Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Thirty-Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 168].

1 ⁸Brethren, we wish you not to be ignorant concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down excessively, beyond our power, so as for us to have been utterly at a loss even of living. ⁹But we ourselves have had the sentence of death in ourselves, in order that we should not have trust in ourselves, but in God Who raiseth the dead, ¹⁰Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in Whom we have hope that He shall yet deliver, ¹¹ye also helping together by entreaty on our behalf, that for the gracious gift, by means of many persons toward us, thanks might be given by many on our behalf.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 22]. At that time:

6 ¹On the sabbath, Jesus was going through the sown fields; and His disciples were plucking the ears of grain and eating them, rubbing them small in their hands. ²And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?” ³And answering Jesus said to them, “Did ye not read even this, that which David did, when he himself hungered and those who were with him: ⁴“how he entered into the house of God, and took the loaves set forth before the presence of God, and ate, and gave also to those with him, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests only?” ⁵And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.” ⁶And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that He entered into the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand also was withered. ⁷And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching closely whether He would cure on the sabbath, in order that they might find an accusation against Him. ⁸But He knew their reasonings, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand in the midst.” And he arose and stood. ⁹Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing, whether it is lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” ¹⁰And after He looked round about at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as the other.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and our venerable Father Isidore of Pelusium.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 17th – Civil Calendar
February 4th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Isidore of Pelusium.

He was an Egyptian, the son of eminent parents and a kinsman of the Patriarchs of Alexandria Theophilus and Kyril. Completing his secular studies, he renounced his riches and worldly standing and gave himself wholly to the spiritual life for the love of Christ. He was a great and ardent interpreter and defender of the Orthodox Faith. The historian Nikephoros states that St. Isidore wrote more than 10,000 letters to various people in which he reprimanded one, advised another, consoled a third, instructed a fourth. ‘It is more important to be proficient in good works than in golden-tongued preaching,’ he writes in one letter. In another, he says: ‘If a man wishes his virtues to appear great, let him regard them as small and then they will be truly shown to be great.’ The first and fundamental rule for Isidore was: first do and then teach, after the example of the Lord Jesus. At a time when St. John Chrysostom was undergoing persecution and the whole world was divided into two camps, one for and one against this great pillar of Orthodoxy, St. Isidore stood on the side of Chrysostom. He wrote to Patriarch Theophilus, saying what a great light St. Chrysostom was in the Church and begging that the hatred of him should cease. He lived long and labored greatly, glorifying Christ the Lord in his life and his writings, and entered into the kingdom of Christ in about 450.

2. Our Holy Father Nicholas the Confessor.

This saint was from the island of Crete. He went to Constantinople to visit his kinsman Theodore, abbot of the Studite monastery, and remained there to become a monk. As a monk, Nicholas followed all the ascetic practices that are prescribed for the soul’s salvation. During a persecution of the Church on the part of Leo the Armenian, Theodore and Nicholas were harshly tortured, humiliated, beaten with bull-whips and finally thrown into prison, where they spent three years. After the death of St. Theodore, Nicholas became abbot of the Studium. Even during his lifetime, God blessed him with the power to work miracles. He healed Evdokia the wife of the Emperor Basil, and Helen the wife of the patrician Manuel. To Theophilus Melisenus, a distinguished nobleman who had lost several children, he prophesied, in blessing his newborn daughter, that she would live and be fruitful, a prophecy that was later fulfilled to the joy of her parents. On the very day of his death, he called the monks together and asked them what they lacked. ‘Wheat,’ they replied. Then the dying man said: ‘He Who sustained Israel in the wilderness will send you abundant wheat in three days.’ And indeed, a boat full of grain, sent by the Emperor Basil, arrived below the monastery on the third day. Nicholas entered into the heavenly kingdom on February 4th, 868, at the age of 75.

3. The Holy New-Martyr Joseph.

He was born in Aleppo. When the Turks pressured him to embrace Islam, Joseph not only refused, but began to denounce the falsehood of Islam and to extol the Christian Faith. For this he was tortured and beheaded in 1686.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Isidore of Pelusium interprets certain words from holy Scripture: ‘Of two grinding grain, the one shall be taken and the other left’ (Matt. 24:41), to mean that many will give themselves to the spiritual life, but with very different dispositions; one sincerely and steadily, another slackly and conceitedly. The first will be taken into the kingdom of God, and the second left. What is the meaning of the Lord’s prayer about the Cup? Why did the Lord beg that the cup of suffering should pass from Him (Matt. 26:42)? It means that no one should seek danger, but that, when it comes, a Christian must accept and endure it courageously.

On the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25), St. Isidore says: ‘They all kept their virginity, but had no other virtues, such as that of compassion. Virginity by itself is not sufficient for entry into the kingdom of God. Virginity is of no use if the virgin is filled with pride and self seeking.’

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.