Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The Saturday After the Theophany

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

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 7]. At that time:

4 ¹Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He hungered. ³And the tempter, having come to Him, said, “If Thou art God’s Son, command that these stones become loaves.” ⁴But He answered and said, “It hath been written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goeth forth out of the mouth of God [cf. Deut. 8:3].’” ⁵Then the devil taketh Him to the holy city, and setteth Him upon the wing of the temple, ⁶and saith to Him, “If Thou art God’s Son, cast Thyself down; for it hath been written: ‘He shall enjoin His angels concerning Thee; and upon their hands shall they take Thee up, lest ever Thou strike Thy foot against a stone [cf. Ps. 90(91):11, 12].’” ⁷Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it hath been written: ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God [Deut. 6:16].’” ⁸Again, the devil taketh Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. ⁹And he saith to Him, “All these things will I give to Thee if Thou wilt fall down and make obeisance to me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus saith to him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan. For it hath been written: ‘Thou shalt make obeisance to the Lord thy God, and Him alone shalt thou worship [cf. Deut. 6:13].’” ¹¹Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold, angels drew near and were ministering to Him.

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 162]. Brethren:

15 ³⁹Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is indeed one kind of flesh of men, and another of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds. ⁴⁰And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but indeed, the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. ⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differeth from star in glory. ⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. ⁴³It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. ⁴⁴It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body. ⁴⁵And so it hath been written: “The first man Adam became a living soul [cf. Gen. 2:7]; the last Adam became a life-creating Spirit.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 15]. At that time:

4 ³¹Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath days. ³²And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. ³³And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴saying, “Ha! What is it to us and to Thee, Jesus, O Nazarene? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God.” ³⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be thou muzzled, and come forth out of him.” And after the demon threw him in the midst, he came out from him, and by no means hurt him. ³⁶And amazement came upon all, and they were talking together with one another saying, “What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out?”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

13. The commemoration of the Afterfeast of Theophany, and the holy Martyrs Hermylos and Stratonikos at Belgrade.

On account of the Leave-taking of the Feast of Theophany on the 14^th of January, some texts have transferred the other services of that day (St. Nina and the venerable Fathers) to this day.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 199]. Brethren:

1 ³Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴Who gave Himself for our sins, so that He might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵to Whom be the glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

⁶I marvel that ye are so quickly transferring yourselves from the One Who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, ⁷which is not another Gospel, only there are some who trouble you and wish to turn around the Gospel of the Christ. ⁸But even if we, or an angel from out of heaven, should preach a gospel to you besides what Gospel we preached to you, let such a one be anathema. ⁹As we have said before, and now again I say, if anyone preach a gospel to you besides what ye received, let such a one be anathema. ¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I were yet trying to please men, I should not be a slave of Christ.

Gospel

For the Martyrs:

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.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 26th – Civil Calendar
January 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Hermylos and Stratonikos.

The Emperor Licinius launched a violent persecution against the Christians. St. Hermylos, a Christian and a deacon in one of the churches, was arrested and condemned to death. When he was told that he was being taken out to martyrdom, he rejoiced greatly. The emperor threatened him in vain; Hermylos openly confessed his faith in Christ, and in reply to the emperor’s threats, said: “The Lord is a helper to me, and I will not fear what man shall do to me” (Ps. 117:6). After harsh torture, Hermylos was flung into prison. But the jailer was one Stratonikos, a secret Christian who was filled with whole-hearted compassion for Hermylos’ sufferings. When he, too, appeared before the emperor as a Christian, Licinius ordered that they both be thrown into the Danube. So Hermylos and Stratonikos were bound together in one net and cast into the river. After three days the river threw their bodies onto the bank, and fellow-Christians took them and buried them a little ways outside Belgrade. These glorious martyrs suffered for Christ and entered into glory in the year 315.

2. St. Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis.

In summer in an open field and in winter in a cave, St. Jacob lived as a hermit. On one occasion he went down into the city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, to look into the faith and life of the Christians, and was there elected by the people as their bishop. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 and defended Orthodoxy against the Arians.

It happened at one time that the pagan Persian army attacked Nisibis. St. Jacob went out onto the ramparts with the banner-icon from the church, himself raising it aloft and walking round the ramparts fearless of the arrows the enemy was aiming at him. Walking thus, the saint prayed to God to save the city and the faithful in it by sending flies and mosquitoes on the Persians, thus driving them away from the city walls. He did not, we see, seek the destruction of the enemy. He sought some sort of catastrophe, some quite small occurrence, that would overcome them and remove them from the vicinity. God heard the prayer of His chosen one and sent a plague of flies and mosquitoes on the Persians, driving them away and saving the city of Nisibis. St. Jacob lived long and with honor, and died peacefully in great old age in the year 350.

3. St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers.

An ardent fighter against Arianism in the West, he suffered greatly for his choice of Orthodoxy. Of his writings on many subjects, the most important are those on the Holy Trinity. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 367.

4. Our Holy Father Maximus of Kapsokalyvia.

Maximus lived in the fourteenth century following the ascetic life as a monk on the Holy Mountain according to his own particular way. He pretended to be slightly crazed and constantly changed his abode. He built huts of boughs, and then burned them down in rapid succession. He thus earned himself the name ‘of Kapsokalyvia,’ that is, ‘of the burnt huts’. He was regarded as a fool until St. Gregory the Sinaite came to the Holy Mountain and perceived in Maximus a unique ascetic, a wonder-worker with the gift of prayer and an ‘angel in the flesh’. He went to the Lord in the year 1320.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Good deeds in silence are worth far more than good deeds with show, and incomparably more than the cleverest show without good deeds. From St. Nicholas of Myra not one single word has been preserved, but his deeds have remained. Without any show, he came by night on three occasions to the house of a poor man and threw a purse of gold through the window.

An old man in the hermitage at Myra fell ill and longed to eat a little fresh bread (for the bread eaten there by the monks had been dried in the sun and kept for many months). Hearing this, one of the monks went out without a word and traveled a long way to the town, whence he brought fresh bread for the aged sufferer. The elder, learning of the labor of the monk who brought it, would not eat the bread, saying: ‘This is the blood of my brother’ (i.e. my brother has brought it to me with great difficulty). Then the other monks begged the elder to eat it, saying to him that he must not reject the sacrifice of his brother. What ostentation and what words concerning brotherly love could replace this simple and silent act of brotherly love?

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.