Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. Mary of Egypt.

Mode One — Ninth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 321]. Brethren:

9 ¹¹Christ, Who came as High Priest of the coming good things, by means of the greater and more perfect tabernacle—not made by hand, that is, not of this creation, ¹²nor by blood of goats and of calves, but by His own blood—entered once for all into the Holies, having Himself obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of bulls and of goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of the Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works in order to worship the living God?

COMMEMORATION OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§§ 208, 209]. Brethren:

3 ²³Before faith came, we were being guarded under the law, having been closed up to the faith about to be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law hath become our tutor until Christ, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶For all are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many as were baptized into Christ, ye put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise.

4 ¹Now I say, as long as the heir is an infant, he differeth nothing from a slave, though he is lord of all; ²but he is under guardians and stewards until the appointed time of the father. ³So we also, when we were infants, were enslaved under the elements of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵in order that He might redeem those under the law, that we might receive what is our due, the adoption as sons.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 47]. At that time:

10 ³²Jesus took aside His twelve disciples, and began to tell them the things that were about to happen to Him, ³³saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death and deliver Him up to the Gentiles. ³⁴“And they shall mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit upon Him, and kill Him. And on the third day He shall raise Himself.”

³⁵And Iakovos and John, the sons of Zebedee, go to Him, saying, “Teacher, we wish that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask.” ³⁶And He said to them, “What do ye wish for Me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to Him, “Grant to us that we might sit, one on Thy right and one on Thy left, in Thy glory.” ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “Ye know not what ye ask for yourselves. Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹And they said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup indeed that I drink, ye shall drink, and the baptism with which I am baptized, ye shall be baptized; ⁴⁰“but to sit on My right and on My left is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to those for whom it hath been prepared.” ⁴¹And after the ten heard it, they began to be indignant on account of Iakovos and John. ⁴²But Jesus called them to Himself, and saith to them, “Ye know that those who are accounted to rule over the nations exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³“Yet it shall not be so among you. But whosoever doth wish to become great among you shall be your servant; ⁴⁴“and whosoever doth wish to become first among you shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Commemoration of Saint Mary of Egypt

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 33]. At that time:

7 ³⁶A certain one of the Pharisees was asking Jesus that He would eat with him. And He entered into the house of the Pharisee, and reclined at table. ³⁷And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of perfumed ointment, ³⁸and she stood beside His feet behind Him, weeping; and she began to wet His feet with tears, and was wiping them off with the hairs of her head; and she was kissing His feet ardently and anointing them with the perfumed ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, “This One, if He were a prophet, would know who and of what sort the woman is who toucheth Him, for she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to thee.” And he saith, “Teacher, say it.” ⁴¹“There were two debtors to a certain creditor: the one was owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²“But when they had nothing to pay back the debt, he showed himself gracious to both. Say which of them then will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered and said, “I suppose that he, to whom he showed himself the more gracious.” And He said to him, “Rightly thou didst judge.” ⁴⁴And He turned to the woman, and said to Simon, “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; water thou gavest Me not for My feet, but she with tears did wet My feet, and with the hairs of her head wiped them off. ⁴⁵“A kiss thou gavest Me not, but she from the time that I entered did not cease from ardently kissing My feet. ⁴⁶“With oil thou didst not anoint My head, but she anointed My feet with perfumed ointment. ⁴⁷“For which reason I say to thee, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” ⁴⁸And He said to her, “Thy sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹And those reclining at table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this Who even forgiveth sins?” ⁵⁰And He said to the woman, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go thy way in peace.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy Father Theophanes the Confessor of Sigriane, and our father among the saints, Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome, and our venerable Father Symeon the New Theologian.

Epistle

For the Hierarch:

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

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Synaxarion Readings

Synaxarion for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent
St. Mary of Egypt

On this day, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the memory of our holy and venerable Mother, Mary of Egypt.

The recorder of the life of this wonderful saint is St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A hieromonk, the Elder Zossima, had gone off at one time during the Great Fast on a twenty-days’ walk into the wilderness across the Jordan. He suddenly caught sight of a human being with a withered and naked body and with hair as white as snow, who fled in its nakedness from Zossima’s sight. The elder ran a long way, until this figure stopped at a stream and called out, “Father Zossima, forgive me for the Lord’s sake. I cannot turn around to you, for I am a naked woman.” Then Zossima threw her his outer cloak, and she wrapped herself in it and turned around to him. The elder was amazed at hearing his name from the lips of this unknown woman. After considerable pressure on his part, she told him the story of her life.

She had been born in Egypt and had lived as a prostitute in Alexandria from the age of twelve, spending seventeen years in this way of life. Urged by the lustful fire of the flesh, she one day boarded a ship that was sailing for Jerusalem. Arriving at the Holy City, she attempted to go into one of the churches to venerate the Precious Cross, but some unseen power prevented her from entering. In great fear, she turned to an icon of the Mother of God that was in the entrance and begged her to let her go in and venerate the Cross, confessing her sin and impurity and promising that she would then go wherever the most pure one led her. She was then allowed to enter the church. After venerating the Cross, she went out again to the entrance, and standing in front of the icon, thanked the Mother of God. Then she heard a voice saying, “If you cross the Jordan, you will find true peace.” She immediately bought three loaves of bread and set off for the Jordan, arriving there the same evening. She received Holy Communion the following morning in the monastery of St. John the Baptist, and then crossed the river. She spent the next forty-eight years in the wilderness in the greatest torments, in terror, in struggles with passionate thoughts like gigantic beasts, feeding only on plants.

Later, when she was standing in prayer, Zossima saw her lifted up in the air. She begged him to bring her Holy Communion the next year on the bank of the Jordan, and she would come to receive it. The following year, Zossima came with the holy Gifts to the bank of the Jordan in the evening and stood in amazement at the following sight. He saw her coming in the moonlight and, arriving on the opposite bank, make the sign of the Cross over the river. She then walked across it as though it were dry land. When she had received Holy Communion, she begged him to come again the following year to the same place where they had first met. The next year Zossima went and found her dead body there on that spot. Above her head in the sand was written: “Abba Zossima, bury in this place the body of the humble Mary. Give dust to dust. I passed away on April 1st, on the very night of Christ’s Passion, after Communion of the divine Mysteries.” For the first time, Zossima learned her name and also the awe-inspiring marvel that she had instantly arrived at that streambed the previous year on the night of the same day on which she had received Holy Communion—a place that he had taken twenty days to reach. And thus Zossima buried the body of the wonderful saint, Mary of Egypt. When he returned to the monastery, he recounted the whole story of her life and the wonders to which he had been an eyewitness. Thus the Lord glorifies repentant sinners. She entered into rest in about the year 530.

St. Mary is remembered today, as we reach the end of the Great Fast, to arouse the energy of the slothful and to urge sinners to repentance, imitating her example. She is also commemorated on April 1. The Righteous Zossima, who buried St. Mary, is commemorated on April 4.

O Christ our God, through the intercessions of our venerable Mother Mary of Egypt, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Translated from Triodion, siest ‘Tripesnets: Triod’ Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 25th – Civil Calendar
March 12th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Theophanes the Confessor.

Named ‘the Sygrian’ from his birthplace, Sygriane, he was a kinsman of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741) and his son Kopronymos (741-775). He had enormous wealth and lived in great splendor. But all this lost its value for Theophanes when he enthroned Christ the Lord in his soul. Then he was hindered by a marriage which he was obliged to make. He succeeded, though, in persuading his bride that they should live as brother and sister in chastity, and as soon as his parents died, his wife went to one monastery and he to another. His monastery was in the Syrian mountains in the Kyzikos region. The splendid and wealthy Theophanes lived for some time in the monastery as the poorest wretch, and all marvelled at the great change in him. Then, because he had become so known for his firm faith, abstinence and wisdom, he was invited to the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787, at which the veneration of icons was upheld. Because of his great purity and chastity, God gave him the gift of wonder-working and he was able to heal all manner of illness, especially mania and madness. He prayed to God for all the sick and distressed and helped them by his prayers. Only when he himself fell ill and was sick for a long time did he refuse to pray for his own healing but endured it with thanksgiving. When another iconoclast period arose under the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, Theophanes was taken to Constantinople and thrown into prison, where he spent two years in discomfort, pain and humiliation. The emperor then sent him into exile on the island of Samothrace, an exile which he had foreseen in his spirit and foretold to the prison warders. When he arrived on Samothrace, he lived for only twenty-three days, then went to his Lord and Creator to receive the deserved wreath of glory.

2. Our Holy Father Simeon the New Theologian.

This great and godly father of the Church was born in Galatia in Paphlagonia and educated in Constantinople, where he entered the imperial service. He left all for Christ and took himself off to a monastery, living in asceticism under the guidance of an elder, Simeon. He then became abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas, and finally a hermit. He was the greatest theologian since St. Gregory the Theologian. His writings, illumined with the grace he carried in his heart, are a true theological revelation. He entered into rest in 1022, leaving wonder-working relics.

3. St. Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome.

Son of the senator Gordianus, he himself became a senator and governor of the city of Rome, but as soon as his father died, he gave himself to the spiritual life. Out of his great wealth, he built six monasteries in Sicily and a seventh in Rome itself, being tonsured in this last, which he dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. His mother, Sylvia, also received the monastic schema in a women’s monastery. After the death of Pope Pelagius, Gregory was chosen as pope. He fled from this honor and power and hid himself in the mountains and ravines, but God showed people where to find him by making a fiery column, reaching from earth to heaven, appear at the place where Gregory was hiding. He had a rare compassion, using all his income for the housing of the poor and on hospitality. He frequently brought the poor in and fed them from his own table. He occupied himself with the writing of instructive books. ‘The Dialogist,’ or ‘the one who converses’ was the name he was known by, having written a book entitled ‘The Dialogues’ in which he brought to light the virtues and miracles of the Italian saints. He also compiled the service of the Presanctified Gifts that is used during the Great Fast. His archdeacon, Peter, often saw a dove hovering over his head when he was writing. He went to the Lord in 604.

FOR CONSIDERATION

No one, not the Lord God Himself, takes pleasure in instructing the proud. No one cares for giving instruction to him who asserts that he knows everything. ‘Secrets will be revealed to the meek,’ says the wise Sirach (3:19). And David says that God ‘keeps the meek in truth and teaches the meek His ways’ (Ps. 24:9). The proud man wants to teach everyone and not be taught by anyone himself; but the meek man wants to teach no one but desires constantly to be instructed by someone, no matter whom. An empty ear of grain lifts its head high up over all the field, but a full ear has a drooping head!

O proud man, if only your guardian angel would some time pull back the curtain from your eyes and disclose to you the endless vista of all that you do not know! You would kneel before every man before whom you have vaunted your pride and whom you have despised, and would cry with tears: ‘Forgive me, forgive me! I know nothing!’ To the humble and devout it is often given to know the hour of their death, but death comes unexpectedly to the proud. St. Gregory the Dialogist tells of a humble bishop, Carpus, who celebrated the Liturgy every day, to whom One from the other world appeared and said: ‘Go on doing what you are doing, and serve Me while your legs will stand and your hands function. And on the day of the dormition of the Mother of God, come to Me, and I will give you your reward in My heavenly kingdom, together with all those who have prayed at these services.’ After a year, on the Feast of the Dormition, Bishop Carpus celebrated the divine Liturgy, bade farewell to his clergy and gave his spirit to God. And his face shone with the light of the sun.

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.