Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Holy and Great Tuesday

Epistle

There is no Epistle Reading this day because of Holy Week.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§§ 90-93]. At that time:

22 ¹⁵The Pharisees took counsel against Jesus how they might ensnare Him in a word. ¹⁶And they sent forth to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and there is a care to Thee for no one; for Thou lookest not on the person of men. ¹⁷“Tell us then, what thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Cæsar, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus knew their wickedness, and said, “Why are ye trying to tempt Me, ye hypocrites? ¹⁹“Show Me the coin of the tribute.” And they brought a denarius to Him. ²⁰And He saith to them, “Whose is this image and the inscription?” ²¹They say to Him, “Cæsar’s.” Then He saith to them, “Render therefore the things of Cæsar to Cæsar, and the things of God to God.” ²²And after they heard these words, they marvelled, and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and questioned Him, ²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If anyone should die, not having children, his brother, as next of kin, shall marry his wife, and shall raise up seed to his brother [Gen. 38:8; Deut. 25:5].’ ²⁵“Now there were with us seven brothers; and the first died after he married, and not having left offspring, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶“In like manner also the second, and the third, until the seventh. ²⁷“And last of all the woman died also. ²⁸“Therefore, in the resurrection, of which of the seven shall she be wife? For they all had her.” ²⁹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Ye are led astray, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. ³¹“But concerning the resurrection of the dead, ye read, did ye not, that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ³²“‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [cf. Ex. 3:6]’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³And after the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴But after the Pharisees heard that He silenced the Sadducees, they were gathered together. ³⁵And one of them, a doctor of the law, questioned Him, putting Him to the test and saying, ³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷And Jesus said to him, “‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind [cf. Deut. 6:5, 10:12, 30:6].’ ³⁸“This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹“And the second is like it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself [Lev. 19:18].’ ⁴⁰“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” ⁴¹But while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, ⁴²saying, “What think ye concerning the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They say to Him, “David’s.” ⁴³He saith to them, “How then doth David in spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ⁴⁴“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit Thou on My right, until I should place Thine enemies as a footstool of Thy feet [Ps. 109(110):1]”’? ⁴⁵“If David then calleth Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” ⁴⁶And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question Him any more.

23 ¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ²saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³“All things therefore whatsoever they tell you to keep, be keeping and doing, but according to their works do not be doing; for they say, and do not. ⁴“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on the shoulders of men; but they are not willing to move them with their own fingers. ⁵“And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments; ⁶“and they love the chief place at the suppers, and the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷“and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, rabbi.’ ⁸“But ye, do not be called ‘rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ; and ye are all brethren. ⁹“And do not begin to call anyone Father upon the earth, for One is your Father, the One in the heavens. ¹⁰“Neither be ye called guides; for One is your Guide, the Christ. ¹¹“But the greater of you shall be your servant. ¹²“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. ¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour the houses of widows, and for a pretense are offering long prayers; on this account ye shall receive greater condemnation. ¹⁴“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut the kingdom of the heavens before men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye permit to enter those who are trying to enter. ¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye go about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he should become one, ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. ¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who are saying, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is bound.’ ¹⁷“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ¹⁸“And, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is bound.’ ¹⁹“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? ²⁰“Therefore the one who sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it. ²¹“And the one who sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it and by the One Who dwelleth in it. ²²“And the one who sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by the One Who sitteth upon it. ²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye tithe the mint and the anise and the cummin, and ye leave the weightier matters of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave aside those others. ²⁴“Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel! ²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but within they are full of plunder and incontinence. ²⁶“Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish, that the outside of them might become clean also. ²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like tombs which have been whitewashed, which on the one hand appear beautiful outwardly, but on the other hand they are full of the bones of the dead and of all uncleanness within. ²⁸“Thus ye also on the one hand appear righteous to men outwardly, but on the other hand ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness within. ²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the sepulchers of the righteous, ³⁰“and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹“Therefore ye bear witness against yourselves that ye are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²“Fill ye up also the measure of your fathers. ³³“Serpents, offspring of vipers! How shall ye flee from the judgment of Gehenna? ³⁴“On this account, behold, I send forth to you prophets, and wise ones, and scribes: and some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵“that upon you should come all the righteous blood which is being poured out upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶“Verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that killeth the prophets and stoneth those who have been sent forth to her! How often would I have gathered together thy children, in the way a hen gathereth together her chicks under her wings, and ye would not. ³⁸“Behold, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹“For I say to you, in no wise shall ye see Me henceforth, until ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord [Ps. 117(118):25(26)].’”

In the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§§ 102-104]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 ³⁶“Concerning that day and hour, no one knoweth, not even the angels of the heavens, except My Father only. ³⁷“But even as the days of Noah were, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸“For even as in the days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark— ³⁹“and they knew not until the flood came and took all away—so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰“Then two shall be in the field: the one is taken and the one is left. ⁴¹“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. ⁴²“Be watching then, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh. ⁴³“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴“On this account, ye also keep on becoming ready, for in what hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom his lord appointeth over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶“Happy is that slave whom his lord, after he cometh, shall find so doing. ⁴⁷“Verily I say to you, that he shall appoint him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My lord taketh time to come,’ ⁴⁹“and should himself begin to strike his fellow slaves, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, ⁵⁰“the lord of that slave shall come in a day in which he expecteth not, and in an hour in which he knoweth not, ⁵¹“and will cut him in twain, and will place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”

25 ¹“Then shall the kingdom of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ²“And five of them were prudent, and five were foolish. ³“Those who were foolish took lamps for themselves and took no oil with them; ⁴“but the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵“But while the bridegroom tarried, they all dozed and went on sleeping. ⁶“But in the middle of the night, there came to pass a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!’ ⁷“Then all those virgins were wakened and trimmed their lamps. ⁸“And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹“But the prudent answered, saying, ‘Peradventure there might not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰“But while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and they who were ready went in with him to the wedding festivities; and the door was shut. ¹¹“And afterwards the remaining virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹²“But he answered and said, ‘Verily, I say to you, I know ye not.’ ¹³“Be watching then, for ye know not the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man cometh.

¹⁴“For the kingdom of the heavens is even as a man going abroad, who called his own slaves and delivered up to them his property. ¹⁵“And to one, indeed, he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own strength; and straightway he went abroad. ¹⁶“And the one who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷“And in like manner, the one who received two, he also gained another two. ¹⁸“But the one who received the one went away and dug in the earth, and hid the money of his lord. ¹⁹“And after a long time the lord of those slaves cometh, and settleth accounts with them. ²⁰“And the one who received the five talents came forward and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me five talents; behold, I gained another five talents above them.’ ²¹“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a little thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²²“And also the one who received two talents said, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me two talents; behold, I gained another two talents above them.’ ²³“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a few things thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²⁴“And also the one who received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Lord, I have come to know that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering together from where thou didst not winnow. ²⁵“‘And I was afraid and went away and hid thy talent in the earth; behold, thou hast thine own.’ ²⁶“And his lord answered and said to him, ‘O evil and reluctant slave! Thou knewest that I reap where I did not sow, and gather together from where I did not winnow! ²⁷“‘Then it was needful for thee to have put my money to the bankers, and I should have received for myself mine own with interest. ²⁸“‘Take away then the talent from him, and give it to him who hath the ten talents. ²⁹“‘For to everyone who hath, it shall be given, and he shall be in abundance; but from the one who hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. ³⁰“‘And cast ye out the unprofitable slave into the darkness, the outer one. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.’

³¹“But whenever the Son of Man should come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. ³²“And before Him shall be gathered all the nations; and He shall separate them from one another, even as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the young kids. ³³“And indeed He shall set the sheep on His right, but the young kids on the left. ³⁴“Then shall the King say to those on His right, ‘Come, ye who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom which hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵“‘For I hungered and ye gave Me to eat; I thirsted and ye gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and ye brought Me in; ³⁶“‘naked and ye clothed Me; I was sick and ye visited Me; I was in prison and ye came to Me.’ ³⁷“Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungering and fed Thee, or thirsting and gave Thee to drink? ³⁸“‘And when did we see Thee a stranger and brought Thee in? Or naked and we clothed Thee? ³⁹“‘And when did we see Thee sick, or in prison, and came to Thee?’ ⁴⁰“And the King shall answer and say to them, ‘Verily I say to you, insofar as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it to Me.’ ⁴¹“Then shall He say also to those on the left, ‘Go from Me, ye who have been cursed, into the fire, the everlasting one, which hath been prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴²“‘For I hungered and ye did not give Me anything to eat; I thirsted and ye did not give Me anything to drink; ⁴³“‘I was a stranger and ye did not bring Me in, naked and ye did not clothe Me, sick, and in prison, and ye did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴“Then shall they also answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and we did not minister to Thee?’ ⁴⁵“Then shall He answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say to you, insofar as ye did it not to one of the least of these, neither did ye do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”

26 ¹And it came to pass, when Jesus finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, ²“Ye know that after two days the passover taketh place, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up to be crucified.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Terence, Africanos, Maximos, Pompeios, and 36 others, and also the blessed Zenon, Alexander, and Theodore at Carthage, and our holy father among the saints, Hieromartyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Epistle

For the Hierarch:

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 [Heb. 13:7-16].

Gospel

For the Hieromartyr:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 67]. The Lord said:

12 ³²“Cease being afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draweth near nor moth destroyeth; ³⁴“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Let your loins be girded about and the lamps be kept burning; ³⁶“and be ye like to men waiting for their own lord—whenever he should depart from the wedding festivities—that when he cometh and knocketh, straightway, they might open to him. ³⁷“Happy are those slaves whom the lord, after he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say to you that he shall gird himself about and shall have them recline at table, and will come forth and minister to them. ³⁸“And if he should come in the second watch, and in the third watch should he come, and find them thus, happy are those slaves. ³⁹“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰“Ye therefore also keep on becoming ready, for in the hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

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

1. The Holy Martyrs Terence, Africanus, Maximus, Pompeius and 36 others with them.

They suffered for Christ and were crowned with wreaths of glory in the time of the Emperor Decius. By the emperor’s orders, the governor of Africa notified all the people that they must offer sacrifice to idols. In the case of opposition, the governor was to put the stubborn to harsh torture. Hearing this threat, many lapsed from the Faith and worshipped idols. But these forty martyrs remained steadfast, for which they were put to torture. St. Terence encouraged his companions with these words: ‘Let us, my brethren, keep ourselves from denying Christ our God; that He may not deny us before His heavenly Father and the holy angels.’ The governor divided them into two groups; thirty-six of them, after flogging and having salt rubbed in their open wounds, he beheaded. But the first four he cast into prison with heavy chains round their necks and on their hands and feet. An angel of God appeared to them in the prison and touched their chains, which fell from them. Then the angel brought them a table abundantly heaped with food, and fed them. They were again taken out and tortured, and again shut up in the prison. Also, the governor ordered sorcerers to gather as many poisonous reptiles as possible, such as snakes and scorpions, and to shut them up with the martyrs. But the reptiles would not touch the men of God, but huddled together in one corner, where they remained for three days. When the prison was opened on the third day, the reptiles fell on the sorcerers and bit them. At last the governor passed sentence of death on these four martyrs. When they were taken to the scaffold, they joyfully sang psalms and hymns of thanksgiving to God, Who had accounted them worthy of a martyr’s death. They suffered with honor and attained to the kingdom in the year 250.

2. The 6,000 Holy Martyrs in Georgia.

In the wilderness of David-Garejeli in Georgia, there were twelve monasteries in which monks had lived the ascetic life for centuries. In 1615, Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia, laid it waste and slew innumerable Christians. One day, while out hunting at dawn on the day of Pascha itself, he saw the light of many candles shining in the hills. This was the monks of all twelve monasteries in procession all round the Church of the Resurrection, walking with candles in their hands. When the shah discovered that it was monks, he asked in disbelief: ‘Isn’t the whole of Georgia put to the sword by now?’ and ordered his generals to go and slaughter the monks at once. An angel of God appeared to Abbot Arsenius, and revealed their imminent death to him, and Arsenius informed the brethren. They then all received Communion in the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. Then the attackers arrived, hacked the abbot to pieces when he came out ahead of the others, and then killed all the rest. They all suffered with honor and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615. Thus ended the history of these famous monasteries, which had been like a flame of spiritual enlightenment in Georgia for more than 1,000 years. There remain just two today: St. David and St. John the Baptist. The King of Georgia, Archil, gathered the remains of all the martyrs and buried them. Their relics are to this day full of myrrh for the healing of those in sickness. [These saints are commemorated on Bright Tuesday.]

FOR CONSIDERATION

When a man detaches his mind from the earth and opens it to God with the desire of pleasing Him, then God reveals His will to him in various ways. St. Peter Damascene writes: ‘If a man has a wholehearted desire to please God, to him will God show His will through his thoughts, or through some other person or through holy Scripture.’ Such a man will be careful and will await the promptings of God, both inward and outward. For him there is no such thing as chance, and the world becomes for him as a ten-stringed harp that gives forth no sound but in response to the finger of God.

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.