Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Jude [§ 77].

¹Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of Iakovos, to those called in God the Father, who have been sanctified and kept for Jesus Christ: ²Mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

³Beloved, when I myself made every effort to write to you concerning the common salvation, I had need to write to you, exhorting you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For certain men slipped in secretly, who of old were proscribed to this judgment, ungodly ones, transposing the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵But I wish to remind you, though ye know this once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who believed not. ⁶And those angels who kept not their first place, but deserted their own habitation, He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness until the judgment of the great day; ⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in like manner to these, having committed fornication and gone away after other flesh, are set forth for an example, undergoing the punishment of everlasting fire. ⁸Yet in like manner also these dreamers indeed defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and blaspheme dignities. ⁹Now Michael the archangel, when he took issue with the devil and was disputing about the body of Moses, did not dare to lay upon him a judgment of blasphemy, but said, “May the Lord rebuke thee [cf. Zach. 3:3].” ¹⁰But these blaspheme indeed whatever things they do not know; and whatever things they understand naturally, as the irrational animals, in these things they corrupt themselves.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 109]. At that time:

22 ³⁹Jesus, having gone forth, went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him. ⁴⁰And having arrived at the place, He said to them, “Be praying not to enter into temptation.” ⁴¹And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw; and having kneeled down, He was praying, ⁴²saying, “Father, if Thou art willing to take away this cup from Me—; but not My will, but Thine be done.”... ⁴⁵And having risen up from the prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from the grief, ⁴⁶and He said to them, “Why sleep ye? Rise up and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”

⁴⁷And while He yet spoke, behold, a crowd, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them forth and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him; for he had given this sign to them, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He Himself.” ⁴⁸But Jesus said to him, “Judas, deliverest thou up the Son of Man with a kiss?” ⁴⁹And after they who were around Him saw that which was about to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we smite with a sword?” ⁵⁰And a certain one of them smote the slave of the high priest and took off his ear, the right one. ⁵¹And Jesus answered and said, “Let it be, even to this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. ⁵²And Jesus said to those chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders, who came against Him, “As against a robber ye have come out with swords and clubs. ⁵³“Daily, when I was with you in the temple, ye did not stretch forth your hands against Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

⁵⁴And having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the house of the high priest. And Peter was following from afar. ⁵⁵And after they kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard, they sat down together, and Peter was sitting among them. ⁵⁶And a certain young maidservant, having seen him sitting before the light of the fire, looked intently on him, and said, “This one was also with Him.” ⁵⁷But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” ⁵⁸And after a short time another saw him, and said, “Thou art also of them.” And Peter said, “Man, I am not.” ⁵⁹And after about one hour intervened, a certain other strongly affirmed, saying, “In truth, this one also was with Him; for he is a Galilæan also.” ⁶⁰And Peter said, “Man, I know not what thou sayest.” And immediately, while he was yet speaking, a cock crowed. ⁶¹And the Lord turned about and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He said to him, “Before a cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” ⁶²And Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³And the men who confined Jesus were mocking Him and beating Him. ⁶⁴And having covered Him all around, they were striking His face and were questioning Him, saying, “Prophesy: Who is the one that smote Thee?” ⁶⁵And many other things they were saying to Him, blaspheming.

⁶⁶And when it became day, the council of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together and led Him into their sanhedrin, saying, ⁶⁷“If Thou art the Christ, tell us.” And He said to them, “If I should tell you, in no wise will ye believe. ⁶⁸“And if also I should ask you, in no wise will ye answer Me or release Me. ⁶⁹“From now on the Son of Man shall be sitting on the right of the power of God.” ⁷⁰And they all said, “Art Thou then the Son of God?” And Jesus said to them, “Ye say that I am.” ⁷¹And they said, “What need have we still of testimony? For we ourselves heard from His own mouth.”

23 ¹And the whole multitude of them rose up and led Him before Pilate.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

28. The commemoration of our venerable Father Basil, Confessor of Decapolis and fellow ascetic of Procopios the Confessor.

29. The commemoration of our venerable Father John Cassian the Roman.

[Commemorated on the 28^th of February in non-leap years.]

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 13th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 12th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 28th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Proterios.

This saint was a priest in Alexandria at the time that the patriarch there was the heretic Dioscoros, one of the founders of the Monophysite heresy which holds that in Christ there are not two natures but one. At that time, Marcian and Pulcheria were on the imperial throne. Proterios, a holy and devout man, stood up against Dioscoros, as a result of which he endured much misery. Then the Fourth Ecumenical Council was summoned at Chalcedon, at which the Monophysite heresy was condemned. Dioscoros was cast down from the patriarchal throne and sent into exile, and in his place the Orthodox Proterios was chosen. He governed the Church with zeal and love, a true follower of Christ. But the followers of Dioscoros did not stop creating confusion in Alexandria. In the face of such bloody chaos, Proterios left the town with the intention of going away for a time, but the Prophet Isaias appeared to him on the road and said: ‘Return to the town; I am waiting to take you.’ Proterios returned and went into the church. Hearing of this, the insolent heretics rushed into the church, seized the Patriarch and stabbed him. About six of the faithful perished along with Proterios. Thus this wonderful pastor of Christ’s flock received the crown of martyrdom for the truth of Orthodoxy in 457.

2. St. Basil the Confessor.

A friend, contemporary, and pupil of St. Prokopios of Decapolis, Basil faithfully followed his teacher both in peace and in persecution. They endured much from the iconoclasts. When the latter were defeated, by God’s providence, Basil returned to his monastery together with Prokopios, where he lived for a long time in fasting and prayer, and where he died in the year 747.

3. The Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos.

Nestor was distinguished by great meekness. In the time of Decius, he was taken for trial and harshly tortured for Christ. At the time of his death, he saw in a vision a lamb prepared for sacrifice, which he interpreted as a sign of his own imminent sacrifice. He was tortured by the Eparch Publius and finally crucified in Perga in the year 250.

4. Blessed Nicholas, the Fool for Christ of Pskov.

He lived as a fool in the town of Pskov in the time of Tsar Ivan IV, and entered into rest on February 28th, 1576.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A rare fearlessness is a characteristic of fools for Christ. Blessed Nicholas ran through the streets of Pskov, pretending madness, rebuking people for their secret sins and foretelling what would happen to them. When Tsar Ivan the Formidable entered Pskov, the whole town was in fear of the tsar. Bread and salt were set before each house for a welcome to the tsar, but the people were not in evidence. When the governor of the city brought the tsar in front of the church to the tray of bread and salt, the tsar pushed away the tray. Then Blessed Nicholas appeared before the tsar in a long shirt girded with a cord, riding on a hobby-stick like a child and shouting: ‘Little Ivan, little Ivan! Eat the bread and salt, and not men’s blood!’ The soldiers hurried to seize him, but he ran off and hid himself. The devout tsar, learning about this blessed man, who and what he was, visited him in his tiny room. It was the first week of the Great Fast. Hearing that the tsar was coming to visit him, Nicholas, wishing to teach the tsar to be more merciful, found a piece of raw meat, and when the tsar entered his cell, Nicholas bowed and offered the meat to the tsar. ‘Eat, little Ivan, eat!’ The tsar answered him with anger: ‘I am a Christian, and do not eat meat in the Fast.’ Then the man of God retorted: ‘You do that and worse; you feed on men’s flesh and blood, forgetting not only the Fast but God as well.’ This lecture entered deeply into the heart of Tsar Ivan, and he left that place reflecting on the saint’s words.

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.