Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 303]. Brethren:

1 ¹God, Who of old, in many parts and in many ways, spoke to the fathers through the prophets, ²did in these last of days speak to us through the Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages, ³Who being the effulgence of the glory and impress of His hypostasis, and bearing all things by the word of His power, having made for Himself our purification through Himself, sat down on the right of the Majesty in high places, ⁴having become so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they. ⁵For to which of the angels said He at any time, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee [Ps. 2:7]”? And again, “I will be to Him for a Father, and He shall be to Me for a Son [2 Kgs.(2 Sam.) 7:14]”? ⁶And whenever He again should bring in the firstborn into the inhabited world, He saith, “And let all the angels of God do homage to Him [Deut. 32:43 LXX; cf. Ps. 96(97):8(7)].” ⁷And indeed with reference to the angels He saith, “The One Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire [Ps. 103(104):5(4)]”; ⁸but with reference to the Son, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom [Ps. 44(45):5(6)]. ⁹“Thou didst love righteousness and didst hate lawlessness; on this account, God, Thy God, anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond Thy fellows [Ps. 44(45):6(7)].” ¹⁰And, “Thou, O Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands [Ps. 101(102):25]. ¹¹“They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they shall all become old as an outer garment [Ps. 101(102):26], ¹²“and as a covering Thou shalt roll them up, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail [Ps. 101(102):26, 27].”

Another Reading for Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast in Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 292]. Child Timothy:

2 ¹Be thou empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and the things which thou heardest from me in the midst of many witnesses, commit thou these things to faithful men who shall be competent also to teach others. ³Thou therefore suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴No one serving as a soldier is entangled with the affairs of life, in order that he might please the one who enlisted him. ⁵And if anyone also contend as an athlete in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully. ⁶The farmer who laboreth must be first to partake of the fruits. ⁷Be considering what I say; O may the Lord give thee understanding in all things! ⁸Be remembering Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, Who hath been raised from the dead, according to my Gospel, ⁹in which I suffer hardship even to bonds as a malefactor, but the word of God hath not been bound. ¹⁰On this account I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might also attain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 10]. At that time:

2 ²³During the sabbath days Jesus was going along through the sown fields; and His disciples began to make their way plucking the ears of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Behold, why do they that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?” ²⁵And He was saying to them, “Did ye not ever read what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him: ²⁶“how he entered into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the loaves set forth before the presence of God, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” ²⁷And He was saying to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. ²⁸“Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

3 ¹And He entered again into the synagogue; and a man was there whose hand had been withered. ²And they were watching Him closely, whether He would cure him on the sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. ³And He saith to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand in the midst.” ⁴And He saith to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And having looked round about on them with wrath, being grieved for the hardness of their heart, He saith to the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored sound as the other.

Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 52]. The Lord said to His disciples:

15 ¹⁷“These things I command you, that ye be loving one another.

¹⁸“If the world hate you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hath hated you. ¹⁹“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world—but I chose you for Myself out of the world—therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰“Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they know not the One Who sent Me. ²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no pretext for their sin. ²³“The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also. ²⁴“If I did not do the works among them which no other one hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵“But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which hath been written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause [cf. Ps. 34(35):22, 68(69):5(4)].’ ²⁶“But whenever the Paraclete should come, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth Who proceedeth from the Father, that One shall bear witness concerning Me. ²⁷“And ye also are bearing witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.

16 ¹“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye should not be made to stumble. ²“They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea moreover, there cometh an hour that everyone who killeth you should think that he offereth God a service.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Procopios, Confessor of Decapolis.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 12th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 11th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 27th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Prokopios of Decapolis.

This saint came from Decapolis by the Sea of Galilee. In youth, he gave himself to the monastic life and passed through all those prescribed labors that purify the heart and uplift the soul to God. When a persecution on the part of the wicked Emperor Leo the Isaurian broke out over icons, Prokopios stood up and defended icons, showing that their veneration is not idolatry, for Christians know that to prostrate themselves before icons is not to prostrate before dead matter, but before the living saints depicted on the icons. Prokopios was bestially tortured, imprisoned, beaten and flogged with iron flails. When the wicked emperor was murdered, being already a lost soul, the icons were returned to the churches and Prokopios returned to his monastery, where he spent his remaining days in peace. In old age, he entered into God’s kingdom, where he beheld with joy the living angels and saints whose images were on the honored icons on earth. He departed this life peacefully in the 9th century.

2. Our Holy Father Thalelaios (Thaleleus), a Syrian hermit.

He was at first in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, but then settled in a pagan graveyard, famed for the appearing of evil spirits and bogies. To conquer his terror by faith in God, Thalelaios settled in that graveyard and lived there for many years, enduring much from the fallen spirits both day and night. By his great faith and love towards God, he was endowed by Him with the gift of working wonders, and did much good for the sick and suffering. He died in about 460.

3. Our Holy Father Titus of the Kiev Caves.

Titus was a priest and had a sincere love for a deacon, Evagrius, as brother for brother. But, though such was their love at first, it later became a mutual malice and hatred, sown by the devil. They hated each other so much that, when one of them used the censer in church, the other turned and went outside. Titus tried many times to make peace with his adversary, but in vain. Titus became ill, and all thought that he was dying. He begged that Evagrius be brought to him, that they might forgive each other. Evagrius was brought by force to Titus’ bedside, but he fled away, saying that he would not forgive Titus, either in this world or the next. As he said this, he fell to the ground and breathed his last. But Titus rose from his bed healed, and revealed how the demons had flown around him until he forgave Evagrius, and when he had done so, the demons had fled and attacked Evagrius, with angels of God surrounding himself. He died in 1190.

4. Our Holy Father Stephen.

He was first an official at the court of the Emperor Maurice, but then left his courtly service, and urged by the love of Christ, built an almshouse for the elderly in Constantinople. He died peacefully in 614.

5. The Holy Martyr Julian the Gout-Sufferer.

Because of his gout, he was unable either to stand or to walk. He was brought to trial in Alexandria on a stretcher for his faith in Christ and burned alive on a pyre, along with his pupil Chronyon, in the time of the Emperor Decius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Whenever we are outside the grace of God, we are outside ourselves, and compared with our grace-endowed nature, we are in no better state than a madman compared with a healthy man. Only a grace-endowed man is a natural man; that is, a man of genuine nature, in whom the grace of God rules and reigns. St. Simeon the New Theologian says: ‘A lamp, even if it is filled with oil and has a wick, remains completely dark if it is not lit. So the soul, with regard to its adornment with all the virtues; if it has not the light and grace of the Holy Spirit, it is quenched and dark’ (Homily 59). As the great apostle says, ‘by the grace of God, I am what I am’ (I Cor. 15:10). To be without grace means to be estranged from God, and thus estranged from the reality of our own being. Our being, our personality, strengthens its reality and receives its fullness only in closeness to God. Thus sinners are those who are sick, lost in insubstantial shadows, without reality and without understanding.

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.