Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Thirtieth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 319]. Brethren:

8 ⁷If that first covenant were blameless, a place for a second would not be sought. ⁸For finding fault with them, He saith, “‘Behold, days are coming,’ saith the Lord, ‘and I will consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda [cf. Jer. 38(31):31]; ⁹“‘not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I cared not for them,’ saith the Lord [cf. Jer. 38(31):32]. ¹⁰“‘For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ saith the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their mind, and write them upon their hearts; and I will be to them for a God and they shall be to Me for a people [cf. Jer. 38(31):33]. ¹¹“‘And in no wise shall they teach each his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord”; for all shall know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them [cf. Jer. 38(31):34]. ¹²“‘For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawlessnesses in no wise will I remember any more [cf. Jer. 38(31):34].’” ¹³In the saying, “new,” He hath made the first old. Now that which is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 54]. At that time:

12 ¹³ The chief priests and the scribes sent out to Jesus certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, in order that they might catch Him in a word. ¹⁴And having come, they say to Him, “Teacher, we know that Thou art true, and there is a care to Thee for no one; for Thou lookest not on the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Tell us then, is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Cæsar, or not? ¹⁵“Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are ye trying to put Me to the test? Bring Me a denarius that I might see it.” ¹⁶And they brought it. And He saith to them, “Whose is this image and the inscription?” And they said to Him, “Cæsar’s.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render the things of Cæsar to Cæsar, and the things of God to God.” And they marvelled at Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Leave-taking of Nativity, and our venerable mother among the saints, Melanie the Younger, nun of Rome.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 13th – Civil Calendar
December 31st – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Mother Melanie the Roman.

Born in Rome of devout and very wealthy parents, she was forced by them to marry a young nobleman, Pinian. She was taken very seriously ill in giving birth to her second child, and told her husband that she would be healed only if he vowed before God to live with her in the future as brother and sister. Her husband agreed and Melanie, in her deep joy, was healed. When it pleased God to take both children to Himself, they agreed to sell all their possessions and give the proceeds to the destitute, the Church and the monasteries. They traveled through many lands and cities, everywhere doing good works. They visited famous spiritual guides in Upper and Lower Egypt, and received much instruction and inspiration from them. During all that time, Melanie lived in strict fasting, fervent prayer and the reading of the holy Scriptures. She followed the practice of reading the Scriptures right through, the Old and New Testaments, every three years, living with her husband as with a brother and fellow-ascetic. Going to Alexandria, they received the blessing of the patriarch, St. Cyril. After that, they went to Jerusalem and settled on the Mount of Olives. There Melanie became an anchoress, and gave herself completely to pondering, fasting and prayer. She lived thus for fourteen years, after which she came out, to help others to salvation, and founded monasteries for men and women. At the invitation of her kinsman, the senator Volusianus, a pagan, she went to Constantinople and brought him to the Christian Faith. She then returned to the Mount of Olives, where she went to God in 438, at the age of fifty-seven.

2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Zoticus, Protector of the Poor.

He was eminent both of birth and rank. He moved to Constantinople, cast off all worldly things and received ordination to the priesthood, founding a home for the poor, containing a place for the treatment of infectious diseases, and ministering to those cared for in it. He was a close acquaintance of the Emperor Constantine the Great. In retaliation for the gold that Zoticus had had from him for his plague-victims, Constantine’s son, Constantius, tied him behind a wild ass, which was driven about until he died of his wounds. He suffered in the fourth century.

3. Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid.

Born on the island of Evia (Euboea), and educated in Constantinople by the most eminent teachers of his day, he became a priest in the Great Church. He was chosen as bishop, and sent, against his will, to Ochrid, where he spent about twenty-five years (from about 1082 to 1108). Chomatianus of Ochrid calls him ‘the wisest archbishop’. He was a man of enormous learning, both secular and theological, of refined Byzantine tastes, and was by nature melancholy and sensitive. Theophylact felt himself among the Slavs of Ochrid like an exile among barbarians. He wrote commentaries on the Four Gospels and on other books of the New Testament. These are the finest works of their sort after St. John Chrysostom, and are read to this day with great benefit. Of his other works, we know of his Letters, and a Life of St. Clement of Ochrid. In old age, Theophylact withdrew from Ochrid to Thessalonica, and finishing his earthly course, went to the blessedness of eternity.

FOR CONSIDERATION

How wisely holy men and women were able to handle their wealth! How skillfully they bought heavenly goods with their earthly riches! Oh, how low a value they set on earthly goods in themselves, treating them as dust and ashes! When St. Melanie visited the hermits in Egypt with the intention of giving them some financial help, she was astounded at their utter scorning of goods and wealth. Thus, she visited one hermit, Ephestion, and saw nothing in his cell but mats, a bowl for water, a little dry bread and a salt pot. Discovering in advance that the elder would not take money from her, she seized the opportunity to hide several gold pieces in the salt pot. But, as she was on the way back, she heard the elder running after her and calling her to stop. She stopped. The elder held the gold out to her on his palm, saying: ‘I don’t need this; take what’s yours.’ Melanie said to him: ‘If you don’t need it, give it to someone else.’ He replied: ‘No one around here would have any use for it.’ When Melanie would not take the gold back, the elder swung his arm and threw the gold into the river, and then returned to his cell.

During an outbreak of plague in Constantinople, the Emperor Constantius ordered that everyone affected be immediately thrown into the sea. St. Zoticus brought together those infected, and took them to his house to look after them there. When his money ran out, he went to the emperor and asked for money to buy precious pearls for him. The emperor gave him some money, and with this, he gathered further plague-victims and looked after them. One day, the emperor asked Zoticus for the promised pearls, and Zoticus took him and showed him the men in his house, saying: ‘These, O emperor, are living pearls, which I have acquired with toil and money for your salvation.’ The furious emperor condemned Zoticus to death. Zoticus entered into eternal life, and the emperor remained to expiate and repent of his sin.

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.