Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The commemoration of the holy New-martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Land.

     If the 25^th of January falls on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, chant the service of the New-martyrs on the preceding Sunday. If the 25^th of January falls on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, chant the service on the following Sunday. If the 25^th of January falls on Sunday, chant the service for the New-martyrs that day, and the service to St. Gregory the Theologian on the 27^th of January, in conjunction with that of St. John Chrysostom; in which case the hymns to St. Gregory precede those of St. John's. Thus the service can occur as early as the 22^nd of January or as late as the 28^th of that month.

     If the service coincides with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, or with that of the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, or with Meatfare Sunday, the service of the New-martyrs is then chanted in conjunction with the Triodion and its Prokeimenon.

     If a service to a major saint should fall on the same Sunday, we chant the service to the major saint on the closest Saturday, or on some other day.

     If the church's feast day should fall on such a Sunday, chant the church's feast day in conjunction with the Triodion, with no further alteration. The service of the New-martyrs is then moved to the following Sunday.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 99]. Brethren:

8 ²⁸We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformable to the image of His Son, in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰But whom He foreordained, these also He called; and whom He called, these also He justified; and whom He justified, these also He glorified. ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He Who indeed spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifieth. ³⁴Who is the one who condemneth? Christ is the One Who died, but much more is He the One also Who was raised, Who also is at the right of God, Who also intercedeth for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it hath been written: “For on account of Thee, we are being put to death the whole day; we were counted as sheep of slaughter [Ps. 43(44):23(22)].” ³⁷But in all these things we more than conquer through the One Who loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things coming, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 106]. The Lord said to His disciples, “Be taking heed of men:

21 ¹²“For they shall lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of My name; ¹³“but it shall prove to be a testimony for you. ¹⁴“Therefore settle it for yourselves in your hearts not to premeditate to make a defense; ¹⁵“for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all those who oppose you shall not be able to contradict nor withstand. ¹⁶“And ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and kinfolk, and friends, and brethren; and they shall put some of you to death. ¹⁷“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake. ¹⁸“But a hair of your head in no wise shall perish. ¹⁹“In your patience win your souls.”

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Thirty-Third Week or Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

Mode One — First Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 296]. Child Timothy:

3 ¹⁰Thou hast closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, ¹¹persecutions, sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra—what persecutions I endured! And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹²Yes, and all those who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. ¹³But evil men and cheats shall advance to the worse, leading astray and being led astray. ¹⁴But thou, keep on abiding in what thou didst learn and wast assured of, knowing from whom thou didst learn, ¹⁵and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings, which are able to make thee wise in regard to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 89]. The Lord said this parable:

18 ¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹“The Pharisee, having assumed a stance, was praying these things to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men—rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this one, the tax collector. ¹²“‘I fast twice a week; I tithe all things, as much as I acquire.’ ¹³“And the tax collector, having stood afar off, was not willing even to lift up his eyes to the heaven, but kept beating upon his breast, saying, ‘God, be gracious to me the sinner.’ ¹⁴“I say to you, this one went down to his house having been justified rather than that one; for everyone who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and the one who humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

23. The commemoration of Hieromartyr Clement, Bishop of Ankyra.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 246]. Brethren:

3 ²⁰Our citizenship existeth in the heavens, from where we also patiently await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹Who shall transform the body of our humiliation, that it may become conformed to the body of His glory, according to the energy of Him Who is able even to subject all things to Himself.

4 ¹Therefore, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, thus be standing in the Lord, beloved ones. ²I beseech Evodia and I beseech Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord; ³yea, I ask thee also, genuine yoke-fellow, keep on assisting those women who struggled together with me in the Gospel, and Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

for Sl. usage, see [Heb. 13:7-16].

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.

for Sl. usage, see [Jn. 10:9-16].

Synaxarion Readings

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

O Creator of all above and below, as Thou receivest the thrice-holy hymn from the angels, so also from mankind receive the Triodion. He who lives like a Pharisee is far from the Church, for Christ is received within, O ye humble of heart.

With God on this present day we begin the Triodion, the hymns of which were composed by many of our holy and God-bearing fathers, inspired by the Holy Spirit according to their worthiness. The first of all was the great author St. Cosmas of Maiuma, who composed the three odes (symbolic of the Holy and life-creating Trinity) for the Great and Holy Week of the Passion of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. After him, others of the fathers, including Saints Theodore and Joseph of the Studite Monastery, following his zealous example, arranged the services of the other weeks of the Holy and Great Forty-day Fast, reserving them at first for the use of the Studite Monastery. Furthermore they composed and arranged hymns, seeking them and collecting them from other books of the fathers. Since, according to the Triodion, Sunday, the celebration of the Resurrection, is the first day of the week as well as the last or eighth day, they prescribed the first ode (canticle) of the canon to be sung on the second day of the week, i.e. Monday. The second ode was prescribed for Tuesday, the third day of the week, the third ode for Wednesday, the fourth ode for Thursday, the fifth ode for Friday, and the sixth and seventh odes for Saturday. The rest, the eighth and ninth odes, are prescribed for every day.

It must be known, however, that although it is called the Triodion, it does have services with other than three-ode canons. It is so named because the majority of the services have three-ode canons, especially during Holy Week. For it was our holy fathers’ idea that through the entire Triodion would be commemorated in a concise form all God’s benefits to us from the beginning, using it as a reminder for all of us that we were created by Him, and were exiled from Paradise through the tasting of the fruit, rejecting the commandment that was given to us for our knowledge, and we were cast out through the envy of the arch villain serpent and enemy, who was made to crawl for his arrogance; that we remained cut off from the benefits of Paradise and were led by the devil; that the Son and Logos of God, having suffered in His mercy, bowing the heavens, descended and made His abode in the Virgin and became man for our sake, showing us through His life the ascent into the heavens, through humility first of all, then by fasting and the rejection of evil, and through His other deeds; that He suffered and rose from the dead and ascended once more into heaven, and He sent down the Holy Spirit upon His holy disciples and apostles, who all proclaimed Him to be the Son of God and the most perfect God. And that once more the divine apostles acted through the grace of the most Holy Spirit and gathered all the saints from the ends of the earth through their preaching, filling the world on high, which was the intention of the Creator from the beginning.

Now the purpose of the Triodion intended by the holy fathers on these three present feasts of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and the Second Coming is a kind of preparatory lesson and stimulation to prepare ourselves for the spiritual labors of the Fast, having put aside our usual corrupt habits. First of all they present to us the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, and they call the week following precursory. For those who desire to go off to do military battle first ascertain the time of the battle from the leaders, so that having cleaned and polished their weapons, and preparing well all their other matters, and having removed all obstacles from their path, they earnestly go forth to their labors, taking the necessary supplies. Often before battle they tell anecdotes and tales and parables to incite their hearts to zeal, driving off idleness, fear, despair, and other unworthy feelings. So the divine fathers herald the coming fast against the armies of demons as a struggle which constrains our souls to cleanse ourselves of the poison accumulated over a long period of time. Not yet possessing those benefits, let us strive to obtain them, and arming ourselves properly, so let us embark on the labors of the Fast.

Now the first weapon among the virtues is repentance and humility. And the adversary of attaining the greatest humility is pride and arrogance. So they place before us first of all this present trustworthy parable from the divine Gospel. It encourages us to shun the desire for the pride and arrogance of the Pharisee and to cultivate the opposite desire of the Publican for humility and repentance. For the greatest and most grievous passion is pride and arrogance, since this is how the devil fell from the heavens before the morning star and was cast into darkness. Because of this Adam, the father of our race, was driven from Paradise through partaking of the fruit. Through this example the holy fathers encourage all not to be proud of their successes, but to always be humble. For the Lord sets Himself against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Better a man who has sinned, if he knows that he has sinned and repents, than a man who has not sinned and thinks of himself as righteous. For Christ said, “I say to you that the publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.” This parable reveals that no one should exalt himself, even though he has done good deeds, but rather should always be humble and pray from his heart to God, for even if he should fall into the most serious sin, salvation is not far off.

Through the prayers of all Thy holy hymnographers, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Translated from Triodion, siest ‘Tripesnets: Triod’ Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 5th – Civil Calendar
January 23rd – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Clement, Bishop of Ankyra.

He was born in 258 in the town of Ankyra of a pagan father and a Christian mother. His devout mother, Ephrosyne, prophesied a martyr’s death for her son, and left this world when Clement was twelve years old. Her friend Sophia took Clement into her own home as her son and saw that he was brought up a Christian. Clement became so famed for his virtuous life that he was chosen as bishop of Ankyra at the age of twenty. He acquired a mature wisdom in his early years, and harnessed and conquered his body by great restraint. He ate only bread and vegetables, and never anything slaughtered or with blood. In the reign of Diocletian, he was tortured as terribly ‘as anyone has ever been since the foundation of the world’. He spent twenty-eight years under torture and imprisonment. Eleven different torturers tormented him. One time when they were smiting him on the face, spitting on him and breaking his teeth, he cried out to Domentian the torturer: ‘You are doing me honor, O Domentian, not torturing me; for the mouth of my Lord Jesus Christ was struck in like manner, and His cheeks slapped; and lo, I, unworthy as I am, am now made worthy of this!’ When he was brought before the Emperor Diocletian in Rome, the emperor placed on one side various instruments of torture, and on the other side gifts—medals, clothing, money—whatever the emperor was able to bestow, and then told Clement to choose. Christ’s martyr, with a scornful glance at all the emperor’s gifts, chose the instruments of torture. And he was terribly tortured; piece by piece the flesh was flayed from his body until the bones showed white beneath. He was healed of these wounds, and was finally beheaded by a soldier in 312, while he was presiding at the Liturgy as bishop in the church in Ankyra. St. Clement’s miracles are without number.

2. Commemoration of the Sixth Ecumenical Council.

Held in Constantinople in 680-681 and 692, this council condemned the Monothelite heresy, which held the erroneous teaching that there is in Christ only a divine will and not a human one. In addition to that, it made some rulings concerning the order and discipline of the clergy.

3. St. Paulinus the Merciful.

He was first a Roman senator and then Bishop of Nola. Following the example of his friend, St. Ambrose, he received Baptism, after which he withdrew to the Spanish Pyrenees, where he lived a life of asceticism. But, as no light can be hidden, so St. Paulinus was found and chosen as Bishop of Nola. He was a good and merciful shepherd, and entered peacefully into rest in the year 431. His relics are preserved in the Church of St. Bartholomew in Rome.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Compassion has always been a characteristic of a true pastor of Christ’s flock. In his sermons, St. John Chrysostom stressed and praised nothing more strongly than compassion. St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, bewailed every day in which he was not given the opportunity to show mercy to someone. St. Paulinus was deservedly called the Merciful, for he was truly merciful in the fullest Christian meaning of the word. One time, when the Vandals were looting Nola, they also took many people into slavery. A certain widow, whose only son the Vandal prince, Rig, had carried away into slavery, came to her bishop, and in tears, sought money of him to buy her son back. Having nothing, the bishop dressed himself in the garments of a poor man and told the widow to take him before the prince and exchange him for her son. The prince returned her son to her and took Paulinus off to Africa, where he served as the prince’s gardener until he was freed by the providence of God and returned to Nola with the rest of the slaves.

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.