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 ⁴¹And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw; and having kneeled down, He was praying, ⁴²saying, “Father, if Thou art willing to take away this cup from Me—; but not My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

The commemoration of the holy Wonder-workers and Unmercenaries Kyros (Cyrus) and John.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 153]. Brethren:

12 ²⁷Ye are the body of Christ, and members severally.

²⁸And God set for Himself some in the Church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then works of power, then free gifts of healings, helps, governments, kinds of tongues. ²⁹All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not have works of power, do they? ³⁰All do not have free gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? ³¹All do not interpret, do they? But keep on desiring earnestly the better gifts of grace. And yet I show you a more surpassing way.

13 ¹If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains from one place to another, but I have not love, I am nothing. ³And if I dole out all of my goods, and if I deliver up my body that I may be burned, but I have not love, I am being profited nothing. ⁴Love is long-suffering, is kind; love is not jealous; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; ⁵doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; ⁷covereth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸Love never falleth away.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ mid 34]. At that time:

10 ¹After Jesus called to Himself His twelve disciples, He gave to them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every weakness.... ⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, “Do not begin to go into the way of the nations, and do not begin to enter into a city of the Samaritans. ⁶“But go rather to the sheep, the lost of the house of Israel. ⁷“And as ye go, be preaching, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens hath drawn near.’ ⁸“Be healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons; freely ye received, freely give.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 13th – Civil Calendar
January 31st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Unmercenaries and Wonder-workers Cyrus and John.

These compassionate and wonderful saints were not blood brothers, but were brothers in spirit. Cyrus (Kyros) lived at first in Alexandria, and working as a doctor, healed people by the power of Christ together with medicine for the body. Discovering that illness came upon people mainly through sin, he always told them to cleanse their souls from sin by repentance and prayer, that they might be restored and strengthened in body. When Diocletian began his persecution of Christians, Cyrus went off to Arabia, where he received the monastic schema. But, as he had become known in Alexandria, so he became known also in Arabia, and people went to him for help. John, hearing of him and being at that time a Roman officer in Edessa, came to Arabia to see Cyrus. On seeing each other, they loved each other as brothers and remained together to live in asceticism. At that time, a Christian woman called Athanasia was tortured together with her three daughters in the town of Canopus. Cyrus and John heard of this and came to Canopus to encourage the mother and daughters not to fall back from the Faith. And, grateful indeed for the counsel of these saints, Athanasia endured all the tortures, and with her daughters, was slain for Christ. The daughters were: Theoctista, age 15; Theodota, age 13; and Evdokia, age 11. Then the torturers took Cyrus and John, and after torture and imprisonment, slew them with the sword in the year 311. These holy martyrs performed innumerable miracles, both during their lives and after their death. Their relics were translated to Rome in the time of the Emperor Arkadios. They are invoked for help especially for the sleepless and for the blessing of water and food.

2. The Holy Martyr Tryphaena.

She voluntarily and courageously underwent harsh torture for Christ. Then, because she would not repudiate her faith, a mad ox was released which gored and killed her. This came to pass in the first century. She is invoked to help mothers who are unable to nurse their babies.

3. Our Holy Father Nikita of the Kiev Caves.

As a monk, in disobedience to his abbot, he went off and lived as a recluse in a solitary cell. For his disobedience, God sent great temptations upon him. Once when Nikita was at prayer, the devil appeared to him as an angel of light and said to him: ‘Do not pray any more, but rather read books, and I will pray in your place.’ Nikita obeyed, stopped praying and began to read books. He read only the Old Testament and was totally unable to open the New, being prevented by some diabolical strength. He also prophesied with the help of the devil—about crimes, kidnappings, fires and other evil works which were known to the devil and thence made known to him. The holy fathers of the monastery finally realized that Nikita had fallen into demonic delusion and began to pray for him. Nikita returned to himself, realized the abyss into which he had fallen, repented bitterly of his disobedience and pride and directed himself onto the right path. After long penance and many tears, God forgave him and gave him the gift of wonder-working. He entered into rest in 1108.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Although the holy fathers praised monasticism as the angelic state, and although many of the greatest saints spent their lives and achieved perfection in the silent and lifeless desert, nevertheless the Orthodox Church does not recommend monasticism to all the faithful. ‘Neither will all those in the desert be saved, nor all those in the world be lost,’ said one saint. To one city-dweller who, without any inclination to monasticism, had made up his mind to go to a monastery, St. Niphon said: ‘My son, a man is neither saved nor lost by the place he is in, but is saved or lost by his deeds. Neither a holy place nor a holy state is of use to him who does not fulfill the commandments of the Lord. Saul lived in regal luxury and perished. David lived in like luxury and received the wreath. Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites and was saved. Judas was among the apostles and went to hell. Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God [by loving the truth of Orthodoxy] and loving towards men, and you will be saved.’

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.