Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the Second Week of the Great Fast

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 309].

3 ¹²Brethren, be taking heed, lest ever there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in apostatizing from the living God; ¹³but be exhorting one another every day, as long as it is being called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened by the deceit of sin. ¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ, if indeed we should hold fast the first principle of our subsistence firm even to the end, ¹⁵while it is being said, “Today, if ye will hear His voice, do not go on hardening your hearts as in the provocation [Ps. 94(95):8(7, 8)].” ¹⁶For who, having heard, did provoke? But was it not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses?

Another Reading for Saturday of the Second Week of the Great Fast in Commemoration of the Departed

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians [§ 270].

4 ¹³Brethren, we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not be grieving, even as the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and is risen, so also those who fell asleep through Jesus will God bring with Him. ¹⁵For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we the living, the ones remaining over until the coming of the Lord, in no wise shall precede those who fell asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout of command, with a voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. ¹⁷Then we the living, the ones remaining over, shall be carried off together with them in clouds to a meeting of the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 6]. At that time:

1 ³⁵Jesus, having risen up very early at night, went out and departed into a desolate place, and was praying there. ³⁶And Simon and those with him followed hard after Him. ³⁷And having found Him, they say to Him, “All are seeking Thee.” ³⁸And He saith to them, “Let us be going into the neighboring village-towns, in order that I might preach there also; for it was for this I have come forth.” ³⁹And He was preaching in their synagogues in all Galilee, and casting out the demons.

⁴⁰And a leper cometh to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If Thou art willing, Thou art able to cleanse me.” ⁴¹And Jesus, having been moved with compassion, stretched forth His hand and touched him, and saith to him, “I am willing; be thou cleansed.” ⁴²And after He spoke, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. ⁴³And having sternly admonished him, forthwith He sent him away, ⁴⁴also saying to him, “See that thou say nothing to anyone; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”

Commemoration of the Departed

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 16]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

5 ²⁴“Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of death into life. ²⁵“Verily, verily, I say to you, that an hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. ²⁶“For even as the Father hath life in Himself, so He also gave to the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷“and He also gave to Him authority to execute judgment. That He is Son of Man, ²⁸“cease marvelling at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the graves shall hear His voice, ²⁹“and shall go forth—they who did good things to a resurrection of life, but they who practised bad things to a resurrection of condemnation. ³⁰“I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Quadratus of Corinth and those with him.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 23rd – Civil Calendar
March 10th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Codratus (Kodratos) of Corinth, and others with him.

In a time of persecution of Christians, many of the faithful fled to the mountains and caves, as did Codratus’ mother. She was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to Codratus in a forest, dying almost at once. He was kept safe and fed by the providence of God and his guardian angel. Codratus grew up in solitude with nature. He Who gave manna from heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness released a sweet dew from a cloud onto the mouth of the child Codratus. When he was twelve years old, he went down to the town, and there some good people took a fancy to him and educated him. He studied medicine and then began to heal the sick, using both natural medicines, and more importantly, the spiritual power and prayer which had been with him from childhood. When a new persecution arose under Decius, Codratus was taken for trial and thrown into prison. Five of his friends stood beside him and confessed the name of Christ. They were: Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescens. They were all dragged through the streets and struck with sticks and stones by the unbelievers, especially by the children, until they arrived at the scaffold. Here the martyrs prayed to God and were beheaded with the sword. A spring of water gushed out onto the earth at the spot, which to this day is called by Codratus’ name and commemorates the heroic death for Christ of the holy six. They suffered with honor for the truth in Corinth in the year 250, in the time of the Emperor Decius and his governor Jason.

2. The Holy Martyr Codratus of Nikomedia.

He was a rich nobleman and also a convinced and baptized Christian. In a time of persecution, when Valerian shut up many Christians in jail, Codratus bribed the warder and went into the prison to bring the captives food and uphold them in their faith. When they were brought before the judge and questioned about their names, place of origin and status, they were silent. Then Codratus appeared behind them and shouted at the top of his voice: ‘By name, we are Christians; servants of Jesus Christ the Lord by office and birth, and our city and place of origin is heaven.’ After this declaration he was brought to trial, and after long and harsh torture was beheaded along with the others.

3. Our Holy Mother Anastasia.

A patrician, she was a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Emperor Justinian. When she was widowed, and saw that the Empress Theodora could not abide her, she suddenly disappeared from Constantinople and took herself off to the Egyptian desert. A famous spiritual guide, Abba Daniel, tonsured her and presented her as the castrated monk Anastasius, by her wish, so that she might, as a woman under a man’s name, more easily evade the imperial searchers. Anastasia shut herself in a narrow cell, where she spent 28 years and where she entered into rest in the year 563. Before her death, the elder Daniel saw her face shining like the sun.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A tale by the elder Barlaam to Ioasaph: There was once a great and famous king; and it came to pass, when he was riding on a day in his golden chariot, with his royal guard, that there met him two men, clad in filthy rags, with fallen-in-faces, and pale as death. Now the king knew that it was by buffetings of the body and by the sweats of the monastic life that they had thus wasted their miserable flesh. So, seeing them, he leapt anon from his chariot, fell on the ground, and did obeisance. Then, rising, he embraced and greeted them tenderly. But his noblemen and counsellors took offence thereat, deeming that their sovereign had disgraced his kingly honor.... Then the king ordered four wooden caskets to be made. Two of these he covered over all with gold, and placing dead men’s moldering bones therein, secured them with golden clasps. The other two he smeared over with pitch and tar, but filled them with costly stones and precious pearls, and all manner of aromatic sweet perfume. The king set the four caskets before his noblemen, that they might appraise the value of these and those. Then he ordered the golden chests to be opened. And when they were thrown open, they gave out a loathsome smell and presented a hideous sight. Said the king, ‘Here is a figure of those who are clothed in glory and honor, and make great display of power and majesty, but within is the stink of dead men’s bones and works of iniquity.’ Next, he commanded the pitched and tarred caskets also to be opened, and delighted the company with the beauty and sweet savor of their stores. And he said unto them, ‘Know ye to whom these are like? They are like those lowly men, clad in vile apparel, whose outward form alone ye beheld, and deemed it outrageous that I bowed down to do them obeisance. But through the eyes of my mind I perceived the value and exceeding beauty of their souls, and was glorified by their touch, and I counted them more honorable than any chaplet or royal purple.’ Thus he shamed his courtiers, and taught them not to be deceived by outward appearances, but to give heed to the things of the soul.

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.