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 20.1-10
(7th Matins Gospel)
1Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”
3Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
4They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
5Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he didn’t enter in.
6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
7and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
2 Corinthians 9.6-11 (Epistle)
6Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
9As it is written, “He has scattered abroad. He has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever.”
10Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11you being enriched in everything for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.
1 John 4.12-19
(Epistle, St John)
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.
17In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world.
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love him, because he first loved us.
Luke 5.1-11 (Gospel)
1Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
2He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.”
6When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking.
7They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
8But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”
9For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught;
10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
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
Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist St John the Theologian
The holy Apostle was, by the world’s reckoning, the nephew of our Savior, since his mother Salome was the daughter of St Joseph the Betrothed. Called ‘the beloved disciple,’ St John was the only one of Christ’s disciples to follow Him to the Cross. He was entrusted by the Savior with the care of the most holy Theotokos, and became like another son to her, providing for her care until the day of her repose. He preached the Gospel of Christ throughout Asia Minor, especially in Ephesus. During the persecutions of the Emperor Domitian, he was taken in bonds to Rome, where he was subjected to various tortures; but when he emerged from these miraculously unharmed, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. After the death of Domitian, he returned to Ephesus and there wrote his Gospel and Epistles. He reposed in peace at a great old age. When his disciples later opened his grave, they found that his body was not there. He is called the Theologian because of the sublimity of theological expression in his New Testament writings.