Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 115]. Brethren:

14 ¹⁹Let us then pursue the things of peace and the things of building up of one another. ²⁰On account of food, cease putting down the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is bad to the man who eateth so as to be a stumbling block. ²¹It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything in which thy brother stumbleth, or is scandalized, or is made weak. ²²Hast thou faith? Be having it with respect to thyself before God. Happy is the one who adjudgeth not himself in what he approveth. ²³But the one who doubteth is condemned if he should eat, because it is not of faith; and all which is not of faith is sin.

²⁴Now to Him Who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to a revelation of the mystery which was kept in secret in times lasting for ages, ²⁵but now hath been made manifest, and by prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God, was made known to all the nations to an obedience of faith— ²⁶to God, alone wise, to Whom be glory through Jesus Christ to the ages. Amen.

A Different Reading for the Commemoration of the Ascetics

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 16]. The Lord said:

6 ¹“Be taking heed not to do your alms before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise ye have no reward with your Father Who is in the heavens. ²“Therefore, whenever thou art doing alms, do not begin to sound a trumpet before thee, even as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they might be glorified by men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ³“But when thou art doing alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing, ⁴“so that thine alms might be in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret Himself shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁵“And whenever thou art praying, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, in order that they might be made manifest to men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶“But thou, whenever thou art praying, enter into thy chamber, and after thou shuttest thy door, pray to thy Father Who is in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret, shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁷“But when ye pray, do not begin to repeat the same vain words over and over again, even as the heathens; for they think that they shall be heard for their loquacity. ⁸“Do not therefore become like them; for your Father knoweth of what things ye have need before ye ask Him. ⁹“Be ye therefore praying thus:

‘Our Father Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name;

¹⁰“‘let Thy kingdom come; let Thy will be done also on the earth, as in heaven;

¹¹“‘give us today our daily bread;

¹²“‘and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;

¹³“‘and let us not be brought into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory to the ages. Amen.’”

Commemoration of the Ascetics

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Evtropios, Kleonikos, and Vasiliskos.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 16th – Civil Calendar
March 3rd – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Eftropios, Kleonikos and Vasiliskos.

They were comrades of St. Theodore the Tyro. When glorious Theodore gloriously laid down his life, they remained behind in prison. They were not condemned for a long time because of the courage of the imperial governor of the town of Amaseia. When a new governor arrived, more inhuman than his predecessor, he ordered these three to be brought before him. All three were young men; Eftropios (Eutropius) and Kleonikos (Cleonicus) were brothers and Vasiliskos (Basiliscus) a kinsman of Theodore’s. But all three were, through their brotherly love, as blood-brothers. And they therefore said to the governor: ‘As the Holy Trinity is indivisible, so are we indivisible in faith and inseparable in love.’ All flattery on the governor’s part was in vain, as were all his efforts to bribe Eftropios. He first invited him to dine with him, which Eftropios refused with a quotation from the Psalms: ‘Blessed is the man who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly,’ after which he offered him vast wealth—150 liters of silver—which Eftropios likewise refused, reminding the governor that Judas lost his soul for silver. After all these attempts, followed by interrogation and torture, the first two were condemned to be crucified, for which they gave thanks to Christ that He had counted them worthy to die the death He had died; and the third, Vasiliskos, was beheaded. They all entered into the kingdom of joy, where their commander, Theodore, was waiting for them, glorified before Christ the Lord and Victor. They suffered with honor in 308.

2. St. Piama of Egypt.

For the sake of Christ she refused to marry, and gave herself to asceticism in her mother’s house. She took only a little food every other day, and spent her time in prayer and meditation, being gifted with insight. She departed this life peacefully, commending her soul to the Lord, in about the year 377.

3. An Unknown Girl in Alexandria.

She was from a wealthy house, having a good father who suffered much and had a difficult death, and an evil mother who had an easy life, died in peace and was buried with honor. In uncertainty whether to live by the example of her father or her mother, this maiden had a vision in which the state of her father and of her mother were shown to her. She saw her father in the kingdom of God, and her mother in darkness and torment. This determined her to devote her whole life to God, and like her father, follow the commandments of God without regard to any opposition or misfortune that she might have to endure. And she followed the commandments of God to the end, with His help, and was made worthy of the kingdom of heaven, in which she was reunited with her beloved father.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Speaking on a human level, Christ raised Himself to primacy in the Church, the world and human history by obedience. No one can be a good superior who has not gone through the school of obedience. Adam lost his power and primacy over the animals and the natural elements in the hour when he showed himself disobedient to God. ‘Obedience begets obedience; if a man listens to God, then God listens to him,’ said Abba Moses. However, it is obvious that God listens to man more than man does to God, when one counts up how many times a day people sin against the commandments of God. The fact that the immortal God listens to us corruptible beings more than we do to Him should fill with shame anyone with any conscience remaining. When St. Eftropios was martyred with his two friends, he prayed to God: ‘Come to our aid, as Thou camest to the aid of Thy servant Theodore!’ At that, the earth quaked and the obedient Lord revealed Himself with the angels and St. Theodore. And the Lord said to the sufferers: ‘During the time of your torture, I stood before your faces, witnessing your endurance. Your names will be written in the Book of Life.’

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.