Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Holy and Righteous Lazarus

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 333]. Brethren:

12 ²⁸Since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be having gratitude by which we may worship God well pleasingly with reverence and piety. ²⁹For also, “Our God is a consuming fire [cf. Deut. 4:24].”

13 ¹Let brotherly love abide. ²Cease being forgetful of hospitality, for by this some entertained angels unawares. ³Be mindful of those in bonds as bound with them, of those being ill-treated as being yourselves also in the body. ⁴Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. ⁵Let your manner of life be without covetousness, being satisfied with things at hand; for He hath said, “In no wise will I leave thee, nor in any wise will I abandon thee [cf. Deut. 31:6].” ⁶So that being of good courage we may say, “The Lord is a helper to me, and I will not be afraid; what shall man do to me [cf. Ps. 117(118):6]?”

⁷Be remembering those who lead you, who spoke to you the word of God, whose faith keep on imitating, observing attentively the end of their conduct: ⁸Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and to the ages.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 39]. At that time:

11 ¹There was a certain sick man, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” ⁴And after Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God might be glorified by it.” ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶When He heard therefore that “he is sick,” then indeed He remained in the place which He was for two days. ⁷Then after this He saith to His disciples, “Let us go into Judæa again.” ⁸The disciples say to Him, “Rabbi, just now the Jews were seeking to stone Thee, and goest Thou there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “There are twelve hours in the day, are there not? If anyone walk about in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world; ¹⁰“but if anyone walk about in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹These things He said, and after this He saith to them, “Our friend Lazarus hath fallen asleep; but I go that I might awaken him.” ¹²Then said His disciples, “Lord, if he hath fallen asleep, he shall recover.” ¹³But Jesus had spoken about his death; but they thought that He spoke about taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴Therefore Jesus then said to them openly, “Lazarus died. ¹⁵“And I rejoice on your account that I was not there, in order that ye might believe; but let us go to him.” ¹⁶Then Thomas, the one who was called Didymos, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we might die with Him.”

¹⁷Then after Jesus came, He found that he already had been in the sepulcher four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was nigh to Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to join the women around Martha and Mary, in order that they might console them concerning their brother. ²⁰Then Martha, when she heard that “Jesus is coming,” went to meet Him; but Mary was sitting in the house. ²¹Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if Thou wert here, my brother would not have died. ²²“But even now I know that whatsoever Thou Thyself shalt ask of God, God will give it to Thee.” ²³Jesus saith to her, “Thy brother shall rise up.” ²⁴Martha saith to Him, “I know that he shall rise up in the resurrection in the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believeth in Me, though he die, he shall live; ²⁶“and everyone who liveth and believeth in Me, in no wise shall ever die. Believest thou this?” ²⁷She saith to Him, “Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, Who cometh into the world.” ²⁸And after she said these things, she went away and called Mary her sister secretly, and saith, “The Teacher is present and calleth thee.” ²⁹And the latter, when she heard, rose up quickly and came to Him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha went to meet Him. ³¹The Jews then who were with her in the house, and consoling her, after they saw that Mary quickly rose up and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the sepulcher that she might weep there.” ³²Then when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if Thou wert here, my brother would not have died.” ³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came down with her weeping, He rebuked His deep feelings in the spirit and troubled Himself, ³⁴and said, “Where have ye laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶Then the Jews were saying, “Behold, how He was loving him.” ³⁷But some of them said, “Was not this One able, Who opened the eyes of the blind, to have caused that this one should not die?” ³⁸Then Jesus, again rebuking His deep feelings in Himself, cometh to the sepulcher. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying upon it. ³⁹Jesus saith, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who was dead, saith to Him, “Lord, already he stinketh, for it is the fourth day.” ⁴⁰Jesus saith to her, “I said to thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God, did I not?” ⁴¹Then they took away the stone where the dead one was laid. And Jesus lifted His eyes upwards, and said, “Father, I give thanks to Thee that Thou heardest Me. ⁴²“But I know that Thou hearest Me always; but on account of the crowd which stood around I said it, that they might believe that Thou didst send Me forth.” ⁴³And after He said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” ⁴⁴And the one who was dead came forth, his feet and hands having been bound with graveclothes; and his face had been bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵Then many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus did, believed in Him.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Father John, the author of The Ladder, and the holy Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Kephas, Cæsar, and Epaphroditos of the Seventy, and our holy father among the saints, Sophronios the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Irkutsk.

Epistle

For the venerable Father:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

For the venerable Father:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 51]. The Lord said to His disciples:

10 ¹⁶“The one who heareth you heareth Me, and the one who rejecteth you rejecteth Me, and the one who rejecteth Me rejecteth the One Who sent Me forth.”

¹⁷And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are being made subject to us in Thy name.” ¹⁸And He said to them, “I was beholding Satan as lightning having fallen out of the heaven. ¹⁹“Behold, I give you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; and nothing in anywise shall injure you. ²⁰“However cease rejoicing in this, that the spirits are being made subject to you; but be rejoicing that your names were written in the heavens.” ²¹In the same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit, and said, “I give thanks to Thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and didst reveal them to babes. Yea, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing before Thee.”

For the Hierarch:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 12th – Civil Calendar
March 30th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father John Climacus (of the Ladder).

The author of the famous ‘Ladder,’ he came from an unknown place to Mount Sinai as a sixteen-year-old boy and remained there, first as a novice, then as a hermit and finally as abbot of Sinai, until he died at the age of eighty, in about 649. His biographer, the monk Daniel, says of him: ‘He brought his body up to Mount Sinai, but his spirit he brought to the Mount of Heaven’. He spent nineteen years in obedience to his spiritual father, Martyrios. Anastasios of Mount Sinai, who saw John once as a young man, foretold that he would be abbot of Mount Sinai. After the death of his spiritual father, John took himself off to a cave, where he lived for twenty years in strict asceticism. His disciple, Moses, fell asleep one day in the cool shade of a huge rock. John was at prayer in his cell, and perceiving that his disciple was in danger, began to pray for him. Moses came up to him later, fell to his knees and began to thank him for saving him from certain death. And he related how he had heard John calling him in his sleep and had jumped up at the very moment that a rock fell. Had he not jumped out of the way, the rock would certainly have killed him. At the importunate urging of the brethren, John accepted the abbacy, and guided their souls to salvation with loving zeal. He once heard a monk reproach him for being too verbose. He was not in the least angered, but was silent for an entire year, not uttering a single word until the brethren begged him to speak. He then began to instruct them with the wisdom with which God had endowed him. Once 600 pilgrims came to Mount Sinai. At supper they all noticed an agile young man dressed as a Jew who was serving at table and giving orders to the other servants, taking charge of everything. Suddenly, he disappeared. While everyone was pondering this and asking questions among themselves, John said: ‘Do not bother to look for him; that was the prophet Moses serving you in his own home.’ During the time that he was silent in his cave, John wrote many instructive books, of which the most famous, ‘The Ladder,’ is much read to this day. It describes the way to raise the soul to God as if on a ladder. Before his death, John appointed his own brother, George, to the abbacy, but George began to grieve greatly at the approaching parting with John. Then John said that, if he were found worthy to stand close to God in the next world, he would pray that George be taken up to heaven in the same year. And so it came to pass. After ten months, George also fell asleep and departed to take his place among heaven’s citizens alongside his brother John.

2. Commemoration of an Uncondemning Monk.

This monk died joyfully because he had never in his life condemned anyone. He was lazy, careless, disinclined to prayer, but throughout his entire life he had never judged anyone. And when he lay dying, he was full of joy. The brethren asked him how he could die so joyfully with all his sins, and he replied: ‘I have just seen the angels, and they showed me a page with all my many sins. I said to them: “The Lord said: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ I have never judged anyone and I hope in the mercy of God, that He will not judge me.” And the angels tore up the sheet of paper.’ Hearing this, the monks wondered at it and learned from it.

FOR CONSIDERATION

If the humbling of oneself before men is needful that one might be exalted before God, and temporal toil is the prerequisite of immortal life, what does it matter if some shake their heads and laugh at your self-abasement? John the Hesychast was ten years bishop on Ascalon, after which time he realized that worldly honors were hindering him, so he disguised himself as a simple monk and went to the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. He was given the task of collecting and carrying wood and cooking lentils for the workmen. When he was discovered there also, he shut himself in his cell and lived there for forty-seven years on cabbage. You see how the fathers fled earthly honors. Yet, how many people in our day engage in a foolhardy struggle for them, squandering their souls for the sake of dust and ashes.

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.