Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the First General Epistle of Saint John [§ 70].

2 ⁷Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which ye heard from the beginning. ⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing on its way, and the true light already shineth. ⁹The one who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰The one loving his brother abideth in the light, and there is not an occasion of stumbling in him. ¹¹But the one hating his brother is in darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth, because the darkness blinded his eyes.

¹²I write to you, little children, because ye have been forgiven your sins for His name’s sake. ¹³I write to you, fathers, because ye have come to know Him Who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, little children, because ye have come to know the Father. ¹⁴I am writing to you, fathers, because ye have come to know Him Who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one. ¹⁵Do not keep on loving the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the false pretensions of life—is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing on its way, and the desire of it; but the one doing the will of God abideth forever.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 63]. At that time:

14 ³While Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, reclining at table, there came a woman having an alabaster flask of pure, costly perfumed ointment of spikenard. And she broke the alabaster flask and poured it down upon His head. ⁴And some were feeling indignant within themselves, and saying, “For what hath this waste of the perfumed ointment taken place? ⁵“For it was possible for this perfumed ointment to have been sold for above three hundred denarii, and to have been given to the poor.” And they were snorting with indignation at her. ⁶But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do ye cause her trouble? She wrought a good work toward Me. ⁷“For ye have the poor among yourselves always, and whenever ye wish ye are able to do them good; but Me ye have not always. ⁸“What she could do, she did; she undertook beforehand to anoint My body for the burial. ⁹“Verily I say to you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be proclaimed in all the world, also what she did shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

29. The commemoration of the translation of the relics of Hieromartyr Ignatios the God-bearer.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 325]. Brethren:

10 ³²Remind yourselves of the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great contest of sufferings: ³³partly, being made a show of both by reproaches and affliction; and partly, having become partners of those who conducted themselves thus. ³⁴For ye also sympathized with those in bonds and ye yourselves accepted the seizure of your possessions with joy, knowing in yourselves that ye have in the heavens a better and abiding possession. ³⁵Do not begin therefore to cast away your boldness which hath great recompense. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye do the will of God, ye might receive for yourselves the promise. ³⁷“For yet a very little while, the One Who cometh will come, and will not delay [cf. Hab. 2:3]. ³⁸“Now the just shall live by faith; and if one should draw himself back, My soul hath no pleasure in him [cf. Hab. 2:4].”

for Sl. usage, see [Heb. 4:14-5:6].

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 41]. At that time:

9 ³³ Jesus and His disciples came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house, He was questioning them, “What were ye discussing among yourselves on the way?” ³⁴But they were keeping silent; for on the way they discussed with one another who was greater. ³⁵And He sat down and called the twelve, and saith to them, “If anyone doth wish to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶And He took a little child and set him in their midst. And after He took him into His arms, He said to them, ³⁷“Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but the One Who sent Me forth.”

³⁸And John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who doth not follow us casting out demons in Thy name, and we hindered him, because he doth not follow us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Cease hindering him, for there is no one who shall do a work of power in My name, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰“For he who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹“For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye are of Christ, verily I say to you, in no wise shall he lose his reward.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 11th – Civil Calendar
January 29th – Church Calendar

1. The Hieromartyr Ignatius.

The chief feast of St. Ignatius is on December 20th. Today we celebrate the translation of his relics from Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, to Antioch, where he had been archbishop. When St. Ignatius was summoned to Rome to answer for his faith before the Emperor Trajan (98-117) a number of citizens from Antioch accompanied him on this long journey, prompted by their great love for their chief pastor. The saint of God, in no wise willing to deny the Faith of Christ and scorning all the flattery and promises of the emperor, was condemned to death and thrown into the Great Circus before the wild beasts. They tore him to pieces and he gave his soul to God. Then his companions collected his bare bones, took them to Antioch and buried them. When the Persians occupied Antioch in the sixth century, the relics of St. Ignatius were again taken from Antioch to Rome.

2. The Holy Martyrs Romanos, Iakovos, Philotheos, Hyperechios, Abibos, Julian and Paregorios.

They all suffered for Christ in Samosata in the time of the Emperor Maximilian, in the year 297. Philotheos and Hyperechios were aristocrats, and the others were young men of respected families. The pagans killed them in a terrible way: by hammering nails into the head of each of them. They suffered with honor and entered into eternal joy.

3. Our Holy Father Laurence (Lavrenty) of the Kiev Caves.

He voluntarily chose the solitary life like the earlier recluses Isaac and Nikita, guarding himself from the diabolic deception which the other two experienced at the beginning. By great restraint, prayer and meditation, he attained a high level of perfection. He discovered from a frightened demon that, of the 118 monks in the Monastery of the Caves, there were thirty who had received the gift from God of power over evil spirits. He went to God in the year 1194.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The more a man progresses in spiritual understanding and purity of heart, the deeper, it seems to him, is the valley in which he finds himself and the higher the peak to which he is aspiring. One spiritual giant, lying on his death bed, heard that he was being praised for his great asceticism. He burst into tears, saying: ‘My children, I have not begun in the spiritual life.’ When St. Ignatius was lying shackled in prison, he wrote to the Ephesians: ‘I do not command you as though I had some standing. Although I am in chains for the name of Jesus Christ, I am not yet perfected in Him. I am only beginning to be a disciple, and I speak to you as fellow-pupils of my teachers.’

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.