When it is said
The Orthodox Church reads this Gospel on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the fast before Easter. That Sunday also honours St John Climacus, the author of The Ladder.
Anyone may pray it when faith runs thin, as this father did for his son.
Where it comes from
Author known
A father and his son
A man brought his son to Jesus’s disciples. A spirit had taken away the boy’s speech and kept throwing him into fits, and it had been so since he was a child. The father begged Jesus, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus answered, “All things are possible to him who believes!” Then the father cried out these words. Jesus freed the boy and lifted him to his feet.
Mark 9:14-29, Berean Standard Bible
In Matthew’s Gospel
Matthew tells the same story more briefly. There the father kneels before Jesus and says, “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and is suffering terribly.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and the boy was healed from that moment.
Matthew 17:14-18, Berean Standard Bible
Faith that carries another
St John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, preached on this father. He saw a man very weak in faith, as his own words show: “Help Thou mine unbelief.” Yet Chrysostom also wrote that the faith of the one who brings the sick has often been enough for their cure.
John Chrysostom, Homily 57 on Matthew (English translation of 1888)
What the words mean
“With tears”
In the Greek printed on this page, as in the King James Bible, the father cries out “with tears”: “Lord, I believe.” The Berean Standard Bible, which this site prints, has neither “with tears” nor “Lord”. This page keeps “Lord”, as its Greek does.
Mark 9:24 in Greek, on Greek Wikisource; Mark 9:24, King James Bible, on English Wikisource
The Scripture in it
Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
“Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Πιστεύω, Κύριε,
βοήθει μου τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ.