21Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;
22so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
23This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
24He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1 John 4.11-16 (Vespers)
11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
1 John 4.20-5.5 (Vespers)
20If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.
3For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.
5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Matthew 28.16-20
(1st Matins Gospel)
16But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.
17When they saw him, they bowed down to him; but some doubted.
18Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
19Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Acts 5.12-20 (Epistle)
12By the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. They were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
13None of the rest dared to join them; however, the people honored them.
14More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
15They even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might overshadow some of them.
16The multitude also came together from the cities around Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits; and they were all healed.
17But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy
18and laid hands on the apostles, then put them in public custody.
19But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out and said,
20“Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”
1 John 1.1-7
(Epistle, St John)
1That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life
2(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);
3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.
5This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth.
7But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
John 20.19-31 (Gospel)
19When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
22When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.
25The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26After eight days, again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
John 19.25-27, 21.24-25
(Gospel, St John)
25But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
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.
Commemorations
Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
The Apostle’s main commemoration is September 26. Today is commemorated a miracle that took place at his grave every year on this date in Ephesus.
The Apostle reposed when he was more than one hundred years old; he was the only one of the Apostles not to die a martyr. Knowing that his death approached, he took seven of his disciples and told them to dig a grave in the form of a cross. He then lay down in the grave and died, and was buried by his disciples. When the faithful later opened his grave, they found it to be empty. But on this date every year a fine powder, called manna by the people, poured forth from the grave, and was used by the faithful for healing of ailments of body and soul.
Our Righteous Father Arsenios the Great (449)
He is one of the original and most honored Desert Fathers. Born of a noble family, he was a deacon and a courtier in Constantinople. One day he heard a voice saying “Arsenios, flee from men, and thou shalt be saved.” He left the capital in secret and sailed to Alexandria, then journeyed to Skete in the Egyptian desert, where he became a monk. For years he was the disciple of St John the Dwarf. Even though he had already abandoned the world so dramatically, after some time in the desert he again heard a voice saying, “Arsenios, flee, be silent, pray always, for these are the causes of sinning not.” He then separated himself from his brother monks and lived as a hermit, practicing silence. It was told of him that, on Saturday evenings, he would stand, turn his back to the setting sun, raise his hands in prayer, and pray without sitting down until the sun shone on his face the following morning. A monk who came to visit him looked into his cell and saw Arsenios at prayer, his entire body glowing like a flame. He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-five.
St Emilia (375), mother of Sts Macrina, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, Peter of Sebaste, and Theosevia