Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. John Climacus (Of the Ladder).

Mode Four — First Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 314]. Brethren:

6 ¹³God, having made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, swore by Himself, ¹⁴saying, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee [cf. Gen. 22:17].” ¹⁵And thus, after he patiently endured, he attained the promise. ¹⁶For men indeed swear by the greater, and the oath for confirmation is to them an end of all contradiction. ¹⁷Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, mediated by an oath, ¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us, ¹⁹which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and firm, and which entereth into “the inner space behind the veil [Lev. 16:2, 12, 15],” ²⁰where Jesus entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.

COMMEMORATION OF SAINT JOHN OF THE LADDER

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians [§ 229]. Brethren:

5 ⁸Be walking as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth— ¹⁰proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹And cease having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³But all things which are reproved are made manifest by the light; for all which is made manifest is light. ¹⁴Wherefore, He saith, “Rouse thyself, thou who sleepest, and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine on thee [cf. Is. 9:2, 26:19, 52:1, 60:1, 2].”

¹⁵Be taking heed then how exactly ye walk, not as unwise ones, but as wise ones, ¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷On this account cease becoming foolish, but become as ones understanding what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸And cease being drunk with wine, in which is prodigality, but keep on being filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting in your heart to the Lord.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 40]. At that time:

9 ¹⁷A certain man came to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Teacher, I brought to Thee my son who hath a dumb spirit. ¹⁸“And wheresoever it overtaketh him, it rendeth him; and he foameth and gnasheth his teeth, and is withering away. And I spoke to Thy disciples that they should cast it out, and they did not have the strength.” ¹⁹And He answereth and saith, “O unbelieving generation, until when shall I be with you? Until when shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰And they brought him to Him. And having seen Him, straightway the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and was rolling about foaming. ²¹And He asked his father, “How long a time is it since this hath happened to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²“And ofttimes it casteth him both into fire and into water, in order that it might destroy him. But if Thou art able to do anything, have compassion upon us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, “As to the ‘if Thou art able,’ if thou art able to believe, all things can be to the one who believeth.” ²⁴And straightway the father of the little child cried out with tears and was saying, “I believe, O Lord; help Thou mine unbelief.” ²⁵And after Jesus saw that a crowd was running together, He rebuked the spirit, the unclean one, saying to it, “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” ²⁶And the spirit cried out and convulsed him much, and came out. And he became as if he were one dead, insomuch that many said, “He died.” ²⁷But Jesus took hold of his hand and raised him up, and he arose. ²⁸And after He entered into a house, His disciples were questioning Him privately, “Why were we not able to cast it out?” ²⁹And He said to them, “This kind can come forth by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”

³⁰And having gone forth from that place, they were passing by through Galilee, and He was not willing that anyone should know it. ³¹For He was teaching His disciples and was saying to them, “The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and having been killed, He shall raise Himself the third day.”

Commemoration of Saint John of the Ladder

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

For Gk. usage, see Mt. 4:23-5:13; for Sl. usage, see Mt.4:25-5:13.

4 ²³Jesus was going around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report of Him went out into all Syria. And they brought to Him all those who were ill, constrained by various diseases and torments, and possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and He cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judæa, and beyond the Jordan.

5 ¹And seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ²And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:
   ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ⁴“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
   ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
   ⁶“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
   ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
   ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
   ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
   ¹⁰“Blessed are they who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
   ¹¹“Blessed are ye whenever they reproach you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely on account of Me.
   ¹²“Be rejoicing and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should become insipid, with what shall it be salted? For it is no longer good for anything, except to be cast out and to be trampled underfoot by men.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, and Kyril the deacon, and many others with them, and the holy Martyrs Jonas and Varachysios of Persia.

No readings given.

Synaxarion Readings

The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: St. John Climacus

On this day, the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate our venerable father among the saints, St. John of Sinai, the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

No one knows the birthplace or parentage of our venerable Father John of Sinai. In his youth, at the age of sixteen, he came to the wilderness of Sinai and dwelt under the guidance of Abba Martyrius. When Abba Martyrius tonsured our venerable Father John at the age of twenty, he took him and went to that pillar of the wilderness, Abba John the Sabbaite in the wilderness of Gouda where he had with him his disciple Stephen the Cappadocian. When the Sabbaite elder saw them, he arose and took water, poured it into a small basin, washed the feet of the disciple (the young John) and kissed his hand; but did not wash the feet of Abba Martyrius his superior. Abba Stephen was scandalized by the situation. After the departure of Abba Martyrius and his disciple, the Elder John noticed that his own disciple was greatly perplexed and said to him, “Why are you so troubled? Believe me, I do not know who the boy is, but today I received the abbot of Sinai and washed his feet.” And after forty years, he did indeed become the abbot according to the prophecy of the elder.

After the passing of his spiritual father, St. John continued alone in the wilderness in a cave in the Wadi Thola. He traveled from time to time, going at least once as far as Alexandria. He records in The Ladder his visit to a large monastic community there and marvels of repentance, obedience, and humility which he observed. In his humility, he counted our venerable father George the Wonderworker of Arselaou as his master. In all, he spent some forty years in solitude and stillness. He guided the monks who dwelt in that desert since he was a most excellent and nurturing spiritual father—for in those days there were innumerable ascetics living in cells all through the mountains and valleys of Sinai. From time to time, he received visitors from farther away. At one point, some other monks, prompted to jealously by the adversary who hates all good, complained of St. John’s fame and loquacious words of teaching. In response, he humbly kept strict silence for over a year, until the same fathers who had complained came, asking him to speak once again for the benefit of all.

After he had spent forty years in the wilderness, the monks of Sinai asked him to become abbot of the great monastery built by the emperor Justinian beside the Burning Bush of Moses, the holy Monastery of St. Catherine. In obedience to the fathers, he left his blessed solitude to take up the responsibilities of abbot. It is told that on the very day on which he assumed the office of abbot, there came a group of about six hundred pilgrims. When they were seated, our venerable Father John saw someone in the crowd with short hair and wearing a Jewish tunic. This person was going about like someone with authority, directing the cooks, the stewards, the storekeepers, and other workers. After the people left, when the servers all sat down to eat, they sought everywhere for the one who had been going about supervising but did not find him. Then the servant of God, our venerable Father John, said, “Do not marvel. The lord Moses did nothing strange in this same place where he served before and which belongs to him.” Behold the wonder! It had been the holy Prophet and Lawgiver Moses who had served the guests.

At the request of Abba John, abbot of Raitho near the shore of the Red Sea, our venerable father wrote his wonderful book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, in which he sets out the whole of Christian life as a divine ascent of thirty rungs to Christ. This book has been a treasure, a pearl beyond price, to this day. It is useful not only to monastics but to all devout Christians.... St. John was true physician of souls and had great spiritual insight into men’s behavior. He made detailed observations of the symptoms of men’s sin-sick souls, diagnosed their spiritual diseases, and prescribed the appropriate medicine for their recovery and salvation. He showed how one can ascend the “ladder of the virtues” step by step and reach the Promised Land, fleeing the Egypt of the passions. Yet, his success was due only to his own life of constant watchfulness, fasting, vigil, and prayers.

The monastic community he shepherded continues to this day beside the Burning Bush, and his teachings guide and direct monastics throughout the world. During Great Lent, The Ladder is read aloud in monasteries during meals so the monastics may receive his edifying spiritual counsels for their soul’s sustenance, as they simultaneously receive physical nourishment for their bodies.

Today the cave in which he dwelt in the wilderness of Sinai can still be seen, but his resting place is unknown except to the angels. He fell asleep in the Lord in the seventh century. St. John is also commemorated on March 30, the day of his repose.

[From the “Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion.”, HDM Press.]

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 11th – Civil Calendar
March 29th – Church Calendar

1. St. Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria.

St. Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and brought many to the Christian Faith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had demolished the temple and demanded that he either rebuild it or pay them a very large sum of money. As Mark refused to do either, he was flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old, and his face shone like an angel of the Lord. The pagans lowered the price of their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive. Finally, they let him go free, and one by one, all came to him to receive instruction and become Christians again. A deacon, Kyril, also suffered at this time for a similar cause in Heliopolis at the foot of Mount Lebanon. He had broken some idols at the time of the liberation of Christianity and was cruelly tortured under Julian for this. The pagans were so enraged with him that, after they had killed him, they tore out his teeth and ripped open his stomach. Many others suffered on the same day as St. Kyril. The evil pagans cut their bodies into small pieces, coated them with barley and fed them to the pigs. But retribution came swiftly upon them; all their teeth fell out and their mouths emitted an unbearable stench.

2. Our Holy Father John the Hermit.

He was the son of Juliana, a Christian woman of Armenia. While still a child, he left his mother and ran off to the desert. He was utterly aflame with love for Christ the Lord. In the beginning he entrusted himself to the guidance of a spiritual father, Pharmutios, who was so pleasing to God that an angel brought him bread every day. John later left him and withdrew into solitude. He let himself down into a dry well and lived there for a full ten years in fasting, prayer and vigils. St. Pharmutios used to bring him some of the angel’s bread, for the angel of God did not wish to bring bread to the young John in person, lest he grow proud through this, so he sent it through Pharmutios, his spiritual father. After ten years of arduous asceticism in this well, St. John went to the Lord and his relics revealed wonder-working power. He lived and was glorified by God and men in the 4th century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The spiritists of our time accept every appearance from the spiritual world as sent by God and immediately boast that it has been ‘revealed’ to them. I was myself acquainted with an eighty-year-old monk who was respected by everyone as a great spiritual guide. When I asked him if he had ever seen any being from the spiritual world in his lifetime, he answered me: ‘No, never; and praise be to God for His mercy!’ Seeing my astonishment at this, he said: ‘I have constantly prayed to God that nothing should ever appear to me, lest I fall into illusion and accept a devil disguised as an angel. And, until now, God has heard my prayer.’ One noted example serves to show how humble and cautious were the elders in this respect: A devil clothed in angelic light appeared to a certain brother and declared to him: ‘I am the archangel Gabriel, who has been sent to you.’ The brother replied to this greeting: ‘You must have been sent to someone else: I’m not worthy to see angels,’ and the devil instantly became invisible and disappeared.

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.