Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint Peter [§ 60]. Beloved:

3 ¹⁰“The one who doth wish to love life and to see good days, let him stop his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile [cf. Ps. 33(34):12, 13]. ¹¹“Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it [cf. Ps. 33(34):14]. ¹²“For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are toward their entreaty; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil [Ps. 33(34):15, 16].” ¹³And who is the one who will ill-treat you if ye should become imitators of that which is good? ¹⁴But even if ye should suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye. “And be not afraid of their fear, neither be troubled [cf. Is. 8:12].” ¹⁵But “sanctify the Lord [Is. 8:13]” God in your hearts, and be ready always to give a defense to everyone who asketh you a reason concerning the hope in you, with meekness and fear, ¹⁶having a good conscience, that while they may speak against you as evildoers, those who speak disparagingly of your good manner of life in Christ might be put to shame. ¹⁷For it is better, if the will of God should so will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ also once for all suffered for sins—the just One for the unjust ones—that He might bring us up to God, after He indeed was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, ¹⁹in Whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who once were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God was waiting in the days of Noah, while an ark was being constructed, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by means of water. ²¹There is also an antitype which now saveth us—baptism (not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²Who went into heaven and is at the right of God, and angels and authorities and powers have been made subject to Him.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 50]. At that time:

11 ¹¹Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And after He looked about for Himself at all things, as it was already the evening hour, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹²And on the morrow, after they came out from Bethany, He hungered. ¹³And having seen from afar a fig tree having leaves, He came, if perhaps He might find something on it. And after He came to it, He found nothing except leaves; for it was not the season of figs. ¹⁴And Jesus began to speak and said to it, “May no one any more eat fruit of thee forever.” And His disciples were listening. ¹⁵And they came to Jerusalem. And having entered into the temple, Jesus began to cast out those who sold and bought in the temple. And He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold the doves. ¹⁶And He did not permit that anyone should carry a vessel through the temple. ¹⁷And He was teaching, saying to them, “It hath been written, hath it not, that ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations [Is. 56:7]’? But ye made it ‘a den of robbers [cf. Jer. 7:11].’” ¹⁸And the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests heard it, and they sought how they might destroy Him; for they were fearing Him, because all the crowd was astonished at His teaching. ¹⁹And when it came to be evening, He went forth out of the city. ²⁰And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹And Peter, having remembered, saith to Him, “Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which Thou cursedst hath been withered.” ²²And Jesus answered, saying to them, “Be having faith in God. ²³“For verily I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea,’ and doubt not in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith is coming to pass, it shall be to him whatsoever he shall say.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Fathers Paul of Thebes and John the Hut-dweller (Kalyvites).

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

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.”

for Sl. usage, see [Mt. 11:27-30].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 28th – Civil Calendar
January 15th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Paul of Thebes.

Born of wealthy parents in Lower Thebes in Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Decius, he and a sister of his together inherited all their parents’ property. But his brother-in-law, an idol-worshipper, plotted to seize Paul’s half of the inheritance. He therefore threatened Paul that he would betray him to the authorities as a Christian if he did not hand over his share of the property. This misfortune, coupled with the examples of self-sacrifice by the Christian martyrs that Paul saw with his own eyes, induced him to give his half of the property to his sister and go off into the desert, where he lived in asceticism until his death. The spiritual heights attained by this giant of a monk are testified to by no less a person than St. Anthony the Great, who once visited Paul and saw how the wild animals and birds of the air ministered to him. Returning from this visit, Anthony said to his monks: ‘Woe is me, my children, a sinful and false monk, who am a monk in name only. I have seen Elias, I have seen John in the desert, and I have seen Paul—in Paradise!’ St. Paul lived 113 years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the year 342.

2. Our Holy Father John (The Hut-Dweller).

He was born in Constantinople in the early part of the 5th century, and was the only child of rich and eminent parents. Drawn by inclination to the spiritual life, the young John fled with a monk to a monastery in Asia Minor. He spent six years in this monastery in the greatest restraint, prayer and obedience to the superior. Then the devil attacked him with the temptation to leave the monastery and return to his parents, to live with them as a nobleman. He indeed returned to his parents’ home, but dressed as a beggar. He saw his parents, but not wishing to reveal himself to them as their son, remained as a beggar in their courtyard, living off the crumbs that the servants threw to him and enduring much ridicule from all. He lived thus for three years, praying to God that He would save the souls of his father and mother. When he fell ill and felt death approaching, he revealed himself to his parents. They recognized him by a precious Gospel-book which they had given him in childhood and which he had kept with him as his sole possession. And so this young man, albeit so rich, saved his soul and those of his parents, overcame the devil, and entered into rest in the Lord in about the year 450.

3. Our Holy Father Gabriel of Lesnov.

A Slav and a friend of St. Prochorus of Pchinja and St. John of Rila, he lived a life of asceticism in the 10th century at Kratov on the mountain of Lesnov, where he built a church to the Archangel Michael. He was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The present beautiful church in this place was built by King Dušan’s commander-in-chief, Jovan Oliver. St. Gabriel entered into rest in the Lord at the end of the tenth century.

4. The Holy Martyr Pansophios.

The son of the Alexandrian proconsul, Nilus, he laid aside worldly honor and riches as a young man and embraced the monastic state. He lived in great asceticism for 27 years, lifting up his soul to the higher world. In the reign of Decius, he was dragged before the judge, where he was flogged for the name of Christ until, under great torture, he delivered his soul to God.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Never think that God does not hear you when you pray to Him. He hears our thoughts as we hear one another’s voices and words. And if He does not act at once in response to your prayer, that is either because your prayer was unworthy, or you were seeking something that would be dangerous for you, or, again, because He, by His wisdom and providence, delays the fulfilling of your request until the right moment. Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘As we are able to communicate quickly by means of the electric telegraph with people far away from us, so, through a living faith, as through such a telegraph, we are quickly in contact with God, the angels and the saints. Send your requests to God and the saints by the telegraph of faith, and you will immediately get an answer.’ And again, in another place: ‘God and His created souls and spirits, the living and the dead, are thinking beings, and thought is swift and somehow omnipresent. Think about them with your whole heart, and they will be present with you. God will ever be with you, and by His gift and power, the others will be also.’

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.