Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second General Epistle of Saint Peter [§ 64].

1 ¹Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who obtained as their portion a faith equal in honor to us in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. ²Grace to you and peace be multiplied in a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord:

³Inasmuch as His divine power hath freely given to us all the things for life and piety, through the full knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴by which He hath freely given to us the very great and precious promises, that through these ye might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by desire. ⁵But also for this very thing, besides having brought in all diligence, supply virtue in your faith, and knowledge in virtue, ⁶and self-control in knowledge, and patience in self-control, and piety in patience, ⁷and brotherly affection in piety, and love in brotherly affection. ⁸For if these things are in you and abounding, they render you neither barren nor unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For to whom these things are not present he is blind, being shortsighted, having forgotten the purification of old of his sins. ¹⁰Wherefore, brethren, rather give the more diligence to make sure for yourselves your calling and election; for if ye do these things, in no wise shall ye ever stumble.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 53]. The Lord said this parable:

12 ¹“A man planted a vineyard, and put a hedge around it, and dug a trough underneath the winepress, and built a tower. And he let it out to vinedressers and went abroad. ²“And at the season he sent forth a slave to the vinedressers, in order that he might receive from the vinedressers of the fruit of the vineyard. ³“And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty. ⁴“And again he sent forth to them another slave, and that one they stoned, and smote him on the head; and sent him away having suffered dishonor. ⁵“And again he sent forth another, and that one they killed, and many others—some, on the one hand, beating, and others, on the other hand, killing. ⁶“Having yet therefore one son, his own beloved, he also sent him forth to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷“But those vinedressers, having seen him coming, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.’ ⁸“And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹“What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰“Did ye not even read this Scripture? ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner; ¹¹“‘this came to be from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes [Ps. 117(118):22, 23; cf. Is. 28:16]’?” ¹²And they were seeking to lay hold of Him, but were afraid of the crowd; for they knew that He spoke the parable against them. And they left Him and went away.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of Nativity, and the 14,000 holy Infants massacred by Herod.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 306]. Brethren:

2 ¹¹Both He Who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, ¹²saying, “I will announce Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the church will I hymn Thee [cf. Ps. 21(22):22]”; ¹³and again, “I will trust in Him [cf. Is. 8:17]”; and again, “Behold, I and the children whom God gave Me [Is. 8:18].” ¹⁴Since then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, in order that through death He might bring to nought the one who hath the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and might set free those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶For surely He taketh not hold of the nature of the angels, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, in order to be made an expiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸For having Himself been tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to help those who are tempted.

for Sl. usage, see [2 Cor. 5:15-21].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 4].

2 ¹³After the Magi departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, and take the young Child and His Mother, and flee thou into Egypt, and be thou there until I should tell thee; for Herod is about to seek the young Child, to destroy Him.” ¹⁴And he arose and took the young Child and His Mother by night and departed into Egypt, ¹⁵and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son [cf. Hos. 11:1].” ¹⁶Then Herod, after he saw that he was mocked by the Magi, was angered exceedingly. And he sent forth and killed all the male children that were in Bethlehem and in all her borders, from two years old and under, according to the time which he inquired carefully from the Magi. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying, ¹⁸“A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not [cf. Jer. 38(31):15].” ¹⁹But after Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰saying, “Arise, and take the young Child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they who sought the soul of the young Child have died.” ²¹And he arose and took the young Child and His Mother, and came into the land of Israel. ²²But after he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judæa instead of Herod his father, he was afraid to go there. And having been divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee. ²³And he came and dwelt in a city which is called Nazareth, in order that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophets, that He shall be called a Nazarene.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 11th – Civil Calendar
December 29th – Church Calendar

1. The 14,000 Holy Children in Bethlehem.

When the Magi from the East failed to return to Jerusalem from Bethlehem to tell Herod about the newborn King, but at the angel’s command, returned to their home another way, Herod was as furious as a wild beast, and commanded that all the children of two years and under in Bethlehem and its surroundings be killed. This terrible command of the king’s was carried out to the letter. His soldiers cut off some of the children’s heads with their swords, dashed others on the stones, trampled some of them underfoot and drowned others with their own hands. The weeping and lamentation of their mothers rose to heaven: ‘Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children’ as had been prophesied (Jer. 13:15; Matt. 2:18). This evildoing towards the hordes of innocent children came to pass a year after the birth of Christ, at a time when Herod was trying to find the divine Child. He sought Zacharias’ son, John, meaning to kill him in the belief that John was the new king. When Zacharias refused to hand John over, he was killed in the temple on Herod’s orders. St. Simeon the God-receiver was also killed, and went to God soon after the Meeting in the Temple. Slaying the children in Bethlehem, Herod then turned on the Jewish elders, who had revealed to him where the Messiah would be born. He killed Hyrcanes the high priest, and seventy elders from the Sanhedrin, and thus they who conspired with Herod to kill the new baby King came to an evil end. After that, Herod killed his own brother and sister and wife, and three of his sons. Finally, God’s punishment fell on him: he began to tremble, his legs swelled, the lower part of his body became putrid, and worms came out of the sores. His nose became blocked and an unbearable stench spread around from it. At the time of his death, he remembered that there were many captive Jews in prison; so, that they should not rejoice at his death, he ordered that they all be slaughtered. Thus this terrible ruler lost his inhuman soul and was given to the devil for eternity.

2. Our Holy Father Markellos.

From Apameia in Syria, he was abbot of the community of the Unsleeping Ones in Constantinople. He was a clairvoyant, a healer and a great wonder-worker. He spoke with angels, and drove out devils with ease. After his death, he appeared to his close friend, St. Lucian, and told him that he had begged God to take Lucian quickly to His heavenly kingdom. This glorious and holy man entered into rest in 486.

3. Our Holy Fathers Mark the Gravedigger and Theophilus the Weeper.

They were monks of the Kiev Caves. St. Mark had such grace that he could command the dead and they would listen to him. ‘Wait till tomorrow, my brother; your grave isn’t ready yet,’ he is recorded as having said to a dead monk, who was already washed and prepared, and the monk opened his eyes and lived till the following day. Theophilus wept constantly for his sins, catching his tears in a basin. An angel appeared to him at the time of his death, and showed him a very large basin full of tears. These were Theophilus’ tears, that had fallen to the ground or been wiped away with his hand, or had dried on his face. Thus in heaven they know and keep all our tears along with our sufferings and labors and sighs for the sake of our salvation. These holy servants of God entered into rest in the eleventh century, and went to the kingdom of Christ.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A story of the most pure Virgin Mary: she conceived the Lord Jesus on a Friday, and bore Him on the first day of the week. It was on this first day that God said: ‘Let there be light’ (Gen. 1:3), on this day manna fell from heaven, on this day our Lord and Savior was born and was on this day baptized in the Jordan. There lived in Bethlehem at that time the aged Salome, a kinswoman of Joseph and Mary. She could not receive her kinsfolk into her house, but visited them in the shepherd’s cave. When the most holy Virgin stainlessly bore the Lord and Savior, Salome came to visit her, and was amazed that such a young girl should give birth without the aid of a midwife, should swaddle the child herself and still be on her feet. When it was explained to Salome that this birth was of God and not of man, that it was stainless and without pain and that the Virgin Mother remained a virgin after the birth as she was before it, Salome would not believe it, but stretched out her hand to the most holy Virgin’s body, to examine, after the way of a midwife, if this was so. She was punished for her unbelief and impudence: her hand was seized and withered. The old woman was greatly frightened by this, and lamented over her withered hand. Then, as it touched the divine Child, it was restored to its former wholeness, and Salome believed in the virginity of the holy Virgin Mary and the divinity of Christ.

After forty days, when, according to the custom, the most pure Virgin came with the Child to the temple in Jerusalem, Zacharias the high priest stood her in the place reserved for virgins. The Pharisees and priests were amazed at this, and wanted to move her to the place for married women, but Zacharias, gifted with insight, insisted that she was a virgin although she had given birth. Because of this, the Jewish elders hated Zacharias and advised Herod to kill him. Immediately after leaving the temple, the Mother of God and Joseph left Jerusalem for Nazareth, and then for Egypt.

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.