04/20/2025
The Grace of God Will Teach You
https://youtube.com/shorts/V1nVdo2mJEw
"Don't be troubled if you don't feel the love of God in yourself, but think about the Lord, that He is merciful, and guard yourself from sins, and the grace of God will teach you."
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Sunday April 20, 2025 / April 7, 2025
The Bright Resurrection of Christ, The Pascha of the Lord.
The End of the Great Lent.
Venerable George the Confessor, bishop of Mitylene (820).
New Hieromartyr Arcadius priest (1933).
Martyr Eudocia (1939).
Venerable Daniel, abbot, of Pereyaslavl-Zalesski (1540).
Martyr Calliopus at Pompeiopolis in Cilicia (304).
Martyrs Rufinus deacon, Aquilina, and 200 soldiers at Sinope (310).
Venerable Serapion of Egypt, monk (5th c.).
Venerable Nilus, abbot of Sora (1508).
Venerable Serapion archbishop of Novgorod.
The Byzantine Icon of the Mother of God.
St. George, patriarch of Jerusalem (807).
St. Gerasimus of Byzantium (1739).
Venerable Leucius, abbot of Volokolamsk (1492).
St. Govan of Cornwall.
The Scripture Readings
Acts 1:1-8
1
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2
until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3
to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
5
for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
6
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7
And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
John 1:1-17
1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2
He was in the beginning with God.
3
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' "
16
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 20:19-25 Vespers, Gospel
19
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21
So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
24
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25
The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
