Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3,22-30.
Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing.
John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized,
for John had not yet been imprisoned.
Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings.
So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven.
You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.”
耶稣基督的圣福音，根据圣约翰书3，22-30。
耶稣和他的门徒进了犹太地区，在那里与他们一同受洗。
约翰在撒冷附近的以嫩施洗，因为那里有许多水，有人来受洗。
因为约翰还没有被监禁。
约翰的门徒和犹太人在洗礼的事上起了争执。
他们到了约翰那里，对他说：“拉比，就是与你在约旦河东对面，你所见证的，他在这里施洗，众人都到他那里来。”
约翰回答说：“除了从天上赐给他的以外，没有人能得什么。
你们自己可以证明我不是弥赛亚，而是我被派到他面前。
拥有新郎的，就是新郎；站着听新郎的，因新郎的声音大为欢喜。所以我的这种快乐已经完全实现了。
他必须兴盛；我必须衰弱。”
This joy of mine has been made complete”
Listen, children of light: you who have been adopted for the Kingdom of God; listen, my dearest brethren; listen and exult for joy in the Lord, you just, for “praise from the upright is fitting” (Ps 33:1). Listen to what you already know; reflect on what you have heard; love what you believe; proclaim what you love!… |
Christ is born, God from his Father, man through his mother. He was born from his Father’s immortality and his mother’s virginity. From the Father without the aid of a mother; from the mother without that of a father. From his Father without time; from his mother without seed. According to his Father he is the principle of life; according to his mother, the ending of death. According to his Father he was born to determine the order of days; according to his mother, to consecrate the day that is here. |
He sent John the Baptist before him, causing him to be born when the days were beginning to decrease, while he himself was born when the days began to grow in length, thus prefiguring John’s own words: “He must increase, I must decrease”. For indeed, human life must grow weaker in itself but stronger in Jesus Christ “so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2Cor 5:15), and so that each one of us might repeat those words of the apostle Paul: “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). |