[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

[Daily Orthodox Readings and Saints]

Scripture Readings and Saints for Sun Apr 27 2008

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Acts 1:1-8  (Epistle)
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began
both to do and teach,
2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy
Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many
infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to
depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father,
"which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with
the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying,
"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons
which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2


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John 1:1-17  (Gospel)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all
through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into
the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the
world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of
whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was
before me.' "
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2



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------ SAINTS/FEASTS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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HOLY PASCHA The Resurrection of Our Lord
Pascha (Easter)
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of
loving-kindness. _(Sermon of St John Chrysostom, read at Paschal
Matins)_
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the
Christian faith. St Paul says that if Christ is not raised from the
dead, then our preaching and faith are in vain (I Cor. 15:14). Indeed,
without the resurrection there would be no Christian preaching or
faith. The disciples of Christ would have remained the broken and
hopeless band which the Gospel of John describes as being in hiding
behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. They went nowhere and
preached nothing until they met the risen Christ, the doors being shut
(John 20: 19). Then they touched the wounds of the nails and the
spear; they ate and drank with Him. The resurrection became the basis
of everything they said and did (Acts 2-4): ". . . for a spirit has
not flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39).
The resurrection reveals Jesus of Nazareth as not only the expected
Messiah of Israel, but as the King and Lord of a new Jerusalem: a new
heaven and a new earth.
Then I asw a new heaven and a new earth. . . the holy city, new
Jerusalem. And I heard a great voice from the throne saying "Behold,
the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people. . . He will wipe away every tear from their
eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor
crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (Rev.
21:1-4).
In His death and resurrection, Christ defeats the last enemy, death,
and thereby fulfills the mandate of His Father to subject all things
under His feet (I Cor. 15:24-26).
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and
wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev. 5: 12)
_THE FEAST OF FEASTS_
The Christian faith is celebrated in the liturgy of the Church. True
celebration is always a living participation. It is not a mere
attendance at services. It is communion in the power of the event
being celebrated. It is God's free gift of joy given to spiritual men
as a reward for their self-denial. It is the fulfillment of spiritual
and physical effort and preparation. The resurrection of Christ, being
the center of the Christian faith, is the basis of the Church's
liturgical life and the true model for all celebration. This is the
chosen and holy day, first of sabbaths, king and lord of days, the
feast of feasts, holy day of holy days. On this day we bless Christ
forevermore (Irmos 8, Paschal Canon).
PREPARATION
Twelve weeks of preparation precede the "feast of feasts." A long
journey which includes five prelenten Sundays, six weeks of Great Lent
and finally Holy Week is made. The journey moves from the self-willed
exile of the prodigal son to the grace-filled entrance into the new
Jerusalem, coming down as a bride beautifully adorned for her husband
(Rev. 21:2) Repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, prayer, fasting,
almsgiving, and study are the means by which this long journey is
made.
Focusing on the veneration of the Cross at its midpoint, the lenten
voyage itself reveals that the joy of the resurrection is achieved
only through the Cross. "Through the cross joy has come into all the
world," we sing in one paschal hymn. And in the paschal troparion, we
repeat again and again that Christ has trampled down death - by death!
St Paul writes that the name of Jesus is exalted above every name
because He first emptied Himself, taking on the lowly form of a
servant and being obedient even to death on the Cross (Phil. 2:5-11).
The road to the celebration of the resurrection is the self-emptying
crucifixion of Lent. Pascha is the passover from death to life.
Yesterday I was buried with Thee, 0 Christ. Today I arise with Thee in
Thy resurrection. Yesterday I was crucified with Thee: Glorify me with
Thee, 0 Savior, in Thy kingdom (Ode 3, Paschal Canon).
THE PROCESSION
The divine services of the night of Pascha commence near midnight of
Holy Saturday. At the Ninth Ode of the Canon of Nocturn, the priest,
already vested in his brightest robes, removes the Holy Shroud from
the tomb and carries it to the altar table, where it remains until the
leave-taking of Pascha. The faithful stand in darkness. Then, one by
one, they light their candles from the candle held by the priest and
form a great procession out of the church. Choir, servers, priest and
people, led by the bearers of the cross, banners, icons and Gospel
book, circle the church. The bells are rung incessantly and the
angelic hymn of the resurrection is chanted.
The procession comes to a stop before the principal doors of the
church. Before the closed doors the priest and the people sing the
troparion of Pascha, "Christ is risen from the dead. . .", many tImes.
Even before entenng the church the priest and people exchange the
paschal greeting: "Christ is nsen! Indeed He is risen!" This segment
of the paschal services is extremely important. It preserves in the
expenence of the Church the primitive accounts of the resurrection of
Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The angel rolled away the stone
from the tomb not to let a biologically revived but physically
entrapped Christ walk out, but to reveal that "He is not here; for He
has risen, as He said" (Matt. 28:6).
In the paschal canon we sing:
Thou didst arise, 0 Christ, and yet the tomb remained sealed, as at
Thy birth the Virgin's womb remained unharmed; and Thou has opened for
us the gates of paradise (Ode 6).
Finally, the procession of light and song in the darkness of night,
and the thunderous proclamation that, indeed, Christ is risen, fulfill
the words of the Evangelist John: "The light shines in darkness, and
the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).
The doors are opened and the faithful re-enter. The church is bathed
in light and adorned with flowers. It is the heavenly bride and the
symbol of the empty tomb:
Bearing life and more fruitful than paradise Brighter than any royal
chamber, Thy tomb, 0 Christ, is the fountain or our resurrection
(Paschal Hours).
MATINS
Matins commences immediately. The risen Christ is glorified in the
singing of the beautiful canon of St John of Damascus. The paschal
greeting is repeatedly exchanged. Near the end of Matins the paschal
verses are sung. They relate the entire narrative of the Lord's
resurrection. They conclude with the words calling us to actualize
among each other the forgiveness freely given to all by God:
This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let
us embrace each other. Let us call "brothers" even those who hate us,
And forgive all by the resurrection. . .
The sermon of St John Chrysostom is then read by the celebrant. The
sermon was originally composed as a baptismal instruction. It is
retained by the Church in the paschal services because everything
about the night of Pascha recalls the Sacrament of Baptism: the
language and general terminology of the liturgical texts, the specific
hymns, the vestment color, the use of candles and the great procession
itself. Now the sermon invites us to a great reaffirmation of our
baptism: to union with Christ in the receiving of Holy Communion.
If any man is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and
radiant triumphal feast. . . the table is fully laden; feast you all
sumptuously. . . the calf is fatted, let no one go hungry away. . .
THE DIVINE LITURGY
The sermon announces the imminent beginning of the Divine Liturgy. The
altar table is fully laden with the divine food: the Body and Blood of
the risen and glorified Christ. No one is to go away hungry. The
service books are very specific in saying that only he who partakes of
the Body and Blood of Christ eats the true Pascha. The Divine Liturgy,
therefore, normally follows immediately after paschal Matins. Foods
from which the faithful have been asked to abstain during the lenten
journey are blessed and eaten only after the Divine Liturgy.
THE DAY WITHOUT EVENING
Pascha is the inauguration of a new age. It reveals the mystery of the
eighth day. It is our taste, in this age, of the new and unending day
of the Kingdom of God. Something of this new and unending day is
conveyed to us in the length of the paschal services, in the
repetition of the paschal order for all the services of Bright Week,
and in the special paschal features retained in the services for the
forty days until Ascension. Forty days are, as it were, treated as one
day. Together they comprise the symbol of the new time in which the
Church lives and toward which she ever draws the faithful, from one
degree of glory to another.
0 Christ, great and most holy Pascha. 0 Wisdom, Word and Power of God,
grant that we may more perfectly partake of Thee in the never-ending
day of Thy kingdom (Ninth Ode, Paschal Canon).
The V. Rev. Paul Lazor New York, 1977
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Venerable Stephen the Abbot of the Kiev Far Caves, and Bishop
of Vladimir, in Volhynia
St Stephen, Igumen of the Caves, Bishop of Vladimir in Volhynia,
pursued asceticism at the Kiev Caves monastery under the guidance of
St Theodosius (May 3). St Theodosius sometimes entrusted him to exhort
the brethren with edifying words.
Before the death of St Theodosius the monks asked him to appoint St
Stephen as Igumen, who was the domesticus (chief arranger for the
choir). "He grew up under your instruction," they said, "and he served
you. Give him to us." So St Theodosius transferred the guidance of the
monastery to St Stephen.
During his tenure as Superior, he laid the foundations of a spacious
church in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, begun
under St Theodosius. The cells of the brethren were moved near the new
church. At the front of the place there were several cells for monks
who were entrusted with burying the dead. They served the Divine
Liturgy each day, and also commemorated the dead.
In 1078 St Stephen was removed from office and driven from the
monastery through the malice of an evil monk. He endured his meekly
and without bitterness, and continued to pray for those who had turned
against him.
St Stephen learned that master builders had come from Greece with an
icon of the Theotokos, and they told him of the appearance of the
Heavenly Queen at Blachernae. Because of this, St Stephen also built a
church at Klovo in honor of the Theotokos (in memory of the Placing of
Her Robe at Blachernae). The monastery was founded in thanksgiving for
solicitude of the Most Holy Theotokos for the Caves monastery.
In 1091 St Stephen was made Bishop of Vladimir in Volhynia, and he
participated in the transfer of the relics of St Theodosius from the
cave to the monastery (August 14). He also labored to convert the
inhabitants of Volhynia to Christianity.
St Stephen died on April 27, 1094 during the sixth hour of the night.
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St Eulogius the Hospitable of Constantinople
Saint Eulogius the Hospitable lived during the fourth century in the
Thebaid. He served the Lord by offering hospitality to wanderers (Mark
9:41).
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Hieromartyr Simeon, the Kinsman of the Lord
No information available at this time.
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