Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

The Sunday of the Third Week of the Great Fast or Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross.

Mode Plagal Two — Sixth Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 311]. Brethren:

4 ¹⁴Having then a great High Priest Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us be holding fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a High Priest Who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who hath been tempted in all respects according to our likeness, without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore be coming with boldness to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and find grace for help in due season.

5 ¹For every high priest being taken from among men is being appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, ²who is able to feel in due measure with those who are ignorant and led astray, since he himself also is compassed about with weakness. ³And by reason of this he ought, even for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. ⁴And no one taketh the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, even as also Aaron. ⁵Thus also the Christ glorified not Himself to become a high priest, but the One Who said to Him, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee [Ps. 2:7].” ⁶Even as He saith also in another place, “Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek [Ps. 109(110):4].”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 37]. The Lord said:

8 ³⁴“Whosoever is willing to follow after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and keep on following Me. ³⁵“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life on account of Me and of the Gospel, this same one shall save it. ³⁶“For what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his soul? ³⁷“Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul? ³⁸“For whosoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this generation, the adulterous and sinful one, also the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him, whenever He should come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

9 ¹And He was saying to them, “Verily I say to you, that there are some of those standing here who in no wise shall taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God having come in power.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the holy 42 Martyrs of Amorium in Phrygia, including Theodore, Constantine, Kallistos, Theophilos, Vassoe, and those with them.

No readings given.

Synaxarion Readings

Synaxarion for the Third Sunday of Great Lent
Adoration of the Precious and Life-giving Cross

“Let all the earth venerate the Cross, through which it has learned to worship Thee, the Logos.”

On this third Sunday of the Great Fast we celebrate the veneration of the precious and life-giving Cross. Since during the forty days of the Fast we are also in a way crucified, mortified to the passions, contrite, abased, and sorrowful, the precious and life-giving Cross is offered to us as refreshment and confirmation, calling to mind the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and comforting us. If our God was crucified for our sake, how great should be our effort for His sake, since our afflictions have been assuaged through the Lord’s tribulations, and by the commemoration and the hope of the Cross of glory. For as our Savior in ascending the Cross was glorified through dishonor and grief, so should we also endure our sorrows, in order to be glorified with Him. Also, as those who have traveled a long hard road, weighed down by the labors of their journey, in finding a shady tree, take their ease for a moment and then continue their journey rejuvenated, so now in this time of the Fast, this sorrowful and laborious journey, the holy fathers have planted the life-giving Cross for our relief and refreshment, to encourage and make easier the labors that lie ahead. Or as when there is a royal procession, the king’s scepter and banners precede him, and then he himself appears, radiant and joyous in his victory, causing his subjects to rejoice with him. So then our Lord Jesus Christ, desiring to show His sure victory over death and His glory on the day of the Resurrection, sends His scepter before Himself, the sign of His kingship, the life-giving Cross, to gladden and refresh us, as it greatly fortifies and enables us to be prepared to receive the King with all possible strength and to praise Him in His radiant victory.

This week lies at the middle of the holy Forty Day Fast. The Fast is like a bitter source because of our contrition and the sadness and sorrow for sin that it brings. And as Moses plunged the branch in the bitter waters of Marah, making them sweet, so God, Who has led us through the spiritual Red Sea away from Pharaoh, through the life-giving wood of the precious and life-giving Cross, sweetens the bitterness of the Forty Day Fast and comforts us as those who were in the wilderness, until the time when by His Resurrection He will lead us to the spiritual Jerusalem. And since the Cross is called, and indeed is, the Tree of Life, it is fitting that the holy fathers have planted the Tree of the Cross in the middle of the Great Fast to commemorate both Adam’s tasting of its sweet fruit and of its being taken from us in favor of the Tree of the Cross, tasting of which we shall in no way die but will have even greater life.

Through the power of Thy Cross, O Christ our God, preserve us also from the temptations of the evil one. And make us worthy to venerate Thy divine Passion and life-bearing Resurrection, having radiantly traversed the great length of the Fast, and have mercy on us, as Thou art good and lovest mankind. Amen.

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

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

March 19th – Civil Calendar
March 6th – Church Calendar

1. The Forty-two Holy Martyrs of Ammoria.

These were all generals under the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. When the emperor lost the struggle against the Saracens around the town of Ammoria, the Saracens took the town and enslaved many Christians, with these generals among them. The remaining Christians they either killed or sold into slavery, but threw these generals into prison, where they remained for seven years. Moslem leaders came many times, urging them to accept the Mohammedan faith, but the generals refused to do so. When the Saracens told the generals that Mohammed was a true prophet and Christ was not, the generals asked them: ‘If two men were to quarrel about a field, with one saying: “It’s mine!” and the other saying: “No; it’s mine!” and one had many witnesses that it was his field and the other had not a single witness but himself, what would you say? Whose field was it?’ The Saracens replied: ‘His, of course, who had the many witnesses.’ ‘You have judged right,’ the generals answered them. ‘So it is with Christ and Mohammed. Christ has many witnesses: the ancient prophets, whom you also recognize, from Moses to John the Baptist, witnessed to Him; but Mohammed only witnesses to himself that he is a prophet, and has no other witness.’ The Saracens were confounded, but attempted then to defend their faith thus: ‘That our faith is better than Christianity is seen in this: that God has given us victory over you, that He gives us the best lands on earth and an empire much greater than the Christian.’ To this the generals replied: ‘If that were so, then the idol-worship of Egypt and Babylon, and of Greece and Rome, and the fire-worship of Persia, would have been true faiths, for at some time each of these peoples has conquered others and governed them. It is obvious that your victory and power and wealth do not prove the truth of your faith. We know that God sometimes gives victory to Christians, and sometimes leaves them in torture and suffering to correct them and bring them to repentance and cleansing from sin.’ After seven years they were beheaded, in 845. Their bodies were cast into the Euphrates, but they floated to the other bank where Christians collected them and gave them burial.

2. Blessed Job.

He was born in Moscow in 1635, and was drawn to the Church by the beauty of the singing and of the services. He became the confessor of Tsar Peter, but because of some slander, withdrew to the monastery of Solovetsk where he lived in strict asceticism. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1720, at the age of 85. As his death drew near, he cried out: ‘Blessed is the God of our fathers!—and as He is thus, I have no fear, but go from the world with joy!’

3. The Holy Martyrs Conon, Father and Son.

The father was already an old man, and the son a youth of seventeen, when they were sawn in half for their faith in Christ, and were glorified in the Church on earth and in heaven. They suffered with honor in 275.

FOR CONSIDERATION

While you are on earth, regard yourself as a guest of the Host, that is, of Christ. If you are at table, He honors you thus. If you breathe the air, you breathe His air. If you bathe, you bathe in His water. If you travel, you travel around His earth. If you accumulate goods, you accumulate what is His; if you squander them, you squander what is His. If you are influential, you are so by His permission. If you are in company with others, you are with His other guests. If you are in the countryside, you are in His garden. If you are alone, He is present. If you set off anywhere, He sees you. If you do anything, He has it in mind. He is the most careful Host Whose guest you have ever been. And be, in your turn, careful towards Him. A good host merits a good guest. These are all simple words, but they speak a great truth to you. All the saints knew this truth, and ordered their lives accordingly. Therefore the immortal Host rewarded them with eternal life in heaven and with glory on earth.

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.