At the Liturgy

Apostle - Epistle to the Romans of the Holy Apostle Paul, conceived 110 Ch. 12, verses 6-14

Gospel - according to Matthew, conceived 29 Ch. 9, verses 1-8

St. John Chrysostom

Jesus, getting into the boat, crossed back and arrived at His city. And so they brought to Him the paralytic, lying on the bed. And Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: Be of good cheer, child! your sins are forgiven you. At this some of the scribes said to themselves: He blasphemes. Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? for which is easier to say: your sins are forgiven, or to say: get up and walk? But so that you know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, then he says to the paralytic: get up, take up your bed, and go to your house. And he got up, took up his bed and went to his house. The people, seeing this, were surprised and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

The paralytic spoken of here is not the same as the one mentioned in John.

He was lying at the font, and this one was in Capernaum. He suffered for thirty-eight years, but nothing of the kind is said about this. No one cared about this one, but this one had people who cared about him, who brought him to Christ. To this the Savior said: “Son, your sins are forgiven,” and to him: “Do you want to be whole” (John 5:6)? He healed this one on the Sabbath, but not this one on the Sabbath; otherwise the Jews would not have missed the opportunity to accuse Him. While healing this one, they did not say anything, but for healing the first one they did not stop persecuting Him. I pointed out these differences not in vain, but so that anyone, mistaking both paralytics for one person, would not think that the evangelists disagree with each other. But pay attention to the humility and meekness of the Lord. He had alienated the people from Him before, and when the inhabitants of the Gadarene country did not want to accept Him to themselves, He did not resist them, but withdrew from them, although not far. And having boarded the ships again, he crossed to the other side, when he could have done this without the help of a ship. He did not always want to work miracles, so as not to disrupt the order of His economy. Matvey only says that they brought the paralytic; and other evangelists add that those who brought them also opened the roof and, lowering the sick man, placed him before Christ, without saying anything, but leaving everything to the will of the Savior. Previously, the Lord Himself went around the countries and did not demand such faith from those who came to Him; and now they came to Him and revealed their faith before Him - the evangelist specifically says: “having seen Jesus their faith,” that is, those who sent down the paralytic. The Savior did not always demand faith from the suffering themselves, for example, when they suffered from insanity or lost their minds due to some other illness. But here the patient discovered his faith. Otherwise, not having faith, he would not have allowed himself to be lowered. So, since both the relaxed one and those who brought him showed great faith, then the Lord showed His power and forgave the sick person’s sins, as having complete power to do so. He showed His equal dignity with God the Father in everything. He showed this before in His teaching, when He taught the people as having authority; over the leper, when he said to him: “I want you to be cleansed” (Matthew 8:3); over the centurion, when for his words: “say the word only, and my boy will be healed” (v. 8), he was surprised at him and exalted him before everyone; over the sea, when he tamed it with one word; over the demons, when they confessed Him as Judge, and when He great power expelled them. And now, again, in a different, higher way, he forces His enemies to recognize His equality with God the Father, and proclaims this through their lips. The Savior was a stranger to curiosity, despite the fact that a great multitude of people stood before Him, who even blocked the entrance to Him, which is why they lowered the paralytic from above; He does not immediately begin to heal the body of the sick man who appeared before Him, but waits for a reason for this from the enemies themselves, and first heals the invisible, that is, the soul, having forgiven sins - which itself brought healing to the paralytic, but did not bring great glory to the Healer. The scribes, consumed by malice and thinking of accusing Him of blasphemy, against their will, however, contributed to the glorification of the miracle that had taken place. The Savior, in His foresight, took advantage of their blasphemy to show a sign. When they were indignant and said: “This one blasphemes: who can forgive sins but one God” (Matthew 9:3, Mark 2:7), what then did the Lord say to them in response? Did you refute their opinion? If He were not equal to the Father, then He should have said: why do you have a wrong opinion about Me? I don't have that kind of power. But He did not say anything like that, but confirmed and proved the completely opposite, both with His words and with the miracle He performed. But, since His own review of Himself could seem unpleasant to the listeners, He shows through others who He is, and, surprisingly, not only through friends, but also through enemies, in which His highest wisdom is revealed. The Lord showed this through his friends when he said to the leper: “I want to be cleansed,” and to the centurion: “I have not found much faith in Israel” (Matthew 8:3,10); and through enemies - in the present case. Since the scribes said that no one can forgive sins except God alone, the Savior, wanting to show them, “how the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (then the verb to the paralytic)”: having risen, “take up your bed and go into your house” (Matthew 9:6). And not only here, but also in another case, when the Jews said: “We do not lay stones against you for a good deed, but for blasphemy, and because you, this man, have made God for yourself” (John 10:33), - Savior did not refute this opinion of them about Him, but again confirmed it, saying: “If I do not do the work of my Father, do not have faith in Me; “Even if I do, even if you do not believe Me, believe in My work” (John 10:37,38).

About Gospel readings that are rarely paid attention to

Before each Sunday, we will publish one of the 11 Sunday Gospel passages (about the resurrection of Jesus Christ), which is read at the All-Night Vigil before Sunday

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

Many preachers and commentators pay close attention to the topics gospel readings which we hear at Sunday liturgy. And this is absolutely fair, since the most striking texts were selected for reading in the Sunday assembly, during the Liturgy of the Word (or, as we more often say, the Liturgy of the Catechumens). On this background somewhat pale(and completely undeservedly) Gospel fragments read the day before, during the all-night vigil, namely at Matins.

These readings are repeated several times a year, we quickly learn them by heart, and having learned them, we cease to perceive them as something important, like the word of Christ and His disciples addressed to us.

In the proposed series of publications, I would like to draw attention, firstly, to the Sunday gospels themselves, and secondly, to their place in worship.

As is known, total number There are eleven episodes of the Gospel read at the Sunday all-night vigil. The number, it must be admitted, is not very beautiful or famous. The numbers 3, 7, 9, 12, 40, 70 are much more familiar to us... But that is exactly how many - eleven - the apostles remained after the betrayal of Judas and before the election of Matthias. (However, not everything is simple here either - we will return to these calculations in due course.)

For the first time the Sunday Gospels begin to be read right after Easter- literally on her very first day (and even a little earlier, as you can see if you are careful). But from Easter to Pentecost there are only 8 weeks (weeks), so 11 Gospel readings at all-night vigils cannot possibly fit here.

Regular, unfettered reading of the Sunday Gospels begins from the first week (Sunday) after Pentecost - i.e. from All Saints' Day. On this day we hear the first Sunday gospel, next week - the second, and so on, until the last - the eleventh. After this, the cycle resumes. This continues even during Great Lent - right up to the Sunday preceding the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem - the 6th Sunday of Great Lent. The Sunday Gospel reading at Matins can be canceled only if the Twelfth Feast coincides with Sunday.

So, what exactly are the gospel stories that we hear on Sundays?

1) Matthew 28:16–20 (chapter 116) - Christ sends his disciples to preach;

2) Mark 16:1–8 (chapter 70) - an angel appears to students;

3) Mark 16:9–20 (chapter 71) - a summary of the various appearances of the risen Savior to the disciples, the ascension;

4) Luke 24: 1–12 (chapter 112) - an angel appears to students; Peter runs to the empty tomb;

5) Luke 24:12–35 (chapter 113) - Christ appears to Luke and Cleopas going to Emmaus;

6) Luke 24: 36–53 (chapter 114) - Christ's appearance to the disciples and ascension;

7) John 20:1–10 (chapter 63) - students and disciples come to the tomb of the Teacher;

8) John 20:11–18 (chapter 64) - the appearance of Christ to Magdalene;

9) John 20:19–31 (chapter 65) - disbelief and faith of Thomas;

10) John 21:1–14 (chapter 66) - a wonderful catch of fish;

11) John 21:15–25 (chapter 67) - dialogue between Jesus and Peter; prediction about the fate of John.

As we can see, there is only one fragment for the Gospel of Matthew, two for the Gospel of Mark, three for the Gospel of Luke, and the remaining five for the Gospel of John. This disproportion is almost entirely explained by completely natural reasons:

John devotes two chapters to events after the Resurrection versus one in the other evangelists;

in Luke chapter 24 there are really three episodes that stand out;

in Mark, the last chapter obviously breaks down into two parts (not only plot-wise, but also from the point of view of textual criticism).

But with Matthew the picture is somewhat more complicated. What we read as the first Sunday gospel is just five verses at the very end of chapter 28. But the first 15 verses of this chapter form two more episodes (vv. 1–8, 9–15) of quite festive content - Why weren’t they included in the Sunday Gospel readings? Is it really just to be faithful to the number 11? Partly, no doubt, for this reason. But these 15 verses are not offensive at all: they (and the ending of chapter 28 as well) are read at the most solemn service of the entire church year. We know it as the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great on Holy Saturday. This service, which according to the charter should be performed in the evening (and not at all in the morning, as is our custom, so that later the whole day you can bless the Easter cakes), in fact, the first liturgy of Easter. And at this service, for the first time since Holy Week, we hear the news of the Resurrection of Christ.

Many people probably have an idea of ​​liturgical circles (cycles):

the annual fixed circle, which is reflected in the Menaion;

annual moving circle - Lenten and Colored Triodion;

circle of Octoechos; sedemic (weekly) circle;

finally - the daily cycle of worship.

However, it is usually not customary to talk about the gospel cycle.

Meanwhile, the Sunday gospels at Matins have a certain influence on the composition of the hymns heard at a particular service.

After the execution of the canon (more precisely, after the small litany and the proclamation “Holy is the Lord our God”) we hear Sunday exapostilary and his Theotokos, and before “Blessed are you, O Virgin Mother of God...” (sometimes just before the first hour)- Gospel stichera.

All these three texts (exapostilary, theotokos and stichera) depend on the Gospel reading (and not on the voice) and are found in the appendix of the Octoechos (and not in its main part).

In further publications, along with the text of the Gospel, we will present these texts - in the traditional Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hieronymus. Ambrose (Timroth).

1st Sunday Gospel at Matins

Matthew chapter 28

16 So the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus commanded them,

17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted.

18 And Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

19 Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

That's extremely important words, which we - laity, priests, bishops - would do well to remember more often. In Protestant literature there is even a special term for this phrase: the great commission. Here it is, this commission given to the Saviors, the apostles and all of us: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.

The Gospel readings at Sunday morning are arranged in the same order as they are in the Four Gospels: first from the Gospel of Matthew, then from Mark, Luke and John. It would seem that this is obvious - but the liturgical readings have a different order: from Easter to Pentecost - John, then Matthew, Mark, Luke and Mark again (others conceived).

As stated in the introductory post, the 28th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is read in its entirety at the Holy Saturday liturgy. Let us remind you that Holy Saturday is one of the days when ancient Church The catechumens were baptized. Much in the service of this day - both in its composition and content - is connected with the sacrament of baptism. One of the most striking and obvious reminders of this connection is the replacement in the liturgy of the usual Trisagion before the reading of Scripture with “Those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Hallelujah."

Why are we talking about the Holy Saturday service when our topic is the Sunday Gospels? Firstly, because this service is in many ways a Sunday service: at Matins, usually performed on the evening of Good Friday, we hear the Sunday troparia “The Council of Angels...” and Ezekiel’s prophecy about the general resurrection; Vespers on Great Saturday is Vespers on the eve of Easter (there will be no other Vespers on this day - then only Midnight Office and Easter Matins). Secondly, Holy Saturday, as we have just noted, is closely connected with baptism; but in our time, baptism is performed on the most different days of the year - and at the same time, every time we hear the same words from the Gospel, namely, the very first Sunday Gospel reading at Matins, which we are talking about today.

So what is the content of these five verses that conclude the first of the four Gospels? The Evangelist Matthew describes the one and only appearance of Christ to the apostles; Thus, according to his plan, according to the composition of his Gospel (and Matthew’s composition is thought out quite carefully), we have before us a meeting - and at the same time a farewell. The more important and significant is every word of the Teacher.

Poem. 16. Eleven disciples go to Galilee, that is, to the homeland of most of them. As we know, Christ himself was called a Galilean as a resident of Nazareth (few people knew about His birth in Bethlehem). Why are they going there? In the hope of seeing the risen Teacher, since before his suffering Jesus said to the apostles: after My resurrection I will go before you to Galilee(see Matthew 26:32). The myrrh-bearers (and they the apostles) were reminded of this by the angel who rolled away the stone from the entrance to the tomb: He has risen from the dead and is going before you into Galilee; you will see Him there(Matthew 28:7).

Poem. 17: and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted. Of course, it was not the closest disciples who doubted, but some of those who saw the risen Jesus with them. Their doubt is quite understandable: after all, even one of the Twelve, Thomas, was in no hurry at first to believe the testimony of his fellows about the appearance of the risen Christ to them (John 20:24–25).

Poem. 18: And Jesus approached and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” It would seem, what is new and unexpected here? We, living two thousand years after the events described, know all too well that Jesus is God. It is quite natural to think that He, as God and the Son of God, really does have dominion over the whole world. This is true, but the semantic emphasis here, of course, is different. The coming of Christ to earth - this thought permeates the entire Gospel - was not in glory and not in external power. The King of the Jews, to the disappointment of the Jewish revolutionary party, did not compete with Herod, did not throw off the yoke of the Romans, and did not sit on the throne of David. Instead, He chose to die. But now, after the Cross, “God... glorified His Son Jesus” (Acts 3:13) - the time of humiliation has passed, the time of glory has come, the time of joy.

And then there are extremely important words that we - laity, priests, bishops - would do well to remember more often. In Protestant literature there is even a special term for this phrase: the great commission. Here it is, this is the commission given to the Saviors, the apostles and to all of us:

Sihi. 19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.

The news - perhaps somewhat unpleasant and confusing - for the apostles here was that it was not only the believing representatives of the chosen people who needed to be baptized (remember that Jesus himself preached only among his fellow tribesmen, and even sent disciples only to the cities of Judea - see Matthew 10 :5–6, 15:24), but also strangers, pagans - “goyim.” Time will pass- and preaching among the pagans will become something obvious (this will begin, as we know, with the Apostle Peter - see Acts 10). And even later everything will turn upside down: Christians - yesterday's pagans, idolaters - will look with exaltation and contempt at the people chosen and created by God himself - yes, a people who have departed from their Creator, but were not completely rejected by Him and are still called to salvation (Apostle Paul speaks about this in detail in the 11th chapter of his letter to the Romans). But that's a completely different story...

In Christ’s command there is, I think, news for us too. Let us pay attention to the context in which the command to baptize is given: teach... baptizing... teaching. Baptism in itself is completely insufficient; Yes, and that’s not where we should start. The Apostle Paul, as we remember, almost said with offense: Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Cor 1:17; in Church Slavonic, perhaps even more expressively: Christ did not send... me to baptize, but to evangelize) Unfortunately, neither Church Slavonic nor Russian translations are able to accurately convey the meaning of the words of the original Greek Gospel of Matthew. The first of the two words, “teach,” literally means “to make a disciple.” Apprenticeship presupposes a certain stability of relationships, their duration and constancy. First a person must become a disciple of the apostles and their successors, and then he will be taught for quite a long time. And only then will baptism take place. For, as the blessed one says so beautifully. Jerome of Stridon, “the body is not capable of receiving the sacrament of baptism until the soul has accepted the truth of faith.” Needless to say, for most of Church history this was not the case. The result is obvious.

Poem. 20.: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. These words of the Savior, of course, cannot leave a Christian indifferent: Christ is with us, with every person! Every minute and second of our life - He is nearby! But if we read more carefully, we will see here a reference to the very beginning gospel history, told to us by the Evangelist Matthew. Having described the events that followed Mary’s conception of the Son of God, the evangelist summarizes: And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Behold, a virgin is with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us. During his earthly life, Jesus of Nazareth was not called Immanuel. But now Jesus promises to be with us always. And if we, together with the apostles, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and God, then it means that God is truly with us, as Isaiah said (Isaiah 8:10).

The final Amen (“truly”, “so”) is not found in all manuscripts of the New Testament. Perhaps this word was added later - as the Church’s response to its Teacher, as the Christians’ response to the Good News announced by the Evangelist Matthew.

As an appendix, we present those liturgical texts that depend on the Gospel reading at Matins. This is the exapostilary, his Theotokos and the Gospel stichera. These chants reveal and complement the content of the read episode from the Gospel.

My disciples and I will ascend Mount Galilee,

By the faith of Christ we see the declaring power of receiving those above and those below, let us learn:

as he teaches to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all tongues,

and abide with the secret places, as promised, until the end of time.

Translation: ,

We will gather with the disciples on Mount Galilee,

to see Christ by faith,

proclaiming that He has received power over things above and below;

let us learn how He teaches to baptize all nations

in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

and as he promised to remain with those initiated into His mysteries

until the end of time.

Theotokos:

You and your disciples rejoiced, O Virgin Mary,

for you saw Christ risen from the tomb on the third day, as he said:

in which he appeared, teaching and demonstrating the best,

and commanding to baptize in the Father, and the Son, and the Dus,

Let us believe in His rise, and glorify You, O Youth.

Translation:

You rejoiced with your disciples, Virgin Mary,

for I saw Christ risen from the tomb

on the third day, as He said.

He appeared to them, teaching and revealing the highest secrets,

and commanding to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

so that we may believe in His resurrection and glorify You, O Young Lady.

Morning stichera:

To the mountain as a disciple going for earthly ascension,

The Lord appeared, and having worshiped Him, and having learned everywhere from the given authorities, He was sent into the heavenly places to preach the hedgehog from the dead. resurrection and Ascension into heaven: in whom Christ God was promised to abide forever, without falsehood,

and Savior of our souls.

Translation:

To the disciples who climbed the mountain,

The Lord appeared before His ascension from the earth.

And they, having bowed to Him and learned about the power given to Him everywhere,

were sent into heaven to proclaim

about His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven.

He promised to remain with them forever

Christ God, alien to lies

and Savior of our souls.

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

2nd Sunday Gospel at Matins

Mark chapter 16

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Him.

2 And very early, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb, at sunrise,

3 And they say among themselves, Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?

4 And they looked and saw that the stone had been rolled away; and he was very big.

5 And when they entered into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with white clothes; and were horrified.

6 And he saith unto them, Do not be dismayed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified; He has risen, He is not here. This is the place where He was laid.

7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.

8 And they went out and ran from the tomb; They were seized with trepidation and horror, and they did not say anything to anyone, because they were afraid.

For the first time after Easter, we hear these lines as part of the liturgical reading on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women (we talked about this Gospel reading six months ago), which combines the 10th Passion Gospel (Mark 15:43-47) and the second Sunday Gospel; at matins on this day the third Sunday Gospel is read (Mark 16:9-20), which we will talk about next week.

In the current Gospel fragment - about the arrival of the myrrh-bearing women to the empty tomb and the appearance of an angel to them - we read approximately the same as in parallel passages from other evangelists (Matthew 28:1-8; Luke 24:1-11; John 20 :1–2). However, there is one detail here that I would like to draw attention to. These are the words of an angel. He says to the women: “Tell his disciples and Peter...”

As we see, Peter finds himself singled out here, opposed to the rest of the disciples and apostles. Why is that? Apparently, there can be two answers here. Either Peter is placed as an angel above the disciples (but then it would be logical to name him first, as is always done when listing the apostles - see, for example, Mark 3:13–19); or, on the contrary, Peter is placed below, outside the number of disciples.

Obviously, the latter assumption is more reasonable.

First, we know that Peter denied the Teacher (Mt 26:69–75; Mk 14:66–72; Lk 22:54–62; Jn 18:15–27) - and therefore could no longer be called His disciple, although he did not act like Judas, but, on the contrary, having repented, found the strength to remain together with the other apostles.

Secondly, it is characteristic that the angel speaks specifically about Peter only in the Gospel of Mark - and this Gospel was often called Peter's Gospel, since, according to legend, Mark recorded Peter's oral sermon (in Mark's compressed, energetic style we can sense the ardent and impetuous nature Peter). Presumably, Peter considered it necessary not only to talk about his fall, which other evangelists also did, but also to emphasize his separation from the disciples, which was overcome only by Christ himself, which we will hear about in the last, 11th Sunday Gospel.

As a matter of fact, this is where the Gospel of Mark ends - or, more correctly, breaks off: in the Greek text in verse 8 the last particle is that which usually occupies the second (but not the last!) place in a subordinate clause. Yes, next Sunday we will hear another conception from this Gospel, but verses 9–20 almost certainly do not belong to the evangelist himself: both textual criticism and stylistics testify to this; in addition, in addition to Mark (16:9–20), another, short, ending of the book is known - but it is almost incredible that it belongs to Mark.

Some commentators suggest that such a sudden ending was part of the author's intention - we find a similar technique in the literature of the New Age: we can recall, for example, “The Sentimental Journey...” by L. Stern. But this is still unlikely to be the case. Let me quote N. T. Wright (b. 1945) - an Anglican bishop, a leading expert on the New Testament: “it is much more likely that he (Mark - F. L.) nevertheless wrote a conclusion - about how the women told all the disciples, and they went to the tomb, and then (judging by verses 14:28 and 16:7, in Galilee) they met Jesus again. I think at the end of the book, Jesus assured the disciples that He was again living, albeit a renewed, but bodily life, and also entrusted them with the mission that they would henceforth fulfill (13:10, 14:9). The ending of the book may be quite short, but it is very significant, since the conclusion always brings together all the themes outlined in the book.”

Below are the Sunday exapostilary related to the Gospel reading, its Theotokion and stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth):

Exapostilary

Having seen the stone, it was rolled away, the myrrh-bearers rejoiced,

I saw a young man sitting in a tomb,

and to that speech: behold, Christ has arisen,

chant with Peter the disciple:

Go to the mountain of Galilee, there he will appear to you,

as predicted by a friend.

Translation:

Seeing the stone rolled away,

the myrrh-bearers rejoiced,

for they saw a young man sitting in the tomb,

and he announced to them:

“Behold, Christ has risen; Tell Peter and all the disciples:

Hurry to Mount Galilee,

there He will appear to you,

as He predicted to His friends.”

Theotokos:

Bring the angel to the Virgin, rejoice,

before Your conception, Christ,

Angel, roll away the stone of Your tomb,

instead of sorrow and joy there are unspeakable signs,

But in death the place of the giver of life is preached and magnified,

and saying resurrection to women, and to the secret place.

Translation:

The angel brought the greeting “Rejoice” to the Virgin before Your, O Christ, conception;

The angel even rolled away the stone from Your tomb.

The first - instead of sadness, showing signs of unspeakable joy,

the second - instead of death

about You, the Giver of life, shouting,

and magnifying You, and proclaiming the resurrection

wives and initiates into Your secrets.

Gospel stichera:

From the world to the wives who came with Mary,

and perplexed

how will they satisfy their desire,

when the stone appears, it is taken,

and the Divine youth quenching the rebellion of their souls,

“Rise up,” he says, “Jesus is Lord.”

Therefore preach as His preacher,

disciple to mother-in-law's Galilee,

and see Him risen from the dead,

as the Giver of Life and the Lord.

Translation:

To the wives who were with Maria,

who came with incense

and wondering how to achieve what they want,

the stone appeared

and the Divine youth, calming the confusion of their souls;

“After all,” he said, “Jesus the Lord has risen;

therefore tell the messengers, His disciples,

so that they hurry to Galilee

and they saw Him risen from the dead,

as the life of the Giver and Lord."

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

3rd Sunday Gospel at Matins

Mark chapter 16

9 Having risen early on the first day of the week, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven demons.

10 She went and told those who were with Him, weeping and lamenting;

11 But when they heard that He was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe.

12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them on the road, as they were going into the village.

13 And they returned and told the others; but they didn’t believe them either.

14 Finally, he appeared to the eleven themselves, who were reclining at supper, and reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him risen.

15 And he said to them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

18 They will take up snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

19 And so the Lord, after speaking with them, ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

20 And they went and preached everywhere, with the Lord working together and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

As mentioned last time, the lengthy (and also short) ending of the Gospel of Mark that we know was written anew after the original conclusion of the book was lost. The fact, of course, is extremely annoying, but still there is no big problem in this: Holy Scripture is part of Holy Tradition, and today’s fragment also reflects the Tradition of the Church, even if these lines do not belong to the Evangelist Mark.

At the same time, we see that a good half of today’s Sunday morning reading is a rather dry retelling of stories, mostly known from other Gospels. Thus, we read about the appearance of the risen Savior to Mary Magdalene in John the Theologian (John 20: 11–18 - 7th Sunday Gospel), about the apostles’ disbelief in her words and the words of other myrrh-bearing women - in Luke (24:11), in him and about the appearance of Jesus “to two of them on the road” (Luke 24:12–35 - 5th Gospel) and about the Ascension (Luke 24:50–51), etc.

It is noteworthy that the anonymous author of the last verses of the Gospel of Mark puts into the mouth of Christ a prediction about the signs that will accompany those who believe. It must be admitted that these words clearly contrast with other statements of Jesus about miracles - cf., for example: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah; For just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:39-40).

On the contrary, signs and wonders, according to the word of the Savior, are integral attributes of false Christs and false prophets: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). But if we pay attention to what kind of miracles we are talking about in today’s reading, we will notice that for the most part these are either those gifts that Christ Himself already gave to the apostles - the first of those who believed: healing of the sick, casting out demons, etc.; or these are the gifts that the apostles and other disciples received after Pentecost - first of all, the gift of tongues.

The words about snakes are reminiscent of the famous episode with Paul in the last chapter of Acts: “When Paul had gathered a lot of sticks and was putting them on the fire, then a viper came out from the heat and hung on his hand. The foreigners, when they saw the snake hanging on his hand, said to each other: surely this man is a murderer, when the judgment [of God] does not allow him to live, having escaped from the sea. But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm” (Acts 28:3-5). It is possible that the author of the ending had this particular story in mind.

You should also pay attention to the words of the Savior: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (v. 15). In Matthew we heard the command to “teach all nations” (see Matthew 28:19), but here we are talking about “all creation,” the entire creation - that is, literally understood, about rational and irrational creatures, living and nonliving nature. Should the interpretation really be exactly like this? It is unlikely that there is an exhaustive and unambiguous answer here. However, it is known that in other cases a question turns out to be more valuable than an answer, since it gives reason for reflection - but a ready-made answer deprives us of such an opportunity. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to recalling the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Romans: “... the creation waits with hope for the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation was subjected to vanity, not voluntarily, but according to the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now…” (Rom 8:19-22).

Nowadays, we very well see and understand the connection between our sins and passions (greed, cruelty, stupidity) and the torment of the creature - at least on the scale of our planet. However, one can hope that if at least part of creation - people - accept the Good News, then the rest of creation will not be far from deliverance and freedom.

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

Because Christ is risen, let no one believe: having appeared to Mary, he was then seen walking into the village, and again appeared in secret to the one and ten reclining, having sent them to baptize, and ascended into heaven, from nowhere and from below, confirming the preaching of many signs.

Translation:

No one should doubt that Christ has risen; for He appeared to Mary, then those who went to the village saw Him, and again appeared to those initiated into the mysteries, the eleven who were reclining; having sent them to baptize, He ascended into heaven, from where He descended, and confirmed their preaching with many signs.

Theotokos:

The Sun that has risen, like a bridegroom from the palace, has come out of the grave this day, having captivated hell and abolished death, Who was born through prayers and sent down light to us: light, enlightening hearts and souls: light, teaching everyone to walk in the paths of Your commandments, and on the path of peace.

Translation:

The sun, who rose on this day from the grave, like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, and who captured hell and destroyed death! Through the intercessions of You who gave birth, light was sent down to us, a light that enlightens hearts and souls, a light that instructs everyone to walk in the paths of Your commandments and the ways of the world.

Morning stichera:

Magdalene Mary of Spasovo preaching the good news from Dead Resurrection and the appearance of the disciples, who were not believers, was reproached for their hardness of heart: but they armed themselves with signs and sent miracles for preaching, and you, Lord, ascended to the initial light of the Father, and they preached the word everywhere, assuring miracles. Moreover, having been enlightened by those, we glorify Your resurrection from the dead, O Lord who loves mankind.

Translation:

The disciples who did not believe Mary Magdalene, who preached the gospel of the resurrection from the dead and the appearance of the Savior, were reproached for their hardness of heart; but, armed with signs and wonders, they were sent to preach. And You, Lord, ascended to the Beginning of the World - the Father, and they proclaimed the word everywhere , confirming it with miracles. Therefore, we, enlightened by them, glorify Your resurrection from the dead, O philanthropic Lord!

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

4th Sunday Gospel at Matins

Luke chapter 24

1 On the very first day of the week, very early, bringing the spices that had been prepared, they came to the tomb, and with them some others;

2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

3 And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 When they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men appeared before them in shining clothes.

5 And when they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

6 He is not here: He has risen; remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.

8 And they remembered His words;

9 And returning from the tomb, they announced all this to the eleven and to all the rest.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and others with them, who told the apostles about this.

11 And their words seemed empty to them, and they did not believe them.

12 But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and he went back, marveling at what had happened.

Today's Gospel reading represents one of three episodes in the Gospel of Luke relating to the Resurrection of Christ.

In the first of them, which we are talking about today, we do not yet see the risen Jesus - we only discover, together with the myrrh-bearers and Peter, that the tomb is empty, and we hear angels talking about the rising of the Son of God from the dead.

In the second (this is the fifth Sunday reading, Luke 24:12-35) Jesus appears to two disciples, but in such a way that they do not recognize Him at first.

Finally, in the third episode (sixth gospel, Luke 24: 36–53), which ends the first part of Luke’s dilogy, Jesus openly appears to the eleven apostles and those who were with them at that moment (including, as is commonly believed, Luke himself).

It is very important when reading the Gospel (and most of us read it not for the first time) to maintain freshness of perception. The easiest way to achieve this is to look at the events described through the eyes of the characters in the gospel story. We know that Christ has risen - for us this is one of the tenets of our faith, something obvious and almost ordinary. But, of course, this was not at all the case for the myrrh-bearers.

Let's take a closer look and think about this picture.

Here are the women who followed Jesus throughout Palestine, provided Him with material and technical assistance, the women who were His disciples (and, moreover, no less devoted than the men called apostles) - they come to the tomb of the Teacher. For what? In order to say: “Well, well, it’s already the third day - it’s time! Now it’s already resurrected - shouldn’t we miss it?” No, nothing like that.

They come to properly prepare for burial the body of Jesus, who was condemned to death as a criminal - and actually died: some of them saw it with their own eyes. They come to the tomb (and, as we recently read from Mark, on the way they think who will roll away the huge stone from the entrance to the tomb), they come and see: the stone has been rolled away, there is no body. They are at a loss: what happened?

If they had any idea that Jesus had risen, this was the very last thing that came to their minds. The first thoughts, obviously, were: the body was taken away - but who did it and why?

And at this moment, when they were in confusion and confusion, “two men in shining clothes” appeared to them. We identify them with calm confidence as angels (one might think that angels appear to us every day), but the myrrh-bearers hardly thought: “Oh, these are angels. Now they will tell us something important.” At that moment, most likely, they did not think so much as they felt - and they felt, as Luke says, fear.

But instead of fear - joy! A joy that is not so easy to realize, not easy to believe in. The men (yes, these were angels, of course) turn to the women - and one cannot help but see some irony in their words. No, this is not evil irony, for it would be cruel and unfair to mock weak creatures who, overcoming natural fear, came to show love to their Teacher. But still, the angels know and understand Who Jesus of Nazareth was and is - and it seems strange to them that someone could think of looking for the Living God among the dead.

But, condescending to the limitations of human nature, they explain to the disciples of the Son of God what happened here: “He is not here - He has risen. Remember how He told you...” And they will understand! This is amazing: is it possible to forget this? Is it possible to forget when your loved one, the person whom you love and respect, to whom you are devoted, whom you value and for whom, perhaps, you would not regret giving your life - is it possible to forget when he tells you: I will soon die. And moreover: I will rise again.

It’s easy to dismiss the phrase “I’ll die soon”: yes, we will all die someday, that’s understandable, but it’s not yet - and you’ll live too, you’re still young, never mind, it’s too early for you to think about death. But when they say: I will rise again, consciousness simply refuses to accept these words.

And when something happened that the disciples and disciples of Jesus did not want to think about (too painful!) and which they refused to believe, then they did not dare to extract from their memory what was undoubtedly stored there: the second part of the prophecy - about the Resurrection.

But now everything comes together: there is no body, men in shining clothes say that He is alive, the myrrh-bearers themselves remember that this is exactly what He said, this is exactly what He predicted - and they go, run to the apostles to tell them this joyful news.

However, their joy is met by a wall of misunderstanding: the apostles decided to grieve seriously, and nothing should distract them from this. And then these women come running and talk nonsense! How is it - resurrected? People die, we know that; but to be resurrected - no, we won’t believe women’s fables. And only Peter responds with his heart to the words of the women and, although he was not the youngest and probably not the most athletic of the apostles, runs to the tomb - and sees that the women are right in at least one thing: that the tomb is empty.

Peter goes back - in surprise. No, he has not yet believed in the resurrection of the Teacher; he must not yet allow himself to even think about it, let alone hope - and at the same time he cannot help but think. Here we, together with the author, leave Peter, and the other apostles, and the myrrh-bearers - and go together with the two disciples to Emmaus. But more on that next time.

As usual, we present liturgical texts related to the Gospel reading: the Sunday exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

Shining with virtues,

we see that she is in the life-giving tomb

husband in shining robes:

to the myrrh-bearers who bowed their faces to the ground,

let us learn the Lord's resurrection heavens,

and to the Belly Sepulcher with Peter the Father,

and being amazed at what we have done, we will continue to see Christ.

Translation:

Shining with virtues,

we will see in the life-giving tomb

men in shining clothes,

presented to the myrrh-bearers,

with their faces bowed to the ground;

let us be convinced of the resurrection of the Lord of the heavens,

and let us hasten with Peter to Life in the tomb,

and, having marveled at what has happened, we will remain to see Christ

Theotokos:

Rejoice, O prophet of prophecy, thou hast accomplished

the sorrow of the ancestors, Lord,

bringing joy of Your rising into the world:

because the Life-Giver, Who gave birth to Thee,

light enlightening the hearts,

send down the light of Your bounties,

cry out to you:

more loving than God-man,

glory to Your rising.

Translation:

"Rejoice" shouting

You changed the sorrow of the forefathers, O Lord,

instead introducing joy into the world

about Your resurrection.

Send down his light, Giver of life,

for the sake of She who bore You in her womb,

the light of Your mercy, illuminating hearts,

so that we can cry to You:

"Lover of mankind, man of God,

glory to your resurrection!”

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

5th Sunday Gospel at Matins

Luke chapter 24

12 But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and he went back, marveling at what had happened.

13 That same day two of them went to a village sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, called Emmaus;

14 And they talked among themselves about all these events.

15 And while they were talking and reasoning with one another, Jesus himself came near and went with them.

16 But their eyes were kept, so that they did not recognize Him.

17 And he said to them, “What is it that you talk about among yourself as you walk, and why are you sad?”

18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only one who came to Jerusalem who does not know what has happened in it these days?”

19 And he said to them, “About what?” They said to Him: What happened to Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

20 How the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him.

21 But we hoped that He was the One who was to deliver Israel; but with all that, it is now the third day since this happened.

22 But some of our women astonished us: they were early at the tomb

23 And they did not find His body, and they came and said that they had seen the appearance of angels, who said that He was alive.

24 And some of our men went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him.

25 Then He said to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

26 Was this not the way Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory?

27 And beginning at Moses, he expounded to them from all the prophets what was spoken about him in all the Scriptures.

28 And they approached the village to which they were going; and He showed them that He wanted to go further.

29 But they restrained Him, saying: Stay with us, because the day has already fallen to evening. And He went in and stayed with them.

30 And as He reclined with them, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. But He became invisible to them.

32 And they said to one another, “Didn’t our heart burn within us when He spoke to us on the road and when He explained the Scripture to us?”

33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven apostles together and those who were with them,

34 who said that the Lord had truly risen and appeared to Simon.

35 And they related what had happened on the way, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread.

This gospel episode is usually called the story of Luke and Cleopas. The name of Cleopas is indeed mentioned here (v. 18), but Luke does not explicitly speak about himself. However, it is often believed that the second traveler heading to Emmaus was the evangelist himself. What are the reasons for this? First, the text (v. 13) indicates that these were “two of them,” that is, from the disciples of Jesus. Moreover (secondly) these two were not from among the Twelve (now the Eleven) - see Art. 33. Finally (thirdly), this plot is found only in Luke. It is clear that such reasoning cannot serve as a strict proof, but with their help it is possible to substantiate the above hypothesis. But this is not the only solution: Cleopas’ companion (more precisely, companion) could well have been his wife Mary (we know her by just that name: Mary Cleopas - see John 19:25).

Today's fragment of the Gospel of Luke is read not only at Sunday morning once every eleven weeks, but also represents the liturgical reading of Tuesday of Bright Week. And this is quite strange, since, with very rare exceptions (one of two such exceptions is the Ascension, but the reasons there are quite clear), during the period from Easter to Pentecost the Gospel of John is read at the liturgy. It is difficult to say what dictated the choice of this particular reading for Bright Tuesday. Perhaps this is due to the expression “third day” used by the disciples (v. 21) - and Tuesday is precisely the third day, if Sunday is considered the first day. But it is obvious that in Luke the countdown is not from the day of the resurrection of Christ (the disciples do not yet know about the resurrection), but from the day of the crucifixion; and the disciples go to Emmaus precisely on the very first day after the resurrection of the Teacher.

The story of the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus is one of the most striking pages in the Gospel of Luke, not only theologically, but also in relation to literary excellence author. A lot has been written about this plot over twenty centuries. I would like to draw attention to only one side of it.

The two go to a village located 10–12 kilometers from the capital. The evangelist does not tell us why they are going there, but we can guess that the goal was quite mundane, not directly related to the dramatic events that took place just a couple of days ago. Jesus died on the cross - and these two are in sorrow, but, as they say, life goes on, and for some of their business they go to Emmaus.

And so - we skip the whole middle of the story - in the breaking of bread (being prepared by a conversation with their companions along the way and witnessing to each other in hindsight that during this conversation their hearts were on fire) they recognize the Teacher. They, as can be concluded from the evangelist’s story, had just reached their destination. But, realizing that Jesus had just really appeared to them, that the women who followed them were telling the truth, that something had happened that could not happen, and that their lives would never be the same - as soon as they realized all this, they forget about all those matters (important, perhaps, not only for them) that led them to this small village, and they rush back to Jerusalem, neglecting fatigue and their own arguments that it is already dark and they need an overnight stay.

Resurrection of Christ completely changes priorities, it enters - bursts in! - into our lives and forces us, at least for a while, to put aside everything boring, important and serious, since the one on whom the reflection of the Resurrection fell will no longer be able to pretend that nothing happened. Resurrection is victory over death, it is sparkling, boiling and overflowing life, it is rejoicing, joy and fun, and this is the kind of joy that you will not accumulate in yourself - no, it must be shared with other people, because that’s the only way to and can be saved.

And indeed: in Jerusalem (in the middle of the night!) there is the joy of meeting other disciples and the multiplication of this joy: the Son of God has truly risen and has already appeared to Simon Peter. And moreover: to all those gathered - the Eleven, those who were then with them, the newly arrived Cleopas and his companion - Jesus himself again appears.

But more on that next time.

As an appendix, we present the hymns of Octoechos, which correlate with the current Gospel reading: the Sunday Exapostilary, his Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).

Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)

The life and the way, Christ has risen from the dead, Cleopas and Lutsa traveled, having been known and known at Emmaus, breaking bread: with her souls and hearts burning by the way, when the theme of the verb was on the way, and the scriptures you said, even endured. With him, we rise, we call, and appeared to Petrov.

Translation:

Life and path - Christ, having risen from the dead, accompanied Cleopas and Luke, and was recognized by them at Emmaus in the breaking of bread. Their souls and hearts burned when He spoke to them on the way and explained in the scriptures what He suffered. Let us exclaim with them: “He rebelled and also appeared to Peter!”

Theotokos:

I sing of Thy innumerable mercy, my Creator, as Thou hast exhausted Thyself, to bear and save embittered human nature: and this God, Thou didst deign, from the pure Virgin Mary, to be after me, and to descend even to hell, although I may be saved, through the prayers of Who gave birth to Thee, O Lord All-generous.

Translation:

I sing of Your immeasurable mercy, my Creator; for You diminished Yourself in order to come down from heaven and save the broken nature of mortals; and, being God, deigned, having been born from the pure Mother of God, to become like me and descend to hell, wanting to save me, the Word, according to intercessions of the One who gave birth to You, All-merciful Lord.

Morning stichera:

About your wise destinies, Christ! How did you allow Peter to understand your resurrection with one shroud, and when you traveled to Luca and Cleopas, you talked, and did not reveal yourself while talking? Likewise, you were reviled, because you alone came to Jerusalem, and did not take communion in the end of their advice. But who was all for the creation of the benefit of the system, and who opened prophecies about You, and who never blessed the bread, was known to them, and even before that, their hearts fell apart for the knowledge of Yours, and even the disciples gathered had already clearly preached Your resurrection, to whom have mercy us.

Translation:

Oh, how wise are Your judgments, Christ! How You allowed Peter to comprehend Your resurrection with only swaddling clothes! While traveling, You converse with Luke and Cleopas, and while conversing, you do not immediately reveal Yourself. Therefore, from them You also accept the reproach that You are one of those who came in Jerusalem and was indifferent to the outcome of his plans. But, as one who arranges everything for the benefit of creation, You also revealed the prophecies that were about You, and at the blessing of the bread you were recognized by those whose hearts had already burned to know You. They already clearly proclaimed to the assembled disciples Thy resurrection, whereby have mercy on us.

6th Sunday Gospel at Matins

Luke chapter 24

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were confused and afraid, and thought they saw a spirit.

38 But He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter your hearts?

39 Look at My hands and My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and look at Me; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

40 And having said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

41 While they still did not believe for joy and were amazed, He said to them, “Do you have any food here?”

42 They gave Him some of the baked fish and honeycomb.

43 And he took it and ate before them.

44 And he said to them, “This is what I spoke to you about while I was still with you, that everything that was written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,

47 And repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses to this.

49 And I will send the promise of My Father upon you; But stay in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.

50 And he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

51 And when he blessed them, he began to move away from them and ascend into heaven.

52 They worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

53 And they remained always in the temple, glorifying and blessing God. Amen.

This Gospel reading is read at Sunday mornings once every 11 weeks, as well as at the liturgy on Ascension Day. We will return to the topic of the Ascension, but for now I would like to draw attention to what resurrection is.

It would be interesting to arrange a survey among Orthodox Christians: how do you understand the resurrection from the dead? What is this from your point of view? At least try to explain it in your fingers if you can’t give a clear formulation. I suspect that a significant part of the answers will be something like this: “Well, that’s when we live in heaven.” And to the clarifying question: “Will we be there with the body or without the body?” – not everyone will choose the first answer.

And this is understandable: we constantly hear that the body is a burden for our salvation, that we need to take care of the soul, that the body decays, but the soul is eternal, etc. And all this is largely true - and yet the truth remains unchanged: the general resurrection presupposes connection of soul and body. Those people who come to church not only to bless Easter cakes on the eve of Easter, but also take the trouble to attend at least some of the services of Holy Week, undoubtedly remember the reading from the prophet Ezekiel (37:1-14), which we usually hear on Friday evening (this is the end of Matins on Holy Saturday). Here is a fragment of this proverb:

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord brought me out in the spirit and set me in the middle of a field, and it was full of bones, and he led me around around them, and behold there were very many of them on the surface of the field, and behold they were very dry.<…>And I saw: and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them from above.<…>and the spirit entered into them, and they lived and stood on their feet—a very, very great army.”

Although the prophet speaks of Israel, in the Christian tradition this vision of Ezekiel has always been understood as a prophecy of the general resurrection.

And so - we return to the Gospel reading - Christ was resurrected and appeared to the disciples. And what is the first thing He does (after greeting them)? Is he trying to convince them of his greatness, of his otherworldliness? No, it is very important for Him to show and prove to them that He is not a ghost, not a ghost, but a man of bones and flesh, a man who eats and drinks - and therefore is completely material. No oppression of the flesh, no humiliation of the bodily component of our nature! And, moving on to the topic of the Ascension, we note: Christ not only regained his body after the resurrection - He ascended with this body (in this body, if you like) and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Christ is true God, but also true man; and as a man He henceforth dwells in the Kingdom of Heaven next to God himself.

As for the Ascension (more precisely, the time of this event), an attentive reader of the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Luke (these are the 4th, 5th and 6th Sunday Gospels) could not help but notice that everything described in this chapter happens on one day. Commentators are trying to insert between the neighboring replicas of Jesus in today's reading where there are 7 and where there are 40 days - but such attempts look like a stretch. Luke writes well enough and confidently enough, and if he composed this chapter in such a way that the reader is left with a feeling of the swiftness of all the events of this one single day - the Resurrection, the appearance to the two disciples going to Emmaus, the appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem, the Ascension - if the author described all this is exactly so, then he probably knew what he was doing.

But maybe there is no problem here? How, exactly, do we know that Jesus ascended on the 40th day after the Resurrection? The whole point is that we really know this - and, moreover, all from the same Luke. But already from his second book - the Acts of the Apostles: “I wrote the first book to you, Theophilus, about everything that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day on which He ascended, giving commands by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He chose, to whom also He revealed Himself alive, after His suffering, with many true proofs, appearing to them for forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1-3). The third verse that interests us does not contain any significant discrepancies in ancient manuscripts - the authenticity of the expression “forty days” is beyond doubt.

So, it should be recognized that the same author wrote differently about one event in his two books. Perhaps in his Gospel it was more important for Luke to show the internal logic of events, while in Acts precise chronology is important (especially given the further description of Pentecost).

Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)

Showing that man You are the Savior, in essence, after becoming resurrected from the grave, and You partook of the waste, You taught the baptism of repentance. You ascended to the Heavenly Father, and You promised to send the Comforter as a disciple, O Most Divine God-man. Glory to Your rise.

Translation:

Showing that You are a man by nature, Savior, after resurrection from the grave You ate food with the disciples, and standing among them, taught them to proclaim repentance, and ascended directly to the Heavenly Father, and promised to send the Comforter to the disciples. Divine God-man, glory to Thy Resurrection!

Theotokos:

The Creator of creation, and the God of all, received human flesh from Thy most pure blood, All-Holy Virgin, and my whole, decayed nature was reborn, just as before Christmas, I left it after Christmas. In the same way, we all truly praise You, calling: Rejoice, Lady of the world.

Translation:

The Creator of creation and the God of all, He took mortal flesh from Your pure blood, O All-Holy Virgin, and, truly, He renewed all our lost nature, preserving You after childbirth, as before childbirth, as a Virgin. Therefore, we all glorify You with faith, exclaiming: “ Rejoice, Lady of the World!

Morning stichera:

You, Christ, are the true peace of the man of God, giving Thy peace, upon rising as a disciple, Thou didst show fear to those who fear the spirit to see: but Thou didst calm the rebellion of their souls, showing Thy hand and nose. by remembrance, you opened their minds to understand the Scriptures: having promised them the Father’s promise, and having blessed them, you retreated into heaven. And with them we worship You, Lord, glory to You.

Translation:

Truly You, Christ, are the peace of God with people! Giving Your peace to the disciples after the resurrection, You led them into fear: they thought that they saw a spirit; but You calmed their emotional excitement by showing them Your hands and feet. Meanwhile, they still did not believe, You, by eating food and reminding the teachings, opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And, having confirmed the Father’s promise to them, having blessed them, you went to heaven. Therefore, we worship You together with them. Lord, glory to You!

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

7th Sunday Gospel at Matins

John chapter 20

1 On the very first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early, when it was still dark, and sees that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb.

2 So he runs and comes to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and says to them, “They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

3 Immediately Peter and the other disciple came out and went to the tomb.

4 They both ran together; but the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first.

5 And stooping down, he saw the linens lying there; but did not enter the tomb.

6 Simon Peter came after him, and entered the tomb, and saw only the linens lying there,

7 And the cloth that was on His head, not lying with swaddling clothes, but especially rolled up in another place.

8 Then the other disciple, who had come first to the tomb, also entered and saw and believed.

9 For they did not yet know from the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead.

10 So the disciples returned to themselves again.

"They took the Lord from the grave"

With the seventh Sunday Gospel, readings from the Gospel of John begin, which make up almost half of the Sunday readings at Matins - five out of eleven.

Like the weather forecasters (Matthew, Mark, Luke), John does not try to describe the Resurrection itself - that is, what he himself (and no one) saw. There is no appearance of the risen Christ to the myrrh-bearers and apostles here yet. In today's passage, John describes how Christ's disciples discover the disappearance of the Master's body and what they think and say about it - and what they do.

What are they doing? They - at least as John describes it - mostly run. Magdalene runs to Peter (obviously, as the eldest among the apostles): the body of Jesus has disappeared, it was probably taken away. Whether this is someone’s cruel joke, or some kind of mistake is unclear, but something needs to be done. And now Peter and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (this is John himself) are running to the tomb almost in a race. John - he is younger - is the first to come running, but does not dare to go inside. He just looks in and sees the shrouds (bandages) in which the body of the deceased was wrapped. A strange picture: for some reason, before taking the body away, someone removed all these shrouds soaked in incense. And the headscarf is also removed - and lies separately, neatly folded.

And after this, John (now as a narrator) makes the following remark: Then the other disciple, who had first come to the tomb, also entered and saw and believed. For they did not yet know from the Scriptures that He had to rise from the dead. Interpreters differ on what exactly John believed. The most straightforward interpretation is this: since we are talking about faith, then, of course, it means faith in the Resurrection. Then the next phrase (they didn’t know from Scripture...), obviously, has to be attributed to the minutes and hours preceding the moment when Christ’s beloved disciple believed that the Teacher had risen. This version is reflected in the Gospel stichera for Matins below.

However, these words of the evangelist can be understood differently. Peter and John were convinced that Mary Magdalene was right: there was no body, and, at that time, they believed that someone had actually taken the body - although it was still unclear who exactly did it and for what purpose. In this case, the second phrase seems completely natural: they believed that the body was taken away because they did not yet properly understand the prophecies of Scripture about the resurrection of Jesus. In favor of this interpretation, we can cite the already familiar words of the Evangelist Luke, perhaps referring exactly to this episode of the first day of the week: Peter, getting up, ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and went back, marveling at what had happened to himself (Luke 24:12).

So, writes the Apostle John, the disciples (that is, himself and Peter) returned to themselves. And Magdalene, fearing nothing, but being filled with vague hope, walks again - or runs? - to the tomb of Jesus. And her hope was not disgraced: the risen Teacher appears to her - appears before he appeared to the apostles. But more on that next time.

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

For having taken the Lord, Mary rejoiced,

on the tomb of the Techasta, Simon Peter,

and another secret place of Christ, whom he loves:

now both are present, and the acquisition of the shroud is one, lying inside,

and the main one is the sir besides them.

Moreover, I kept silent again,

until Christ was seen.

Translation:

When Mary said that they had taken the Lord,

Simon Peter ran to the tomb

and another, initiated into the mysteries of Christ, whom He loved;

the two of them ran away and found inside

only swaddling clothes lying,

and the cloth from His head was separate from them.

So they calmed down again

until they saw Christ.

Theotokos:

Great and glorious have you done for me,

My most merciful Christ:

You were born from a virgin, unspeakably,

and you lifted the cross and endured death,

You have risen in glory,

and you freed our nature from death.

Glory, Christ, Thy glory,

glory to Your power.

Translation:

Great and unheard of for me

You have done, O my most merciful Christ:

for from the Virgin Mary You were born inexplicably,

and accepted the Cross and suffered death,

rose in glory and freed our nature from death.

Glory, Christ, Thy glory,

glory to Your power!

Morning stichera:

Behold the darkness, and early, and standing at the tomb, Mary,

having much darkness in their minds,

in this place, where should you quickly ask, Jesus?

But see the students meet,

how the shrouds and sir gained resurrection,

and I will also remember these Scriptures.

With them and in the same image we also believed,

We praise You, the life-giver of Christ.

Translation:

Here it is darkness and early morning.

And why are you standing at the grave, Mary,

with deep darkness in your mind?

Because of this, you are looking for where Jesus was laid;

but look at the disciples running together,

how the shrouds and platomoni confirmed the resurrection

and they remembered the scriptures about that.

We are with them, having believed through them,

We sing praises to You, the Giver of Christ.

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

8th Sunday Gospel at Matins

John chapter 20

11 And Mary stood at the tomb and wept. And when she cried, she leaned into the coffin,

12 and sees two angels, dressed in white, sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay.

13 And they say to her: wife! Why are you crying? He says to them: They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.

14 Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not recognize that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus says to her: Woman! Why are you crying? who are you looking for? She, thinking that it is the gardener, says to Him: Master! if you have brought Him out, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him.

16 Jesus says to her: Mary! She turned and said to Him: Rabbi! - which means: Teacher!

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; But go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.

18 Mary Magdalene goes and tells the disciples that she saw the Lord and that He told her this.

Last week we heard the story of the Evangelist John about how Mary Magdalene ran to Peter to report that someone had taken the Teacher’s body from the tomb. Peter, and with him John, run to the tomb - and indeed do not find the body. After that they go home.

Maria, apparently, having come running with them (or arriving later, separately), did not go anywhere, but remained to wait for something. She stood and cried - and at some moment (not for the first time, of course) she looked into the tomb. It would seem that what could be new here? It is unlikely that the body could reappear on its own. And if someone walked past her, she would notice. But then she looks inside the coffin and suddenly sees two sitting angels. In response to their question, she utters the same words with which she ran to Peter in the morning of that day: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” At that moment, something makes her turn around.

And here we are faced with a situation for the second time when a disciple or disciple does not recognize Jesus (the first time we saw this in the Evangelist Luke, when two people went to Emmaus). Cleopas and his companion did not recognize Jesus, despite the fact that they walked with Him along the road for many hours, talked with Him - that is, they saw and heard Him, but, despite all this, they did not recognize Him. Why did this happen? - the evangelist gives the answer: “their eyes were held back, so that they did not recognize Him.” The answer, of course, is not entirely exhaustive, but one thing is clear: this was not accidental - and was probably part of Jesus’ intentions.

Here, in the case of Magdalene, the reasons could be different. Firstly, she did not expect to see the Teacher, although this is precisely why she must have stayed at the tomb. In addition, she was crying - tears covered her eyes. Maybe she had to look at Jesus against the sun. But at the same time, it is obvious that Jesus has changed. He was the same - and at the same time He was different.

But then He addresses Mary by name - and at that moment she recognizes Him! However, what does the Teacher say to her in response to her joyful exclamation of “Rabbi!” and, apparently, to try to grab His feet, throwing himself to the ground? “Don't touch Me!” says Jesus. One might think that He is pushing away His devoted disciple. No, of course not. “Touch Me not” (possibly translated “do not hold Me back”) - by saying this, Christ makes it clear to Mary that His death and resurrection are not just a tragic story with an unexpectedly happy ending, after which life will again take its normal course. No, now everything will be different, and Jesus’ relationship with Mary – and with all people – will be different. “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.” Jesus must ascend to Heaven, send down the Spirit to the disciples - and then He will finally fulfill his mission, which applies not only to the apostles and myrrh-bearers, and not even to the chosen people alone - but to the entire universe; and then His communication with Mary will resume, although it will be different. And now Mary should not hold Him back, should not prolong this meeting - on the contrary, she should run to proclaim to the brothers (note - brothers!) Jesus His words: “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” .

These are very important words, but we seem to pay too little attention to them. But here Jesus puts Himself on the same level with all those who believed in Him. Yes, the Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth, is our God; but Jesus, being the Son of God and God, calls Him also his God. Yes, the Lord is the Father of Jesus; but He is also our Father. Jesus calls the apostles, and through them all Christians who fulfill His commandments, brothers and friends (John 15:14).

I think it would be right if we do not indulge in long-winded discussions here, but let the reader think for himself about the words of the Savior. To find a brother like Jesus, to be worthy of the friendship of the Son of God - there is something to think about, isn’t it? And there is something to be happy about!

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

Seeing two Angels inside the tomb, Mary was surprised,

and they do not know Christ, as if they asked a heli-technician:

Lord, where did you place the body of my Jesus? Having known by His name the existence of the Savior Himself,

hearing: Do not touch Me, I am going to the Father,

rtsy of my brethren.

Translation:

Seeing two angels inside the coffin, Mary was amazed

and, not recognizing Christ, she asked Him as a gardener:

“Sir, where have you laid the body of my Jesus?” But by His cry, recognizing that it was the Savior Himself,

heard: “Don’t touch Me,

As I am leaving the Father, tell My brothers about this!”

Theotokos

From the Trinity you gave birth, O Trokovitsa,

one ineffably, existing in two natures,

and purely by action and one hypostasis.

Pray to him always, for those who worship with faith,

get rid of every slander of the enemy:

as we all now resort to You, Lady Theotokos.

Translation:

You gave birth to one of the Trinity, unspeakably, O Youth,

dual in nature, dual in action,

but one according to Hypostasis.

Pray to Him always for those who worship You with faith, so that they may be freed from all the deceit of the enemy,

for we all now resort to You, Lady Theotokos.

Morning stichera:

Mary’s tears are not shed in vain warmly,

Behold, you have been deemed worthy of teaching Angels,

and visions of Jesus Himself.

But the earthly woman still philosophizes, like a weak woman:

Likewise, it is sent not to touch Christ.

But in both cases the preacher is sent by Your disciple,

who bear the gospel,

heralding the sunrise to the Father's lot.

From now on, grant us also Thy appearance, Master Lord.

Translation:

Maria's hot tears

they are not shed in vain;

for behold, she was worthy of the instruction of Angels,

and beholding You, O Jesus!

But she also thinks about earthly things like a weak woman,

and therefore it is not allowed to touch You, Christ;

however, as a messenger she is sent to Your disciples,

to whom I gave the good news,

announcing Your ascent to the Fatherly inheritance.

With her, honor us also with Your appearance, O Master Lord!

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

9th Sunday Gospel at Matins

John chapter 20

19 On that same first day of the week in the evening, when the doors of the house where His disciples were meeting were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

20 Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus said to them a second time, “Peace be with you!” just as the Father sent Me, so I send you.

22 Having said this, he blew and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

23 Whose sins you forgive, their sins will be forgiven; On whomever you leave it, it will stay on it.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not here with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

26 After eight days His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas with them. Jesus came when the doors were locked, stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be with you!

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands; give me your hand and place it in my side; and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer.

28 Thomas answered Him: My Lord and my God!

29 Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

30 Jesus did many other miracles before His disciples, which are not written in this book.

31 These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.

Today's reading is perhaps one of the most liturgically interesting among all 11 morning gospels: we hear verses from the second half of the Gospel of John at very important services of the church year. Verses 19–25, which tell of Jesus' appearance to the disciples and Thomas' distrust of the words of the other apostles, are read at Vespers on the first day of Easter. Further, in accordance with the Gospel chronology, on the eighth day after the first day of Easter (i.e., on the Week of Antipascha, or the Sunday of St. Thomas, or the New Week - on the Feast of the Assurance of Thomas, which in its liturgical features is close to the twelfth feasts) at the liturgy again the same lines are read, but with a continuation - about how Thomas saw the Teacher and believed (i.e. verses 19-31). In addition, verses 19–23 form the Gospel reading for the matins of Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the birth of the Church. Finally, this entire fragment (verses 19–31) is read at the liturgy on the day of the Menaion of the Apostle Thomas (October 6/19).

Thomas’s unbelief is called beautiful in church hymns: “O good unbelief of Fomino, bring the faithful hearts into knowledge...” - Russian. translation: “Oh, the beautiful unbelief of Thomas! He led the faithful of heart to the fullness of knowledge...” But it is wonderful not only in its consequences, which are spoken of in this beautiful stichera - it is wonderful in itself.

Yes, Thomas was probably a skeptic and a pessimist. It is enough to recall his remark, which is quoted by the Evangelist John: when Jesus decided to go to Lazarus in order to “wake him up”, and the disciples began to dissuade Him (as we know, unsuccessfully), Thomas said with gloomy determination: “let us go and die with him.” (John 11:16). He was not an indifferent and cynical person - no, he, one might think, was a very thorough person. Thomas was not one of those who base themselves on emotions; he was afraid to be deceived, afraid to believe in emptiness. He preferred disbelief to gullibility. And when he saw Jesus, when he was convinced of the truth of the resurrection of his Teacher, then he utters words that we do not see anywhere else in the Gospel - neither in John nor in the weather forecasters: “My Lord and my God!” The apostles and other people who believed in Jesus as the Messiah called Him Lord, the Son of God, Christ (i.e., the Anointed One, the Messiah) - but only Thomas directly confessed the Divinity of his Teacher.

Truly wonderful is such unbelief, which reveals both to Thomas himself and to us the divinity of Jesus! In response to this confession, to this confession of faith, the Savior pronounces the following words (they have become a proverb): “You believed because you saw Me; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Here they usually see a slight reproach against Thomas from Jesus. But the other disciples are no higher or better than Thomas in this regard: they saw the same thing - and believed.

In the words of Christ one can rather see encouragement for us - those who did not see, but believed. Encouragement and at the same time a warning. How can a person believe who has not seen Christ? Ask your friends - everyone will tell their own story. It happens that God himself brings a person to Himself - through thoughtful reading of Scripture, through the search for answers to questions about the meaning of life, about the purpose of man. But an important role here is played by Christians whom a person seeking God meets on his way. And therefore we have a considerable responsibility: our unbelieving friends and relatives, people close and distant from us - they cannot see Christ with their own eyes, but they can see us. And seeing us, they should see Christ. This is our task, this is our mission: not to turn a person away from God with our malice and depravity, but to reveal Christ to him with our very life. With God's help, this mission is completely feasible, and it does not require any money, no meetings, or planning five years in advance. Let us live holy - and let us shine for our neighbors!

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

Imprisoned by the Lord's door, as you entered,

You filled the Apostles with the Holy Spirit,

blowing peacefully, then you can knit and solve sins:

and after these days you showed your ribs to Thomas and your hand.

With him we cry: You are Lord and God.

Translation:

When You entered, Lord, with the doors locked,

filled the apostles with the All-Holy Spirit:

having given them peace with a breath, he commanded them to bind and loose their sins;

and after eight days He showed His ribs and hands to Thomas,

with which we cry: “You are Lord and God!”

Theotokos

As you saw your Son from the grave, having risen for three days,

God-blessed Most Holy Virgin, you have put aside all sorrow,

You rose to the south, like Mother, when you saw you suffering,

and being filled with joy, you and His disciples, who worship Him, eat.

Likewise, save the Mother of God who now confesses Thee.

Translation:

When You saw Your Son risen from the grave on the third day,

God's Bride, the all-holy Virgin, then put aside all sorrow,

which, like a Mother, she endured, looking at Him suffering;

and, filled with joy, together with His disciples, triumphantly sang His praises.

Therefore, save now those who confess You through the Mother of God.

Morning stichera

Like in the last summer, I exist late from Saturdays,

You appeared as a friend of Christ, and you know miracles by miracles,

enclosed by the doorway, Your resurrection from the dead.

But you filled the disciples with joy, and you taught them the Holy Spirit,

and you have given the power to forgive sins

and you did not leave Thomas to plunge into the storm of unbelief.

Likewise, grant us true reason and forgiveness of sins, O most gracious Lord.

Translation:

As if at the end of time, at the late hour of the first day on Saturday,

You have appeared to Your friends, Christ, and you confirm the miracle by a miracle,

arriving with the doors locked -

Your resurrection from the dead.

And behold, You filled the disciples with joy and taught them the Holy Spirit,

and granted the power to forgive sins,

and did not leave Thomas to sink in the waves of unbelief.

Therefore, give us true knowledge and forgiveness of sins, merciful Lord!

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

4 And when morning had already come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

5 Jesus says to them: Children! do you have any food? They answered Him: no.

6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it.” They cast, and could no longer pull out the nets from the multitude of fish.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “This is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded himself with his robe, for he was naked, and threw himself into the sea.

8 And the other disciples came in a boat, for they were not far from the land, about two hundred cubits, dragging a net with fish.

9 When they came to the ground, they saw a fire laid out and fish and bread lying on it.

10 Jesus says to them, Bring the fish that you have now caught.

11 Simon Peter went and brought down to the ground a net filled with great fish, which were one hundred and fifty-three; and with such a multitude the network did not break through.

12 Jesus says to them, Come and have dinner. None of the disciples dared to ask Him: Who are you? knowing that it is the Lord.

13 Jesus comes and takes the bread and gives them fish also.

14 This was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead.

In the 10th and 11th morning gospels we witness the third and final appearance of Jesus to the disciples - one of those appearances described in John. Concluding words of chapter 20 (“Jesus did many other miracles in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in the name of His") sound like the ending of the entire book. Therefore, it is assumed that chapter 21 was not originally part of the Gospel and was written later (but probably by John himself); the very last verses of the last chapter - we will hear them in a week - perhaps belong not to the apostle himself, but to one of his disciples.

Today's gospel episode is about everyday life and how Jesus enters this life, changing and transforming it, providing help to the disciples, but (in the 11th gospel) at the same time demanding service from them.

The first two encounters we read about in John took place in Jerusalem. Now the disciples went back to Galilee - home. It is hardly fair to assume that they wanted to live again as if nothing had happened. As if they had not met this Man - and they had not walked with him for three years in Palestine, and they had not lived a completely special life, and had not witnessed amazing events. As if they had not crucified Him. As if He had not risen.

No, they did not want to brush aside their Teacher. But they had the need to think about everything, to realize - to accommodate within themselves what is difficult to fit into the mind and heart of an ordinary person. And besides, everyone had families to feed.

And so they return to Lake Tiberias and cast their nets. But there are no fish. After a long night of work, they see a man on the shore - but they don’t recognize, they don’t understand who it is. And this man, for some reason calling them - mostly adult men - children (and even children), advises them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. The fish is caught and Jesus is recognized.

For Magdalene, it was necessary for the Teacher to call her by name; Cleopas and his companion recognized the Savior in the breaking of bread; The fishermen apostles probably remembered another wonderful fish catch that happened three years ago.

And then - a very interesting scene, a very interesting dialogue (we will hear its continuation next Saturday). Everyone - some earlier, some later - ended up on the shore. What does Jesus say? “Well, slackers and losers, I told you how to catch a fish, now quickly organize Me lunch. And so that it’s no worse than others! Come on, turn around, slaves, turn around, sloths! I don’t like to wait!” Agree, it would be strange to hear this from the Savior (but for some reason it is not at all strange to hear such speeches from those who centuries later called themselves His disciples).

What is Jesus really saying? He says: come, eat - I have everything ready for you: here is the bread, here is the fish; And give your fish here too - it will come in handy too.

We remember that John has already described a similar scene - but there is still something deliberate there: this is undisguised pedagogy, instruction. I mean washing the feet (John 13:1-15). And here, in the 21st chapter - the real life situation. And Jesus turns out to be true to Himself, His word does not diverge from deeds: as He taught them (by His own example) then, before the crucifixion, so - without any pretentiousness, with complete naturalness - He acts now.

There are many more things to say about the 10th Sunday Gospel. Something lies on the surface, something sounds mysterious and requires careful and thoughtful interpretation. But I would like to draw attention to this completely everyday moment. How we lack this simplicity in our “church,” “spiritual,” “Christian” life! How lacking is this readiness to serve those below you on the social ladder! And these are not entirely rhetorical questions. One can indeed pose the question: how - how exactly do we lack all this? And we understand very well how: like oxygen, like air - like the life-giving Spirit!

We are all baptized - but does the Holy Spirit live in us? Could it be that He left us long ago? Are we deceiving ourselves when we call ourselves Christians? Is it possible to be a Christian, shamelessly trampling on the commandments of Christ, renouncing Christ every day with your deeds? We hear words about values, but we don’t appreciate or love a person; we talk about spirituality - but we haven’t noticed how we have become impoverished in spirit; we worship shrines - but we turn away from the One Saint, who ascended for us (in our place!) on the cross.

The Lord still feeds and waters us, clothes us and warms us. He still tolerates us, tolerates our iniquities, tolerates the sins of those who have the audacity to bear His name - bishops, elders, laity.

“How long, Lord?” - asks Isaiah. And he hears: “Until the cities are desolate, and there are no inhabitants, and the houses are left without people, and until this land is completely desolate. And the Lord will remove the people, and there will be great desolation on this land.”

Hey, come, Lord Jesus!

As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).

Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)

The Sea of ​​Tiberias with the children of Zebedee, Nathanael with Peter and with the other two of ancient times, and Thomas, who was named in the fishing, cast down to the right hand of Christ, and brought out a multitude of fish: Peter, having known Him, wandered to Him, to whom the third appeared, and the bread of the show, and the fish on coal.

Translation:

On the Sea of ​​Tiberias with the sons of Zebedee, Nathanael and Peter with two others and Thomas were once fishing. They, at the command of Christ, cast their nets to the right and pulled out many fish. Peter, recognizing Him, swam to Him. Appearing to them for the third time, He offered bread them, and fish on coals.

Theotokos:

For the resurrected Lord, three days from the grave, Virgin, pray for those who praise Thee, and the blessed ones with love: For the imams are all a saving refuge, and the intercessor to Him: for the inheritance is Thine, and we are servants, Mother of God, and we all look to Thy intercession.

Translation:

The Lord, who rose from the grave on the third day, beseech, O Virgin, those who praise You and call You blessed with love, for we all have You for refuge as a saving mediator before Him; for we are Your heritage and Your servants, Mother of God, and we all turn to Your intercession glances.

Morning stichera:

To Hell descent, and Resurrection from the dead, sorrowful as it was worthy, of Your separation, Christ, the disciples turned to work, and the ships and the seas, and fishing nowhere. But You, Savior, appeared as the Lord of all, at the right hand of the sea You commanded, and the word was done soon, and there are many fish in abundance, and a strange supper is ready on the earth: even with your disciples who partook of communion then, grant us now the gift of mental enjoyment, O Lord who loves mankind.

John chapter 21

15 While they were dining, Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon the Jonah! Do you love Me more than they? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed my lambs.

16 Another time he said to him: Simon the Jonah! do you love me? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed My sheep.

17 He said to him the third time: Simon the Jonah! do you love me? Peter was saddened that he asked him for the third time: Do you love Me? and said to Him: Lord! You know everything; You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed My sheep.

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and went where you wanted; and when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not want to go.

19 He said this, indicating by what death Peter would glorify God. And having said this, he said to him: follow me.

20 Peter, turning, sees the disciple, whom Jesus loved, following him, and who at the supper, bowing to His chest, said: Lord! who will betray you?

21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus: Lord! what about him?

22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? you follow Me.

23 And this word spread among the brethren, that that disciple would not die. But Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but: if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? -

24 This disciple testifies to this, and wrote this; and we know that his testimony is true.

25 Jesus did many other things; but if we were to write about it in detail, then I think the world itself would not be able to accommodate the books written. Amen.

Today we read the last of the eleven gospels at Sunday morning. At the same time, this is the end of the Gospel of John and the entire Four Gospels. We hear the current fragment not only at the all-night vigil on Sunday several times a year: it is also read as an ordinary reading at the Trinity Liturgy parent's Saturday, at matins on the days of memory of the Apostle John the Theologian (May 8/21 and September 26/October 9) and at the liturgy on the day of worship of the chains of the Apostle Peter (January 16/29). The last two verses of the Gospel of John are part of the liturgical reading in the days of memory of this evangelist.

The main content of the final scene of the fourth Gospel is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, the restoration of the eldest of the disciples to his apostleship and - immediately! - new orders, new obligations assigned to Peter. And besides, there is a prediction about the fate of Peter, about his martyrdom. But Peter cannot help but inquire about the fate of his fellow disciple - “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” i.e. John: “Lord! What is he?

In response, Christ utters a phrase that has become the subject of reflection and debate for many generations of Christians. And the bewilderment that Jesus’ answer generated is already recorded in the Gospel itself (v. 23). As one possible solution, I would like to quote N. T. Wright: “Jesus never said anything specific about the fate of John. He wanted to say and said one thing: whatever happened to John, it had nothing to do with Peter. Suppose I called a girl: “Come, help me in the garden.” The girl hesitates, looks back at her brother: “What will he do?” And I will answer: “Suppose I ask him to fly to the moon, what do you care?” This doesn't mean that I will actually send her brother to the moon. Jesus did not say that John would live until His return. He said simply and clearly: this does not concern Peter” (N. T. Wright. John. The Gospel. Popular commentary. M.: BBI, 2009. - P. 278).

The guess is witty, but the solution, you see, is rather prosaic. I do not insist on this exact explanation, but I suggest that we not embark on further research for now. One way or another, the essence of the answer is precisely this - in its ending: “...what do you care about that? You follow Me." This answer is repeated in aphoristic form in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia: "I tell everyone only his own story," says Aslan, when one or another character tries to ask him about his friend: "What is he?"

This answer is, of course, disappointing. And it cannot be said that the question was asked out of mere idle curiosity: John is a friend of Peter, Shasta (the hero of the story “The Horse and His Boy”) is a friend of Aravita. It is quite natural to be interested in the fate of friends, their past and future. However, the answer was refusal. But, having swallowed the bitterness of this refusal, after some reflection you understand that the veil of secrecy that hides the lives of even the closest people is, in its own way, correct. This is even good, this is simply wonderful! This means that God builds a personal relationship with each person. This means that He tactfully recognizes our right not to put our lives on public display, encouraging us, on the other hand, to delve deeper into our own - and not someone else's - life. This means that God, although He is immeasurably higher, better, kinder, wiser than us, is nevertheless ready to become a helper and friend for anyone who wants it. It is precisely a friend, and not a ruler, who from the height of his throne examines the masses of people under his control, without giving himself the trouble to peer into the face and soul of an individual person. But friendship is mutual; and therefore God expects cooperation from us, expects us to follow Him - following not among the crowd, but according to our personal, conscious choice, out of friendship, out of love for Him.

When I read these lines of the Gospel (Peter’s question and Jesus’ answer), for some reason I always imagine a road stretching into the distance, with no end. Jesus is walking along the road, Peter is a little behind, and John is not far from them. They walk - simultaneously together and separately. Everyone has their own destiny: Jesus in a few weeks or days will rise to the Father; Peter, three decades later, will be crucified on the cross; John will outlive his friend by thirty to forty years. And yet this road has no end: the path to God, as well as to oneself, is endless. But we do not lack time, because we were born for eternal life. And may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grant us this life in the Kingdom of the Father - through the prayers of the apostles Peter and John and all the saints. Amen. As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).

As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).

Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)

By Divine Rebellion,

Peter three times, do you love Me, asking the Lord

The chief shepherd offers his sheep:

Whom Jesus has seen, whom Jesus loves, follows the coming one,

asked the Lord: what is this?

If I want, I say, this to remain,

I’ll come again and again, what about you, friend Petra?

Translation:

After His Divine Resurrection, the Lord asked Peter three times: “Do you love Me?”

appoints him as the shepherd of His sheep.

He, seeing the one whom Jesus loved following,

asked the Vladyka: “What is he?” –

“Even if I want,” said the Lord, “

so that he may remain until I come again,

What is that to you, friend Peter?”

Theotokos:

O terrible mystery, oh glorious miracle!

Death is ultimately destroyed by death.

Whoever does not sing; and whoever does not worship Your resurrection,

The Word, and the Mother of God who purely gave birth to You in flesh?

Through your prayers, deliver all from Gehenna.

Translation:

O terrible mystery!

O extraordinary miracle!

Death is completely destroyed by death.

Who will not sing Your praises?

and whoever does not worship Your resurrection, Word,

and the Mother of God who gave birth to You, without blemish in the flesh?

Through her intercessions, deliver everyone from Gehenna.

Morning stichera:

Appearing to be Your disciple, O Savior,

after the resurrection you gave Simon sheep to pasture,

reward for love,

even looking for care for the flock.

That’s what you said:

If you love Me, Peter, feed My lambs,

feed my sheep.

He is abiy showing friendliness,

You asked about a friend's student.

Through their prayers, Christ, preserve Your flock,

from the wolves that destroy e.

Revealing Himself to His disciples after the resurrection, the Savior,

You are Simon, in recompense for his love,

He handed over a flock of sheep, demanding to feed them with care.

That's why you said:

"If you love Me, Peter,

feed my lambs, feed my sheep.”

He, immediately showing ardent love,

I asked about another student.

Through their intercessions, O Christ, preserve Thy flock

from the wolves that plunder her.

Priest Theodore Ludogovsky

About the history of the rite and the fact that two traditions of reading the Gospel: facing the altar and facing the people - can be equally acceptable - Archpriest Vladimir Khulap, head of the department of church-practical disciplines of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Theology.

In order to be heard, the speaker faces his audience. This not only makes it easier to understand what is being said acoustically, but also ensures better contact with the listeners. Often the speaker is at a special elevation for this purpose: the professor gives a lecture from the elevated platform, the speaker rises to the podium.

Already in Old Testament we see that this is exactly what Ezra does when he teaches the Law to the Jews returning from Babylonian captivity: “And Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women... and read from it in the market place... before the men and women and all who could understand; and the ears of all the people were inclined to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been made for this purpose... And Ezra opened the book in the eyes of all the people, because he stood above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up... And they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and added an interpretation, and the people understood what they read” (). Perhaps this is exactly how Christ read and interpreted the book of the prophet Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue, when “everyone’s eyes were fixed on Him” ().

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God” (). The word is the most important way of personal communication, therefore in Christianity the word of the gospel (revelation of God) and the word of prayer (human response) are the main liturgical elements. However, the liturgical word does not simply serve to convey information. It really is a message, that is, a deep involvement: the Word of Christ reveals the essence of God, allows us to become participants in liturgical dialogue and liturgical communion with God. We meet Christ not only by eating His Body and Blood, but also in the revelation of His saving Word - in reading Holy Scripture. That is why the only book that is on the throne is the Gospel, which visibly presents to us the incarnate Word of God, Christ.

Already in the 3rd-4th centuries there is evidence of the existence of a special place for reading the Gospel in Christian temple. In various liturgical traditions and in different eras, it could be located in the altar part, in the center of the temple, on the side of the wall or on a column, etc. For example, the so-called. The “Apostolic Constitutions” (late 4th century) clearly prescribe: “In the middle, the reader, standing on a certain elevation, should read the books.” The location of the place determined the direction of the person reading the Gospel: he could do it facing the people, towards the altar, half-turned towards the people (so as not to have his back to the bishop). In Syria, on such a platform (vima), located in the center of the temple, there were places for the clergy, so it was here that the entire Liturgy of the Word took place. And in Western churches there were often even two special places on the sides of the altar: the Apostle was read from one, and the Gospel from the other.

In Byzantium, such a place was called “amboon” (Greek “elevation”). It was located in the center of the temple and usually had the shape of a high (1-2 meters) cylinder, semicircle or octagon, to which the reader climbed the steps of a small staircase. Thus, the Gospel was proclaimed in the center of the community, the deacon read it facing the altar, surrounded by believers. This not only provided an excellent perception of the sacred text, but the voice of Christ sounded in the midst of the community of His disciples, visibly confirming the promise that “where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (). Thus, the visible center of the Liturgy of the Word was the ambo, and the Eucharistic Liturgy was the throne, while the believers partook of both the meal of the Word and the meal of the Body and Blood of Christ. The saint (8th century) symbolically called the pulpit “an image of a stone at the holy tomb, on which, having rolled it away from the entrance, an angel sat at the door of the tomb, announcing the resurrection of the Lord to the myrrh-bearers.” This practice of reading the Gospel in the center of the temple is still preserved in bishop's service- the protodeacon reads it on a small platform called the bishop's pulpit.

However, there were other traditions. So, on the day of Easter, the Patriarch of Constantinople read the Gospel from a high place (an elevated throne in the altar apse), i.e., facing the people. We are reminded of this custom today by the priest reading the Gospel facing the people at Easter Vespers, specifically prescribed by the charter.

Over time, the pulpit in parish churches was transformed into a semicircular protrusion adjacent to the salt, and the situation changed. The deacon found himself reading the Gospel no longer in the center of a meeting of believers, but with his back to them. If the priest serves without a deacon, then he generally reads the Gospel in the altar, on the throne, being, moreover, fenced off from the worshipers by the iconostasis. The sermon, which also gradually disappeared from its traditional place (after the Gospel) and moved to the very end of the service, deprived the Liturgy of the Word of another essential element. It is not surprising that for many, the most important thing in the first part of the Divine Liturgy is now the reading of memorial notes, and the texts of Scripture are perceived as something obscure (especially the Apostle), difficult to perceive acoustically and sometimes overloaded with content (two or three readings in a row). And the very manner of reading by some deacons, unfortunately, rather obscures the meaning of what is read rather than contributes to its understanding.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the question of the possibility of reading the Gospel facing the people was not only discussed in the church press, but this practice began to be introduced in a number of parishes. That's why on Local cathedral 1917-1918, among the “Measures to streamline worship” discussed, it was stated: “Every liturgical reading should be performed in the middle of the church, on a special elevation. Reading the Gospel is permitted facing the people.” However this element became one of the characteristic liturgical features of some renovationist groups, therefore, in the course of the fight against renovationism, the Locum Tenens Metropolitan included it in 1925 among the “innovations that confuse the conscience of believers” that had to be avoided at that difficult time.

However, in the modern practice of a number of local Orthodox Churches, the deacon reads the Gospel on the pulpit facing the people, and this has its own internal logic. The Gospel is the voice of God addressed to us, and our prayers are a response to His call. This understanding determines the different position of the deacon during the reading of the Gospel (facing the believers) and the pronouncing of the litanies (facing the altar). Likewise, preaching is the actualization of the everlasting gospel in modern conditions- pronounced facing the people to whom it is addressed.

In Russia, parishes are also now appearing where the Gospel is read at the Liturgy facing the people, and this practice fits organically into the course of the service (especially if the reading is immediately followed by a sermon). Of course, this tradition should not be forcibly introduced as a generally obligatory one, but those priests in whose parishes this practice already exists should not be accused of “renovationism.” After all, the Gospel, for example, is read facing the people during a prayer service, and this does not cause any embarrassment.

Someone wittily remarked that in the Church there are books that are “read” and “revered” - unfortunately, the Gospel for many is one of the latter. One must not only venerate it at the all-night vigil, but one must realize that the voice of the Savior contained in it is addressed to us personally. Only in this case will the Word of God, according to the parable of the sower, take root in our heart, grow and bear fruit as in our lives.

Are there canonical obstacles to reading the Gospel facing the people?

Answers the archpriest, head of the department of church-practical disciplines of the Moscow Theological Academy, doctor of church history:

There are no canonical regulations justifying the position of the reader during the service. Reading the Gospel facing the altar is a kind of tribute to tradition and is associated with the perception of Scripture as an integral part of worship and prayer. After all, the priest’s prayers before reading the Gospel, which are of an edifying nature, are read facing the altar. Of course, if we perceive the Gospel specifically as a sermon and edification for believers, then it is appropriate to read it facing those praying. But, at least now, this position of the reader is perceived as a liberty, since it does not correspond to the usual liturgical order.

Divine Liturgy: Explanation of the meaning, meaning, content Uminsky Archpriest Alexey

Reading the Gospel

Reading the Gospel

The central place in the Liturgy of the Word, of course, is occupied by the Gospel itself. One could even say that this part of the Liturgy is dedicated to the Gospel, and everything that happens in it is a kind of preparation for the Gospel to be revealed and read.

In the Liturgy of the Word, which is also called the Liturgy of the Catechumens, there is a certain independent life and completeness, because for the catechumens it ends precisely with the reading of the Gospel, after which, according to the rules of the ancient Church, they should leave the temple.

The Four Gospels that we are now reading were written in the period from 60 to 110–115, that is, for several decades the Gospel was only Holy Tradition, which the apostles transmitted orally to their followers. And yet it was the true Gospel, it was the word of God. Nevertheless, the Gospel as Holy Scripture appeared quite early in the life of the Church and the attitude towards it was extremely serious.

At Easter we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(John 1:1). Very often, both in the Holy Scriptures and in the works of the Holy Fathers, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is called the Word of God, the Divine Logos (from the Greek ????? - “word”). When we open the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, we see that its beginning is very similar to the first lines of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”(Gen. 1:1). Then it describes how creation occurs: “And God said: Let there be light. And there was light"(Gen. 1:3). God speaks his Word, and the whole world is created through him. The psalmist talks about this : “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”(Ps. 33:6).

The world, so to speak, is “verbal” - it really accepts its existence through the Word. The Word of God is so omnipotent and omnipotent that through the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity the whole world comes from non-existence into existence.

The Apostle Paul defines the word of God this way : “The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword: it pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”(Heb. 4:12).

And so the Word became flesh: the Lord appeared into the world and brought into it His word, captured in the Gospel. This word is alive and active.

The Gospel is not just phrases arranged in lines, divided into chapters and carrying some information. An ordinary text cannot be completely identified with its author, even if we are talking about an autobiography. Something created by man - a book, an artistic canvas or music - cannot be the author himself, the creator himself. But the Gospel was left to us by the Lord as a miracle of God’s presence in the Word. This is also indicated by some moments of the service. For example, during the bishop's service, the bishop takes off his omophorion and miter - signs of his high priesthood, signs that he leads the Liturgy, as Christ led Last Supper. He goes aside, because now the Lord Himself is present and speaks Himself.

When the Gospel is brought out at the all-night vigil, we venerate it instead of the icon of the Resurrection of Christ, because this is the Word of God, incarnate and resurrected, this is the presence of Christ Himself at the Liturgy. The Gospel is an icon, an image of God. The priest censes the Gospel, we kiss the Gospel when the Lord forgives us our sins in confession.

It is sometimes said that if the Gospel, as a book, suddenly disappeared, it could be restored from the writings of the early fathers of Christianity, so accurately and completely do they quote it. And here’s what’s surprising: the Church in those days spread like the gospel of that Gospel, which no one had read, and perhaps had never even held in their hands!

The book was one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world, and not all even rich people could afford to purchase them. For centuries, Christians could only partake of the word of God during worship in church, recognize it, and then live by it, suffer for it and embody it in their lives.

The Gospel is the banner of the Church, its spiritual treasure. Bringing the Gospel into the temple was considered entering the temple with Christ, and the very sound of the Gospel was the culmination of the Liturgy of the word. We can say that this was truly communion with Christ Himself: the word of God sounds, you perceive it, unite with it, it pierces you like a two-edged sword, and judges your thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It is not surprising that in the lives of saints there are stories similar to the one that happened to the early Christian ascetic Anthony the Great. He came to church, heard the Sunday Gospel reading about a rich young man, left the temple, distributed his property and went into the desert. Anthony realized that what he read directly related to him, joined the word of God and completely changed his life, becoming a different person.

The Gospel sounding in the church is in no way inferior in its grace-filled power to the living preaching of Christ that sounded two thousand years ago in Galilee. This is the same Word that created the world. With this word the dead were raised, the blind received their sight, the deaf received hearing, the lame began to walk, and lepers were cleansed. Nothing has changed since then, because Christ is the same forever, and His word cannot depreciate over time or lose its power.

That is why we call the Church holy, because every moment of its existence it is identical to itself. Everything that happens in it happens exactly the same as it has always been. Christ teaches us with his word, and it depends only on us how we hear this word, how we accept it, how we live by it.

Unfortunately, during the Liturgy, for some reason we wait for the beginning of “the most important thing” - the Great Entrance, the Eucharist, and communion. “That’s when we’ll start praying!” - we think. But in fact, everything began a long time ago! When the priest proclaims “Blessed is the Kingdom,” that Kingdom is already coming!

For the catechumens, reading the Gospel is the main encounter with the word of God, because the rest is not yet available to them. They have not yet been born in Christ, but the word of God is transforming them now.

Even when this word sounded from the lips of the Lord Himself, people perceived it differently. Seven thousand people went into the desert, leaving everything behind and forgetting to take food with them, just to hear Jesus. The Lord told them about bread that had come down from heaven, but some expected Him to satisfy their immediate needs and, not waiting for this, left disappointed. “What strange words! - they were perplexed, “What is He talking about?” But the apostles remained with the Lord, because only He has the words of eternal life. These verbs of eternal life are the Gospel.

The Word of God at the Liturgy is without a doubt a real Epiphany. But we must know the Lord and hear Him. This - necessary stage, through which we must come to communion with His Body and Blood.

Reading the Gospel in church is an opportunity for us to meet with God. What is happening to us at this moment? How do we live by this word later? How do we leave the temple? These are the most important questions to which we have to give truthful answers.