Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Greek Orthodox Church Daily Readings For Wednesday, 22 June

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Daily Scripture Readings and Lives of the Saints for Wednesday, June 22, 2011



Strict Fast



Readings for today:



St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 4:13-25

Matthew 7:21-23



Feasts and Saints celebrated today:



2nd Wednesday after Pentecost

Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata

Zenon the Martyr & his servant Zenas of Philadelphia

Anastasios the Serbian





Epistle Reading



The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 4:13-25



BRETHREN, the promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should

inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the

righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the

heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath,

but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it

depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be

guaranteed to all his descendants -- not only to the adherents of the law

but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the

father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many

nations" -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life

to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father

of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants

be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which

was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when

he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him

waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as

he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what

he had promised. That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as

righteousness." But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his

sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe

in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was put to

death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.



(c) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America



Gospel Reading



The reading is from Matthew 7:21-23



The Lord said, "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall

enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who

is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we

not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do

many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I

never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'"



(c) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America





Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata



Reading from the Synaxarion:



After the expulsion of Eudoxius from the see of Antioch, the Arians of

Antioch, believing that Meletius of Armenia would uphold their doctrines,

petitioned the Emperor Constantius to appoint Meletius Bishop of Antioch,

while signing a document jointly with the Orthodox of Antioch,

unanimously agreeing to Meletius' appointment (see Feb. 12); this document

was entrusted to Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. Meletius, however,

after his Orthodoxy became apparent, was banished, and the Arians

persuaded Constantius to demand the document back from Eusebius, as it

convicted their perfidy. Imperial officers were sent; Eusebius refused to

surrender the document without the consent of all who had signed it; the

officers returned to the Emperor, who furiously sent them back to Eusebius

with threats. But so great a zealot for the true Faith, so staunch an

enemy of the Arians, so fearless a man of valor was Saint Eusebius,

that when Constantius' officers arrived, threatening to cut off his

right hand unless he surrendered the document, Eusebius held out both

hands. When Constantius learned of it, he was struck with astonishment

and admiration.



This took place in 361, the last year of the reign of Constantius; he

was succeeded by Julian the Apostate, who was slain in Persia in 363;

Jovian succeeded Julian, and Valentinian succeeded Jovian in 364, making

his brother Valens Emperor of the East. Valens, who supported the

Arians, exiled Eusebius to Thrace in 374. The bearer of the edict of

Eusebius' banishment arrived in the evening; Eusebius bade him keep

silence, or else the people, learning why he had come, would drown him:

and Eusebius, though an old man, left his house alone on foot by

night. After Valens was slain at Adrianopole in 378 (see Saint Isaacius,

Aug. 3), the holy Eusebius returned from exile under the Emperor

Gratian, and he ordained for the churches of Syria men known for their

virtue and Orthodoxy. About the year 380, as he was entering a certain

village to enthrone its bishop, whom he had consecrated, an Arian woman

threw a clay tile from the roof, and it crushed his head; as he was

dying, he bound the bystanders with oaths that they not take the least

vengeance. Saint Gregory the Theologian addressed several letters to him (PG

37:87, 91, 126-130); he had such reverence for him, that in one letter

to him, commending himself to Saint Eusebius' prayers, he said,

"That such a man should deign to be my patron also in his prayers will

gain for me, I am persuaded, as much strength as I should have gained

through one of the holy martyrs.



Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

As a sharer of the ways and a successor to the throne of

the

Apostles, O inspired of God, thou foundest discipline to be a means

of

ascent to divine vision. Wherefore, having rightly divided the word

of

truth, thou didst also contest for the Faith even unto blood,

O

Hieromartyr Eusebius. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls be

saved.







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Reading (c) Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

Apolytikion (c) Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

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