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?
John 21.15-25
(Matins Gospel)
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.
Acts 8.40-9.19 (Epistle)
40But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
1But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.
4He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6But rise up and enter into the city, then you will be told what you must do.”
7The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.
8Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.
10Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.”
11The Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,
12and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.”
13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.
14Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
15But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
16For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.
19He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
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 6.48-54 (Gospel)
48I am the bread of life.
49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.
50This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.
51I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves.
54He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
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