Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-Third Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second General Epistle of Saint Peter [§ 64].

1 ¹Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who obtained as their portion a faith equal in honor to us in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. ²Grace to you and peace be multiplied in a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord:

³Inasmuch as His divine power hath freely given to us all the things for life and piety, through the full knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴by which He hath freely given to us the very great and precious promises, that through these ye might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by desire. ⁵But also for this very thing, besides having brought in all diligence, supply virtue in your faith, and knowledge in virtue, ⁶and self-control in knowledge, and patience in self-control, and piety in patience, ⁷and brotherly affection in piety, and love in brotherly affection. ⁸For if these things are in you and abounding, they render you neither barren nor unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For to whom these things are not present he is blind, being shortsighted, having forgotten the purification of old of his sins. ¹⁰Wherefore, brethren, rather give the more diligence to make sure for yourselves your calling and election; for if ye do these things, in no wise shall ye ever stumble.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 53]. The Lord said this parable:

12 ¹“A man planted a vineyard, and put a hedge around it, and dug a trough underneath the winepress, and built a tower. And he let it out to vinedressers and went abroad. ²“And at the season he sent forth a slave to the vinedressers, in order that he might receive from the vinedressers of the fruit of the vineyard. ³“And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty. ⁴“And again he sent forth to them another slave, and that one they stoned, and smote him on the head; and sent him away having suffered dishonor. ⁵“And again he sent forth another, and that one they killed, and many others—some, on the one hand, beating, and others, on the other hand, killing. ⁶“Having yet therefore one son, his own beloved, he also sent him forth to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷“But those vinedressers, having seen him coming, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.’ ⁸“And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹“What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰“Did ye not even read this Scripture? ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner; ¹¹“‘this came to be from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes [Ps. 117(118):22, 23; cf. Is. 28:16]’?” ¹²And they were seeking to lay hold of Him, but were afraid of the crowd; for they knew that He spoke the parable against them. And they left Him and went away.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of Theophany, and our father among the saints, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 151]. Brethren:

12 ⁷To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given to the profit of all: ⁸for to one is given by the Spirit a word of wisdom; and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹and to another faith in the same Spirit; and to another free gifts of healings in the same Spirit; ¹⁰and to another operations of works of power; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to another kinds of tongues; and to another interpretation of tongues; ¹¹but the one and the same Spirit energizeth all these things, distributing to each separately as He will.

Gospel

For the Mid-feast:

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

3 ¹⁹Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by John for Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, and for all the evils which Herod did, ²⁰added also this above all, he even shut up John in the prison.

²¹Now it came to pass, as all the people were being baptized, Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. ²²And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape as a dove upon Him; and there came to be a voice out of heaven, saying, “Thou art My Son, the Beloved; in Thee I am well pleased.”

For the Hierarch:

For Gk. usage, see hereunder:

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

4 ²⁵Great crowds followed Jesus 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.”

For Sl. usage, see [Mt. 10:1, 5-8].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 23rd – Civil Calendar
January 10th – Church Calendar

1. St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa.

The brother of St. Basil the Great, he was at first a married priest, but when his wife, the blessed Theosevia, died, he was chosen and consecrated as Bishop of Nyssa. He was distinguished by great secular learning and spiritual experience, and was a great preacher, a translator of the Scriptures and a theologian. As a result of his opposition to the Arians, they did everything in their power to crush him, regarding him as their chief enemy. They were so successful in this that, in the reign of the Emperor Valens, their confederate, they managed to depose him from his episcopal seat and drive him into exile. This was in 376. The holy father spent several years in patient exile, enduring poverty and humiliation. In 381, he took part in the Second Ecumenical Council, and it is thought that he formulated the final part of the Creed concerning the Holy Spirit. Finally, finishing his life at a great age in about the year 395, he entered into the kingdom of God and has been commemorated through all succeeding ages as a great light in the Church.

2. Our Holy Father Ammon of Egypt.

He was an Egyptian ascetic. At the age of fourteen, he strove and prayed to God to kill all anger in him. He achieved such perfection of goodness that he was no longer aware of the existence of evil in the world. He was an outstanding expert in the Scriptures, and entered into rest at the beginning of the fifth century.

3. St. Marcian.

He was born in Rome, but lived as a priest in Constantinople to the end of his life, during the greater part of the reign of Marcian and Pulcheria. The inheritor of great wealth from his parents, he spent it unstintingly on two objects: the building or restoring of churches, and charity to the poor. He built two new churches in Constantinople dedicated to St. Anastasia and St. Irene and famed as beautiful and holy places. When asked why he spent so much of his wealth on churches, he replied, “If I had a daughter and was giving her in marriage to some nobleman, would I not expend much gold to adorn her as a worthy bride? Here, I am adorning the Church, the Bride of Christ.” This great man, while being so generous to the churches and the poor, was very hard towards himself, following the evangelical counsel: “Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content” (I Tim. 6:8). It was written of him: “He was utterly in God and God in him”, and he went to God, full of years and good works, in the year 471.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Vanity in dress has a particularly free reign in our day. He who has nothing else of which to be proud takes pride in his attire. He who might have something else, of more value than dress, in which to take pride, does not in fact do so. As gold is not found lying on the surface of the ground, so the spiritual worth of a man does not appear on the outside. There is a story of how a famous philosopher, on seeing a young man flaunting his attire, moved up to him and whispered in his ear: “You know, my boy, the ram got there first, with a fleece like that, but he’s still just a ram!” To be a Christian and take pride in one’s apparel is more foolish than to be a king and take pride in the dust beneath one’s feet. While St. Arsenius wore golden clothing in the royal palace, he never received the title ‘the Great’. He received it when he unhesitatingly gave himself to the service of God and clothed himself in tatters.

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.