Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. John Climacus (Of the Ladder).

Grave Mode — Seventh Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 314]. Brethren:

6 ¹³God, having made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, swore by Himself, ¹⁴saying, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee [cf. Gen. 22:17].” ¹⁵And thus, after he patiently endured, he attained the promise. ¹⁶For men indeed swear by the greater, and the oath for confirmation is to them an end of all contradiction. ¹⁷Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, mediated by an oath, ¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us, ¹⁹which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and firm, and which entereth into “the inner space behind the veil [Lev. 16:2, 12, 15],” ²⁰where Jesus entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.

COMMEMORATION OF SAINT JOHN OF THE LADDER

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 229]. Brethren:

5 ⁸Be walking as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth— ¹⁰proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹And cease having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³But all things which are reproved are made manifest by the light; for all which is made manifest is light. ¹⁴Wherefore, He saith, “Rouse thyself, thou who sleepest, and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine on thee [cf. Is. 9:2, 26:19, 52:1, 60:1, 2].”

¹⁵Be taking heed then how exactly ye walk, not as unwise ones, but as wise ones, ¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷On this account cease becoming foolish, but become as ones understanding what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸And cease being drunk with wine, in which is prodigality, but keep on being filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting in your heart to the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 40]. At that time:

9 ¹⁷A certain man came to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Teacher, I brought to Thee my son who hath a dumb spirit. ¹⁸“And wheresoever it overtaketh him, it rendeth him; and he foameth and gnasheth his teeth, and is withering away. And I spoke to Thy disciples that they should cast it out, and they did not have the strength.” ¹⁹And He answereth and saith, “O unbelieving generation, until when shall I be with you? Until when shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰And they brought him to Him. And having seen Him, straightway the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and was rolling about foaming. ²¹And He asked his father, “How long a time is it since this hath happened to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²“And ofttimes it casteth him both into fire and into water, in order that it might destroy him. But if Thou art able to do anything, have compassion upon us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, “As to the ‘if Thou art able,’ if thou art able to believe, all things can be to the one who believeth.” ²⁴And straightway the father of the little child cried out with tears and was saying, “I believe, O Lord; help Thou mine unbelief.” ²⁵And after Jesus saw that a crowd was running together, He rebuked the spirit, the unclean one, saying to it, “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” ²⁶And the spirit cried out and convulsed him much, and came out. And he became as if he were one dead, insomuch that many said, “He died.” ²⁷But Jesus took hold of his hand and raised him up, and he arose. ²⁸And after He entered into a house, His disciples were questioning Him privately, “Why were we not able to cast it out?” ²⁹And He said to them, “This kind can come forth by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”

³⁰And having gone forth from that place, they were passing by through Galilee, and He was not willing that anyone should know it. ³¹For He was teaching His disciples and was saying to them, “The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and having been killed, He shall raise Himself the third day.”

Commemoration of Saint John of the Ladder

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 10]. At that time:

For Gk. usage, see Mt. 4:23-5:13; for Sl. usage, see Mt.4:25-5:13.

4 ²³Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 ¹And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ²And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ⁴“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   ⁶“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   ¹⁰“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ¹¹“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   ¹²“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy father among the saints, Alexios the man of God, and Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland.

Epistle

No reading given.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 42]. At that time:

9 ¹²The twelve disciples approached and said to Jesus, “Dismiss the crowd, in order that they might go away into the villages and the fields round about, and lodge and find provisions; for we are here in a desolate place.” ¹³But He said to them, “Give ye them to eat.” And they said, “There are no more than five loaves and two fish with us, unless, indeed, we should go and buy food for all this people.” ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. And He said to His disciples, “Make them recline in companies by fifties.” ¹⁵And they did so, and made all to recline. ¹⁶And having taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to the heaven and blessed them and broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷And they ate and all were filled. And there was taken up that which was over and above to them of fragments—twelve baskets.

¹⁸And it came to pass, as He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him.

Synaxarion Readings

The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: St. John Climacus

On this day, the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate our venerable father among the saints, St. John of Sinai, the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

No one knows the birthplace or parentage of our venerable Father John of Sinai. In his youth, at the age of sixteen, he came to the wilderness of Sinai and dwelt under the guidance of Abba Martyrius. When Abba Martyrius tonsured our venerable Father John at the age of twenty, he took him and went to that pillar of the wilderness, Abba John the Sabbaite in the wilderness of Gouda where he had with him his disciple Stephen the Cappadocian. When the Sabbaite elder saw them, he arose and took water, poured it into a small basin, washed the feet of the disciple (the young John) and kissed his hand; but did not wash the feet of Abba Martyrius his superior. Abba Stephen was scandalized by the situation. After the departure of Abba Martyrius and his disciple, the Elder John noticed that his own disciple was greatly perplexed and said to him, “Why are you so troubled? Believe me, I do not know who the boy is, but today I received the abbot of Sinai and washed his feet.” And after forty years, he did indeed become the abbot according to the prophecy of the elder.

After the passing of his spiritual father, St. John continued alone in the wilderness in a cave in the Wadi Thola. He traveled from time to time, going at least once as far as Alexandria. He records in The Ladder his visit to a large monastic community there and marvels of repentance, obedience, and humility which he observed. In his humility, he counted our venerable father George the Wonderworker of Arselaou as his master. In all, he spent some forty years in solitude and stillness. He guided the monks who dwelt in that desert since he was a most excellent and nurturing spiritual father—for in those days there were innumerable ascetics living in cells all through the mountains and valleys of Sinai. From time to time, he received visitors from farther away. At one point, some other monks, prompted to jealously by the adversary who hates all good, complained of St. John’s fame and loquacious words of teaching. In response, he humbly kept strict silence for over a year, until the same fathers who had complained came, asking him to speak once again for the benefit of all.

After he had spent forty years in the wilderness, the monks of Sinai asked him to become abbot of the great monastery built by the emperor Justinian beside the Burning Bush of Moses, the holy Monastery of St. Catherine. In obedience to the fathers, he left his blessed solitude to take up the responsibilities of abbot. It is told that on the very day on which he assumed the office of abbot, there came a group of about six hundred pilgrims. When they were seated, our venerable Father John saw someone in the crowd with short hair and wearing a Jewish tunic. This person was going about like someone with authority, directing the cooks, the stewards, the storekeepers, and other workers. After the people left, when the servers all sat down to eat, they sought everywhere for the one who had been going about supervising but did not find him. Then the servant of God, our venerable Father John, said, “Do not marvel. The lord Moses did nothing strange in this same place where he served before and which belongs to him.” Behold the wonder! It had been the holy Prophet and Lawgiver Moses who had served the guests.

At the request of Abba John, abbot of Raitho near the shore of the Red Sea, our venerable father wrote his wonderful book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, in which he sets out the whole of Christian life as a divine ascent of thirty rungs to Christ. This book has been a treasure, a pearl beyond price, to this day. It is useful not only to monastics but to all devout Christians.... St. John was true physician of souls and had great spiritual insight into men’s behavior. He made detailed observations of the symptoms of men’s sin-sick souls, diagnosed their spiritual diseases, and prescribed the appropriate medicine for their recovery and salvation. He showed how one can ascend the “ladder of the virtues” step by step and reach the Promised Land, fleeing the Egypt of the passions. Yet, his success was due only to his own life of constant watchfulness, fasting, vigil, and prayers.

The monastic community he shepherded continues to this day beside the Burning Bush, and his teachings guide and direct monastics throughout the world. During Great Lent, The Ladder is read aloud in monasteries during meals so the monastics may receive his edifying spiritual counsels for their soul’s sustenance, as they simultaneously receive physical nourishment for their bodies.

Today the cave in which he dwelt in the wilderness of Sinai can still be seen, but his resting place is unknown except to the angels. He fell asleep in the Lord in the seventh century. St. John is also commemorated on March 30, the day of his repose.

[From the “Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion.”, HDM Press.]

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 30th – Civil Calendar
March 17th – Church Calendar

1. St. Alexis, the Man of God.

Varied are the paths along which God leads those who desire to be pleasing to Him and fulfill His law. In the time of the Emperor Honorius (393-423), there lived in Rome a high imperial dignitary, Ephemianus, who was very eminent and very rich. Both he and his wife, Agalais, lived lives pleasing to God. Although he was rich, Ephemianus sat down to table only once a day, at sunset. They had an only son, Alexis, who, when he was grown up, was compelled to marry. But on the night of the wedding, he left not only his wife but also his father, took ship and went to the town of Edessa in Mesopotamia, where the wonderful Face of the Lord Himself (the Holy Napkin), sent to King Abgar, was kept. Having venerated this Face, Alexis dressed himself in simple clothing and lived for seventeen years as a poor man in that town, constantly praying to God in the porch of the church of the Mother of God. When he became known as a holy man, he shunned the praise of men and so went off and took a ship that was going to Laodicea. By the providence of God, the ship went off course and took him right to Rome. Regarding this as a cross from God, Alexis decided to go to his father’s house and there, unknown, continue his life of self-denial. His father did not recognize him, but from charity allowed him to live in his courtyard in a little shack. There, Alexis spent seventeen further years, living only on bread and water. Molested by the servants in many ways, he persevered to the end. And when the end drew near, he wrote a few words on a single sheet of paper, held it in his hand, lay down and breathed his last, on March 17th, 411. Then a voice was heard in the Church of the Holy Apostles, saying to the emperor, who was present, and the patriarch: ‘Look for the Man of God.’ Shortly afterwards it was revealed that this Man of God was in Ephemianus’ house. The emperor, the pope and their whole escort came to Ephemianus’ house, and after lengthy questioning, discovered that the poor man was the Man of God. When they went into his shack, they found him dead with his face shining like the sun. His parents discovered from the paper that he was their son Alexis; and his bride, who had lived for thirty-four years without him, discovered that this was her husband, and they were overcome by immeasurable sorrow and grief. But then they were comforted, seeing how God had glorified His chosen one. For, on touching his body, many of the sick were healed, and a sweet myrrh came forth from it. He was buried in a coffin of marble and emerald. His head is preserved in the Church of St. Laurus in the Peloponnese.

2. The Holy Martyr Marinus.

He was a soldier, and not only refused to offer sacrifice to idols, but took things sacrificed by others and trod them underfoot. For this he was tortured and beheaded in the third century. A senator, Asterius, clad in costly white raiment, was watching the sufferings of St. Marinus, and he became so fired with enthusiasm for the Faith of the Christ, Who gave such courage to His followers, that he took the body of the martyr onto his back, bore it away and buried it. Seeing this, the unbelievers killed him also as a Christian.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Why are we here on earth? To show our love for God, to learn to love God more than sin and to respond with our small love to the great love of God. God’s love is always great, and ours is always small. God has abundantly shown, and shows today, His love for man, both in Paradise and on earth. We are given this brief life on earth as a school and an examination, to be examined whether we want to respond with love to God’s great love or not. ‘Every day and every hour, proof is demanded of us of our love of God,’ says St. Isaac the Syrian. For God, every day and every hour, proves His love for us. Each day and hour we stand placed between God and sin, and we can either worship God with our love and be raised up among the angels, or make our choice for sin and find ourselves cast down into the darkness of hell. Alexis the Man of God loved God more than his parents, his wife or his wealth. He spent seventeen years as a poor man a long way from his home, and a further seventeen years as an unknown and despised wretch in his parents’ house; and all for the love of God. And the merciful God answered love with love: for these 34 years of suffering He gave Alexis eternal life and joy among His angels in heaven, and glory on earth.

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.