Orthodox readings for 9 October 2026

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

1 John, Chapter 4, verses 12-19

⁷ and by many reasons exhorteth to brotherly love

¹²No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

¹³Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

¹⁵Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

¹⁷Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love him, because he first loved us.

Read more:1 John, Chapter 4

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4

4:12 If we love one another, God abideth in us - This is treated of, Jo1 4:13-16. And his love is perfected - Has its full effect. In us - This is treated of, Jo1 4:17-19.

4:14 And in consequence of this we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son - These are the foundation and the criteria of our abiding in God and God in us, the communion of the Spirit, and the confession of the Son.

4:15 Whosoever shall, from a principle of loving faith, openly confess in the face of all opposition and danger, that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him.

4:16 And we know and believe - By the same Spirit, the love that God hath to us.

4:17 Hereby - That is, by this communion with God. Is our love made perfect; that we may - That is, so that we shall have boldness in the day of judgment - When all the stout - hearted shall tremble. Because as he - Christ. Is - All love. So are we - Who are fathers in Christ, even in this world.

4:18 There is no fear in love - No slavish fear can be where love reigns. But perfect, adult love casteth out slavish fear: because such fear hath torment - And so is inconsistent with the happiness of love. A natural man has neither fear nor love; one that is awakened, fear without love; a babe in Christ, love and fear; a father in Christ, love without fear.

4:19 We love him, because he first loved us - This is the sum of all religion, the genuine model of Christianity.None can say more: why should any one say less, or less intelligibly?

John, Chapter 19, verses 25-27

²³ They cast lots for his garments, ²⁶ He commendeth his mother to John

²⁵Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

²⁶When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

²⁷Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Read more:John, Chapter 19

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19:25 His mother's sister - But we do not read she had any brother.She was her father's heir, and as such transmitted the right of the kingdom of David to Jesus: Mary, the wife of Cleopas - Called likewise Alpheus, the father, as Mary was the mother of James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas.

19:27 Behold thy mother - To whom thou art now to perform the part of a son in my place, a peculiar honour which Christ conferred on him. From that hour - From the time of our Lord's death.

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John, Chapter 21, verses 24-25

²² rebuketh his curiosity touching John, ²⁵ The conclusion

²⁴This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

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21

21:24 This is the disciple who testifieth - Being still alive after he had wrote. And we know that his testimony is true - The Church added these words to St. John's, Gospel, as Tertius did those to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Rom 16:22.

21:25 If they were to be written particularly - Every fact, and all the circumstances of it. I suppose - This expression, which softens the hyperbole, shows that St. John wrote this verse.

NOTES

Why is there “no fear in love”? Why does the fact that fear involves torment make fear an obstacle on the path of love? After all, it may seem that we often suffer when we love. If we think about it, then...

Every evangelist without exception bears witness to the manifestations of the Kingdom that accompanied Jesus' earthly ministry. But only in John do we find a testimony to it connected with the person of the risen Saviour. And perhaps the most remarkable thing about this testimony is precisely the fact that...

Every evangelist without exception bears witness to the manifestations of the Kingdom that accompanied Jesus' earthly ministry. But only in John do we find a testimony to it connected with the person of the risen Saviour. And perhaps the most remarkable thing about this testimony is precisely the fact that it is astonishingly similar, like two drops of water, to what the Gospels relate when describing the Messiah's earthly journey. Here again we have an account of a miraculous catch of fish, like the one that accompanied Peter's first encounter with Jesus (vv. 1–6). Of course, Jesus also acts in this way to make it easier for the apostles to recognize Him, and they apparently do understand at once Who is standing on the shore (v. 7). But this is probably not the only point. The laws of the Kingdom are still the same, and its effect on the world remains unchanged, just as the apostles had seen it even before their Teacher's resurrection.

And yet something changed after the Resurrection. It is no accident that Peter rushes towards Jesus (vv. 7–8) and that He asks him the same question three times: “Do you love Me?” (vv. 15–17). Peter had always been the first in the apostolic community. He was the first to call Jesus the Messiah; he swore that he would die for his Teacher, and he was also the one who denied Him three times after His arrest, in the courtyard of the high priest's house. Of course, this denial can hardly be regarded as deliberate, and it cannot in any way be compared with Judas' long-premeditated and carefully planned betrayal. Here one can speak rather of a kind of spiritual breakdown which, unfortunately, can happen to anyone in our fallen world. In our fallen world, but not in the Kingdom, where there is no place for such breakdowns.

And now, in entrusting His Church to Peter, it is no accident that Jesus requires him three times to confirm his love for Him. Relationships form the foundation of the Kingdom: relationships with God, with Jesus, and between people. The Lord requires Peter to confirm the relationship that already exists, and having received that confirmation, He testifies to the apostle that the day will come when Peter will have to confirm his love for Him not only by his life, but also by his death (vv. 18–19).

Here we probably see one of the most important laws of the Kingdom, where there are no irreparable mistakes, but where every mistake is corrected by the very person who made it. Testimony is important not only for those around the witness; it is no less important for the witness himself, who becomes part of the Kingdom through bearing witness. That is why every voluntary or involuntary refusal to bear witness becomes an obstacle to life in the Kingdom, an obstacle that must be overcome. Not only for the sake of the fullness of the Kingdom, but also for the sake of the fullness of the spiritual life of the person whom it hinders.

In John's account of the crucifixion, the Saviour's solitude on the cross is striking. The evangelist does not mention the apostles standing at a distance; indeed, he describes nothing except the cross itself and what happens at its foot, perhaps because...

In John's account of the crucifixion, the Saviour's solitude on the cross is striking. The evangelist does not mention the apostles standing at a distance; indeed, he describes nothing except the cross itself and what happens at its foot, perhaps because he himself was standing there at the time (vv. 25–27; many commentators believe that when John mentions the unnamed disciple, he is speaking of himself). But the apostle also says nothing about the conversion of one of the robbers crucified with Jesus or about the Saviour's words mentioned by the other evangelists. Judging by John's testimony, Jesus uttered only two words on the cross: “I thirst!” (v. 28) and “It is finished!” (v. 30). Before that, in two short phrases, He entrusted His Mother and the disciple standing by the cross, probably John himself, to each other (vv. 26–27). Apparently, John singles out in the Saviour's words only what concerns him personally and what seems to him most important. It appears that in these two words of Jesus the evangelist sees the meaning of everything that is happening.

The picture described by John was probably not merely a memory of the events at the cross, but the fruit of many years of reflection upon them. For the evangelist, it seems, “It is finished!” meant more than the mere fact that the Saviour had completed His earthly mission, although when standing at the cross the apostle probably had to understand His words in precisely that way. But later, after encountering the Risen One and receiving the revelation he described in the Book of the same name, John apparently understood that Jesus was also speaking of the end of history, of that end of time for which many were waiting and which very few noticed. John does not mention the signs described by the other evangelists: the storm that turned day into night, the earthquake, or the torn veil of the Temple. For him everything was contained in one word, “It is finished!”, spoken by Jesus at the moment of His death on the cross.

But there was something else that struck the apostle. Jesus was dying on the cross like the most ordinary human being. The One Who, during His earthly ministry, could feed thousands with a few loaves suffered from thirst, from the same ordinary thirst that anyone in His place would have experienced, and could do nothing about it. He could do nothing not because He had ceased to be the One He was born among people to be, but because an ordinary human death was also part of His earthly ministry, just as much as the miracles and manifestations of the Kingdom that were impossible for anyone else in the world.

John does not mention the mocking calls addressed to Jesus to come down from the cross, of which the other evangelists testify. Perhaps he did not hear them, for of all the apostles only he was so close to the crucified Teacher, and it is quite possible that he had no attention to spare for the crowd standing at some distance. But he undoubtedly understood the main thing: everything that was happening became possible only through the free will of the Saviour of the world, Who consented to it all for the sake of those He wished to save. Such was the price of salvation and the price of the Kingdom.

FAQ

Some believe that Jehovah God is the only Person who claims worship and trust, and that Jesus is the Son of God, also a Person, but does not claim worship, because Jesus is a creation of Jehovah; moreover, Jesus is not God, since He Himself often prayed to His Heavenly Father (He could not, after all, pray to Himself). The Holy Spirit is impersonal, an expression of the will of Jehovah God; the impersonality of the Holy Spirit is confirmed by the fact that during Pentecost, He descended upon those present, dividing into many flames. The point is that the Holy Spirit divided into many... but can a person divide and be considered the same person? Personally, I believe that judging the nature of God, considering that He is a Trinity or considering that the situation is as described above, is generally wrong. Who can comprehend the nature of God?

Who can comprehend the nature of God? Of course, only God Himself...

Who can comprehend the nature of God? Of course, only God Himself. But what is essentially important for our salvation, He reveals to us. Therefore, the Church has always tried to be precise in comprehending this Revelation, so it is necessary to clearly envision what is important for our coming to God.

The idea of the created nature of Jesus Christ was first expressed by the Alexandrian priest Arius at the beginning of the 4th century AD. The Church quite unanimously rejected this opinion as erroneous, because if it was not God who shared our life and our death with us, then there is no salvation from sin and death for us. Likewise, if the Holy Spirit is a faceless force (a sort of semolina porridge, God forgive me), then communion with a Personal God is impossible for us. In this case, again, there is no salvation, because the entire biblical faith collapses. After all, the Holy Spirit is precisely the One Who pours life into our hearts, and not in some Hellenistic "afterlife existence" (which is a non-biblical idea), but here and now. Thus, the Church believes that Jesus is the God-Man, consubstantial with the Father in His Divinity and consubstantial with us in His humanity, and the Holy Spirit is a Person, God, whom we worship together with the Father and the Son.

The arguments you write about do not seem convincing. Of course, Jesus prays—how else can a man (and God incarnate in a man as well) communicate with the Father? The manner of communion between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the Trinity is incomprehensible to us; but the God-Man Jesus Christ is humbled for our sake to such an extent that He also shares our manner of communion with the Father. As for the worship of Jesus Christ, the Holy Scripture says that it is precisely the belief that He is Lord that gives a person salvation. The Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Romans ( 10:9), to the Philippians ( 2:6-11), and to the Colossians says that the will of God regarding our salvation is that we worship God in Jesus Christ, since "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" ( 2:9). Obviously, the opinion of Arius regarding the created nature of the Son of God radically contradicts these last words of the apostle.

The Holy Spirit, of course, can act in every person, and in many people at once, for He is Almighty! And the "divided tongues, as of fire" are only visible signs of His coming, not He Himself. Ultimately, I reply to letters from many people—does my personality thereby divide into separate pieces of paper?

It is truly important for us to know and accept what is expressed in the dogmatic teaching of the seven Ecumenical Councils, including the concept of the Trinity, first explicitly formulated by St. Theophilus of Antioch in the second half of the 2nd century. The Triunity of God means for us that He a) is not like us; b) transcends us and our understanding; c) has life in Himself; d) gives us the opportunity to share with Him the fullness of His life. This is in brief, of course. The Church's teaching on the Triune God is profound and significant enough to become acquainted with it through the Bible itself and specialized sources.

Everyone, of course, is free to choose their own confession. But it is important for Christians to remember that every dogmatic assertion has consequences in practical spiritual life, and these consequences must be seen and evaluated by their fruits.

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