Simon Jonin! Do you love Me?

The repetition of this question for the third time confused and saddened Peter. How could the same thing not happen that had already happened (he thought)? After all, even then he confidently said that he would never be offended and would lay down his life for Jesus, and then he denied Him, and three more times? That is why he no longer assures, but says:

God! You are omniscient!

You know everything. You know Yourself whether I love You!

You know I love You.

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Feed My sheep and lay down your life for them, as you promised to lay it down for Me!" – Christ said to him.

Having restored Peter in his apostolate, entrusting him, along with the other Apostles, to shepherd His flock, Christ reminds him of the difficulty of the path ahead of him. He had spoken about this many times before to all the Apostles, and now He addresses Peter personally. At the Last Supper, when Jesus told the eleven Apostles that He would not be with them long, Peter also asked:

God! where are you going? He answered Peter:

whither I go, thou canst not now follow Me, but afterwards thou shalt follow Me (John 13:36). That's what it's about

afterwards and now Christ says:

when thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself and went whither thou wouldst; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you up, and lead you whither you will not (John 21:18). Conveying these words, the Evangelist adds on his own behalf that Jesus thereby gave Peter an understanding of what kind of death he would die. When the Evangelist John wrote his Gospel, Peter was long dead: in the last year of Nero's reign, in Rome, he was crucified on the cross; Then he was already old, and another girded him, and led him whither he would not, and at the crucifixion he stretched out his hands; he did not want to be crucified as Jesus was crucified, considering himself unworthy of such an assimilation, and therefore, at his request, he was crucified head down.

Having thus foretold Peter what kind of death he would die, Jesus said to him:

follow me," and he went, probably, along the shore of the lake. Peter followed him, now realizing that he too was facing death on the cross, that he had not spoken empty words when he told Jesus that he would lay down his life for Him; this prediction did not frighten him, but, on the contrary, gave him more cheerfulness. As he walked with Jesus, he looked back and saw John walking behind them. The Evangelist John, telling about this, does not name himself, but says that it was the disciple beloved by Jesus, who at the Paschal evening, bowing to His breast, asked: