Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 313]. Beloved:

6 ⁹We have been persuaded of the better things concerning you, even those things which hold on to salvation, though we speak thus. ¹⁰For God is not unjust, to be forgetful of your work and the labor of love which ye yourselves showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. ¹¹And we desire each of you to show the same earnestness to the full assurance of the hope until the end, ¹²in order that ye might not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and long-suffering inherit the promises.

Another Reading for Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast in Commemoration of the Departed

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 163]. Brethren:

15 ⁴⁷The first man is of earth, earthy; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸As is the earthy, such are they also who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also who are heavenly. ⁴⁹And even as we bore the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. ⁵⁰Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. ⁵¹Behold, I tell you a mystery: On the one hand we shall not all fall asleep, but on the other hand we shall all be changed— ⁵²in a moment, in a wink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For it is needful for this corruptible to put on itself incorruption and this mortal to put on itself immortality. ⁵⁴But whenever this corruption should put on itself incorruption, and this mortal should put on itself immortality, then the word which hath been written shall come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory [cf. Is. 25:8]. ⁵⁵“O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory [cf. Hos. 13:14]?” ⁵⁶Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God Who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 31]. At that time:

7 ³¹Jesus, having departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, came to the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the borders of Decapolis. ³²And they bring to Him a deaf man having an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him that He might lay His hand on him. ³³And He took him away, aside from the crowd, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit and touched his tongue. ³⁴And having looked up to the heaven, He sighed, and saith to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be thou opened.” ³⁵And straightway his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak rightly. ³⁶And He Himself gave them express orders that they should tell no one; but as much as He was giving them express orders, much more abundantly were they proclaiming it. ³⁷And beyond all measure they were astonished, saying, “He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.”

Commemoration of the Departed

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 16]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

5 ²⁴“Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of death into life. ²⁵“Verily, verily, I say to you, that an hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. ²⁶“For even as the Father hath life in Himself, so He also gave to the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷“and He also gave to Him authority to execute judgment. That He is Son of Man, ²⁸“cease marvelling at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the graves shall hear His voice, ²⁹“and shall go forth—they who did good things to a resurrection of life, but they who practised bad things to a resurrection of condemnation. ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father Gerasimos of the Jordan, and our venerable father, the right-believing great Prince Daniel Alexandrovich of Moscow.

Epistle

For the blessed Prince:

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

For the blessed Prince:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 47]. The Lord said:

12 ³⁰“The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who gathereth not with Me scattereth. ³¹“On this account I say to you every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men. ³²“And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming one. ³³“Either make the tree good and the fruit of it good, or make the tree rotten and the fruit of it rotten; for the tree is known from the fruit. ³⁴“O offspring of vipers, how are ye, being evil, able to speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. ³⁵“The good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. ³⁶“But I say to you, that every idle word, whatsoever men shall speak, they shall render an account concerning it in the day of judgment. ³⁷“For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 17th – Civil Calendar
March 4th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Gerasimos (Gerasim).

This well-known saint first learned asceticism in the Egyptian Thebaid, but then went to the Jordan and there founded a community of about seventy monks which remains to this day. He formulated a particular rule for his monastery: the monks spent five days a week in their cells weaving baskets and mats; they were allowed no heat in their cells; five days they ate only a little dry bread and a few dates; the monks had to leave their cells open, even when they went out, so that anyone could, if he wanted something, take it from another’s cell. On Saturdays and Sundays they gathered in the monastery church, ate together boiled vegetables, and took a little wine in God’s praise. Then each monk brought and placed before the feet of the abbot the work he had done in the preceding five days. Each monk had only one garment. St. Gerasimos was an example to all. In the Great Fast he ate nothing but what he received in holy Communion. He once saw a lion which was roaring with pain, having a thorn in its paw. Gerasimos came near to it, crossed himself and pulled the thorn out. The lion was so tame that it followed the elder to the monastery and remained there until the latter’s death. When the elder died, the lion also succumbed to illness after him and died. St. Gerasimos was present at the Fourth Council in Chalcedon in 451, in the time of Marcian and Pulcheria, and though he at first inclined a little towards the Monophysite heresy of Eftyches and Dioscoros, he was at that council a great champion of Orthodoxy, having been turned from heresy by St. Efthymios. Of Gerasimos’ disciples, the best-known is St. Kyriakos the Solitary. St. Gerasimos entered into rest and into the eternal joy of his Lord in 475.

2. The Holy Martyrs Paul and Juliana.

Brother and sister from Ptolemais in Phoenicia, they were cruelly tortured for Christ under the Emperor Aurelian and were finally beheaded. Many miracles attended their martyrdom and many of the pagans, seeing them, were brought to the Faith. Several of them were beheaded in 273 and received martyrs’ wreaths.

3. St. Iakovos the Faster.

He lived in the sixth century. He was so perfected in godliness that he was able to heal the gravest illnesses by his prayers. But the enemy of the human race brought a heavy temptation on him. There was once sent to him a woman who had been corrupted by some mockers. She pretended to weep before him, but enticed him to sin. Seeing that he would fall into sin, Iakovos put his left hand into the fire and held it there until it was completely burned. Seeing this, the woman was filled with fear and horror, repented and reformed her life. But on a second occasion he did not resist and fell with a young girl whom her parents had brought to him to be healed of her madness. He indeed healed her, but then sinned with her, and in order to conceal the sin, killed her and threw her into a river. As always, the path from lust to murder was not very long. Iakovos spent ten years after that as a penitent, living in a grave. He learned after that that God had forgiven him, because, when he at one time prayed for rain in a time of great drought from which both men and cattle were suffering, it fell. Here is an example, similar to that of David, of how wicked the evil demon is; how, by the permission of God, the greatest spiritual giants can topple, and how again, by sincere repentance, God in His compassion will forgive the greatest sins and does not punish those who punish themselves.

FOR CONSIDERATION

If human philosophy can content a man, why did the philosophers Justin and Origen become Christians? Why did Basil and Chrysostom and Gregory, who had in Athens studied Hellenic philosophy in its fullness, receive Baptism? And St. Clement of Rome, who was very rich and very learned? And St. Catherine, who was of the royal house and learned in all the secular knowledge of Egypt? And Ioasaph, the heir of India, who was versed in the whole of Indian philosophy? And so many, many others who first sought an explanation for the enigmas of the world and light for their souls in philosophy, and then drew near to the Church and came to worship Christ the Lord.

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.