Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Saturday of the Cheesefare

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans [§ 115]. Brethren:

14 ¹⁹Let us then pursue the things of peace and the things of building up of one another. ²⁰On account of food, cease putting down the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is bad to the man who eateth so as to be a stumbling block. ²¹It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything in which thy brother stumbleth, or is scandalized, or is made weak. ²²Hast thou faith? Be having it with respect to thyself before God. Happy is the one who adjudgeth not himself in what he approveth. ²³But the one who doubteth is condemned if he should eat, because it is not of faith; and all which is not of faith is sin.

²⁴Now to Him Who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to a revelation of the mystery which was kept in secret in times lasting for ages, ²⁵but now hath been made manifest, and by prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God, was made known to all the nations to an obedience of faith— ²⁶to God, alone wise, to Whom be glory through Jesus Christ to the ages. Amen.

A Different Reading for the Commemoration of the Ascetics

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 Matthew [§ 16]. The Lord said:

6 ¹“Be taking heed not to do your alms before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise ye have no reward with your Father Who is in the heavens. ²“Therefore, whenever thou art doing alms, do not begin to sound a trumpet before thee, even as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they might be glorified by men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ³“But when thou art doing alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing, ⁴“so that thine alms might be in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret Himself shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁵“And whenever thou art praying, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, in order that they might be made manifest to men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶“But thou, whenever thou art praying, enter into thy chamber, and after thou shuttest thy door, pray to thy Father Who is in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret, shall render what is due to thee openly. ⁷“But when ye pray, do not begin to repeat the same vain words over and over again, even as the heathens; for they think that they shall be heard for their loquacity. ⁸“Do not therefore become like them; for your Father knoweth of what things ye have need before ye ask Him. ⁹“Be ye therefore praying thus:

‘Our Father Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name;

¹⁰“‘let Thy kingdom come; let Thy will be done also on the earth, as in heaven;

¹¹“‘give us today our daily bread;

¹²“‘and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;

¹³“‘and let us not be brought into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory to the ages. Amen.’”

Commemoration of the Ascetics

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 43]. The Lord said to His disciples:

11 ²⁷“All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him. ²⁸“Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take up My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. ³⁰“For My yoke is good and My burden is light.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our holy Father Martinian, monk of Cæsarea in Palestine.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

February 26th – Civil Calendar
February 13th – Church Calendar

1. Our Holy Father Simeon the Myrrh-Streamer.

Stefan Nemanja, the great ruler of the Serbian people, unifier of the Serbian lands, creator of an independent Serbian government, defender of Orthodoxy, driver-out of heresy, was first baptized in the Latin Church when he was a child, but later received a real Baptism and became a member of the Orthodox Church. In its organization, Serbia was at first dependent on Greece, but later shook off this dependence and became completely autonomous. When he had strengthened the state and the Orthodox Church within the state, he then, following the example of his son Sava, received the monastic schema at the monastery of Studenica in 1195, being given the name Simeon. His wife Anna also received the monastic schema and the name Anastasia, and retired to a women’s monastery. After two years’ monasticism at Studenica, Simeon went to the Holy Mountain. There, he stayed at first in the monastery of Vatopedi together with Sava. Father and son spent days and nights in prayer. There they built six chapels: to the Savior, the Unmercenaries, St. George, St. Theodore, the Forerunner and St. Nicholas. They bought the ruins of Hilandar and built a beautiful monastery, in which Simeon lived only eight months before his death. When he was at his last breath, Sava, according to his wish, placed him on a simple rush mat. With his eyes fixed on the icon of the Mother of God with the Savior, the blessed elder pronounced these words: ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.’ And he went to the Lord, on February 13th, 1200.

2. Our Holy Father Martinian.

The life of this saint is wonderful beyond measure and is worth reading in full. What did he not endure to fulfill the law of God? At the age of eighteen, he went off into a mountain in Cappadocia called ‘the Ark’ and there spent 25 years in fasting, vigils and prayer, and struggling with manifold temptations. When a woman came to tempt him and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he leapt barefoot into the fire and stood in it until the pain brought forth tears from his eyes and he had killed all lust within himself. When other temptations arose, he fled to a lonely rock in the sea and lived there. When, though, in a shipwreck, a woman swam to the rock, he leapt into the sea. But a dolphin took him upon its back and brought him, by God’s providence, to the shore. He then decided to make nowhere his permanent home but to travel incessantly. Thus he passed through 164 towns in two years, exhorting and advising the people. He finally arrived in Athens, where he died in 422.

3. Saints Zoe and Photine.

Zoe (Zoa) at first tempted St. Martinian to immorality, but when she saw this hermit leap into the fire to kill all lust in himself, she repented bitterly, went to a monastery in Bethlehem and lived there in heroic asceticism as a hermit and anchorite. Repenting of all her sins, she received the gift of wonder-working from the Lord. St. Photine (Photinia) was thrown by the sea onto the island where St. Martinian was living in solitude. Martinian immediately left the island, but Photine remained there to the end of her days in fasting and prayer.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The great Stefan Nemanja, whose authoritative word was unreservedly heeded by all, at whom peoples and kings trembled, became a monk and served the monks of the Holy Mountain as a model example of meekness, humility, goodness and prayer. And his death was the death of a truly godly man and spiritual guide. He took to his bed on February 7th, called St. Sava to him, placed his hands on him and blessed him, saying: ‘My beloved child, light of my eyes, comfort and guardian of my old age, the time for us to part has come; the Lord is letting me go forth in peace. But do not grieve, my child, for our parting; this is common to all. Here we part; but we shall meet again hereafter, where there is no more parting.’ On February 12th St. Simeon told Sava to dress him in his burial habit, spread rushes for him on the ground, put a stone for his head and thus lay him there. Then he called together all the monks and asked their forgiveness. At dawn on the 13th, while the monks were singing the morning office in the church, their voices reaching the dying man’s cell, St. Simeon’s face lit up once more and he gave his soul to 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.