Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Fifth Period
Sunday of the Thirty-Fourth Week or Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Mode One — First Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 135]. Brethren:

6 ¹²All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. ¹³Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God shall bring to nought both this and these. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And God both raised up the Lord, and will raise up us by His own power. ¹⁵Ye know that your bodies are members of Christ, do ye not? Having taken up then the members of Christ, shall I make them members of a harlot? May it not be! ¹⁶Or know ye not that he that is joined to the harlot is one body? For, “The two,” saith He, “shall be into one flesh [Gen. 2:24].” ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. ¹⁸Keep on fleeing fornication. Every sin whatsoever a man might do is outside the body, but he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. ¹⁹Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom ye have from God, and ye are not your own? ²⁰For ye were bought with a price; glorify then God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 79]. The Lord said this parable:

15 ¹¹“A certain man had two sons. ¹²“And the younger of them said to the father, ‘Father, give to me the portion of the property which falleth to me.’ And he divided to them his means of living. ¹³“And not many days after, the younger son, having gathered all together, went abroad into a distant land, and there scattered his property, living profligately. ¹⁴“But after he spent all, there arose a severe famine throughout that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵“And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that land; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶“And he was longing to fill his belly from the husks, which the swine were eating; and no one was giving to him. ¹⁷“But having come to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father abound in loaves, and I am perishing with hunger! ¹⁸“‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I sinned against heaven and before thee, ¹⁹“‘“and am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.”’ ²⁰“And he rose up and went to his father. But when he was yet far away, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and ardently kissed him. ²¹“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no longer worthy to be called thy son.’ ²²“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Bring forth the robe, the chief one, and clothe him, and provide a ring for his hand and sandals for the feet. ²³“‘And bring the calf, the fattened one, and slay it; and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴“‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; and he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. ²⁵“Now his son, the elder one, was in a field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶“And he summoned one of his servants, and began inquiring what these things may be. ²⁷“And he said to him, ‘Thy brother is come, and thy father slew the calf, the fattened one, because he received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸“But he was angry and not willing to go in. Then his father went out and besought him. ²⁹“And he answered and said to his father, ‘Behold, so many years I am serving thee, and never did I transgress thy commandment, and never didst thou give a kid to me, in order that I might make merry with my friends; ³⁰“‘but when this thy son came, the one who devoured thy means of living with harlots, thou didst slay for him the calf, the fattened one.’ ³¹“And he said to him, ‘Child, thou art always with me, and all that is mine is thine. ³²“‘But to make merry and to rejoice was fitting, because this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy Wonder-workers and Unmercenaries Kyros (Cyrus) and John.

Epistle

The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians [§ 153]. Brethren:

12 ²⁷Ye are the body of Christ, and members severally.

²⁸And God set for Himself some in the Church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then works of power, then free gifts of healings, helps, governments, kinds of tongues. ²⁹All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not have works of power, do they? ³⁰All do not have free gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? ³¹All do not interpret, do they? But keep on desiring earnestly the better gifts of grace. And yet I show you a more surpassing way.

13 ¹If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains from one place to another, but I have not love, I am nothing. ³And if I dole out all of my goods, and if I deliver up my body that I may be burned, but I have not love, I am being profited nothing. ⁴Love is long-suffering, is kind; love is not jealous; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; ⁵doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; ⁷covereth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸Love never falleth away.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ mid 34]. At that time:

10 ¹After Jesus called to Himself His twelve disciples, He gave to them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every weakness.... ⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, “Do not begin to go into the way of the nations, and do not begin to enter into a city of the Samaritans. ⁶“But go rather to the sheep, the lost of the house of Israel. ⁷“And as ye go, be preaching, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens hath drawn near.’ ⁸“Be healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons; freely ye received, freely give.”

Synaxarion Readings

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

If anyone be a prodigal as I, take courage and turn back; for the gates of God’s mercies are opened to all.

On this day we celebrate the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, dedicated as the second service of the Triodion by the divine fathers for the following reason. There are some who recognize much in themselves that is unbecoming, who live a life of great dissipation from their youth, whose lives are full of drunkenness and immorality, who having fallen thus into the depths of evil, become despondent, giving birth to pride, from whence they have no desire to advance to any of the virtues, preferring their bondage to evil and falling ever deeper into evil. Having a fatherly love for even these individuals, and desiring to lead them out of their despair, the holy fathers prescribed this parable for the second preparatory Sunday in order to tear up the passion of despair by the roots, to lead them to acceptance of the virtues, and to demonstrate to sinners the abundance of God’s compassion upon sinners and prodigals in His great goodness and love for mankind. For there is no sin which cannot be overcome by the knowledge of His love for mankind, and this is what is presented in this parable of Christ.

Now the sons of man—that is, of the Logos, God and Man—are two: the righteous and the sinful. It is the eldest who abides ever in God’s blessings, following His commandments and remaining always by Him. But the younger son, having become attached to sin and renouncing his closeness to God through shameful deeds, has wasted God’s love for mankind and for him and has lived as a prodigal. For having completely rejected Him after Whose image he was created, and having followed an evil demon, willingly enslaving himself to this demon’s pleasure, he was unable to fulfill his desire. For sin is an unsatisfying thing that becomes a habitual source of only temporary pleasure. It may be compared to the husks that are fed to swine. At first it seems that they might be something tasty, but they turn out to be very dry and are much like weeds, which is how sin takes possession. For the prodigal son had hardly come to his senses when, perishing from hunger for virtue, he comes to his father, saying, “Father, I have sinned before heaven and before thee, and I am not worthy to be called thy son.” Yet the father receives him in repentance, not reproaching him but embracing him and kissing him in a display of divine and fatherly love. And he clothes him, a symbol of Baptism, putting a ring on his finger, a symbol of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. He also puts sandals on his feet, not so much as a protection from some serpent or scorpion that might sting him on his path to God, but rather as a means of crushing the heads of those creatures. And then in a tremendous display of joy he slaughters the fatted calf for him, his only-begotten Son, and the Father grants him communion of His body and blood. Now the elder son expresses his amazement at his father’s limitless mercy. But the lover of mankind exhorts him to silence with loving and kind words of humility, saying, “Thou art ever with me, and it was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for my son was formerly dead in his sin and is alive again, having repented of the foolish things he has done. He was lost, since he was far from me in his licentious habits, and he was found by me, suffering in my compassion and calling him back in my mercy.” This parable may be applied to us as well, which is why the holy fathers have prescribed it for today. We who have sinned as the prodigal are encouraged to weed out despair and fear through repentance, confession, and good works. For this is a great aid and a powerful weapon against the assaults of the adversary.

In Thine ineffable love for mankind, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us. Amen.

Translated from Triodion, siest ‘Tripesnets: Triod’ Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 13th – Civil Calendar
January 31st – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Unmercenaries and Wonder-workers Cyrus and John.

These compassionate and wonderful saints were not blood brothers, but were brothers in spirit. Cyrus (Kyros) lived at first in Alexandria, and working as a doctor, healed people by the power of Christ together with medicine for the body. Discovering that illness came upon people mainly through sin, he always told them to cleanse their souls from sin by repentance and prayer, that they might be restored and strengthened in body. When Diocletian began his persecution of Christians, Cyrus went off to Arabia, where he received the monastic schema. But, as he had become known in Alexandria, so he became known also in Arabia, and people went to him for help. John, hearing of him and being at that time a Roman officer in Edessa, came to Arabia to see Cyrus. On seeing each other, they loved each other as brothers and remained together to live in asceticism. At that time, a Christian woman called Athanasia was tortured together with her three daughters in the town of Canopus. Cyrus and John heard of this and came to Canopus to encourage the mother and daughters not to fall back from the Faith. And, grateful indeed for the counsel of these saints, Athanasia endured all the tortures, and with her daughters, was slain for Christ. The daughters were: Theoctista, age 15; Theodota, age 13; and Evdokia, age 11. Then the torturers took Cyrus and John, and after torture and imprisonment, slew them with the sword in the year 311. These holy martyrs performed innumerable miracles, both during their lives and after their death. Their relics were translated to Rome in the time of the Emperor Arkadios. They are invoked for help especially for the sleepless and for the blessing of water and food.

2. The Holy Martyr Tryphaena.

She voluntarily and courageously underwent harsh torture for Christ. Then, because she would not repudiate her faith, a mad ox was released which gored and killed her. This came to pass in the first century. She is invoked to help mothers who are unable to nurse their babies.

3. Our Holy Father Nikita of the Kiev Caves.

As a monk, in disobedience to his abbot, he went off and lived as a recluse in a solitary cell. For his disobedience, God sent great temptations upon him. Once when Nikita was at prayer, the devil appeared to him as an angel of light and said to him: ‘Do not pray any more, but rather read books, and I will pray in your place.’ Nikita obeyed, stopped praying and began to read books. He read only the Old Testament and was totally unable to open the New, being prevented by some diabolical strength. He also prophesied with the help of the devil—about crimes, kidnappings, fires and other evil works which were known to the devil and thence made known to him. The holy fathers of the monastery finally realized that Nikita had fallen into demonic delusion and began to pray for him. Nikita returned to himself, realized the abyss into which he had fallen, repented bitterly of his disobedience and pride and directed himself onto the right path. After long penance and many tears, God forgave him and gave him the gift of wonder-working. He entered into rest in 1108.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Although the holy fathers praised monasticism as the angelic state, and although many of the greatest saints spent their lives and achieved perfection in the silent and lifeless desert, nevertheless the Orthodox Church does not recommend monasticism to all the faithful. ‘Neither will all those in the desert be saved, nor all those in the world be lost,’ said one saint. To one city-dweller who, without any inclination to monasticism, had made up his mind to go to a monastery, St. Niphon said: ‘My son, a man is neither saved nor lost by the place he is in, but is saved or lost by his deeds. Neither a holy place nor a holy state is of use to him who does not fulfill the commandments of the Lord. Saul lived in regal luxury and perished. David lived in like luxury and received the wreath. Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites and was saved. Judas was among the apostles and went to hell. Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God [by loving the truth of Orthodoxy] and loving towards men, and you will be saved.’

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.