Беседа 80

John 17:1. After these words, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said: Father! The hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You... 1. Refutation of the Arians and Anomians, who condemned the deity of Jesus Christ. – 2. The Son of God is one with the Father. – 3. We can share in the glory of Jesus Christ according to our ability, according to our faith and works. The goods we possess are not ours. “We do everything for the body, and nothing for the soul.” – As needs increase, the number of servants increases. The master becomes the slave of his servants. – True freedom lies in not needing anyone. 1. “Whoever does and teaches,” it is said, “he will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19), and very rightly so. After all, it is easy to philosophize in words, but to show it in deeds is characteristic only of a valiant and great soul. That is why Christ, speaking about gentleness, presents Himself as a model, commanding that we take examples from Himself. Therefore, now, after the exhortation, He turns to prayer, teaching us in temptations to leave everything and resort to God. Since with the words: “in the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33) He shook the souls of the disciples, he again encourages them with prayer. They still looked at Him as a man, and it was for them that He prayed, just as He prayed for Lazarus, when He expressed the reason: “I said this for the people standing here, so that they might believe that You sent Me” (John 11:42). So, you say, this should have been the case with the Jews: but why is it with the disciples? This should have happened with the disciples; Those who, after so much, say: “Now we see that You know everything,” needed confirmation most of all. However, the evangelist does not call this action prayer, but what does he say? “He lifted up His eyes to heaven.” This means, according to him, it was rather a conversation with the Father. If in other places he talks about prayer and represents Christ either kneeling or lifting his eyes to heaven, do not be embarrassed. From this we learn with what zeal we should offer prayers; we learn, standing, to look with the eyes not only of the body, but also of the soul, and to kneel with contrition of heart. In fact, Christ came not only to reveal Himself, but also to teach ineffable virtue; and the teacher must teach not only with words, but also with deeds. So let's listen to what He says here. “Father! the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.” Again he shows us that He does not go to the cross unwillingly. Otherwise, how could He begin to pray for this to come true, and calls the cross glory not only for the Crucified One, but also for the Father? And so it really was: not only the Son was glorified, but also the Father. Before the cross, even the Jews did not know Him: “but Israel,” it is said, “does not know [Me]” (Is. 1:3); and after the cross the whole universe flowed in. Then Christ speaks about the very image of glory, and how He will glorify the Father. “since You have given Him authority over all flesh, so that everything that You have given Him” will not perish (John 17:2). The glory of God truly consists in always doing good. What does it mean: “since You gave Him power over all flesh”? This shows that the work of preaching will not be limited to the Jews alone, but will extend to the entire universe, and marks the beginning of the calling of the pagans. Since He said: “Do not go into the way of the pagans” (Matthew 10:5), and later will say: “Go and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19), He now shows that this pleases the Father. In fact, preaching to the pagans greatly tempted the Jews and even the disciples. The disciples subsequently did not easily allow themselves to enter into communication with pagans until they received instruction from the Spirit, since from here came no small temptation for the Jews. That is why, even after such a great manifestation of the Spirit, Peter, having come to Jerusalem, could hardly avoid censure by talking about the shroud (Acts 11: 1-19). What does it mean: “gave Him power over all flesh”? And when, I ask the heretics, did He receive this power? Was it before the creation of people, or after the creation? He Himself says: after the crucifixion and resurrection, since then He said: “All authority has been given to Me... Go, teach all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). Well? Did He really not have power over His work? Did He really only create people, but did not have power over them after creation? But even in previous times, He, apparently, does everything Himself: He punishes some as sinners; He corrects others who turn: “Have I hid from Abraham what I want to do” (Gen. 18:17); and others are honored as righteous. Or did He have it then, and now He lost it and received it again? But what demon can say that? If there is one and the same power both then and now: “just as,” he says, “the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whomever he will” (John 5:21), then what does what is said mean? He intended to send apostles to the pagans; and so that they do not consider this an innovation, since He said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24), He shows that this is pleasing to the Father. And that He speaks about this with great humiliation is not surprising: in this way He edified them (the apostles) then, and those who would come after, and, as I already said, such excessive humiliation always clearly suggested that He was speaking adaptively. 2. What does it mean: “over all flesh”? After all, it is known that not everyone believed. As much as depended on Him, everyone believed. If they did not heed His words, then this is not the fault of those who teach, but of those who do not accept (the teachings). “That He may give eternal life to all that You have given Him” (John 17:2). Do not be surprised that here He speaks in human form. He does this both for the above reasons and because he was always careful not to say anything great about Himself, since it was unpleasant to those listening, who still did not think anything great about Him. That is why John, when speaking on his own behalf, does not do so, but elevates the word to a lofty level, saying thus: “all things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3), and: “there was life” (John 1:4), and: “there was Light” (John 1:9), and: “he came to his own” (John 1:11); not that He would not have had power if He had not received it, but that He also “gave to others the power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Likewise, Paul calls Him equal with God. He Himself asks like an ordinary person, saying this: “That He may give eternal life to everything that You have given Him. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:2-3). “The one true God”: he says this to distinguish him from false gods, since he wanted to send apostles to the pagans. If they do not agree with this, but on this basis alone begin to deny that the Son is the true God, then, going further in this way, they will also deny that He is God. In fact, (Christ) says: “You do not seek the glory that is from the one God” (John 5:44). So what? Is this why the Son is no longer God? If the Son is God, although the Father is called one, then it is clear that He is true, although (the Father) is called one true. Moreover, when Paul says: “Either I and Barnabas are one” (1 Cor. 9:6), is he really excluding Barnabas? Not at all; the word “one” is used only to distinguish from others. And if He is not the true God, then how is He “truth”? The truth differs very little from the true. What do we call, tell me, not a true person? Of course not a human anymore? So exactly, if the Son is not true God, then how can He be God? How can He make us gods and sons without being true Himself? But we have spoken about this in more detail elsewhere. So let's move on. “I have glorified You on earth” (John 17:4). It is well said: “on earth,” because in heaven the Father is already glorified, having glory both by nature and being worshiped by the angels. Consequently, he is not talking about that glory that is inseparable from His being - since He always has this glory in full, even if no one glorifies Him - but about the glory that comes from the service of people. Therefore, the expression: “glorify Me” must be understood in exactly the same way. And to be sure that He speaks of this kind of glory, listen further. “I have finished the work that You gave Me to do” (John 17:4). But after all, the work had just begun or even not yet begun: how does He say: “finished”? This is either because He did everything on His part, or because He speaks of the future as if it had already happened, or - which is best to say - because everything, in fact, was already accomplished when the root of good was laid, from which fruits were sure to grow, and He is already co-present, in contact with what was to happen later. At the same time, He again expresses itself adaptively: “which You entrusted to Me.” If, indeed, He waited until He heard and knew, it would be much lower than His glory. But that He came to this of His own free will, clearly from many places. So, for example, Paul says: He so “loved us that He gave Himself for us” (Eph. 5:2), and: “He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). And again: “As the Father loved Me, I also loved you” (John 15:9). “Glorify me, O Father, with yourself, with the glory that I had with you before the world was” (John 17:5). Where is the glory? Let Him really not be glorious among people, having put on clothing (of flesh); but how does He seek glorification from God? What is He talking about here? It's about embodiment. The nature of the flesh, indeed, has not yet been glorified; it has not yet been granted incorruption and has not joined the royal throne; therefore He did not say: “on earth”; but: “with You.” 3. We too, in our measure, will be worthy of this glory if we remain awake. That is why Paul says: “If only we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). So, those who, despite such glory ahead of them, harm themselves through laziness and drowsiness, are worthy of countless tears. If there were no Gehenna, then the most unfortunate of all would be those who, having the opportunity to reign and be glorified together with the Son of God, deprive themselves of such great benefits. Truly, if it were necessary to be torn to pieces and die a thousand deaths, and to give up a thousand souls and the same number of bodies every day, shouldn’t it be possible to endure all this for such great glory? Meanwhile, we do not neglect wealth, which we will later leave involuntarily; we do not neglect wealth, which brings a thousand evils upon you, will remain here and does not belong to us, because we do not dispose of our own, even though we received it from our fathers. And when there is also Gehenna, and an endless worm, and an unquenchable fire, and the gnashing of teeth, then how, tell me, will we endure this? How long will we not open our eyes and spend all our time on daily strife, quarrels and empty words? How long will we feed the earth, fatten the body and neglect the soul, not paying any attention to what is necessary, and putting great care into the superfluous and empty? We build brilliant tombs for ourselves, buy expensive houses, drag crowds of all kinds of servants behind us and invent various stewards, appointing bosses over houses, money, and bosses over bosses; but we have no concern for the desolate soul. And where will this end? Are we not filling the same belly? Are we not dressing one body? Why all this trouble? Why and why do we tear and tear the soul that we have received into such varied services, inventing cruel slavery for ourselves? He who needs much is indeed a slave to much, although he apparently owns it all. So the master is the slave of his servants and introduces a new, more severe kind of slavery. But he is also a slave in the sense that without them he does not dare to go out into the square, or into the bathhouse, or into the field. Servants often go everywhere without him, and he, who is considered the master if there are no slaves with him, does not dare to leave the house alone, and if he does leave the house alone, he considers himself ridiculous. Perhaps some will laugh at us for these words, but that is why they themselves are worthy of countless tears. And to show that this is indeed slavery, I will willingly ask you: would you want to need someone to put a piece of bread in your mouth or put a cup to your lips? Wouldn't you consider this kind of service worthy of tears? Or, if in order to go somewhere you always needed some kind of porters, would you not therefore consider yourself the most unfortunate and pitiful of people? This is exactly how you should reason now, because there is no difference in whether someone is carried by dumb animals or people. And isn’t it, by the way, tell me, that the angels differ from us in that they do not need as much as we do? Consequently, the fewer needs we have, the closer we come to them, and the more, the deeper we fall into this corruptible life. And to make sure that this is really so, ask old people what kind of life they consider happy, the one when they were under the power of these vain things, or the one when they themselves already own them? We turned to the elderly because people, intoxicated with youth, do not even feel the excessiveness of this slavery. And those possessed by fever? Do they consider themselves happy when, languishing with strong thirst, they drink a lot and ask for a lot, or when, having recovered, they get rid of this need? You see that in all cases needing a lot is a pitiful thing and is not characteristic of philosophy, and that through this slavery and desire intensify. Why do we voluntarily increase the misery of our situation for ourselves? Tell me, in fact, if you could live without any harm without a roof and walls, wouldn’t you rather agree to this? Why do you multiply the signs of your weakness? Isn’t that why we call Adam blessed because he did not need anything, neither housing nor clothing? So, you say; but now we already have needs. Why do we multiply these needs? If many deny themselves many things that are necessary, for example: slaves, housing, money, then what excuse will we have for transgressing the limits of need? The more you surround yourself with needs, the more you will be subjected to slavery, because the more you need, the more you will reduce your freedom. Perfect freedom consists in not needing anything at all, and the next one is in needing a little, and this freedom is predominantly enjoyed by angels and their imitators. And to achieve this while being in a mortal body - think how much glory there is in this! Paul also expressed this when he wrote to the Corinthians: “I feel sorry for you,” and: “Let them not have sorrow in the flesh” (1 Cor. 7:28). Money is called money 37 because it should be used for needs, and not kept and not buried in the ground; this means no longer to own, but to be in possession. If we only begin to have in mind how to acquire more of it, and not just to use it for needs, then the order is already perverted, and they control us, and not we control them. Let us free ourselves from this cruel slavery and finally become free. Why do we invent so many different ties for ourselves? Are not the bonds of natural, everyday necessities and the accumulation of countless affairs enough for you? And you weave other nets for yourself and tie your legs with them! When will you reach the sky and have the strength to stand at such a height? It is desirable, truly desirable, that you, having broken all these ties, can reach the highest city. There are so many other obstacles. To defeat them, we will remain confident. Through this we will achieve eternal life, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” In Greek in the original χρήματα – χρώμεθα, which gives a completely clear meaning that is lost in translation You might be interested in: