Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Twelfth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 183]. Brethren:

7 ¹Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing to perfection holiness in the fear of God.

²Make room for us; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we defrauded no one. ³I speak not for condemnation; for I have said before that ye are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. ⁴Great is my boldness toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf; I have been filled with comfort, I am superabounding with joy over all our affliction. ⁵For, even after we came into Macedonia, our flesh hath had no rest, but in every way we were being oppressed: fights from outside, and fears from inside. ⁶But God, the One Who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus; ⁷and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted over you, when he brought back tidings of your yearning, your mourning, your zeal for me; so as for me to rejoice the more. ⁸For though I sorrowed you in the epistle, I do not feel regret, though I was feeling regret; for I see that the epistle sorrowed you, though for an hour. ⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were sorrowed, but that ye were sorrowed to repentance; for ye were sorrowed in accordance with God, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing. ¹⁰For the sorrow in accordance with God worketh out repentance to salvation, not to be regretted.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 5]. At that time:

1 ²⁹Jesus came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with Iakovos and John. ³⁰And the mother-in-law of Simon was lying down ill with a fever. And straightway they speak to Him about her. ³¹And He came and took hold of her hand, and raised her up. And immediately the fever left her, and she began ministering to them. ³²And evening having come to pass, when the sun did set, they kept on bringing to Him all those who were ill, and those possessed by demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴And He cured many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not allowing the demons to talk, because they knew Him.

³⁵And having risen up very early at night, He went out and departed into a desolate place, and was praying there.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration, and our holy father among the saints, Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

August 21st – Civil Calendar
August 8th – Church Calendar

1. St. Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos.

He was bishop in Kyzikos in the time of the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, the iconoclast. Refusing to carry out the imperial directive on the removal of icons from the churches, he was, along with other Orthodox bishops, sent into exile. He spent five years in exile, enduring many ills and much humiliation for the sake of Christ. He died in 820, and joined the company of the citizens of heaven.

2. St. Myron the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Crete.

He was at first married, and was a laborer of the land, sharing the fruits of his farm joyfully and abundantly with the poor. He once caught some unknown thieves on his threshing-floor, stealing grain. Not saying who he was, St. Myron helped the thieves to fill their sacks, lift them onto their backs and escape. For his outstanding virtues, he was ordained priest and later consecrated bishop. He was a great wonder-worker and did many good and mighty works in the name of the Lord Jesus. He entered into rest in about 350, at the great age of a hundred.

3. Our Holy Father Gregory the Sinaite.

He was named ‘the Sinaite’ because he became a monk on Mount Sinai. In the time of the Emperor Andronikos Palaeologos, in about 1330, he went to the Holy Mountain to visit the monasteries and discover more about mental prayer and contemplation. But these two spiritual exercises were little known at that time among the monks of the Holy Mountain. The only one who was experienced in them and practised them perfectly was St. Maximus of Kapsokalyvia. Gregory spread his teaching on mental prayer through all the cells and monasteries of the Holy Mountain. His most famous pupil was Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople, who wrote Gregory’s life. After that, Gregory went to Macedonia and to other parts of the Balkans, and founded communities in which the monks engaged in mental prayer, thus helping many to deepen their prayer and come to salvation. His writings on mental prayer and asceticism are found in the Philokalia. Among other things, he wrote the hymn to the Holy Trinity: ‘It is meet and right...,’ which is sung in the Midnight Office on Sundays. He stands among the most famous ascetics and spiritual teachers of the Balkans. He entered peacefully into rest in 1346, after a life of great toil, and went to the kingdom of Christ.

4. The Holy New-Martyrs Triandaphyllos and Spaso.

Triandaphyllos was born in Zagora and Spaso in Radoviste, in the diocese of Strumica. They were both Slavs, both young and simple men. But the love of Christ drew them out of the world and out of this life. They gave their lives, and remained faithful to Christ, suffering under the Turks for their faith: Tryandaphyllos in Constantinople in 1680 and Spaso in Thessalonica in 1794.

5. The Holy Martyr Gormizdas.

He was a noble at the court of the Persian King Yazdgird. Because he refused to deny Christ, the king sadly deprived him of his rank and possessions and sent him to look after the animals, being convinced that Gormizdas would soon grieve for his rank and possessions, and would worship idols. Gormizdas peacefully minded the cattle and remained faithful. The king therefore put him to harsh torture, which succeeded only in weakening the body of Christ’s martyr without affecting his soul. Finally, Gormizdas was killed, in 418, immediately after the martyrdom of St. Abdus the Bishop (see March 31st). He suffered on earth, and was glorified in heaven.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘Lo, I have set before you life and death,’ said Moses to the sons of Israel, ‘therefore choose life, that...you may live’ (Deut. 30:19). There are decisive moments in men’s lives, when a man is truly left to choose life or death. Judas, in the moment of decision, was so overcome by the lust for silver that he chose death, the death of cupidity. When the miltary governor wanted to make Marinus the soldier (see August 7th) an officer, an envious man denounced him as a Christian. The governor gave him three hours to think and choose life or death, to deny Christ or to die. Marinus, hearing the words of his superior, went to the local bishop, Theotechnos, to ask his advice. The bishop took him into the church, stood him before the Gospel and then, indicating first the Gospel and then the sword that Marinus was wearing, said to him: ‘Choose, brave man, one of these two: either carry a sword and serve the transient king, being lost eternally at your death, or become a soldier of the King of heaven and lay down your life for His holy name, recorded in this book, and reign with Him in immortal life.’ Marinus at once made up his mind, kissed the holy Gospel and went out—to go through death to eternal life.

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.