Daily Scripture Readings and Lives of the Saints,
on Thursday, May 15, 2008 we celebrate:
EPISTLE READING
The Reading is from Acts of the Apostles 8:26-39
IN THOSE DAYS, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go
toward the
south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a
desert
road. And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
minister of
the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure,
had come
to Jerusalem to wor****p and was returning; seated in his chariot, he
was
reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and
join this
chariot." So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the
prophet, and
asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can
I,
unless some one guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit
with him.
Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this: "As a
sheep led
to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens
not his
mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his
generation? For his life is taken up from the earth." And the eunuch
said to
Philip, "About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself
or about
some one else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this
scripture
he told him the good news of Jesus. And as they went along the road
they came
to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What is to
prevent my
being baptized?" And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both
went down
into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when
they came
up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the
eunuch
saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
GOSPEL READING
3rd Thursday after Pascha
The Reading is from John 6:40-44
The Lord said to the Jews who came to him: "For this is the will of
my Father,
that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have
eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day." The Jews then murmured at
him,
because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." They
said, "Is
not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How does he
now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do
not murmur
among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws
him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
Pachomios the Great Martyr
May 15
Reading:
Saint Pachomius was born of pagan parents in the Upper Thebaid of
Egypt. He was
conscripted into the Roman army at an early age. While quartered with
the other
soldiers in the prison in Thebes, Pachomius was astonished at the
kindness
shown them by the local Christians, who relieved their distress by
bringing
them food and drink. Upon inquiring who they were, he believed in
Christ and
vowed that once delivered from the army, he would serve Him all the
days of his
life. Released from military service, about the year 313, he was
baptized, and
became a disciple of the hermit Palamon, under whose exacting guidance
he
increased in virtue and grace, and reached such a height of holiness
that
"because of the purity of his heart," says his biographer, "he was,
as it were,
seeing the invisible God as in a mirror." His renown spread far, and
so many
came to him to be his disciples that he founded nine monasteries in
all, filled
with many thousands of monks, to whom he gave a rule of life, which
became the
pattern for all communal monasticism after him. While Saint Anthony
the Great
is the father of hermits, Saint Pachomius is the founder of the
cenobitic life
in Egypt; because Pachomius had founded a way of monasticism
accessible to so
many, Anthony said that he "walks the way of the Apostles." Saint
Pachomius
fell asleep in the Lord before his contem****aries Anthony and
Athanasius the
Great, in the year 346. His name in Coptic, Pachom, means "eagle."
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
Thou didst prove a chief pastor of the Chief Shepherd, Christ,
guiding the
flocks of monastics unto the heavenly fold, whence thou learntest of
the habit
and the way of life that doth befit ascetic ranks; having taught this
to thy
monks, thou now dancest and rejoicest with them in heavenly
dwellings, O great
Pachomius, our Father and guide.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
Since thou hadst shown forth the life of the Angels while in a body, O
God-bearing Pachomius, thou wast also counted worthy of their glory;
and with
them thou standest before the Lord's throne, interceding that divine
forgiveness be granted unto all.
Achilles, Bishop of Larissa
May 15
Reading:
Saint Achillius was one of the 318 God-bearing Fathers who were
present at the
First E***enical Council; after returning to Larissa he cast down
many pagan
temples, delivered many from the demons, and raised up churches to
the glory of
God. He reposed about the middle of the fourth century.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of
faith, an icon
of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, thou hast
achieved
the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch
Achilles,
intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Let us all praise with hymns and songs divine Achillius, the brightly
****ning
and unwaning star of all the world, who is Larissa's unsleeping and
loving
shepherd. Let us cry to him: Since thou hast boldness with the Lord,
do thou
rescue us from every raging storm of life, that we may cry to thee:
Rejoice, O
Father Achillius.
Readings, Apolytikic, and Kontakia courtesy of Holy Transfiguration
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