Wednesday September 18 / October 1 ns 2025 • St. Evménios, Bishop of Gortyna; St. Romýlos the Hagiorite ~ Fast day ~ Eph. 3:8-21; St. Luke 4:1-15

Wednesday September 18

October 1 ns 2025

Today we honor with love

St. Evménios, Bishop

of Gortyna;

St. Romýlos

the Hagiorite

~ Fast day ~ 

From his youth, Evménios wholeheartedly followed Christ, freeing himself of two heavy burdens: the burden of wealth and the burden of the flesh. He freed himself of the first burden by distributing his entire estate to the poor and needy, and the second burden by strict fasting. In this way he first healed himself, and then began to heal others.

Passionless and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Evménios shone with a light that could not be hidden. As it is written, A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (St Matthew 5:14), so the holy Evménios could not be hidden from the world. Witnessing his goodness, the people chose him as Bishop of Gortyna, and he governed the flock of Christ as a good shepherd. He was a father to the poor, wealth to the needy, consolation to the sorrowful, a healer of the sick and a most wonderful miracle-worker. By his prayers, he worked many miracles: he subdued a poisonous serpent, cast out demons and healed many of the sick-and he did this not only in his own town, but also in Rome and in the Thebaid. In a time of drought in the Thebaid, he obtained rain from God by prayer. There, in the Thebaid, his earthly life ended, and he took up his habitation in the eternal home of his Lord. He lived and labored in the seventh century.

Ephesians 3:8-21 KJV

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.



Saint Luke 4:1-15 KJV

4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

TRUST IN CHRIST

SAINT HESYCHIOS THE PRIEST

Let your soul, then, trust in Christ, let it call on Him and never fear: for it fights, not alone, but with the aid of a mighty King, Jesus Christ, Creator of all that is, both bodiless and embodied, visible and invisible.

The more the rain falls on the earth, the softer it makes it: similarly, Christ's holy name gladdens the earth of our heart the more we call upon it.

Those who lack experience should know that it is only through the unceasing watchfulness of our intellect and the constant invocation of Jesus Christ, our Creator and God, that we, coarse and cloddish in mind and body as we are, can overcome our bodiless and invisible enemies: for not only are they subtle, swift, malevolent and skilled in malice, but they have an experience in warfare gained over all the years since Adam. The experienced have as weapons the Jesus Prayer and the impulse to test and discern what is from God. The experienced have the best method and teacher of all: the activity, discernment and peace of God Himself.

Just as a child, young and guileless, delights in seeing a conjuror and in his innocence follows him about, so our soul, simple and good because created thus by its Master, delights in the delusive provocations of the devil. Once deceived it pursues something sinister as though it were good, just as a dove is lured away by the enemy of her children. In this way its thoughts become entwined in the fantasy provoked by the devil, whether this happens to be the face of a beautiful woman or some other thing forbidden by the commandments of Christ. Then, seeking to contrive some means through which it can actually attain what attracts it, the soul assents to the provocation and, to its own condemnation, turns this unlawful mental fantasy into a concrete, action by means of the body.

Such is the cunning of the evil one, and with these arrows he poisons every soul. It is therefore not safe to allow these thoughts to enter the heart in order to increase the intellect's experience of warfare, especially to start with, when the soul still greatly enjoys these demonic provocations and delights in pursuing them. But as soon as we perceive them, we should counter-attack and repulse them. Once the intellect has matured in this excellent activity, it is disciplined and perceptive. From then on it is unceasingly engaged in the battle of perceiving in their true light these 'little foxes', as the Prophet calls them, and it easily lays hold of them. Only when we have such knowledge and experience should we admit them and censure them.

Just as it is impossible for fire and water to pass through the same pipe together, so it is impossible for sin to enter the heart without first knocking at its door in the form of a fantasy provoked by the devil.

The provocation comes first, then our coupling with it, or the mingling of our thoughts with those of the wicked demons. Third comes our assent to the provocation, with both sets of intermingling thoughts contriving how to commit the sin in practice. Fourth comes the concrete action - that is, the sin itself. If, however, the intellect is attentive and watchful, and at once repulses the provocation by counter-attacking and gainsaying it and invoking the Lord Jesus, its consequences remain inoperative, for the devil, being a bodiless intellect, can deceive our souls only by means of fantasies and thoughts. David was speaking about these provocations of the devil when he said: 'Early in the morning I destroyed all the wicked of the earth, that I might cut off all evildoers from the city of the Lord' (Ps 101:8. LXX)

Extended Inclusions

ST ANTHONY THE GREAT

SAINT NIKOLAI VELIMIROVICH

The Lord loves mankind but He sends affliction 

that we may perceive our weakness and humble

ourselves and for this humility receive the Holy

Spirit.  With the Holy Spirit all things are good,

all things are joyful, all things are well

Saint Silouan the Athonite

HOW THE TRUE FAITH HAS
COME DOWN TO US

and

KNOWING GOD

St. Silouan of the

Holy Mountain Athos

The soul of all peoples always felt

that God exists, even though they

didn't know enough to worship the

true God. The Holy Spirit, however,

taught the Prophets first, then the

Apostles, after them the Holy Fathers

and our bishops and so the true faith

has come down to us. We knew the Lord

through the Holy Spirit. And once

we knew him, our soul became fixed in him.

Know, you peoples, that we were made

in order to glorify God in heaven, and

don't attach yourselves to the earth.

Because God is our Father and He loves

us, His greatly desired children. People

who don't know grace, don't seek it.

People have become attached to the earth

and this is why most of them don't know

that there's nothing earthly which can

compare with the sweetness of the

Holy Spirit.

TO BELIEVE OR TO KNOW

St. Silouan of the

Holy Mountain Athos

To believe that God exists is one thing;

To know God is another. 

The soul that

comes to know God fully, not longer

desires anything else. Nor does it

attach itself to anything on the earth;

and if you put before it a Kingdom,

it would not desire it. For the love

of God gives such sweetness and joy

to the soul that even the life of a king

can no longer give it any sweetness.

When prayer is actually prayer there is a connection. And when you pray to Christ you pray to and for ALL MANKIND in heaven and on earth. Don't wonder at these words.   Is He not the new Adam?  Is He not the Son of Man? 

Did He not say that if we receive the least, 

we receive Him?  

And when prayer is actually prayer you will love it more than all things, finding yourself actually yearning to leave what you are doing and go to Him in prayer because you know He is there waiting to visit with you.

(Ed.)