John 10:9-16

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. ¹³ The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; ¹⁵ even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

Hebrews 7:26-8:2

²⁶ For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; ²⁷ who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected. ¹ Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a servant of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

St. John Chrysostom (“the Golden-mouthed”) was Archbishop of Constantinople in the late fourth century, renowned above all for his preaching — hundreds of his homilies survive, including the extensive commentaries on Scripture that still shape Orthodox biblical interpretation today.

He is also the author of the Divine Liturgy that bears his name, celebrated in Orthodox churches on most Sundays throughout the year. His outspoken defense of the poor and his rebukes of corruption at the imperial court led to his exile and death, but he is remembered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs and one of the greatest teachers of the Church.