Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Jude [§ 78]. Beloved:

¹¹Woe to the impious! For they went in the way of Cain, and were poured out in the error of Balaam for a reward, and destroyed themselves in the gainsaying of Kore.

¹²In your love feasts these are hidden rocks in the sea, when they feast with you, shepherding themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds being carried about by winds; fruitless autumnal trees which twice died and were uprooted; ¹³wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shameful things; wandering stars, to whom hath been kept the blackness of darkness forever. ¹⁴And to these also, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came amidst myriads of His saints, ¹⁵“to do judgment against all, and to convict all the impious among them for all their works of impiety which they did impiously, and for all the hard things which impious sinners spoke against Him.” ¹⁶These are murmurers, complainers, walking according to their desires; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, showing respect to persons for the sake of advantage. ¹⁷But ye, beloved, be reminded of the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸that they were saying to you, that in the last time there shall be mockers walking according to their own desires of impieties. ¹⁹These are they who cause divisions by separating themselves, material-minded ones, not having the Spirit. ²⁰But ye, beloved, building up yourselves by your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life eternal. ²²And to some, on the one hand, be showing mercy, who are in doubt; ²³but to some, on the other hand, be saving in fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment which hath been stained by the flesh.

²⁴Now to Him Who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to make you stand before the presence of His glory blameless in exceeding joy, ²⁵to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, might and authority, both now and to all the ages. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 110]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Lk. 23:1-31, 33, 44-56; for Sl. usage, see Lk 23:2-34, 44-56.

23 ¹The chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people led Jesus before Pilate. ²And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this One perverting the nation, and hindering the giving of tribute to Cæsar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” ³And Pilate questioned Him, saying, “Thou art the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “Thou sayest.” ⁴And Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I do not find even one charge in this Man.” ⁵But they kept waxing stronger, saying, “He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all of Judæa, beginning from Galilee even to here.” ⁶And having heard Galilee named, Pilate inquired whether the Man were a Galilæan. ⁷And having come to know that He was from the jurisdiction of Herod, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem during those days. ⁸And Herod, having seen Jesus, was gladdened exceedingly; for he was wishing for a considerable time to see Him, because he had heard many things concerning Him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by Him. ⁹And he kept on questioning Him with many words, but He answered nothing. ¹⁰And the chief priests and the scribes had stood by, vigorously accusing Him. ¹¹And Herod with his troops, having treated Him with contempt and having mocked Him, threw around Him bright raiment, and sent Him back to Pilate. ¹²And on that same day Herod and Pilate became friends with one another; for before they were at enmity between themselves. ¹³And after Pilate called together to himself the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴he said to them, “Ye brought to me this Man, as one who turneth away the people. And behold, having examined Him before your face, I did not find even one charge in this Man of which ye bring as an accusation against Him. ¹⁵“No, not even did Herod, for I sent you up to him; and behold, nothing worthy of death hath been done by Him. ¹⁶“Therefore, after I chastise Him, I will release Him.” ¹⁷Now of necessity he had to release one to them at the feast. ¹⁸And all together they cried out, saying, “Go on taking this One away, and release to us Barabbas”— ¹⁹who, on account of a certain sedition taking place in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison. ²⁰Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, addressed them again. ²¹But they kept calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him.” ²²And a third time he said to them, “Why, what evil did this One do? Not one cause of death did I find in Him. Therefore, after I chastise Him, I will release Him.” ²³But they were being urgent with loud voices, asking for Him to be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests were prevailing. ²⁴And Pilate adjudged their request to be done. ²⁵And he released to them him—the one who on account of sedition and murder was cast into the prison—whom they were asking for themselves; but he delivered up Jesus to their will.

²⁶And as they led Him away, they laid hold of Simon, a certain Cyrenian, who was coming from a field, and laid the Cross upon him, to bear it behind Jesus. ²⁷And there was following Him a great multitude of people, and of women who were beating their breasts and lamenting Him. ²⁸And Jesus, having turned to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, cease weeping for Me, but be weeping for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹“For behold, days are coming, in which they shall say, ‘Happy are the barren, and the wombs which bore not, and the breasts which gave not suck.’ ³⁰“Then ‘they shall begin to say to the mountains, “Fall upon us”; and to the hills, “Cover us [Hos. 10:8; Is. 2:19; Rev. 6:16, 9:6].”’ ³¹“For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall take place in the dry?” ³²And two others, malefactors, were also being led with Him to be put to death.

³³And when they came upon the place which is called Skull, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right and the other one on the left. ³⁴And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And when they divided His garments among themselves, they cast a lot.... ⁴⁴And it was about the sixth hour, and there came to be a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵while the sun failed, and the veil of the temple was torn in the midst. ⁴⁶And Jesus, having cried out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” And having said these things, He gave up the spirit. ⁴⁷Now after the centurion saw that which took place, he kept on glorifying God, saying, “Verily this Man was righteous.” ⁴⁸And all the crowds that came together to see this sight, when they beheld the things which took place, beat their breasts and were turning back. ⁴⁹And all His acquaintances, and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

⁵⁰And behold, there was a man, by name Joseph, being a counselor, who was a good man and just ⁵¹(this one had not been in agreement with the counsel and their deed), from Arimathæa, a city of the Jews, who himself also was waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for himself the body of Jesus. ⁵³And having taken it down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a sepulcher hewn out of stone, in which no one was ever yet laid. ⁵⁴And it was the day of preparation, and the sabbath was dawning.

⁵⁵And the women also, who had come with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher and how His body was laid. ⁵⁶And they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumed ointments. And indeed they rested during the sabbath according to the commandment.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and our holy father, Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsakos on the Hellespont, and our holy Father Luke of Hellas.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 20th – Civil Calendar
February 7th – Church Calendar

1. St. Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsacus.

He was the son of a deacon from the city of Melitopolis. He knew the words of the Gospel by heart from his early youth, and strove to fulfill them. Settling beside a lake, he caught fish, sold them and shared the proceeds with the poor. By God’s providence, he was chosen as bishop of Lampsacus. He cleansed the city of paganism, closed the temples dedicated to idol-worship, built many churches and strengthened the faithful. He healed all manner of sickness through prayer, and was especially powerful over spirits. At one time when he was about to drive the evil spirit out of a madman, the evil spirit begged him not to. ‘I will give you another man, into whom you can enter and in whom you can dwell,’ Parthenios told him. ‘And who is that man?’ ‘I am he,’ replied the saint, ‘Come and make your abode in me’. Hearing this, the evil spirit fled as though burned by fire, crying out: ‘How can I enter into the house of God?’ St. Parthenios lived long and showed in his deeds the greatness of his love for God and man. He entered into the eternal peace of Christ in the 4th century.

2. Our Holy Father Luke of Hellas.

Luke was born in Castorius. Even as a child, he had no desire to taste meat, and spent the whole of his life with purity and prayer. One day he went to sow his field with wheat. On the way, he gave the greater part of the wheat to a poor man and the lesser part, which remained to him, he sowed. God provided that, from this small amount of seed, there came a greater harvest than had previously come from the whole amount. After that, Luke ran away from his mother and entered a monastery. His widowed mother prayed ardently to God to reveal to her where her son was to be found, and God heard her prayer. The abbot of that monastery dreamed three times in succession that a woman was vehemently accusing him of having taken her only son. The abbot then ordered Luke to return at once to his mother. Luke went and saw his mother, but once again left her, this time for good. He labored on a mountain called ‘John’s Mountain’. He prayed at night and worked in the gardens and fields by day, not for himself but for the poor and the visitors, himself living only on barley bread. He was endowed by God with wonder-working gifts, and entered peacefully into rest in the year 946. From time to time, myrrh flowed from his relics.

3. Our Holy Mother Mastridia.

She lived a life of great asceticism in Jerusalem. A young man who saw her began to pester her, so to save them both from sin she took some soaked beans in a basket and went off into the desert. There she spent seventeen years, during which time, by the power of God, the beans did not come to an end nor her clothing wear out. She entered peacefully into rest in about 580.

4. The Thousand and Three Martyrs of Nikomedia

They suffered in the reign of Diocletian.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Take on yourself some penance for the sin of others. If you have condemned or punished another, take some penance on yourself. Suffer a little, voluntarily, for the sins of sinners. That is pleasing to God. The saints knew this mystery when they condemned themselves for the sins of others. Even non-Christian peoples have some grasp of this. In China, for instance, there is the following custom: when the executioner beheads a criminal condemned to death, he goes to the judge and reports that the sentence has been carried out. The judge gives him a silver piece for killing the criminal, and orders that he receive forty strokes of the lash for killing a man. The Christian saints had a profound understanding of the mystery of sin and the unrighteousness of man. Each human sin had for them a history as long as that stretching back from us to Adam.

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.