Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. Mary of Egypt.

Mode One — Ninth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 321]. Brethren:

9 ¹¹Christ, Who came as High Priest of the coming good things, by means of the greater and more perfect tabernacle—not made by hand, that is, not of this creation, ¹²nor by blood of goats and of calves, but by His own blood—entered once for all into the Holies, having Himself obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of bulls and of goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of the Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works in order to worship the living God?

COMMEMORATION OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§§ 208, 209]. Brethren:

3 ²³Before faith came, we were being guarded under the law, having been closed up to the faith about to be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law hath become our tutor until Christ, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶For all are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many as were baptized into Christ, ye put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise.

4 ¹Now I say, as long as the heir is an infant, he differeth nothing from a slave, though he is lord of all; ²but he is under guardians and stewards until the appointed time of the father. ³So we also, when we were infants, were enslaved under the elements of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵in order that He might redeem those under the law, that we might receive what is our due, the adoption as sons.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 47]. At that time:

10 ³²Jesus took aside His twelve disciples, and began to tell them the things that were about to happen to Him, ³³saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death and deliver Him up to the Gentiles. ³⁴“And they shall mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit upon Him, and kill Him. And on the third day He shall raise Himself.”

³⁵And Iakovos and John, the sons of Zebedee, go to Him, saying, “Teacher, we wish that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask.” ³⁶And He said to them, “What do ye wish for Me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to Him, “Grant to us that we might sit, one on Thy right and one on Thy left, in Thy glory.” ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “Ye know not what ye ask for yourselves. Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹And they said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup indeed that I drink, ye shall drink, and the baptism with which I am baptized, ye shall be baptized; ⁴⁰“but to sit on My right and on My left is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to those for whom it hath been prepared.” ⁴¹And after the ten heard it, they began to be indignant on account of Iakovos and John. ⁴²But Jesus called them to Himself, and saith to them, “Ye know that those who are accounted to rule over the nations exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³“Yet it shall not be so among you. But whosoever doth wish to become great among you shall be your servant; ⁴⁴“and whosoever doth wish to become first among you shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Commemoration of Saint Mary of Egypt

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 33]. At that time:

7 ³⁶A certain one of the Pharisees was asking Jesus that He would eat with him. And He entered into the house of the Pharisee, and reclined at table. ³⁷And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of perfumed ointment, ³⁸and she stood beside His feet behind Him, weeping; and she began to wet His feet with tears, and was wiping them off with the hairs of her head; and she was kissing His feet ardently and anointing them with the perfumed ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, “This One, if He were a prophet, would know who and of what sort the woman is who toucheth Him, for she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to thee.” And he saith, “Teacher, say it.” ⁴¹“There were two debtors to a certain creditor: the one was owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²“But when they had nothing to pay back the debt, he showed himself gracious to both. Say which of them then will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered and said, “I suppose that he, to whom he showed himself the more gracious.” And He said to him, “Rightly thou didst judge.” ⁴⁴And He turned to the woman, and said to Simon, “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; water thou gavest Me not for My feet, but she with tears did wet My feet, and with the hairs of her head wiped them off. ⁴⁵“A kiss thou gavest Me not, but she from the time that I entered did not cease from ardently kissing My feet. ⁴⁶“With oil thou didst not anoint My head, but she anointed My feet with perfumed ointment. ⁴⁷“For which reason I say to thee, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” ⁴⁸And He said to her, “Thy sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹And those reclining at table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this Who even forgiveth sins?” ⁵⁰And He said to the woman, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go thy way in peace.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Martyr Sabinos of Egypt, and the holy Apostle Aristoboulos of the Seventy, Bishop of Britain (commemorated on Gk. calendar on the 15^th of March).

No readings given.

Synaxarion Readings

Synaxarion for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent
St. Mary of Egypt

On this day, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the memory of our holy and venerable Mother, Mary of Egypt.

The recorder of the life of this wonderful saint is St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A hieromonk, the Elder Zossima, had gone off at one time during the Great Fast on a twenty-days’ walk into the wilderness across the Jordan. He suddenly caught sight of a human being with a withered and naked body and with hair as white as snow, who fled in its nakedness from Zossima’s sight. The elder ran a long way, until this figure stopped at a stream and called out, “Father Zossima, forgive me for the Lord’s sake. I cannot turn around to you, for I am a naked woman.” Then Zossima threw her his outer cloak, and she wrapped herself in it and turned around to him. The elder was amazed at hearing his name from the lips of this unknown woman. After considerable pressure on his part, she told him the story of her life.

She had been born in Egypt and had lived as a prostitute in Alexandria from the age of twelve, spending seventeen years in this way of life. Urged by the lustful fire of the flesh, she one day boarded a ship that was sailing for Jerusalem. Arriving at the Holy City, she attempted to go into one of the churches to venerate the Precious Cross, but some unseen power prevented her from entering. In great fear, she turned to an icon of the Mother of God that was in the entrance and begged her to let her go in and venerate the Cross, confessing her sin and impurity and promising that she would then go wherever the most pure one led her. She was then allowed to enter the church. After venerating the Cross, she went out again to the entrance, and standing in front of the icon, thanked the Mother of God. Then she heard a voice saying, “If you cross the Jordan, you will find true peace.” She immediately bought three loaves of bread and set off for the Jordan, arriving there the same evening. She received Holy Communion the following morning in the monastery of St. John the Baptist, and then crossed the river. She spent the next forty-eight years in the wilderness in the greatest torments, in terror, in struggles with passionate thoughts like gigantic beasts, feeding only on plants.

Later, when she was standing in prayer, Zossima saw her lifted up in the air. She begged him to bring her Holy Communion the next year on the bank of the Jordan, and she would come to receive it. The following year, Zossima came with the holy Gifts to the bank of the Jordan in the evening and stood in amazement at the following sight. He saw her coming in the moonlight and, arriving on the opposite bank, make the sign of the Cross over the river. She then walked across it as though it were dry land. When she had received Holy Communion, she begged him to come again the following year to the same place where they had first met. The next year Zossima went and found her dead body there on that spot. Above her head in the sand was written: “Abba Zossima, bury in this place the body of the humble Mary. Give dust to dust. I passed away on April 1st, on the very night of Christ’s Passion, after Communion of the divine Mysteries.” For the first time, Zossima learned her name and also the awe-inspiring marvel that she had instantly arrived at that streambed the previous year on the night of the same day on which she had received Holy Communion—a place that he had taken twenty days to reach. And thus Zossima buried the body of the wonderful saint, Mary of Egypt. When he returned to the monastery, he recounted the whole story of her life and the wonders to which he had been an eyewitness. Thus the Lord glorifies repentant sinners. She entered into rest in about the year 530.

St. Mary is remembered today, as we reach the end of the Great Fast, to arouse the energy of the slothful and to urge sinners to repentance, imitating her example. She is also commemorated on April 1. The Righteous Zossima, who buried St. Mary, is commemorated on April 4.

O Christ our God, through the intercessions of our venerable Mother Mary of Egypt, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Translated from Triodion, siest ‘Tripesnets: Triod’ Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 29th – Civil Calendar
March 16th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Aristobulus, one of the Seventy.

He was the brother of the Apostle Barnabas and was born in Cyprus. He was a follower of the Apostle Paul, who mentions him in his Epistle to the Romans (16:10). When the great Apostle Paul created many bishops for different parts of the world, he made this Aristobulus bishop of Britain (i.e. England). In Britain there was a wild people, pagan and wicked, and Aristobulus endured among them unmentionable torments, misfortunes and malice. They smote him without mercy, dragged him through the streets, mocked him and jeered at him. But in the end this holy man came to success by the power of the grace of God. He enlightened the people, baptized them in the name of Christ the Lord, built churches, ordained priests and deacons and finally died there in peace and went to the kingdom of the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully. (In the Greek Calendar, St. Aristobulus is commemorated on March 15th).

2. The Holy Martyr Sabinas.

An Egyptian from the city of Hermopolis, he was the administrator of that city. In the time of a persecution of Christians he went off into a mountain with many other Christians and shut himself in a hut, where he spent the time in fasting and prayer. But a poor man who had brought him food and for whom Sabinas had done much betrayed him; as Judas did Christ, so this poor man for money (for two pieces of gold) betrayed his benefactor. Sabinas, with six others, was taken by soldiers, bound and brought to judgement. After harsh torture, he was thrown into the River Nile, where he gave his spirit to God in 287.

3. The Hieromartyrs Trophimos and Thallos.

Brothers by birth from Syria, they publicly and freely preached Christ and denounced the folly of the Greeks and Romans. The infuriated pagans decided to stone them to death, but when they threw the stones at these two brothers, the stones turned back upon the throwers and the brothers remained uninjured. After this they were both crucified. From their crosses the brothers instructed and encouraged the Christians, who were standing nearby in great distress. After much suffering, they gave their spirits to the Lord to Whom they had remained faithful to the end. They suffered with honor in the year 300, in the town of Bofor.

Author’s Note: In the Greek Calendar, Our Holy Father Christodoulos is also commemorated. He lived in asceticism on the island of Patmos and built a monastery there in honor of St. John the Theologian. He entered into rest in 1111. Many miracles have been wrought over his relics.

FOR CONSIDERATION

If we fulfill the law of God in our thoughts, we will find it easy to fulfill it in our actions. That is: if we are not at fault in our thinking, we shall not be at fault in our actions. Or, to develop this further, if our hearts are fixed on God, our tongues and hands and feet and our whole being will be in harmony with Him. Prepare your heart for God, consecrate it to God and worship Him; fulfill the law of God in it, enkindle the love of God in it and unite it with God. The rest will all follow and be conformed to the heart. It is not he who holds the spoke of the wheel that drives the wheel, but he who holds its axis. The heart is the axis of our being. Speaking of the commandments of God, our holy father Hesychios says: ‘If you make yourself fulfill them in thought, you will rarely find it necessary to toil over the fulfilling of them in action.’ That is, if we set our hearts, like an axis, on God, the wheels will easily go with the axis and draw the whole man after the heart. ‘Thy law is within my heart’ (Ps. 40:8), says the wise David.

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.