Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 223]. Brethren:

3 ⁸To me, the one who is less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach the Gospel of the unsearchable wealth of the Christ among the nations, ⁹and to enlighten all as to what is the dispensation of the mystery which hath been hidden from the ages in God, Who created all things through Jesus Christ, ¹⁰in order that now the much-variegated wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and to the authorities in the heavenlies through the Church, ¹¹according to the purpose of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹²in Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. ¹³Wherefore I ask you not to be fainthearted at mine afflictions on behalf of you, which is your glory. ¹⁴For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵from Whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the wealth of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷that the Christ might dwell in your hearts through faith, having been rooted and founded in love, ¹⁸in order that ye might be able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, ¹⁹and to know the love of the Christ which surpasseth knowledge, that ye might be filled to all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to Him Who is able to do exceedingly above all things that we ask for ourselves or think, according to the power which energizeth itself in us, ²¹to Him be the glory in the Church in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 12]. At that time:

4 ¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was being led in the Spirit into the wilderness, ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing; and they having been brought to an end, afterwards He became hungry. ³And the devil said to Him, “If Thou art God’s Son, command this stone that it become bread.” ⁴And Jesus gave answer to him, saying, “It hath been written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God [cf. Deut. 8:3].’” ⁵And the devil, having brought Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time. ⁶And the devil said to Him, “To Thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them; for to me it hath been delivered up, and to whomsoever I may wish to give it. ⁷“Thou, therefore, if Thou wilt make obeisance before me, all shall be Thine.” ⁸And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan. For it hath been written: ‘Thou shalt make obeisance to the Lord thy God, and Him alone shalt thou worship [cf. Deut. 6:13].’” ⁹And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him upon the wing of the temple, and said to Him, “If Thou art God’s Son, cast Thyself down from this place. ¹⁰“For it hath been written: ‘He shall enjoin His angels concerning Thee, to keep Thee [Ps. 90(91):11],’ ¹¹“and, ‘Upon their hands shall they take Thee up, lest ever Thou strike Thy foot against a stone [Ps. 90(91):12].’” ¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, “It hath been said, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God [Deut. 6:16].’” ¹³And after the devil brought to an end every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

¹⁴And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; and a common report concerning Him went out throughout all the country round about. ¹⁵And He was teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Fathers Paul of Thebes and John the Hut-dweller (Kalyvites).

Epistle

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.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 67]. The Lord said:

12 ³²“Cease being afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draweth near nor moth destroyeth; ³⁴“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Let your loins be girded about and the lamps be kept burning; ³⁶“and be ye like to men waiting for their own lord—whenever he should depart from the wedding festivities—that when he cometh and knocketh, straightway, they might open to him. ³⁷“Happy are those slaves whom the lord, after he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say to you that he shall gird himself about and shall have them recline at table, and will come forth and minister to them. ³⁸“And if he should come in the second watch, and in the third watch should he come, and find them thus, happy are those slaves. ³⁹“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰“Ye therefore also keep on becoming ready, for in the hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

for Sl. usage, see [Mt. 11:27-30].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 28th – Civil Calendar
January 15th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Paul of Thebes.

Born of wealthy parents in Lower Thebes in Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Decius, he and a sister of his together inherited all their parents’ property. But his brother-in-law, an idol-worshipper, plotted to seize Paul’s half of the inheritance. He therefore threatened Paul that he would betray him to the authorities as a Christian if he did not hand over his share of the property. This misfortune, coupled with the examples of self-sacrifice by the Christian martyrs that Paul saw with his own eyes, induced him to give his half of the property to his sister and go off into the desert, where he lived in asceticism until his death. The spiritual heights attained by this giant of a monk are testified to by no less a person than St. Anthony the Great, who once visited Paul and saw how the wild animals and birds of the air ministered to him. Returning from this visit, Anthony said to his monks: ‘Woe is me, my children, a sinful and false monk, who am a monk in name only. I have seen Elias, I have seen John in the desert, and I have seen Paul—in Paradise!’ St. Paul lived 113 years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the year 342.

2. Our Holy Father John (The Hut-Dweller).

He was born in Constantinople in the early part of the 5th century, and was the only child of rich and eminent parents. Drawn by inclination to the spiritual life, the young John fled with a monk to a monastery in Asia Minor. He spent six years in this monastery in the greatest restraint, prayer and obedience to the superior. Then the devil attacked him with the temptation to leave the monastery and return to his parents, to live with them as a nobleman. He indeed returned to his parents’ home, but dressed as a beggar. He saw his parents, but not wishing to reveal himself to them as their son, remained as a beggar in their courtyard, living off the crumbs that the servants threw to him and enduring much ridicule from all. He lived thus for three years, praying to God that He would save the souls of his father and mother. When he fell ill and felt death approaching, he revealed himself to his parents. They recognized him by a precious Gospel-book which they had given him in childhood and which he had kept with him as his sole possession. And so this young man, albeit so rich, saved his soul and those of his parents, overcame the devil, and entered into rest in the Lord in about the year 450.

3. Our Holy Father Gabriel of Lesnov.

A Slav and a friend of St. Prochorus of Pchinja and St. John of Rila, he lived a life of asceticism in the 10th century at Kratov on the mountain of Lesnov, where he built a church to the Archangel Michael. He was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The present beautiful church in this place was built by King Dušan’s commander-in-chief, Jovan Oliver. St. Gabriel entered into rest in the Lord at the end of the tenth century.

4. The Holy Martyr Pansophios.

The son of the Alexandrian proconsul, Nilus, he laid aside worldly honor and riches as a young man and embraced the monastic state. He lived in great asceticism for 27 years, lifting up his soul to the higher world. In the reign of Decius, he was dragged before the judge, where he was flogged for the name of Christ until, under great torture, he delivered his soul to God.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Never think that God does not hear you when you pray to Him. He hears our thoughts as we hear one another’s voices and words. And if He does not act at once in response to your prayer, that is either because your prayer was unworthy, or you were seeking something that would be dangerous for you, or, again, because He, by His wisdom and providence, delays the fulfilling of your request until the right moment. Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘As we are able to communicate quickly by means of the electric telegraph with people far away from us, so, through a living faith, as through such a telegraph, we are quickly in contact with God, the angels and the saints. Send your requests to God and the saints by the telegraph of faith, and you will immediately get an answer.’ And again, in another place: ‘God and His created souls and spirits, the living and the dead, are thinking beings, and thought is swift and somehow omnipresent. Think about them with your whole heart, and they will be present with you. God will ever be with you, and by His gift and power, the others will be also.’

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.