Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§§ 208, 209]. Brethren:

3 ²³Before faith came, we were being guarded under the law, having been closed up to the faith about to be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law hath become our tutor until Christ, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶For all are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many as were baptized into Christ, ye put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise.

4 ¹Now I say, as long as the heir is an infant, he differeth nothing from a slave, though he is lord of all; ²but he is under guardians and stewards until the appointed time of the father. ³So we also, when we were infants, were enslaved under the elements of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵in order that He might redeem those under the law, that we might receive what is our due, the adoption as sons.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 25]. At that time:

6 ³⁰The apostles were gathered together to Jesus, and related to Him all things, both as much as they did and as much as they taught. ³¹And He said to them, “Come ye yourselves privately to a desolate place, and rest yourselves a little.” For those coming and those going were many, and they did not even have an opportunity to eat. ³²And they went away by the ship privately to a desolate place. ³³And the crowds saw them going, and many recognized Him, and ran together there on foot from all the cities, and went before them, and came together to Him. ³⁴And Jesus, after He came out, saw a great crowd and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵And much time already having elapsed, His disciples came to Him and said, “The place is desolate, and already it is a late hour. ³⁶“Dismiss them in order that they might go away into the fields and villages round about, and buy bread for themselves; for they have not what they might eat.” ³⁷But He answered and said to them, “Give ye them to eat.” And they say to Him, “Shall we go away and buy bread worth two hundred denarii and give them to eat?” ³⁸But He saith to them, “How many loaves have ye? Go and see.” And having known, they say, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹And He enjoined them to make all recline by companies upon the green grass. ⁴⁰And they laid back in rows, like beds in a garden, up to a hundred and up to fifty. ⁴¹And having taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to the heaven and blessed and broke the loaves, and kept on giving them to His disciples that they might set them before them; and the two fish He divided to all. ⁴²And all ate and were filled. ⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments, and from the fish. ⁴⁴And they who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

⁴⁵And straightway He constrained His disciples to embark into the ship, and to go before to the other side toward Bethsaida, until He should dismiss the crowd.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the beheading of the glorious prophet, forerunner, and Baptist John.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 33]. In those days:

13 ²⁵“As John was fulfilling his course, he kept on saying, ‘Whom do ye suppose me to be? I am not He. But behold, He cometh after me, of Whom I am not worthy to loose the sandal of His feet.’ ²⁶“Men, brethren, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation was sent forth. ²⁷“For they who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew not this One and the voices of the prophets who are read on every sabbath, they fulfilled them, having condemned Him. ²⁸“And though they did not find even one charge of death in Him, they themselves demanded that Pilate put Him to death. ²⁹“And when they fulfilled all the things that were written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher. ³⁰“But God raised Him from the dead; ³¹“and He appeared for many days to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. ³²“And we announce to you the good tidings—the promise which was made to the fathers. ³³“For God hath fulfilled this for us their children, having raised up Jesus.”

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 57].

14 ¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, ²and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he was raised from the dead, and on account of this the works of power energize in him.” ³For Herod laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴For John kept on saying to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” ⁵And though he wished to put him to death, he was afraid of the crowd, because they were holding him as a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst, and pleased Herod. ⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask for herself. ⁸And she, having been urged on by her mother, said, “Give me here the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ⁹And the king was grieved; but on account of the oaths, and those who reclined with him at table, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl; and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came forward and took up the body and buried it; and they went and brought tidings to Jesus.

¹³And after Jesus heard it, He withdrew from that place by ship privately to a desolate place. And when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

In the Liturgy

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

6 ¹⁴Herod the king heard of Jesus, for His name became publicly known. And he was saying, “John, the one who baptizeth, was raised from the dead, and on this account works of power energize in him.” ¹⁵Others were saying, “It is Elias”; but others were saying, “It is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.” ¹⁶But after Herod heard thereof, he said, “It is John, whom I beheaded; he was raised from the dead.” ¹⁷For Herod himself sent forth and laid hold of John, and bound him in the prison for Herodias’ sake, the wife of Philip his brother; for he married her. ¹⁸For John kept on saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of thy brother.” ¹⁹But Herodias was holding it against him and kept on wishing to kill him, but had not been able; ²⁰for Herod was fearing John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and he kept on preserving him. And after he heard him, he was doing many things, and was hearing him gladly. ²¹And it having become an opportune day when Herod was making a supper on his birthday for his grandees and the tribunes and the first ones of Galilee, ²²there also came in the daughter of Herodias herself. And she danced, and pleased Herod and those reclining at table with him. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it to thee.” ²³And he swore to her, “Whatsoever thou shalt ask me, I will give it to thee, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for myself?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵And she came in straightway with haste to the king, and she asked for herself, saying, “I wish that thou give me at once upon a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ²⁶And though the king became very sad, yet on account of the oaths and those reclining at table with him, he did not wish to reject her. ²⁷And straightway the king sent off a guardsman, and commanded his head to be brought. And he went forth and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸and brought his head upon a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹And after his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a sepulcher.

³⁰And the apostles were gathered together to Jesus, and related to Him all things, both as much as they did and as much as they taught.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

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

1. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

Herod Antipas, son of the Herod who slew the young children in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus, was ruler of Galilee when John the Baptist was preaching. This Herod was married to the daughter of Aretas, an Arabian prince. But Herod, an evil branch of evil stock, put away his lawful wife and took Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, to live with him. John the Baptist stood up against this lawlessness and strongly denounced Herod, at which Herod threw him into prison. At the time of a birthday feast at his court in Sebastia in Galilee, Salome, the daughter of Herodias and Philip, danced for the guests. Herod, in his cups and carried away by her dancing, promised her whatever she asked, even to the half of his kingdom. Instructed by her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod commanded that John be beheaded in the prison and his head brought on a platter. John’s disciples took the body of their teacher by night and buried it, but Herodias tore out John’s tongue with a needle and then buried his head in an unclean place. What later happened to John’s head is recorded and can be read under February 24th.

God’s punishment was quickly visited upon this group of evildoers. Prince Aretas, to avenge his daughter’s honor, attacked Herod with his army and brought him to his knees. The defeated Herod was condemned by the Roman Caesar, Caligula, to exile first in Gaul and then in Spain. As exiles, Herod and Herodias lived in need and debasement until the earth opened and swallowed them up. Salome, Herodias’ daughter, came to a bad end in the River Sikaris (Sula).

The death of John took place before the Passover, but its commemoration on August 29th was instituted because it was on this day that a church, that had been built over his grave in Sebastia by the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Helena, was consecrated. In this church were also placed the relics of John’s disciples, Eliseus and Audius.

2. Our Holy Mother Theodora of Thessalonica.

A wealthy and devout woman, she lived on the island of Aegina, but when the Arabs over-ran the island, she moved to Thessalonica. There she gave her only daughter to a monastery, where she received the monastic name Theopista. Her husband Theodorinos died very soon, and then Theodora became a nun. She was a great ascetic. She often heard angelic singing, and would say to her sisters: ‘Don’t you hear how wonderfully the angels are singing in heavenly light?’ She entered into rest in 879, and a healing myrrh flowed from her body, which gave healing to many.

3. The Holy Martyr Vasilissa.

She suffered for Christ in Srem.

4. The Holy Martyr Anastasios.

A young man from Radoviste in the diocese of Strumica, he learned a trade in Thessalonica. The Turks tried to force him to become one of them, but he refused firmly. For this he was tortured and finally hanged, on August 29th, 1794.

FOR CONSIDERATION

If you notice how men die, you will see that a man’s death usually reflects his sin. As it is written: ‘He who takes the sword shall perish by the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). Every sin is a sword, and men are usually run through by the sin that they first committed. Salome, the foul daughter of Herodias, who asked for and received the head of St. John the Baptist on a platter from Herod, offers us an example of this. Living in Spain, in the town of Lerida, with the exiled Herod and Herodias, she began one day to cross the frozen Sikaris River. The ice broke and she fell into the water up to her throat. Pieces of the ice held her by the throat, and she struggled, dancing with her legs in the water as she once danced in Herod’s court. She could neither raise herself nor sink, and in the end a fragment of ice decapitated her. The water carried her body away, but her head was taken on a platter to Herodias, as had earlier been the head of John the Baptist. See how a terrible death reflects the sin committed!

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.