On John (frag.) 1 part 4/5

for since their proclamation and teaching were directed at the overthrow of all error, it followed that they would meet with dreadful hatred from the unbelieving.

Wherefore, arming them with like-mindedness, he sets their love against the hatred of the world, that is, of wicked men; but lest, as men, they should think the hatred from the wicked unbearable, he reminds them of his own situation, saying:

"If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you"—so that, having learned that they did not spare even the Master himself, they too might the more eagerly, in imitation of the Teacher, endure the hatred.

And next, consoling them as far as was possible, he puts forward the reasonable considerations, saying:

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own;

For having chosen you out from among wicked men, through faith and through virtue of life I made you altogether estranged from them;

for your citizenship is no longer on earth, but in heaven.

Such people, then, the base ones hated.

So that they might not hear unbearably of the hatred that men would direct against them, He shapes them from His own example to bear this lightly, seeing that they treated even the Master in this way.

If you consider that they hated Me without cause and persecuted the Lord who endured these things on behalf of His servants, then you, the servants, when you suffer the same on behalf of your Master, ought not to take it ill if you suffer the same as I did.

For they persecuted the disciples for no other reason than only this: that they proclaimed the name of Christ, since they did not even know the Father.

They disbelieved Him not on account of any fault in the One speaking, but because of their own choice.

For he who hates the Son no less hates also His Father.

For His divine signs, surpassing all the signs that had been done through the prophets, rendered them without excuse on the day of judgment for not believing Him, but rather, through the very things by which they hated Him, they also hate His Father.

Through the things by which these men acted wickedly, the prophetic oracle was being fulfilled.

"So that you may be able," He says, "to endure the contest of patient endurance, the Paraclete comes to give you aid; and so that, working together with you for the gospel message, He may become a witness to My divinity—and not He only, but you also, who behold Me risen from the dead, being assured in truth of those things of which you have had experience."

By the things He says, He teaches that the Spirit proceeds from the Father's essence, being sent down to men through the Son.

He forewarns them of the hardships, so that through prayer they may arm themselves to escape the hardships, and so that He may show that all the words He foretold are without falsehood.

He proclaims beforehand the steadfastness of their faith—that they would contend even unto blood for godliness—so that even those persecuting them would fall into such irrational zeal as to suppose that the slaying of the disciples was pleasing to God, as though by this the murderers were rendering service to God.

These things happen because of the ignorance of the unbelievers, an ignorance which they willingly pursued by not receiving the knowledge of the truth.

By the foretelling He makes them more courageous; yet at the very height of these events He enjoins them to call His words to mind, so that, recalling the good promises, they may receive some consolation.

Besides this, it would also have seemed untimely, long before the dispensation of the Passion while He was still present and dwelling among them, to foretell from the beginning about such matters, and thus to dim, by the teaching of these forewarnings, that very teaching of godliness by which their soul was to be made firm.

It was not opportune long beforehand to commend to you the virtue of godliness, lest you be undone by the lapse of time; and because, while I was with you, I delivered it to you in deeds. But now, since I am departing, it is necessary to speak.

And when before this I said that I am departing, you asked Me, 'Where are You going?'; but now, having heard the things that are to befall you, because of fear and grief you ask Me nothing about this.

Since men did not yet know the essence of the Son, but the Holy Spirit, when It came, taught that there is one essence of the Trinity, He said that the coming of the Spirit was profitable;

for the Son, since the disciples were still imperfect, did not announce to them all the things that they needed to learn.

For when He came to overturn the sin that held the world fast and provided propitiation to all who gladly received His coming, those who continued in unbelief held their sin as irremovable and, as it were, sealed upon them.

As to what concerns righteousness, He says this: that I must ascend to the Father, having fulfilled all that belongs to the dispensation, so that I may also open the way to men for all the righteous, giving them this as the recompense of their labors.

Or He says this: that if, after I have departed and am no longer seen by you, you abide in faith concerning Me, you are justified.

By 'the ruler of this world' He means the devil, who has been condemned as having brought death upon men in vain, and as making the excuse that Adam died not on his account, but because he sinned.

For behold, Christ, though He sinned in nothing, was put to death by the Jews, the devil having incited them to the death of Christ.

Perhaps He speaks concerning the righteousness of the apostles;

for as long as they had Him present with them on earth, they seemed to do what was pleasing to Him to His face; but when He had been taken up to the Father and was no longer seen, by persevering in the same purpose they displayed their righteousness more brilliantly.

He calls the adversary 'the ruler of the world,' the one who through deceit drew the first man away from God and brought him under his own authority;

who, through the Lord's becoming man, was stripped of that authority and was cast out from the dominion he had gained by deceit.

Therefore, when the second man had accurately completed his life of godliness, the adversary—that is, the ruler of the world—was justly condemned for unjustly bringing death upon Him through the rulers.

—that the ruler of this world has been judged.

Since they were imperfect and unable to depart from the fleshly observances of the law—such as partaking of foods indifferently or abstaining from circumcision made by hands—He does not deliver to them the more perfect things, awaiting their advance in faith;

for even though Christ was able to transform their souls into whatever He willed, yet He does not do so, since what is done of necessity is without reward.

When, therefore, they had advanced in faith, then the Spirit, coming upon them, taught them all things, the perfect and ineffable things which the Son, by reason of the dispensation, had not taught; and through the evangelical instruction He showed it to be superior to Judaism, and led them into all doctrinal truth, and, speaking the Father's oracles to the disciples, announced the things to come.

For the Holy Spirit became a witness to the divinity of the Only-begotten, being of His essence and proclaiming His essence.

Just as all the hidden treasures of wisdom are in the Father, so also are they in Me.

Therefore, having as My own all that belongs to the Father, I said that He takes of what is Mine.

Having been parted from them for the three-day period of the Passion and having appeared to them again, He was taken up into heaven.

For, their minds darkened by grief, they did not understand the things spoken to them, as though in riddles.

As God, knowing their thoughts and the doubt of their heart, He anticipates their question and says that what was said by Me is this: that you indeed will weep during the time of the Passion, while the ungodly will mock Me.

But your grief will be turned into joy after no long while, when you see Me risen from the dead.

The disciples were about, like a woman in labor, to be in distress during the time of the Passion, unable to bear seeing the outrages done to their Teacher;

but immediately after the resurrection, seeing Him, not only did they cast off the grief that had overtaken them, but indeed they received such joy as to have it irremovable;

for the joy of the resurrection is not quenched, but abides forever;

for the disciples were persuaded that He was God, immortal, and that for this reason He ascended into heaven, when they saw Him also with His own flesh.

"To such godliness," He says, "you are about to ascend through faith, that with boldness you may ask the Father in My name and receive through Him what you ask"—

—the participation in good things.

The Lord spoke in a veiled manner because of the immaturity of His hearers;

but He promises that, when they have advanced, He will plainly reveal to them the glory of the Father.

As has been said, their great advance grants them the boldness to ask.

And this came about by the grace of the Only-begotten, through faith in Him.

He made the saints friends to the Father.

For it was fitting that He, having administered all that pertains to our salvation, should run back again to the Father and to His own glory.

These things the disciples said, marveling at Him as God, on account of those things which He spoke most plainly—the very things which they were pondering within themselves.

Therefore from what they heard—and not without reason—they believed that, being the Son of God, He had become man and had come into the world.

Since they did not yet have perfect faith in Him, He foretells what would befall: that when He was seized they would all flee and leave Him to Himself alone.

But He was not alone, ever having within Himself and with Himself the Father.

They were in need of much encouragement, that they might escape the difficulty of those things and remain in His peace, which He bestowed on all who believe in Him, having conquered and overthrown, through forbearance, the ruler of this age.

By 'hour' He means the suitable time of the Passion, as also elsewhere;

for we do not speak of the hour as belonging to fate, which has no real existence, but the hour according to which He Himself judged to suffer, having allowed it to the wickedness of those who plotted against Him;

for thus also, in the case of the sign of the wine, He called the opportune time 'hour.'

He uses the same word for 'to glorify' and 'to be glorified,' so that He may teach the indistinguishability of Himself and the Father;

for He is glorified by the Father in that, as man, He is raised by the Father; and He glorifies Himself in that, as God, raising Himself by His own power, He grants us to behold as in a mirror the Father, the very kind of Son whom He begot, and from whom is manifest who He is.

He is Lord of all bodies and souls, but only to those who believe in Him does He give the blessed life.

He calls the Father 'true God' as being unbegotten, yet He does not exclude Himself from being God;

for the Only-begotten is also God, but begotten of God.

And by saying this, He taught us the doctrine of the truth.

"By the things," He says, "in which, having become man, I endured what pertains to the salvation of men, so that I might make known to them Your name, I glorified You," making known the power through My power, which is equal to Yours.

And by saying 'before the world existed,' He shows Himself to be God of all things, existing before the ages.

Therefore, He asks by way of dispensation to receive back that glory—not one which He did not have, but one which, having become man, He laid aside by dispensation unto His own humiliation by the good pleasure of the Father, and which He emptied Himself of while possessing it; which He needed not to receive, but to receive back.

Either by mere outward form. But by saying that He Himself existed before the world existed, He showed that He was not a mere man beginning to exist from the time of His birth from the Virgin, but existing before the ages, and in the last days made flesh.

And by saying 'the glory which He had,' He shows that the Son had the glory without beginning from Himself, not from another.

It is fitting to know that He prayed not to receive, but to receive back.

Moreover, He also silences the heretics who suppose Him to be merely a man, by saying that His own glory is older than the world;

and no less does He expose the deception of Marcellus, who said that the Word had not received glory from the Father, but possessed it from Himself without beginning.

When the many had strayed into godlessness, the Son of God came, leading men up to the knowledge of God by giving them the illumination of knowledge.

All things, then, are the Father's; nevertheless, they are no less the Son's, on account of the consubstantiality.

...His own to the Father, through the knowledge of God and through the keeping of His commandments.

But if He now says 'they have known,' He means 'they learned by experience'; and He says these things as fitting to the humanity.

Likewise the Father also appears in the Old Testament saying to Abraham:

'Now I know that you fear God.'

Likewise the Son, giving the Father's words to men, fully assured the faithful that He had come forth from the essence of the Father.

He prays not for the worldly, but for the saints, whom He says He has received from the Father, whom the Father ineffably brings to the Son while still remaining their Master.

And the saints, those who practice the virtuous life, are called God's—not as His creation, but as men, inasmuch as they do the things pleasing to Him.

Likewise the Son says that the Father's things are His own, and no less that His own things are the Father's.

These things He said as one hastening to ascend into heaven.

Therefore He says these things as though the disciples were still remaining on earth for the sake of the preaching.

By way of dispensation He speaks as man.

"Just as," He says, "You have highly exalted Me and I have the name of divinity, so also keep these in this name, that, being perfected in faith, they may be united, even as I and You are one in essence, though distinct in hypostases."

For being with them, He kept them both through teaching and through the supply of His own power, which is said to be the Father's.

And He shows that He did not draw them by compulsion, but guarded them as those who were with Him by their own choice.

Therefore Judas also perished through his own willful perversity, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

'He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me'—a prediction which was not coercive for Judas, but a proof of his own wickedness.

Since, having imparted to them divine power when He enabled them to cast out demons, He filled them with joy, He asks that this joy be preserved for them.

Since they had received the evangelical teaching, the world hated them—that is, the wicked men, those who pursue worldly pleasures.

The saints, being outside of these, are no longer of the world.

He wishes, then, that for the time being they be in the world for the sake of the evangelical ministry, but that they be preserved from the devil's schemes.

And because of the virtue of their soul and of their conduct, He calls them strangers to the world, as He calls Himself also, on account of His sinlessness.

For the working of the evangelical life, the disciples needed the sanctification from the Father which establishes them by the word of truth.

Just as He Himself, by way of dispensation, was sent as man to proclaim the saving word, so also after the resurrection He sent the disciples to teach the inhabited world, having sanctified them beforehand in Himself;

for by the very things in which He gave Himself over to slaughter, He sanctifies Himself (for 'to sanctify' is said of giving over to sacrifice), offering Himself as a sacrifice for the world, so that, having obtained the redemption that is in Him, they may be sanctified in truth.

For having imparted to them His own holy glory and made them partakers of it, He thereby made them sharers of His dignities.

And He continually makes mention of the manner of the union, leading them to an exact grasp of the most perfect understanding, through which they are brought to perfect faith.

Seeing this, the faithful learned from the very events who was the One who had given these things to His disciples, through which was also shown the Father's good pleasure, who loved them and perfected them through the grace that is in Christ.

He makes mention not only of the disciples, but also of all who were to believe through the disciples, who themselves also became one, joined both to one another and to God through being joined to Christ.

But this union comes about neither according to essence nor according to hypostasis, but according to the concord of faith.

And from this concord the world also believed that Christ was made flesh by the good pleasure of the Father and proclaimed the saving word;

for this is what 'to be sent' means.

He asks that they be in heaven, so that, beholding His glory, they may enjoy this blessedness.

And He says that He received it as man.

And by the things in which He speaks of the Giver and the Receiver, He makes plain the hypostases of Himself and of the Father.

And by saying that He was loved by the Father before the world, He refutes the error of those who say that He received His beginning from the Virgin Mary.

Whereas the unbelievers in this life, by their own purpose, were unwilling through the evangelical instruction to know God in some way as He Himself knows the Father; nevertheless He also testifies to the disciples' knowledge of knowing that He had come forth from the Father.

As one who had revealed to them the knowledge of the Father, He says this concerning those who, through advancement, know more and more, so that they may be loved correspondingly by Him, with the love wherewith men ought to be loved by God.

Foreseeing Judas coming to seize Him, after saying these things He went away into the garden, where He had often gathered with the disciples and, as in a private place, taught them the more mystical of His teachings;

and therefore Judas also knew the place.

Judas came to seize the Teacher, having become a betrayer instead of a disciple.

The Lord went to meet them, so that He might bring to fulfillment the things foreordained for Him, and show both the voluntary nature of His endurance of the Passion and the authority of His divinity;

for having at first made Himself unknown, although Judas was present and there was sufficient light, He again manifested Himself, saying 'I am He,' and showed that He who by a word alone had cast them down on their backs was able, had He willed, to ascend; and He bore patiently with the assailants who came against Him.

Like a good father standing up for his children, He puts those men outside the trials because of their weakness and still-childish state, and so that He might fulfill the word He had spoken; but He gives Himself over.

By the things which Peter did, it was clear that he was willing to die for the Master, since he had used a sword and, having cut off the servant's ear, did not even then cease, had he not been prevented by Christ.

He shows that, having judged to endure the foreordained death by the good pleasure of the Father, He gave Himself over.

By binding Him they fulfilled the saying in Isaiah which declares, 'Let us bind the righteous one.'

And the wicked chief priests sent Jesus from house to house, seeking thereby to make a spectacle of Him in triumph.

Caiaphas, then, as one plotting against Christ, said that He must be put to death;

but God arranged that unjust counsel of his to come about for the salvation of the whole.

Peter alone followed, because of his disposition toward the Teacher, and the other disciple, since he was known to the high priest;

and therefore he also entered together with Jesus.

Because of his acquaintance with the high priest, Peter took courage to enter together with John.

He who a little before had drawn up against this man with a multitude was changed and turned to denial.

He mentions, as if for a sign, that at such a season such cold occurred in Palestine that they warmed themselves over a charcoal fire.

Although nearly all, so to speak, in Judea and Jerusalem had heard His teaching, this man alone pretends to be ignorant, even though he had heard what signs He had done.

He refutes him for feigning ignorance, since he said he did not know the things spoken in the temple;

for it was possible for him, even if he had not heard, at least to learn by asking those who had heard.

Therefore, from what He said—that 'I spoke all things openly'—He shows that the things spoken by Him are not the secret teachings acceptable to certain people.

His bearing nobly and patiently even the outrages brought upon Him by base men shows His unsurpassable long-suffering.

The saying is not that of one who is angry, but of one pleading his just cause.

These things perhaps were done by some malicious demon through the servant, who provoked Him to indignation because of the excess.

From place to place they sent Him as a prisoner, thinking thereby to insult Him all the more.

Here, denying for the second time, Peter was overcome, the weak flesh not being sufficient for the eagerness of the soul, since the evil one set upon him and shook him.

On the very day on which they were eating the typical lamb, the Lamb of God too had to be slain.

These men, having by their purpose defiled their hands with the most unjust murder, considered approaching a lifeless place to be a defilement, while their being pure in heart availed them nothing of harm.

Even though he was a Gentile, yet, moved by natural reasoning, he sought the cause for which they had handed Him over to death.

Being unable to name any wrongdoing against Him, they spoke against Him indefinitely, calling Him an evildoer.

He refutes their lawlessness by the things in which he declines.

Themselves working the murder in deed, they said, 'It is not lawful for us to kill.'

They said this as having fallen also from their ancient power and rule; or else they said this because they were not accustomed to crucify those who were put to death.

Therefore they also handed Him over to the Romans, among whom the manner of execution by crucifixion was practiced.

For among the faithful such a report was being circulated.

And the chief priests, finding no occasion, slandered Him as one speaking against Caesar.

For the chief priests, finding no occasion, slandered Him as a king and as one rising against Caesar.

Christ, wishing to persuade Pilate, showed that He is indeed a king, but did not exercise a human rule; and further, from what was reasonable, He persuades him that He does not have acquired strength or glory like the kings on earth, but possesses by nature what belongs to His power.

"And if I were," He says, "an earthly king, My bodyguards would of necessity defend Me as one being wronged and as one allegedly led to death against My will;

for the angels did not do this, but kept still, struck with amazement, as understanding the dispensation of the coming of Christ.

Jesus, answering, neither denied His own kingdom nor assented as Pilate understood it;

for, having been born to reign, He had a kingdom not acquired but natural.

And He became for us both a witness and a teacher of the true faith.

He who was devoted to God and made much of the truth recognized that all the things He spoke were true;

but Pilate, being a stranger to this—for the knowledge of God had nearly vanished from among men—said:

'What is truth?' Thus he cut Him off with brief words, as in saying, 'What is truth?'

for the knowledge of God had nearly vanished from among men previously and was unknown to all who were still being examined in unbelief.

For the present he shows himself reverent by what he says, and, moved by natural law, he thought it just that He be released.

By which also he reminded them that it was even customary for them in those days to make a practice of not being harsh.

But they, being of a robber-like mind, sought to have one like themselves released, and the righteous one put to death, as one who held views opposed to theirs.

Pilate, wishing to soften their wrath, scourged Him; and the soldiers, mocking Him, put on Him a so-called royal attire, while He endured it.

Through the examination of the facts, Pilate wished to declare Him publicly innocent; but they savagely cried out, 'Crucify!'

Pilate, while they were irrationally clamoring and although he had often called Him innocent and had failed to persuade them, washing his hands of the matter, says these things.

Speaking contrary to the law, they say these things;

for if ordinary Israelites were called sons of God, they could never have had a law by which to accuse the One who was truly the Son of God in truth, because He said what was so, naming Himself the Son of God.

Having heard that He was the Son of God, he was disposed more reverently.

He thought to compel Him, by the threat proper to a ruler, to disclose the ineffable things.

By saying that authority had been given him from above, He establishes the doctrine concerning providence and shows that not only the Jews, but also Pilate, by yielding to them, was guilty of the slaying of Him.

They bring an accusation against Pilate as one wishing to release an innocent man and as planning to do things not advantageous to Caesar.

The evangelist recorded not only the Passion, but also the day and the hour at which He underwent the sentence of death, the Jews having killed Him on the very feast.

This is an open denial of wishing to be reigned over by God, and of being under the foreigner.

Reproaching them, he repeatedly called Him their king.

He gave Him over, seeing them speaking so accusingly.

Heightening the outrage against Him, they even brought it about that He Himself carried the cross, and they nailed Him up between the two robbers.

According to custom, the charge for which He was executed had to be inscribed; and Pilate, not finding what to write, called Him King of the Jews.

It was written in different languages, so that it might escape none of those present and reading it that He had undergone an unjust judgment.

And when the chief priests wished to prevent this and to alter it, Pilate, somewhat contentiously toward them, said what he said.

Whereas the local people made the tunic from two pieces, sewing it together above around the shoulders and joining sleeves to it at the pieces, the Savior's tunic was woven from the top, joined together throughout in one piece; which they did not tear, but, entrusting the obtaining of it to the lot, they signified the truthfulness of the Scripture.

Not because of kinship, but also out of their own piety, these women faithfully remained with the Lord.

Not only while He lived did He care for His mother, but He also provided for her, entrusting her to the disciple whom He especially loved.

Therefore the disciple, having received her as a precious charge, immediately took her away to his own home.

When all the things written concerning Him were now being accomplished in deed, one thing alone remained, to the proof of their surpassing wickedness: to bring to Him a sponge full of vinegar with hyssop.

One thing alone was lacking: that He be given vinegar to drink.

Therefore He said, 'I thirst,' so that, by doing this too, they might be shown to have done all things out of surpassing wickedness.

It is shown also from these things that the One who suffered was not a mere man, but God made flesh;

and that He gave up the spirit by His own authority, who indeed did not otherwise die, except that He had also fulfilled the prophecy concerning the vinegar.

But it belongs to God alone to do all things, whatsoever He wills.

Therefore the death signifies the separation of the soul from the body.

And this request too was most cruel;

for because that day was a great one, they were in haste that they might die before the Sabbath.

Since they found Jesus already expired, one pierced His side, and there came out blood, through which the redemption of all has come about, and water, through which sanctification has come about.

And trusting in his own conscience, the evangelist bears witness to the truthfulness of his own words.

And showing that the words of the prophets came to be in agreement with the very facts, he makes mention of these as well.

One might marvel at the matter concerning Joseph and Nicodemus, that while Christ was still living in the flesh they did not dare to speak openly, but after the cross they used such boldness as to ask for the body before the eyes of the lawless and to honor it with the customary burial;

for having beheld, I suppose, the signs that came after the Passion, they had, as is likely, a firmer assurance concerning Him.

And He was laid in a new tomb by way of dispensation, for a clearer demonstration of the resurrection, so that it might be shown that He rose;