Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 89]. Brethren:

5 ¹⁰If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹And not only so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we now received the reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death passed to all men, on account of which all have sinned— ¹³for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned where there is no law. ¹⁴But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of the coming One. ¹⁵But not as the offense, so much also is the free gift: For if through the offense of the one many died, much more the grace of God and the gift in grace which is of the one Man, Jesus Christ, did abound to the many. ¹⁶And not as through one who sinned is the gift: For on the one hand the judgment was out of one offense, but on the other hand the free gift was out of many offenses to justification.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 27]. At that time:

8 ²³After Jesus embarked into the ship, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the ship was covered by the waves; but He was sleeping. ²⁵And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us; we are perishing.” ²⁶And He saith to them, “Why are ye cowardly, O ye of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. ²⁷And the men wondered, saying, “What manner of man is this One, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Isaakios, Abbot of the Dalmaton Monastery at Constantinople.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

June 12th – Civil Calendar
May 30th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Isaac (Isaakios) the Confessor.

In the time of the Emperor Valens, the Arians persecuted Orthodoxy fiercely with the emperor’s encouragement. Isaac, a hermit somewhere in the East, heard of the persecution, left his desert and went to Constantinople to encourage the faithful and denounce the heretics. Valens arrived in the north at that very time with his army, to meet the Goths who had come down from the Danube into Thrace. Isaac went out and stood before him, saying: ‘Open the churches to those of the true Faith, O emperor, and God will bless thy path,’ but the emperor turned a deaf ear to the elder and went on his way. Isaac spoke out before the emperor on the next day also, repeating his warning, and the emperor almost hearkened to him, but one of his advisors, a follower of the Arian heresy, thwarted him. Isaac spoke before the emperor again on the third day, seizing the emperor’s horse by the reins and pleading with him to grant freedom to the Church of God and to escape divine punishment by acceding to his request. The enraged emperor ordered that the elder be thrown into a briar patch full of thorns and mud, but three angels appeared and pulled him out from his affliction. St. Isaac appeared before the emperor on the fourth day, and foretold a terrible death if he did not give the Orthodox freedom: ‘I tell thee, my emperor, that thou shalt lead thy troops out upon the barbarians, but thou shalt not be able to withstand them. Thou shalt flee before them, but shalt thyself be taken captive and burned alive.’ And so it all came to pass. The barbarians mowed the Greek force down like grass, and the emperor fled with his Arian counselor, and hid in a barn. The barbarians arrived at the spot and realized where the emperor was hiding. They surrounded the barn and set fire to it, burning both the emperor and his counselor. The Emperor Theodosios the Great then came to the throne. He heard of Isaac and of the prophecy that had been fulfilled, and sending for him, prostrated himself before him. And so peace came to reign in the Church and the Arians were banished. Isaac desired to return to his desert, but he was persuaded to remain in Constantinople. A certain influential citizen, Saturninos, built him a monastery where the elder labored in asceticism until his death, performing many wonders. The community overflowed with monks and became a great monastery. Before his death, Isaac appointed a pupil of his, Dalmatos (after whom the monastery was later named), as abbot. The elder Isaac, who had found such favor with God, entered into eternity in the year 383, to rejoice forever in the vision of the face of God.

2. St. Makrina.

The grandmother of St. Basil the Great, she was outstanding for her intellect and piety. She was a disciple of St. Gregory the Wonder-worker of Neocaesarea. In the reign of Diocletian, she abandoned her home and hid in the forests and desert places with her husband, Basil. Although their home was confiscated, they felt no pangs of regret. Stripped of everything except their love for God, they settled in an ancient forest and spent seven years there. By God’s providence, goats would come down from the mountains and provide them with food. They both died peacefully in the fourth century, after great sufferings for the Christian Faith.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The word of God is food for the soul. The word of God is both strength and light for the soul. Whoever reads the word of God provides his soul with food and strength and light. He who can read ought to read the word of the Lord in the holy Scriptures, and he who cannot read ought to listen to what is read. All the saints emphasised the necessity of reading the holy Scriptures. St. Seraphim of Sarov says: ‘The soul must keep itself nourished with the word of God; because the word of God is, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, the bread of angels that feeds the soul that is hungry for God. But, most of all, we must read the New Testament and the Psalms. The understanding is enlightened by these. It is a very good thing to read the word of God in solitude, and to read the entire Bible with understanding. God gives a man His mercy for undertaking this exercise more than for other good deeds, and He fills him with the gift of comprehension. When a man nourishes his soul with the word of God, then he is filled with the understanding of good and evil.’

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.