Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 74]. Beloved:

4 ²⁰If anyone should say, “I love God,” and be hating his brother, he is a liar; for the one not loving his brother whom he hath seen, how is he able to love God Whom he hath not seen? ²¹And this commandment have we from Him, that the one loving God, be loving his brother also.

5 ¹Everyone who believeth that Jesus is the Christ hath been born of God; and everyone who loveth Him Who begat loveth also him who hath been begotten of Him. ²In this we know that we love the children of God, whenever we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we be keeping His commandments. And His commandments are not heavy. ⁴For everything that hath been born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory, the victory having overcome the world—our faith. ⁵Who is the one overcoming the world, if not the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is the One Who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the One Who beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three bearing witness in the heaven: the Father, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are One. ⁸And there are three bearing witness in the earth: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three are for the one. ⁹If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God which He hath testified concerning His Son. ¹⁰The one believing in the Son of God hath the witness in himself; the one not believing God hath made Him a liar, because he hath not believed in the testimony which God hath testified concerning His Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²The one having the Son hath the life; the one not having the Son of God hath not the life.

¹³I am writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and in order that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we be asking anything for ourselves according to His will, He heareth us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we may be asking for ourselves, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. ¹⁶If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give life to him, for those that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; not concerning that do I say one should make request. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death. ¹⁸We know that everyone who hath been born of God sinneth not, but the one who was born of God keepeth himself, and the evil one doth not take hold of him. ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. ²⁰But we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, in order that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and Life Eternal.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from the idols. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 66]. At that time:

15 ¹The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole sanhedrin, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate. ²And Pilate questioned Him, “Thou art the King of the Jews?” And He answered and said to him, “Thou sayest.” ³And the chief priests were accusing Him of many things, but He answered nothing. ⁴And Pilate was questioning Him again, saying, “Answerest Thou nothing? Behold how many things they bear witness against Thee.” ⁵But Jesus answered nothing any more, so that Pilate marvelled. ⁶Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whomsoever they were asking for themselves. ⁷And there was one called Barabbas, who had been bound with fellow insurrectionists who had committed murder in the sedition. ⁸And the crowd, having cried out, began to ask him to do even as he always used to do for them. ⁹But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do ye wish that I release to you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he was perceiving that the chief priests had delivered Him up by reason of envy. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, in order that he should rather release Barabbas to them. ¹²And Pilate answered and said again to them, “What do ye wish then that I should do to Him Whom ye call King of the Jews?” ¹³And they cried out again, “Crucify Him.” ¹⁴But Pilate was saying to them, “Why, what evil did He do?” And they cried out more exceedingly, “Crucify Him.” ¹⁵And Pilate, willing to do that which was satisfactory to the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered up Jesus, after he scourged Him, in order that He might be crucified.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our righteous Father Xenophon and his wife, Mary, and their two sons, Arcadios and John, of Constantinople.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 8th – Civil Calendar
January 26th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Xenophon and our Mother Maria, and their sons John and Arkadios.

They were rich and respected citizens of Constantinople. Xenophon and Maria lived godly lives, and made every effort to give their sons a Christian upbringing. When the boys were grown, their parents sent them to Beirut to study, but a storm capsized their ship. By God’s providence, both John and Arkadios were somehow saved and thrown onto the shore by the waves; in two separate places, however, so that each thought the other had perished. Out of grief for each other, they became monks in two different monasteries. After two years of mourning, their parents traveled to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places. There, helped by the insight of a holy man, the brothers were first united with each other and then with their parents. Out of gratitude to God, Xenophon and Maria gave away all their goods to the poor and both embraced the monastic state. This touching story of these four holy souls demonstrates clearly how the Lord guides most wonderfully the destinies of those who believe in Him; how He looses on them trials and sorrows, that they may later, yet more greatly strengthened in their faith, experience the greater joy. They lived and died in the fifth century.

2. Our Holy Father Simeon the Ancient.

A friend and companion of St. Palladios, he lived in asceticism in a cave from his early youth right up to his death. He founded two monasteries and entered into rest in the Lord in the year 390. He was named ‘the Ancient’ by St. Simeon the Stylite, who lived somewhat later.

3. St. David, King of Georgia (1089-1130).

He restored and strengthened Georgia as a country. He was a great zealot for the Christian Faith. He built many new churches throughout Georgia, and restored ancient ones. He is regarded as the regenerator of Orthodoxy in Georgia.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The greatest blessing any country can have is that of good and holy men living within it. Compared with this blessing, all other blessings are as nothing. Devout Christian kings regarded holy people in their lands as the greatest blessing from God. The holy Emperor Constantine the Great said: ‘We bless the Lord Jesus Christ that there exists in my day three glorious saints: the blessed Abba Anthony, Abba Elenius and Abba Efchius.’ Before the Battle of Kulikovo, a battle significant for Russia, the devout Prince Dimitri of the Don went off with his chief advisors and commanders to the forest of Radonezh to seek St. Sergius and beg his prayers. And although the prince prepared his armies for the war of liberation from the Tartars, he placed greater confidence in the prayers of one holy man than in a vast army and many weapons.

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.