Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-Second Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint Peter [§ 58].

For Gk. usage, see 1 Pe. 1:1-25, 2:1-10; for Sl. usage, see 1 Pe. 1:1, 2, 10-12, 2:6-10.

1 ¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are sojourners of the diaspora of Pontos, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and of Bithynia, ²elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy regenerated us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, which hath been kept in the heavens for you, ⁵who are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In which ye rejoice now for a little while, if it is needful, though ye have been grieved in diverse temptations, ⁷in order that the testing of your faith, much more precious than perishing gold, though it is being tested by fire, might be found to praise and honor and glory in the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸Whom not having seen, ye love; in Whom though now ye see Him not, but ye believe and are gladdened with a joy unspeakable and glorified, ⁹receiving for yourselves the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched out, who prophesied concerning the grace toward you, ¹¹searching in regard to what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ Who was in them was declaring when He testified beforehand of the sufferings in regard to Christ and the glories after these. ¹²To whom it was revealed that not to themselves, but to you, were they ministering the same things which now were announced to you by those who preached the Gospel to you in the Holy Spirit Who was sent forth from heaven—things into which angels desire to look into.

¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and perfectly hope on the grace which is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, ¹⁴as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance, ¹⁵but according as the One Who called you is holy, do ye also become holy in all manner of behavior, ¹⁶because it hath been written: “Become holy; for I am holy [cf. Lev. 11:44, 19:2, 20:7].” ¹⁷And if ye call upon as Father the One Who without respect of persons judgeth according to the work of each, conduct yourselves during the time of your sojourning in fear, ¹⁸knowing that ye were not ransomed with corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your empty manner of life which was handed down from your fathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, ²⁰Who indeed was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake, ²¹who through Him believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

²²Since ye have purified your souls in obedience to the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another intensely out of a pure heart, ²³which is begotten anew, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Logos of God Who liveth and abideth forever, ²⁴because “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth and its flower falleth out [cf. Is. 40:6-8; Ps. 102(103):13(15)]; ²⁵“but the word of the Lord abideth forever [cf. Is. 40:8].” And this is the word which was preached in the Gospel to you.

2 ¹Having then laid aside from yourselves all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speakings, ²as newborn babes, desire the pure rational milk, that by it ye might grow in regard to salvation, ³if indeed “ye tasted that the Lord is good [cf. Ps. 33(34):8].” ⁴To Whom coming, a living Stone—having indeed been rejected by men, but chosen by God—precious, ⁵ye also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Sion a cornerstone, chosen, precious; and the one who believeth on Him in no wise shall be put to shame [cf. Is. 28:16].” ⁷To you, therefore, who believe, is the honor, but to those who disobey—the “stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner [Ps. 117(118):22],” ⁸and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense [cf. Is. 8:14]”—they stumble at the word, being disobedient, in regard to that which they also were appointed. ⁹But ye are “a chosen race [Is. 43:20], a royal priesthood, a holy nation [Ex. 19:6, 23:22], a people for a possession [cf. Deut. 7:6, 14:2],” that ye might “tell forth the virtues [cf. Is. 43:21]” of the One Who called you out of darkness into His wondrous light, ¹⁰who once were “not a people,” but now are “a people of God,” who “had not been pitied,” but now “have been pitied [cf. Hos. 1:6, 8, 9, 2:23].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 32]. At that time:

8 ¹The crowd being very great and having nothing that they might eat, Jesus called to Himself His disciples, and saith to them, ²“I am moved with compassion toward the crowd, because they continue with Me now three days and have nothing that they might eat. ³“And if I should dismiss them fasting to their home, they shall be faint in the way; for some of them have come from afar.” ⁴And His disciples answered Him, “From what place shall anyone here be able to fill these with bread in a wilderness?” ⁵And He asked them, “How many loaves have ye?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶And He commanded the crowd to recline on the ground. And having taken the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and kept on giving them to His disciples, in order that they might set them before them; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷And they had a few small fish; and He blessed them, and said to set them also before them. ⁸And they ate and were filled; and they took up over and above seven provision baskets of fragments. ⁹And they who ate were about four thousand; and He dismissed them. ¹⁰And straightway He embarked into the ship with His disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanoutha.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our venerable Fathers Paul of Thebes and John the Hut-dweller (Kalyvites).

Epistle

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 Luke [§ 67]. The Lord said:

12 ³²“Cease being afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draweth near nor moth destroyeth; ³⁴“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Let your loins be girded about and the lamps be kept burning; ³⁶“and be ye like to men waiting for their own lord—whenever he should depart from the wedding festivities—that when he cometh and knocketh, straightway, they might open to him. ³⁷“Happy are those slaves whom the lord, after he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say to you that he shall gird himself about and shall have them recline at table, and will come forth and minister to them. ³⁸“And if he should come in the second watch, and in the third watch should he come, and find them thus, happy are those slaves. ³⁹“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰“Ye therefore also keep on becoming ready, for in the hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

for Sl. usage, see [Mt. 11:27-30].

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 28th – Civil Calendar
January 15th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Paul of Thebes.

Born of wealthy parents in Lower Thebes in Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Decius, he and a sister of his together inherited all their parents’ property. But his brother-in-law, an idol-worshipper, plotted to seize Paul’s half of the inheritance. He therefore threatened Paul that he would betray him to the authorities as a Christian if he did not hand over his share of the property. This misfortune, coupled with the examples of self-sacrifice by the Christian martyrs that Paul saw with his own eyes, induced him to give his half of the property to his sister and go off into the desert, where he lived in asceticism until his death. The spiritual heights attained by this giant of a monk are testified to by no less a person than St. Anthony the Great, who once visited Paul and saw how the wild animals and birds of the air ministered to him. Returning from this visit, Anthony said to his monks: ‘Woe is me, my children, a sinful and false monk, who am a monk in name only. I have seen Elias, I have seen John in the desert, and I have seen Paul—in Paradise!’ St. Paul lived 113 years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the year 342.

2. Our Holy Father John (The Hut-Dweller).

He was born in Constantinople in the early part of the 5th century, and was the only child of rich and eminent parents. Drawn by inclination to the spiritual life, the young John fled with a monk to a monastery in Asia Minor. He spent six years in this monastery in the greatest restraint, prayer and obedience to the superior. Then the devil attacked him with the temptation to leave the monastery and return to his parents, to live with them as a nobleman. He indeed returned to his parents’ home, but dressed as a beggar. He saw his parents, but not wishing to reveal himself to them as their son, remained as a beggar in their courtyard, living off the crumbs that the servants threw to him and enduring much ridicule from all. He lived thus for three years, praying to God that He would save the souls of his father and mother. When he fell ill and felt death approaching, he revealed himself to his parents. They recognized him by a precious Gospel-book which they had given him in childhood and which he had kept with him as his sole possession. And so this young man, albeit so rich, saved his soul and those of his parents, overcame the devil, and entered into rest in the Lord in about the year 450.

3. Our Holy Father Gabriel of Lesnov.

A Slav and a friend of St. Prochorus of Pchinja and St. John of Rila, he lived a life of asceticism in the 10th century at Kratov on the mountain of Lesnov, where he built a church to the Archangel Michael. He was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The present beautiful church in this place was built by King Dušan’s commander-in-chief, Jovan Oliver. St. Gabriel entered into rest in the Lord at the end of the tenth century.

4. The Holy Martyr Pansophios.

The son of the Alexandrian proconsul, Nilus, he laid aside worldly honor and riches as a young man and embraced the monastic state. He lived in great asceticism for 27 years, lifting up his soul to the higher world. In the reign of Decius, he was dragged before the judge, where he was flogged for the name of Christ until, under great torture, he delivered his soul to God.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Never think that God does not hear you when you pray to Him. He hears our thoughts as we hear one another’s voices and words. And if He does not act at once in response to your prayer, that is either because your prayer was unworthy, or you were seeking something that would be dangerous for you, or, again, because He, by His wisdom and providence, delays the fulfilling of your request until the right moment. Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘As we are able to communicate quickly by means of the electric telegraph with people far away from us, so, through a living faith, as through such a telegraph, we are quickly in contact with God, the angels and the saints. Send your requests to God and the saints by the telegraph of faith, and you will immediately get an answer.’ And again, in another place: ‘God and His created souls and spirits, the living and the dead, are thinking beings, and thought is swift and somehow omnipresent. Think about them with your whole heart, and they will be present with you. God will ever be with you, and by His gift and power, the others will be also.’

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.