Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Fifteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 210]. Brethren:

4 ⁸When ye knew not God, ye slaved for those which are not gods by nature; ⁹but now, having come to know God—indeed rather having been known by God—how do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, which ye wish again to slave for anew? ¹⁰Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! ¹¹I am afraid for you, lest perchance in vain I have labored in regard to you.

¹²Brethren, I entreat you, keep on becoming as I am, for I was also as you. Ye wronged me in nothing. ¹³But ye know that through weakness of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you for the first time. ¹⁴And my temptation which was in my flesh ye neither despised, nor spat at; but as an angel of God ye received me, as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵What then was your happiness? For I bear witness to you that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I therefore become your enemy, because I spoke the truth to you? ¹⁷They zealously court you, but not rightly; and they desire to shut you out, that ye may be zealous toward them. ¹⁸But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹My little children, for whom I again travail until Christ should be formed in you! ²⁰And I was wishing to be present with you just now, and to change my voice, for I am at a loss concerning you.

²¹Tell me, ye who wish to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 26]. At that time:

6 ⁴⁵Jesus constrained His disciples to embark into the ship, and to go before to the other side toward Bethsaida, until He should dismiss the crowd. ⁴⁶And after He bid farewell to them, He departed into the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷And evening having come to pass, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. ⁴⁸And He saw them being put to the test in the rowing; for the wind was contrary to them. And about the fourth watch of the night He cometh to them, walking upon the sea, and was intending to pass by them. ⁴⁹But after they saw Him walking upon the sea, they thought it to be a phantom, and cried out; ⁵⁰for all saw Him and were troubled. And straightway He talked with them and saith to them, “Be of good courage! I am; cease being afraid.” ⁵¹And He went up to them into the ship, and the wind abated. And they were amazed in themselves exceedingly beyond measure, and kept on wondering. ⁵²For not only did they not understand, so far as regards the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

⁵³And having passed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret, and were brought to anchor at the shore.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, and our holy fathers among the saints, Alexander, John, and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople, and the translation of the relics of the holy and right-believing great Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Epistle

For St. Alexander Nevsky:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

For the right-believing Prince:

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

6 ¹⁷ Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:

“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.

Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.

²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 12th – Civil Calendar
August 30th – Church Calendar

1. Ss. Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople.

Alexander took part in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, in place of the aged Patriarch Metrophanes, whom he then succeeded. When certain philosophers tried to dispute with him about faith, he said to one of them: ‘In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to remain silent!’ and the philosopher became dumb from that moment. By his prayers, also, Arius’ life was shortened. Alexander died at the age of ninety-eight, in the year 340.

St. John III Scholastikos governed the Church in the time of Emperor Justin II and added the canons of Sardica and of St. Basil the Great to the Church’s collection of canons. He reposed in 577.

St. Paul IV governed the Church for five years and eight months and renounced the throne to receive the Great Habit secretly, to repent of his sins when he first supported the iconoclasts. He was the predecessor of the great Tarasios, and entered into rest in the time of Irene and Constantine, in 784.

2. The Assembly of the Enlighteners and Teachers of Serbia.

On this day are commemorated, not all the saints of Serbia in general, but several archbishops and patriarchs:

St. Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia, called equal to the apostles.

Arsenius, St. Sava’s successor, a great hierarch and wonder-worker.

Sava II, son of King Stefan the First-Crowned, who lived a long time in Jerusalem and was called ‘like to Moses in meekness’.

Nicodemus, who lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain, and was abbot of Hilandar and archbishop of ‘all the Serbian and maritime lands’.

Ioannikios, archbishop and then, from 1346-1349, patriarch.

Ephraim, an ascetic who, in 1376, was chosen against his will as patriarch in the time of Prince Lazar. He crowned Lazar and then renounced the patriarchal throne and withdrew into solitude.

Spiridon, Ephraim’s successor, who died in 1388.

Macarius, who restored many old foundations, printed Church books in Skadar, Venice, Belgrade and other places, built the famous refectory in the monastery at Peć, and did much for the advancement of the Church with the help of his brother, Mehmed Sokolović. He entered into rest in 1574.

Gavrilo (Gabriel), by birth a nobleman of the Rajić family, who took part in the Moscow Council under Patriarch Nikhon, because of which he was tortured by the Turks for treason and hanged in 1656.

As well as these, there are also commemorated Eustace, Jacob, Danilo, Sava III, Gregory, John, Maxim and Nikhon. Many of them lived the ascetic life on the Holy Mountain, and all were ‘gentle and faithful servants, good laborers in the Lord’s vineyard’.

3. Our Holy Father Christopher.

An ascetic of the sixth century in the community of St. Theodosios in Palestine, he saw in a vision that the lamp of the monk who labored was burning, and the lamp of the lazy monk was not.

4. St. Evlalios, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.

One of St. Basil’s predecessors, he deprived his son of his priesthood for wearing clothing unsuited to his spiritual calling.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Noisy heretics perish with hubbub and disgrace, and their deaths themselves show God’s wrath towards them for the lies that they spread and that disturbed the Church of God. Arius, after being condemned at Nicaea, came one day to the Emperor Constantine and begged that he might be received back into the Church. Constantine asked him if he believed the Nicene Creed and he, cunningly carrying in his bosom a paper on which his heretical creed was written, indicated his breast with his hand, and said to the Emperor: ‘Thus I believe.’ The emperor believed that Arius had repented and sent him to Patriarch Alexander to be reconciled with the Church. Alexander was unwilling to receive Arius, knowing that he was lying, but the emperor fixed a certain Sunday on which Arius was to be brought into the Great Church. The evening before that day, the holy patriarch begged God to take his soul before the blasphemous heretic was brought into the church. When the appointed Sunday dawned, the patriarch was in church at the service, and Arius, with the emperor’s men and his fellow-heretics, set off for the church. When they reached the Square of Constantine, he was suddenly seized by pains in the spirit and the body, and sought a place to relieve himself. There, in the square, was such a place, and he went there. His companions waited a long time for him, and became impatient. When someone went to see what was the matter, he found him dead in that filthy place, lying in foulness and blood.

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.