Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Movable Calendar (Paschalion)

Friday of Cheesefare Week

There is No Divine Liturgy This Day.

No readings given.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Onesimos of the Seventy.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Philemon [§ mid 302 B].

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon the beloved and our fellow worker, ²and to Apfia the beloved, and to Archippos our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house. ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God, making mention of thee always in the time of my prayers, ⁵hearing of thy love and the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and in regard to all the saints, ⁶that the communion of thy faith might become energized in full knowledge of every good which is in you in regard to Christ Jesus. ⁷For we have much joy and consolation over thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother. ⁸Wherefore, though I have much boldness in Christ to enjoin thee to that which is becoming, ⁹yet for the sake of love I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul, an elder, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, ¹⁰I beseech thee concerning my child, Onesimos, whom I begot in my bonds— ¹¹the one who was once useless to thee, but is now useful to thee and to me—whom I am sending back. ¹²Now receive thou him, that is, mine own heart, ¹³whom I was wishing to hold for myself, that he may minister to me in the bonds of the Gospel; ¹⁴but without thine opinion I wished to do nothing, that thy good may not be as according to necessity, but according to willingness. ¹⁵For perhaps on this account he was separated from thee for a season, in order that thou mayest receive him in full forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, and how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord! ¹⁷If then thou holdest me a partner, take him to thyself as thou wouldest me. ¹⁸But if he wronged thee in anything or oweth thee, be reckoning this to me; ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing it with mine own hand, I will repay it; not that I may mention that to me thou owest even thyself. ²⁰Yes, brother, may I benefit from thee in the Lord; refresh thou my heart in the Lord.

²¹Having trusted to thine obedience, I am writing to thee, knowing that even beyond what I may say thou wilt do. ²²And at the same time also, be preparing a lodging for me, for I hope that through your prayers I shall be graciously given to you. ²³There greeteth thee Epaphras, my fellow captive in Christ Jesus, ²⁴Mark, Aristarchos, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Gospel

No reading given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 28th – Civil Calendar
February 15th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Onesimus.

One of the Seventy, he was a slave of Philemon, a rich and distinguished citizen of Colossae in Phrygia. He offended his master, Philemon, in some way and fled to Rome, where he heard the Gospel from the Apostle Paul and was baptized. By this time, Paul had also brought Philemon to the true Faith, and he reconciled the two of them, Philemon and Onesimus, master and slave, writing a special epistle to Philemon—one of the most moving writings to be found in the New Testament: ‘I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.... Perhaps he departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever, not now as a servant, but above a servant; a brother beloved.’ Deeply moved by this letter, Philemon received Onesimus as a brother, indeed, and gave him his freedom. Onesimus was later made bishop and received the see of Ephesus after the death of the Apostle Timothy. This is recorded in the epistles of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer. At the time of the persecution under Trajan, Onesimus, by then an old man, was arrested and taken to Rome. There he testified before the judge, Tertylus, was imprisoned and finally slain. A wealthy woman took his body, placed it in a silver coffin and buried it in the year 109.

2. Our Holy Father Evsevios.

A Syrian hermit, he lived at first under the guidance of holy men, but later went into the solitude of the desert. He fed himself entirely on vegetable foods, never even tasting fruit, and spent all his time in prayer in the open air, enduring all weathers. He lived to the age of 95 and entered into rest in the Lord in 440.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Peace of soul is precious to all men. With those who have acquired peace of soul, the body can be in constant motion, occupation or pain, but their souls, cleaving to God, remain always in unshakable peace. St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches: ‘We must endeavor by every means to keep peace of soul. Do not be troubled by the insults of men. It is necessary at all costs to restrain oneself from anger, and by watchfulness over oneself to keep the mind and heart from vain movement.... For the guarding of peace of soul, it is also necessary to flee from judging others. By non-judgement and silence, peace of soul is preserved. When a man attains to such a state, he receives divine revelation. For a man to be able to keep himself from judging others, he must be vigilant over himself; he must not dare to receive vain thoughts from another, and must be as one dead before all that is of this world. We must tirelessly keep our hearts from vain thoughts and impressions (Prov. 4:23). By constant watchfulness over the heart, a purity of heart is born in which God is seen, according to the words of eternal truth: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).’

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.