Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the Third General Epistle of Saint John [§ 76].

¹The elder to Gaios the beloved, whom I love in truth. ²Beloved, I pray that in all things thou be prospered and in health, even as thy soul is being prospered. ³For I was gladdened greatly when brethren came and bore witness to the truth in thee, even as thou walkest in truth. ⁴Greater joy than these things have I not, that I may hear of my children walking in truth. ⁵Beloved, thou doest a faithful work whatsoever thou mightest work toward the brethren and toward the strangers, ⁶who bore witness of thy love before the Church, whom if thou send forth worthily of God, thou shalt do well. ⁷For the sake of the name they went forth, taking nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸We therefore ought to receive such as these, in order that we may keep on becoming fellow workers for the truth. ⁹I wrote to the church; but Diotrephes, who loveth being first among them, receiveth us not. ¹⁰On this account, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he doeth, prating against us with evil words. And not being satisfied with these, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and hindereth those who are willing, and casteth them out of the church. ¹¹Beloved, do not be imitating the bad, but the good. The one doing good is of God; the one doing evil hath not seen God. ¹²To Demetrios testimony hath been given by all, and by the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and ye know that our testimony is true.

¹³I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to thee by means of ink and reed-pen; ¹⁴but I hope to see thee straightway, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to thee. Our friends greet thee. Be greeting the friends by name.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§§ 96, mid 108]. At that time:

19 ²⁹As Jesus drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, toward the mount called the Mount of Olives, He sent forth two of His disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go ye into the village opposite you, in which as ye enter ye shall find a colt which hath been tied, on which no man ever yet sat. Loose it and bring it. ³¹“And if anyone ask you, ‘Why do ye loose it?’ Thus shall ye say to him, ‘Because the Lord hath need of it.’” ³²And after they departed, they who were sent found all even as He said to them. ³³And as they loosed the colt, the masters of it said to them, “Why do ye loose the colt?” ³⁴And they said, “The Lord hath need of it.” ³⁵And they led it to Jesus. And having cast their own garments upon the colt, they put Jesus upon it. ³⁶And as He went, they were spreading under Him their garments in the way. ³⁷And when He drew near, already at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began rejoicing and to be praising God with a loud voice for all the works of power which they saw, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the King Who cometh in the name of the Lord [cf. Ps. 117(118):25(26)]; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” ³⁹And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Thy disciples.” ⁴⁰And He answered and said to them, “I say to you that if these should keep silent, the stones will cry out.”...

22 ⁷And the day of the unleavened bread came, in which it was necessary for the passover to be sacrificed. ⁸And He sent forth Peter and John, having said, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we might eat it.” ⁹But they said to Him, “Where dost Thou wish that we should prepare?” ¹⁰And He said to them, “Behold, after ye enter into the city, a man shall meet you, bearing an earthenware vessel of water; follow him into the house where he entereth. ¹¹“And ye shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher saith to thee, “Where is the lodging-place where I shall eat the passover with My disciples?”’ ¹²“And he shall show you a large upper room which hath been furnished; there make ready.” ¹³And they went and found it even as He had said to them. And they made ready the passover.

¹⁴And when the hour came to pass, He reclined at table, and the twelve apostles with Him. ¹⁵And He said to them, “With desire I desired to eat this passover with you before My suffering; ¹⁶“for I say to you that in no wise will I eat of it any more, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And having taken the cup, He gave thanks, and said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸“for I say to you that in no wise will I drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God should come.” ¹⁹And He took bread and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave to them, saying, “This is My body which is being given for you; be doing this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is being poured out for you. ²¹“But behold, the hand of him who delivereth Me up is with Me on the table. ²²“And the Son of Man indeed goeth according as it hath been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is delivered up!” ²³And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them then it may be who was about to do this.

²⁴And there was also a contention among them, that is, which of them is thought to be the greater. ²⁵And He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those exercising authority over them are called benefactors. ²⁶“But ye shall not be so, but the one who is greater among you, let him become as the younger; and the one who governeth as the one who serveth. ²⁷“For who is greater, the one who reclineth at table, or the one who serveth? It is the one who reclineth at table, is it not? But I am in the midst of you as the One Who serveth. ²⁸“But ye are those who have continued with Me in My temptations. ²⁹“And I appoint to you a kingdom, even as My Father appointed to Me, ³⁰“that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” ³¹And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you for himself, in order to sift you as the wheat; ³²“but I have supplicated for thee, that thy faith might not fail; and when thou hast turned back, make steadfast thy brethren.” ³³And he said to Him, “Lord, with Thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death.” ³⁴And He said, “I tell thee, Peter, in no wise shall a cock crow today, before that thou shalt thrice deny to have known Me.” ³⁵And He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a purse and leathern pouch and sandals, did ye lack anything?” And they said, “Nothing.” ³⁶He then said to them, “But now, the one who hath a purse, let him take it, and in like manner, a leathern pouch; and the one who hath not a sword, let him sell his outer garment and buy one. ³⁷“For I say to you that this that hath been written must yet be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was reckoned with the lawless [cf. Is. 53:12]’; for also the things concerning Me have an end.” ³⁸And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

³⁹And having gone forth, He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and our holy father, Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsakos on the Hellespont, and our holy Father Luke of Hellas.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 20th – Civil Calendar
February 7th – Church Calendar

1. St. Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsacus.

He was the son of a deacon from the city of Melitopolis. He knew the words of the Gospel by heart from his early youth, and strove to fulfill them. Settling beside a lake, he caught fish, sold them and shared the proceeds with the poor. By God’s providence, he was chosen as bishop of Lampsacus. He cleansed the city of paganism, closed the temples dedicated to idol-worship, built many churches and strengthened the faithful. He healed all manner of sickness through prayer, and was especially powerful over spirits. At one time when he was about to drive the evil spirit out of a madman, the evil spirit begged him not to. ‘I will give you another man, into whom you can enter and in whom you can dwell,’ Parthenios told him. ‘And who is that man?’ ‘I am he,’ replied the saint, ‘Come and make your abode in me’. Hearing this, the evil spirit fled as though burned by fire, crying out: ‘How can I enter into the house of God?’ St. Parthenios lived long and showed in his deeds the greatness of his love for God and man. He entered into the eternal peace of Christ in the 4th century.

2. Our Holy Father Luke of Hellas.

Luke was born in Castorius. Even as a child, he had no desire to taste meat, and spent the whole of his life with purity and prayer. One day he went to sow his field with wheat. On the way, he gave the greater part of the wheat to a poor man and the lesser part, which remained to him, he sowed. God provided that, from this small amount of seed, there came a greater harvest than had previously come from the whole amount. After that, Luke ran away from his mother and entered a monastery. His widowed mother prayed ardently to God to reveal to her where her son was to be found, and God heard her prayer. The abbot of that monastery dreamed three times in succession that a woman was vehemently accusing him of having taken her only son. The abbot then ordered Luke to return at once to his mother. Luke went and saw his mother, but once again left her, this time for good. He labored on a mountain called ‘John’s Mountain’. He prayed at night and worked in the gardens and fields by day, not for himself but for the poor and the visitors, himself living only on barley bread. He was endowed by God with wonder-working gifts, and entered peacefully into rest in the year 946. From time to time, myrrh flowed from his relics.

3. Our Holy Mother Mastridia.

She lived a life of great asceticism in Jerusalem. A young man who saw her began to pester her, so to save them both from sin she took some soaked beans in a basket and went off into the desert. There she spent seventeen years, during which time, by the power of God, the beans did not come to an end nor her clothing wear out. She entered peacefully into rest in about 580.

4. The Thousand and Three Martyrs of Nikomedia

They suffered in the reign of Diocletian.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Take on yourself some penance for the sin of others. If you have condemned or punished another, take some penance on yourself. Suffer a little, voluntarily, for the sins of sinners. That is pleasing to God. The saints knew this mystery when they condemned themselves for the sins of others. Even non-Christian peoples have some grasp of this. In China, for instance, there is the following custom: when the executioner beheads a criminal condemned to death, he goes to the judge and reports that the sentence has been carried out. The judge gives him a silver piece for killing the criminal, and orders that he receive forty strokes of the lash for killing a man. The Christian saints had a profound understanding of the mystery of sin and the unrighteousness of man. Each human sin had for them a history as long as that stretching back from us to Adam.

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.