Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 73].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:11; for Sl. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:6.

3 ²¹Beloved, if our heart be not condemning us, we have boldness toward God. ²²And whatsoever we may ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing before Him. ²³And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and be loving one another, even as He gave us commandment. ²⁴And the one keeping His commandments abideth in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit Whom He gave to us.

4 ¹Beloved, cease believing every spirit, but keep on putting the spirits to the test, if they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²In this know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is of God; ³and every spirit which confesseth not that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it is coming, and now already it is in the world. ⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the One in you than the one in the world. ⁵They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: the one knowing God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us be loving one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loveth hath been born of God and knoweth God. ⁸The one who loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. ⁹In this was manifest the love of God among us, because God hath sent forth His only-begotten Son into the world, in order that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He Himself loved us, and sent forth His Son to be an expiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 65]. At that time:

14 ⁴³While Jesus spoke to the disciples, there came up Judas the Iscariote, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. ⁴⁴And the one who delivered Him up had given a signal to them, saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He Himself; lay hold of Him and lead Him away safely.” ⁴⁵And having come, straightway, he went to Him and saith, “Hail, Rabbi!” and ardently kissed Him. ⁴⁶And they laid their hands upon Him and seized Him. ⁴⁷And a certain one of those who stood by drew the sword and struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his ear. ⁴⁸And Jesus answered and said to them, “As against a robber ye came out with swords and clubs to arrest Me. ⁴⁹“Daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not lay hold of Me. But it is that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰And having left Him, they all fled. ⁵¹Now a certain young man was following Him, having a linen cloth thrown about over his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, ⁵²but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

⁵³And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ⁵⁴And Peter followed Him from afar, even to inside the court of the high priest. And he was sitting together with the servants, and warming himself by the light of the fire. ⁵⁵And the chief priests and the whole sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus, in order to put Him to death; and they were not finding any. ⁵⁶For many were bearing false witness against Him, but their testimonies were not alike. ⁵⁷And some rose up and were bearing false witness against Him, saying, ⁵⁸“We heard Him saying, ‘I will destroy this temple, the one made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” ⁵⁹And not even so was their testimony alike. ⁶⁰And the high priest stood up in the midst and questioned Jesus, saying, “Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these bear witness against?” ⁶¹But He was silent, and answered nothing. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saith to Him, “Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶²And Jesus said, “I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right of the power, and coming on the clouds of the heaven.” ⁶³And the high priest, having torn his tunics, saith, “What need have we still of witnesses? ⁶⁴“Ye heard the blasphemy; what doth it appear to you?” And they all condemned Him to be liable to the penalty of death. ⁶⁵And some began to spit upon Him, and to cover His face all around, and to buffet Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy to us: Who is the one that smote Thee?” And the servants were striking Him with slaps on the face with the palms of their hands.

⁶⁶And as Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the young maidservants of the high priest. ⁶⁷And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “Thou also wast with Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor even understand what thou sayest.” And he went forth outside to the forecourt, and a cock crowed. ⁶⁹And the young maidservant, having seen him again, began to say to those standing by, “This is one of them.” ⁷⁰And again he kept on denying it. And a little after, again, they who stood by were saying to Peter, “Truly thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilæan, and thy mode of speech is like one.” ⁷¹But he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not this Man of Whom ye speak.” ⁷²And for the second time a cock crowed. And Peter was reminded of the word which Jesus said to him, “Before a cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” And having thought thereon, he began to weep.

15 ¹And straightway in the morning, the 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.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Haralampos, Bishop of Magnesia in Thessaly.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 23rd – Civil Calendar
February 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Haralambos (Charalampus).

This great saint was a priest in Magnesia, and suffered for Christ at the age of 113. When a violent persecution broke out under Emperor Septimus Severus, the aged Haralambos did not hide from his persecutors, but freely and openly preached the Christian Faith. He endured all tortures as though not in the body, and when they flayed the living flesh from him, the godly saint said to the emperor’s soldiers: ‘Thank you, my brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life.’ He performed many wonders and brought many to the Faith. Even the emperor’s daughter, Gallina, repudiated the paganism of her father and became a Christian. Condemned to death and led to the place of execution, St. Haralambos raised his arms to heaven and prayed for all men, that God would give them bodily health and salvation of soul, and that He would grant them the fruits of the earth in abundance: ‘Lord, Thou knowest that men are flesh and blood; forgive them their sins and pour out Thy blessing on all.’ After praying thus, the saintly elder gave his soul to God before the executioner had laid his sword to his neck. He suffered in 202. Gallina took his body and buried it.

2. Our Holy Father Prochorus the Orach-Eater.

A wonder-worker of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev, he was named the Orach-eater because the whole time he lived in the monastery he never tasted bread, but fed himself on orach prepared according to his own particular method as a sort of bread. When he gave someone some of this bread with his blessing, it was as sweet as honey, but if anyone stole some, it was as bitter as wormwood.

Once, when there was a dearth of salt in Russia, Prochorus distributed ashes to the people for salt. The ashes that he distributed with his blessing became salt; however, ashes that anyone took for himself remained ordinary ashes. Prince Svyatopolk ordered that all the ashes from Prochorus’ cell be brought to the court without his permission, let alone his blessing. When the ashes were brought there, it was obvious to everyone that they were ashes and not salt. Then Prochorus told all the people who came to him for salt to go to the prince’s court, and when the prince threw the ashes away, to take them and use them as salt. This they did, and the ashes again became salt. The prince himself, learning of this, was filled with a deep respect and love for him. When Prochorus died in 1107, Prince Svyatopolk placed him with his own hands in a grave near the great Russian Saints Anthony and Theodosius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Many of the great infirmities to which man is subject have their origin, known or unknown, in his past. The origins of these great infirmities, such as madness for example, are none other than violations of the moral law of God. While St. Haralambos was undergoing martyrdom, the royal torturer learned of his wonder-working power and ordered that a madman be brought before him, to find out if Haralambos could heal him. The devil had tormented this man for 35 years, driving him into the deserts and mountains and casting him into mires and abysses. When this madman drew near to Haralambos, the demon smelled the fragrance of the holy man and cried out: ‘I beg thee, O servant of God, do not torment me before the time, but order me and I will come out; and if thou desirest, I will tell thee how I entered into the man.’ And the saint ordered him to speak. The demon said: ‘This man desired to rob his neighbor, and thought within himself: “If I don’t first kill the man, I shall not be able to take all his goods.” So he went and killed his neighbor. Catching him in such an act. I entered into him and have been residing here these 35 years.’ Hearing this, the saint of God ordered the demon to come out of the man at once and leave him in peace, and the man was healed and became calm.

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.