Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Monday of the Thirty-Fifth Week or Meatfare Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 71]. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, see 1 Jn. 2:18-3:8; for Sl. usage, see 1 Jn. 2:18-3:10.

2 ¹⁸It is the last hour; and even as ye heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, from which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but that they might be made manifest that they are all not of us. ²⁰And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. ²¹I did not write to you because ye do not know the truth, but because ye do know it, and because every lie is not of the truth. ²²Who is the liar, except the one denying, saying that “Jesus is not the Christ”? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son. ²³Everyone who denieth the Son, neither doth he have the Father. ²⁴As for you, therefore, what ye heard from the beginning, let it keep on abiding in you. If what ye heard from the beginning should abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And this is the promise which He Himself promised us—the Life, the Eternal One. ²⁶These things did I write to you concerning those who are trying to lead you astray. ²⁷But the anointing which ye received from Him abideth in you, and ye have no need that anyone be teaching you; but as the same anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as it taught you, ye shall abide in Him. ²⁸And now, little children, keep on abiding in Him, that whenever He should be made manifest, we may have boldness, and not be made to shrink away in shame from Him in His coming. ²⁹If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone who doeth righteousness hath been born of Him.

3 ¹Behold of what manner of love the Father hath given to us, that we should be called children of God. On this account the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. ²Beloved, now are we children of God, and it was not yet made manifest what we shall be; but we know that if He should be made manifest, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is. ³And everyone who hath this hope upon Him purifieth himself, even as that One is pure. ⁴Everyone who doeth sin also doeth lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵And ye know that He was made manifest that He might take away our sins, and sin is not in Him. ⁶Everyone who abideth in Him sinneth not; everyone who sinneth hath not seen Him, and knoweth Him not. ⁷Little children, let no one be leading you astray. The one doing righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous. ⁸The one doing sin is of the devil; for the devil hath been sinning from the beginning. For this the Son of God was made manifest, that He might undo the works of the devil. ⁹Everyone who hath been born of God doeth no sin, because His seed abideth in him; and he is not able to sin, because he hath been born of God. ¹⁰In this are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil. Everyone who doeth not righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who loveth not his brother.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 49]. At that time:

11 ¹When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, toward the Mount of Olives, He sendeth forth two of His disciples, ²and saith to them, “Go ye into the village, the one opposite you; and straightway as ye enter into it, ye shall find a colt which hath been tied, on which no man hath sat. Loose it and bring it. ³“And if anyone should say to you, ‘Why do ye do this?’ say, ‘The Lord hath need of it’; and straightway he will send it here.” ⁴And they departed, and found the colt which was tied at the door outside in the street; and they loose it. ⁵And some of those who stood there began saying to them, “What are ye doing, loosing the colt?” ⁶And they spoke to them even as Jesus commanded them; and they permitted them. ⁷And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments upon it, and He sat upon it. ⁸And many spread their garments in the way; and others were cutting leafy branches from the trees and strewing them in the way. ⁹And those going before and those following were crying out, saying, “‘Hosanna, blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord [cf. Ps. 117(118):25(26)].’ ¹⁰“Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, which cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” ¹¹And Jesus 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.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and our venerable Father Isidore of Pelusium.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 233].

6 ¹⁰Brethren, keep on being empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; ¹²because for us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of the heavenly things. ¹³For this cause take up the full armor of God, in order that ye might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having counteracted all things, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on for yourselves the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet in readiness of the Gospel of peace; ¹⁶on the whole, take up the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 17th – Civil Calendar
February 4th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Isidore of Pelusium.

He was an Egyptian, the son of eminent parents and a kinsman of the Patriarchs of Alexandria Theophilus and Kyril. Completing his secular studies, he renounced his riches and worldly standing and gave himself wholly to the spiritual life for the love of Christ. He was a great and ardent interpreter and defender of the Orthodox Faith. The historian Nikephoros states that St. Isidore wrote more than 10,000 letters to various people in which he reprimanded one, advised another, consoled a third, instructed a fourth. ‘It is more important to be proficient in good works than in golden-tongued preaching,’ he writes in one letter. In another, he says: ‘If a man wishes his virtues to appear great, let him regard them as small and then they will be truly shown to be great.’ The first and fundamental rule for Isidore was: first do and then teach, after the example of the Lord Jesus. At a time when St. John Chrysostom was undergoing persecution and the whole world was divided into two camps, one for and one against this great pillar of Orthodoxy, St. Isidore stood on the side of Chrysostom. He wrote to Patriarch Theophilus, saying what a great light St. Chrysostom was in the Church and begging that the hatred of him should cease. He lived long and labored greatly, glorifying Christ the Lord in his life and his writings, and entered into the kingdom of Christ in about 450.

2. Our Holy Father Nicholas the Confessor.

This saint was from the island of Crete. He went to Constantinople to visit his kinsman Theodore, abbot of the Studite monastery, and remained there to become a monk. As a monk, Nicholas followed all the ascetic practices that are prescribed for the soul’s salvation. During a persecution of the Church on the part of Leo the Armenian, Theodore and Nicholas were harshly tortured, humiliated, beaten with bull-whips and finally thrown into prison, where they spent three years. After the death of St. Theodore, Nicholas became abbot of the Studium. Even during his lifetime, God blessed him with the power to work miracles. He healed Evdokia the wife of the Emperor Basil, and Helen the wife of the patrician Manuel. To Theophilus Melisenus, a distinguished nobleman who had lost several children, he prophesied, in blessing his newborn daughter, that she would live and be fruitful, a prophecy that was later fulfilled to the joy of her parents. On the very day of his death, he called the monks together and asked them what they lacked. ‘Wheat,’ they replied. Then the dying man said: ‘He Who sustained Israel in the wilderness will send you abundant wheat in three days.’ And indeed, a boat full of grain, sent by the Emperor Basil, arrived below the monastery on the third day. Nicholas entered into the heavenly kingdom on February 4th, 868, at the age of 75.

3. The Holy New-Martyr Joseph.

He was born in Aleppo. When the Turks pressured him to embrace Islam, Joseph not only refused, but began to denounce the falsehood of Islam and to extol the Christian Faith. For this he was tortured and beheaded in 1686.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Isidore of Pelusium interprets certain words from holy Scripture: ‘Of two grinding grain, the one shall be taken and the other left’ (Matt. 24:41), to mean that many will give themselves to the spiritual life, but with very different dispositions; one sincerely and steadily, another slackly and conceitedly. The first will be taken into the kingdom of God, and the second left. What is the meaning of the Lord’s prayer about the Cup? Why did the Lord beg that the cup of suffering should pass from Him (Matt. 26:42)? It means that no one should seek danger, but that, when it comes, a Christian must accept and endure it courageously.

On the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25), St. Isidore says: ‘They all kept their virginity, but had no other virtues, such as that of compassion. Virginity by itself is not sufficient for entry into the kingdom of God. Virginity is of no use if the virgin is filled with pride and self seeking.’

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.