Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 146]. Brethren:

10 ²³All things are lawful to me, but not all things are expedient; all things are lawful to me, but not all things build up. ²⁴Let no one seek that of his own, but each one that of the other. ²⁵Keep on eating everything that is sold in a market, examining nothing for the sake of conscience: ²⁶for “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof [Ps. 23(24):1].” ²⁷And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and ye wish to go, be eating everything set before you, examining nothing for the sake of conscience. ²⁸If anyone should tell you, “This is a sacrifice to idols,” cease eating, on account of that one who informed, and for the sake of conscience; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof [Ps. 23(24):1].”

Another Saturday Reading for the Departed

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 270].

4 ¹³Brethren, we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not be grieving, even as the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and is risen, so also those who fell asleep through Jesus will God bring with Him. ¹⁵For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we the living, the ones remaining over until the coming of the Lord, in no wise shall precede those who fell asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout of command, with a voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. ¹⁷Then we the living, the ones remaining over, shall be carried off together with them in clouds to a meeting of the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 105]. The Lord said:

21 ⁸“Be taking heed lest ye be led astray; for many shall come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and ‘The time hath drawn near.’ Do not then begin to go after them. ⁹“But whenever ye hear of wars and instabilities, do not begin to be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end is not straightway.... ²⁵“And there shall be signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars; and upon the earth anguish of nations, with perplexity, roaring of the sea and rolling swell; ²⁶“men fainting from fear and expectation of those things which are coming upon the inhabited world, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ²⁷“And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory....

³³“The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words in no wise shall pass away. ³⁴“And be taking heed to yourselves, lest your hearts should be weighed down with carousing, and drinking, and cares of this life, and that day should come upon you suddenly. ³⁵“For as a snare shall it come upon all those sitting upon the face of the whole earth. ³⁶“Be vigilant then, in every season entreating that ye might be accounted worthy to escape all these things which are about to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Commemoration of the Departed on Meatfare Saturday

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 16]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

5 ²⁴“Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of death into life. ²⁵“Verily, verily, I say to you, that an hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. ²⁶“For even as the Father hath life in Himself, so He also gave to the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷“and He also gave to Him authority to execute judgment. That He is Son of Man, ²⁸“cease marvelling at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the graves shall hear His voice, ²⁹“and shall go forth—they who did good things to a resurrection of life, but they who practised bad things to a resurrection of condemnation. ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy Father Martinian, monk of Cæsarea in Palestine.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 26th – Civil Calendar
February 13th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Simeon the Myrrh-Streamer.

Stefan Nemanja, the great ruler of the Serbian people, unifier of the Serbian lands, creator of an independent Serbian government, defender of Orthodoxy, driver-out of heresy, was first baptized in the Latin Church when he was a child, but later received a real Baptism and became a member of the Orthodox Church. In its organization, Serbia was at first dependent on Greece, but later shook off this dependence and became completely autonomous. When he had strengthened the state and the Orthodox Church within the state, he then, following the example of his son Sava, received the monastic schema at the monastery of Studenica in 1195, being given the name Simeon. His wife Anna also received the monastic schema and the name Anastasia, and retired to a women’s monastery. After two years’ monasticism at Studenica, Simeon went to the Holy Mountain. There, he stayed at first in the monastery of Vatopedi together with Sava. Father and son spent days and nights in prayer. There they built six chapels: to the Savior, the Unmercenaries, St. George, St. Theodore, the Forerunner and St. Nicholas. They bought the ruins of Hilandar and built a beautiful monastery, in which Simeon lived only eight months before his death. When he was at his last breath, Sava, according to his wish, placed him on a simple rush mat. With his eyes fixed on the icon of the Mother of God with the Savior, the blessed elder pronounced these words: ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.’ And he went to the Lord, on February 13th, 1200.

2. Our Holy Father Martinian.

The life of this saint is wonderful beyond measure and is worth reading in full. What did he not endure to fulfill the law of God? At the age of eighteen, he went off into a mountain in Cappadocia called ‘the Ark’ and there spent 25 years in fasting, vigils and prayer, and struggling with manifold temptations. When a woman came to tempt him and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he leapt barefoot into the fire and stood in it until the pain brought forth tears from his eyes and he had killed all lust within himself. When other temptations arose, he fled to a lonely rock in the sea and lived there. When, though, in a shipwreck, a woman swam to the rock, he leapt into the sea. But a dolphin took him upon its back and brought him, by God’s providence, to the shore. He then decided to make nowhere his permanent home but to travel incessantly. Thus he passed through 164 towns in two years, exhorting and advising the people. He finally arrived in Athens, where he died in 422.

3. Saints Zoe and Photine.

Zoe (Zoa) at first tempted St. Martinian to immorality, but when she saw this hermit leap into the fire to kill all lust in himself, she repented bitterly, went to a monastery in Bethlehem and lived there in heroic asceticism as a hermit and anchorite. Repenting of all her sins, she received the gift of wonder-working from the Lord. St. Photine (Photinia) was thrown by the sea onto the island where St. Martinian was living in solitude. Martinian immediately left the island, but Photine remained there to the end of her days in fasting and prayer.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The great Stefan Nemanja, whose authoritative word was unreservedly heeded by all, at whom peoples and kings trembled, became a monk and served the monks of the Holy Mountain as a model example of meekness, humility, goodness and prayer. And his death was the death of a truly godly man and spiritual guide. He took to his bed on February 7th, called St. Sava to him, placed his hands on him and blessed him, saying: ‘My beloved child, light of my eyes, comfort and guardian of my old age, the time for us to part has come; the Lord is letting me go forth in peace. But do not grieve, my child, for our parting; this is common to all. Here we part; but we shall meet again hereafter, where there is no more parting.’ On February 12th St. Simeon told Sava to dress him in his burial habit, spread rushes for him on the ground, put a stone for his head and thus lay him there. Then he called together all the monks and asked their forgiveness. At dawn on the 13th, while the monks were singing the morning office in the church, their voices reaching the dying man’s cell, St. Simeon’s face lit up once more and he gave his soul to God.

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.