Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Jude [§ 77].

¹Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of Iakovos, to those called in God the Father, who have been sanctified and kept for Jesus Christ: ²Mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

³Beloved, when I myself made every effort to write to you concerning the common salvation, I had need to write to you, exhorting you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For certain men slipped in secretly, who of old were proscribed to this judgment, ungodly ones, transposing the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵But I wish to remind you, though ye know this once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who believed not. ⁶And those angels who kept not their first place, but deserted their own habitation, He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness until the judgment of the great day; ⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in like manner to these, having committed fornication and gone away after other flesh, are set forth for an example, undergoing the punishment of everlasting fire. ⁸Yet in like manner also these dreamers indeed defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and blaspheme dignities. ⁹Now Michael the archangel, when he took issue with the devil and was disputing about the body of Moses, did not dare to lay upon him a judgment of blasphemy, but said, “May the Lord rebuke thee [cf. Zach. 3:3].” ¹⁰But these blaspheme indeed whatever things they do not know; and whatever things they understand naturally, as the irrational animals, in these things they corrupt themselves.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 109]. At that time:

22 ³⁹Jesus, having gone forth, went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him. ⁴⁰And having arrived at the place, He said to them, “Be praying not to enter into temptation.” ⁴¹And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw; and having kneeled down, He was praying, ⁴²saying, “Father, if Thou art willing to take away this cup from Me—; but not My will, but Thine be done.”... ⁴⁵And having risen up from the prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from the grief, ⁴⁶and He said to them, “Why sleep ye? Rise up and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”

⁴⁷And while He yet spoke, behold, a crowd, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them forth and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him; for he had given this sign to them, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He Himself.” ⁴⁸But Jesus said to him, “Judas, deliverest thou up the Son of Man with a kiss?” ⁴⁹And after they who were around Him saw that which was about to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we smite with a sword?” ⁵⁰And a certain one of them smote the slave of the high priest and took off his ear, the right one. ⁵¹And Jesus answered and said, “Let it be, even to this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. ⁵²And Jesus said to those chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders, who came against Him, “As against a robber ye have come out with swords and clubs. ⁵³“Daily, when I was with you in the temple, ye did not stretch forth your hands against Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

⁵⁴And having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the house of the high priest. And Peter was following from afar. ⁵⁵And after they kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard, they sat down together, and Peter was sitting among them. ⁵⁶And a certain young maidservant, having seen him sitting before the light of the fire, looked intently on him, and said, “This one was also with Him.” ⁵⁷But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” ⁵⁸And after a short time another saw him, and said, “Thou art also of them.” And Peter said, “Man, I am not.” ⁵⁹And after about one hour intervened, a certain other strongly affirmed, saying, “In truth, this one also was with Him; for he is a Galilæan also.” ⁶⁰And Peter said, “Man, I know not what thou sayest.” And immediately, while he was yet speaking, a cock crowed. ⁶¹And the Lord turned about and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He said to him, “Before a cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” ⁶²And Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³And the men who confined Jesus were mocking Him and beating Him. ⁶⁴And having covered Him all around, they were striking His face and were questioning Him, saying, “Prophesy: Who is the one that smote Thee?” ⁶⁵And many other things they were saying to Him, blaspheming.

⁶⁶And when it became day, the council of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together and led Him into their sanhedrin, saying, ⁶⁷“If Thou art the Christ, tell us.” And He said to them, “If I should tell you, in no wise will ye believe. ⁶⁸“And if also I should ask you, in no wise will ye answer Me or release Me. ⁶⁹“From now on the Son of Man shall be sitting on the right of the power of God.” ⁷⁰And they all said, “Art Thou then the Son of God?” And Jesus said to them, “Ye say that I am.” ⁷¹And they said, “What need have we still of testimony? For we ourselves heard from His own mouth.”

23 ¹And the whole multitude of them rose up and led Him before Pilate.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and the holy Martyr Agatha of Palermo in Sicily, and our father among the saints, Theodosios, Archbishop of Chernigov, the Wonder-worker.

Epistle

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 335]. Brethren:

13 ¹⁷Be obedient to those who lead you, and keep on submitting, for they are watchful for your souls, as those about to render an account, that they may do this with joy, and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable for you. ¹⁸Keep on praying for us; for we trust that we have a good conscience, in all things wishing to conduct ourselves well. ¹⁹But I beseech you more abundantly to do this, that I might be restored more quickly to you.

²⁰Now the God of peace Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep, the great One, in the blood of an everlasting covenant, ²¹may He render you perfect in every good work, in order to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before His face, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 24]. At that time:

6 ¹⁷Jesus stood upon a level place. And there was a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all of Judæa and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases— ¹⁸even those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were cured. ¹⁹And all the crowd was seeking to touch Him, for power was coming forth from Him and healing all. ²⁰And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and began to say:
   “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
   ²¹“Blessed are ye who hunger now, for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye who weep now, for ye shall laugh.
   ²²“Blessed are ye whenever men hate you, and whenever they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.
   ²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 18th – Civil Calendar
February 5th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Agatha.

This glorious virgin and martyr for Christ was born in the Sicilian town of Palermo of noble and prosperous parents. When Emperor Decius launched a persecution of Christians, St. Agatha was arrested and brought to judgement before Quintian, the judge. He saw Agatha’s beauty and desired her for his wife. When he suggested this to her, she replied that she was the bride of Christ and could not be faithless to her Betrothed. The judge condemned her to cruel torture: Agatha was flogged, mocked, bound to a tree and beaten till the blood flowed. After that, the judge again urged her to deny Christ and so escape further torture, to which Christ’s bride replied: ‘These tortures are of great help to me. As wheat cannot come to the granary until it is cleansed of its chaff, so my soul cannot enter Paradise unless my body has first been broken by torture.’ Then the torturer ordered that her breasts be cut off, and that she then be thrown into prison. The holy Apostle Peter appeared to her in the prison and restored her to physical wholeness and health. She was once again taken out for torture and again cast back into prison, where she gave her soul to God in the town of Catania in the year 251. After her death, her torturer, Quintian, set out to appropriate her lands; but on the way, the horses became maddened under him and his soldiers. They were savaged on the face, thrown onto the ground and trampled to death. Thus God’s punishment came swiftly upon him for his ferocious crime against St. Agatha.

2. The Holy Martyr Theodula.

She suffered for Christ in the time of Diocletian, the impious Roman emperor. During her tortures, Theodula brought one of her torturers, Helladius, to his senses and to the Christian Faith. When Helladius openly confessed his faith in Christ, he was beheaded. Theodula showed great courage at her trial, for which the judge considered her witless. To this, she retorted: ‘It is you who are witless, for you forget the one true God and bow down to lifeless stones.’ The judge put her to cruel torture, which Theodula endured with heroism, making her torturers marvel and bringing them to Christ. Among these were two eminent citizens, Makarius and Evagrius. With these two and many others, Theodula was thrown into a red-hot furnace, where they all finished this life with honor and were made worthy of the kingdom of Christ.

3. St. Polyefktos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

For his great mind, his zeal for the Faith and his power of oratory, he was called a second Chrysostom. The Russian Princess Olga came to Constantinople in the time of Patriarch Polyefktos and Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and was baptized there in 957. The patriarch baptized her, and the emperor stood godfather. St. Polyefktos prophesied: ‘Blessed art thou among Russian women, for thou hast desired the light and cast away darkness; the sons of Russia will bless thee to the last generation.’ From being a simple monk, Polyefktos was raised to the patriarchate in 946, and remained on the patriarchal throne until his death in 970.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The great Abba Ischyrion was asked by his monks: ‘What have we accomplished?’ ‘We have fulfilled the commandments of God,’ replied Ischyrion. ‘And what will those who come after us accomplish?’ ‘They will accomplish what we have accomplished, but only half as much as we.’ ‘And those after them?’ ‘Those in the last days will have no monastic training, but such assaults and temptations will come upon them that they will, through these trials, be revealed in the kingdom of God as greater than us and than our fathers.’

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.