Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 115]. Brethren:

14 ¹⁹Let us then pursue the things of peace and the things of building up of one another. ²⁰On account of food, cease putting down the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is bad to the man who eateth so as to be a stumbling block. ²¹It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything in which thy brother stumbleth, or is scandalized, or is made weak. ²²Hast thou faith? Be having it with respect to thyself before God. Happy is the one who adjudgeth not himself in what he approveth. ²³But the one who doubteth is condemned if he should eat, because it is not of faith; and all which is not of faith is sin.

²⁴Now to Him Who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to a revelation of the mystery which was kept in secret in times lasting for ages, ²⁵but now hath been made manifest, and by prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God, was made known to all the nations to an obedience of faith— ²⁶to God, alone wise, to Whom be glory through Jesus Christ to the ages. Amen.

A Different Reading for the Commemoration of the Ascetics

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 213]. Brethren:

5 ²²The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴But they who are of the Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

6 ¹Brethren, even if a man should be overtaken in some transgression, ye, the spiritual ones, be restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking out for thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Keep on bearing one another’s burdens, and thus fill up the law of the Christ.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 16]. The Lord said:

6 ¹“Be taking heed not to do your alms before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise ye have no reward with your Father Who is in the heavens. ²“Therefore, whenever thou art doing alms, do not begin to sound a trumpet before thee, even as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they might be glorified by men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ³“But when thou art doing alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing, ⁴“so that thine alms might be in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret Himself shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁵“And whenever thou art praying, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, in order that they might be made manifest to men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶“But thou, whenever thou art praying, enter into thy chamber, and after thou shuttest thy door, pray to thy Father Who is in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret, shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁷“But when ye pray, do not begin to repeat the same vain words over and over again, even as the heathens; for they think that they shall be heard for their loquacity. ⁸“Do not therefore become like them; for your Father knoweth of what things ye have need before ye ask Him. ⁹“Be ye therefore praying thus:

‘Our Father Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name;

¹⁰“‘let Thy kingdom come; let Thy will be done also on the earth, as in heaven;

¹¹“‘give us today our daily bread;

¹²“‘and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;

¹³“‘and let us not be brought into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory to the ages. Amen.’”

Commemoration of the Ascetics

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

28. The commemoration of our venerable Father Basil, Confessor of Decapolis and fellow ascetic of Procopios the Confessor.

29. The commemoration of our venerable Father John Cassian the Roman.

[Commemorated on the 28^th of February in non-leap years.]

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 13th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 12th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 28th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Proterios.

This saint was a priest in Alexandria at the time that the patriarch there was the heretic Dioscoros, one of the founders of the Monophysite heresy which holds that in Christ there are not two natures but one. At that time, Marcian and Pulcheria were on the imperial throne. Proterios, a holy and devout man, stood up against Dioscoros, as a result of which he endured much misery. Then the Fourth Ecumenical Council was summoned at Chalcedon, at which the Monophysite heresy was condemned. Dioscoros was cast down from the patriarchal throne and sent into exile, and in his place the Orthodox Proterios was chosen. He governed the Church with zeal and love, a true follower of Christ. But the followers of Dioscoros did not stop creating confusion in Alexandria. In the face of such bloody chaos, Proterios left the town with the intention of going away for a time, but the Prophet Isaias appeared to him on the road and said: ‘Return to the town; I am waiting to take you.’ Proterios returned and went into the church. Hearing of this, the insolent heretics rushed into the church, seized the Patriarch and stabbed him. About six of the faithful perished along with Proterios. Thus this wonderful pastor of Christ’s flock received the crown of martyrdom for the truth of Orthodoxy in 457.

2. St. Basil the Confessor.

A friend, contemporary, and pupil of St. Prokopios of Decapolis, Basil faithfully followed his teacher both in peace and in persecution. They endured much from the iconoclasts. When the latter were defeated, by God’s providence, Basil returned to his monastery together with Prokopios, where he lived for a long time in fasting and prayer, and where he died in the year 747.

3. The Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos.

Nestor was distinguished by great meekness. In the time of Decius, he was taken for trial and harshly tortured for Christ. At the time of his death, he saw in a vision a lamb prepared for sacrifice, which he interpreted as a sign of his own imminent sacrifice. He was tortured by the Eparch Publius and finally crucified in Perga in the year 250.

4. Blessed Nicholas, the Fool for Christ of Pskov.

He lived as a fool in the town of Pskov in the time of Tsar Ivan IV, and entered into rest on February 28th, 1576.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A rare fearlessness is a characteristic of fools for Christ. Blessed Nicholas ran through the streets of Pskov, pretending madness, rebuking people for their secret sins and foretelling what would happen to them. When Tsar Ivan the Formidable entered Pskov, the whole town was in fear of the tsar. Bread and salt were set before each house for a welcome to the tsar, but the people were not in evidence. When the governor of the city brought the tsar in front of the church to the tray of bread and salt, the tsar pushed away the tray. Then Blessed Nicholas appeared before the tsar in a long shirt girded with a cord, riding on a hobby-stick like a child and shouting: ‘Little Ivan, little Ivan! Eat the bread and salt, and not men’s blood!’ The soldiers hurried to seize him, but he ran off and hid himself. The devout tsar, learning about this blessed man, who and what he was, visited him in his tiny room. It was the first week of the Great Fast. Hearing that the tsar was coming to visit him, Nicholas, wishing to teach the tsar to be more merciful, found a piece of raw meat, and when the tsar entered his cell, Nicholas bowed and offered the meat to the tsar. ‘Eat, little Ivan, eat!’ The tsar answered him with anger: ‘I am a Christian, and do not eat meat in the Fast.’ Then the man of God retorted: ‘You do that and worse; you feed on men’s flesh and blood, forgetting not only the Fast but God as well.’ This lecture entered deeply into the heart of Tsar Ivan, and he left that place reflecting on the saint’s words.

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.