Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirty-Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 73].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:11; for Sl. usage, see 1 Jn. 3:21-4:6.

3 ²¹Beloved, if our heart be not condemning us, we have boldness toward God. ²²And whatsoever we may ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing before Him. ²³And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and be loving one another, even as He gave us commandment. ²⁴And the one keeping His commandments abideth in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit Whom He gave to us.

4 ¹Beloved, cease believing every spirit, but keep on putting the spirits to the test, if they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²In this know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is of God; ³and every spirit which confesseth not that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it is coming, and now already it is in the world. ⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the One in you than the one in the world. ⁵They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: the one knowing God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us be loving one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loveth hath been born of God and knoweth God. ⁸The one who loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. ⁹In this was manifest the love of God among us, because God hath sent forth His only-begotten Son into the world, in order that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He Himself loved us, and sent forth His Son to be an expiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 65]. At that time:

14 ⁴³While Jesus spoke to the disciples, there came up Judas the Iscariote, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. ⁴⁴And the one who delivered Him up had given a signal to them, saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He Himself; lay hold of Him and lead Him away safely.” ⁴⁵And having come, straightway, he went to Him and saith, “Hail, Rabbi!” and ardently kissed Him. ⁴⁶And they laid their hands upon Him and seized Him. ⁴⁷And a certain one of those who stood by drew the sword and struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his ear. ⁴⁸And Jesus answered and said to them, “As against a robber ye came out with swords and clubs to arrest Me. ⁴⁹“Daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not lay hold of Me. But it is that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰And having left Him, they all fled. ⁵¹Now a certain young man was following Him, having a linen cloth thrown about over his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, ⁵²but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

⁵³And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ⁵⁴And Peter followed Him from afar, even to inside the court of the high priest. And he was sitting together with the servants, and warming himself by the light of the fire. ⁵⁵And the chief priests and the whole sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus, in order to put Him to death; and they were not finding any. ⁵⁶For many were bearing false witness against Him, but their testimonies were not alike. ⁵⁷And some rose up and were bearing false witness against Him, saying, ⁵⁸“We heard Him saying, ‘I will destroy this temple, the one made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” ⁵⁹And not even so was their testimony alike. ⁶⁰And the high priest stood up in the midst and questioned Jesus, saying, “Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these bear witness against?” ⁶¹But He was silent, and answered nothing. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saith to Him, “Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶²And Jesus said, “I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right of the power, and coming on the clouds of the heaven.” ⁶³And the high priest, having torn his tunics, saith, “What need have we still of witnesses? ⁶⁴“Ye heard the blasphemy; what doth it appear to you?” And they all condemned Him to be liable to the penalty of death. ⁶⁵And some began to spit upon Him, and to cover His face all around, and to buffet Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy to us: Who is the one that smote Thee?” And the servants were striking Him with slaps on the face with the palms of their hands.

⁶⁶And as Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the young maidservants of the high priest. ⁶⁷And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “Thou also wast with Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor even understand what thou sayest.” And he went forth outside to the forecourt, and a cock crowed. ⁶⁹And the young maidservant, having seen him again, began to say to those standing by, “This is one of them.” ⁷⁰And again he kept on denying it. And a little after, again, they who stood by were saying to Peter, “Truly thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilæan, and thy mode of speech is like one.” ⁷¹But he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not this Man of Whom ye speak.” ⁷²And for the second time a cock crowed. And Peter was reminded of the word which Jesus said to him, “Before a cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” And having thought thereon, he began to weep.

15 ¹And straightway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole sanhedrin, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

29. The commemoration of the translation of the relics of Hieromartyr Ignatios the God-bearer.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 325]. Brethren:

10 ³²Remind yourselves of the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great contest of sufferings: ³³partly, being made a show of both by reproaches and affliction; and partly, having become partners of those who conducted themselves thus. ³⁴For ye also sympathized with those in bonds and ye yourselves accepted the seizure of your possessions with joy, knowing in yourselves that ye have in the heavens a better and abiding possession. ³⁵Do not begin therefore to cast away your boldness which hath great recompense. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye do the will of God, ye might receive for yourselves the promise. ³⁷“For yet a very little while, the One Who cometh will come, and will not delay [cf. Hab. 2:3]. ³⁸“Now the just shall live by faith; and if one should draw himself back, My soul hath no pleasure in him [cf. Hab. 2:4].”

for Sl. usage, see [Heb. 4:14-5:6].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 41]. At that time:

9 ³³ Jesus and His disciples came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house, He was questioning them, “What were ye discussing among yourselves on the way?” ³⁴But they were keeping silent; for on the way they discussed with one another who was greater. ³⁵And He sat down and called the twelve, and saith to them, “If anyone doth wish to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶And He took a little child and set him in their midst. And after He took him into His arms, He said to them, ³⁷“Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but the One Who sent Me forth.”

³⁸And John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who doth not follow us casting out demons in Thy name, and we hindered him, because he doth not follow us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Cease hindering him, for there is no one who shall do a work of power in My name, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰“For he who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹“For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye are of Christ, verily I say to you, in no wise shall he lose his reward.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 11th – Civil Calendar
January 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Ignatius.

The chief feast of St. Ignatius is on December 20th. Today we celebrate the translation of his relics from Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, to Antioch, where he had been archbishop. When St. Ignatius was summoned to Rome to answer for his faith before the Emperor Trajan (98-117) a number of citizens from Antioch accompanied him on this long journey, prompted by their great love for their chief pastor. The saint of God, in no wise willing to deny the Faith of Christ and scorning all the flattery and promises of the emperor, was condemned to death and thrown into the Great Circus before the wild beasts. They tore him to pieces and he gave his soul to God. Then his companions collected his bare bones, took them to Antioch and buried them. When the Persians occupied Antioch in the sixth century, the relics of St. Ignatius were again taken from Antioch to Rome.

2. The Holy Martyrs Romanos, Iakovos, Philotheos, Hyperechios, Abibos, Julian and Paregorios.

They all suffered for Christ in Samosata in the time of the Emperor Maximilian, in the year 297. Philotheos and Hyperechios were aristocrats, and the others were young men of respected families. The pagans killed them in a terrible way: by hammering nails into the head of each of them. They suffered with honor and entered into eternal joy.

3. Our Holy Father Laurence (Lavrenty) of the Kiev Caves.

He voluntarily chose the solitary life like the earlier recluses Isaac and Nikita, guarding himself from the diabolic deception which the other two experienced at the beginning. By great restraint, prayer and meditation, he attained a high level of perfection. He discovered from a frightened demon that, of the 118 monks in the Monastery of the Caves, there were thirty who had received the gift from God of power over evil spirits. He went to God in the year 1194.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The more a man progresses in spiritual understanding and purity of heart, the deeper, it seems to him, is the valley in which he finds himself and the higher the peak to which he is aspiring. One spiritual giant, lying on his death bed, heard that he was being praised for his great asceticism. He burst into tears, saying: ‘My children, I have not begun in the spiritual life.’ When St. Ignatius was lying shackled in prison, he wrote to the Ephesians: ‘I do not command you as though I had some standing. Although I am in chains for the name of Jesus Christ, I am not yet perfected in Him. I am only beginning to be a disciple, and I speak to you as fellow-pupils of my teachers.’

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.