Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Thirty-Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 244].

3 ¹Brethren, be rejoicing in the Lord. To write the same things to you, for me indeed is not troublesome, but it is safe for you. ²Be wary of the dogs, be wary of the evil workers, be wary of the mutilation; ³for we are the circumcision, those who worship God in spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and trust not in the flesh, ⁴although I also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I more: ⁵in circumcision on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶according to zeal, persecuting the Church; according to righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. ⁷But whatsoever things were gain to me, these I have deemed a loss for the Christ. ⁸But yea rather I also deem all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whom I suffered the loss of all things, and deem them to be dung, that I might win Christ.

Gospel

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

7 ¹⁷The report concerning Jesus went forth in all Judæa and in all the country round about.

¹⁸And His disciples brought tidings to John concerning all these things. ¹⁹And John called to himself a certain two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, saying, “Art Thou the coming One, or do we look for another?” ²⁰And after the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist hath sent us to Thee, saying, ‘Art Thou the coming One, or do we look for another?’” ²¹And in the same hour He cured many of diseases and plagues, and of evil spirits; and to many blind He graciously gave the power of sight. ²²And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what ye saw and heard: the blind are recovering their sight, the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised, the poor are being preached the Gospel; ²³“and happy is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” ²⁴And after the messengers of John departed, He began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What have ye gone out into the wilderness to behold? A reed being shaken by the wind? ²⁵“But what have ye gone out to see? A man who hath been clothed in soft garments? Behold, those in glorious garments and in luxury are in the palaces. ²⁶“But what have ye gone out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and much more than a prophet. ²⁷“This is he concerning whom it hath been written: ‘Behold, I send forth My messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee [cf. Mal. 3:1].’ ²⁸“For I say to you, among those born of women, no one is a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹And all the people who heard Him—even the tax collectors—justified God and were baptized with the baptism of John. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the doctors of the law, who were not baptized by him, set aside the counsel of God in regard to themselves.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

25. The commemoration of our father among the saints, Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Epistle

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.

for Sl. usage, see [1 Cor. 12:7-11].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 36]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

10 ⁹“I am the door; by Me if anyone should enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰“The thief cometh not, except that he might steal, and slay, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. ¹²“But the hireling, who indeed is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf seizeth them and scattereth the sheep. ¹³“Now the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling and careth not about the sheep. ¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine. ¹⁵“Even as the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶“And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; them also it is needful for Me to bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 7th – Civil Calendar
January 25th – Church Calendar

1. St. Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Born in Nazianzus of a Greek father (who later became a Christian and a bishop) and a Christian mother, he studied in Athens before his Baptism with St. Basil the Great and Julian the Apostate. He often foretold to Julian that he would be an apostate and a persecutor of the Church, and so it came to pass. Gregory was especially influenced by his mother, Nonna. He was baptized when he had completed his studies. St. Basil consecrated him bishop of Sasima, and Emperor Theodosios called him to the vacant archiepiscopal throne of Constantinople. His works were manifold, the best-known being his theological writings, for which he received the title ‘the Theologian’. He is particularly famed for the depth of his Sermons on the Holy Trinity. He also wrote against the heretic Macedonius, who taught wrongly that the Spirit was a creature of God, and against Apollinarius who taught that Christ did not have a human soul but that His divinity was in place of His soul. He also wrote against the Emperor Julian the Apostate, his one time school-fellow. In the year 381, when a quarrel broke out in the council concerning his election as archbishop, he withdrew himself, declaring: ‘Those who deprive us of the (archiepiscopal) throne cannot deprive us of God.’ He then left Constantinople and went to Nazianzus, remaining there in retirement, prayer and the writing of instructive books until his death. And, although he was in weak health all his life due to the ceaseless attacks of the heretics, he lived to the age of seventy. His relics were later taken to Rome, and his head to the Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow. He was, and remains, a great and wonderful light of the Orthodox Church, as much for the meekness and purity of his character as for the unsurpassable depth of his mind. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 389.

2. Our Holy Father Publius.

A senator at first, Publius came to know the light of Christ, left his honors and gave his goods to the poor and himself to the ascetic life in the vicinity of his town, Zeugma, on the Euphrates. He founded two communities and entered into rest in the Lord in the year 380.

3. Our Holy Father Mares.

He was distinguished by external beauty and a sweet singing voice. He retired from the world and lived in a hut for thirty-seven years in fasting and prayer and in cleansing his heart from thoughts. He entered into rest in the Lord as an elderly man of ninety in the year 430.

4. The Holy Martyr Felicitas and her seven sons.

She, together with her seven sons, was condemned to death for her Christian Faith in 164, in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus. She begged God only that she should not be killed before her sons, so that she might be able to encourage them in their torture and death not to deny Christ. And so it came to pass, by the providence of God. This mother joyfully bade her sons farewell one after the other, until she had seen all seven executed. Then she also, with thanksgiving to God, embraced a martyr’s death. They all suffered in Rome, where their relics are preserved.

FOR CONSIDERATION

They deceive themselves who self-confidently assert that they know men well and that no one can deceive them. Who, but the one God Who knows the secrets of the heart, can guess what kind of spiritual being any man is? Even the great saints were mistaken in people. For example: St. Basil for a long time considered a hypocritical heretic to be a holy man, and defended him against his many attackers until he was in the end, in bitter disappointment, convinced of the other’s deceit. St. Gregory the Theologian baptized a philosopher called Maximus and loved him so greatly that he shared his house and table with him. But this Maximus was as wicked and cunning as a snake, and after a while he managed by intrigues and bribes to be accepted by the citizens of Constantinople as patriarch in place of St. Gregory. When, after many intrigues, this trial was removed, Gregory was upbraided for having kept his greatest enemy at his side. ‘We are not to blame,’ replied the saint, ‘if we cannot see through a man’s wickedness. God alone knows man’s inner secrets. And we are told by the commandments to open our hearts with fatherly love to anyone who approaches us.’ The good, kindly man cannot easily comprehend the wickedness of the wicked man.

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.