Today’s epistle reading is from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 4:25-32.

Therefore, putting away lying, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole, steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

St John Chrysostom reminds us of the importance of edifying words. He writes:

This means whatever edifies your neighbor, say this and nothing more. Say only such as is good. The flood of words is vast. Paul is right to charge us to use language carefully. He gives us a pattern for doing this. Of what then are we to speak? Whatever edifies, he says. Why? So the one who hears may be grateful to you. Suppose you brother has committed fornication. Do not lord it over him, do not gloat. That will not help your brother but damage him. It is as if you were driving a nail into him. If you counsel him, do so in a gracious manner, show him how to keep his mouth clean, teach him not to disparage anyone. Make his instruction your first concern. Then you will have rendered him a great service. And if you speak with him about abstinence, discretion and alms, all these things soothe his soul and he will give great thanks to you.

Today’s Gospel reading is from St Luke 9:18-22.

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples Joined Him. And He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day.”

After Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Christ of God, Jesus sternly warns his disciples to tell no one that particular truth. Why did he do that? St Cyril of Alexandria writes:

There were things yet unfulfilled which must also be included into Apostle’s preaching about Him. They must also proclaim the cross, the passion and the death in the flesh. They must preach the resurrection of the dead, that great and truly glorious sign by which the testimony is born Him that the Emmanuel is truly God and by nature the Son of God the Father. He utterly abolished death and wiped out destruction. He robbed hell and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy. He took away the sin of the world, opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven. These things proved Him to be, as I said, in truth God. He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan of dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.