Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Pascalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 74]. Beloved:

4 ²⁰If anyone should say, “I love God,” and be hating his brother, he is a liar; for the one not loving his brother whom he hath seen, how is he able to love God Whom he hath not seen? ²¹And this commandment have we from Him, that the one loving God, be loving his brother also.

5 ¹Everyone who believeth that Jesus is the Christ hath been born of God; and everyone who loveth Him Who begat loveth also him who hath been begotten of Him. ²In this we know that we love the children of God, whenever we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we be keeping His commandments. And His commandments are not heavy. ⁴For everything that hath been born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory, the victory having overcome the world—our faith. ⁵Who is the one overcoming the world, if not the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is the One Who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the One Who beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three bearing witness in the heaven: the Father, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are One. ⁸And there are three bearing witness in the earth: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three are for the one. ⁹If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God which He hath testified concerning His Son. ¹⁰The one believing in the Son of God hath the witness in himself; the one not believing God hath made Him a liar, because he hath not believed in the testimony which God hath testified concerning His Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²The one having the Son hath the life; the one not having the Son of God hath not the life.

¹³I am writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and in order that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we be asking anything for ourselves according to His will, He heareth us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we may be asking for ourselves, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. ¹⁶If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give life to him, for those that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; not concerning that do I say one should make request. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death. ¹⁸We know that everyone who hath been born of God sinneth not, but the one who was born of God keepeth himself, and the evil one doth not take hold of him. ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. ²⁰But we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, in order that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and Life Eternal.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from the idols. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 66]. At that time:

15 ¹The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole sanhedrin, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate. ²And Pilate questioned Him, “Thou art the King of the Jews?” And He answered and said to him, “Thou sayest.” ³And the chief priests were accusing Him of many things, but He answered nothing. ⁴And Pilate was questioning Him again, saying, “Answerest Thou nothing? Behold how many things they bear witness against Thee.” ⁵But Jesus answered nothing any more, so that Pilate marvelled. ⁶Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whomsoever they were asking for themselves. ⁷And there was one called Barabbas, who had been bound with fellow insurrectionists who had committed murder in the sedition. ⁸And the crowd, having cried out, began to ask him to do even as he always used to do for them. ⁹But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do ye wish that I release to you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he was perceiving that the chief priests had delivered Him up by reason of envy. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, in order that he should rather release Barabbas to them. ¹²And Pilate answered and said again to them, “What do ye wish then that I should do to Him Whom ye call King of the Jews?” ¹³And they cried out again, “Crucify Him.” ¹⁴But Pilate was saying to them, “Why, what evil did He do?” And they cried out more exceedingly, “Crucify Him.” ¹⁵And Pilate, willing to do that which was satisfactory to the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered up Jesus, after he scourged Him, in order that He might be crucified.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy fathers and œcumenical teachers, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, and our holy father among the saints, Hippolytos, Pope of Rome, and those with him.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 334]. Brethren:

13 ⁷Be remembering those who lead you, who spoke to you the word of God, whose faith keep on imitating, observing attentively the end of their conduct: ⁸Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and to the ages. ⁹Cease being carried about by various and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be confirmed by grace, not by foods, in which those walking therein were not profited. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those serving the tabernacle have no authority to eat; ¹¹for the bodies of those animals, “whose blood is being brought into the holies for sins” by the high priest, “are being burned outside of the encampment [cf. Lev. 16:27].” ¹²Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people by His own blood, suffered outside of the gate. ¹³Let us be going forth therefore to Him outside of the encampment, bearing His reproach; ¹⁴for we have no abiding city here, but we seek the coming one. ¹⁵Through Him, then, let us be offering up a “sacrifice of praise [Lev. 7:2(12)]” continually to God, that is, “the fruit of the lips [cf. Hos. 14:3(2); Is. 57:19],” giving thanks to His name. ¹⁶But cease being forgetful of doing good and of contributing; for God is well pleased with such sacrifices.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 12th – Civil Calendar
January 30th – Church Calendar

1. The Three Great Hierarchs: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.

Each has his personal feast day in the month of January; Basil on the 1st, Gregory on the 25th and Chrysostom on the 27th. The common feast we celebrate today was instituted in the 11th century, in the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos. At one time there was a dispute among the people about who was the greatest of the three. Some gave St. Basil the pre-eminence for his purity and courage; others St. Gregory for the unfathomable depth and height of his theological mind; others still St. Chrysostom for the wonderful beauty of his speech and the clarity of his presentation of the Faith. So the first were called Basilians, the second Gregorians and the third Johannites. But, by the providence of God, this dispute was resolved to the benefit of the Church and the yet greater glory of the three saints. The Bishop of Efchaita, John (June 14th), had a vision in his sleep, in which each of these saints appeared to him in great glory and indescribable beauty, and then all three together. They then said to him: ‘We are one in God, as you see, and there is no dispute among us;...neither is there among us a first or a second.’ The saints also advised Bishop John to compile a common feast for them and to set aside for them a day of common commemoration. The quarrel was settled as indicated by the wonderful vision, January 30th being set aside for the common commemoration of the three hierarchs. The Greeks regard this feast not only as a Church festival, but as their greatest national and scholastic holiday.

2. The Hieromartyr Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome.

He suffered for the Faith in the time of Claudius. When, in Rome, the virgin Chrysa was being martyred for Christ, St. Hippolytus stood up for her before her torturers and denounced them. Because of this protest, he was brought to trial and condemned to death after prolonged torture. They bound his hands and feet and cast him into the sea. Twenty other martyrs suffered with him and Chrysa in about 236.

3. The Holy Martyr Theophilus the New.

As commander-in-chief under the Emperor Constantine and Empress Irene, he was enslaved by the Hagarenes and held four years in prison. When he withstood all the Moslems’ insistence that he repudiate the Christian Faith, he was beheaded with the sword in the year 784, and went to the Lord.

4. St. Peter, King of Bulgaria.

He was the son of Simeon, and a great admirer of St. John of Rila. He made the Bulgarian Church independent of Constantinople and defended Orthodoxy in Bulgaria against the Bogomils. He died in 967 at the age of 56, after an unsuccessful war against the Hungarians and Russians.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Here is an example of how kings seek counsel of the saints, of how saints flee from vanity and riches, and how they counsel kings. The Orthodox King Peter of Bulgaria set off with his retinue to the mountain of Rila, urged by the irresistible desire to see St. John of Rila and benefit from his instruction. The king sent men on ahead, to let the saint know. But the saint would not agree to see the king. The saddened king sent other men with some food, a fair amount of gold and the request that the saint would commit to writing some advice for him. St. John received the food and returned the gold, refusing to touch it, and replied to the king: ‘If you desire the heavenly kingdom, be merciful as is your heavenly Father. Do not give yourself to injustice and be not greedy; be meek, quiet, accessible to all. Do not listen to praise from your nobles. May your royal purple shine with all the virtues. Let the remembrance of death never leave your soul. Humble yourself before the feet of Mother Church; bow your head before her greatest saints, so that the King of kings, seeing your devotion, may give you such blessings as have never entered into the heart of man.’ Receiving this letter, the king kissed it, and later referred to it frequently.

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. Edited by Dormition Skete.