Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Thursday of the Ascension

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 1].

1 ¹The first account indeed I made for myself concerning all which, O Theophilos, Jesus began both to do and teach, ²until the day in which He was taken up, after He gave command to the apostles whom He chose for Himself through the Holy Spirit, ³to whom also He presented Himself alive after He had suffered by many proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴And being assembled together with them, He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “ye heard of Me; ⁵“for John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days after these.” ⁶Indeed therefore, after they came together, they kept on questioning, saying, “Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷And He said to them, “It is not yours to know times or seasons which the Father Himself put in His own authority. ⁸“But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth.” ⁹And having said these things, while they looked, He was taken up; and from before their eyes, a cloud took Him up from under. ¹⁰And while they were gazing intently into the heaven as He went, then behold, two men stood by them in white raiment, ¹¹who also said, “Men, Galilæans, why do ye stand looking into the heaven? This Jesus, the One Who was taken up from you into the heaven, so shall He come in the manner ye beheld Him going into the heaven.” ¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount which is called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, being a sabbath’s day journey.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel According to Saint Mark. [§ 71]. At that time:

16 ⁹After Jesus rose early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰She went and brought tidings to those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹And they, having heard that He liveth and was seen by her, disbelieved. ¹²And after these things He was made manifest in a different form to two of them as they were walking and went into the country. ¹³And they went and brought tidings to the rest; neither did they believe them. ¹⁴Afterwards He was made manifest to the eleven themselves as they reclined at table; and He reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not those who saw Him after He was raised. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁶“The one who believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but the one who believeth not shall be condemned. ¹⁷“And these signs shall accompany those who believe: In My name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak in new tongues; ¹⁸“they shall take up serpents; and if they should drink anything deadly, in no wise shall it harm them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall be well.”

¹⁹Then indeed, after speaking to them, the Lord was taken up into the heaven, and sat on the right of God. ²⁰And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the accompanying signs. Amen.

In the Liturgy

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 114]. At that time:

24 ³⁶After Jesus rose from the dead, He stood in the midst of His disciples, and saith to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷But they were terrified and affrighted, and kept on thinking that they saw a spirit. ³⁸And He said to them, “Why are ye troubled? And why do reasonings come up in your hearts? ³⁹“Behold My hands and My feet, that I am He. Touch Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, even as ye see Me having.” ⁴⁰And having said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹And while they yet disbelieved from the joy, and wondered, He said to them, “Have ye anything to eat here?” ⁴²And they gave Him a portion of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. ⁴³And He took these and ate in their presence. ⁴⁴And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that it is needful for all the things to be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning Me.” ⁴⁵Then He thoroughly opened their mind to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “Thus it hath been written, and thus it was needful for the Christ to have suffered, and to have risen from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷“and repentance and forgiveness of sins to have been preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸“And ye are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹“And behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but sojourn in the city of Jerusalem, until ye are clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰And He led them out as far as to Bethany. And having lifted up His hands, He blessed them. ⁵¹And it came to pass, as He was blessing them, He stood apart from them and was carried up into the heaven. ⁵²And they made obeisance to Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³And they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Prophet Esaias, and the Great-martyr Christopher, and the translation of the precious relics from Myra to Bari of our holy father among the saints and wonder-worker, Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 20^th of May).

Epistle

For the Prophet:

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 266].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Thess. 2:14-20; for Sl. usage, see 1 Thess. 2:14-19.

2 ¹⁴Brethren, ye became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judæa in Christ Jesus. For ye also suffered the same things by your own countrymen, even as they have by the Jews, ¹⁵who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, ¹⁶forbidding us to speak to the nations that they might be saved, to the end that they fill up their sins always. But the wrath came upon them to the uttermost.

¹⁷But we, brethren, having been made orphans from you for an hour’s time—in person, not in heart—endeavored more abundantly to see your face with great desire. ¹⁸Wherefore we wished to come to you, indeed I Paul, both once and twice, and yet Satan hindered us. ¹⁹For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting? Are not also ye before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? ²⁰For ye are our glory and joy.

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 335]. Brethren:

13 ¹⁷Be obedient to those who lead you, and keep on submitting, for they are watchful for your souls, as those about to render an account, that they may do this with joy, and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable for you. ¹⁸Keep on praying for us; for we trust that we have a good conscience, in all things wishing to conduct ourselves well. ¹⁹But I beseech you more abundantly to do this, that I might be restored more quickly to you.

²⁰Now the God of peace Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep, the great One, in the blood of an everlasting covenant, ²¹may He render you perfect in every good work, in order to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before His face, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Gospel

For the Prophet:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 14]. At that time:

4 ²² The crowds were wondering at the words of grace which were proceeding out of Jesus’ mouth, and were saying, “This is the Son of Joseph, is it not?” ²³And He said to them, “No doubt, ye will say this parable to Me, ‘Physician, heal thyself; as much as we heard was done in Capernaum, do also here in Thy country.’” ²⁴And He said, “Verily I say to you that not one prophet is accepted in his own country. ²⁵“But in truth I say to you, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine arose over all the land; ²⁶“and to not even one of them was Elias sent, except to Sarepta of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷“And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisaios the prophet, and not one of them was cleansed, except Neman the Syrian.” ²⁸And all in the synagogue were filled with anger when they heard these things. ²⁹And they rose up and cast Him outside of the city; and they led Him up to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down headlong. ³⁰But He, having passed through the midst of them, kept going on His way.

For the Hierarch:

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

6 ¹⁷Jesus 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)

May 22nd – Civil Calendar
May 9th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Prophet Isaias (Isaiah).

This great prophet was of royal birth. He was born in Jerusalem of Amoz the brother of Amaziah, King of the Jews. By the great grace of God that was within him, Isaias was made worthy to see the Lord of Sabaoth on His heavenly throne, surrounded by six-winged seraphim which cried unceasingly: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth’ (Is. 6). Isaias prophesied many things, both to individuals and to nations. Once he walked for three years naked through the streets of Jerusalem, prophesying the imminent fall of the city to the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and warning the king and the leaders of the people not to seek help from Egypt and Ethiopia, because they too would shortly be over-run by the same Sennacherib, but to seek the aid of the all-seeing God. And this prophecy, like all the rest, was literally fulfilled (37:31-35). But his most important prophecies were on the incarnation of God, on the conception of the most pure Mother of God, on John the Baptist and on many events in the life of Christ. This clairvoyant, because of his pure heart and zeal for God, also received the gift of working miracles. Thus, when the besieged city of Jerusalem was suffering from thirst, he prayed to God and water flowed out from beneath the hill of Sion. This water was named Siloam (‘sent’), and it was to that water that, later, the Lord sent the man born blind, to wash himself and receive his sight (Is. 8:6; Jn 9:7). In the time of King Manasseh, when Isaias thundered against the pagan practices of the king and the leaders of the people, comparing that generation with Sodom and Gomorrah, the anger of the leaders and the people was lifted up against this great prophet, and he was seized, taken out of Jerusalem and sawn in half. He lived and prophesied seven hundred years before Christ.

2. St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker of Myra in Lycia.

On this day is commemorated the translation of his relics. In the time of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Patriarch Nicholas Grammatikos, in 1087, the body of this saint was taken from Myra in Lycia to the town of Bari in Italy. This came to pass because of a Moslem attack on Lycia. The saint appeared to a priest in Bari and commanded that his relics be taken there. At that time, the town of Bari was Orthodox and under the administration of an Orthodox patriarch. At the translation of the saint’s relics, many miracles were wrought on those who touched them, and a healing myrrh flowed in abundance from them. Also on this day is commemorated the miracle worked by St. Nicholas on Stefan of Dečani, King of Serbia. This was when the saint restored the sight of the blind King Stefan.

3. The Holy Martyr Christopher.

A great wonder-worker, he is especially venerated in Spain. His help is invoked particularly against infectious illnesses and great pestilence. He was martyred for Christ and glorified in 249.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Every Christian can take on himself some martyrdom for his Faith, both in times of persecution of the Faith and in times of peace. Abba Athanasius says: ‘Be tortured by your conscience, die to sin, be as a dead man on earth, and you will be a martyr by desire. They fought aforetime with kings and princes; you have the king of sin—the devil—and the princes, the demons. Formerly there were idols, heathen temples and those who sacrificed to idols. And these remain as thoughts in the soul. He who is a slave to lust bows down before the idol of Aphrodite. He who is in anger and fury bows down to the idol of Ares. He who is avaricious and blind to the trouble of his neighbor bows down to the idol of Hermes. But if you restrain yourself from all this, and keep yourself from the passions, you have conquered the idols, turned from evil and false belief and become a martyr for the Faith.’ And so, a man does not need to yearn for persecution and martyrdom. Every man in every age can endure martyrdom for the sake of Christ and His Gospel.

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.