Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The Sunday Before the Theophany

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 298]. Child Timothy:

4 ⁵Be thou watchful in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. ⁶For I already am being made a drink-offering and the time of my release is at hand. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. ⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall render to me in that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 1].

1 ¹The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it hath been written in the prophets: “Behold, I send forth My messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee [cf. Mal. 3:1]; ³“the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; be making His paths straight [cf. Is. 40:3].’” ⁴There arose John, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance toward remission of sins. ⁵And all the land of Judæa, and of Jerusalem, were going out to him; and all were being baptized in the Jordan River by him, confessing their sins. ⁶And John was clothed with camel hairs, and a leathern belt about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he was proclaiming, saying, “The One Who is mightier than I cometh after me, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to stoop down and loosen. ⁸“I indeed baptize you in water, but He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Thirty-Third Week or Sunday of the Cananite Woman

Mode Plagal Four — Eleventh Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 296]. Child Timothy:

3 ¹⁰Thou hast closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, ¹¹persecutions, sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra—what persecutions I endured! And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹²Yes, and all those who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. ¹³But evil men and cheats shall advance to the worse, leading astray and being led astray. ¹⁴But thou, keep on abiding in what thou didst learn and wast assured of, knowing from whom thou didst learn, ¹⁵and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings, which are able to make thee wise in regard to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 94]. At that time:

19 ¹Jesus was passing through Jericho. ²And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zacchæos, and he was a chief tax collector, and this man was rich. ³And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, for he was little of stature. ⁴And he ran in front and went up into a sycamore tree, in order that he might see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. ⁵And when Jesus came upon the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchæos, make haste and come down, for today it is needful for Me to stay in thy house.” ⁶And he made haste and came down, and received Him rejoicing. ⁷But after they saw it, they all were murmuring, saying, “With a sinful man He doth enter to lodge.” ⁸And Zacchæos stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I extorted anything of anyone by false charges, I give back fourfold.” ⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today, to this house, salvation came to pass, inasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which hath been lost.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Forefeast of Theophany, and the Synaxis of the holy Seventy Apostles.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 131]. Brethren:

4 ⁹I think that God showed forth us the apostles last, as condemned to death; for we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are held in honor, but we are dishonored. ¹¹Until the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are being buffeted, and never at rest. ¹²And we toil working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we bear up; ¹³being evilly spoken of, we beseech. We became as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things shaming you, but admonishing you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For if ye have myriads of tutors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel. ¹⁶Therefore, I beseech you, keep on becoming imitators of me.

For Sl. usage, see [Rom. 8:8-14].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 2].

1 ¹⁸No one hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declareth Him.

¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent forth priests and Levites from Jerusalem that they should ask him, “Who art thou?” ²⁰He not only confessed and denied not, but also confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹And they questioned him, “What then? Art thou Elias?” And he saith, “I am not.” “Art thou the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²²Then they said to him, “Who art thou, that we might give an answer to those who sent us? What sayest thou about thyself?” ²³He said, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord [Is. 40:3],’ even as the Prophet Esaias said.” ²⁴And they who had been sent forth were from the Pharisees. ²⁵And they asked him, and said to him, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶John answered them, saying, “I baptize in water, but there standeth One in your midst Whom ye know not. ²⁷“He it is, the One Who cometh after me, Who hath come to be before me, of Whom I am not worthy that I should loose the thong of His sandal.” ²⁸These things took place in Bethabara across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

For Sl. usage, see [Lk. 10:1-21]

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 17th – Civil Calendar
January 4th – Church Calendar

1. The Assembly of the Seventy Apostles.

In addition to the twelve great apostles, the Lord chose besides seventy other, lesser apostles, and sent them to preach to the Jews. He sent them out two by two before His face, to each town and place, saying: “Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves” (Lk. 10:1-5). But as Judas, one of the Twelve, fell away from the Lord, so some among these Seventy withdrew from Him, not with the intention of betraying Him but from human weakness and lack of faith (Jn. 6:66). And as Judas’ place was filled from among the other apostles, so the places of these were filled with others chosen. These apostles labored in the same way as the twelve great apostles; they were the assistants of the Twelve in the spreading and strengthening of the Church of God in the world. They suffered much torture and malice, from men and from demons, but their firm faith and burning love for the risen Lord made them conquerors of the world and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

2. St. Evstathius (Jevstatije), Archbishop of Serbia.

Born in the diocese of Budim (Budimlje), of God-fearing parents, he became a monk as a young man in Zeta, then moved on to greater asceticism at Hilandar. In time he became abbot of Hilandar, was then chosen to be Bishop of Zeta, and after some time had elapsed, to be Archbishop of Serbia. He was a man of great virtue and led Christ’s flock with zeal and love. He entered peacefully into rest at a great age in 1279, exclaiming as death drew near: “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” His relics are preserved in the crypt of the church at Peć.

3. The Eunuch of Queen Candace.

The Apostle Philip baptized this negro eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). After his Baptism, the eunuch returned home and began to teach about Christ. He was the first apostle of the Faith among the negroes of Ethiopia. He died a martyr and was counted worthy of the kingdom of God.

4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Onuphrius of Hilandar.

He was possessed of great anger towards his parents in his youth, and declared to the Turks that he wished to become one of them. He immediately repented of these words, went to Hilandar and there became a monk. Tormented by his conscience, he determined on martyrdom. So, with the blessing of his spiritual father, he went to Trnovo and presented himself to the Turkish authorities, stating that he was a Christian and mocking Mohammed, as a result of which he was slain on January 4th, 1818, at the age of 32. The body of this spiritual hero was lost, as the Turks threw it into the sea.

FOR CONSIDERATION

How do we reply to those who say that there is no room in our logic for Christ the worker of miracles? Answer simply: Place yourself within His. In His logic are contained all eternity and all transient goodness, so you could, if you wished, find a place therein for yourself. If you cannot fit a barrel into a thimble, you can fit a thimble into a barrel. Clement of Alexandria says: ‘Philosophers are as children until they become mature in Christ...’ for the truth is never contained only in the processes of rational thought. Christ came to make men new, and so also to make new the logic of men. He is our Logos and our logic. Thus we must direct our minds in accordance with His, not He with ours. He is the corrective of our minds. The sun does not adjust itself to our clocks, but they to the sun.

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.