Spiritual Reading

In addition to the Scriptures and lives of the saints, the reading of spiritual books is extremely important for our lives as Christians.

Constantly inundated by false ideas and suggestive advertising, it is critical that we nourish our souls with Godly material on a daily basis. Spiritual reading is most effective as part of our daily prayer rule, when our hearts are warm and receptive to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

 

Scriptures of the Day

Below are the daily readings prescribed for Orthodox Christians both for liturgical and personal use. Typically there is an epistle and gospel reading each day, however during special seasons and on feast days there may be many more readings.

Saints Remembered Today

In the Orthodox Church there are saints commemorated every day.

The Prologue of Ohrid

One of the most accessible collections of these daily lives of saints is called the Prologue of Ohrid. Each day holds a few brief accounts of the saints remembered, a hymn, a homily, and a spiritual reflection. The Prologue is available in the following formats:

Here is the reading from The Prologue for today:

Daily Saints

Our Holy Father James the Confessor, bishop, of the Studion (8th c.)

His birthplace and the place of his episcopate are unknown. He was a monk of the Studion monastery in Constantinople, and a disciple of St Theodore the Studite. As a bishop he was severely persecuted by the iconoclasts in the time of the Emperor Constantine Copronymus, enduring hunger, imprisonment and mocking, thus earning the title “Confessor.” Saint Theodore wrote a homily in honor of him.

Our Holy Father Serapion (366)

‘A companion of St Antony the Great, he lived in the Nitrian desert, in charge of the monastery of Arsina which contained 11,000 monks. Palladius and Sozomenes gave him the title “the Great”. He entered into rest in about 366. St Serapion wrote: “Do not think that sickness is grave; only sin is grave… Sickness leads us only to the tomb, but sin follows the sinner beyond it”.’ (Prologue)