Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Jude [§ 78]. Beloved:

¹¹Woe to the impious! For they went in the way of Cain, and were poured out in the error of Balaam for a reward, and destroyed themselves in the gainsaying of Kore.

¹²In your love feasts these are hidden rocks in the sea, when they feast with you, shepherding themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds being carried about by winds; fruitless autumnal trees which twice died and were uprooted; ¹³wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shameful things; wandering stars, to whom hath been kept the blackness of darkness forever. ¹⁴And to these also, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came amidst myriads of His saints, ¹⁵“to do judgment against all, and to convict all the impious among them for all their works of impiety which they did impiously, and for all the hard things which impious sinners spoke against Him.” ¹⁶These are murmurers, complainers, walking according to their desires; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, showing respect to persons for the sake of advantage. ¹⁷But ye, beloved, be reminded of the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸that they were saying to you, that in the last time there shall be mockers walking according to their own desires of impieties. ¹⁹These are they who cause divisions by separating themselves, material-minded ones, not having the Spirit. ²⁰But ye, beloved, building up yourselves by your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life eternal. ²²And to some, on the one hand, be showing mercy, who are in doubt; ²³but to some, on the other hand, be saving in fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment which hath been stained by the flesh.

²⁴Now to Him Who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to make you stand before the presence of His glory blameless in exceeding joy, ²⁵to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, might and authority, both now and to all the ages. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 110]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Lk. 23:1-31, 33, 44-56; for Sl. usage, see Lk 23:2-34, 44-56.

23 ¹The chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people led Jesus before Pilate. ²And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this One perverting the nation, and hindering the giving of tribute to Cæsar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” ³And Pilate questioned Him, saying, “Thou art the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “Thou sayest.” ⁴And Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I do not find even one charge in this Man.” ⁵But they kept waxing stronger, saying, “He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all of Judæa, beginning from Galilee even to here.” ⁶And having heard Galilee named, Pilate inquired whether the Man were a Galilæan. ⁷And having come to know that He was from the jurisdiction of Herod, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem during those days. ⁸And Herod, having seen Jesus, was gladdened exceedingly; for he was wishing for a considerable time to see Him, because he had heard many things concerning Him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by Him. ⁹And he kept on questioning Him with many words, but He answered nothing. ¹⁰And the chief priests and the scribes had stood by, vigorously accusing Him. ¹¹And Herod with his troops, having treated Him with contempt and having mocked Him, threw around Him bright raiment, and sent Him back to Pilate. ¹²And on that same day Herod and Pilate became friends with one another; for before they were at enmity between themselves. ¹³And after Pilate called together to himself the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴he said to them, “Ye brought to me this Man, as one who turneth away the people. And behold, having examined Him before your face, I did not find even one charge in this Man of which ye bring as an accusation against Him. ¹⁵“No, not even did Herod, for I sent you up to him; and behold, nothing worthy of death hath been done by Him. ¹⁶“Therefore, after I chastise Him, I will release Him.” ¹⁷Now of necessity he had to release one to them at the feast. ¹⁸And all together they cried out, saying, “Go on taking this One away, and release to us Barabbas”— ¹⁹who, on account of a certain sedition taking place in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison. ²⁰Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, addressed them again. ²¹But they kept calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him.” ²²And a third time he said to them, “Why, what evil did this One do? Not one cause of death did I find in Him. Therefore, after I chastise Him, I will release Him.” ²³But they were being urgent with loud voices, asking for Him to be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests were prevailing. ²⁴And Pilate adjudged their request to be done. ²⁵And he released to them him—the one who on account of sedition and murder was cast into the prison—whom they were asking for themselves; but he delivered up Jesus to their will.

²⁶And as they led Him away, they laid hold of Simon, a certain Cyrenian, who was coming from a field, and laid the Cross upon him, to bear it behind Jesus. ²⁷And there was following Him a great multitude of people, and of women who were beating their breasts and lamenting Him. ²⁸And Jesus, having turned to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, cease weeping for Me, but be weeping for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹“For behold, days are coming, in which they shall say, ‘Happy are the barren, and the wombs which bore not, and the breasts which gave not suck.’ ³⁰“Then ‘they shall begin to say to the mountains, “Fall upon us”; and to the hills, “Cover us [Hos. 10:8; Is. 2:19; Rev. 6:16, 9:6].”’ ³¹“For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall take place in the dry?” ³²And two others, malefactors, were also being led with Him to be put to death.

³³And when they came upon the place which is called Skull, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right and the other one on the left. ³⁴And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And when they divided His garments among themselves, they cast a lot.... ⁴⁴And it was about the sixth hour, and there came to be a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵while the sun failed, and the veil of the temple was torn in the midst. ⁴⁶And Jesus, having cried out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” And having said these things, He gave up the spirit. ⁴⁷Now after the centurion saw that which took place, he kept on glorifying God, saying, “Verily this Man was righteous.” ⁴⁸And all the crowds that came together to see this sight, when they beheld the things which took place, beat their breasts and were turning back. ⁴⁹And all His acquaintances, and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

⁵⁰And behold, there was a man, by name Joseph, being a counselor, who was a good man and just ⁵¹(this one had not been in agreement with the counsel and their deed), from Arimathæa, a city of the Jews, who himself also was waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for himself the body of Jesus. ⁵³And having taken it down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a sepulcher hewn out of stone, in which no one was ever yet laid. ⁵⁴And it was the day of preparation, and the sabbath was dawning.

⁵⁵And the women also, who had come with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher and how His body was laid. ⁵⁶And they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumed ointments. And indeed they rested during the sabbath according to the commandment.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Evdokia of Heliopolis.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 14th – Civil Calendar
March 1st – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Evdokia (Eudocia).

Living in Heliopolis, a city of Phoenicia, during the reign of Trajan, she was at first a great harlot, then a penitent, a nun and finally a martyr. She gained great wealth from her harlotry. The reversal of her life was brought about unintentionally through the providence of God by an elderly monk, Germanos. Coming to Heliopolis in the course of his work, Germanos stayed at the house of a Christian woman whose home abutted onto Evdokia’s. When at night he began, as was his monastic custom, to read the Psalter and a book on the Dreadful Judgement, Evdokia heard him and stood listening attentively to his every word until the end. Fear and dread took such hold on her that she remained awake until daybreak. As soon as it was dawn, she sent a servant to beg that monk to come to her. Germanos came and they began a long conversation on that which the old monk had been reading the previous night, and especially on faith and salvation. The result of these discussions was that Evdokia asked the local bishop to baptize her. After her Baptism, she gave all her goods to the church to be distributed to the poor, dismissed her servants and slaves, and retired to a women’s monastery. She so devoted herself to the monastic life—to obedience, patience, vigils, prayer and fasting—that after thirteen months she was chosen as abbess. She lived fifty-six years in the monastery and was worthy in the eyes of God to be given the gift of raising the dead. When a persecution of Christians arose under the governor, Vincent, holy Evdokia was beheaded. Here is a wonderful example of how a vessel of uncleanness can be purified, sanctified and filled with a precious, heavenly fragrance by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

2. Our Holy Father Agapios.

A novice with an elder near the monastery of Vatopedi, he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Magnesia. After twelve years he was miraculously freed and returned to Vatopedi by the aid of the most holy Mother of God. He baptized his former owner and became his confessor. Spending the rest of his life in asceticism at Vatopedi, he departed this life peacefully in the Lord.

3. The Holy Martyr Antonina.

Born in Nicaea, she was arrested and harshly tortured for the Christian Faith. She was finally sewn into a sack and thrown into a lake in 302, but God saved her soul and glorified her forever among the angels in heaven and among the faithful on earth.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Faithfulness and obedience to the will of God must adorn the life of every Christian. God glorifies the faithful and obedient, as is seen in the life of St. Agapios. This saint was captured by pirates as a young man, taken off to Asia and sold to an Arab. Agapios spent twelve whole years with this Arab, silent and obedient, and for twelve whole years he prayed to the most holy Mother of God to free him from slavery. One night the Mother of God appeared to him and told him to get up and go off without fear to his elder. Agapios got up and came to the Holy Mountain, to his elder. When the latter saw Agapios he was sorrowful, thinking that Agapios had escaped by himself from his owner, and he said to him: ‘My child, you have deceived your master, but you can in no wise deceive God. On the day of the Dreadful Judgement, you will have to answer for the money with which your owner bought you to serve him. So go back and serve your owner faithfully.’ Agapios, faithful and obedient, went back at once to Asia, presented himself to his owner and recounted to him all that had happened. The Arab, hearing all this, marveled at the virtuous Christians and desired to see Agapios’ elder. He took two of his sons with him to the Holy Mountain. There he and his sons were baptized, and all three became monks and remained till their death in asceticism, first under the guidance of Agapios’ elder and then under that of Agapios himself. And so the one-time harsh owner became the obedient disciple of his former slave, the faithful Agapios, himself obedient to the will of God.

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.