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 Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and our venerable Father Isidore of Pelusium.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 17th – Civil Calendar
February 4th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Isidore of Pelusium.

He was an Egyptian, the son of eminent parents and a kinsman of the Patriarchs of Alexandria Theophilus and Kyril. Completing his secular studies, he renounced his riches and worldly standing and gave himself wholly to the spiritual life for the love of Christ. He was a great and ardent interpreter and defender of the Orthodox Faith. The historian Nikephoros states that St. Isidore wrote more than 10,000 letters to various people in which he reprimanded one, advised another, consoled a third, instructed a fourth. ‘It is more important to be proficient in good works than in golden-tongued preaching,’ he writes in one letter. In another, he says: ‘If a man wishes his virtues to appear great, let him regard them as small and then they will be truly shown to be great.’ The first and fundamental rule for Isidore was: first do and then teach, after the example of the Lord Jesus. At a time when St. John Chrysostom was undergoing persecution and the whole world was divided into two camps, one for and one against this great pillar of Orthodoxy, St. Isidore stood on the side of Chrysostom. He wrote to Patriarch Theophilus, saying what a great light St. Chrysostom was in the Church and begging that the hatred of him should cease. He lived long and labored greatly, glorifying Christ the Lord in his life and his writings, and entered into the kingdom of Christ in about 450.

2. Our Holy Father Nicholas the Confessor.

This saint was from the island of Crete. He went to Constantinople to visit his kinsman Theodore, abbot of the Studite monastery, and remained there to become a monk. As a monk, Nicholas followed all the ascetic practices that are prescribed for the soul’s salvation. During a persecution of the Church on the part of Leo the Armenian, Theodore and Nicholas were harshly tortured, humiliated, beaten with bull-whips and finally thrown into prison, where they spent three years. After the death of St. Theodore, Nicholas became abbot of the Studium. Even during his lifetime, God blessed him with the power to work miracles. He healed Evdokia the wife of the Emperor Basil, and Helen the wife of the patrician Manuel. To Theophilus Melisenus, a distinguished nobleman who had lost several children, he prophesied, in blessing his newborn daughter, that she would live and be fruitful, a prophecy that was later fulfilled to the joy of her parents. On the very day of his death, he called the monks together and asked them what they lacked. ‘Wheat,’ they replied. Then the dying man said: ‘He Who sustained Israel in the wilderness will send you abundant wheat in three days.’ And indeed, a boat full of grain, sent by the Emperor Basil, arrived below the monastery on the third day. Nicholas entered into the heavenly kingdom on February 4th, 868, at the age of 75.

3. The Holy New-Martyr Joseph.

He was born in Aleppo. When the Turks pressured him to embrace Islam, Joseph not only refused, but began to denounce the falsehood of Islam and to extol the Christian Faith. For this he was tortured and beheaded in 1686.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Isidore of Pelusium interprets certain words from holy Scripture: ‘Of two grinding grain, the one shall be taken and the other left’ (Matt. 24:41), to mean that many will give themselves to the spiritual life, but with very different dispositions; one sincerely and steadily, another slackly and conceitedly. The first will be taken into the kingdom of God, and the second left. What is the meaning of the Lord’s prayer about the Cup? Why did the Lord beg that the cup of suffering should pass from Him (Matt. 26:42)? It means that no one should seek danger, but that, when it comes, a Christian must accept and endure it courageously.

On the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25), St. Isidore says: ‘They all kept their virginity, but had no other virtues, such as that of compassion. Virginity by itself is not sufficient for entry into the kingdom of God. Virginity is of no use if the virgin is filled with pride and self seeking.’

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.