Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second General Epistle of Saint John [§ 75].

1 ¹The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also those who have come to know the truth, ²for the sake of the truth which abideth in us and shall be with us forever: ³Grace, mercy, peace shall be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

⁴I was gladdened greatly that I have found some of thy children walking in truth, even as we received a commandment from the Father. ⁵And I now request thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we be loving one another. ⁶And this is the love, that we be walking according to His commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye be walking in it. ⁷For many deceivers entered into the world, those not confessing Jesus Christ coming in the flesh; this is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸Keep on looking to yourselves, in order that ye might not lose that which we wrought, but that ye might receive a full reward. ⁹Everyone who transgresseth and abideth not in the teaching of the Christ hath not God; the one abiding in the teaching of the Christ, this one also hath the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone come to you and bring not this teaching, cease receiving him into the house and saying to him fare-thee-well; ¹¹for the one who saith to him fare-thee-well partaketh in his evil works.

¹²Having many things to write to you, I was not willing by means of paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and to speak face to face that our joy may be full. ¹³The children of thine elect sister greet thee. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 68]. At that time:

15 ²⁰The soldiers took Jesus; and they lead Him out in order that they might crucify Him....

²²And they bring Him to a place, Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, Place of a Skull.... ²⁵And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.... ³³And the sixth hour having come to pass, there came to be a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lima sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, My God, why didst Thou forsake Me [cf. Ps. 21(22):1]?” ³⁵And some of those standing by, having heard that, were saying, “Behold, He calleth Elias.” ³⁶And one of them ran and filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and was attempting to give Him to drink, saying, “Let be; let us see if Elias is coming to take Him down.” ³⁷And Jesus let out a loud cry, and gave up the spirit. ³⁸And the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom. ³⁹Now after the centurion who stood opposite Him saw that He thus cried out and gave up the spirit, he said, “Truly this Man was God’s Son.” ⁴⁰And there were also women looking on from afar off, among whom was also Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of Iakovos the younger and of Joses, and Salome— ⁴¹who also, when He was in Galilee, were following Him and ministering to Him—and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and the holy and Great-martyr Theodore the General, and the Prophet Zacharias.

Epistle

For the Martyr:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 220]. Brethren:

2 ⁴God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with the Christ—by grace have ye been saved— ⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, ⁷that He might show forth Himself in the ages which are coming the surpassing wealth of His grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; the gift is of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰For we are His work, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, in order that we should walk in them.

for Sl. usage, see [2 Tim. 2:1-10].

Gospel

For the Martyr:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 36]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ¹⁶“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Become therefore wise as the serpents and guileless as the doves. ¹⁷“But continue being on guard against men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸“And also ye shall be brought before governors and kings on account of Me, for a testimony to them and to the nations. ¹⁹“But whenever they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what ye should speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak. ²⁰“For ye are not the ones who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father Who is speaking in you. ²¹“Now a brother shall deliver up a brother to death, and a father a child; and children shall rise up against parents and shall put them to death. ²²“And ye shall be hated by all for My name’s sake; but the one who endureth to the end, this one shall be saved.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 21st – Civil Calendar
February 8th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy and Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates.

There are martyrdoms that are more than costly. The costliness of a martyrdom depends on the greatness of the good things of this world that a Christian gives up, receiving suffering in its place; and it depends also on the greatness of the suffering which he endures for the sake of Christ. St. Theodore, a Roman commander in the army of the Emperor Licinius and governor of the city of Heraklea, scorned his youth, his good looks, his military status and the goodwill of the emperor; and in place of all this received terrible tortures for the sake of Christ. Firstly Theodore was flogged, receiving 600 lashes on the back and 500 on the stomach; then he was crucified and pierced through with arrows. Finally he was slain with the sword. Why all this? Because St. Theodore loved Christ more than anything else in the world. He scorned the foolish idol-worship of the superstitious emperor, shattered the silver and gold idols, giving the pieces to the poor, brought many to the Christian Faith and urged the emperor himself to reject idolatry and believe in the one God. During the whole of his torture, Theodore repeated unceasingly: ‘Glory to Thee, my God, glory to Thee!’ He suffered on February 8th, 319, at three o’clock in the afternoon, and entered into the kingdom of Christ. He is regarded as the protector of soldiers, who turn to him for help. His wonder-working relics were taken from Efchaita to Constantinople and buried in the Church at Vlachernai.

2. The Holy Prophet Zacharias (Zechariah).

The eleventh of the Minor Prophets, he worked together with the Prophet Haggai to persuade Prince Zerubbabel to restore the temple in Jerusalem. He prophesied the solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass, and Judas’ betrayal for thirty pieces of silver: ‘They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver,’ and the forsaking of Christ by His apostles at the time of His Passion: ‘Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.’ He entered into rest in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystapes, in about 520 B.C.

3. St. Sava the Second, Archbishop of Serbia.

He was the son of King Stefan the First-Crowned and nephew of St. Sava the First. Before becoming a monk, he was called Predislav. Following the example of his great uncle, he became a monk and gave himself zealously to the ascetic life. Chosen to be Archbishop of Serbia after St. Arsenius, and taking the name Sava II, he governed the Church with great devotion and love. He entered into rest in 1268, and his relics lie in the monastery at Peć.

FOR CONSIDERATION

St. Seraphim of Sarov writes on despair: ‘As the Lord works for our salvation, so the devil, that killer of men, works to lead man into despair.’ Judas the betrayer was little of soul and untested in battle, and therefore the devil, seeing him in despair, attacked him and forced him to suicide. But Peter, the firm rock, when he fell into great sin in the testing time of battle, did not despair nor lose the presence of the Spirit, but wept bitterly from a full heart, and the devil seeing this, fled from him as from a flaming fire. And, my brethren, St. Antiochus teaches that when despair descends upon us, we must not surrender to it, but strengthened and protected by our holy Faith, say resolutely to the wicked spirit: ‘What hast thou to do with us, thou who hast fallen away from God, thou fugitive from heaven and slave of wickedness? Thou darest in no wise do us harm, for Christ the Son of God has dominion over us and over all. But thou, O thou murderer, get thee away from us! Strengthened by His precious Cross, we trample upon thy serpent head!’

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.