Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Fifth Period
Sunday of the Thirty-Fourth Week or Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Mode Plagal Two — Sixth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 135]. Brethren:

6 ¹²All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. ¹³Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God shall bring to nought both this and these. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And God both raised up the Lord, and will raise up us by His own power. ¹⁵Ye know that your bodies are members of Christ, do ye not? Having taken up then the members of Christ, shall I make them members of a harlot? May it not be! ¹⁶Or know ye not that he that is joined to the harlot is one body? For, “The two,” saith He, “shall be into one flesh [Gen. 2:24].” ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. ¹⁸Keep on fleeing fornication. Every sin whatsoever a man might do is outside the body, but he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. ¹⁹Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom ye have from God, and ye are not your own? ²⁰For ye were bought with a price; glorify then God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 79]. The Lord said this parable:

15 ¹¹“A certain man had two sons. ¹²“And the younger of them said to the father, ‘Father, give to me the portion of the property which falleth to me.’ And he divided to them his means of living. ¹³“And not many days after, the younger son, having gathered all together, went abroad into a distant land, and there scattered his property, living profligately. ¹⁴“But after he spent all, there arose a severe famine throughout that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵“And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that land; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶“And he was longing to fill his belly from the husks, which the swine were eating; and no one was giving to him. ¹⁷“But having come to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father abound in loaves, and I am perishing with hunger! ¹⁸“‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I sinned against heaven and before thee, ¹⁹“‘“and am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.”’ ²⁰“And he rose up and went to his father. But when he was yet far away, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and ardently kissed him. ²¹“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no longer worthy to be called thy son.’ ²²“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Bring forth the robe, the chief one, and clothe him, and provide a ring for his hand and sandals for the feet. ²³“‘And bring the calf, the fattened one, and slay it; and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴“‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; and he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. ²⁵“Now his son, the elder one, was in a field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶“And he summoned one of his servants, and began inquiring what these things may be. ²⁷“And he said to him, ‘Thy brother is come, and thy father slew the calf, the fattened one, because he received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸“But he was angry and not willing to go in. Then his father went out and besought him. ²⁹“And he answered and said to his father, ‘Behold, so many years I am serving thee, and never did I transgress thy commandment, and never didst thou give a kid to me, in order that I might make merry with my friends; ³⁰“‘but when this thy son came, the one who devoured thy means of living with harlots, thou didst slay for him the calf, the fattened one.’ ³¹“And he said to him, ‘Child, thou art always with me, and all that is mine is thine. ³²“‘But to make merry and to rejoice was fitting, because this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Apostle Onesimos of the Seventy.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Philemon [§ mid 302 B].

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon the beloved and our fellow worker, ²and to Apfia the beloved, and to Archippos our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house. ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God, making mention of thee always in the time of my prayers, ⁵hearing of thy love and the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and in regard to all the saints, ⁶that the communion of thy faith might become energized in full knowledge of every good which is in you in regard to Christ Jesus. ⁷For we have much joy and consolation over thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother. ⁸Wherefore, though I have much boldness in Christ to enjoin thee to that which is becoming, ⁹yet for the sake of love I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul, an elder, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, ¹⁰I beseech thee concerning my child, Onesimos, whom I begot in my bonds— ¹¹the one who was once useless to thee, but is now useful to thee and to me—whom I am sending back. ¹²Now receive thou him, that is, mine own heart, ¹³whom I was wishing to hold for myself, that he may minister to me in the bonds of the Gospel; ¹⁴but without thine opinion I wished to do nothing, that thy good may not be as according to necessity, but according to willingness. ¹⁵For perhaps on this account he was separated from thee for a season, in order that thou mayest receive him in full forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, and how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord! ¹⁷If then thou holdest me a partner, take him to thyself as thou wouldest me. ¹⁸But if he wronged thee in anything or oweth thee, be reckoning this to me; ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing it with mine own hand, I will repay it; not that I may mention that to me thou owest even thyself. ²⁰Yes, brother, may I benefit from thee in the Lord; refresh thou my heart in the Lord.

²¹Having trusted to thine obedience, I am writing to thee, knowing that even beyond what I may say thou wilt do. ²²And at the same time also, be preparing a lodging for me, for I hope that through your prayers I shall be graciously given to you. ²³There greeteth thee Epaphras, my fellow captive in Christ Jesus, ²⁴Mark, Aristarchos, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Gospel

No reading given.

Synaxarion Readings

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

If anyone be a prodigal as I, take courage and turn back; for the gates of God’s mercies are opened to all.

On this day we celebrate the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, dedicated as the second service of the Triodion by the divine fathers for the following reason. There are some who recognize much in themselves that is unbecoming, who live a life of great dissipation from their youth, whose lives are full of drunkenness and immorality, who having fallen thus into the depths of evil, become despondent, giving birth to pride, from whence they have no desire to advance to any of the virtues, preferring their bondage to evil and falling ever deeper into evil. Having a fatherly love for even these individuals, and desiring to lead them out of their despair, the holy fathers prescribed this parable for the second preparatory Sunday in order to tear up the passion of despair by the roots, to lead them to acceptance of the virtues, and to demonstrate to sinners the abundance of God’s compassion upon sinners and prodigals in His great goodness and love for mankind. For there is no sin which cannot be overcome by the knowledge of His love for mankind, and this is what is presented in this parable of Christ.

Now the sons of man—that is, of the Logos, God and Man—are two: the righteous and the sinful. It is the eldest who abides ever in God’s blessings, following His commandments and remaining always by Him. But the younger son, having become attached to sin and renouncing his closeness to God through shameful deeds, has wasted God’s love for mankind and for him and has lived as a prodigal. For having completely rejected Him after Whose image he was created, and having followed an evil demon, willingly enslaving himself to this demon’s pleasure, he was unable to fulfill his desire. For sin is an unsatisfying thing that becomes a habitual source of only temporary pleasure. It may be compared to the husks that are fed to swine. At first it seems that they might be something tasty, but they turn out to be very dry and are much like weeds, which is how sin takes possession. For the prodigal son had hardly come to his senses when, perishing from hunger for virtue, he comes to his father, saying, “Father, I have sinned before heaven and before thee, and I am not worthy to be called thy son.” Yet the father receives him in repentance, not reproaching him but embracing him and kissing him in a display of divine and fatherly love. And he clothes him, a symbol of Baptism, putting a ring on his finger, a symbol of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. He also puts sandals on his feet, not so much as a protection from some serpent or scorpion that might sting him on his path to God, but rather as a means of crushing the heads of those creatures. And then in a tremendous display of joy he slaughters the fatted calf for him, his only-begotten Son, and the Father grants him communion of His body and blood. Now the elder son expresses his amazement at his father’s limitless mercy. But the lover of mankind exhorts him to silence with loving and kind words of humility, saying, “Thou art ever with me, and it was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for my son was formerly dead in his sin and is alive again, having repented of the foolish things he has done. He was lost, since he was far from me in his licentious habits, and he was found by me, suffering in my compassion and calling him back in my mercy.” This parable may be applied to us as well, which is why the holy fathers have prescribed it for today. We who have sinned as the prodigal are encouraged to weed out despair and fear through repentance, confession, and good works. For this is a great aid and a powerful weapon against the assaults of the adversary.

In Thine ineffable love for mankind, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us. Amen.

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

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 28th – Civil Calendar
February 15th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Apostle Onesimus.

One of the Seventy, he was a slave of Philemon, a rich and distinguished citizen of Colossae in Phrygia. He offended his master, Philemon, in some way and fled to Rome, where he heard the Gospel from the Apostle Paul and was baptized. By this time, Paul had also brought Philemon to the true Faith, and he reconciled the two of them, Philemon and Onesimus, master and slave, writing a special epistle to Philemon—one of the most moving writings to be found in the New Testament: ‘I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.... Perhaps he departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever, not now as a servant, but above a servant; a brother beloved.’ Deeply moved by this letter, Philemon received Onesimus as a brother, indeed, and gave him his freedom. Onesimus was later made bishop and received the see of Ephesus after the death of the Apostle Timothy. This is recorded in the epistles of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer. At the time of the persecution under Trajan, Onesimus, by then an old man, was arrested and taken to Rome. There he testified before the judge, Tertylus, was imprisoned and finally slain. A wealthy woman took his body, placed it in a silver coffin and buried it in the year 109.

2. Our Holy Father Evsevios.

A Syrian hermit, he lived at first under the guidance of holy men, but later went into the solitude of the desert. He fed himself entirely on vegetable foods, never even tasting fruit, and spent all his time in prayer in the open air, enduring all weathers. He lived to the age of 95 and entered into rest in the Lord in 440.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Peace of soul is precious to all men. With those who have acquired peace of soul, the body can be in constant motion, occupation or pain, but their souls, cleaving to God, remain always in unshakable peace. St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches: ‘We must endeavor by every means to keep peace of soul. Do not be troubled by the insults of men. It is necessary at all costs to restrain oneself from anger, and by watchfulness over oneself to keep the mind and heart from vain movement.... For the guarding of peace of soul, it is also necessary to flee from judging others. By non-judgement and silence, peace of soul is preserved. When a man attains to such a state, he receives divine revelation. For a man to be able to keep himself from judging others, he must be vigilant over himself; he must not dare to receive vain thoughts from another, and must be as one dead before all that is of this world. We must tirelessly keep our hearts from vain thoughts and impressions (Prov. 4:23). By constant watchfulness over the heart, a purity of heart is born in which God is seen, according to the words of eternal truth: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).’

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.