Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 303]. Brethren:

1 ¹God, Who of old, in many parts and in many ways, spoke to the fathers through the prophets, ²did in these last of days speak to us through the Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages, ³Who being the effulgence of the glory and impress of His hypostasis, and bearing all things by the word of His power, having made for Himself our purification through Himself, sat down on the right of the Majesty in high places, ⁴having become so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they. ⁵For to which of the angels said He at any time, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee [Ps. 2:7]”? And again, “I will be to Him for a Father, and He shall be to Me for a Son [2 Kgs.(2 Sam.) 7:14]”? ⁶And whenever He again should bring in the firstborn into the inhabited world, He saith, “And let all the angels of God do homage to Him [Deut. 32:43 LXX; cf. Ps. 96(97):8(7)].” ⁷And indeed with reference to the angels He saith, “The One Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire [Ps. 103(104):5(4)]”; ⁸but with reference to the Son, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom [Ps. 44(45):5(6)]. ⁹“Thou didst love righteousness and didst hate lawlessness; on this account, God, Thy God, anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond Thy fellows [Ps. 44(45):6(7)].” ¹⁰And, “Thou, O Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands [Ps. 101(102):25]. ¹¹“They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they shall all become old as an outer garment [Ps. 101(102):26], ¹²“and as a covering Thou shalt roll them up, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail [Ps. 101(102):26, 27].”

Another Reading for Saturday of the First Week of the Great Fast in Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy [§ 292]. Child Timothy:

2 ¹Be thou empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and the things which thou heardest from me in the midst of many witnesses, commit thou these things to faithful men who shall be competent also to teach others. ³Thou therefore suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴No one serving as a soldier is entangled with the affairs of life, in order that he might please the one who enlisted him. ⁵And if anyone also contend as an athlete in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully. ⁶The farmer who laboreth must be first to partake of the fruits. ⁷Be considering what I say; O may the Lord give thee understanding in all things! ⁸Be remembering Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, Who hath been raised from the dead, according to my Gospel, ⁹in which I suffer hardship even to bonds as a malefactor, but the word of God hath not been bound. ¹⁰On this account I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might also attain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 10]. At that time:

2 ²³During the sabbath days Jesus was going along through the sown fields; and His disciples began to make their way plucking the ears of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Behold, why do they that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?” ²⁵And He was saying to them, “Did ye not ever read what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him: ²⁶“how he entered into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the loaves set forth before the presence of God, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” ²⁷And He was saying to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. ²⁸“Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

3 ¹And He entered again into the synagogue; and a man was there whose hand had been withered. ²And they were watching Him closely, whether He would cure him on the sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. ³And He saith to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand in the midst.” ⁴And He saith to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And having looked round about on them with wrath, being grieved for the hardness of their heart, He saith to the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored sound as the other.

Commemoration of Saint Theodore

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 52]. The Lord said to His disciples:

15 ¹⁷“These things I command you, that ye be loving one another.

¹⁸“If the world hate you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hath hated you. ¹⁹“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world—but I chose you for Myself out of the world—therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰“Keep on remembering the word which I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they know not the One Who sent Me. ²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no pretext for their sin. ²³“The one who hateth Me hateth My Father also. ²⁴“If I did not do the works among them which no other one hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵“But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which hath been written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause [cf. Ps. 34(35):22, 68(69):5(4)].’ ²⁶“But whenever the Paraclete should come, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth Who proceedeth from the Father, that One shall bear witness concerning Me. ²⁷“And ye also are bearing witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.

16 ¹“These things I have spoken to you, in order that ye should not be made to stumble. ²“They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea moreover, there cometh an hour that everyone who killeth you should think that he offereth God a service.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyrs Ephraim, Basil, Evgenios, Agathodoros, Kapitonos, Aitherios, and Elpidios at Cherson.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 20th – Civil Calendar
March 7th – Church Calendar

1. The Seven Hieromartyrs of Cherson.

Their names were Basil, Ephraim, Eugene, Elpidius, Agathodorus, Aetherius and Capito. These seven hieromartyrs were all bishops in Cherson at different times, and all suffered from unbelievers, either Jews or Greeks from Scythia. (Only Aetherius died peacefully.) They had all gone to that savage land as missionaries, sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the light of the Gospel there. They were all tortured and suffered for the sake of their Lord. Basil raised the son of a prince of Cherson to life, which embittered the Jews and they brought charges against him. He was bound by the feet and dragged through the streets of the town until he gave up the spirit. Ephraim was beheaded. Eugene, Elpidius and Agathorodus were beaten with rods and stones until they gave their souls into God’s hands. Aetherius lived in the time of Constantine the Great, and so he governed the Church in freedom and peace, built a great church in Cherson and died peacefully. When the last of them, Capito, was sent as bishop, the savage Scythians sought a sign of him, that they might believe. And they suggested to him that he go into a burning furnace, and if he were not burned up, they would believe. With fervent prayer and hope in God, Capito put on his episcopal pallium, and crossing himself, entered the burning furnace, holding his heart and thoughts directed towards God. He stood in the flames for about an hour, and came out untouched, with no scorch-mark either on his body or his clothing. Then all cried out: ‘There is one God, the great and powerful God of the Christians, Who keeps His servant safe in the burning furnace!’ and the whole town and surroundings were baptized. Many spoke of this wonder at the Council of Nicaea (325), and all glorified God and praised the firm faith of St. Capito. But Scythian unbelievers caught Capito by the River Dnieper and drowned him. They all suffered around the beginning of the fourth century.

2. Our Holy Father Emilianus.

He was born in Rome, and committed many grave sins in his youth. When he came to his senses and turned from his sin, he trembled at the thought of the judgement of God. He went to a monastery and there, by fasting, vigils and obedience, subdued and withered his body. He was a model of asceticism to his brethren. Often at night he went out of the monastery to a neighboring cave to pray. Not knowing where he went, the abbot of the monastery followed him in secret one night. And the abbot saw Emilianus standing in prayer with awe and tears. All at once a heavenly light, brighter than the sun, illumined that hill, and focussed on the cave and on Emilianus. And a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Emilianus, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ The abbot was amazed and fled back to the monastery. On the following day he revealed all that he had seen and heard the preceding night. And Emilianus was greatly honored among the brethren, and lived long and entered into rest in the Lord.

Author’s Note: Under this date in the Greek Great Synaxarion, St. Laurence, founder of the monastery of Phaneromene on the island of Salamis is commemorated. He lived in Megara as a married man with two sons, and was righteous and devout. The holy Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to go to the island of Salamis and to restore a church in a certain place. He went and found ruins there, and built a new church. There he became a monk and departed this life on March 7th, 1770. Many miracles were wrought over the relics of St. Laurence in that monastery.

FOR CONSIDERATION

A thick rope is composed of thin strands of hemp. One thin strand cannot hold you bound nor strangle you, for you will easily, with the lightest touch, break it and free yourself. But if a thick rope binds you, you will stay bound, and it will strangle you. You cannot easily break it and free yourself of it. As a thick rope is made from thin, weak strands, so men’s passions are made up of smaller initial sins. The small, initial sins a man can still break and free himself of. But sin on sin, repeated, the weave becomes thicker and thicker until it becomes a passion, which masters a man as only it can do. You can neither cut it out easily nor cast it away from you nor be divorced from it. Oh, when will men guard themselves from these first sins? Then they would not have so much difficulty in freeing themselves from the passions. ‘To cut out the root of the passions is as difficult as cutting off one’s fingers,’ said one Athonite monk. To free himself from sinful passions, St. Emilianus was helped by pondering on death, and of course, by the grace of God, without which it is impossible for one to be freed from such passions. To think frequently of the closeness of death, to repent and to beg God’s almighty Grace; these three things save a man from slavery to the passions. St. Sisoës was asked how long it takes to uproot a passion. The saint replied: ‘As soon as a passion springs up in you, uproot it immediately!’

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.