Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-First Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the General Epistle of Saint Iakovos [§ 52]. Brethren:

2 ¹Cease having, with respect of persons, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of the glory. ²For if a gold-ringed man in splendid apparel should enter into your congregation, and a poor man in dirty apparel should also enter, ³and ye have regard for him wearing the splendid apparel, and say to him, “Sit thou in this good place,” and say to the poor man, “Stand thou there,” or “Sit thou here down beside my footstool,” ⁴ye also made a distinction in yourselves, did ye not, and became judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Hearken, my beloved brethren: God chose for Himself, did He not, the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶But ye dishonored the poor man. The rich oppress you and drag you to courts of judgment, do they not? ⁷They blaspheme the good name, the one having been invoked upon you, do they not? ⁸If ye indeed fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself [Lev. 19:18],” ye do well; ⁹but if ye have respect of persons, ye work sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, but shall stumble in one point, he hath become guilty of all. ¹¹For the One Who said, “Do not commit adultery [cf. Ex. 20:13(14)],” also said, “Do not commit murder [cf. Ex. 20:15(13)].” Now if thou shalt not commit adultery, but shalt murder, thou hast become a transgressor of the law. ¹²In this manner be speaking and in this manner be doing, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For the judgment shall be merciless to him who rendered no mercy. Mercy boasteth against judgment.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 58]. At that time:

13 ¹As Jesus went forth out of the temple, one of His disciples saith to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what manner of buildings!” ²And Jesus answered and said to him, “Seest thou these great buildings? By no means shall a stone be left upon a stone which surely shall not be put down.” ³And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and Iakovos and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things are about to be completed?” ⁵And Jesus, answering them, began to say, “Be taking heed, lest anyone should lead you astray. ⁶“For many shall come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they shall lead astray many. ⁷“But whenever ye hear of wars and reports of wars, cease being clamorous; for it must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁸“For nation shall be stirred up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be earthquakes in place after place, and there shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of birth pangs.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Afterfeast of Theophany, and our venerable Father George the Chozebite, and our venerable Mother Domnike of Constantinople.

Epistle

No reading given.

Gospel

For the Mid-feast:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 11]. At that time:

3 ²²Jesus came, and His disciples, to the Judæan land; and there He was spending time with them, and was baptizing. ²³And John was also baptizing in Ænon near Saleim, because there was much water there. And they were coming and were being baptized. ²⁴For John had not yet been cast into the prison. ²⁵Then there arose an inquiry from the disciples of John with a Jew about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He Who was with thee across the Jordan, to Whom thou hast borne witness, behold, this One is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷John answered and said, “A man is able to receive nothing unless it hath been given to him from the heavens. ²⁸“Ye yourselves bear witness to me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but that ‘I have been sent forth before that One.’ ²⁹“The one who hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy then, which is mine, hath been made full. ³⁰“It is needful for that One to go on increasing, but for me to go on decreasing. ³¹“The One Who cometh from above is above all. The one who is out of the earth is of the earth, and speaketh of the earth; the One Who cometh out of the heavens is above all. ³²“And what He hath seen and heard, this He testifieth; and no one receiveth His testimony. ³³“The one who receiveth His testimony hath set his seal to this, that God is true.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 21st – Civil Calendar
January 8th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyrs Julian and Vasilissa.

They were both of rich and noble families, and though married, agreed to live in celibacy as brother and sister. They gave their goods to the poor and embraced the monastic state; Julian founding a men’s monastery of about 10,000 monks and Vasilissa one for about a thousand nuns. When a violent persecution of Christians was launched under Diocletian, Vasilissa besought God that none of her nuns should suffer torture nor repudiate the Orthodox Faith. The Lord hearkened to the petition of His worthy servant, and during the next six months, took all the nuns to Himself, one by one, and finally their abbess Vasilissa. Before her own death, Vasilissa had a vision of her sisters in the other world. They were all bathed in light and were rejoicing like the angels. They appealed to their spiritual mother to join them as quickly as possible.

Julian’s monastery was burned by fire, and Julian was inhumanely tortured, being killed only after the most horrible sufferings. The Lord inspired and strengthened him in his torments and he endured them with heroism, keeping faith and glorifying the name of Christ. Together with Julian were beheaded the son and wife of the persecutor Marcian, Celsus and Maronilla, who, seeing Julian’s heroic and patient sufferings, were themselves converted to Christianity. Also martyred with him were twenty Roman soldiers, seven brothers from that locality, a priest named Anthony and a man called Anastasius whom Julian, at the time of his own martyrdom, raised from the dead by his prayers. They all suffered with honor for Christ and became citizens of the kingdom of heaven in about the year 313.

2. Our Holy Father George the Chozebite.

He lived the ascetic life in the seventh century in the Chozebite community on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, where our holy Father John the Chozebite first lived as a monk.

3. St. Domnica.

A pagan, she came from Carthage in the reign of the Emperor Theodosios to Patriarch Makarios, accompanied by four girls who were likewise ignorant of God. He baptized them and blessed them to live as nuns. St. Domnica devoted herself to asceticism with whole-hearted zeal, and did not falter in that zeal right up to the time of her death at a great age. She entered into rest in about the year 474. By the illumination of the Holy Spirit, she was able to predict the future and perform miracles through prayer.

4. St. Gregory, Bishop of Ochrid.

A pious teacher and pastor of Christ’s flock, he entered into rest in the year 1012. On an inscription in the Church of Hagia Sophia in Ochrid, he is called ‘Gregory the Wise’.

FOR CONSIDERATION

On a tablet in the Church of St. Sophia are inscribed the words: ‘Wash your sins, not just your face.’ Whoever entered this church read this inscription and remembered that the Christian Faith demands moral purity—purity of soul, heart and mind. For the whole spirit of man is concentrated in his heart, as the Lord said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’ The most complete outward purity is of no help whatever in the attaining of the kingdom of heaven. Oh, when will we learn to give as much attention to washing ourselves from sin as we devote daily to the washing of our faces? God will then see into our hearts as in a mirror.

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.