From dynamispublishing.org, antiochan.org, biblegateway.com and rongolini.com:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated:
February 28
Memory of our venerable Father and Confessor Basil, companion of Saint Procopius
Saint Basil lived during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo (717-741). He left the world to become a monk. Having energetically resisted the adversaries of the Holy icons, he was seized, tortured, and thrown into prison. At the tyrant's death, he was freed and resumed his way of life. He died after having converted a great number of heretics to the Orthodox faith.
Fifth Class Feast.
Scriptural Readings:
3 John 1:1-15
3 John 1:1-15 (New King James Version)
3 John 1
Greeting to Gaius
1 The Elder,
To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth:
2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.[a]
Gaius Commended for Generosity
5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and[b] for strangers, 6 who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, 7 because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought to receive[c] such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.
Diotrephes and Demetrius
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but[d] he who does evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.
Farewell Greeting
13 I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.
Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.
Footnotes:
a.3 John 1:4 NU-Text reads the truth.
b.3 John 1:5 NU-Text adds especially.
c.3 John 1:8 NU-Text reads support.
d.3 John 1:11 NU-Text and M-Text omit but.
Saint Luke 19:29-40; 22:7-39 (2/28-3/13) Monday of the Week of Forgiveness
Fasting I ~ Gratitude: Saint Luke 19:29-40, 22:7-39, especially vss. 22:28-30: “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Today, the Church asks us to fast from all flesh meats, and thereby, to take one small step toward the full exercise of the Great Fast. In one week, on Pure Monday, we shall assume the full Lenten struggle. This week we are meditating on seven readings, all of which aim to strengthen us for the Lenten Fast. Each passage considers a particular aspect of fasting: 1) gratitude, 2) strength, 3) repentance, 4) dying with Christ, 5) the Age to come, 6) piety, and 7) three essentials in ascetic labor.
Orthodox fasting derives its distinctive nature from the Church’s knowledge of God. Hence, for the faithful, fasting is inseparably bound to the Incarnation of Christ our God, His teaching about fasting, His saving Death and Resurrection, the Holy Mysteries, and the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Gratitude for what God has accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish, exists prior to every one of our ascetic efforts.
The way in which joy, praise, and gratitude to the Lord touch our inner and outer life is evident during Forgiveness Vespers, which we will celebrate next Sunday evening. The service makes the transition into the Lenten ascesis, which is our exercise to defeat vice and develop virtue within ourselves. Following ancient practice, we sing the Paschal Canon softly at that service. Time for penitential sorrow has come, yet ‘sotto voce’ we lift the beautiful Resurrection hymn of praise from the future Paschal Liturgy, with its joyous announcement: “Christ is risen from the dead.”
Also notice that the singing of the Paschal Canon occurs exactly during the time that the faithful seek forgiveness from one another. The mind is inexorably drawn to the ‘Glory’ of the Canon with its final commands: “...be illumined, embrace one another, let us speak, brothers, even unto those who hate us, and forgive all for the sake of the Resurrection.” The Resurrection alters the perception of life, of every activity in the entire created order. Orthodox Christians do not fast in an absolute penitential mode detached from the reality and joy of Christ’s Resurrection.
This irrepressible joy appears in the Passion narratives of all the Gospels. The heart gratefully connects the Lord’s coming victory to the words of the crowd who rejoiced and praised God as He rode into Jerusalem (Lk. 19:38)! No Christian reads the account of the Lord’s Last Supper in isolation from the eucharistic gratitude of the Divine Liturgy (vs. 22:16). We fast gratefully, knowing that our personal betrayal and denial of Christ are overcome (vss. 22:21-23, 33-34). How strengthening to know that “...the things concerning Me have an end” (vs. 22:37), for the end is revealed in His Resurrection. His Passion is firmly in His hands.
Because we have died with Christ and are buried with Him, we know that we also live with Him (Rom. 6:8). As His Resurrection frees us from sin, and enables us to have “...fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22), so we are grateful. The risen Lord empowers us to rule over our passions and to fast from sin - even as we practice material abstinence. To withdraw from earthly things whets the spiritual appetite for Christ’s heavenly gifts. We gratefully experience the same nourishment He described to His disciples at Sychar in Samaria: “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (Jn. 4:32). Orthodox fasting does not devalue earthly things, but in gratitude restores them to their true function within God’s good creation.
O Christ our God, Who alone art sinless and hast risen from the dead, Glory to Thee Who hast given us fasting to quench the uprisings of passions and to reconcile us to Thee!
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated:
February 28
Memory of our venerable Father and Confessor Basil, companion of Saint Procopius
Saint Basil lived during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo (717-741). He left the world to become a monk. Having energetically resisted the adversaries of the Holy icons, he was seized, tortured, and thrown into prison. At the tyrant's death, he was freed and resumed his way of life. He died after having converted a great number of heretics to the Orthodox faith.
Fifth Class Feast.
Scriptural Readings:
3 John 1:1-15
3 John 1:1-15 (New King James Version)
3 John 1
Greeting to Gaius
1 The Elder,
To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth:
2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.[a]
Gaius Commended for Generosity
5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and[b] for strangers, 6 who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, 7 because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought to receive[c] such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.
Diotrephes and Demetrius
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but[d] he who does evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.
Farewell Greeting
13 I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.
Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.
Footnotes:
a.3 John 1:4 NU-Text reads the truth.
b.3 John 1:5 NU-Text adds especially.
c.3 John 1:8 NU-Text reads support.
d.3 John 1:11 NU-Text and M-Text omit but.
Saint Luke 19:29-40; 22:7-39 (2/28-3/13) Monday of the Week of Forgiveness
Fasting I ~ Gratitude: Saint Luke 19:29-40, 22:7-39, especially vss. 22:28-30: “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Today, the Church asks us to fast from all flesh meats, and thereby, to take one small step toward the full exercise of the Great Fast. In one week, on Pure Monday, we shall assume the full Lenten struggle. This week we are meditating on seven readings, all of which aim to strengthen us for the Lenten Fast. Each passage considers a particular aspect of fasting: 1) gratitude, 2) strength, 3) repentance, 4) dying with Christ, 5) the Age to come, 6) piety, and 7) three essentials in ascetic labor.
Orthodox fasting derives its distinctive nature from the Church’s knowledge of God. Hence, for the faithful, fasting is inseparably bound to the Incarnation of Christ our God, His teaching about fasting, His saving Death and Resurrection, the Holy Mysteries, and the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Gratitude for what God has accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish, exists prior to every one of our ascetic efforts.
The way in which joy, praise, and gratitude to the Lord touch our inner and outer life is evident during Forgiveness Vespers, which we will celebrate next Sunday evening. The service makes the transition into the Lenten ascesis, which is our exercise to defeat vice and develop virtue within ourselves. Following ancient practice, we sing the Paschal Canon softly at that service. Time for penitential sorrow has come, yet ‘sotto voce’ we lift the beautiful Resurrection hymn of praise from the future Paschal Liturgy, with its joyous announcement: “Christ is risen from the dead.”
Also notice that the singing of the Paschal Canon occurs exactly during the time that the faithful seek forgiveness from one another. The mind is inexorably drawn to the ‘Glory’ of the Canon with its final commands: “...be illumined, embrace one another, let us speak, brothers, even unto those who hate us, and forgive all for the sake of the Resurrection.” The Resurrection alters the perception of life, of every activity in the entire created order. Orthodox Christians do not fast in an absolute penitential mode detached from the reality and joy of Christ’s Resurrection.
This irrepressible joy appears in the Passion narratives of all the Gospels. The heart gratefully connects the Lord’s coming victory to the words of the crowd who rejoiced and praised God as He rode into Jerusalem (Lk. 19:38)! No Christian reads the account of the Lord’s Last Supper in isolation from the eucharistic gratitude of the Divine Liturgy (vs. 22:16). We fast gratefully, knowing that our personal betrayal and denial of Christ are overcome (vss. 22:21-23, 33-34). How strengthening to know that “...the things concerning Me have an end” (vs. 22:37), for the end is revealed in His Resurrection. His Passion is firmly in His hands.
Because we have died with Christ and are buried with Him, we know that we also live with Him (Rom. 6:8). As His Resurrection frees us from sin, and enables us to have “...fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22), so we are grateful. The risen Lord empowers us to rule over our passions and to fast from sin - even as we practice material abstinence. To withdraw from earthly things whets the spiritual appetite for Christ’s heavenly gifts. We gratefully experience the same nourishment He described to His disciples at Sychar in Samaria: “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (Jn. 4:32). Orthodox fasting does not devalue earthly things, but in gratitude restores them to their true function within God’s good creation.
O Christ our God, Who alone art sinless and hast risen from the dead, Glory to Thee Who hast given us fasting to quench the uprisings of passions and to reconcile us to Thee!
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