Home>Teachings
Saturday of the Second Week
The commemoration of the Great-martyr Irene of Magedon.
No Fasting.
The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 15]. In those days:
5 21The apostles, having heard that, entered into the temple during the early morning and began teaching. But the high priest came and those with him, and they called together the sanhedrin and all the council of elders of the sons of Israel, and sent off to the prison to have them brought. 22But after the officers came and found them not in the prison, they returned and reported, 23saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut with all security, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but after we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24Now when the priest and the captain of the temple-guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were quite at a loss concerning them and what this would become. 25But a certain one came and reported to them, saying, “Behold, the men whom ye yourselves put in the prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they were fearing the people, lest they should be stoned. 27And after they brought them, they stood them in the sanhedrin. And the high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We did charge you by a command not to teach on this name, did we not? And behold, ye have made Jerusalem full of your teaching, and intend to bring the blood of this Man upon us.” 29But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “It is needful to obey God rather than men. 30“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye yourselves laid hands upon and hanged on a tree. 31“This One did God exalt with His right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32“And we are His witnesses of these words, and also the Holy Spirit Whom God gave to those who obey Him.” 33Now after they heard that, their hearts were sawn asunder, and they were taking counsel to kill him.
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 19]. At that time:
6 14The people, having seen what sign Jesus did, began to say, “This is truly the Prophet Who cometh into the world.” 15Then Jesus, having known that they were about to come and seize Him in order that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain Himself alone.
16And when it became evening, His disciples went down to the sea; 17and having embarked into the ship, they were going across the sea to Capernaum. And already it had become dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18And the sea was stirred up by a great wind blowing. 19Then after they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the ship; and they became afraid. 20But He saith to them, “I am; cease being afraid.” 21Then they were willing to receive Him into the ship; and straightway the ship came to be at the land to which they were going.
22On the morrow, the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one into which His disciples entered, and that Jesus did not enter together with His disciples into the little boat, but that His disciples went away alone— 23but there came little boats from Tiberias, near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks. 24When the crowd therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves also embarked into the ships and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25And after they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when didst Thou arrive here?” 26Jesus answered them and said, “Verily, verily, I say to you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled. 27“Cease working for the meat which perisheth, but for the food which abideth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you; for this One did God the Father seal.”
No readings given.
May 18th — Civil Calendar May 5th — Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Irene.
She lived in the Balkans in apostolic times, in the town of Magedon where her father Licinius was governor of a small region. She was born a pagan of pagan parents. Penelope—for that was her pagan name—learned the Christian faith from her teacher, Appelianus. St Timothy, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, baptised her and her lady-in-waiting, and brought her a letter from the Apostle Paul to read. She infuriated her father by her embracing Christianity, and he intended to have her trampled to death by horses. The horses turned on him, however, slaying him. She prayed to God on behalf of her father, who had just tried to kill her, and the Lord resurrected him. He subsequently embraced Christianity. Irene was tortured in different ways by four kings, other than her father, but God saved her through His angels. King Sedechias had her cast headlong into a deep pit full of snakes and reptiles. The saint persevered there for fourteen days, and emerged unscathed. Then the same king attempted to saw off her feet, but the sword broke against her body as against stone. This same king once again bound her to the wheel of a water-mill, then let the water in to drown her, but the water would not flow, but stood still, and the maiden remained whole and alive. After Sedekias was ousted from his domain, Sapor, his son, marched against those who deposed his father. St Irene met Sapor and his army in the city of Magedon. By her prayers, his entire army was stricken blind. Again, she prayed and their eyesight was restored by divine grace. None-the-less, the ungrateful ones shod her with nails, loaded a sack of sand onto her, put a bridle on her and commanded that she be led like an animal far outside the city. ‘Truly I am as a beast before Thee, O Lord!’, said the holy martyr as she ran bridled behind her torturers. But an angel of God caused an earthquake, and the earth opened and swallowed up ten thousand infidels—but bringing thirty thousand to the Faith. Despite this, the king persisted in his paganism, for which he was smote by an angel of the Lord. Surviving all these tortures, by which an enormous number of pagans were brought to Christianity, Irene went to the city of Kallinikos, where she preached the Christian faith. The local king, Numerian, tried to kill her, throwing her into three burning metal oxen one after the other. But the maiden was preserved and remained alive, and many saw and believed. The Eparch, Vavdonos, sought to kill her by putting her onto a burning grid, but this did not harm St Irene, and brought him to the true Faith. She then went to the city of Constantina, where Shapur II the Great, King of the Persian, had her head cut off. But she was resurrected by an angel of God. The king, seeing this, together with many of the people, believed in Christ and were baptised. And thus St Irene, by her sufferings and miracles, brought over 100,000 pagans to faith in Christ. At last she laid herself in a grave and commanded Appelianus, her former teacher, to close it. After four days, when the grave was opened, her body was not in it. Thus God glorified forever the maiden and martyr Irene, who had sacrificed all and endured all, that God should be the more greatly glorified among men.
2. Ss Martin and Heraclius.
Slavs, they were persecuted by heretic Arians in Illyria. Sent into exile, these knights of Orthodoxy finished their earthly course in the 4th century, and went to the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Prayer with words is of no use if the heart does not participate. God only hears prayer from the heart. Abba Zoilos of the Thebaid, returning once from Mount Sinai, met a monk who complained that in the monastery, they were greatly suffering from drought. Zoilos asked: ‘Why don’t you pray to God, and implore Him?’ The monk replied: ‘We have prayed and implored, but there is no rain!’ To this Zoilos answered: ‘It is obvious that you are not praying from the heart. Do you want to be convinced that this is so?’ And, thus speaking, the elder raised his hands to heaven and began to pray, and abundant rain fell onto the earth. Seeing this, the marveling monk fell to the ground before the elder and did him reverence, but the elder, fearing the praise of men, quickly fled from him. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you’, said the Lord Himself. But vain are mouthfuls of prayers if the heart is empty. God does not stand and listen to the lips, but to the heart. Let the heart be filled with prayer and the lips be silent. God will hear and receive the prayer, for He only hearkens to heartfelt prayer.
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.
