Daily Devotional
Sunday, March 16, 2025 (NS)
March 3, 2025 (OS)
Commemorations
Pascalion — Movable Calendar
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The Sunday of the Second Week of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. Gregory Palamas.
Mode Plagal One — Fifth Eothinon
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Menaion — Fixed Calendar
The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Evtropios, Kleonikos, and Vasiliskos.
Fasting Information
Fast day, but Shell Fish, Wine and Oil Allowed.
Holy & Great Fast
Scripture Readings
Pascalion — Movable Calendar
The Sunday of the Second Week of the Great Fast, in which we Commemorate St. Gregory Palamas.
Mode Plagal One — Fifth Eothinon
Epistle:
The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 304].
1 10“Thou, O Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the
heavens are the works of Thy hands [Ps. 101(102):25].
11“They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they shall all become old as an
outer garment [Ps. 101(102):26], 12“and as a covering Thou
shalt roll them up, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not
fail [Ps. 101(102):26, 27].” 13But to which of the angels
hath He said at any time, “Sit Thou on My right, until I should place Thine enemies
as a footstool of Thy feet [Ps. 109(110):1]”?
14They are all ministering spirits being sent forth to minister for the sake of those
who are about to inherit salvation, are they not?
2 1On this account, it is necessary for us to give heed more abundantly to
the things which were heard, lest ever we should slip away. 2For if the word spoken by
angels was confirmed, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense,
3how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation, which received a
beginning to be spoken of by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard?
COMMEMORATION OF SAINT GREGORY PALAMAS
The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ mid 318].
Brethren:
8 3Every high priest is appointed to offer
both gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is necessary for this One to have something
also which He might offer. 4For if, indeed, He were on earth, He would not even be a
priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, 5who worship
a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses had been divinely warned when he was
about to execute the tabernacle; for, “See,” saith He, “that thou make
all things according to the pattern which was shown to thee in the mount [cf. Ex. 25:40].” 6But now He hath attained a
more excellent liturgy, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which hath been
enacted upon better promises.
Gospel:
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 7]. At that
time:
2 1Jesus entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was
heard that “He is in the house.” 2And straightway many were
gathered together, insomuch that there was no longer room, not even at the door. And He was
speaking the word to them. 3And they come to Him, bearing a paralytic who was borne by
four. 4And not being able to come near to Him on account of the crowd, they uncovered
the roof where He was. And after they dug it out, they let down the bed on which the
paralytic was lying. 5And Jesus, having seen their faith, saith to the paralytic,
“Child, thy sins have been forgiven thee.” 6But some of the scribes were
sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7“Why doth this One thus speak
blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins except One, God?” 8And straightway,
Jesus, having fully known in His spirit that they were reasoning thus within themselves, said to
them, “Why are ye reasoning these things in your hearts? 9“Which is
easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Thy sins have been forgiven thee,’ or to
say, ‘Arise, and take up thy bed and be walking’? 10“But in order
that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority to forgive sins on the earth”—He
saith to the paralytic, 11“I say to thee, ‘Arise, and take up thy bed, and
go thy way to thy house.’” 12And straightway he arose; and having taken up
the bed, he went forth before all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We
never saw it thus.”
Commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 36]. The
Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:
10 9“I am the door; by Me if anyone should enter, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and go out and find pasture. 10“The thief cometh not, except
that he might steal, and slay, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have
it abundantly. 11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down
his life for the sheep. 12“But the hireling, who indeed is not a shepherd, whose
own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf
seizeth them and scattereth the sheep. 13“Now the hireling fleeth, because he is
a hireling and careth not about the sheep. 14“I am the good shepherd; and I know
those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine. 15“Even
as the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16“And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; them also it is needful
for Me to bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one
Shepherd.”
Menaion — Fixed Calendar
The commemoration of the holy Martyrs Evtropios, Kleonikos, and Vasiliskos.
No readings given.
Synaxarion Readings
Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas
Now is the truly great preacher of the radiant light led by the Source of Light to the never-setting Light.
This son of the divine and never-setting Light was a true man of God indeed, and a wondrous servant and minister of the divine mysteries, having been born in the imperial city (Constantinople) of most radiant and glorious parents. Through his virtue and instruction he desired to adorn not only the outer man according to the senses, but also much more the unseen inner being. When he was yet quite young, his father died. His mother, brothers, and sisters raised him and instructed him in morals, catechism, and sacred Scripture, and sent him to teachers of worldly wisdom, from whom he learned well. Cleverly combining his learning with a natural zeal, he soon became skilled in verbal arts. At the age of twenty, regarding all earthly things as inferior and passing dreams, he sought recourse to God the Author and Giver of all wisdom, to consecrate his entire self to God through a perfect life. Hence he disclosed his great love for God, his pious intentions and burning desire to his mother, and he found that for a long time she too had been desirous of this and rejoiced at his decision. And straightway gathering her children, his mother said with joy, “Behold, I and the children God has given me!” And she disclosed to them the intent of the great Gregory, asking if it seemed to them to be good. And he with words of instruction soon convinced them all in earnestness to follow him in his love and withdrawal from life. Distributing then his earthly possessions to the poor according to the teachings of the Gospel, and cheerfully abandoning human love, earthly honor, and the approbation of men, he followed after Christ.
Placing his mother and sisters in a convent, he and his brothers went to the sacred Mount Athos, where he convinced his brothers to stay in different monasteries, so that they would have no time to be together, thereby perfecting their life in God. He himself became obedient to a wondrous man named Nikodemos, who had consecrated his life of silence to God alone. Learning from him through actions every precept and every virtue, through a mystical revelation there he received the protection of the all pure Theotokos, an invincible help in all things. After Nikodemos’ parting from this life to God, having lived for several years in the Great Lavra most zealously with perfection of thought and a love of silence, Gregory left the lavra and embraced the wilderness.
Increasing ever in love and always desiring to be with God, he dedicated himself to a life of the utmost severity, strengthening his reasoning with earnest attention, raising his thoughts to God, practicing prayer at all times, meditating on divine things, and leading an excellent life. With the help of God he overcame the attacks of demons, and cleansing his soul with fountains of tears at all night vigils, he became a chosen vessel of the gifts of the Spirit of God, and often had divine visions.
Because of the commencement of attacks of the Ishmaelites on Thessalonica, he retreated to the summit skete and was constrained to speak with several of the citizenry. Having led a diligent life, for he was no longer young, and having cleansed his body and soul entirely, at God’s command, he received the great anointing to the priesthood, and like an angel, he became transcendent in the celebration of the sacred mysteries, so that all who observed him were moved. He was truly great and was recognized as a bearer of the Spirit by those who lived godly lives, revealing himself to those who witnessed the following outward signs: He had authority over demons and was able to release those possessed from their wiles and deceit. He could change barren trees into fruitful ones. He foresaw things to come and was blessed with other gifts and fruits of the Divine Spirit. For when it lies within our power to act upon the virtues, then we are not able to fall into temptation. Without the virtues there can be no perfection or appearance of faith in God, but frequent falls into various temptations. So he was shown to be perfect to all.
What more can be said? First the licentious wiles of the evil contender and then the lies and slanders of the new God-fighters were directed at him. In all, twenty-three years he endured much anger and affliction. For the Italian beast, Barlaam of Calabria, philosophized in a worldly manner, and through the vanity of his philosophy (for he thought to know everything) he mounted a fierce attack against Christ’s Church, against our Faith, and against those who openly professed it. For the grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, and this grace is the light of the age to come, inasmuch as the righteous shine like the sun, as Christ Himself demonstrated beforehand in splendor on the mountain. And simply put, Barlaam erroneously taught that all the power and action of the Godhead in three hypostases and all differences there might be in the divine nature were created. But those who piously believed that the divine light was uncreated, and all His power and action as not something new but that which is naturally in God, through his rhetoric and widespread letters, he called bitheists and polytheists, as the Jews, Sabellius, and Arius call us. For the sake of these the divine Gregory, as a defender of piety and most glorious intercessor, fought before everyone and was reviled. He was sent by the Church to Constantinople, and he went. And when the most divine Emperor Andronikos, fourth after the Paleologos, sought to defend the Faith, a sacred council was assembled. And when Barlaam appeared with his previously mentioned impious teachings and his accusations against piety, the great Gregory, filled with the Spirit of God and clothed with invincible power from on high, stopped his mouth from speaking against God and disgraced him utterly. With words of spiritual fire and documents he burned up Barlaam’s heresies like brushwood to ashes. Wherefore unable to endure the shame, the enemy of piety ran back to Italy, whence he came. Immediately after this the council exposed his great harm, and with arguments to the contrary refuted and dispersed his compositions.
But those who had partaken of these ideas did not cease their struggle against God’s Church. For this cause, through the great urging of the sacred council, the emperor himself, and most importantly the command of God, Gregory was persuaded to ascend the bishop’s throne and was appointed the pastor of the sacred Church in Thessalonica. Wherefore he bravely and steadfastly accomplished great deeds in behalf of the Orthodox Faith. But many evil heirs of Akindinos and Barlaam appeared, fierce beasts born of ferociousness, as well as their teachings and compositions, not once, not twice, not three times, but many times, and not during the reign of one emperor or patriarch but during three successive reigns and an equal number of patriarchates and many councils, which through divinely inspired words and writings, countered them in many ways and eventually overcame them completely. Yet some persisted, having no regard for the High Court, shamelessly attacking the saints who triumphed over them. Such were in short Gregory’s victories over the impious.
Then God, in an ineffable manner, sent the great teacher to the East. He was sent as the elder from Thessalonica to Constantinople to make peace between two quarreling emperors. But he was seized by the Muslim Hagarenes and for an entire year was made to travel in suffering from place to place, from city to city, fearlessly preaching the Gospel of Christ. And he strengthened and convinced the Christians in their faith, entreating them to remain steadfast, confirming with divine wisdom those who were wavering in the Faith or could not understand or asked questions about the previous events, and freely granting healing to those who asked it. But to those who did not believe, to wretched apostates, to those who had followed them, and to those who cast aspersions on our teachings about the incarnate providence of our Lord and God or the veneration of the precious Cross and the holy icons he spoke many times without hesitation. He spoke also of Mohammed and answered many other questions which they put to him. Some wondered in themselves, others were angered and put forth their hands and would have made him a martyr if it were not for God’s providence and the promise of money to be gained from his ransom. So he was spared.
Then the great saint was freed by the Serbian lovers of Christ, and this bloodless martyr returned once more in joy to his flock. In addition to the other many and great gifts and preeminent qualities which he had, he was truly crucified to the world, bearing in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, according to the words of Saint Paul. Let us describe him. These were his characteristics: along with his excellence, he was meek and humble. (We do not speak here of God and divine matters, for he was quite a defender of these.) He did not remember evil and was good-natured, desiring to return good for evil. He never quarreled. He was always patient and magnanimous in the face of adversity. He was above vanity and sensuality. He was always temperate and not extravagant in all personal necessities, and despite his abstinence, he did not become ill. He endured quietly and silently, always graciously, to the limits of what was done to him, so that all would see him as reasonable, attentive and keen witted. And consequently he never allowed his eyes to be void of tears but sympathized with a flow of tears.
And so like a martyr from the beginning to the end he struggled against demons and the passions, driving heretics far from Christ’s Church, defining the Orthodox Faith through his words and writings, and by them as with a seal sealing all divinely inspired writing, for his life and word became a seal of the life and words of the saints. He tended his flock for thirteen years more in the godly manner of the apostles, and having adorned them with his moral teachings, he guided them to the heavenly sheepfold. And having served all the Orthodox, both those who lived during his time and those yet to be born, he was translated to the higher life, having lived sixty-three years in all. And he commended his spirit into the hands of God, leaving his body to his flock as a special portion and a precious treasure, enlightened and glorified at the end.
For every day Christ benefits with wonders those who come near in faith and grants healing of many diseases, many of whom tell of their cures. Through his prayers, O God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Translated from Triodion, siest ‘Tripesnets: Triod’ Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent.
Lives of the Saints
(Prologue)
March 16th – Civil Calendar
March 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Eftropios, Kleonikos and Vasiliskos.
They were comrades of St. Theodore the Tyro. When glorious Theodore gloriously laid down his
life, they remained behind in prison. They were not condemned for a long time because of the
courage of the imperial governor of the town of Amaseia. When a new governor arrived, more
inhuman than his predecessor, he ordered these three to be brought before him. All three were
young men; Eftropios (Eutropius) and Kleonikos (Cleonicus) were brothers and Vasiliskos
(Basiliscus) a kinsman of Theodore’s. But all three were, through their brotherly love, as
blood-brothers. And they therefore said to the governor: ‘As the Holy Trinity is
indivisible, so are we indivisible in faith and inseparable in love.’ All flattery on the
governor’s part was in vain, as were all his efforts to bribe Eftropios. He first invited
him to dine with him, which Eftropios refused with a quotation from the Psalms: ‘Blessed is
the man who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly,’ after which he offered him vast
wealth—150 liters of silver—which Eftropios likewise refused, reminding the governor that Judas
lost his soul for silver. After all these attempts, followed by interrogation and torture, the
first two were condemned to be crucified, for which they gave thanks to Christ that He had
counted them worthy to die the death He had died; and the third, Vasiliskos, was beheaded. They
all entered into the kingdom of joy, where their commander, Theodore, was waiting for them,
glorified before Christ the Lord and Victor. They suffered with honor in 308.
2. St. Piama of Egypt.
For the sake of Christ she refused to marry, and gave herself to asceticism in her
mother’s house. She took only a little food every other day, and spent her time in prayer
and meditation, being gifted with insight. She departed this life peacefully, commending her soul
to the Lord, in about the year 377.
3. An Unknown Girl in Alexandria.
She was from a wealthy house, having a good father who suffered much and had a difficult
death, and an evil mother who had an easy life, died in peace and was buried with honor. In
uncertainty whether to live by the example of her father or her mother, this maiden had a vision
in which the state of her father and of her mother were shown to her. She saw her father in the
kingdom of God, and her mother in darkness and torment. This determined her to devote her whole
life to God, and like her father, follow the commandments of God without regard to any opposition
or misfortune that she might have to endure. And she followed the commandments of God to the end,
with His help, and was made worthy of the kingdom of heaven, in which she was reunited with her
beloved father.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Speaking on a human level, Christ raised Himself to primacy in the Church, the world and human
history by obedience. No one can be a good superior who has not gone through the school of
obedience. Adam lost his power and primacy over the animals and the natural elements in the hour
when he showed himself disobedient to God. ‘Obedience begets obedience; if a man listens to
God, then God listens to him,’ said Abba Moses. However, it is obvious that God listens to
man more than man does to God, when one counts up how many times a day people sin against the
commandments of God. The fact that the immortal God listens to us corruptible beings more than we
do to Him should fill with shame anyone with any conscience remaining. When St. Eftropios was
martyred with his two friends, he prayed to God: ‘Come to our aid, as Thou camest to the
aid of Thy servant Theodore!’ At that, the earth quaked and the obedient Lord revealed
Himself with the angels and St. Theodore. And the Lord said to the sufferers: ‘During the
time of your torture, I stood before your faces, witnessing your endurance. Your names will be
written in the Book of Life.’
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.
