Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Eleventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 171]. Brethren:

2 ³My joy is the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly toward you.

⁵But if anyone hath caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part—that I may not weigh him down—you all. ⁶Sufficient to such a one is this punishment which was by the majority; ⁷so that, on the contrary, ye ought rather to graciously forgive and comfort him, lest such a one should be swallowed up by excessive grief. ⁸Wherefore I beseech you to confirm your love toward him. ⁹For in regard to this also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, if ye are obedient in all things. ¹⁰But to whom ye graciously forgive anything, I also; for if I also have graciously forgiven anything, what I have graciously forgiven, it hath been for your sakes in the person of Christ, ¹¹lest Satan should get the advantage over us, for we are not ignorant of his designs.

¹²Now, after I came to Troas for the Gospel of the Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, ¹³I had no rest in my spirit at my not having found Titus my brother; but having bid farewell to them, I went forth to Macedonia. ¹⁴But thanks be to God Who always causeth us to triumph in the Christ, and maketh manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of Him by us in every place. ¹⁵For we are to God a sweet smelling fragrance of Christ in those being saved and in those perishing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 94]. The Lord said to those Jews who had come to Him:

23 ¹³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour the houses of widows, and for a pretense are offering long prayers; on this account ye shall receive greater condemnation. ¹⁴“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut the kingdom of the heavens before men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye permit to enter those who are trying to enter. ¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye go about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he should become one, ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. ¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who are saying, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is bound.’ ¹⁷“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ¹⁸“And, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is bound.’ ¹⁹“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? ²⁰“Therefore the one who sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it. ²¹“And the one who sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it and by the One Who dwelleth in it. ²²“And the one who sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by the One Who sitteth upon it.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Kallinikos of Gangra in Asia Minor, and the Martyr Theodote and her three sons in Bithynia (commemorated on some Greek calendars on the 22^nd of December).

Epistle

For St. Kallinikos:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 99]. Brethren:

8 ²⁸We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformable to the image of His Son, in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰But whom He foreordained, these also He called; and whom He called, these also He justified; and whom He justified, these also He glorified. ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He Who indeed spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifieth. ³⁴Who is the one who condemneth? Christ is the One Who died, but much more is He the One also Who was raised, Who also is at the right of God, Who also intercedeth for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it hath been written: “For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the whole day; we were counted as sheep of slaughter [Ps. 43(44):23(22)].” ³⁷But in all these things we more than conquer through the One Who loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things coming, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 11th – Civil Calendar
July 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Kallinikos.

Born in Cilicia and brought up in Christian piety, he left all and began to preach the Gospel. He was arrested in Ankyra by the pagan governor, Sacerdos. When the governor, in fury, threatened him with torture if he would not worship idols, St. Kallinikos replied: ‘Every torture for my God is as welcome to me as bread is to a hungry man.’ After harsh torture and beating, the governor shod him with iron shoes, with the nails sticking inwards, and ordered that he be driven out to the town of Gangra, for he did not dare to have him further tortured or killed in Ankyra, as many men, beholding the heroic endurance of the man of God, were turning to the Christian Faith. On the way, the soldiers became thirsty and there was no water. St. Kallinikos prayed to God and brought forth water from a rock. When they arrived in Gangra, the torturers threw Kallinikos into a fiery furnace. The saint prayed to God, saying: ‘I thank Thee, O heavenly Father, that Thou makest me worthy in this hour to die for Thy holy name!’ He then went into the fire. When the fire was extinguished, his dead body was found whole and untouched by the flames. He suffered with honor, and was crowned with a wreath of eternal glory, in about 250.

2. The Holy Martyr Seraphima.

A maiden from Antioch, she lived in the house of one Sabina, wife of a senator, whom she brought to the Christian Faith. Hearing of her, Virilos, a torturer of Christians, ordered that she be brought before him. As Seraphima remained steadfast in her faith, the torturer ordered that she be cast into prison, and he sent some young men to spend the night with her and defile her. Seraphima was praying to God in the prison when the young men arrived at the door. There, suddenly, an angel of God appeared in light before them with a sword in his hand, and they fell as dead, utterly without consciousness and incapable of movement. The following day, a torturer begged Seraphima to restore the young men to consciousness by her prayers. Dismissing all this as magic, Virilos ordered that this holy maiden be burned with torches and then beaten with rods. When they were beating her, a piece of rod broke off and flew through the air, striking Virilos in the eye and blinding him. Finally, this handmaid of Christ was beheaded and gave her soul to God. The devout Sabina buried her body, from which a healing myrrh began to flow. St. Seraphima suffered during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138).

3. The Holy Martyr Theodotia.

A young widow with three children, Theodotia labored in the service of God in Thessalonica, together with St. Anastasia (see December 22nd). In the time of Diocletian’s persecution, she was condemned to death and thrown into a fiery furnace together with her three children. Their holy souls soared up to their heavenly abode.

4. The Holy Martyr Eustathius (Evstati) of Mtskheta.

A Persian, born in the village of Arbuket, he went to the town of Mtskheta at the age of thirty, and seeing the life and faith of the Christians, received Baptism. He was tortured for Christ and beheaded in Tiflis in 589. His relics are preserved in the cathedral at Mtskheta, and give healing to the faithful.

FOR CONSIDERATION, From “My Life in Christ”—St. John of Kronstadt.

Our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” He is not a God of torments and punishments. Our torments are the fruit of our sins and the work of the incorporeal fallen spirits. Therefore if you suffer grievously, only blame your sins and the devil, but chiefly yourself, because the devil would not do you any harm if he did not find anything in you that he could fasten on to.

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.