Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the Fifth Week of the Great Fast and of the Akathist

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 322]. Brethren:

9 ²⁴The Christ entered not into the holies made by hand, antitypes of the true things, but into the heaven itself, now to be manifested before the face of God on our behalf; ²⁵not in order that He may offer Himself many times, even as the high priest entereth into the holies year by year with blood belonging to another; ²⁶for otherwise it would be necessary for Him many times to have suffered from the foundation of the world; but now, once for all, at the consummation of the ages, He hath been manifested for the setting at nought of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷And inasmuch as it is laid up for men to die once, but after this, judgment, ²⁸thus the Christ Who was offered once for all to bear up the sins of many, shall appear the second time without sin to those who await Him unto salvation.

Another Reading for Saturday of the Fifth Week of the Great Fast for the Theotokos

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 320]. Brethren:

9 ¹The first tabernacle also used to have both ordinances of worship and the sanctuary of this world. ²For a tabernacle was furnished: the first in which were both the lampstand and the table, and the laying forth of the loaves, which is called Holy; ³and after the second veil, a tabernacle which is called Holy of Holies, ⁴which hath a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant which hath been covered all around from every side with gold, in which was the golden jar having the manna, and the rod of Aaron that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ⁵and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, concerning which now is not the time to speak severally. ⁶Now after these things were thus furnished, the priests, on the one hand, enter into the first tabernacle, performing worship services; ⁷on the other hand, into the second, the high priest entereth alone once for all every year, not without blood, which he offereth on behalf of himself and the faults of ignorance of the people.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 35]. At that time:

8 ²⁷Jesus went out, and His disciples, into the villages of Cæsarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Whom do men say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered, “John the Baptist, but others say Elias; and others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹And He saith to them, “But ye, whom do ye say that I am?” And Peter answereth and saith to Him, “Thou art the Christ.” ³⁰And He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. ³¹And He began to teach them that it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things, and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and after three days to rise.

Another Reading for the Theotokos

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 54]. At that time:

10 ³⁸Jesus entered into a certain village. And a certain woman, by name Martha, received Him into her house. ³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat down beside the feet of Jesus, and was listening to His word. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted about much serving, and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, is it no concern to Thee that my sister left me to serve alone? Speak to her therefore that she should help me.” ⁴¹And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things. ⁴²“But there is need of one thing, and Mary chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”...

11 ²⁷And it came to pass, as He was speaking these things, a certain woman out of the crowd lifted up her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts which Thou didst suck.” ²⁸But He said, “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy fathers among the saints, Sophronios, Archbishop of Jerusalem, and Efthymios, Bishop of Novgorod.

Epistle

For the Hierarchs:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 318]. Brethren:

8 ³Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is necessary for this One to have something also which He might offer. ⁴For if, indeed, He were on earth, He would not even be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, ⁵who worship a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses had been divinely warned when he was about to execute the tabernacle; for, “See,” saith He, “that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown to thee in the mount [cf. Ex. 25:40].” ⁶But now He hath attained a more excellent liturgy, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 24th – Civil Calendar
March 11th – Church Calendar

1. St. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

He was born in Damascus of eminent parents. Having acquired worldly wisdom, he was not content with this, and began also to acquire pure, spiritual wisdom. In the monastery of St. Theodosios he found himself with the monk John Moschus, whom he took as his teacher; then, together with him, set out to visit the monasteries and ascetics of Egypt. Their motto was to glean more spiritual wisdom each day. They wrote down all that they discovered, and later published it in two books entitled ‘The Spiritual Meadow’. They later went to Rome, where Moschus died, leaving Sophronios with the pledge to take him either to Sinai or to the Monastery of St. Theodosios. Sophronios fulfilled the desire of his teacher and took his body to the monastery. After that he was delayed in Jerusalem, which by that time had been freed from the Persians. He witnessed the return of the Precious Cross from Persia, which the Emperor Herakleios carried into the holy city on his back. The old patriarch, Zacharias, who also returned from slavery, did not live long, and when he went to the other world, was followed first by Modestus, who died in 634, and then by blessed Sophronios. He governed the Church with outstanding wisdom and zeal for four years, standing in defence of Orthodoxy against the Monothelite heresy, which he condemned at his council in Jerusalem before it was condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council. He wrote the life of St. Mary of Egypt, compiled the rite of the Great Blessing of Water and introduced various new hymns and songs into different services. When the Arabian Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem, Sophronios begged him to spare the Christians, which Omar hypocritically promised. When Omar quickly began to plunder and ill-treat the Christians in Jerusalem, Sophronios, with many lamentations, begged God to take him from among the living upon earth, that he should not see the desecration of the holy places. And God heard his prayer, and took him to Himself in His heavenly courts in 644.

2. The Holy Martyr Pionius.

A priest of Smyrna, he suffered there in the time of Decius’ persecution. They condemned him to be crucified, which was a great joy to him. And as soon as the soldiers assembled the cross and laid it on the ground, Pionius laid himself on it and stretched out his arms, calling to the soldiers to put the nails into his hands. The cross was inserted into the ground upside down, and a fire lit under the martyr’s head. There were many bystanders. Pionius closed his eyes and prayed to God within himself. The flames could not succeed in igniting even his hair, and when the fire had at last gone out and everyone thought that he was dead, Pionius opened his eyes and cried out joyfully: ‘O Lord, receive my spirit!’ and breathed his last. This saint wrote the life of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, together with whom he now makes merry in the kingdom of Christ. He suffered and was glorified in 250.

3. Our Holy Father George the Sinaite.

Abbot of Mount Sinai, he was a great ascetic and a righteous man. On Pascha night an angel of God carried him to Jerusalem for the service, and took him back the same day to Sinai. He entered peacefully into rest in the 6th century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

‘No good thing can be brought to completion by our own efforts, but by the power and will of God. However, God demands effort on our part to conform to His will.’ These are the words of Saints Barsanuphius and John. Few words, but much said in them. We must work at the cultivating and preparing of every good thing, and if some good germinates and grows and bears fruit, that is by God’s power and will. We plough the furrows and God sows, if He will. He can do all things if He wills. And He wills all that conforms to the highest wisdom and wholeness; that is, to His dispensation in the salvation of men. The interpretation of the Lord’s words: ‘Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’ (Matt. 10:16), writes St. John Chrysostom, is that the Lord gave this commandment to His disciples ‘that they should themselves, as far as they could, co-operate, that it should be seen not only as the work of grace, and that they should not think that wreaths of glory are won for nothing.’ And so both our effort and God’s blessed power are indispensable to our salvation.

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.