Fragmenta in Joannem

So as not to be from human [origin]—without any addition or definition. 1. For no one will dare to understand a change of the Word into flesh that has come to be, but his dwelling among us is his residing with men. 1. And one might understand that "to have come to be" also means "to exist," in accordance with which the prophet's utterance also had the phrase "before me no other god came to be"; therefore he also most excellently added immediately that "he was first of me," joining "he was" to "came to be," so that it might not be thought that "came to be" was said in a similar way in his case too, as in the case of created things which did not exist before they came to be. But he was, he says, first of me, always evidently having his being according to the divinity, never beginning just as not ending either. 4.1.19–21. The evangelist has previously mentioned the testimony of John mixed with his own, and now he sets it out distinctly by itself, as it were resuming, in saying "and this is the testimony of John," which he had just been saying—that he testified concerning him and cried out as he came from above, how the forerunner came to testify to the Lord. The Jews, he says, sent men chosen from the most esteemed among them to question him as to who he was, evidently having from their fathers the expectation of the coming Savior. But they erred in separating the prophet from Christ. And the Baptist answered well that he was not the prophet, saying the same thing which he also first answered when he said, "I am not the Christ," even if he did not clearly teach them that the Christ and the prophet were the same.

They sent, he says, the Jews, having chosen from among those most esteemed among them those who would question him as to who he was—clearly possessing the expectation from the fathers concerning the coming Savior, and by such expectation being stirred up again to suspicion whenever they saw something strange and unexpected, wondering whether perhaps this might be the one hoped for. For the strange and holy life of John led them to inquiry and questioning as to who he might be and whether perhaps he was the expected one. But he, he says, confessed at once and did not hide the truth, that he was not the Christ. And they asked a second time whether he happened to be Elijah; for indeed Malachi had foretold that Elijah would come. But John said no; for he was not Elijah according to his own nature, even if he shared in the spirit. They put forward their final question: Are you the prophet? The Baptist therefore answered that he was not the prophet, saying the same thing as he had also answered first when he said, I am not the Christ, even if he did not clearly teach them that the Christ and the prophet are the same. They sent, he says, the Jews, having chosen from among those most esteemed among them those who would question him as to who he was—clearly possessing the expectation from the fathers concerning the coming Savior, and by such expectation being stirred up again to suspicion whenever they saw something strange and unexpected, wondering whether perhaps this might be the one hoped for. For the strange and holy life of John led them to inquiry and questioning as to who he might be and whether perhaps he was the expected one. But he, he says, confessed at once and did not hide the truth, that he was not the Christ.

But they asked a second time whether he happened to be Elijah; for indeed he too had been foretold to come through Malachi the prophet, who says clearly: "Behold, I send you Elijah the Tishbite." And up to this point they were not mistaken in their suppositions, expecting both Elijah and the Christ. But when John declared that he was not Elijah—for he was not Elijah by his own nature, even if he shared in the Spirit and for this reason was called Elijah by the Lord—they put to him a last, mistaken question, again asking him this, which they had also asked first, whether he was the prophet, supposing the Christ to be someone other than the prophet. They therefore erred in separating the prophet from the Christ. But the Baptist answered well that he was not the prophet, saying the same thing that he had also answered first when he said, "I am not the Christ," even if he did not clearly teach them that the Christ and the prophet are the same. John 1:25-27. They say to John in a restrictive manner, "Why then do you baptize, if you are not these?"—not knowing that not even the Christ himself, being the prophet, baptized, but his disciples. And Elijah in the time of Ahab did not baptize even the wood of the altar that needed washing, but commanded the priests to do this. In answer, then, to "Why then do you baptize?" John sets forth his own baptism as bodily; and in answer to "if you are not the Christ," he speaks the glorification of the pre-eminent essence of Christ, saying that he is invisible in his divinity, present to the whole world.

He refutes their lowly opinion concerning Christ and unites the Word “in the beginning” by joining it to his incarnation—the one “whom you do not know” to “the one coming after me”—and he shows Christ’s superiority to himself through “I am not worthy,” and he would be in the midst of the whole world, which he pervades according to rational natures, or of us, in the midst of whom is the governing principle, where also is the word in each one. But if “in your midst he stands” is not perceptible, neither is “the one coming after me.” And having spoken the things concerning the substance of the Word, he joins also the things of his visitation, calling him “the one coming after him.” 6. The Lord does not proceed quickly to the outward working of signs, since he was not yet proclaiming openly nor had he yet assumed the rank of teacher for the public; for it was necessary that those who approached as to a teacher and pursued as to a savior obtain healings, because it is fitting that the one in need proceed to that which fills his lack. He says, then, that his hour for the signs is not present—the hour for the

According to reason, that is, and according to what is fitting. The mother knew the Lord as a son who was becoming obedient to her. And indeed the answer showed this: "What is it to me and to you, woman?" For as one able to be entreated, he answered this way—just as was the word of God to Moses: "Let me alone," as one able, that is, to be entreated and persuaded. Knowing, then, that he was also faithfully disposed toward her, and seeing from the answer that he was already inclining toward her request, she commands the servants to do whatever he bids. Allegorically, those who have come through shameful greed to lend at interest the silver that belongs to the word of God, and moreover who sell the gifts of the Spirit—called "doves" because of their affinity to the Holy Spirit that descended in the form of a dove upon the Savior—he casts out of the church of God. Well also is it said that the whip was made by Jesus from cords, with which he drove them all out; for since by the things with which one plaits a cord, one is punished in sinning, this was reasonably written; for sins are called cords.

The Lord, by grace, leads him up to the true understanding, attributing regeneration to grace—a regeneration that is accomplished through the ministry of water, which cleanses the body from human stains and those that come from evil, and through the energy of the Spirit, which sanctifies the soul and fills it with divinity. Since the Spirit has now dwelt in us as a kind of pledge and firstfruits, the kingdom of God will come perfectly, being a fullness of divinity in us. The light came of itself, with no one having labored to find it. Those who loved darkness rather than the light are without excuse; for it is not through ignorance that they do not believe in Christ, but because they wish to practice base deeds, which the teaching of Christ does not accept. When, then, we hear that "they could not believe," let us not think of a power of nature or the domination of something else, but of the self-sovereign reasoning that has enslaved itself to shameful passions and does not wish to depart from the most wicked habit. For these know the light but do not come to it, lest their hypocrisy be exposed—of those who say they know God but deny him by their deeds.

Since, therefore, the things that belong to him are spoken both by the one who believes and by the one who does not believe, it is in him that both believes and does not believe. And “he has sealed” is used in place of “he has shown.” This, he says, is the perceptible water that will heal thirst for a little while, but the invisible water, just as it frees from thirsting, no longer leaves human beings in need of life; for it wells up for them into incorruption. And that this is so is clear from what follows, because he promises the Holy Spirit as a gift. What is said, then, sets spiritual water in contrast with physical water, and also the gift of the Spirit in contrast with the teaching of the law. For the one was through the learning of letters, which man always needs because of forgetfulness, but the Spirit of wisdom, which may be present continually, grants the supply. The Samaritan woman, having heard these things, remained at the physical understanding and, thinking small things great, remained insensible to great things. But the Lord, having made a prelude to the woman up to this point, wishing to draw in the nation of the Samaritans, attaches to his discourse with her the calling of the man. In this it is shown that the nature of a man is more beautiful and in some way more suited for the knowledge of the word than that of a woman, since she had not reached the spiritual teachings of the Lord. They make clear that he received the ministries of those who offered, although he was able to feed and not be fed; for to feed Christ is the greatest benefaction, which he did not begrudge to those who wished it. Therefore he also appointed the same for the disciples.

The thirty-eighth year of the paralytic in the text signifies the time of punishment already being completed, because the people also paid the penalty for forty years in the wilderness, and the flood stayed for forty days, and the law punished those who sinned with forty plagues. Therefore the Lord, cutting short the fullness of punishment, heals the sick man in the thirty-eighth year, just as he was also cutting short the legal punishments through grace when the worldly time was near its completion. Then, because he says, “You seek the glory that comes from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from God, you cannot come to me.” And he says this, exposing the hidden things of the thoughts and stating the cause of unbelief: for rulers, pursuing the good repute that comes from the peoples, and peoples, loving the honor that comes from rulers, you stand apart from faith in me—the former, so that the glory among you might not be diminished, and you, so that you might not lose the honor among them.

But at the same time, wishing to extend the benefaction to more people, he did not remain fixed in one place. The sign that had taken place he does not announce to the disciples by word, but demonstrates by deed; for this was fitting for the dispensation, not as it was said to Moses at that time, "Is the hand of the Lord not sufficient? Now you shall see whether my word will overtake you," but here he gently and quietly commands the people only to recline, and taking the loaves and the fish he gives thanks as over food set before him and as one who will feed them by giving these, and in this working out what did not exist. He moves them not to be frantic about corruptible food, but about that which remains for eternity, which feeds the soul. This was the life-giving faith by which one is made like the flesh of the Lord, sealed by the Father with divine power. Here the work of God is said to be that which belongs to God. The Lord says this is faith in him, declaring faith to be a work more sacred and perfect. Therefore also without human works he rightly justifies and sanctifies, as having the noblest activity of the soul, not some idleness and inactivity. It is not possible to enjoy the word of God unto eternal life except through his flesh; for until he was mingled with flesh, all flesh was held by death. But now life-giving flesh has been given, feeding everything of the same kind unto life through the power blended with it and blended into the flesh that partakes of it by likeness.

The true food is not that which supports this temporary and perishable life, but that which prepares us for eternal life. This is also the true drink, since it does not satisfy thirst for a short time, but supplies it forever and renders the one who has drunk of it without need, just as the Lord also said to the Samaritan woman. He who blesses those who mourn in the present age speaks now in a manner consistent with this, saying on his own behalf something that is common and extends to all the saints: that we have no time for festival amid present afflictions, as long as wickedness wages war and truth is rejected by the majority and the will of God does not prevail on earth. For these reasons the Lord said that his own time had not yet come; for it was not possible for the good to celebrate together with the wicked, nor for one who is hated to celebrate with those who hate him. He says, "You go up and celebrate the festival, you who are neither hated nor envied by them. But I will not go up; for the time of my festival is different, namely when the good shall prevail, the worse being swallowed up, and evil shall appear nowhere." He refers this to the five loaves, or to the...

Without having sailed across, he has come to be beyond. Wishing to introduce the circumcision that takes place on the Sabbath, which is the beginning of freedom from the strictness of the Sabbath, he also makes his argument concerning circumcision. So that he may show that people are not profaned even by this, he says that, in the first place, the custom of circumcision is not even from Moses, but from above and from the fathers, since it begins from Abraham. And saying this, he sends them back to what is older than Moses, in which there was not yet law—this very thing that they especially marvel at as their own, the constitution according to the law—showing that it is from the older order and not yet legal. And always, wherever he introduces the greater matters of the law, he sends them back to what is older and ancient, since neither in Enoch nor in Noah. Therefore he did not say "from Abraham," but "from the fathers" the circumcision, so that, having observed the matter in all cases, you might not think its practice altogether necessary, because it was not even in all cases. But coming to Moses, who used circumcision on the Sabbath, he demonstrated that the Sabbath rest was loosed by Moses himself for the sake of the more divine work. But if, he says, for the sake of circumcision as a divine work they do not keep the Sabbath, it is kept idle, but sometimes also active,

How do you charge the much greater thing of circumcision—the healing of the whole human body—with not being something that ought to be done in a time of idleness? 7. The Lord introduces the two opinions about himself: that he is known by them as to where he is from, because his mother is Mary, and that he has at the same time also the unknown, that he is and has come from God. Therefore he is not a self-willed and self-appointed teacher, but has come to the teaching as one sent by God the Father; and the one who sent him is not known by them, because they were as far as possible from the knowledge of the true God, inasmuch as they are far from him both in mind and in deeds. And reasonably he knows the Father, because he is also from him; for what is most one's own is most knowable. 7:39–44. As having taken up a sharing of flesh with us, he was going to provide the things of the Spirit—not the sanctification that is truly given to human beings before the Word was made flesh and had run through the whole human way of life and had transferred our dishonor into the divine glory; for here God, having made humanity in Christ already receptive, as to his own and those taken up, grants the Spirit, and the Spirit is present. And it is in us from him; for that Scripture calls the sanctification in the Spirit "Spirit" is shown in Acts, where, when Paul asked, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" those who were asked said, "We did not even hear whether there is a Holy Spirit," saying this: that, if a sanctification of the Spirit has been given to human beings, they had not heard of it, since indeed that there is a Spirit of God had again been proclaimed in the divine Scriptures.

Let us not wonder, then, if even long ago, when the Spirit was active in the prophets, the gift of the Lord's resurrection is said to be his own; for one thing is the prophetic activity of the Spirit, and another is sanctification and renewal, which makes sons of God of those born of women. And prophecy often follows the sanctification that adopts as sons, whenever it is needed, but regeneration did not accompany prophecy, because the Holy Spirit was not yet. He does not refer this to the substance but to the activity; for he was not yet active in the disciples, since he would not have said concerning the substance of the Spirit that he was not yet (but clearly he was), but concerning the grace that was about to come upon the apostles and through them upon the rest. For that was not yet, inasmuch as in those who receive it, it both receives the gift and often admits of diminution through the self-wickedness of those who receive it. But the Pharisees again, setting aside the opinion of the crowd about them, resolved to seize him through the attendants. Yet no one of them all laid hands on him, being hindered by the divine grace. And he, being one of those who had believed and ranked with the accursed, reviles them in return, gently showing them to be accursed, as having condemned those who believed before knowing whether they had believed without reason.

Because they were asking as if about a man confined to a place—"Where is your father?"—he has wonderfully said that they did not know the Father, suffering this because they supposed the Son to be nothing other than flesh, the flesh seen in a place. But if you knew, he says, that even the Son, although he has borne flesh, is nonetheless beyond flesh, you would have recognized that the Father also is contained by no local confinement, but bears all things in himself. The evangelist appears to marvel at such boldness of words and such reproofs, and that no one was able to seize the Lord, although all were incensed at this and prepared. Yet nevertheless, teaching in their midst, in the temple by the treasury, he was saying these things, speaking boldly, giving proofs of divinity, convicting their ignorance on these matters—and no one laid a hand on him. Upon those who derived no benefit from his presence he threatens grievous destruction, and very reasonably; for those who, when the physician is present, do not

Having received these things, they die in their passions. And yet, if he was going to destroy himself according to their impious supposition, they too, being mortal, could have departed to him at any time; for there is one departure for all, even if the manner seems to differ, and one place receives all before the resurrection of the Lord, even if after these things the rank of the saints is transferred into paradise. What then does the Lord do? He shows the cause at once, saying, and removes their suspicion: You are from the world. The statement has something like this power, that he will depart to his own things and to the heavenly things; therefore this is not even death in truth, as in the case of a man who is from the earth and is dragged beneath the earth according to the departure from the body. Sufficient, he says, are the things which God also has spoken through the prophets, convicting your hard-heartedness and disobedience. And I also, whatever I say about you, I say not from elsewhere, but from the Father. He said "to hear" in a more human way, conversing more clearly with his hearers. For if they had understood that the Lord was speaking about God, they would not have asked, "Where is your father?" Therefore he also rightly said to them, "You do not know my Father." And saying that he has seen also with the Father, he did not indicate some sight of the eyes, but natural knowledge, since also when he says that those men have seen with their father, he surely does not say that they have seen by sight, but by the wickedness that dwells in them, by the counsels of the evil one, being akin

to be established. The one who previously said, "He who is of God hears the words of God," now says this, showing himself to be God by nature; and this one keeps the divine commandment, the one who in no way sins and transgresses the divine deeds; this one also hears the divine words. And he calls death here not the fleshly death, which all endure, but he names death the one to come, the being punished through eternity, which is Gehenna and "the worm"; for indeed life is also unceasing enjoyment into eternity; for he calls the age the one to come. Then, they say, tell us, are you yourself greater than Abraham and the prophets, you who promise to make others greater than they? Whom do you make yourself, you who also promise to give the better things from the honor of God? One must inquire what day he means; since the Savior is the true light and "the sun of righteousness," he makes a day, if he rises through virtue and divine knowledge. Since, then, he also appeared to Abraham, illuminating him by faith reckoned to righteousness, he rejoiced with joy seeing the intelligible day of the Lord. From this, those who say there are two gods, the creator of the world and the Father of Christ, are refuted as thinking impiously; for if Abraham, whom they say belongs to another god, saw the Savior and through him the Father, the God who appeared to him, the creator of the world, is the same as the Father of Christ.

There was once an ancient account that evils come from sin, because it was believed concerning God that he is the cause of no evil; but that suffering is for the sake of training and for the perception of God's power at work was later not at all well understood, because at that time good recompenses from God were more for the righteous, and the contests were not extended longer, as now, because of the life set before us for eternity. But since the blind man was so from birth, it falls to the disciples to inquire; and since it was impossible that he himself had sinned before being born, they put forward that of the parents. For they knew that sufferings come upon children to the grief of parents. But the Lord says that the blindness did not come about for the sake of some sin, but for the sake of the glory of God that was to be, so that God's power might be known through the recovery of sight that happened paradoxically. The inclusion of Siloam in the work—which is interpreted "sent," just as the evangelist also noted not in vain—makes clear the sending of the Creator's power for the renewal of his own creation, a sending that becomes purifying of sins, of which the water of the pool was a symbol, and through the cleansing of sins brings health back and into

the nature that had been sickened and crippled to its original soundness. These men do not bring their question to the blind man as though they needed to learn something from him, but as if trying to shame him into uttering something more blasphemous against the Lord because of what seemed to be his neglect of the Sabbath; for they thought that the one man, being poor and of no account and a beggar besides, would be dragged along by them since they were many, and they considered it a great thing to make the man who had been benefited cease from speaking well of him, so that by this means the deed might also be concealed, since it was not being testified to by the very man who had been healed. But he did not give way, since he had come to know the Lord by experience, but as far as he was able to grasp, he speaks well of him, declaring that he is a prophet—and this reasonably, since he knew that he had done it not by his own power, being ignorant of the authority of the Godhead. So great is the force of a preconceived opinion and of a disposition toward something, to steal away the right judgment in matters and to darken the reasoning. And that he made the blind man see on the Sabbath, they do not reckon, but that "he made clay," they judge—the Lord deliberately working his own works on this day many times, in order that, as the apostle says, he might free men from the slavery "under the elements," having set them free from Sabbath slavery into the service of God; for to work the works of God during the Sabbath rest is to serve God

It was instead of the Sabbath. Not finding the denial they wanted from the man who had been healed, they seek this from his parents, and they hope that they, having been thrown into confusion, will become their collaborators by denying that this man who was born blind is the one now seeing. But the evangelist says that they did not even believe; for faith does not take up residence in a contentious soul and one arrayed against God's power, so that they are not without blame for their unbelief, but are even greatly culpable, having fashioned hardness in themselves, through which they did not receive the good of faith. But they throw the parents into confusion by accusing them, because they said that their son had been born blind. For how, they say, does the son see? You say this out of contempt. What they say is of this sort: We know that God legislated through Moses, but this man we do not know, except as one who abolishes the law; for on the Sabbath he healed a blind man. For with this aim they say they do not know him. And the phrase "You are a disciple of that man"—they have said "of that man" as belittling him; and "we do not know" they say as having a suspicion concerning his birth according to the flesh, being able to conceive nothing concerning his ineffable birth. What then does the man who was healed say to this? He seizes them from their own words and makes them fall over themselves. This, he says, is the wonderful thing, that you do not know where he is from—it surpasses human comprehension. Then, since he himself has not said it from above, but knowing that he is not a sinner—for he says, "We know that God does not hear sinners.

With a wondrous veil, the parable conceals the things signified from those who are not worthy to know, leaving the knowledge to those who are worthy. The power of the parable is to make clear the departure for the good that takes place from the legal and Jewish way of life to the perfection that is in faith and with Christ. For the sheep that are rightly led out by the shepherd and recognize his voice and follow him as he leads the way are the men from Israel who leave behind the people that remain in bodily practices and follow the Lord as he goes out of the world—those who understand that the things of Christ are truly divine and that he leads from small things to greater ones, not from good things to evil, which is the work not of a shepherd but of a thief and a robber, that is, of an evil teacher who transfers from the law to lawlessness. By saying that the sheep do not follow him, he teaches the subjects of God and of the law not to follow lawless teachers. And when the shepherd calls his own sheep by name, he makes clear the selection of those who are fit, according to what is said in the prophets: "But you, gather the sons of Israel one by one"; for "not all have faith," nor are all able, since they do not even wish to leap away from their accustomed pursuits and to be freed from worldly attachment and to live for divine and superworldly discipline, to which the Lord also guides his own disciples, walking before them.

The most necessary time for such a parable is the present, as it teaches about those who go out from the synagogue of the Jews—namely, that they cast out the man "blind from birth" who received his sight because of his testimony about Christ. But for him this was not a harm, but the greatest good, because they did not understand his voice, the cause of his receiving sight. The doorkeeper who opens to the shepherd and opens the entrance fittingly is the overseer of Israel, the angel who gladly receives the presence of the King and hands over those administered by him to the greater oversight, according to the measure of the household stewardship; for "under stewards," he says, we were, and "guardians." And "Proverbs" clearly now he called the parable. The Lord entered through the fulfillment of the law, himself being in a certain way also the law; for in the living and true Word the legal is also contained. And he led out to pasture and life-giving food those who followed, because by the power of the Spirit he feeds them, who no longer need legal precepts but are led by doctrines according to reason; for "the law," he says, "of commandments, having abolished it in doctrines." And the law was given, unable to give life, but the Word of Christ gives life unto eternal things, from temporary goods, and not only life but also grants the kingdom in life, which is the abundance. Who then would be the thieves and robbers who came before the Lord and were not heard by the sheep?

But who else are these than those who taught the law and then fell away through their transfer to a Gentile manner of life—those who lead people to alienation from God and bring on the destruction that comes through that alienation? Most necessarily, then, the Lord shows the difference between himself and those who transfer away from the law—a point the apostle also keeps and marks when he says, "For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God"—that is, the law was not set aside through lawlessness, so that I might be brought down to death, but through the truly lawful and divine way of life, which leads to eternal life. For since false and wicked shepherds have stood over them—shepherds for the pay of the day's pleasure, who did not care for the sheep, but hunted their own pleasure and fled to it when the wolf came upon the sheep, that is, when destruction, which follows upon wickedness, came—the Lord, so that we might not perish before sin, took upon himself such oversight and died to sin for our sake. But those men, having handed the sheep over to sin, were feeding "themselves," as Ezekiel says, "and not the sheep." Therefore God also said, "I will shepherd the sheep," and he has fulfilled this through the Lord.

shepherding. The one who said that the sheep also know him, and who assigned to this such a likeness, saying that the sheep's knowledge of him is as great as his knowledge of the Father. And this is, among humans, the knowledge of the Lord that comes through virtue, but in the Lord it is the natural knowledge of the Father; for the likeness that comes through virtue imitates what is good by nature. And knowing his own and he says that he cares for them by also laying down his soul on their behalf. Death was seizing those still led under the law, who did not have their perfection in the law, nor could they remain in the house forever as slaves, as it is said, and who had not yet obtained adoption. But death no longer seizes those who have been set free in Christ; for grace now always guards such people before God, and the power of God rescues them from death. And so the Lord also possesses us, not as though we were outside his creative power, since he "came to his own" and all things are naturally his own, but as those who have fallen outside his holiness through sin, yet are made his own through his presence; for having acquired a kingdom according to the flesh over those who have fallen, he himself and no other is the king from the beginning and by nature, through whom the Father reigns. For this reason he says that those given to him and ruled by him are ruled by the Father. The Jews therefore took up stones, in order to stone him, bringing punishment upon the one who from the beginning ordained this against the impious and who alone is able to rescue from it through his love for humanity those who now run to his grace.

In response to these things the Lord was unperturbed, inasmuch as he himself had authority over his suffering, being unable to suffer otherwise unless he himself willed it. And he asks for what work, among those he showed them from the Father, they stone him. And he calls them good, showing that the wonders done by him all come about for the sake of the good and none merely for the sake of marvel; for he was present not to astonish but to benefit. The Jews answered him through the wise question, rightly agreeing; for they could not say that they had not seen good works, but they slander the truth of his words, which they ought rather to believe because of the display of good works. 10, So that he might not make his divinity too manifestly established by consorting further with those eager to seize him and not being seized, and so that he might not distort the rhythm of the human order. 64 11, 7 11 He does not immediately make clear that he is coming to this; for all things with him are without boastfulness and far from all pomp, accomplished for the sake of truth, not for the sake of reputation. Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? And the Lord teaches that before the time of his passion he would not suffer anything at the hands of the Jews. And he teaches through a parable, calling the time before the passion day, and the time of the passion he calls night, because a man walking in the day does not stumble as long as the twelve hours of the day are fulfilled. But if he walks in the night, he stumbles. And he says the cause of not stumbling in the day is the light, and of stumbling in the night, the absence of the light.

By these things he is making clear that it is according to the will from above that he either does not suffer or suffers, and that it is according to the presence or absence of the light that men either see or do not see, so that as long as the divine and heavenly will prevents the suffering, it is impossible for it to happen; but whenever it yields and gives way, then it will come to pass. So then, through such words he teaches them not to fear the plots from the Jews, as if someone were saying: Do not fear the stumbling blocks that lie on the earth, when the light from heaven does not shine; nor expect to suffer anything from men, since the divine will does not permit it. But so that they might not wonder that he had just withdrawn and was again hastening to the same places, he necessarily explains to them the matter concerning Lazarus. John 11: She was sitting in the house, Mary, evidently not having known; for Martha was active and quick to move about the table, but Mary was wise and more steadfast in faith. John 11: For that her brother would not have died if the Lord had been present, she says faithfully from experience; and the fact that she did not altogether despair of the resurrection of the one who had lain there, now already on the fourth day, this too was a matter of faith. But this appears a little later to be the case for one who believes such a thing not firmly; for she was still conversing with him as with some wonderful man and one who was able to do many things through virtue, but she had not yet learned the perfect knowledge of him as the Word of God, but was still ignorant. John 11: That is, being moved in spirit and by the Spirit, he usefully disturbed himself, as when some noble warrior, seeing the enemies, stirs himself up against the adversaries.

He does not refuse likeness to men, nor does he everywhere display that which is beyond man, but he showed compassion toward those who mourn, most philanthropically, by his tear. This tear of the Lord is a foundation of life for men. This mercy of the Savior raises up those who lie fallen. For this reason the Word came down into a body, that he might weep over men who lie fallen and bring the incorporeal Godhead to the giving of life to men. "For we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses." The priestly office of the Lord also offers prayers on behalf of men, and the Son's union with the Father has agreement with his wills concerning men, and thus the goodwill of God toward men has appeared, the sympathy of Christ toward men of the same race having come in between. The concurrence of the Father's will with his own—the hearing granted by the Father that took place for the life of Lazarus—he calls the Father's, and he gives thanks for it. And he shows the readiness of the Father's assent to his request to be so great that even before I asked and uttered the word of my petition, you heard me, he says; and not as though this were something marvelous and paradoxical—a father hearing a son—nor as though it were possible for it to happen otherwise; for I knew, he says, that you always hear me. For nothing stood in between as a barrier, nor are the wills divided, but whatever is the will of the Son has its origin from the Father, and the ineffable will of the Father is with the Son. And why, he says, have I made the thanksgiving which it was fitting for him to make

And from a paradox and rather being benefited according to goodness? And the fact that the one lying there was called by name was a symbol of friendship; for the young man whom he raised he called a young man, saying, "Young man, I say to you, arise," and the girl likewise, "Talitha koum," but the friend and acquaintance he summons more friendlily by name, so that it might be a sign of the resurrection of friends being called by the Lord, whom the apostle calls dead in the Lord, whom descending to meet him he will summon. And the "Come forth" is in agreement with what was said by him, that "the dead will come forth" having heard "the voice of the Son of God." And this going out from the tomb is more dreadful than the wonder at the resurrection. Irrefutably, even to the ungrateful, it presented the authority of the benefactor; for he did not come out walking on feet; for the power of movement has been taken away, so that he could display no suspicion, overturning the sophisms of the ungrateful. For this reason he even permits them to loose the one raised from the dead, so that by removing the bonds with their own hands and freeing him from burial, they might become witnesses of what happened to those absent. And why does he pray, or rather assume the form of a prayer? So that we might not think him to be against God. And "Loose him and let him go," so that he might not boast, being led by reputation. Not as it was spoken by Caiaphas according to the spirit of prophecy;

For the prophetic spirit did not organize a plot against Christ, but by some coincidence, running alongside the true and future event, it was permitted to him to touch upon such a notion, inasmuch as he was high priest, so that through his mouth he might foresee what was hidden from men until that time and unknown. 12. Mary fulfills the type of the Church—the Church of the Gentiles, freed from demons as from her "seven demons had gone out"—offering the fragrance of faith to the death of Christ and receiving back from Christ power for her own head through her zeal for him and healing love, and filling the whole world with the fragrance, as Paul also says: "We are the fragrance of Christ to God." 78 12:4-6 Making the pity of the poor a pretext for his own greed, he had not undertaken this service even as being more faithful than the others, but as being lesser; for the service concerning money is lesser than the service in the word, as

And the twelve made this clear in the Acts of the Apostles. With palm branches they escorted his entry and hailed him as the coming King of Israel—that is, they brought Christ, the promised one, into the city with conspicuous honor. But he, though such great honor was shown him by the people, composes himself to the utmost modesty, at the same time also fulfilling the symbol foretold in the prophecy. From this very fact the seat upon the donkey has its modest and lowly character, and hidden in it is the symbol of the people not yet pure at that time, who were to receive the mount of the Lord. For a donkey is unclean according to the law. And the prophet Zechariah cried out, proclaiming good news to Zion that the King of all would free her from fears and redeem her from hostile rulers, and by the symbol showing that he would lead the nations and would have dealings with a new people, because there was also a colt on which he sits as he enters. Necessarily, then, the Lord also performed the miracle concerning Lazarus last in order, so that, on account of this recent event, he might be honored more conspicuously by the crowd, and the Pharisees, grieving excessively because of the honor, might take counsel against him, and thus the passion might be accomplished, which indeed comes to pass. They see that they oppose the faith in Christ in vain, in vain they excommunicate the believers, in vain they turn away the rest, saying some things and threatening others. So they say all these things are useless.

unless they turned to doing away with him. He shows that the honor which comes down from above from the Father is, in relation to his own human nature below—plainly visible and leading men to eternal and immortal life—yet he presents to us the gift of life as coming in no other way than through him, insofar as he is a heavenly power, since he himself foretold that he would give eternal life to those who follow him, which was fitting for him to say insofar as he is the source of life. Here much that is human is shown, and he shows that nature does not wish to die, because he was not outside human passions. For lest some should say that he easily exhorted others to despise death while himself being outside of dangers, he shows that he too, in anguish, said these things by economy, as a man disturbed and seeking to be released, if it were not beneficial. What he says, then, is of this sort: even if I am now disturbed, fearing death, I do not speak so as to flee it; for it is necessary to bear what comes upon me. For I do not say, "Deliver me from this hour," but "Glorify your name"—that is, lead me now to the cross. And he says these things as an outline of courage.

introducing us. The Dialogue is not in the voice of the Father to the Son, because the divine is beyond voice as well; but a sound is sent from heaven into human ears, from the person of the Father to the Son, so that those who hear may think more greatly of Christ and recognize his divinity beyond man. Nor does glory accrue to the Father, who is always the same, except insofar as it shines forth and is made known to men's understanding; nor is the Son to be reckoned as glorified from dishonor, except insofar as in the eyes of men according to the flesh the one formerly invisible becomes visible. But the voice did not reach the ears of those present; rather, how it happened, another glorifies. For it was a doctrine handed down from the fathers among them that audible voices are not borne from the mouth of God, since indeed Moses and all the rest, as many as have spoken of words concerning God that were heard, marked them as for men and said that the manner of the speaking was that of an angel. If indeed we too shall hold that it was an angel who brought forth the voice, it is well suited to the human person that the Father's voice was heard from above through an angel. Jesus answered and said: this voice did not come for my sake; for he who knows the Father and the things of the Father needed nothing. Therefore he does not allow anything small to be thought concerning him, nor as in the case of the prophets, so as to know who he might be with God. But see whether "Glorify your name" is the same, as being referred to the Savior who is as the Word of God. So also the name of the Father—but a name not consisting of syllables nor signified in sounds, but the one that displays the peculiar property of the Father.

In this way one can understand the name of God and what was said by the psalmist: "I will declare your name to my brothers." For how else is there a declaration of the name of God? But they expose their ignorance concerning the prophets and demonstrate their inexact knowledge of what has been written. For they have received from such voices that the Christ remains forever, but the mystery of death happening in between and the brief dissolution of the soul from the body they did not understand nor examine closely. 12. He does not wish to be seized while moving about in their midst or conversing among them, but rather withdrawing and shadowing himself. For in this he was exposing the wickedness of the traitor, who hired himself out for a teacher's pay, while he was preserving his own gentleness, wholly removed from recklessness, coming into their midst only so far as to testify to the truth. For their deed against the Savior needed to be not a bold act of anger but a deliberate counsel of wickedness; for everything dared from anger is less worthy of condemnation, but the height of wickedness is to do evil with deliberate intent. But let us not think that the hardening of heart and the obduracy brought about by God is the working of the holy power, but rather a concession of the divine judgment, while the working is of the evil and

of the opposing power. Evidently, before the withdrawal just now indicated, these things were spoken by the Lord, and after these words he withdrew—words which John, taking up again, records beforehand, and he testifies that the hearts of those who believe and are guarded confess them with understanding. He exposed as a grievous sin the betrayal of confession; for he said that those who do this reject faith in God. For they do not believe in anyone else but in God—the one who has believed in him—because, he says, the Father is seen in the Son. Therefore, one who has received the one who sent him does not receive him as a servant; and so he said that the one who believes in him believes in God. For no longer would it follow that "the one who sees me sees the one who sent me." For faith directed toward the servant, pushing the servant aside, sees the one who sent him; but the one who in the vision of the Son sees the Father does not pass beyond Jesus and turn to the Father, but remaining and standing in the Son, he grasps the Father. So that "the one who believes in me" does not believe in me—up to the point of the flesh and the human person—has its indication. From this, leading forward and lifting up the hearts of men, he says, "the one who sees me sees the one who sent me"—that is, the one who is able to recognize who it is who comes through the flesh and who lays hold of the intelligible and nobler vision, this one truly finds me, and in faith toward me he finds faith in the Father. It is similar, then, as if he were saying: the one who believes in me does not believe in a mere man, but in the power of God, in which the Father is known and believed.

His words, spoken also with authority, because he is both creator and lawgiver to his own creatures, insofar as he is the Word of God, "through" whom "all things came to be," who "came to his own" and speaks with authority, not as one who is a servant of the words given by God; for to none of such would "I say to you" be fitting, nor the setting in comparison with the laws of God. For setting in comparison with what was spoken from the divine person—"you shall not murder" and "you shall not commit adultery"—he adds in each case "but I say to you." Nor is the legislation alien to the Savior, nor does he speak from revelation, nor does he discourse on things commanded, if we understand his own and pre-eternal existence according to divinity. The first and ready benefit is of surpassing humility beyond example, and of the greatest love. And he calls it a departure—the transition from human lowliness to the glory above the heavens. The washing of the feet here hints at the deeper meaning of the matter, which seems to be a preparation of the apostles' feet for the work of the apostolate; for he sends them out with feet made clean through the purity given by himself, so that they may indeed be able to run through the world proclaiming the good tidings of salvation, according to what is said: "how beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace." Since they are clean, then, in body, he said they still need the cleansing of the feet, that is, so that they may be clean not only in themselves, but may also be clean in their course, conveying purity to all people.

But they are not all pure, because of the twelfth among them, who has in himself every uncleanness. No one among men is by nature a slave of any nature, nor does anyone by nature have either the act of sending or the state of being sent; but God alone is by nature master, as being over his own works and above the servile nature, and he alone is by nature a sender, being himself above being sent. Here indeed it is impossible that slaves should appear to surpass their master, or apostles their sender; for what is greater by nature is not surpassed. In these things the Lord displayed both the gnostic faculty and the forbearance, each of them being divine and from him—the gnostic faculty in that he saw the traitor and by his word separated him from those being saved, since in deed he did not wish to separate him, even to the point of washing his feet as he did those of the others. And it is God's part to examine hearts and to foresee what will come from them. He showed the divine nature of his forbearance not as dishonoring the one plotting against him, but even honoring him, treating him equally with the others and using that man's wickedness for the common benefit; for God provides his own gifts to both evil and good, as the Lord himself also said.

He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust, and by permitting the wickedness of the evil to contribute to something useful, he accomplishes what he wills; destruction indeed is laid up for the wicked, but they are in no way able to hinder the plan of providence—rather, they even contribute to its service, just as those who plotted against Joseph (to take an example similar to the present matter) through their plot helped Joseph toward glory and toward the salvation stored up for many in the famine through him. And in the case of the Lord too, the greatest of human evils come to pass, so that they may also reach their end and no longer be able to advance further; for wickedness is defeated when it arrays itself against Christ, and once defeated by the Master it loses its victory over the servants. Having reclined on the breast of Jesus, so as not to cry out within earshot of the others, he inquired, and asked what he himself was not eager to ask, being perhaps more patiently disposed. Therefore he was also more loved; for the quieter and more patient disposition is more honored even with God. Jesus therefore grants to the beloved one the communication of the mysteries; for he says that knowing is itself the mark of a friend, and he discloses the things hidden with him. By word, then, he gives answer, and by deed he shows the one being pointed out. And this was not in vain; for the movement through deed is clearer and more able to be remembered. And he wished it to be remembered, because he had foretold the betrayer, so that no one might think that he was plotted against while unaware. And the sign given for the indication is marvelous.

For through this senseless feasting he exposes him, handing him the morsel and by this showing that he whom he honored as a friend would become a traitor. No longer, then, can the traitor even control himself, but from the moment the Lord pointed him out, the devil prevails over his thoughts and leads him to evil, having him delivered up because of his wickedness and his condemnation to this. He has shown himself worthy of this. Since what he seemed to hide was exposed by the glory of the morsel, unable to bear the exposure he hastened to put an end to it more quickly. The evangelist called this an entry of Satan—the ratification of the thoughts desired by the devil. From this, I think, the apostle also learned the power of love and called it the "fulfillment" of the "law"; for it is clear that one who yields even his own soul to his friends will gladly surrender all other things as well, and much more will he forgive. And when this is accomplished, there is no pretext for wickedness, nor any need for the individual commandments, since all of them are briefly comprehended in this. He had said beforehand to all of them that they could not go where he is, not only because they could not walk to heaven in the body, but also because they had not completed "the course" of their apostleship, which made them worthy to follow the Lord. The saying indicates that souls follow the Lord into heaven and are no longer held down below or under the earth.

He calls himself Truth because of the perfection and exactness of his virtue, and Life because of the enduring and eternal character of his existence; and those who have lived in virtue and attain eternal life, these he shows to be journeying toward God, and that this is the way. And he has said that he himself is both journeying and the way—journeying in respect of his conduct on earth, in which he fulfilled every virtue and brought in life as a kind of crown upon his conduct; and being the way in that he himself is living virtue and eternal life, so that it is not according to his incorporeal divinity that there is any journey or action of his that joins him to the Father, but this is his nature and essence. But through the incarnation he has also taken on the good activities and actions on earth, through which he leads all to God and to his own divinity. Just now he was setting forth the natural unity of himself with the Father, and next he brings in also the unity of himself with the apostles according to grace; for this is a likeness of that and an imitation of what is according to nature by what is according to grace; for this comes about through faith, but that not through faith, but according to natural power; for it is not by faith in the Father that Christ works his wonders, but it is by faith in the Son that the apostles accomplish the works of the Son, and the works are not the apostles' own, but the things done through them are the Lord's own. Therefore also reverence is brought to the Son, but reverence is owed to the apostles from no source, not even if they should do greater things than the Lord. Christ does whatever the apostles ask; for he has said, "I will do whatever you ask in my name.

He shows that the work is his own. He says that in this his Father is glorified, while he himself works and the Father is made manifest through the activity of the Son; for there is no other approach to the Father except through the Son, neither formerly nor now nor again hereafter, but the approach through the Son is more intimate, and he has it now, because he became closer to us by being made flesh. What is owed to the Lord by us, about which he also gives command, and what he himself provides for us, about which he makes promise—for ours is the keeping of the commandments, and this is the proof of love toward the Lord; but from him is supplied to us the communion of the divine nature, as we become fit for that communion through obedience. He says that he asks the Father according to his brotherly intercession on our behalf; for he himself is the one who gives according to his lordly authority and according to the working of all the Father's counsels. The Spirit of truth, then, is the incorporeal one, sent from the incorporeal; therefore he has also said that the Father sends it, indicating the presence that comes from the incorporeal, since he himself is seen in a body. Invisible is the presence of the incorporeal; therefore for those who think that only visible things exist, his presence is incomprehensible; for it is also imperceptible and for this reason unknown; for what they do not see with their eyes, this they neither know nor think to exist, but those who are able to partake of him perceive him when he is present.

These know the better substance than sense-perception from participation, grasping themselves from other things, whenever they are filled with the Spirit and through the divine condition in which they participate they recognize its cause—the divine power or some craft—just as one who has wisdom or some craft within himself understands what he has, even if it is unknown to those nearby. 14. Christ stood by those who were warred against; he made peace, having destroyed the strength of those who war; for no longer is there power in the opposing powers against those who are Christ's own; for they have come out of captivity, having recognized the Redeemer. Their peace is therefore immovable, because it is the peace of a soul that has been led to freedom and has laid aside fear and stripped off turmoil. Since, then, the goods of the soul are firm and irremovable, the soul's peace is firm. 14:30–31. Again, when he says that a commandment has been given to him, in likeness to us, his saying seems to be, as it were, to conceive of God in a human way, but not even the Son as one who hears; for the divine things are greater than a voice and are understood in a natural way according to what is proper to God, the so-called counsel of the Father being called a commandment, in agreement and harmony with which the Son accomplishes the dispensation; for it is also a most noble thing that I do, so that we may see that even the suffering was of his activity, through which he rather overthrows those who attack him, since even when triumphed over he triumphed and when crucified he crucified and brought those who did this to shame. So, he says, because of the love for the Father

I await death. The ruler of wickedness is strong through the wickedness that is in a man, taking as his own the one found under wickedness. Against me, then, he will not come in this way, he says, as against some man among those lying under sin, but as one who willingly hands himself over and shows to the world the love that I have for the Father, because I accomplish this while the Father wills the world to be saved. It seems indeed to be a withdrawal, but it is a voluntary surrender, because he seeks out such a place in which he will be recognized by the traitor and betrayed. Whoever, then, separates himself from the Lord toward fleshly things has alienated himself from the vine and becomes dry, no longer receiving the life-giving moisture. And such a one will be kept for eternal judgment, as the dry branches for the fire. Remaining in me, he says, you will not only have the fruits of virtue borne from yourselves, but also the greater things of virtue—I mean the powers from God, which you will receive through petition; for ask whatever you wish,

And it will be for you to surpass the power of the marvelous things. John 15:9-10. As I, he says, being akin to the Father in respect of divinity, have been loved by him and did not arise from men, so also you, being akin to me in respect of the flesh, have been loved by me. Guard, therefore, the love which you have obtained. Guard it, if you keep the commandments given by me, preserving also in this the imitation and likeness unto me; for I, thinking and acting in accord with the Father, have kept exactly the love toward the Father. And you likewise, fulfilling in deed the commandments from me, will demonstrate the love toward the master; for neither do you and the Lord show love in the same way—you toward the master and the Lord toward the Father—nor do slaves and a son render the keeping of the commandments equally, the one toward a master and the other toward a father. For to the Lord it was natural to fulfill all things pleasing to the Father, and there was no toil nor care nor exercise in this, but for us the accomplishment comes through toil. And he keeps the Father's will not in hope of reward, but we endure the toil for a reward and practice the keeping of the commandments. Different, then, is the manner of the Lord's love toward the Father, and different is ours toward him. John 15:? Not such a hearing, surely, does he mean as that of men, just as neither such love nor a like keeping of the commandments; for no word borne into the hearing of ears has been brought forth from the Father making known the Father's will, but he has called "hearing" the foreknowledge, which does not accrue to him at some particular time, but is present always.

For wisdom does not proceed from ignorance into knowledge, nor is knowledge anything other than wisdom, so as to receive it as though it did not know itself; but it is necessary, through customary and human words, to understand the divine transcendence, sealed for us in a manner befitting God, and not according to human lowliness, since every discourse about God has been shaped in such a form by human shape and by the names of our own experiences, interpreting the incorporeal and formless and impassible God. From him, the kinship with him has been given to men, and the good has not been grasped by men, which the apostle also teaches, saying: "I press on, if I may also grasp, inasmuch as I was also grasped by Christ." For we were not chosen because we had pleased, but in order that we might please. Therefore, he says, having chosen them, he appointed them for fruit-bearing, so that, even if we were not established as honorable to God through former things, we might become so through the latter. And what is this incorruptible fruit of the apostles, remaining forever? The church. It is not possible for one who does not hear God to be heard by God, nor for one who does not bring a gift to obtain blessings, so that, he says, if you hear the commandments and bring forth fruit, you will also obtain your requests. And the requests that are acceptable to God on your behalf are those brought up through my name; for in me is your access through my name, and your boldness. As those who are about to be hated by all, he commands them to love one another.

He will convict the world as those condemned under sin through unbelief; for faith has dissolved sin, but unbelief has bound it, and the Spirit appearing in those who believe was a condemnation of those who disbelieve; for being deprived of the gift, they were convicted by its presence in those who had believed, and this showed them to be accursed vessels and unfit for the Spirit. Or he also showed the righteousness that is in those who believe, and this for no other reason than the ascent of Christ; for this is what justified men—that flesh taken from us and human form should ascend to the heavenly throne and sit beside the Father. And this very thing also contained the condemnation of the world, since man, who had been held captive by it and had fallen under its feet, had trampled over its head. So that with good reason he has said that the presence of the Spirit among us has proof of these three things: the sin of the world, the righteousness of faith, and the condemnation of the devil. The working and teaching of the Spirit will be for my glory, because the Spirit also proceeds from me. And in saying "from me," what is from the Father is also clear; for what is the Father's is mine. Therefore "he will receive from what is mine" is again heard in the same way, not as though some knowledge were accruing to the Spirit, and this in the present time; for it would be terrible even to the point of suspicion, if the Spirit were to receive instruction at the time when it is about to bring it to men. And it would be terrible if anyone were to suppose that it is taught at all.

For it will no longer be believed to dwell in humans and to bring all wisdom into them, if indeed it is not some natural wisdom, but even it needs to be taught. So, instead of saying that the whole Spirit rushes forth from himself, he has said, "He will take from what is mine and will announce it to you"; for the utterances are lesser in relation to what is more knowable to humans, but the glory of the Spirit is greater in relation to what is more proper to the divinity. And God is said also to hear a human's words, and it is clear that nothing accrues to the knowledge of God in time, but even before our words he knows our prayers, and from the beginning, from the creation, he fashioned the whole according to his design, knowing also the changing motions of his own creatures; nevertheless "Hear, Lord" was said, and "the Lord heard"—although, as is fitting for God, none of such things should be understood temporally, nor as some change occurring in God from human prayers, nor does knowledge of what is said come upon God; but humanly, as I said, the words are spoken, and divinely they are understood by the pious, and the unchangeable and immutable character of God's glory will not be tainted in your suspicions because he hears humans speaking. In this way, then, neither in the case of the Spirit will the hearing and the receiving admit any addition of knowledge or change to the unchangeable substance of the Spirit.

He hints to the rest at the ascent into the heavens, but what is said is not yet clear to them, and they hesitate to ask. Hence they consider it among themselves and speak quietly. Yet there was no need to inquire by word of the one who knows the question in their heart even before they ask (for Christ hears the thoughts in the heart before the words on the lips), and as though they had asked and put the question forward, he answers them, demonstrating to them by this also his divinity for the confirmation of faith. For you seek, he says, concerning the word which after a little while declares my departure, and after a little while again my return will be. This will be so. It has been said, and it is necessary that joy appear to you through grief, and injustice will rejoice for a little while as though it had prevailed, since I undergo the passion; but you will grieve as no longer having the Savior. But a swift change will follow the matter, and you, from the grief of death, will receive the

You will receive the joy of the resurrection. The disciples find his impending departure painful, but the resurrection delightful; and each of these lasts only a short time. The matter will appear similar to the pangs of childbirth: for just as a woman suffers labor pains before the birth, and from the pains comes the birth, and the distress ends in delight, and the delight removes the memory of the pain, so it will turn out for you in this new and wondrous birth. For now truly a human being is born into the world through paradoxical pangs, and the pangs surrounding the passion will bring you pain, but the resurrection after the passion will bring joy—a joy that is in no way subject to change nor removable by a human being or anyone else, when through the resurrection of the new human being you, having become new, will come to boldness before God. For you will rejoice when you see a child born strange to the world, incorruptible and imperishable—and he is clearly speaking of himself. The words about God are parabolic and by way of similitudes, in which God is compared to a man speaking and the Son to one listening, and the Spirit likewise as one listening and receiving words. The Father and the Son are likened to ones coming to human beings and dwelling among human beings; for speech and hearing and going and dwelling, and all such things, have their likenesses in bodily terms. But it is not possible for human beings to hear in any other way than this.

He says there will be a time when you will hear and know, not through visible likenesses, but through the invisible glory of God—that is, when, having been perfected in the Spirit, you will be disposed in a fitting way toward the knowledge of God, and then a certain divine converse of the Lord with you will become clear and will not make its teaching about the Father through a veil. But even the credibility you now have, he says, will presently be shaken, and you who say you believe will flee a little later, when your faith is moved by fear. And this, he says, is not hard for me but for you; for you will be left alone without the teacher and will abandon the Savior, but I will not be left alone without the Father; for there is nothing that separates me and the Father. In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world. As he is about to depart, he says, I necessarily, by what has now been said, establish your souls so as not to be troubled, but to hold out against circumstances by faith; for many are the things among men that press hard, but great is the

The aid of confidence: for confidence will never be firmly from your own courage, since there is nothing in man that is steadfast and unchangeable good, but from my invincible power safe confidence will belong to those who share in me. 126 Why does he say, I ask concerning them, and what is this asking? Already, he says, they need the spiritual oversight that works invisibly in souls, because I no longer walk with them according to the flesh nor will I converse with them; for I will now leave the world, passing over into the heavens. But establish over them the invisible oversight, guarding them as sons, just as they have become, having received from me the name of sonship. While I was present, it was enough to see me and to hear me, and this was sufficient for them to be guarded. At any rate they were guarded, and no one fell away from the salvation that is in me, except only the one who gave himself over to destruction, against whom also the prophetic Spirit has been fulfilled—that his memory be blotted out from the earth. But now, as I am already returning to you, I ask your invisible oversight for them. This means all that I acquire through sanctification and those to whom I grant perfection in the divine form, imparting my Spirit. And he adds that what is yours is mine. And these would be the heavenly things, which do not now receive sanctification, but from the beginning have stood firm in sanctification; for not even for those is sanctification otherwise than through the Son, who indeed divinely, yet also in the flesh, sanctified all things. He is glorified, then, not only in those now acquired under his kingdom, but also in those who from the beginning have remained in the kingdom.

For this is the "Let your will be done as in heaven and on earth." Such also is what is said by the angels: "Glory in the highest to God and on earth peace among men of good pleasure." For this reason the Son of God came through a body, so that he might extend the glory that is in heaven also on earth, and be glorified not only among the saints in heaven, but also among those being sanctified on earth. Clearly in this he distinguishes what is by nature and what is by likeness; for he says that he himself is not from the world, and that the disciples likewise are not from the world. And it is clear that Christ truly was not from the world, since he had come down from heaven, while the apostles by likeness to Christ had passed over from the world. And he says that they, having become strangers to men through virtue beyond man, were reasonably hated by those who think contrary things. They have, then, already from me, through their kinship with me, the alienation from the world, and no longer need it. But they need confirmation in this good, so as not to be harmed through the wickedness of the devil and be estranged from this divine kinship.

Again. Let the good be true in them, and the sanctification true, lest "having begun in the Spirit, they be" at some time "perfected in the flesh," nor live according to fleshly irrationality, but according to the virtue of this word, in which again true virtue. There is much inequality of honor here; for he sends, he says, the disciples just as he himself is sent from the Father. But there is no equality of honor between the coming from heaven to earth and the apostleship of the disciples that took place on earth; for they are not sent as teachers by nature just as the Lord is, but having received the teaching power and wisdom, and thus through imitation the good advances into the world, and what was sent from heaven by the Father through the disciples sent by him passes over to all. One must attend to John as he passes over the account concerning the Lord's distress and grief, which the others have not omitted. But, as I said, his writing inclines rather to the declaration of the divinity, since the humanity has been sufficiently foreknown, and he speaks the human things rather in summary fashion,

The proofs of his divinity are clearer, for the sake of their folly. It seems that there was also a concession from the Lord that they might then use a sword; for Luke recorded this, as the Savior indicated the coming war when he said, "Let the one who has a garment sell it and buy a sword," and when the disciples said, "Look, here are two swords," he answered to this, "It is enough." And this was surely not permitted in vain by the Lord who commanded not to resist "the evil one," but also for the very thing that was said, so that by deed he might show what he had taught beforehand by word, and might stop and prevent them when they used the just sword for defense, so that they might no longer use it for this purpose, as also the one who said these things recorded that the Lord said afterwards, "Let it be until this point"—and this "until" has a limit and a prohibition of the sword permitted by the law. And Luke added to the account that "touching his ear, he healed it," which was a most manifest deed to the effect that he harms no human being. And it must not be overlooked that

In such cases it is also mystical. One might consider that the cutting off of the right ear of the high priest's servant is a sign of the disobedience that came upon them and of their not being permitted to hear with the ear. For "hardening has come upon Israel" and "hearing they do not hear," because of the impiety against the Savior, which was especially the case with the high priests. Therefore the symbol of the removal of the ear was also in connection with a servant of the high priest. But one must also add this for the sake of Luke's account, and I would say that by the restoration of the ear is indicated the later restoration of the understanding now taken away from Israel, when they will understand the one they did not know and will hear, having obtained the one who proclaims, Elijah; for the heart of fathers will be restored to sons according to Malachi. And those who are first in time will be joined to us who are second, and will be counted as fathers together with sons. So then, the cutting off of the right ear of the high priest's servant was a symbol signifying the darkness of the disobedience that came upon them; and I would say that by the restoration of the ear is indicated the later restoration of the understanding now taken away from Israel, when they will understand the one they did not know and will hear, having obtained the one who proclaims, Elijah; for then the heart of fathers will be restored to sons according to Micah. It seems that John clearly wishes to show clearly the day of the passion, which has been clearly declared by the other evangelists.

For he has recorded that the supper was "before the feast of the Passover," before the betrayal, after which he rose and was betrayed, and that the Passover had not yet been eaten when he himself suffered, so that the time of the slaughter of the lamb and the death of Christ coincided. For the time was evening, in which "the true lamb gave up the spirit" at the ninth hour of the day, and the slaughter of the lamb according to the law was also in the evening, so that on the same day and hour in which the event was prefigured, it was also fulfilled. And the Jews could not escape fulfilling the event at the feast, although they were on guard and saying, "Not at the feast, lest there be a disturbance" among the people. It is therefore possible to suppose also concerning the other evangelists that they call the first of the unleavened bread the day before the unleavened bread, that is, the thirteenth, and that according to them the Passover was prepared beforehand on this day by the disciples, but the supper was not the eating of the Passover; for in this way they will agree with John, and especially the [account] of the

The voice of Matthew, which he recalled when the Lord said: "You know that after two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified," as if on this very day both the Passover would be sacrificed and he himself would be crucified. 18. He says that he reveals the truth to men and grants them salvation through his own knowledge, but for the present they stand by what is pressing. 138. He says that the sin is greater than that of the one who handed him over, for this reason: that according to the prophet, "those whom you struck, they persecuted," and as elsewhere it has been foretold concerning the traitor, "because he did not remember to show mercy, and he persecuted a man poor and needy and pierced in heart, to put him to death"; for to attack one who has done no wrong in a time of pain and affliction is dreadful in the eyes of the just and good God; for the one with whom he ought to have suffered, to him he adds pains and so opposes God. 19. They lead him away as conquerors, but the Lord, being led, conquers, bearing on his shoulder the rule or the discipline, or however the prophecy of Isaiah is to be interpreted when he says, "whose rule has come to be upon his shoulder." Discipline, because he bore our discipline according to the text, "the discipline of our peace was upon him"; and rule, because he reigns over the captives under death and under sin, submitting in their place to the death on the wood by means of the wood. 19. This forgiveness he calls glory from above; but he speaks as a man, for insofar as he was the Word of God and God, he was the one who gives and forgives.

Many are those who even now dare the same things against the soldiers, who tear apart the church of Christ, each making his own profit from whatever he might take. But this was the work of the impious heresies. And the Antichrist will wish to drag it all away like a garment; for that the people is likened to a garment of God, he made clear in what he said to Jeremiah: "For just as the loincloth clings to a man's waist, so I clung the house of Israel and all the house of Judah"; but indeed the true loincloth of Christ remains and is neither torn apart nor alienated. He who deigned to fulfill all forbearance for our sake and drank vinegar says, "It is finished," which was showing the purpose of his coming and the goal of all things done in it; for all these things were for the sake of completion, not only, I say, of the completion of the prophetic words, but also of all virtue among men, which remained incomplete without Christ, and of all the providence that came from God concerning men, which in the salvation from Christ receives its perfection. And when he breathed out his spirit, "the curtain of the temple was split." Since it was not necessary that the harmony of bones be divided, this does not happen. But the side had to be wounded, and the soldiers are permitted to do this; for the Lord gave a side in place of another side. And the side is the woman, and the evil from her is dissolved by the Lord's suffering; for from that side came forth counsel destructive to man.

From the holy side water pours forth and blood, through which the world is cleansed, washing away sins when those who were divided under the law come together into him; for there were sprinklings of blood for purification and baptisms through water for cleansing. Since all things pertaining to him were prefigured beforehand into Christ, the body of the Lord provided both to the world—sacred blood and holy water—even though it was already dead according to the human manner; for it has great power of life in itself. 19. Not a bone of the lamb is broken, the type showing that the suffering was not fitting for the power of the body; for the bones were called the power of our body by men in relation to Hades. But that he did not die in the same way as all men showed the difference in this, in that the harmony of his bones was not scattered. 148 20, 1 18 When the evening after the Sabbath had come, the Lord rose, cutting short the three days foretold by him, by having suffered when the first day was ending and rising immediately when the third day was beginning. The three days seem to stand in place of the whole of time—both that which had passed and that which was to come—handing himself over to death in place of all who die at any time. So he rose before those who came to the tomb arrived, and no one was present at the resurrection as it happened; for it was a mystery, if indeed anything else of the things administered by God is such—things that are not manifest to men nor lie before their eyes.

First a woman comes to the tomb, and for a time she reports to the disciples that the Lord is not in the tomb, not suspecting the resurrection but thinking that he had been moved from the tomb by his enemies, and as it were urging them to search for him. But after this, having also seen the Lord, she announces the blessed sight to the disciples; for it was necessary that the good be made known and announced through a woman, so that the knowledge that came badly through a woman might be undone through the good knowledge that the woman brought. John 20: [Not] bearing the brightness of the angels, but astonished at the sight, she turned back and sees Jesus standing, he having brought about this very thing—that he be seen by her. John 20: The Savior wishes to show the resurrection and to persuade, but he does not know it to be fitting to draw near to those who have not yet come to the resurrection just as he drew near before the resurrection, unless he should lead them also into the same life, so that being properly disposed toward him they might also properly approach. And it is necessary, he says, to ascend to the Father, and after this, having made the second appearing, to receive the familiar friends, men now coming as new in the season. Do not, then, he says, touch me now already; for there is another great and saving work left remaining for your sake, which I must fulfill—to ascend to the Father, who indeed will also be your Father through me, and especially when I ascend, leading up the firstfruits from among you. This indeed she also went and announced as good news to the brothers.

20. With the doors closed he appeared within, making his passage in the authority of his divinity, and giving them a beginning of understanding the power and authority of Christ no longer according to the flesh nor according to the human manner, but above the nature of the flesh. And that he wished to appear to them in a more divine way is clear from the fact that the things shown to them for faith in the resurrection immediately departed, and he granted the divine gift of the Spirit. For these things were not in accordance with him who was with them and dined with them and rested with them and walked with them, but he begins to proceed similarly, already higher than human mode of life. 20. We see the breathing also in the first ensouling of man, which took place with sanctification; for that the sending was not of the soul alone, even if what was breathed in is called a spirit of life, is clear from the prophecy prophesied immediately by the one breathed in; for without the divine Spirit it is not possible for prophecy to occur, as Paul testifies. Therefore the one who breathed from the beginning, along with the soul, the Holy Spirit, himself restored it to the soul.

separated and fallen away through the sin of man. Not only for the sake of the resurrection of the body, but also for the sake of the divine presence of the Spirit over all things, he proclaimed Christ to be his own Lord and God, just as also in the case of Nathanael, who, perceiving something similar concerning the divinity of Jesus, called him "Son of God" and declared him "King of Israel." Many indeed and other signs Jesus did before his disciples. Many things, then, passed over by John were written by the remaining evangelists, and many things were left by those men as well; for it was not for one book to encompass all the things done by the Savior. And John also teaches us the reason for which he deemed the records of Christ's coming worthy of writing, namely that it was for the greatest benefit of those who hear; for it was neither for the astonishment of miracles nor for the delight of the narrative, but that we might believe in the power through his works, and believing might receive the only true benefit, that unto eternal life.

For he had said this very thing even before the denial, showing on the one hand that he would be tempted by the devil, who would shift him away from his confession of Christ, and on the other that by the help that comes from him he remains in the faith. And it is necessary that the one who has obtained this assistance show the same forbearance and care toward his brothers. For he says, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded you, to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." The Lord therefore repeats those words and says that, if you love the teacher and savior who has kept you in love until now and to this moment, imitate my care for you, strengthening your brothers and apportioning them as a shepherd does his flocks, calling the sheep his own, and [showing] that even if the flock was shepherded through Peter, he himself is the true shepherd and teacher. And he added a third question concerning the same things, at once making the charge ever-remembered for him, and at the same time reminding him of the third denial that had occurred and introducing the threefold confession of love in place of the threefold denial, and requiring the zeal of service, so that in deeds he might confess Christ, whom he had denied in words.

...taking care of salvation from men. He says that he will make an even greater demonstration of love through martyrdom, and he prepares him to be ready for this, so that, having brought in courage in place of fear and the testimony concerning the Lord unto death, he might wipe out the former denial that came about through fear of death. And by "girding" he means "being bound." And the following will especially be through the cross, because he suffers the same things as the Savior and departs with him, and has his departure free from the prisons in Hades because his soul is led up to Christ. Therefore also "better is it to depart," says Paul, for the sake of "being with Christ." So then the Lord's word was about those at the end who would not die. And he was indicating this when he said: "He who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." For this reason they did not consider it hopeless that a man would live and not die. But what was stored up was for those left remaining until the coming of Christ, for those who would be born in the last generation, just as Paul taught. And John notes that he himself did not have a promise of not dying, but the brothers supposed this from ignorance, having misheard the word.