Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Tuesday of the Thirty-Seventh Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians [§ 242]. Brethren:

2 ¹⁶I ran not in vain, nor labored in vain. ¹⁷But if also I am being poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all; ¹⁸and ye also be rejoicing in the same and be rejoicing with me.

¹⁹But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy quickly to you, that I also may be of good courage, after I come to know the things concerning you. ²⁰For I have no one like-minded, who genuinely will care for the things concerning you. ²¹For all seek their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus. ²²But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child to a father, he served with me in regard to the Gospel. ²³This one indeed therefore I hope to send at once, whensoever I shall have in view the things concerning me.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 27]. The Lord said:

6 ³⁷“Cease judging, and in no wise shall ye be judged; cease condemning, and in no wise shall ye be condemned; keep on acquitting, and ye shall be acquitted. ³⁸“Keep on giving, and it shall be given to you: a good measure which hath been pressed down and shaken together, and is overflowing shall they give into your bosom; for with the same measure with which ye measure, it shall be measured in turn to you.” ³⁹And He spoke a parable to them: “A blind man is not able to guide a blind man, is he? Both shall fall into a pit, shall they not? ⁴⁰“A disciple is not above his teacher; but everyone who hath been perfected shall be as his teacher. ⁴¹“But why seest thou the splinter that is in the eye of thy brother, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ⁴²“Or how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Brother, let me cast out the splinter that is in thine eye,’ when thou thyself seest not the beam in thine own eye? Hypocrite, cast out first the beam from thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the splinter that is in the eye of thy brother. ⁴³“For there is no good tree which produceth rotten fruit, nor a rotten tree which produceth good fruit; ⁴⁴“for each tree is known by its own fruit. For they do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick a bunch of grapes from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵“The good man bringeth forth out of the good treasure of his heart that which is good; and the evil man bringeth forth out of the evil treasure of his heart that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the translation of the relics of our father among the saints, John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 36]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:

10 ⁹“I am the door; by Me if anyone should enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰“The thief cometh not, except that he might steal, and slay, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. ¹²“But the hireling, who indeed is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf seizeth them and scattereth the sheep. ¹³“Now the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling and careth not about the sheep. ¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine. ¹⁵“Even as the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶“And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; them also it is needful for Me to bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 9th – Civil Calendar
January 27th – Church Calendar

1. St. John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth of Orthodoxy.

The Church celebrates the memory of this saint on November 13th and January 30th, but on this day is celebrated the translation of his honored relics from the Armenian village of Comana, where he died in exile in 407, to Constantinople where earlier, as patriarch, he had governed the Church. Thirty years after his death, Patriarch Proklos made a speech in memory of his spiritual father and mentor, and by this speech so roused the love of the people and the emperor, Theodosios the Younger, towards the great saint that they all wanted the relics of St. Chrysostom to be translated to Constantinople. It is related that the coffin containing the relics could not be shifted from its place until the emperor had written a letter to St. Chrysostom, begging his forgiveness (for Theodosios’ mother, Evdoxia, was guilty of having persecuted the saint) and appealing to him to return to Constantinople, his former residence. When this repentant letter was placed on the coffin, the latter became light in weight. Before the translation, many of the sick, on touching the coffin, were healed. When the relics arrived at the capital, the emperor again begged forgiveness over them in his mother’s name, as though it were she herself speaking: ‘While I lived in this temporal life, I acted in malice towards thee; but now that thou livest in eternal life, be thou of help to my soul. My glory passes and there is nought to help me; help me, father, in thy glory; help me before I come to be condemned before the judgment of Christ.’ When the saint was carried into the Church of the Holy Apostles and placed on the patriarchal throne, the assembled throng heard these words from his mouth: ‘Peace be unto all!’ The translation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom was carried out in the year 438.

2. Our Holy Father Titus of the Kiev Caves.

He was at first a soldier, but receiving a wound in the head in battle, he retired from the world to the monastery of the Caves in Kiev, there to be healed and to receive the monastic schema. He spent his time in ceaseless mourning over his former sins. Before his death he was shown by a heavenly vision that all his sins had been forgiven. His relics lie in the caves of Theodosius.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Fasting is a great thing, but love is greater. If it is by fasting that devils are driven out, passions tamed, the body calmed, the spirit steadied, it is by love that God makes His abode with men. The Lord Himself emphasized fasting as necessary, but proclaimed love as the greatest commandment. In the first half of last century, Jeladin Bey, a Turk, ruled over Ochrid. He was a rebel against the sultan and an independent governor. At that time the Church was ruled by Metropolitan Kalinik. Jeladin and Kalinik, although of different faiths, were very good friends and often visited each other. It happened that Jeladin Bey condemned twenty-five Christians to death by hanging, and the execution was to take place on Great Friday. The metropolitan, deeply distressed by this event, went to Jeladin and besought him to mitigate the sentence. While they were talking, the hour of the midday meal arrived, and the bey invited the metropolitan to eat with him. A dish of lamb had been prepared for the meal. The metropolitan excused himself, as the fast (of the monastic rule, as well as of Holy Friday) prevented him from remaining to eat, and prepared to leave. The bey was angered and said to him: ‘Choose; either you eat with me and free twenty-five people from hanging, or you refrain and they hang.’ The metropolitan crossed himself and sat down to lunch, and Jeladin freed the people from the death sentence.

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.