Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Holy and Great Tuesday

Epistle

There is no Epistle Reading this day because of Holy Week.

Gospel

In the Orthros

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§§ 90-93]. At that time:

22 ¹⁵The Pharisees took counsel against Jesus how they might ensnare Him in a word. ¹⁶And they sent forth to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and there is a care to Thee for no one; for Thou lookest not on the person of men. ¹⁷“Tell us then, what thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Cæsar, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus knew their wickedness, and said, “Why are ye trying to tempt Me, ye hypocrites? ¹⁹“Show Me the coin of the tribute.” And they brought a denarius to Him. ²⁰And He saith to them, “Whose is this image and the inscription?” ²¹They say to Him, “Cæsar’s.” Then He saith to them, “Render therefore the things of Cæsar to Cæsar, and the things of God to God.” ²²And after they heard these words, they marvelled, and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and questioned Him, ²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If anyone should die, not having children, his brother, as next of kin, shall marry his wife, and shall raise up seed to his brother [Gen. 38:8; Deut. 25:5].’ ²⁵“Now there were with us seven brothers; and the first died after he married, and not having left offspring, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶“In like manner also the second, and the third, until the seventh. ²⁷“And last of all the woman died also. ²⁸“Therefore, in the resurrection, of which of the seven shall she be wife? For they all had her.” ²⁹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Ye are led astray, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. ³¹“But concerning the resurrection of the dead, ye read, did ye not, that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ³²“‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [cf. Ex. 3:6]’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³And after the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴But after the Pharisees heard that He silenced the Sadducees, they were gathered together. ³⁵And one of them, a doctor of the law, questioned Him, putting Him to the test and saying, ³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷And Jesus said to him, “‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind [cf. Deut. 6:5, 10:12, 30:6].’ ³⁸“This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹“And the second is like it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself [Lev. 19:18].’ ⁴⁰“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” ⁴¹But while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, ⁴²saying, “What think ye concerning the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They say to Him, “David’s.” ⁴³He saith to them, “How then doth David in spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ⁴⁴“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit Thou on My right, until I should place Thine enemies as a footstool of Thy feet [Ps. 109(110):1]”’? ⁴⁵“If David then calleth Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” ⁴⁶And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question Him any more.

23 ¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ²saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³“All things therefore whatsoever they tell you to keep, be keeping and doing, but according to their works do not be doing; for they say, and do not. ⁴“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on the shoulders of men; but they are not willing to move them with their own fingers. ⁵“And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments; ⁶“and they love the chief place at the suppers, and the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷“and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, rabbi.’ ⁸“But ye, do not be called ‘rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ; and ye are all brethren. ⁹“And do not begin to call anyone Father upon the earth, for One is your Father, the One in the heavens. ¹⁰“Neither be ye called guides; for One is your Guide, the Christ. ¹¹“But the greater of you shall be your servant. ¹²“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. ¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour the houses of widows, and for a pretense are offering long prayers; on this account ye shall receive greater condemnation. ¹⁴“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut the kingdom of the heavens before men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye permit to enter those who are trying to enter. ¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye go about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he should become one, ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. ¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who are saying, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is bound.’ ¹⁷“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ¹⁸“And, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is bound.’ ¹⁹“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? ²⁰“Therefore the one who sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it. ²¹“And the one who sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it and by the One Who dwelleth in it. ²²“And the one who sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by the One Who sitteth upon it. ²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye tithe the mint and the anise and the cummin, and ye leave the weightier matters of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave aside those others. ²⁴“Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel! ²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but within they are full of plunder and incontinence. ²⁶“Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish, that the outside of them might become clean also. ²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like tombs which have been whitewashed, which on the one hand appear beautiful outwardly, but on the other hand they are full of the bones of the dead and of all uncleanness within. ²⁸“Thus ye also on the one hand appear righteous to men outwardly, but on the other hand ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness within. ²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the sepulchers of the righteous, ³⁰“and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹“Therefore ye bear witness against yourselves that ye are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²“Fill ye up also the measure of your fathers. ³³“Serpents, offspring of vipers! How shall ye flee from the judgment of Gehenna? ³⁴“On this account, behold, I send forth to you prophets, and wise ones, and scribes: and some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵“that upon you should come all the righteous blood which is being poured out upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶“Verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that killeth the prophets and stoneth those who have been sent forth to her! How often would I have gathered together thy children, in the way a hen gathereth together her chicks under her wings, and ye would not. ³⁸“Behold, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹“For I say to you, in no wise shall ye see Me henceforth, until ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord [Ps. 117(118):25(26)].’”

In the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§§ 102-104]. The Lord said to His disciples:

24 ³⁶“Concerning that day and hour, no one knoweth, not even the angels of the heavens, except My Father only. ³⁷“But even as the days of Noah were, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸“For even as in the days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark— ³⁹“and they knew not until the flood came and took all away—so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰“Then two shall be in the field: the one is taken and the one is left. ⁴¹“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. ⁴²“Be watching then, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh. ⁴³“But know ye this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴“On this account, ye also keep on becoming ready, for in what hour ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom his lord appointeth over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶“Happy is that slave whom his lord, after he cometh, shall find so doing. ⁴⁷“Verily I say to you, that he shall appoint him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My lord taketh time to come,’ ⁴⁹“and should himself begin to strike his fellow slaves, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, ⁵⁰“the lord of that slave shall come in a day in which he expecteth not, and in an hour in which he knoweth not, ⁵¹“and will cut him in twain, and will place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.”

25 ¹“Then shall the kingdom of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ²“And five of them were prudent, and five were foolish. ³“Those who were foolish took lamps for themselves and took no oil with them; ⁴“but the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵“But while the bridegroom tarried, they all dozed and went on sleeping. ⁶“But in the middle of the night, there came to pass a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!’ ⁷“Then all those virgins were wakened and trimmed their lamps. ⁸“And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹“But the prudent answered, saying, ‘Peradventure there might not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰“But while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and they who were ready went in with him to the wedding festivities; and the door was shut. ¹¹“And afterwards the remaining virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹²“But he answered and said, ‘Verily, I say to you, I know ye not.’ ¹³“Be watching then, for ye know not the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man cometh.

¹⁴“For the kingdom of the heavens is even as a man going abroad, who called his own slaves and delivered up to them his property. ¹⁵“And to one, indeed, he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own strength; and straightway he went abroad. ¹⁶“And the one who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷“And in like manner, the one who received two, he also gained another two. ¹⁸“But the one who received the one went away and dug in the earth, and hid the money of his lord. ¹⁹“And after a long time the lord of those slaves cometh, and settleth accounts with them. ²⁰“And the one who received the five talents came forward and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me five talents; behold, I gained another five talents above them.’ ²¹“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a little thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²²“And also the one who received two talents said, ‘Lord, thou didst deliver up to me two talents; behold, I gained another two talents above them.’ ²³“And his lord said to him, ‘Well done, O good and faithful slave! Over a few things thou wast faithful, I will appoint thee over much; enter into the joy of thy lord.’ ²⁴“And also the one who received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Lord, I have come to know that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering together from where thou didst not winnow. ²⁵“‘And I was afraid and went away and hid thy talent in the earth; behold, thou hast thine own.’ ²⁶“And his lord answered and said to him, ‘O evil and reluctant slave! Thou knewest that I reap where I did not sow, and gather together from where I did not winnow! ²⁷“‘Then it was needful for thee to have put my money to the bankers, and I should have received for myself mine own with interest. ²⁸“‘Take away then the talent from him, and give it to him who hath the ten talents. ²⁹“‘For to everyone who hath, it shall be given, and he shall be in abundance; but from the one who hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. ³⁰“‘And cast ye out the unprofitable slave into the darkness, the outer one. There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.’

³¹“But whenever the Son of Man should come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. ³²“And before Him shall be gathered all the nations; and He shall separate them from one another, even as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the young kids. ³³“And indeed He shall set the sheep on His right, but the young kids on the left. ³⁴“Then shall the King say to those on His right, ‘Come, ye who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom which hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵“‘For I hungered and ye gave Me to eat; I thirsted and ye gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and ye brought Me in; ³⁶“‘naked and ye clothed Me; I was sick and ye visited Me; I was in prison and ye came to Me.’ ³⁷“Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungering and fed Thee, or thirsting and gave Thee to drink? ³⁸“‘And when did we see Thee a stranger and brought Thee in? Or naked and we clothed Thee? ³⁹“‘And when did we see Thee sick, or in prison, and came to Thee?’ ⁴⁰“And the King shall answer and say to them, ‘Verily I say to you, insofar as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it to Me.’ ⁴¹“Then shall He say also to those on the left, ‘Go from Me, ye who have been cursed, into the fire, the everlasting one, which hath been prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴²“‘For I hungered and ye did not give Me anything to eat; I thirsted and ye did not give Me anything to drink; ⁴³“‘I was a stranger and ye did not bring Me in, naked and ye did not clothe Me, sick, and in prison, and ye did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴“Then shall they also answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and we did not minister to Thee?’ ⁴⁵“Then shall He answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say to you, insofar as ye did it not to one of the least of these, neither did ye do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”

26 ¹And it came to pass, when Jesus finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, ²“Ye know that after two days the passover taketh place, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up to be crucified.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, and Kyril the deacon, and many others with them, and the holy Martyrs Jonas and Varachysios of Persia.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

April 11th – Civil Calendar
March 29th – Church Calendar

1. St. Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria.

St. Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and brought many to the Christian Faith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had demolished the temple and demanded that he either rebuild it or pay them a very large sum of money. As Mark refused to do either, he was flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old, and his face shone like an angel of the Lord. The pagans lowered the price of their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive. Finally, they let him go free, and one by one, all came to him to receive instruction and become Christians again. A deacon, Kyril, also suffered at this time for a similar cause in Heliopolis at the foot of Mount Lebanon. He had broken some idols at the time of the liberation of Christianity and was cruelly tortured under Julian for this. The pagans were so enraged with him that, after they had killed him, they tore out his teeth and ripped open his stomach. Many others suffered on the same day as St. Kyril. The evil pagans cut their bodies into small pieces, coated them with barley and fed them to the pigs. But retribution came swiftly upon them; all their teeth fell out and their mouths emitted an unbearable stench.

2. Our Holy Father John the Hermit.

He was the son of Juliana, a Christian woman of Armenia. While still a child, he left his mother and ran off to the desert. He was utterly aflame with love for Christ the Lord. In the beginning he entrusted himself to the guidance of a spiritual father, Pharmutios, who was so pleasing to God that an angel brought him bread every day. John later left him and withdrew into solitude. He let himself down into a dry well and lived there for a full ten years in fasting, prayer and vigils. St. Pharmutios used to bring him some of the angel’s bread, for the angel of God did not wish to bring bread to the young John in person, lest he grow proud through this, so he sent it through Pharmutios, his spiritual father. After ten years of arduous asceticism in this well, St. John went to the Lord and his relics revealed wonder-working power. He lived and was glorified by God and men in the 4th century.

FOR CONSIDERATION

The spiritists of our time accept every appearance from the spiritual world as sent by God and immediately boast that it has been ‘revealed’ to them. I was myself acquainted with an eighty-year-old monk who was respected by everyone as a great spiritual guide. When I asked him if he had ever seen any being from the spiritual world in his lifetime, he answered me: ‘No, never; and praise be to God for His mercy!’ Seeing my astonishment at this, he said: ‘I have constantly prayed to God that nothing should ever appear to me, lest I fall into illusion and accept a devil disguised as an angel. And, until now, God has heard my prayer.’ One noted example serves to show how humble and cautious were the elders in this respect: A devil clothed in angelic light appeared to a certain brother and declared to him: ‘I am the archangel Gabriel, who has been sent to you.’ The brother replied to this greeting: ‘You must have been sent to someone else: I’m not worthy to see angels,’ and the devil instantly became invisible and disappeared.

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.