Orthodox Daily Devotional
- Orthodox Daily Devotional
Orthodox Daily Devotional
Sunday, April 19, 2026 — Antipascha (Thomas Sunday)
Second Sunday of Pascha — Tone 1
Today’s Commemorations
ANTIPASCHA — 2nd Sunday of Pascha, Thomas Sunday
“Doubting has yielded to faith: Thomas sees the wounds and cries, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
- St. Thomas Sunday — the Holy Apostle Thomas confesses the Risen Christ
- Martyr Theodore and those with him
- Venerable John of the Ancient Caves in Palestine (8th c.)
- Martyrs Christopher, Theonas, and Anthony at Rome (303)
- Hieromartyr Paphnutius of Jerusalem
- St. George the Confessor, Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia (9th c.)
- St. Tryphon, Patriarch of Constantinople (933)
- Venerable Nikēphóros, Abbot of Catabad
- Monastic Martyr Agathangelos of Esphigmenou, Mt. Athos (1819)
- Venerable Simeon of Philotheou, Mt. Athos (16th c.)
Scripture Readings
I. The Gospel of Matthew 28:16–20
The Great Commission
¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
¹⁸And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
II. Acts of the Apostles 5:12–20
Signs and Wonders by the Apostles
¹²And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. ¹³Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. ¹⁴And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ¹⁵so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
¹⁶Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
¹⁷Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, ¹⁸and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. ¹⁹But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰**“Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”**
III. The Gospel of John 20:19–31
Christ Appears to the Disciples — The Confession of Thomas
¹⁹Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
²¹So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” ²²And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
²⁴Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
²⁶And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
²⁸And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
²⁹Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
³⁰And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary
On Matthew 28:18–20 — The Great Commission
The command to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is the fullest and most explicit Trinitarian formula in the Gospels, and the foundation of the Church’s sacramental life. The risen Christ exercises all authority in heaven and on earth — a claim that echoes Daniel 7:13–14 and the universal dominion of the Son of Man. The commission does not merely authorize preaching; it establishes the ongoing apostolic mission of the Church.
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age” — this promise undergirds every liturgy, every baptism, every priestly blessing. The Risen Lord is not absent but perpetually present. The Fathers understand “the end of the age” not as a far-off limit but as a pledge: the Church does not act alone.
The note in the OSB observes that this tradition — oral and written instruction together — forms the deposit of faith entrusted to the Church (cf. 2 Timothy 3:14–17; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). Matthew’s Gospel ends not with departure but with presence.
On Acts 5:15 — The Shadow of Peter
“That at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.”
The Orthodox Study Bible notes: The power of God rests in His Church. While many people had great faith, Peter is given a particular grace to heal in order to draw people to the unity of the Church. This passage reveals how God works through physical creation — for even light and shadow are given divine power.
This is not superstition but sacramental theology: God chooses to work through material means — water, oil, bread, wine, and yes, even a shadow — because the Incarnation has sanctified creation itself. The shadow of Peter is not Peter’s power; it is the power of the Risen Christ radiating through His anointed servant. The Church is not merely an organization but an extension of the Incarnation into time.
The remarkable unity of the early Church — “all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch” — is itself a sign: the Resurrection had not produced individuals with private religious experiences, but a community, a Body.
The apostles’ arrest and miraculous release (vv. 17–20) echoes the pattern of the Resurrection itself: the powers of this world seal the door; the Angel of the Lord opens it. “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” The life spoken of is the Risen Life — not merely a doctrine about the afterlife, but this life, zōē, divine life poured into the world.
On John 20:19–31 — Thomas Sunday
“Peace be with you.” Three times the Risen Lord speaks this word. It is not a greeting but a gift — the shalom that the world cannot give (Jn 14:27), the fruit of the Resurrection. The locked doors are no obstacle to the glorified Body of Christ, yet the wounds remain. This is essential: the Resurrection does not erase the Cross. The marks of the nails and the lance are carried into eternity, transformed but real.
The Breathing of the Spirit (v. 22): Christ breathes on the disciples — a deliberate echo of Genesis 2:7, when God breathed life into Adam. The New Adam breathes a new life, the Holy Spirit, into the new humanity. John’s Pentecost is intimate, personal, quiet — a breath rather than a wind and fire. Both are real; both are the same Spirit.
Thomas’s absence and return: The Fathers read Thomas with great tenderness, not condemnation. His doubt is honest. His condition is specific. And Christ meets him exactly where he stands — “Reach your finger here.” God does not despise honest wrestling. He enters it.
“My Lord and my God!” — The confession of Thomas is the highest Christological declaration in John’s Gospel. It is the natural culmination of everything John has written. Thomas, who doubted most publicly, confesses most completely. The Fathers note that Thomas may not have actually needed to touch the wounds; the appearance of Christ was enough. His words tumble out not as a conclusion to an argument but as an act of worship.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” — This beatitude is addressed directly to the reader, to every generation of the Church that would read this Gospel without having seen the Risen Lord in the flesh. The Eucharist is precisely this: the encounter with the Risen Christ without physical sight, through faith, through bread and wine, through the community assembled in His name.
The OSB notes that this passage is read on the second Sunday of Pascha, called Thomas Sunday — the Sunday that closes the Bright Week and opens the rest of the Paschal season. The Church returns to this encounter every year as a kind of re-commissioning: we are, all of us, those who have not seen, and yet — by grace — believe.
A Word for Reflection
Today the Paschal joy meets honest doubt. Thomas is one of us — we who were not there at the tomb, who have not touched the wounds, who carry questions in one hand and faith in the other. The Church does not ask us to pretend the questions aren’t real. She asks us to show up, to be present in the assembly, to remain with the others even in our uncertainty.
And then — Christ comes through locked doors.
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
Source: The Orthodox Study Bible (St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology). Lectionary readings via OCA.org. Devotional compiled for Sunday, April 19, 2026 — Second Sunday of Pascha.