Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 190]. Brethren:

10 ⁷If anyone hath persuaded himself to be of Christ, let him consider this of himself, that even as he is of Christ, even so are we of Christ. ⁸For even if I also should boast somewhat more abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave to us for building up, and not for your pulling down, I shall not be put to shame, ⁹in order that I might not seem as if I would frighten you by means of the epistles. ¹⁰“For on the one hand, the epistles,” saith one, “are weighty and strong, but on the other hand his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹Let such a one take this into account, that, such as we are in word by epistles when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present. ¹²For we dare not to reckon or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, do not comprehend. ¹³But we will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. ¹⁴For we are not stretching ourselves overmuch, as though we did not reach to you; for we also came as far as to you in the Gospel of the Christ, ¹⁵not boasting of things beyond measure in the toils of others, but having hope, when your faith is increased, to be magnified among you according to our province unto abundance, ¹⁶to preach the Gospel to what lieth beyond you, and not to boast in another’s province, in things ready. ¹⁷“But the one who boasteth, let him boast in the Lord [cf. Jer. 9:23, 24].” ¹⁸For not the one who commendeth himself is that one who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commendeth.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 14]. The Lord said:

3 ²⁸“Verily I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and howsoever many blasphemies they shall utter to blaspheme; ²⁹“but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness forever, but is liable to everlasting condemnation”— ³⁰because they were saying, “He hath an unclean spirit.” ³¹Then came His Mother and His brethren; and they stood outside, and sent off word to Him, calling Him. ³²And a crowd was sitting about Him; and they said to Him, “Behold, Thy Mother and Thy brethren outside are seeking for Thee.” ³³And He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother or My brethren?” ³⁴And He looked round about on those who sat about Him in a circle, and said, “Behold, My mother and My brethren! ³⁵“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother and My sister and My mother.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, and our holy fathers among the saints, Alexander, John, and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople, and the translation of the relics of the holy and right-believing great Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Epistle

For St. Alexander Nevsky:

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

For the right-believing Prince:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷ Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:

“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.

Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.

²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 12th – Civil Calendar
August 30th – Church Calendar

1. Ss. Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople.

Alexander took part in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, in place of the aged Patriarch Metrophanes, whom he then succeeded. When certain philosophers tried to dispute with him about faith, he said to one of them: ‘In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to remain silent!’ and the philosopher became dumb from that moment. By his prayers, also, Arius’ life was shortened. Alexander died at the age of ninety-eight, in the year 340.

St. John III Scholastikos governed the Church in the time of Emperor Justin II and added the canons of Sardica and of St. Basil the Great to the Church’s collection of canons. He reposed in 577.

St. Paul IV governed the Church for five years and eight months and renounced the throne to receive the Great Habit secretly, to repent of his sins when he first supported the iconoclasts. He was the predecessor of the great Tarasios, and entered into rest in the time of Irene and Constantine, in 784.

2. The Assembly of the Enlighteners and Teachers of Serbia.

On this day are commemorated, not all the saints of Serbia in general, but several archbishops and patriarchs:

St. Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia, called equal to the apostles.

Arsenius, St. Sava’s successor, a great hierarch and wonder-worker.

Sava II, son of King Stefan the First-Crowned, who lived a long time in Jerusalem and was called ‘like to Moses in meekness’.

Nicodemus, who lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain, and was abbot of Hilandar and archbishop of ‘all the Serbian and maritime lands’.

Ioannikios, archbishop and then, from 1346-1349, patriarch.

Ephraim, an ascetic who, in 1376, was chosen against his will as patriarch in the time of Prince Lazar. He crowned Lazar and then renounced the patriarchal throne and withdrew into solitude.

Spiridon, Ephraim’s successor, who died in 1388.

Macarius, who restored many old foundations, printed Church books in Skadar, Venice, Belgrade and other places, built the famous refectory in the monastery at Peć, and did much for the advancement of the Church with the help of his brother, Mehmed Sokolović. He entered into rest in 1574.

Gavrilo (Gabriel), by birth a nobleman of the Rajić family, who took part in the Moscow Council under Patriarch Nikhon, because of which he was tortured by the Turks for treason and hanged in 1656.

As well as these, there are also commemorated Eustace, Jacob, Danilo, Sava III, Gregory, John, Maxim and Nikhon. Many of them lived the ascetic life on the Holy Mountain, and all were ‘gentle and faithful servants, good laborers in the Lord’s vineyard’.

3. Our Holy Father Christopher.

An ascetic of the sixth century in the community of St. Theodosios in Palestine, he saw in a vision that the lamp of the monk who labored was burning, and the lamp of the lazy monk was not.

4. St. Evlalios, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.

One of St. Basil’s predecessors, he deprived his son of his priesthood for wearing clothing unsuited to his spiritual calling.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Noisy heretics perish with hubbub and disgrace, and their deaths themselves show God’s wrath towards them for the lies that they spread and that disturbed the Church of God. Arius, after being condemned at Nicaea, came one day to the Emperor Constantine and begged that he might be received back into the Church. Constantine asked him if he believed the Nicene Creed and he, cunningly carrying in his bosom a paper on which his heretical creed was written, indicated his breast with his hand, and said to the Emperor: ‘Thus I believe.’ The emperor believed that Arius had repented and sent him to Patriarch Alexander to be reconciled with the Church. Alexander was unwilling to receive Arius, knowing that he was lying, but the emperor fixed a certain Sunday on which Arius was to be brought into the Great Church. The evening before that day, the holy patriarch begged God to take his soul before the blasphemous heretic was brought into the church. When the appointed Sunday dawned, the patriarch was in church at the service, and Arius, with the emperor’s men and his fellow-heretics, set off for the church. When they reached the Square of Constantine, he was suddenly seized by pains in the spirit and the body, and sought a place to relieve himself. There, in the square, was such a place, and he went there. His companions waited a long time for him, and became impatient. When someone went to see what was the matter, he found him dead in that filthy place, lying in foulness and blood.

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.