15So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
19Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
20Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”
21Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
22Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
23This saying therefore went out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?”
24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true.
25There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.
Hebrews 6.13-20 (Epistle)
13For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself,
14saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
15Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.
17In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath,
18that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.
19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil,
20where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Ephesians 5.8-19
(Epistle, St John)
8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
10proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.
11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
12For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
13But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.
14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
19speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Mark 9.17-31 (Gospel)
17One of the multitude answered, “Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit;
18and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”
19He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”
20They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.
21He asked his father, “How long has it been since this has been happening to him?” He said, “From childhood.
22Often it has cast 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 with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
25When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”
26After crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead, so much that most of them said, “He is dead.”
27But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he arose.
28When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”
29He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”
30They went out from there and passed through Galilee. He didn’t want anyone to know it,
31for he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.”
Matthew 4.25-5.12
(Gospel, St John)
25Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
1Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
10Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11“Blessed are you when people reproach you, 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 that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Commemorations
St Eutychius, patriarch of Constantinople (582)
He was born to devout and noble parents in Phrygia. Though his father was a prominent officer, he entered monastic life when young, and became abbot of a monastery in Amasea at the age of thirty. In 553 he was sent to the Fifth Ecumenical Council as the representative of the Metropolitan of Amasea. At the Council, he was one of those who argued, successfully, that heretics could be anathematized after their deaths. The most prominent case in point was Origen, the brilliant Christian philosopher who had written that all will eventually be saved. Eutychius’ position thus earned him the enmity of the Origenists, who still made up an influential group in the Church. Saint Eutychius became a trusted confidante of the Emperor Justinian, and when Menas, Patriarch of Constantinople, reposed, Eutychius was chosen to replace him. Eutychius ruled in peace for twelve years, but was then cast into controversy when he boldly opposed one of the most hard-to-pronounce heresies in the history of the Church: Aphthartodocetism, the belief that Christ, before his resurrection, possessed an incorruptible body, not subject to hunger, thirst or pain (though the scriptures plainly speak of Christ being weary, hungry, thirsty, weeping). The Emperor Justinian for a time fell into this variant of the Monophysite heresy, and exiled Eutychius to his monastery for twelve years. During these years Eutychius showed himself to be a wonder-worker, healing many of their diseases through his prayers. Justinian repented shortly before his death, and his successor, Justin II, called Eutychius back to the Patriarchal throne, where he served the Church in peace until his repose at the age of seventy.