Orthodox Daily Devotional
- Orthodox Daily Devotional
Orthodox Daily Devotional
Sunday, March 22, 2026 — Fourth Sunday of Lent
Today’s Commemorations
Fourth Sunday of Great Lent — Tone 8 Sunday of St. John Climacus (of The Ladder)
Today the Church honors the memory of one of monasticism’s greatest teachers, St. John Climacus, whose Ladder of Divine Ascent charts the soul’s journey from repentance to the heights of union with God. The Fourth Sunday of Lent falls at the midpoint of our Lenten journey — a moment to take stock, deepen our ascetic effort, and be encouraged by the saints who have gone before us.
Other commemorated saints today:
- Hieromartyr Basil of Ancyra (362–363) — priest and confessor who died under Julian the Apostate
- Martyr Drosis, daughter of Emperor Trajan (1st–2nd c.)
- Venerable Isaac the Confessor, Founder of the Dalmatian Monastery at Constantinople (4th c.)
- Monastic Martyr Euthymius of Prodromou, Mt. Athos (1814)
Scripture Readings
📖 John 20:11–18 — The Resurrection Appearance to Mary Magdalene
(Orthros / Matins Gospel)
¹¹But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. ¹²And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ¹³Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”
¹⁴Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher.)
¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”
¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary:
John 20:11–18 — The encounter between the risen Lord and Mary is reminiscent of the encounter between the bride and her beloved in the Song of Solomon (3:1–4). This parallel teaches that through the Resurrection, Christ has taken the Church to be His eternal Bride.
John 20:16 — Through Christ calling Mary by name, her eyes and heart are opened, and she recognizes Him. Rabboni is an affectionate term meaning “my dear Teacher.”
John 20:17 — “Do not cling to Me” does not prohibit touching His resurrected flesh — for we commune with His flesh in the Eucharist, and He even commands Thomas to touch Him. Here, Christ is instructing Mary to understand that His life is not merely continuing in the same state as before, but He is pressing forward to His Ascension to the Father.
John 20:18 — Mary Magdalene, having remained faithful to Christ to the end, is the first person sent to proclaim the risen Lord, and thus is the first apostle of the Resurrection. She is known in the Church as “the apostle to the apostles.”
📖 Ephesians 5:9–19 — Walk as Children of Light
(Liturgy Epistle)
⁹(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), ¹⁰finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
¹¹And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. ¹³But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
¹⁴Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, *And Christ will give you light.”*
¹⁵See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
¹⁷Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary:
Ephesians 5:11–14 — Christians are to expose darkness — but we must first come out of hiding ourselves. That is, we must confess our sins and repent of them. The hymn in verse 14 is an early baptismal hymn: baptism is illumination. To walk in the light is to walk in one’s baptism.
Ephesians 5:15–17 — The goal is not to abandon the world, but to keep oneself in Christ and salvage as much as possible from the evil world. Christians renounce the fallenness of the world, not creation itself.
Ephesians 5:18–20 — Following repentance, a surge of life and joy wells forth. A distinctive spirit, a kind of elation, energizes both darkness and light. For those in darkness, this spirit is like drunkenness — artificial and temporary. For Christians, it is the Holy Spirit, and the joy is New Covenant worship of the Holy Trinity. He who is made drunk with wine totters and sways, but he who is inebriated with the Holy Spirit is rooted in Christ and gloriously sober.
📖 Matthew 4:25–5:12 — The Beatitudes
(Matins)
²⁵Great multitudes followed Him — from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
5 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. ²Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
¹¹ “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹²Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary:
Matthew 5:5 — Meekness is an attitude of being content with both honor and dishonor. It is an imitation of Christ, who said, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” The meek have mastery over their passions, especially anger. Meekness is not passive weakness, but strength directed and under control.
Matthew 5:6 — Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness see the presence of God and His Kingdom as the most important thing in life. They have a desperate craving for what is right before God, comparable to a starving person’s craving for food.
Matthew 5:7 — Mercy is love set in motion, expressed in action. God’s mercy in taking our sufferings on Himself in order to grant us His Kingdom sets us free from captivity to the evil one.
Matthew 5:8 — “Pure” means unmixed with anything else. The pure in heart are completely devoted to the worship and service of God. When the soul’s only desire is God, and a person’s will holds to this desire, then that person will indeed see God everywhere.
Matthew 5:9 — Being the source of peace, Christ found no price sufficient for peace other than shedding His own blood. The Holy Spirit gives peace to those who imitate Christ. By God’s grace, peacemakers become sons of God themselves.
Matthew 5:11–12 — Those who suffer persecution for Christ walk the road of the prophets, saints, and martyrs. The Greek for “be exceedingly glad” means to “leap exceedingly with joy.”
📖 Hebrews 6:13–20 — God’s Unbreakable Promise
(Liturgy Epistle — continued)
¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, ¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
¹⁹This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, ²⁰where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary:
Hebrews 6:13–15 — The promise made to Abraham was a son, an heir through whom God would greatly multiply him. After patient endurance, he obtained the promise — a model for us in our Lenten journey.
Hebrews 6:18 — The two immutable things are God’s promise and God’s oath. Since it is impossible for God to lie, these give us unshakeable consolation.
Hebrews 6:19 — “Behind the veil” is heaven itself. Our hope is not wishful thinking — it is an anchor, fixed in the very presence of God, where Christ our forerunner has already entered as our High Priest.
📖 Mark 9:17–31 — “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
(Liturgy Gospel)
¹⁷Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
¹⁹He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
²¹So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. ²²And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
²³Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
²⁵When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” ²⁶Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
²⁸And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
²⁹So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
³⁰Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. ³¹For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
Orthodox Study Bible Commentary:
Mark 9:14–29 — (See Matthew 17:14–21.) The disciples could not drive out this spirit because they lacked the deep faith that comes only through sustained prayer and fasting — the very disciplines of Great Lent. Christ’s rebuke of “a faithless generation” is not primarily directed at the disciples, but at the spirit of the age that resists trust in God.
On the father’s cry — “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” — this is one of the most honest prayers in all of Scripture. Faith is not the absence of doubt but the willingness to bring our doubt to Christ. The father does not wait until he has perfect faith; he comes as he is, and Christ responds to that broken, trembling trust.
Mark 9:29 — “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” The Church places this word at the very heart of Lent. The demons that afflict us — spiritual dryness, passions, spiritual warfare — yield not to cleverness or effort alone, but to the ascetic life purified by prayer and fasting. This is the teaching of St. John Climacus, whose feast we celebrate today.
Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
St. John Climacus and the Ladder of Ascent
We stand at the midpoint of Great Lent. The fast may feel long, the body weary, the heart wandering. The Church in her wisdom gives us today St. John Climacus — the monk of Sinai who wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a guide to climbing toward God one step at a time.
The readings converge on a single truth: the way up is the way of humble, persistent trust.
Mary at the tomb weeps without understanding, but she stays. She does not leave. In her grief and confusion, she keeps returning — and the risen Christ calls her by name. God does not abandon those who seek Him, even when they cannot yet recognize Him.
The Beatitudes describe the character of those who will see God: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, the hungry, the pure. These are not heroic virtues achieved by effort alone. They are the shape of a soul that has been broken open — and in that breaking, made capable of receiving God.
The father in the Gospel brings a son he cannot heal, to disciples who cannot help him, to a Christ he barely believes in — and he is heard. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” This is the prayer of every Lent. Not the prayer of the strong, but the prayer of the honest.
And Hebrews reminds us: the anchor holds. God has sworn by Himself. Our hope is not sentiment — it is Christ Himself, already inside the veil, already home, drawing us after Him.
Keep climbing. The ladder holds.
“Make haste to climb, for the love of Christ urges you on.” — St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Generated: Sunday, March 22, 2026 — 3:00 AM CT Source: OCA Daily Readings · Orthodox Study Bible (NKJV with commentary) Readings: John 20:11–18 · Ephesians 5:9–19 · Matthew 4:25–5:12 · Hebrews 6:13–20 · Mark 9:17–31