Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the Third General Epistle of Saint John [§ 76].

¹The elder to Gaios the beloved, whom I love in truth. ²Beloved, I pray that in all things thou be prospered and in health, even as thy soul is being prospered. ³For I was gladdened greatly when brethren came and bore witness to the truth in thee, even as thou walkest in truth. ⁴Greater joy than these things have I not, that I may hear of my children walking in truth. ⁵Beloved, thou doest a faithful work whatsoever thou mightest work toward the brethren and toward the strangers, ⁶who bore witness of thy love before the Church, whom if thou send forth worthily of God, thou shalt do well. ⁷For the sake of the name they went forth, taking nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸We therefore ought to receive such as these, in order that we may keep on becoming fellow workers for the truth. ⁹I wrote to the church; but Diotrephes, who loveth being first among them, receiveth us not. ¹⁰On this account, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he doeth, prating against us with evil words. And not being satisfied with these, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and hindereth those who are willing, and casteth them out of the church. ¹¹Beloved, do not be imitating the bad, but the good. The one doing good is of God; the one doing evil hath not seen God. ¹²To Demetrios testimony hath been given by all, and by the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and ye know that our testimony is true.

¹³I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to thee by means of ink and reed-pen; ¹⁴but I hope to see thee straightway, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to thee. Our friends greet thee. Be greeting the friends by name.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§§ 96, mid 108]. At that time:

19 ²⁹As Jesus drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, toward the mount called the Mount of Olives, He sent forth two of His disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go ye into the village opposite you, in which as ye enter ye shall find a colt which hath been tied, on which no man ever yet sat. Loose it and bring it. ³¹“And if anyone ask you, ‘Why do ye loose it?’ Thus shall ye say to him, ‘Because the Lord hath need of it.’” ³²And after they departed, they who were sent found all even as He said to them. ³³And as they loosed the colt, the masters of it said to them, “Why do ye loose the colt?” ³⁴And they said, “The Lord hath need of it.” ³⁵And they led it to Jesus. And having cast their own garments upon the colt, they put Jesus upon it. ³⁶And as He went, they were spreading under Him their garments in the way. ³⁷And when He drew near, already at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began rejoicing and to be praising God with a loud voice for all the works of power which they saw, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the King Who cometh in the name of the Lord [cf. Ps. 117(118):25(26)]; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” ³⁹And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Thy disciples.” ⁴⁰And He answered and said to them, “I say to you that if these should keep silent, the stones will cry out.”...

22 ⁷And the day of the unleavened bread came, in which it was necessary for the passover to be sacrificed. ⁸And He sent forth Peter and John, having said, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we might eat it.” ⁹But they said to Him, “Where dost Thou wish that we should prepare?” ¹⁰And He said to them, “Behold, after ye enter into the city, a man shall meet you, bearing an earthenware vessel of water; follow him into the house where he entereth. ¹¹“And ye shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher saith to thee, “Where is the lodging-place where I shall eat the passover with My disciples?”’ ¹²“And he shall show you a large upper room which hath been furnished; there make ready.” ¹³And they went and found it even as He had said to them. And they made ready the passover.

¹⁴And when the hour came to pass, He reclined at table, and the twelve apostles with Him. ¹⁵And He said to them, “With desire I desired to eat this passover with you before My suffering; ¹⁶“for I say to you that in no wise will I eat of it any more, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And having taken the cup, He gave thanks, and said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸“for I say to you that in no wise will I drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God should come.” ¹⁹And He took bread and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave to them, saying, “This is My body which is being given for you; be doing this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is being poured out for you. ²¹“But behold, the hand of him who delivereth Me up is with Me on the table. ²²“And the Son of Man indeed goeth according as it hath been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is delivered up!” ²³And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them then it may be who was about to do this.

²⁴And there was also a contention among them, that is, which of them is thought to be the greater. ²⁵And He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those exercising authority over them are called benefactors. ²⁶“But ye shall not be so, but the one who is greater among you, let him become as the younger; and the one who governeth as the one who serveth. ²⁷“For who is greater, the one who reclineth at table, or the one who serveth? It is the one who reclineth at table, is it not? But I am in the midst of you as the One Who serveth. ²⁸“But ye are those who have continued with Me in My temptations. ²⁹“And I appoint to you a kingdom, even as My Father appointed to Me, ³⁰“that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” ³¹And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you for himself, in order to sift you as the wheat; ³²“but I have supplicated for thee, that thy faith might not fail; and when thou hast turned back, make steadfast thy brethren.” ³³And he said to Him, “Lord, with Thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death.” ³⁴And He said, “I tell thee, Peter, in no wise shall a cock crow today, before that thou shalt thrice deny to have known Me.” ³⁵And He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a purse and leathern pouch and sandals, did ye lack anything?” And they said, “Nothing.” ³⁶He then said to them, “But now, the one who hath a purse, let him take it, and in like manner, a leathern pouch; and the one who hath not a sword, let him sell his outer garment and buy one. ³⁷“For I say to you that this that hath been written must yet be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was reckoned with the lawless [cf. Is. 53:12]’; for also the things concerning Me have an end.” ³⁸And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

³⁹And having gone forth, He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostles Archippos, Philemon, and Apfia, martyred at Colossae of Phrygia.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 4th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 3rd – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 19th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostles Archippus, Philemon and Apphia.

Archippus was one of the Seventy. The Apostle Paul mentions him in his Epistles to the Colossians (4:17) and to Philemon (Philem. 2), calling him his fellow-soldier in the battle. The Christians’ gathering-place for prayer in the town of Colossae was in the house of Philemon. The Apostle Paul, writing to Philemon, calls this ‘the Church in thy house’. This was in the time when the apostles were consecrating their disciples to the episcopate—some to permanent sees and others as missionaries, travelling to various places. Philemon was one of these latter. Apphia, Philemon’s wife, remained to serve the house-church with fasting. At the time of a feast of the pagan goddess Artemis, all the faithful in Colossae were, as was their custom, gathered at prayer in the house of Philemon. The pagans came to hear of this gathering, rushed in on them and seized all the Christians. They flogged Archippus, Philemon and Apphia as their leaders, then buried them up to the waist in the ground and stoned them. Philemon and Apphia died of this, but they took Archippus out of the hole barely alive and left him for the children to play with. They took knives and stabbed him all over, and thus this fellow-soldier of Paul’s in the battle made a good end of his earthly road.

2. Our Holy Father Dositheos.

Dositheos was a disciple of the famous Abba Dorotheos, who lived with Saints Seridos, John and Barsanuphius the Great. He was kinsman to a general and traveled to Jerusalem to see the holy places. While he was looking at an icon of the Dreadful Judgement in some church, a woman in purple robes came up and explained many things to him. Finally, at parting, she told him that, if he sought salvation, he must fast and not eat meat, and pray frequently to God. This was the most holy Mother of God. The heart of the young Dositheos was set afire and he desired the monastic life. Dorotheos received him as his cell-servant and commanded him utterly to forsake his own will and obey his spiritual father. He left him for several days to eat as much as he wanted, then after a certain time cut his food down to a quarter, and after a while to a quarter of that, until he became accustomed to living on the smallest amount of food, always telling him: ‘Eating is a habit, and one eats what one is used to eating.’ He was saved and glorified by total obedience. He remains forever as an example of monastic obedience and devotion to one’s spiritual father. This young saint lived early in the 6th century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Anthony teaches: ‘As a man comes forth naked from his mother’s womb, so the soul goes forth naked from the body. And one soul is pure and light, a second soiled by sin and a third blackened by many sins. If a body coming forth from an unhealthy womb cannot live, so also a soul; if it has not come to the knowledge of God through good conduct, it cannot be saved or be in communion with God. The organ of bodily vision is the eye; the organ of spiritual vision is the mind. As the body is blind without the eyes, so is the soul blind without a right mind and a right life.’

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.