Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 303]. Brethren:

1 ¹God, Who of old, in many parts and in many ways, spoke to the fathers through the prophets, ²did in these last of days speak to us through the Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages, ³Who being the effulgence of the glory and impress of His hypostasis, and bearing all things by the word of His power, having made for Himself our purification through Himself, sat down on the right of the Majesty in high places, ⁴having become so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they. ⁵For to which of the angels said He at any time, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee [Ps. 2:7]”? And again, “I will be to Him for a Father, and He shall be to Me for a Son [2 Kgs.(2 Sam.) 7:14]”? ⁶And whenever He again should bring in the firstborn into the inhabited world, He saith, “And let all the angels of God do homage to Him [Deut. 32:43 LXX; cf. Ps. 96(97):8(7)].” ⁷And indeed with reference to the angels He saith, “The One Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire [Ps. 103(104):5(4)]”; ⁸but with reference to the Son, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom [Ps. 44(45):5(6)]. ⁹“Thou didst love righteousness and didst hate lawlessness; on this account, God, Thy God, anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond Thy fellows [Ps. 44(45):6(7)].” ¹⁰And, “Thou, O Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands [Ps. 101(102):25]. ¹¹“They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they shall all become old as an outer garment [Ps. 101(102):26], ¹²“and as a covering Thou shalt roll them up, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail [Ps. 101(102):26, 27].”

Another Reading for Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast in Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 292]. Child Timothy:

2 ¹Be thou empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and the things which thou heardest from me in the midst of many witnesses, commit thou these things to faithful men who shall be competent also to teach others. ³Thou therefore suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴No one serving as a soldier is entangled with the affairs of life, in order that he might please the one who enlisted him. ⁵And if anyone also contend as an athlete in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully. ⁶The farmer who laboreth must be first to partake of the fruits. ⁷Be considering what I say; O may the Lord give thee understanding in all things! ⁸Be remembering Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, Who hath been raised from the dead, according to my Gospel, ⁹in which I suffer hardship even to bonds as a malefactor, but the word of God hath not been bound. ¹⁰On this account I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might also attain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 10]. At that time:

2 ²³During the sabbath days Jesus was going along through the sown fields; and His disciples began to make their way plucking the ears of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Behold, why do they that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?” ²⁵And He was saying to them, “Did ye not ever read what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him: ²⁶“how he entered into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the loaves set forth before the presence of God, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” ²⁷And He was saying to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. ²⁸“Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

3 ¹And He entered again into the synagogue; and a man was there whose hand had been withered. ²And they were watching Him closely, whether He would cure him on the sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. ³And He saith to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand in the midst.” ⁴And He saith to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And having looked round about on them with wrath, being grieved for the hardness of their heart, He saith to the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored sound as the other.

Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 52]. The Lord said to His disciples:

15 ¹⁷“These things I command you, that ye be loving one another.

¹⁸“If the world hate you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hath hated you. ¹⁹“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world—but I chose you for Myself out of the world—therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰“Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they know not the One Who sent Me. ²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no pretext for their sin. ²³“The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also. ²⁴“If I did not do the works among them which no other one hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵“But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which hath been written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause [cf. Ps. 34(35):22, 68(69):5(4)].’ ²⁶“But whenever the Paraclete should come, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth Who proceedeth from the Father, that One shall bear witness concerning Me. ²⁷“And ye also are bearing witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.

16 ¹“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye should not be made to stumble. ²“They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea moreover, there cometh an hour that everyone who killeth you should think that he offereth God a service.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Quadratus of Corinth and those with him.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 23rd – Civil Calendar
March 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Codratus (Kodratos) of Corinth, and others with him.

In a time of persecution of Christians, many of the faithful fled to the mountains and caves, as did Codratus’ mother. She was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to Codratus in a forest, dying almost at once. He was kept safe and fed by the providence of God and his guardian angel. Codratus grew up in solitude with nature. He Who gave manna from heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness released a sweet dew from a cloud onto the mouth of the child Codratus. When he was twelve years old, he went down to the town, and there some good people took a fancy to him and educated him. He studied medicine and then began to heal the sick, using both natural medicines, and more importantly, the spiritual power and prayer which had been with him from childhood. When a new persecution arose under Decius, Codratus was taken for trial and thrown into prison. Five of his friends stood beside him and confessed the name of Christ. They were: Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescens. They were all dragged through the streets and struck with sticks and stones by the unbelievers, especially by the children, until they arrived at the scaffold. Here the martyrs prayed to God and were beheaded with the sword. A spring of water gushed out onto the earth at the spot, which to this day is called by Codratus’ name and commemorates the heroic death for Christ of the holy six. They suffered with honor for the truth in Corinth in the year 250, in the time of the Emperor Decius and his governor Jason.

2. The Holy Martyr Codratus of Nikomedia.

He was a rich nobleman and also a convinced and baptized Christian. In a time of persecution, when Valerian shut up many Christians in jail, Codratus bribed the warder and went into the prison to bring the captives food and uphold them in their faith. When they were brought before the judge and questioned about their names, place of origin and status, they were silent. Then Codratus appeared behind them and shouted at the top of his voice: ‘By name, we are Christians; servants of Jesus Christ the Lord by office and birth, and our city and place of origin is heaven.’ After this declaration he was brought to trial, and after long and harsh torture was beheaded along with the others.

3. Our Holy Mother Anastasia.

A patrician, she was a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Emperor Justinian. When she was widowed, and saw that the Empress Theodora could not abide her, she suddenly disappeared from Constantinople and took herself off to the Egyptian desert. A famous spiritual guide, Abba Daniel, tonsured her and presented her as the castrated monk Anastasius, by her wish, so that she might, as a woman under a man’s name, more easily evade the imperial searchers. Anastasia shut herself in a narrow cell, where she spent 28 years and where she entered into rest in the year 563. Before her death, the elder Daniel saw her face shining like the sun.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A tale by the elder Barlaam to Ioasaph: There was once a great and famous king; and it came to pass, when he was riding on a day in his golden chariot, with his royal guard, that there met him two men, clad in filthy rags, with fallen-in-faces, and pale as death. Now the king knew that it was by buffetings of the body and by the sweats of the monastic life that they had thus wasted their miserable flesh. So, seeing them, he leapt anon from his chariot, fell on the ground, and did obeisance. Then, rising, he embraced and greeted them tenderly. But his noblemen and counsellors took offence thereat, deeming that their sovereign had disgraced his kingly honor.... Then the king ordered four wooden caskets to be made. Two of these he covered over all with gold, and placing dead men’s moldering bones therein, secured them with golden clasps. The other two he smeared over with pitch and tar, but filled them with costly stones and precious pearls, and all manner of aromatic sweet perfume. The king set the four caskets before his noblemen, that they might appraise the value of these and those. Then he ordered the golden chests to be opened. And when they were thrown open, they gave out a loathsome smell and presented a hideous sight. Said the king, ‘Here is a figure of those who are clothed in glory and honor, and make great display of power and majesty, but within is the stink of dead men’s bones and works of iniquity.’ Next, he commanded the pitched and tarred caskets also to be opened, and delighted the company with the beauty and sweet savor of their stores. And he said unto them, ‘Know ye to whom these are like? They are like those lowly men, clad in vile apparel, whose outward form alone ye beheld, and deemed it outrageous that I bowed down to do them obeisance. But through the eyes of my mind I perceived the value and exceeding beauty of their souls, and was glorified by their touch, and I counted them more honorable than any chaplet or royal purple.’ Thus he shamed his courtiers, and taught them not to be deceived by outward appearances, but to give heed to the things of the soul.

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.