Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 73].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:11; for Sl. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:6.

3 ²¹Beloved, if our heart be not condemning us, we have boldness toward God. ²²And whatsoever we may ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing before Him. ²³And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and be loving one another, even as He gave us commandment. ²⁴And the one keeping His commandments abideth in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit Whom He gave to us.

4 ¹Beloved, cease believing every spirit, but keep on putting the spirits to the test, if they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²In this know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is of God; ³and every spirit which confesseth not that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it is coming, and now already it is in the world. ⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the One in you than the one in the world. ⁵They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: the one knowing God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us be loving one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loveth hath been born of God and knoweth God. ⁸The one who loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. ⁹In this was manifest the love of God among us, because God hath sent forth His only-begotten Son into the world, in order that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He Himself loved us, and sent forth His Son to be an expiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 65]. At that time:

14 ⁴³While Jesus spoke to the disciples, there came up Judas the Iscariote, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. ⁴⁴And the one who delivered Him up had given a signal to them, saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He Himself; lay hold of Him and lead Him away safely.” ⁴⁵And having come, straightway, he went to Him and saith, “Hail, Rabbi!” and ardently kissed Him. ⁴⁶And they laid their hands upon Him and seized Him. ⁴⁷And a certain one of those who stood by drew the sword and struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his ear. ⁴⁸And Jesus answered and said to them, “As against a robber ye came out with swords and clubs to arrest Me. ⁴⁹“Daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not lay hold of Me. But it is that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰And having left Him, they all fled. ⁵¹Now a certain young man was following Him, having a linen cloth thrown about over his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, ⁵²but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

⁵³And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ⁵⁴And Peter followed Him from afar, even to inside the court of the high priest. And he was sitting together with the servants, and warming himself by the light of the fire. ⁵⁵And the chief priests and the whole sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus, in order to put Him to death; and they were not finding any. ⁵⁶For many were bearing false witness against Him, but their testimonies were not alike. ⁵⁷And some rose up and were bearing false witness against Him, saying, ⁵⁸“We heard Him saying, ‘I will destroy this temple, the one made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” ⁵⁹And not even so was their testimony alike. ⁶⁰And the high priest stood up in the midst and questioned Jesus, saying, “Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these bear witness against?” ⁶¹But He was silent, and answered nothing. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saith to Him, “Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶²And Jesus said, “I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right of the power, and coming on the clouds of the heaven.” ⁶³And the high priest, having torn his tunics, saith, “What need have we still of witnesses? ⁶⁴“Ye heard the blasphemy; what doth it appear to you?” And they all condemned Him to be liable to the penalty of death. ⁶⁵And some began to spit upon Him, and to cover His face all around, and to buffet Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy to us: Who is the one that smote Thee?” And the servants were striking Him with slaps on the face with the palms of their hands.

⁶⁶And as Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the young maidservants of the high priest. ⁶⁷And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “Thou also wast with Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor even understand what thou sayest.” And he went forth outside to the forecourt, and a cock crowed. ⁶⁹And the young maidservant, having seen him again, began to say to those standing by, “This is one of them.” ⁷⁰And again he kept on denying it. And a little after, again, they who stood by were saying to Peter, “Truly thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilæan, and thy mode of speech is like one.” ⁷¹But he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not this Man of Whom ye speak.” ⁷²And for the second time a cock crowed. And Peter was reminded of the word which Jesus said to him, “Before a cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” And having thought thereon, he began to weep.

15 ¹And straightway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole sanhedrin, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy Father Afxentios, monk of Bithynia, and the repose of our holy father among the saints, Kyril, Equal-to-the-apostles, Teacher of the Slavs.

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.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 27th – Civil Calendar
February 14th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Auxentius (Afxentios).

A very distinguished administrator in Constantinople among the officials and courtiers of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, he was set aflame by the love of Christ. Auxentius became a monk and remained only a short time in Constantinople. When men began to praise him, he fled and settled on a mountain near Chalcedon that later became known as Auxentius’ mountain. He could not realize his desire to remain there permanently, hidden from men, as some shepherds found him and made his whereabouts known. They began to bring the sick to him to be healed, and he healed many of them. He restored sight to the blind and cleansed lepers, anointing them with oil. He also raised up the palsied and freed many who had been possessed by demons. All this was cause for wonder, but his humility was more wonderful. When he was asked to pray for the healing of someone, he excused himself with the words: ‘I also am a sinful man.’ But, constrained by many requests, he approached the healing in the following way: either he called all present to pray with him for the sick person, or he first stirred up the faith of the people and told them that God would give according to their faith, or he said over the head of the sick person: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ heals you.’ He did this that the wonder worked should not be attributed to him but to almighty God. He took part in the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon and powerfully defended Orthodoxy against the Eftychian and Nestorian heresies. He lived to a great age; then, in 470, God took his youthful soul to Himself and left his aged body on the earth from which it was made.

2. Our Holy Father Isaac the Recluse, of the Kiev Caves.

Isaac was a contemporary of Saints Anthony and Theodosius. He came to the monastery as a rich merchant, but forsook everything, giving all his goods to the poor, and gave himself to the strictest asceticism in a walled-in cell. Only St. Anthony gave him a blessed loaf through the window every other day. Deluded by demons, who appeared to him as angels of light, he worshipped them, and then Satan himself, believing that he was Christ. As a result of this he became ill and lay two years in sickness, after which he was healed and became a cautious and experienced ascetic, receiving in the end abundant blessings. He entered into rest in 1090.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Why do people leave one place and move to another? Mainly because they hope to be happier in the other place. And, from the point of view of earthly life and contentment, places can indeed be different, better or worse. He who has no hope of a better life after death seeks a better sensual pasture in this life. But if you look into the hearts of the people who have settled themselves in the so-called ‘best places’ on this terrestrial sphere, you will perceive discontent, sorrow and despair. They have not found what they were looking for. They fed to satiation everywhere, and in the end, still hungry, looked into the eyes of death.

But look at the Christian saints! They chose the least verdant places, ‘dry, impassable and waterless,’ lonely and terrible places that attracted the least attention and that no one would wish to possess. They regarded all places on earth as equally without value, but chose these places solely in order to draw nearer in mind and spirit to their eternal home. And if one were to look into their hearts, one would perceive joy and contentment.

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.