Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Thirty-First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Iakovos (James) [§ 50 B].

1 ¹Iakovos, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the diaspora: Rejoice.

²My brethren, deem it all joy whenever ye fall into diverse temptations, ³knowing that the testing of your faith worketh out patience. ⁴But let patience keep on having a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. ⁵But if any of you lack wisdom, let him keep on asking from God Who giveth to all liberally, and reproacheth not, and it shall be given to him. ⁶But let him keep on asking in faith, doubting nothing; for he who doubteth is like a billow of the sea being driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For let not that man be supposing that he shall receive anything from the Lord. ⁸A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. ⁹But let the brother of low degree be boasting in his high estate, ¹⁰and the rich man in his low estate, because as a flower of the grass he shall pass away. ¹¹For the sun ariseth with its burning heat, and drieth up the grass, and its flower falleth, and the comeliness of its appearance perisheth. Thus also the rich man shall wither in his ways. ¹²Happy is the man who endureth temptation; because having become approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him. ¹³Let no one when he is tempted be saying, “I am tempted of God”; for God is incapable of being tempted of evils, and He Himself tempteth no one. ¹⁴But each is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then after he conceiveth the desire, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, after it is fully formed, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶Cease being led astray, my beloved brethren; ¹⁷every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with Whom is no alternation or a shadow cast by turning. ¹⁸Having willed it, He brought us forth by the Logos of truth, for us to be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 56]. At that time:

12 ²⁸One of the scribes approached Jesus and heard the Sadducees disputing with Him; and perceiving that He answered them well, he questioned Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” ²⁹And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord [Deut. 6:4]; ³⁰“‘and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength [cf. Deut. 6:5, 10:12, 30:6].’ This is the first commandment. ³¹“And the second is like this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself [Lev. 19:18].’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²And the scribe said to Him, “Well, Teacher! In truth didst Thou say that God is one and there is not another besides Him; ³³“and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴And after Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said to him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any more.

³⁵And Jesus answered and was saying, while He taught in the temple, “How say the scribes that the Christ is the Son of David? ³⁶“For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord saith to my Lord, “Sit Thou on My right, until I should place Thine enemies as a footstool of Thy feet [cf. Ps. 109 (110):1].”’ ³⁷“David therefore himself calleth Him Lord; and whence is He his Son?” And the great crowd was hearing Him gladly.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Theophany of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to Saint Titus [§ 302]. Child Titus:

2 ¹¹The grace of God which bringeth salvation appeared to all men, ¹²instructing us that, after we deny impiety and worldly lusts, we should live in the present age soberly and righteously and piously, ¹³waiting for the happy hope and appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴Who gave Himself for us, in order that He might ransom us for Himself from all lawlessness and might purify to Himself a people for a private possession, zealous of good works....

3 ⁴But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared— ⁵not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy—He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷that having been justified by the grace of this One, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 2]. In those days:

1 ⁹Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And straightway, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens being parted, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹and there came to be a voice out of the heavens, “Thou art My Son, the Beloved, in Thee I am well pleased.”

In the Liturgy

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 6]. At that time:

3 ¹³Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John was trying to hinder Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered and said to him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is becoming for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitteth Him. ¹⁶And Jesus, having been baptized, went up straightway from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him. ¹⁷And behold, there came to be a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I am well pleased.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 19th – Civil Calendar
January 6th – Church Calendar

1. The Theophany.

When the Lord Jesus had lived for thirty years from His birth in the flesh, He began His teaching and saving work. He marked this very beginning of the beginning by His Baptism in the Jordan. St. Kyril of Jerusalem says: ‘The beginning of the world—water; the beginning of the Gospel—the Jordan.’ At the Baptism of the Lord in the water, that mystery was revealed to the world that was predicted in the Old Testament—the mystery of the Holy Trinity of God. The Father revealed Himself to the sense of hearing, the Spirit to the sense of sight and the Son, further beyond these, to the sense of touch. The Father gave His testimony of the Son, the Son was baptized in the waters and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, hovered over the waters. And when John the Baptist bore witness of Christ and said: ‘Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world’ (Jn. 1:29), and when he immersed the Lord in the Jordan and baptized Him, there were thus revealed both the mission of Christ in the world and the path of our salvation. That is to say: Christ takes upon Himself the sin of the whole human race. He dies under it (the immersion) and rises again (the coming up out of the water), and we must die to the old, sinful man and rise again, cleansed, renewed and reborn. Here is the Savior and here is the way of salvation. The Feast of the Theophany is also called the Feast of Lights. The word “Theophany” means “the revelation of God”.

FOR CONSIDERATION

In some periods the fables of heretics vexed the Church of God, but now she is vexed by the fables of unbelievers. By endurance in the Faith, by diligent prayer, by witness and even by martyrdom—only by these things will this new vexation be brought to naught. And the Church of God, the vessel of the truth of God, will triumph in the end, for the enemy will lose his weapons (Ps. 9:6). He who falls into heresy wanders through a dry desert, forsaking the one, true God. Separated from God, he seeks water in the arid wastes and moves into an uninhabited and thirsty land. The same can be said today of many who, studying hypotheses and theories, are guided by figments of their own imagination and not by the truth of God.

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.