, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh. ⁴³“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴“On this account, ye also keep on becoming ready, for in what hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom his lord appointeth over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶“Happy is that slave whom his lord, after he cometh, shall find so doing. ⁴⁷“Verily I say to you, that he shall appoint him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My lord taketh time to come,’ ⁴⁹“and should himself begin to strike his fellow slaves, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, ⁵⁰“the lord of that slave shall come in a day in which he expecteth not, and in an hour in which he knoweth not, ⁵¹“and will cut him in twain, and will place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and the holy Martyr Myron of Kyzikos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 30th – Civil Calendar
August 17th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Myron the Priest.

He was a priest in Achaia, of rich and eminent parents, by nature kind and meek, and loving towards God and man. In the time of the Emperor Decius, on the Feast of the Nativity itself, pagans rushed into the church, dragged Myron away from the service and put him to torture. While he was being tortured by fire, an angel appeared to him and strengthened him. The torturers then cut off his skin in strips from head to foot. The martyr took one of these strips, and with it, struck the torturer on the face. The torturer, as though possessed, took a sword and killed himself. Myron was finally taken to the town of Kyzikos and there killed with the sword, in 250.

2. The Holy Martyr Patroclus.

A citizen of the city of Trychasia, the present-day Troyes in Gaul, he inherited great wealth from his parents, and as a true Christian, used it for daily alms to the poor. He himself lived as an ascetic, taking food only once a day after sunset. For his holiness of life, the Lord gave him healing power, and he became known everywhere as a wonder-working healer. The Emperor Aurelian, coming to Gaul, commanded that Patroclus be brought before him. Holy Patroclus confessed his faith in Christ, concealing nothing. ‘If, O king, you desire some of my goods, I will give them to you, for I can see your wretchedness,’ St. Patroclus said to the emperor. To this, the emperor replied: ‘How do you call me, the emperor, wretched, having immeasurable wealth?’ St. Patroclus said: ‘You have earthly, transitory riches, but you are wretched, for you are not only not in possession of yourself; you have no faith in Christ in your heart.’ He was condemned to death and handed over to the soldiers, with orders that he be taken to a swampy spot and beheaded, his body being left in the mud. But the saint prayed to God that his body should not be left thus in the mud, and by God’s power, he suddenly became invisible to the soldiers and taken across to the other side of the river. After seeking him at some length, the soldiers found him and beheaded him in that dry place. Two beggars, to whom Patroclus had often given alms, came along this way, and recognising the body of their benefactor, buried it. He died at the end of the third century.

3. Our Holy Father Elias of Calabria.

A Greek by birth, he was superior of the monastery of Mellicia in southern Italy. At the time of the iconoclast controversy in the East, many eastern monks fled with their icons to Calabria. In time, the monastic life spread very widely there. The Calabrian monks were distinguished for their learning and the strictness of their lives. At one time, there were so many Orthodox monasteries and monks there that Calabria was likened to Egypt in former times. Orthodox Calabria was later put under the administration of the Archbishop of Ochrid. Our holy father Elias entered into rest in Thessalonica in the year 903.

4. Our Holy Father Alypy the Iconographer of the Kiev Caves.

Making copies of the faces of the saints on wood, he copied their virtues in his own soul. He healed a man of leprosy, saw an angel of God and died peacefully in the Lord in old age, in 1114.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The Lord does not let His faithful servants be put to shame. It often happens that Christ’s martyrs, mocked and sneered at by their judges, suddenly work some wonder that brings terror to the godless. Idols have fallen, thunderbolts have destroyed pagan temples, unexpected downpours have put out fires prepared for their burning, stones and staves have turned back on the torturers themselves, and other similar things have happened. Thus Antipater, the torturer of St. Myron, during the torturing of this man of God, suddenly went out of his mind.

St. Alypy (Alypius) the Iconographer was already near the end of his life when he received an order to paint an icon of the dormition of the most holy Mother of God. As the feast drew near, the man returned several times, to see if the icon was finished. But it was not even begun on the Eve of the Dormition itself, when it should have been placed in the church. When this man had gone home in despair, a young man suddenly appeared in Alypy’s cell, sat down and began to work on the icon. He worked very quickly and with great skill. When the icon was ready, it shone like the sun. Showing it to the amazed Alypy, the young man took the icon and went to the church for which it had been ordered. On the following day, the man who had ordered it came to the church, and in sheer astonishment, saw the icon in its place. The man then went to the monastery, and together with the abbot, went into Alypy’s cell. ‘How was this icon painted, and by whom?’ asked the abbot. The sick Alypy replied: ‘It was painted by an angel, and he is standing here, waiting to take me.’ Thus saying, he breathed his last.

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.