Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Renewal Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 7]. In those days:

3 ¹Peter and John were going up together into the temple during the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ²And a certain man, lame from his mother’s womb, was being carried, whom they used to lay daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those going into the temple; ³who, seeing Peter and John being about to go into the temple, began asking alms. ⁴And Peter, looking intently upon him with John, said, “Look on us.” ⁵And he began to give heed to them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, this I give to thee: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaræan, rise up and be walking.” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones were strengthened. ⁸And leaping up, he stood and went on walking and entered with them into the temple—walking and leaping and praising God.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 7]. At that time:

2 ¹²Jesus went down to Capernaum, He, and His Mother, and His brethren, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. ¹³And the passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And He found in the temple those who sell oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting. ¹⁵And after He made a scourge out of cords, He cast out all from the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the small pieces of money, and turned upside down the tables of the money changers. ¹⁶And He said to those who sold doves, “Take away these things from this place. Cease making the house of My Father a house of merchandise.” ¹⁷And His disciples were reminded that it is written: “The zeal for Thy house shall eat me up [cf. Ps. 68(69):12(9)].” ¹⁸Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign showest Thou to us, seeing that Thou doest these things?” ¹⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it.” ²⁰Then the Jews said, “In forty and six years was this temple built, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?” ²¹But He was speaking about the temple of His body. ²²When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples were reminded that He was saying this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus said.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Claudius, Diodoros, Victor, Victorinos, Pappias, Nikephoros, and Serapion, and the holy Martyrs Theodoulos, Agathopodes, and those with them.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 18th – Civil Calendar
April 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Agathopous and Theodulus.

Agathopous, adorned with the white hairs of age, was a deacon and Theodulus, with the chastity of youth, was a reader in the Church in Thessalonica. In the time of Diocletian’s hunting of Christians, these two were summoned for trial. They went there joyfully, and each holding the other by the hand, went in crying: ‘We are Christians!’ The whole court’s urging them to deny Christ and worship idols was in vain. After long imprisonment and starvation, they were condemned to death by drowning in the sea. Their hands were bound behind them and a large stone tied to their necks, and they were taken off to be drowned. When they went to throw Agathopous into the depths, he cried out: ‘Lo, by second Baptism we are washed from all our sins, and will go cleansed to Christ Jesus!’ The sea quickly threw their drowned bodies onto the shore, and Christians gave them burial. St. Theodulus appeared to his friends in the form of a shining angel in white raiment and commanded them to distribute all his remaining goods to the poor. These great soldiers of Christ suffered with honor under the Emperor Diocletian and Faustinus the governor of Thessalonica, in the year 303.

2. Our Holy Father Mark of Trache.

He is also known as ‘the Athenian’ because Athens was his birthplace. When he had finished his higher schooling in Athens, his parents died. He pondered within himself on the inevitability of death, and that one must prepare in good time for a holy departure from this world. He gave his goods away to the poor and seated himself on a plank in the sea, with profound faith in God’s help and the prayer that God would lead him wherever He desired. And, by the providence of God, he was kept safe and taken to Libya (or Ethiopia), to a mountain called Trache. Mark lived in asceticism on that mountain for ninety-five years, seeing neither man nor beast. For thirty whole years he had an intense struggle with evil sprits, and was tormented by hunger and thirst, cold and heat. He ate earth and drank sea-water. After thirty years of the most intense sufferings, the conquered demons fled from him and angels of God started bringing him food every day in the form of bread, fish and fruit. St. Serapion visited him just before his death, and later recorded the wonderful life of this saint. Mark was asking Serapion if there were in the world any Christians who could say to the mountain they were on: ‘Get up and cast yourself into the sea,’ and it would do so. At that moment the mountain began to move like a wave. But Mark raised a hand and quieted it, such being the miraculous power of this man of God. At the time of his death, he prayed for the salvation of all men and gave his soul into God’s hands. St. Serapion saw an angel bearing Mark’s soul, and a hand extended from heaven to receive it. St. Mark lived for a hundred and thirty years and entered into rest in about 400.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Live as though you were out of this world, and you will have peace.’ Thus St. Anthony spoke to his disciple. This is a strange teaching, but a true one. We experience the greatest trouble and unease in ourselves when we feel ourselves more and more to be in this world. But, the more a man withdraws from the world, the more often he contemplates this world as existing without him and the more strongly, in his thoughts, he ponders on the utter needlessness of his presence in this world, so much the closer will he stay to God and so much the deeper will be the spiritual peace that he will have. ‘I die daily’ (I Cor 15:31), says the Apostle Paul. That is, I feel every day that I am not in this world. But, because of this, he feels himself every day in spirit a citizen of heaven. When the torturer Faustinus asked St. Theodulus: ‘Isn’t life better than a harsh death?’ St. Theodulus replied: ‘Indeed, I bear in mind that life is better than death; and have therefore decided to scorn this mortal and transitory life on earth that I might be a partaker of life immortal.’

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.