Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Eleventh Week

Mode Two — Eleventh Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 141]. Brethren:

9 ²Ye are the seal of mine apostleship in the Lord. ³My defense to those who examine me is this: ⁴We do not have authority to eat and to drink, do we? ⁵We do not have authority to lead about a wife who is a sister in the Lord, as also the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Kephas, do we? ⁶Or do only I and Barnabas have no authority not to be working? ⁷Who at any time serveth as a soldier at his own pay? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of its fruit? Or who shepherdeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? ⁸I am not saying these things after the manner of man, am I? Or saith not the law these things also? ⁹For in the law of Moses it hath been written: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth the corn [Deut. 25:4].” It is not the care of the oxen that matters with God, is it? ¹⁰Or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes it was written, that the one who ploweth ought to plow in hope, and the one who thresheth in hope ought to partake of his hope. ¹¹If we did sow to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal things? ¹²If others partake of this authority over you, should not rather we? Nevertheless we did not use this authority; but we bear up against all things, lest we should give any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 77]. The Lord said this parable:

18 ²³“The kingdom of the heavens is likened to a man, a king, who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴“And after he began to make a reckoning for himself, there was brought to him one debtor of ten thousand talents. ²⁵“But when he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and the children, and all things whatsoever he had, and to render payment. ²⁶“The slave therefore fell down and was making obeisance to him, saying, ‘Lord, be long-suffering toward me, and I will pay all to thee.’ ²⁷“And the lord of that slave was moved with compassion, and released him, and forgave him the loan. ²⁸“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hold of him and began to throttle him, saying, ‘Pay me, if thou dost owe anything.’ ²⁹“Then his fellow slave fell down at his feet and was beseeching him, saying, ‘Be long-suffering toward me, and I will pay all to thee.’ ³⁰“And he was not willing, but went away and cast him into prison, until he should pay that which was owed. ³¹“But after his fellow slaves saw what was done, they were exceedingly grieved; and they came to their lord and made quite clear all that was done. ³²“Then his lord, having summoned him, saith to him, ‘O thou evil slave, I forgave thee all that debt, since thou besoughtest me; ³³“‘was it not also necessary for thee to have pitied thy fellow slave, even as I pitied thee?’ ³⁴“And his lord, having been provoked to anger, delivered him up to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was owed to him. ³⁵“Thus shall My Father, the heavenly One, do to you also, unless each one of you from your hearts forgive his brother their trespasses.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Seven Youths ("the Seven Sleepers") of Ephesus: Maximilianos, Exakoustodianos, Iamvlichos, Martinianos, Dionysios, John, and Constantine.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 17th – Civil Calendar
August 4th – Church Calendar

1. The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus.

There was a great persecution of Christians under the Emperor Decius. The emperor himself went to Ephesus, and there prepared a riotous festival in honor of dead idols and also a vicious slaughter of Christians. Seven youths, all of them soldiers, held themselves apart from the foul offering of sacrifice, and wholeheartedly begged the one God to save the Christian people. They were the sons of the most eminent nobles in Ephesus, and their names were: Maximilian, Iamblichus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodian, and Antoninus. When they were accused before the emperor, they hid on a hill called Ochlon outside Ephesus, concealing themselves in a cave. When the emperor discovered this, he commanded that the cave be walled-in. God then, in His far-seeing providence, let a miraculous and long-lasting sleep fall on the young men. The imperial courtiers Theodore and Rufinus, secret Christians, caused a copper catafalque with leaden plaques to be made, on which were written the names of these young men and their death by martyrdom under the Emperor Decius. One hundred ninety-four years then passed. In the time of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger (408-450), there arose a great dispute about the resurrection of the dead, for there were some who doubted the resurrection. Emperor Theodosios was greatly grieved at this dispute among the faithful, and prayed God that He would in some way reveal the truth to the people. At that time of altercation in the Church, some shepherds of a certain Adolios, who owned Ochlon, began building pens for their sheep and took stone after stone from this cave. Then the youths awoke from their sleep, young and in full health as they had fallen asleep. This marvel was noised abroad on all sides, and Theodosios himself came with a great retinue and spoke apart with the young men. After a week, they prayed to God to take them from the clamor of the world, and again entered into sleep, the sleep of death, to await the general resurrection. The emperor wanted to place their bodies in golden coffins, but they appeared to him in a dream and told him to leave them in the earth, as they had been.

2. The New-Hieromartyr Kosmas, Equal to the Apostles.

Born in Aitolia, in the village of Megadendron (Great Tree), he went off to the Holy Mountain as a young man and there, in the monastery of Philotheou, was tonsured as a monk. But, urged by a constant desire to preach the Gospel to the people, he went to Constantinople, where he asked the blessing of Patriarch Seraphim II for this. He visited all the Danube area, preaching the Gospel, working especially in Albania, where he suffered at the hands of a certain Kurt Pasha, who was stirred up by the Jews against Kosmas. Kosmas was strangled by the Turks and then cast into a river, in 1779. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the village of Kalikontasi, in the church of the holy Mother of God, not far from the town of Berati. He suffered for his Lord at the age of sixty-five.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Keep on asking, and it shall be given you,’ says the Lord (Matt. 7:7). As parents give to their children all that they ask for that is good for them, so our God, in His love for mankind, gives to men all that they ask of Him that is of aid to their salvation. St. Kosmas, as a monk of the Holy Mountain, begged two things of God: to preach the Gospel to the people and to suffer a martyr for the Faith. For a monk of the Holy Mountain, linked by obedience to his monastery, these two desires might have seemed unlikely of fulfillment. But God is almighty. God perfectly fulfilled both of Kosmas’ desires. His joy when he received the patriarch’s blessing to leave the Holy Mountain and go among the people to preach the Gospel was indescribable, and he had another similar moment of joy when the servants of the Turkish pasha announced that, according to the pasha’s orders, he must die. Full of joy, the saint fell to his knees, thanking God for having fulfilled this wish also, and he gave his body to death and his soul to the living God.

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.