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That the Holy Spirit is naturally from God and in and through the Son and in His essence John 16:14. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from Mine and proclaim to you 1013 Since the Holy Spirit had to reveal the mystery of Christ to people worthy of receiving it and explain exactly who He (the Son) is by nature, how great is His power and authority, and that He reigns over everything together with the Father, then it is necessary to say that “He will glorify Me.” He places our mind above Jewish thoughts and does not allow us to have such a base idea of ​​Him as to consider Him a simple man, or very little superior to the measure of the prophets, or even standing below their glory. This was what the Jewish teachers thought about Him, as we will see, who, not knowing the secret of piety (1 Tim. 3:16), expressed frequent blasphemy against Christ and, contrasting His sayings with their own madness, said: “Who are you? Abraham died and the prophets died, but You say: if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death. Who are you making yourself?" (John 8:25, 52-53), - then again, decrying the ignorance and simplicity of His race according to the flesh: “Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say that I came down from heaven?” (John 6:42). Don't you see the wretchedness of Jewish thoughts in these words? In this mood of many, who thought that the Lord was not the True God, because of this mortal image of the body, and who were not afraid to form the basest idea about Him, the Spirit, descending (from heaven), with all clarity revealed His glory to the saints. And, we affirm with all decisiveness, he not only convinced them with his wise words, but also with the manifestation of his deeds he confirmed the mind of everyone that He is both truly God and the fruit of the essence of God and the Father. How did he reveal or make Christ glorious and visible to all? Precisely in such a way that he produced an extraordinary effect on everyone and befitting God, introduced to the saints an exact knowledge of everything and thereby prepared His glory. After all, nature alone, which is king over all, must acquire the property of knowing everything, without any teacher - of having everything naked and open in its eyes and being able to do, and, moreover, very easily, whatever it wants. So, the Son is glorified by the Paraclete, that is, His (the Son’s) own Spirit, all-powerful and all-knowing. Glorifies how? So, if His Spirit knows and can do anything, how could He Himself not know or be able to? And if, as He Himself says, the Spirit receives from Him, although He is able and accomplishes all things, then does He Himself not have power over everything? But one should by no means imagine that the Paraclete, that is, the Spirit, seems to be devoid of innate or natural power (omnipotence), so that if, for example, it had not received something, it would have been insufficient to perform Divine deeds with His own power. Anyone who even thinks that such a thing could be true about Him should be accused of the most extreme wickedness, and quite rightly. But since He is consubstantial with the Son and proceeds to God in a fitting manner through Him, possessing all of Him (the Son) over everything with the most perfect effectiveness and power, therefore He says: “Because He will receive from Mine.” And indeed, the Spirit, as we believe, exists in Itself and is in reality what He is and is called, but it exists in the essence of God, flows out and proceeds from it, naturally having in Itself everything that belongs to it - not by participation, and not as an acquisition, and not as something else, different from it, since He (the Spirit) is its own. Just as the smell from the most fragrant flowers, taking as it were the essential or natural effect or quality of those emitting it (the flowers), communicates knowledge of itself to those outside it (people), falling into the olfactory parts of the body - and it may seem, as far as the idea is concerned, of some other nature, different from the one emitting it (the smell), the conceivable, however, is no longer in itself, has no different nature than the nature of the flowers from which and in which it exists; This is how you should think about God and the Holy Spirit, elevating (according to the concept of Divinity) the significance of this example. Therefore, absolutely impeccably and without any humiliation, one must understand the saying that His Spirit takes something from the Only Begotten. Proceeding through Him naturally, as His own, He, together with everything that He has in a perfect manner, is said to receive what belongs to Him (the Son). And if something of this kind were expressed in cruder words, then, without succumbing to temptation, we would with much greater justice have to blame the poverty of the language, which cannot properly express what befits the Divinity. Indeed, is there such a word that would not be lower than the ineffable Nature and Glory? So, the Paraclete will “declare”, he says, “to you from Mine,” that is, nothing else that will speak contrary to My purpose, and since He is My Spirit, without a doubt, He will speak the same thing (as I) and will “proclaim” My desires. About what is natural in the Son and in His essence (is) His Spirit, that is, the Holy One, as in the essence of the Father John 16:15. All that the Father has is Mine: [and] for this reason Reh unto you, for He shall receive from Mine and shall tell you 1014 And here again the Son clearly shows Himself to us as the purest and most accurate reflection of the Father’s hypostasis and in His words makes it clear that, being the fruit of His essence, He assimilates everything that belongs to it by nature and calls it His own. And this is quite fair. Since there is nothing dividing or distinguishing the Son from the Father, as far as the question is about similarity and equality in everything, except for this one thing, that He is the Father, and since the essence shines through in both in different ways, then how can everything no longer be common, or rather, identical in Both, so that what belongs to the Father is in the Son, and what belongs to the Son is also in the Father? That is why, I believe, I structured our speech about this with some particular care. In fact, he did not say that “everything the Father has, I also have.” This is because He is not represented in a simple image, conceived only as a similarity in the reflection of the external beauties of the Prototype, just like we ourselves, for we are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) - but “Mine,” he says, “is,” thereby showing the most perfect unity that He has with the Parent, and the meaning of consubstantiality in both, consisting in properties that do not differ from each other. You can also see Him in another case, and moreover very clearly, speaking to the Father: “For all that is Mine is Yours, and Yours is Mine” (John 17:10). For those between whom there is absolutely no division and in everything there is essential equality and similarity, how can there be no identity in nature? So, God and the Father from Himself and in Himself has His Spirit, that is, the Holy One, through Whom He dwells in the saints and reveals mysteries, received into this not as a service - do not think anything like that - but essentially existing in Him and emanating from Him inseparably, revealing as His own that which is in Him and from Him. God communicates with creation only through the Son in the Spirit. But this Spirit is the own Spirit of the Only Begotten, for He (the Son) is consubstantial with the Father. Since, he says, it is inherent in God and the Father to communicate revelations to worthy people in His own Spirit and the fulfillment through Him of everything that He desires, and this is also inherent in Me by nature, then for this reason I said that “he receives from Mine and will tell you.” Let no one be embarrassed when he hears the word “acceptance” here, but let him, on the contrary, reason like this - and he will do the right thing - that everything about God is said in comparison with us, but of course not like that, but above us. So the Spirit, we say, “receives” from the Father and the Son what belongs to Them, not as once not having the knowledge and omnipotence inherent in Them, but only then appearing to barely have it when it is thought of as receiving, for the Spirit is always wise and omnipotent, or rather, there is self-wisdom and self-omnipotence, not by communication, but naturally. Like the smell that penetrates our nostrils from fragrant objects, we call it as if different in comparison with them, although this is done only in our ideas, in reality its origin should be thought of as nothing other than receiving strength from those objects from which it comes to be revealed to itself outside, and, however, it is not different, because it exists from them and in them. Likewise, or rather, and above this, you must think about God and the Holy Spirit. He is, as it were, a certain fragrance of His essence, living and obvious, 1015 communicating to creation what is from the Father, and bringing through himself the communion of the highest essence above all. After all, if the smell of fragrant objects imprints its power on clothing and in some way transforms into itself what it is in, then is it really that the Holy Spirit, since He is naturally from God, cannot through Himself make those in whom He will be partakers of the Divine nature? So, being the fruit and reflection of the hypostasis of the Parent, the Son, by nature, assimilates to Himself everything that is His (the Father). Therefore he says: “Everything that the Father has is Mine; therefore I have told you that He will take of Mine and will tell you”, obviously the Spirit who exists through Him and in Him, through whom, like He Himself, dwells in the saints. After all, it is not another, different from Him, that is His Spirit, although He is thought to exist in Himself and separately, for the Spirit is Spirit, and not the Son. John 16:16. Away, and for those who do not see Me: and again a little, and you will see Me as I go to the Father 1016 Having said before that He will reveal to them through His Spirit everything necessary and useful for them, He also talks about suffering, which is soon followed by ascension through ascension into heaven, leading with it the necessary influx of the Spirit. This is because it was no longer possible for the One who ascended to heaven to the Father to cohabit with the flesh among the holy Apostles. The speech is very abbreviated, thereby taking away the sharpness of sadness from it. He clearly saw that the disciples would again be subjected to considerable fear and would expect torment from acute sadness and falling into terrible and unbearable disasters, when they would have to remain alone, with the ascension of the Savior “to the Father.” For this reason, I think, he does not openly say that he will die, since the Jewish fury called on Him to go as far as this, but he constructs his speech with very great skill and subtlety and, along with suffering, he also communicates the joy of resurrection, saying: “A little, and you will see Me no more, and again a little, and you will see Me.” The time of death was already at the door, making the Lord invisible to the disciples for a very short time, until He, having destroyed hell and opened the gates of darkness for those who were there, had to rebuild His church again (John 2:19-22). And after this was accomplished, He again shone forth to His disciples and promised to be with them “all the days of the world,” according to what is written (Matthew 28:20). After all, although He is absent in the flesh, having presented Himself for us to the Father and having sat down at the right hand of the Parent, He dwells among the worthy through the Spirit and always abides with the saints, for He promised that He would not leave us orphans (John 14:18). So, in view of the very little time remaining before the beginning of suffering, he says: “It is not enough, and you will not see Me,” for it would not be long before he was covered with death. “And again,” he says, “a little, and you will see Me,” for on the third day he came to life, having preached to the spirits in prison (1 Pet. 3:19). Thus, it was the most complete proof of His love for mankind that He not only saved those still living on earth, but also preached liberation to those who had already died and were in the depths of the underworld in darkness, according to what is written (Is. 42:7). Notice that he said this about suffering and resurrection: “A little and you will not see Me, and again a little and you will see Me.” Having added “because I go to the Father,” he is silent about the rest, for he did not indicate how long he will remain there or when he will come again. For what reason is this? Because “it is not your business” to “know the times and seasons which the Father has appointed in His authority,” according to the words of the Savior Himself (Acts 1:7). John 16:17–18. His disciples decided to themselves: what is this, which he says to us: a little and you do not see Me, and again a little and you will see Me? and: How am I going to the Father? 1017 He said: what is this, which he says: in the little place? We don't know what 1018 says Not yet understanding what was said, the divine disciples talk to each other and doubt what He wanted to indicate to them with the words: “little” and “little”; and: “You will not see Me.” However, Christ warns their intention to propose a question, again very opportunely showing that He, as God, knows the hearts and knows what is still turning in the mind and hidden in the depths of the heart, as if already spoken by the tongue. Indeed, what could be hidden from Him to whom all things are naked (Heb. 4:13)? Therefore, he speaks to one of the saints: “Who is this who hides his intentions from Me and contains words in his heart, and thinks that he is hiding from Me?” ( Job 38:2 ). Thus, he tries in every possible way to benefit them and makes every opportunity that presents itself an educator of firm and undoubted faith. John 16:19–20. Jesus thought, as if he wanted to question Him, and he said to them: Are you quarreling among each other about this, as if you said: a little, and you do not see Me, and again, a little, and you will see Me? 1019 Amen, amen, I say to you, for you will weep and wail, and the world will rejoice: you will be sad, but your sorrow will be joy 1020 To them, who were very curious and diligently examined the meaning of the spoken words, He makes the clearest statement of His suffering - and what they had to undergo, this again allows them to foresee, and very beneficially. Not in order to give rise to premature fear, I considered it necessary to predict this, but so that, strengthened in advance by knowledge, they would be more courageous against an attack of fear. After all, something that was expected to happen is easier to bear than something that was not expected at all. So, when you, who are close to Me and tied to Me with love, see your Mentor and Teacher suffering from the Jewish madness of insults and reproaches and the insolence of shameless fury, then you will “weep and mourn, and the world will rejoice,” that is, those who do not want to think what is pleasing to God, but are, as it were, nailed to worldly pleasures. He points again to the herd and rabble crowd of Jews and to the God-hating and wicked crowd of those who received leadership over them, to the scribes and Pharisees, who, cursing over the sufferings of the Savior, said many things on their own heads, then crying out: “If you are the Son of God, come down now from the cross, and we will believe you” (Matthew 27:40, 42), then again: “Destroying the church and in three day, the one who creates it, save Yourself!” (Matthew 27:40). Such are the eruptions of the vile language of the Jews. But when people devoted to the world think this way, they will say this and at the same time do it, “you will be saddened,” of course, but you will not remain in this state for a long time. “Sadness” will turn into “joy,” for I will come to life and completely destroy the cause of despondency. I will stop sorrow and lead you to constant and endless joy, for the joy of the saints is unceasing, since Christ always lives and the death of all is destroyed by Him. But consistency requires one to think that, in turn, those devoted to the world will no doubt have to endure endless sorrow. After all, if the death of Christ in the flesh brought sorrow to His loved ones, and the world turned His suffering into joy, then with the abolition of death and corruption and the rising of our Savior Christ from the dead, sorrow was turned into joy for the saints, and for those devoted to the world, obviously, joy will turn into sorrow. John 16:21–22. When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come: but when she gives birth to a child, she no longer remembers the sorrow for the joy that a man was born into the world 1021. And now you will have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you 1022 Again he tries to find consolation for them and uses various expressions, in every possible way helping them to eliminate the severity of sadness. Look how he is in a hurry to convince by means of a clear example that one must endure and not be too afraid of disasters or sorrows, if they without a doubt and inevitably must end in joy. Behold, he says, the fruit of intense torment (of a mother) is a baby, and through suffering comes joy for mothers because of their children. But if from the very beginning they would have refused to suffer at birth and would not have wanted to be pregnant at all, avoiding marriage as the reason for this, then they would never have become mothers, out of fear avoiding such a longed-for and much-desired task. In the same way, sorrow will not remain unrewarded for you. You will rejoice when you see a wonderful Child, incorruptible and immortal, born into the world. He's obviously talking about himself. However, joy in Him, he says, will be inalienable and irreducible, for, according to the word of Paul, or rather, according to the meaning of the truth, having once died, “he dies no more” (Rom. 6:9). So, joy in Him is strong, and this is very fair. After all, if we were subjected to sadness because of death, then who will remove “joy” from us, who know that He lives and abides constantly as the author and giver of spiritual blessings to us? Therefore, “no one will take away joy” from the saints, according to the words of the Savior. And from those who nailed Him to the cross it was immediately taken away, for with the end of suffering, at which they considered it necessary to rejoice, sadness should appear in them, as if by inevitable necessity. John 16:23–24. And on that day you will not ask Me anything. Amen, amen, I say to you: whatever you ask the Father, He will give it to you in My name. Until now, do not ask for anything in My name: ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be filled 1023 The holy disciples, he says, will be better and more intelligent when they are clothed with power from above (Luke 24:9), according to what is written, and, having a mind enlightened by the light of the Spirit, they will be able to understand everything and will not question Him, even if He were present. Not because they will no longer need light guidance from Him, the Savior says, but because, having received His own Spirit and having Him dwelling in their hearts, they will have a mind not devoid of all good and filled with the most perfect knowledge. We call the most perfect knowledge that which is right and unperverted, which does not allow one to think or say anything absurd, but which thinks in an Orthodox manner about the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity. Although we now see through a mirror and in a riddle and know in part, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor. 13:12, 9), but, without going beyond the limits of accuracy in dogmas and following the meaning of the holy and God-inspired Scripture, we have imperfect knowledge, which no one would have received otherwise, if it had not been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, encouraging the disciples to ask for spiritual gifts for themselves, and at the same time conveying the confidence that their requests will not remain unsatisfied, by adding the word “Amen” strengthens the belief that if they wish to begin asking for anything, they will receive it from the Father, and He Himself is obviously an intermediary and co-giver with the Father. This is what the expression “in my name” means, for we approach God and the Father no other way than through the Son. Through Him, “we have access in the One Spirit to the Father,” according to what is written (Eph. 2:18). That’s why he says: “I am the door, I am the way, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 10:7, 14:6). Indeed, since He is the Son and God, He, together with the Father, bestows blessings on the saints and turns out to be a co-giver of blessings upon us. So the divine Paul expressed to us the clearest faith about this, writing: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). And since He is called mediator and high priest and intercessor, He brings prayers to the Father for us, for He is the boldness of us all to the Father. So, “in the name” of our Savior Christ we must make prayers, for in this case the Father will graciously accept and give good things to those who ask Him, so that we may rejoice when we receive them. Filled with spiritual gifts and having received from Him a rich gift of understanding, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, let us fight, and very easily, against every ungodly and vile pleasure. Thus practicing goodness, striving with considerable zeal for every virtue and straining our strength for everything that is accomplished for sanctification, we greatly rejoice in the hope of reward and, putting aside all despondency due to a bad conscience, we fatten our minds with the joys of Christ. And this was not common among the ancients, for they did not care about this kind of prayer out of ignorance. Now it is determined by Christ, and with all justice, when the time of correction has dawned and through Him the perfection of every good has been introduced. After all, just as the law did not bring anything to perfection (Heb. 7:19), but the righteousness achieved through it was imperfect, so the image of prayer (remained the same). John 16:25. This is spoken to you in parables: the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but in reality I will tell you about the Father 1024 “Parable” refers to a hidden and not very clear speech, obscured by some such subtle obscurity that the listeners, he says, cannot quite easily understand. This is exactly how what is said in the parables is formed. So, what I have expressed, he says, I have expressed to you, as it were, in parables and riddles, leaving a clear revelation until the proper and almost impossible time to come. Yes, he says, the “hour” will certainly come, that is, the time in which I will clearly explain to you things pertaining to the glory of the Father and impart an understanding that surpasses the mind of man. But he did not say quite clearly what time it was. However, we must think that He points either to the time in which we were enriched in knowledge through the Spirit after the resurrection of Christ from the dead, when He gave Him to us, or, perhaps, to the future, which is to come after the transformation of the world, when we will undisguisedly and clearly see the glory of God, imparting to us the clearest knowledge of Himself. Therefore, Paul says that prophecies will be abolished and knowledge will cease, meaning no other knowledge than that which we currently possess (1 Cor. 13:8-9, 12). After all, we (now) see through the mirror and know in part, as we just said, “when that which is perfect comes, what is in part will be done away with” (1 Cor. 13:10). How and under what conditions, if you want to know, I’ll tell you again. Just as on a dark night the radiant beauty of the stars appears, each emitting its own light, but with the appearance of the sun’s shine, what is already partially luminous is abolished, and, overcome by the power of that (sunshine), its shine is weak and ineffective; In the same way, I think, the knowledge that is present to us now will cease at that time and that which is in part will cease when the perfect light appears and imparts to us the full radiance of good knowledge. Then, as those who are already able to “boldly” contain it, Christ will “proclaim” “about” His “Father.” After all, now we, due to our inherent weakness of mind, are barely brought to some dark knowledge, through shadows and comparisons and sometimes various images and similarities with ourselves perceived through objects. Then, no longer having any need for any image at all, nor for riddles and parables, we will understand the beauty of the Divine nature of God and the Father with an open face and an unhindered mind, seeing the glory of Him who appeared from Him, “for we will see Him as He is,” according to the word of John (1 John 3:2). Now, after all, we have not seen (Him) in the full glory of the Divine, because of (Him) humanity. With the passage of the time of the Economy with the flesh and the performance of the sacrament for us and for us, He will finally appear in His own glory and in the glory of the Father, for, being God by nature and therefore consubstantial with the Parent, He, without any doubt, will be in equal dignity with Him, and will finally shine in His and Divine glory. John 16:26–27. On that day ask questions in My name, and I will not tell you, but I will pray to the Father for you. For the Father Himself loves you, because you loved and believed in Me, because I died from God 1025 Absolutely nothing allows one to ask in prayer and conversion except “in His name.” However, he promises that the Father will very favorably give them what they ask for in prayers, and without prompting to do so from the Son as an intercessor and mediator, but as if by himself going to honor them and, as if trying to give something due to those who love Christ, namely the highest and extreme favor. And let no one who has any understanding again think or say out of ignorance that the disciples or any other saint will by no means need the mediation of the Son for themselves. For all things are through Him from the Father in the Spirit, just as He is the Advocate, according to the word of John (1 John 2:1-2), not for our sins alone, but for the whole world. Showing usefully here again that honor and love for Him who appeared from Him are very pleasing to God and the Father, he says this. Not understanding this, the unfortunate people of Judah were not afraid to insult Him with unbearable abuse and “sought to kill Him,” according to what is written (John 5:18), because He was transforming the minds of believers from the legal and crude commandment into the spirituality of the gospel life. Knowing nothing, or rather, sharpening their wicked tongue against Him, the unfortunate ones said: If this Man were from God, he would not have destroyed the Sabbath (John 9:16). So, very favorably, he says, favor will be given from God and the Father to them, who undoubtedly believed in what “came from God and the Father.” It will be, he says, as if to anticipate and warn the request of the Mediator and fill the minds of those who have the right idea about Me with spiritual blessings, and not as the lovers of the letter would like to think. The expression: “I came from the Father,” as we must think, here again means either that I was born and shone forth from His essence in such a way that His procession should be and be thought of as a special personal existence (hypostatic), but inseparable in everything, for in the Son there is the Father, and in the Father, in turn, by nature the Son. Or the word “I came forth” stands instead: I became like you, obviously a man, having put on your image and nature. As if the place of each of the beings is its own nature, from which it comes, passing into another something and becoming something that was not. But we will not, of course, assert that as soon as the Only Begotten appeared and really became a man like us, he ceased to be God, “for he is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). On the contrary, having perceived what He was not, while preserving His own, He is conceived as having come forth only in our mental representation. You can understand the expression “I came from the Father”, if you want, in another way. The Pharisees, receptive to ignorance alone, as I said before, thought that the Lord acted like one of the false prophets, not being sent from God, but according to His intention, as was usually the case, to preach hostile to the law to those who came to them. That is why they decided not to obey, pointing out that observance of the law, although very kind to God and the Father, is nevertheless destroyed by His dogmas. So, they rejected Christ as having decided to rebel against His laws through Moses, considering Him for this reason to be alien even to God. But not so the blessed disciples. They “loved” Him, having thoughts higher than the foolishness of the Jews, and “believed” truly that He “came” from “God”, in the manner we have just indicated. For this reason, they have love for themselves from the Father, receiving, as if in reward, equal grace. If those who believe that the Son came from God are very kind to God and the Father and very pleasant, then, obviously, those who suffer from the opposite opinion are disgusted and truly God-hating. And if God is always fully prepared to listen to those who love the Son, then obviously He will not accept the prayers of those who are not so. And this, therefore, was what was said to them by the voice of Isaiah: “When you stretch out your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes away from you, and if you increase your prayer, I will not listen to you, for your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:15). John 16:28. I departed from the Father and came into the world: again I will leave the world and go to the Father 1026 A clear and indisputable proof that the Lord is not one of the false prophets and did not come to us with the purpose of expressing His thoughts and speaking contrary to the will of the Father, according to the ignorant and disgusting suspicion of the Jews, is that He again ascended to the Father and returned with power to where He knew Himself to come from. Yes, this is what someone can say, arming themselves against the ignorance of the Jews - Christ, perhaps, was not true, in your opinion, Jews, but without the permission of God and the Father, He brought the instruction of the gospel life, showing the legal commandment to be ineffective and useless for perfection in piety. You accuse Him as a Sabbath breaker and, if He performed any miracle among you, you say with ordinary wickedness that He also does this “Beelzebub, the chief of the demons” (Luke 11:15). But how, then, did He ascend to heaven itself? How did the Father accept onto His throne, when the highest gates were opened for Him by the Angels, the One Who, in your opinion, rebelled against His dogmas and communicated teachings displeasing to the All-King of all? Did he secretly ascend? Were there not many people to whom the divine and heavenly Angel said: “Men of Galilee! Why are you standing looking at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11). What else can you say, Jew? Wouldn't you honor even the voice of an Angel with obedience? Will you not even accept many spectators as witnesses? Although the law clearly says: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing will take place” (Deut. 19:15). So, is it appropriate for the one who returns with power to the Heavenly Father to be blamed for false prophecy, and not, on the contrary, shouldn’t we finally, as if from a clear proof of the matter, undoubtedly believe that He is from God, obviously the Father, but not different (in essence) compared to Him, Whom the law itself and the prophets told us? But although he came, he says, “into” this “world,” he nevertheless again passes from the world “to the Father,” leaving neither the Father when he became a man, nor those who exist on earth, when he departed with the flesh to the Father, for He is the True God, filling everything with ineffable power and leaving nothing that exists. John 16:29–30. His disciples said to Him: Behold, now you speak without hesitation. Now we know that you weigh everything and do not demand, but who asks you: about this we believe, as if you came from God 1027 They are surprised by the evidence as the most obvious and amazed by the clarity of speech, because without any secrecy the speech leads to them. So, they rejoice, having received a proof free from any difficulty, and say that this speech has nothing incomprehensible, but the words about this itself are so clear that there seems to be not the slightest trace of a parable. And besides, they also learn this: since, they say, You recognized our secret thoughts and warned us of the question that, perhaps, we would have expressed, asking to teach us what You spoke about recently, then we believed that “You came from God.” After all, to know, they say, what is hidden in the depths of the soul can be characteristic of the God of all, and not of anyone else. And since You Yourself know everything, how can there be any doubt that You have shone forth from God, who knows everything? Thus, this truly unique and miraculous sign, together with everything else, became for the disciples the food of undoubted faith, so that one can see in them the truth of the saying (Proverbs 9:9): “Give (show) a reason to a wise man, and he will be wiser; instruct the righteous, and will increase his readiness to accept (teaching).” They say: “Now we believe,” of course, not because it was then that they received the beginning of faith, when they heard such words or saw a sign, namely that the Lord knows everything, but because then they finally began to root the faith they had initially received in their souls and finally firmly hold on to the conviction that He is God and from God by nature and in truth. Therefore, we must accept the expression “now we believe” not about the beginning of faith, but about the beginning of firm strengthening in the faith that we have already reverently approved and accepted. John 16:31–32. Jesus answered them: “Now you believe: behold, the hour is coming, and now I have come, that you may be separated, each one into his own, and leave Me alone: ​​and you are not alone, for the Father is with Me 1028 Very skillfully the Savior showed that the time had not yet come for steadfastness in all good things. Such was the time that brought the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven and power from above, as it is written (Luke 24:49). Only then, having finally freed themselves from human cowardice, did they (the disciples) acquire insurmountable courage, fearing neither the attacks of the Jews, nor the reckless anger of the Pharisees, nor any other horrors, but boldly speaking out with the Divine sermon and openly saying: “We must obey God more than men; we cannot, after all, what we have learned and heard, not speak” (Acts 5:29, 4:20). Thus, at the same time he showed that they were not yet established in perfect faith, since they had not yet tasted the communion of the Spirit, presenting as evidence their cowardice that was soon to manifest itself, and it turns out that the prediction of what was about to happen (to them) brought (them) considerable benefit. Indeed, they will be more and more firmly convinced that He is God by nature when they learn that He knows everything. So, the time is not far away, he says, or rather, it is already coming, when, leaving “Me alone,” you will go “to yourself.” This can be expressed more clearly this way: when you, succumbing to powerless cowardice, will care only about your own life and, preferring your salvation to the love befitting a Teacher, retire to the places you find. Is this why you “now believe” if you have not yet removed from yourself the shameful accusation of cowardice, since you have not yet received courage through the Spirit? And that the blessed disciples fled, unable to withstand the attack of the Jews, when the traitor came, leading with him an unholy detachment of soldiers and servants of the commanders, this is not subject to the slightest doubt. Then they leave Christ “alone.” One, we say, only in the sense that none of those who usually followed Him and were with Him remained with Him, for He was not alone, as God is from God and in God naturally and inseparably. But Christ expressed this to us in a humane way, teaching that if temptation or persecution or something else like that sometimes sends us the time and calls us to a blessed danger, I mean for the sake of piety, then we should not lose hope in the possibility of avoiding it, even if none of the like-minded brothers helped us, protecting us to an accessible extent and with their like-mindedness, as if sharing with us the danger that threatens us. Even if you have turned to a difficult flight and have acquired too much insurmountable cowardice, you must still have confidence that God will not become weak for this reason. He alone will be able to save those who are devoted to Him. And we are not “alone,” even if no one is present, as I just said, when we have Almighty God as our representative, helper and protector, protecting us with His most merciful protection, according to the words of the Psalmist: “Lord! How You have crowned us with weapons of favor” (Ps. 5:13). And we are talking about this now not because attachment to life is considered a good thing, when we need to end our bodily life with glory, struggling and laboring against temptations for the sake of God, but so that, on the contrary, we believe that, even if there are no people who are completely willing and trying to do this with us, we should not despair, for we will not be “alone” when God is present with us. John 16:33. These are the words to you, that in me there may be peace: in the world there may be sorrow, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world 1029 It is beautiful and useful in these words that Christ, one might say, heads all the reasoning that was to them and, concentrating the meaning of what was said in a few words, offered them the most abbreviated knowledge of His will. I am speaking, he says, now to you in such a way, encouraging you to have “peace” “in Me,” and so that you, in addition, clearly know that troubles will happen to you “in this world” and you will undergo many sorrows for My sake. However, do not succumb to these horrors, for “I have overcome the world.” But to make this statement absolutely clear to you, let’s first talk about what it means to have “peace” in Christ. After all, the world or lovers of worldly things sometimes also bring peace to one another, but not in Christ. For example, those who are devoted to bodily passions are for this reason very friendly and pleasant with people who are like them; one who sets his sights on possessions that are completely inappropriate for him and for this reason becomes a covetous person or a thief will, of course, be to the liking of one who practices the same vice as himself. After all, every animal loves what is like itself, according to what is written, and man will be attached to what is like himself (Sir.13:19-20). But in all this the venerable name of the world is a counterfeit, and this is quite true. But it is not so with the saints. The union of peace is not sin, but faith, hope, love and the power of piety towards God. And this is in Christ. Peace in Christ appeared for us as the head of all good things, bringing with it, as it were, its sister - love for each other. And love, according to Paul, is the fulfillment of all Divine law (Rom. 13:10; Gal. 5:13–14). And that those who love each other should, of course, first of all love God Himself, this is certain, in view of the words of John, that if someone has loved a brother, he will, without any doubt, love God Himself (1 John 4:20). But it also means something else, I mean again the saying: “You have tribulation in the world, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” If anyone wants to understand this more simply, he will, without a doubt, say: Christ appeared, of course, higher and more powerful than any sin and worldly danger, and since He conquered, He will give victory to those who are tempted for His sake. If anyone wants to understand something more subtle than what has just been said, then he can think as follows. How we turned out to be the winners of corruption and death because, as a man, Christ came to life for us and for us, making His resurrection the beginning of the enslavement of death, and the significance of this victory should, of course, extend to us, since the Victor was from among us, since he appeared as a man, and we seem to overcome sin, put to death, of course, in the first Christ, who obviously transfers this good to us, as to His race; so we must “dare” because we too will overcome the world, for Christ “overcame” as a man for our sake, being the beginning and the door and the path for human nature in this too. Yes, once fallen and overcome, we (now) have prevailed and overcome for the sake of Him who was among us and for our sakes conquered. After all, if He had won as God, it would not have mattered to us, but if as a man, then we won in Him, for He appeared to us from heaven as the second Adam, according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:47). Therefore, just as we bore “the image of earth” (1 Cor. 15:49), in the likeness of that (Adam the first) being forced to fall into the yoke of sin, so, of course, we will also bear the image of the Heavenly, that is, Christ, defeating the dominion of sin and overcoming all worldly sorrow, for Christ “won.” That no one should consider the Son deprived of Divine glory, although He turns out to be saying: “Father, glorify Your Son!” John 17:1. Jesus said this and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said: Father, the hour has come: glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You 1030 Having sufficiently taught the disciples parting words for salvation and encouraged them through appropriate reasoning and speeches to the most accurate perception of dogmas, and also having made them as strong as possible against temptations and well ingrained in everyone a courageous mood, he immediately usefully changes the type of speech and gives it the image of prayer, and does not leave any time gap between the speech to them and to God the Father. And in this He again showed us an image of decent behavior. And indeed, anyone who has a desire for piety should, I believe, know that, without a doubt, one should always willingly conduct conversations with brothers about what is necessary and useful, or, if this does not happen, hasten to exhaust the use of the word with prayers to God, so that no excesses creep in here in speech. Only in this case can the beauty of language follow the proper path. Indeed, who does not know how easily many things that are worthy of reproach are introduced into empty speeches? So one wise man said: “You cannot avoid sin by speaking too much, but by guarding your lips you will be wise” (Prov. 10:19). In addition, you can marvel at something else here that brings us considerable benefit. Makes the beginning of a prayer for His and the Father’s glory. And after that he immediately adds and adds a prayer for us. What is the reason for this? He again instructs the well-intentioned and God-loving and makes him truly skilled in prayer. Just as we need to do good and do everything, not in order to turn our efforts to do this into our own glory, but into the glory of the Father of all, I mean God, for let your light, he says, shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16), - so when the time disposes us to prayer, before for ourselves, it is appropriate to pray for the glory of God, as, without doubts, and Christ Himself “so,” he says, “you pray: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name! Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done both in heaven and on earth! Give us our daily bread today!” (Matthew 6:9–11). This serves as a model for us to pray. Truly, it was necessary that the leader and mentor of every good thing for us and a way of life leading to God should not be an intercessor, not an Angel, but Christ Himself (Is. 63:9), for we are called, and indeed are, according to the word of the prophet, “disciples of God” (Is. 54:13). But it is also necessary to consider with possible skill what He says to His Father, for with particular care, I think, those engaged in the interpretation of this saying should observe the accuracy of the dogmas. So, “Father,” he says, “the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.” As for the (external) structure of the speech, one might perhaps think that the speaker seems to be deprived of glory. But if we take into account the dignity of the Only Begotten, then it will be easy, in my opinion, to avoid such pitiful reasoning. It is completely foolish to consider the Son in need of any glory and deprived of the honor due to Him, although He is the Lord of glory, as the Inspired Scriptures call Him (1 Cor. 2:8; James 2:1). However, in another place one can see Him speaking to the Father: “Father, glorify Me with the glory that I had before the world was with You” (John 17:5). But for whom, finally, can it be doubtful, who is so devoid of intelligence and the enemy of all truth, as not to understand and recognize that the Only Begotten is not devoid of Divine glory, as far as His own nature is concerned? But since, being in image and in equality in everything with God and the Father, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God (Phil. 2:6), but descended into our humiliation and made Himself of no reputation, bearing this most ignominious body and out of love putting on the likeness of human nothingness, when the proper time had already appeared and arrived, at which it was fitting for Him again, having fulfilled what was required by the sacrament (of the incarnation), to put on the original and essential “glory”, having saved the entire universe, and precisely by saving those living in it to life and knowledge of God, showing again in this the Father’s co-willer and co-wisher; makes an appeal to Him, saying that He (the Son) undoubtedly becomes to ascend again into the dignity of His own nature. How does it rise? Obviously, as the performer of the works of the Godhead and as appearing with the flesh, not as a servant of the effectiveness of anyone else, but being the power and wisdom of God the Father. Thus, and not otherwise, we must think, He performed the deeds of the Divine with authority. Everything is from God, but not without the Son. Indeed, how could God and the Father do anything befitting Him, if in everything in which the manifestation of effectiveness should be conceived, His Wisdom and Power, that is, the Son, were not present with Him and did not cooperate with Him? Therefore, the wise Evangelist, the author of the compilation of the interpreted book, at the beginning of it says that “all things became through Him, and without Him nothing became” (John 1:3). So, since the concept of consubstantiality consistently forces us to recognize that everything is from the Father, but, of course, through the Son in the Spirit, and having put to death death and corruption and destroying the dominion of the devil, He had to enlighten the whole earth with light through the Spirit and through this appear to be truly God by nature and true, then it is therefore necessary to say: “Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.” . And no one with intelligence will say, of course, that the Son asks for glory from the Father, as, perhaps, man does from man, and for His part promises to give (it to the Father) in return. It is very indecent, or rather completely insane, to have such an idea of ​​​​God. But showing His glory to be most necessary for the Father, so that he would be recognized as consubstantial, the Savior said this. Just as it should be a cause of dishonor for God and the Father if He does not have a Son begotten of Him and descended from Him, such as God should be from God by nature, so, I believe, it will give Him (the Father) glory and praise if He has His Son such as He Himself is conceived and called. Therefore, the Father is glorified in the glory of the Son, as I just said, imparting glory by the fact that through works it is given to understand from whom and what Father the Only Begotten was born, and in return, as if receiving it through the fact that it is again given to understand who and what Son He really is the Father. Therefore, the dignity of glory, essential and natural, must pass from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the Father. If someone, perhaps, assumes that, due to humiliation in His incarnation, here too the Lord calls Himself less than He is in Himself (by nature), - after all, this was usual for Him - then he will not deviate at all from the correct reasoning, however, he will not fully accurately reveal the content of the words being interpreted. After all, if He asked only for Himself glory from the Father, then this request would not represent anything unnatural for human limitations, but since He promises that He, on His part, will glorify the Father, is it not already necessary to rather agree with the reasoning we have just taught? That, with a pious attitude to the matter, no harm can be done to the glory of the Son if it is said that He received something from God and the Father John 17:2. For He has given Him power over all flesh, so that whatever You have given Him He will give them eternal life 1031 Again, here Christ explains to us that image of glory, through which God and the Father will show His Son all-praised and glorious, and through this He Himself will be glorified by His Son. It spreads the speech and makes its meaning clear for our edification and benefit, for what is the need for God and the Father, who knows everything, to learn the way of prayer? So, he calls upon us favor from the Father. And since He is the High Priest of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25), since He appeared as a man, although being God by nature with the Father, He makes an appropriate appeal to Him for us, convincing us to believe that even now He is the Propitiation for our sins and the righteous Advocate, according to the word of John (1 John 2:1-2). Therefore, Paul, wanting us to have this way of thinking, writes in the Epistle: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was tempted in all things according to our likeness, except through sin” (Heb. 4:15). Consequently, as a high priest, since He appeared as a man, and at the same time as a blameless sacrifice, He offered Himself as a ransom to God the Father for the lives of all, as a certain firstfruits of humanity, “so that in all things He might be preeminent,” as Paul says (Col. 1:18). Again he brings back the earthly race that has retreated, revealing it pure with His Blood and transforming it to renewal of life through the Holy Spirit. And since, as we have often said, everything is accomplished from the Father through the Son in the Spirit, asking for benefits is done for us as a Mediator and High Priest, although being a co-giver and co-dispenser of Divine and spiritual gifts with His Parent. After all, according to His will and power, Christ shares the Spirit with whom He wants (1 Cor. 12:11). This is the meaning of these words. But what the image of prayer itself wants to point out, let this again be explained by the interpreted saying. So, “Father,” he says, “glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.” How or in what form will what I said be fulfilled, he says? I want, he says, that just as “You gave” Me “power over all flesh,” so “everything that You gave” to Me should have “eternal life” 1032. In fact, the Father glorified His Son, subjecting the whole earth to His authority, but He Himself is also glorified through Him. After all, the Son is glorified from the Father, having received faith from everyone that He is the birth and fruit of the all-powerful and without hindrance putting everything under the yoke of His kingdom, but He Himself, in turn, is glorified by the Father from His Son. This is because as soon as the Son was recognized as able to do everything easily, the grace of this glory passed on to His Parent. So, he says, just as You glorified and glorified, giving “Him” “power” and dominion over everything, that is, in the manner said, so I want nothing of this to perish, for this glory must pass from the Father to the Son and from the Son again to the Father. Truly, it was necessary that what became completely subject and subordinate to the omnipotent God the Word, having once been saved, should remain in endless blessings, so that it would no longer be subject to the dominion of death and would not be in the power of corruption and sin or still be subject to primordial evil. And since the saying “You gave Him power over all flesh,” we think, can confuse some of the simpletons, let us again try to say something a little about this, without falling into indecision for the sake of necessity, even if every word were powerless to explain such subjects. And the Lord says this mainly in accordance with the image He accepted, that is, the image of the humiliation and limitations of humanity. And you must accept this explanation. After all, if we are ashamed to hear that He was called a servant for our sake, although together with the Father he remained Lord of all, and that He was appointed “king over Zion, His holy mountain” (Ps. 2:6), although having in His own nature the unacquired power of power over everything, then we should also be ashamed if He says that He receives anything again as a man. And if there we are surprised at voluntary submission, knowing about His essentially innate dignity, then why, next to that, does not this deserve surprise? Having everything, like God, He accepts, speaks like a man to whom kingship is not essential, but given, “for what have you that you have not received?” (1 Cor. 4:7), (this position) must correspond to the limitations of creatures. Christ is also created, since he became a man, although he was uncreated by nature, since he came from God. After all, all goods are conceived and actually exist in God naturally and actually, and in us as acquired and communicated through Divine grace. When, therefore, as a man who has received dominion over us, He says that “power over all flesh has been given to Him over all flesh,” one should not be tempted by this, for one must understand the meaning of the House of God (the Incarnation). If you want to understand this saying in relation to the Divinity (the Savior), then again take into account what the Lord once said to the Jews: “Truly, truly, I say to you, no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him” (John 6:44), for whom the Father wants to give life to, he brings, as to His life-giving power, to His Son, and also strengthens and makes wise through Him. But if he also wants to subjugate anyone to the yoke of His dominion, then He calls for this in no other way than through the Living and Almighty Power, through which He rules over everything, that is, through His Own Son. People, being themselves unable to do anything beyond themselves, receive from God the strength to rule over others, for through Him kings reign, as is written (Prov. 8:15-16), and rulers through Him rule over the earth. The God of all, having received power from no one else, subjugates to Himself the human race that has deviated from love for Him and has withdrawn from under the yoke of His kingdom, as if granting power over everything to His own Power and through It receiving into His right hand everything that He wishes to take. How God and the Father subordinates His Power to His Son - but through Him, of course, and no other way - everything that voluntarily desires to become subject to Him. Just as He makes all things wise and gives life through Him, so He also rules over all things through Him. However, it should be noted that the grace of the highest love for mankind was not concentrated on Israel alone, but extended “to all flesh,” for everything that submits to the power of the Savior will, of course, participate in the life that comes from Him and in grace. That the Son must be recognized as true God, although He calls the Father the one and true God John 17:3. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and whom You sent, Jesus Christ 1033 He made faith the mother of eternal life, and the power of true knowledge of God, he says, will be the reason for eternal existence, obviously, in incorruption, bliss and holiness. And we call true knowledge of God that which is free from accusations of turning to others for something and of deviating towards inappropriate things (worship). After all, some began to serve “the creature instead of the Creator” (Rom. 1:25) and dared to say to a tree: “You are my Father, and to a stone: you gave birth to me” (Jer. 2:27). These unfortunates had reached such a stage of ignorance that they foolishly gave the divine name to substances devoid of sense and assumed the ineffable glory of the Supreme Being. So, he calls “God” the Father “one” and “true”, as the true one, contrasting Him with false names and contrasting Him with falsely called gods. This is the meaning of this saying. But, calling the Father one and true, he usefully mentions His glory, saying: “and whom You sent, Jesus Christ.” After all, no one can receive perfect knowledge about the Father if next to him and along with him there is no knowledge about the Son, for whoever learned that there is a Father, at the same time, of course, recognized the Son. Therefore, having called God and the Father true, he did not exclude Himself. Being in Him and from Him by nature, He will also be true and one in one. After all, besides Him, there can be no other true and one God, “for the gods of the pagans are demons” (Ps. 96:5). And the creature is a servant, which, I don’t know why, is worshiped by some, carried away into an unkind and reckless mood. So, many who are mistakenly recognized in the world as gods and who have received a false name are contrasted with the one and true God and the Son who is in Him and from Him by nature, separately and united together by natural unity. Separately - because it is thought to have existence in itself, for there is a Son, and not a Father. But also combined - because the existence of the Father, of course, must be accompanied by the One born from Him by nature (the Son). The Father and the Son exist together, and if the Father exists and is called, it is, of course, because He is thought to be the one who gave birth. So, “this is,” he says, “eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ.” But really - one of the inquisitive ones who do not frivolously try to assimilate Divine dogmas will ask - should we recognize knowledge as eternal life and will it be enough to know about the real and true existence of God by nature in order to have all the firmness of hope, and nothing else will be required? But in this case, how is it that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26)? After all, when we call faith, we mean true knowledge about God, and not some other kind, for knowledge is through faith. This was witnessed by Isaiah, who said: “If you do not believe, (then) you will not understand” (Is. 7:9). And that knowledge, consisting only of naked reasoning, the writings of the saints declare to us to be completely useless, I think you can understand this from the following. One of the holy disciples said: “You believe that there is one God; you do well, (but) the demons also believe and tremble” (James 2:19). What can we say to this? How will Christ prove to be true, who calls the knowledge of the One and True Father and God and with Him the Son eternal life? To this, I believe, we must answer that the word of the Savior must, of course, be true, for knowledge is life, as if giving birth to all the power of the sacrament and introducing the sacrament of the mysterious Eucharist, through which we enter into communion with the Living and Life-giving Word. For this reason, I think, Paul also calls the pagans co-corporeal and participating in Christ (Eph. 3:6), as having partaken of His Holy Flesh and Blood. In the same way, our members should be presented as members of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15). So, knowledge is life, bringing blessing through the Spirit, for He dwells in our hearts, transforming those who receive Him into sonship and restoring them to incorruption and piety through the gospel life. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that knowledge of the one and true God is the cause and, as it were, the guarantee of these blessings, says that it is eternal life, as the mother and nurse of eternal life, as if giving birth by its own power and nature to that which serves as the cause of life and leads to it. We must, I believe, direct our curiosity to how, according to the word of Christ, the most perfect knowledge of the one and true God is obtained in us. Note that it does not happen without knowledge of the Son and, of course, the Holy Spirit. In this way, according to the Scriptures, the Unity in the Trinity is thought and believed. The Jews, guided by the Mosaic commandments to distance themselves from many and false (gods), were drawn to serving the One and True (God), for the law says: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and thou shalt serve Him alone” (Deut. 6:13; Matt. 4:10). But those who served and already worshiped the One and True, as though they did not yet have perfect knowledge of the Worshiped One, are now called to it (knowledge) through the words of our Savior, learning not (only) that the Creator of all is one and true, but also that He is the Father and Whom He begat, even more, already and precisely contemplating Him in an unchangeable image, that is, the Son. After all, through an imprint, everyone can very easily reach the exact contemplation of prototypes. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ considers it necessary that those called through faith to sonship and eternal life not only learn that God is one and true, but also that He is both the Father and Whom the Father is - obviously the One who became flesh for our sake and was sent to correct the corrupted rational nature, that is, humanity. That the Son was not deprived of Divine glory, although he turns out to be saying to the Father: “And now glorify Me with the glory that I had,” and so on John 17:4–5. I have glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me, that I might do it 1034. And now You have glorified Me, Father, with Yourself with the glory that I had before [even] the world was with You 1035 The human is again added to the Divine, and the speech is, as it were, mixed, having two purposes in mind, namely: so that the person of the Speaker, on the one hand, is not elevated to possess (not represented as possessing) only complete omnipotence and Divine power, and on the other hand, so as not to remain within the limits of human limitations alone, but so that from both (Divinity and humanity) to form something single, not devoid of both of these properties. Our Lord Jesus Christ considered it necessary to teach believers not only that He is God 1036 the Only Begotten, but also that He became man for our sake, in order to present everyone to God and the Father and transform them to a new life, having redeemed humanity with His blood and, the one most worthy of all, giving His life for all. Therefore, he says that he glorified the Father “on earth” by “finishing the work that he gave” to Him. Also here, following a kind of double path in reasoning about this, we will assert that this is also said in relation to both the Divinity and humanity (Christ). Therefore, if he says this as a person, then understand this: Christ became the image for us and the beginning and example of Divine life and clearly showed how and what kind of life we ​​should lead. That is why the compilers of the Divine Scriptures (Evangelists) give the most detailed narrative about Him. So, he teaches us in these words and says that each of us, performing the service assigned to him and carrying out the commandments of God, then glorifies him with his exploits, of course not by adding to Him (anything in relation to glory), as he does not have - for the Divine and ineffable Nature is full of glory - but by the fact that he makes those who see and receive benefit glorify Him, just as the Savior says: “Let him shine your light before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). By courageously and willingly performing deeds of virtue for the sake of God, we gain glory from here not for our heads, but we acquire the blessing of the glory and honor of the Almighty. As in the case when, leading a life contrary to God and most abominable and thereby weakening His ineffable glory, we are subjected to a fair judgment and make our soul guilty of punishment, which we hear through the voice of the prophet: “For your sake my name is always blasphemed among the nations” (Is. 52:5); in the same way, I think, when we perform the most glorious virtue, then, without a doubt, we prepare for the glorification of God. Therefore, having completed the work given to us by God, we then, quite rightly rising to the boldness characteristic of His true children, can, as it were, claim for ourselves equal glory from the God glorified by us, “for as I live, says the Lord, those who glorify Me I will glorify, and those who humiliate Me will be humbled” (1 Samuel 2:30). So, wanting to show that only then is it appropriate for us to ask for glory from the One (God), that is, for the future age, when we will show Him impeccable submission in everything and turn out to be the most zealous keepers of His commandments, He says that He glorified the Father, “having completed the work on earth that He gave Him.” However, He Himself also demands glory for Himself - not alien and not acquired, like us, but His own. We should ask this, but not Him. Pay attention to the fact that He again communicates boldness in both respects in Himself and through Himself to our nature as something new, for in Him first and through Him we have been enriched both with the power to fulfill what has been entrusted to us from God to perfection and with the ability to boldly ask for the honor due to the worthy. After all, once upon a time, due to the sin that reigned over us and the apostasy that took place in Adam, we did not have the strength to perform any feats of virtue and were very far from boldness towards God. But God, in His great mercy, leading us to this boldness, so encouraged us, saying in the voice of the prophet: “Do not be afraid that you are ashamed, do not be embarrassed that you are disgraced” (Is. 54:4). Thus, just as in all other good things our Lord Jesus Christ became for us the firstfruits and the door and the way, so it is here. If the Savior (here) demands His own and pre-worldly glory and, applying this saying to us as an example for us, affirms that we ourselves must with great readiness do the will of God and thus ask with boldness for the highest glory, then let no one think that we are saying that it is fitting for a person, in imitation of Christ, to demand some kind of pre-worldly and original glory, as is due to him. On the contrary, let him imagine that He speaks according to what is appropriate for everyone (Christ and man). Therefore, if only our humanity in Christ is understood, then let only what is appropriate for creatures be said, and let human measure not be transgressed. If the Word, being God, became flesh, when it says something as is characteristic of God, then this should apply only to Him alone, and not at all to those who are in His likeness. Thus we must understand the meaning of the words being interpreted, referring them, according to the reasoning just presented, to the humanity of Christ. But, on the other hand, imagining the Divine dignity of Christ, we rightly understand something greater than human nature. Therefore, we affirm, He glorified His Father God by completing the work that He received from Him, not as a servant or as a bonded one, as if out of necessity, so that the Lord of all would not appear limited like us and a service creature, because it is common for people or Angels to obey as servants and, like slaves, to obey the Divine commands - but, like the power and wisdom of Him who gave birth to Him, He fully accomplished what was entrusted to Him. correction of us, as, without a doubt, the divine Psalmist in the Spirit, explaining to us the meaning of the mystery, said: “Command, O God, to Thy Power, strengthen, O God, what Thou hast done for us” (Ps. 67:29). In order to clearly show that the Son is the power of the Father and not another, different from Him, I speak about the identity of essence and nature, having first said: “Command Thy Power” and introducing the duality of persons, that is, the Commander and the One to whom the commandment, immediately unites them into natural unity, assimilating the outcome of the matter entirely to the Divine and ineffable Nature in the wise words: “Strengthen, O God, that which You have done it for us." So, the Son takes for Himself or accepts from His Own Father our work. But in what way God commands His Power, it is necessary to consider this and say how far beyond the mind can be accessible to human explanation. Let us imagine a person like us and imagine him as an expert in the art of coinage: he must begin to coin a (new) statue or to correct any damage or defect in it. How will he work and accomplish what he wants? Apparently, leaving it to the strength of his hands and the wisdom of art to accomplish whatever he wishes to do. But if his wisdom and strength, apparently, appear in the mind as something else, different from him, but in reality they are not separated from him, for in essence they also belong to him. You should think something similar about God, but do not take the meaning of the example in its entirety, for God must be imagined above everything, and above this example. The same reasoning, taken as an example, can be applied to the sun and fire. And the sun, as it were, commands the light emanating from it to illuminate everything and, as it were, gives the effectiveness of the rays the task of introducing the power of heat into the objects that perceive it. Likewise, fire commands and in some way commands the property of its nature to fulfill what is due to it. But we do not assert that, as a result of this, the ray and light are in slavish subordination to the sun, and the burning power is to the fire. After all, both of them act through what constitutes their natural property. But although they seem to be not spontaneous, they are not naturally different from what is of them. Something similar must be thought both about God and the Father, and about the Word begotten of Him by nature, when it is said that He takes upon Himself anything human. So, Wisdom and His Power, that is, Christ, glorified God and the Father on earth, “having completed the work that He gave Him.” And since the work due to Him has already come to an end, He always asks for the glory inherent in Him and, when the time has already called for this, demands the perception of His original glory. But what work did He accomplish, through which, He says, He glorified the Father? Being the true God, He, by the good will and desire of the Father, became man, desiring to save the entire universe and to renew the fallen race on earth to endless life and true knowledge of God, which was accomplished by the power and Divine power of Christ, who abolished death, destroyed the dominion of the devil and destroyed sin, who showed incomparable love for us through the abandonment of crimes to all and the enlightenment of the lost and those who had already understood the one and only God. true. Since Christ accomplished this by His power, the Father is glorified from everyone, that is, from everyone in the world who understands wisdom and power and His inherent mercy and love for mankind. He shone forth and finally manifested himself in the Son as the image and reflection of His nature, and the tree became known from the fruit, according to what is written (Matthew 12:33). When the deeds have already been completed and the wonderful dispensation for us has reached its proper end, He returns to His glory and receives the original honor. However, as one who is still clothed in human form, he takes on the form of prayer and asks as one who has nothing, for everything a person has is from God. And although He, since God was born of God the Father, was by no means, of course, deprived of Divine glory, but, as soon as during the Construction of the House of God, He seemed to have reduced (hidden) it, having accepted this most inglorious body, He rightly demands it as truly absent, and this speaking as a man. Understanding something similar, the wise Paul himself writes to us about Him in his Epistle: “Let each one of you understand this, that also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not count it through robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant, being in the likeness of men, and being found in the form of a man, He made Himself of no reputation, being obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, - Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, so that in the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5-11). Although the Most High Son, since He clearly appeared from Him as God and Lord, nevertheless, it is written, he exalts as a person who has acquired the need to elevate his low nature. Thus, He asks for the perception of His (primordial and pre-worldly, that is, Divine) glory in the flesh. And he does not say this as one who does not possess His (Divine) glory, even if He did not receive it (during the incarnation on earth), for the Logos was never without His merits, being the true God, but (he says this) as elevating His very church (humanity) to the glory that was always inherent in Him, or rather, as elevating Himself with His flesh, for the sake of which temporary disgrace followed. So that it does not seem to anyone that He is asking for an ordinary glory that does not belong to Him, is alien and has not been from time immemorial, He declares it to be pre-worldly and (residing) with the Father Himself. This is because the Son was never outside the glory of the Father, as always co-reigning with Him, co-sung with Him and co-worshipped by us and the holy Angels, as God from God and in God and with God. This, I believe, is what the divine evangelist John teaches in the words: “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was toward God, and God was the Logos: He was in the beginning toward God” (John 1:1–2). The saying that the Son was given something from the Father does not deprive Him of Divine dignity, but He is consubstantial and exists from the Father, although it is said that He received something John 17:6–8. I have revealed Your name to man, which You gave Me out of the world: Your besha, and You gave them to Me, and You kept Your word 1037. Now I understand that all that you have given to Me is from You 1038: for the words that You have given to Me, I have given to them, and they have received and known truly that I have departed from You, and have believed that You have sent Me 1039 In the reasoning we have just outlined, I have already thoroughly, it seems to me, proven that Christ spoke to the Heavenly Father both in terms of Divinity and humanity (as God and together as man). The word is constructed in relation to both (natures), neither enclosing it within the limits of humanity alone, nor referring it entirely to the Divine glory, but here too the same character is again preserved. As God by nature and the mark of the Ineffable Nature, He speaks to His Father: “I have revealed Your name to people,” putting “name” instead of glory, as is usually used in our speech. Thus, the wise Solomon wrote: “Better is a good name than much wealth” (Proverbs 22:1), that is, a good opinion and glory are better than nobility and splendor brought by wealth. Also, God Himself speaks in one place through the mouth of Isaiah to those who “castrated themselves for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:12): “Let not the eunuch (eunuch) say that I am dry wood, - this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs (eunuchs): whoever keeps My commandments and does what I want, I will give them in My house and in My fence a distinguished place, better than sons and daughters I will give an everlasting name. them" (Isa. 56:3-5). No one, of course, will think, if he is prudent, that the reward from the generosity of God will consist in simply naming the names of pious and virtuous people, who have conquered all pleasure in the world, and who have mortified “the members that are on the earth” (Col. 3:5), and who have honored only what is in accordance with the Divine laws. But again he uses the name instead of glory, for those who reign with Christ will be worthy of glory. So, the Savior clearly states that He “revealed the name” of God the Father, that is, He made His glory visible throughout the entire universe. How or in what way? Himself, obviously, in His feats that exceed words, presenting Himself as proof. After all, the Father is glorified in the Son as in the image and reflection of His image, for the beauty of prototypes is always revealed in the mark. Thus, the Only Begotten appears, essentially being wisdom and life, the Artist of everything and the Creator, conqueror of death and corruption, righteous, kind, merciful, holy, good. The One who gave Him birth also became known as such, for He cannot be by nature different from the One who is from Him by nature. So, He shone forth, as in the image and reflection of His image, in the glory of His Son, for such was the word about Him among the ancients, and now it appears to us personally as such. Indeed, in relation to faith, what is contemplated with one’s own eyes seems to always be stronger than what is expressed in words. I believe that what we have already said about this saying is not without significance. However, some other path of reasoning (in explaining the words being interpreted) must also be followed. The Son “revealed the name” of the Father, obviously bringing us to the understanding and clear representation not only of the fact that God is - this was proclaimed through the Inspired Scripture and before the coming (of Christ), - but also that, in addition to being the true God, He is also the Father, not in a false sense, having in Himself and from Himself His Own Son, coeternally coexisting with His Own nature. This is because, of course, he did not give birth to the Creator of ages in time. But the name Father, so to speak, is more appropriate to God than God. This serves as a designation of dignity, otherwise it contains an indication of an essential property. Whoever says “God” points to the Lord of all. And whoever names the Father expresses a peculiarity or personal property (ἰδιότητος), for he reveals that he gave birth. And the Son Himself assimilated to God the name of the Father as more, so to speak, proper and true, when he said not: “I and God,” but: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), or in another place about Himself: “for Him the Father has sealed” (John 6:27). But commanding His disciples to baptize all nations, He clearly commanded to do this not in the name of God, but “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). After all, the divine Moses, narrating the creation of this world, taught the formation of the world to more than one person, writing this: “And God said: “Let us create” man in “Our” image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26), and in these words “let us create” and in “Our” likeness—the Holy Trinity is designated, for the Father created everything and called it into existence through the Son in the Spirit. But this was not entirely understandable for the ancients, or rather, this speech was completely unclear, for neither the Father is specifically named, nor the face of the Son is clearly shown. Our Lord Jesus Christ, without any concealment and with great boldness (clearly) called God His Father, and calling Himself the Son and showing Himself to be the true fruit of Nature dominating over all, thereby revealed the name of the Father and raised us to perfect knowledge. After all, complete knowledge about God and the beginning of everything consists in knowing not only that God exists, but also that He is the Father and Whom the Father is, including obviously the Holy Spirit. And indeed, to know about God only that He exists belongs to us no more than to those under the law, for this did not go beyond the limits of Jewish understanding. And just as the law did not bring anything to perfection (Heb. 7:19), imparting childish teaching (Gal. 3:24) and not sufficient to achieve the most perfect piety, so the knowledge of God communicated imperfection, only diverting from devotion to false gods and forcing them to worship the One and True: “Let not,” it is said, “be thee gods other than Me” (Ex. 20:3), “to the Lord.” Worship your God and serve Him alone” (Matthew 4:10; Deut.6:13). Our Lord Jesus Christ, adding something better to the statutes of Moses and offering a teaching more excellent than the subordinate commandment, bestowed knowledge that is higher and more glorious than that ancient knowledge. He made it clear to us that the Creator of everything is not only God and Lord, but also the Father. The proof is obvious: He declared Himself to be the image of God in the words: “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). And this is fair, since He, being God and of God (born) by nature, sublimely and in a manner characteristic of God says this to His Father. But he immediately adds, speaking in a more human way: “those whom You gave Me from (from) the world, Yours” (literally to You, with You) “were, and You gave them to Me.” However, one must think that the Lord did not say because there was something special and separate and different in the dominion of God and the Father that the Son himself did not have. After all, He is the eternal King, according to the voice of the Psalmist (Ps. 73:12, 54:20), and the eternal sharer of the Father’s dominion. Likewise, the wise evangelist John teaches that everything belongs and is subordinate to Him, obviously during the co-kingdom of the Father with Him, when he writes: “He came into His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11), calling His property those who did not yet know Him and rejected, as it were, the yoke of His kingdom. He said this now, making it clear to his listeners that there were some in this world who had no idea at all about the one and true God and served the creatures and the devil’s inventions. But although they did not know the Creator of everything, wandering outside the truth, they were still the property of God, since He is the Lord of everything, as the Creator. Everything is the property of God and there is nothing at all among created things that does not have the One as its ruler, even if the creation itself does not know this. After all, no one, of course, will say that the delusion of some can deprive the Creator of all power over everything; on the contrary, it will subordinate to His power everything that was created and brought into being through Him. If therefore this is true, then those who were possessed by devilish delusions and given over to worldly abominations also belonged to the True God. But how was it given to the Son? God and the Father deigned that Emmanuel should reign over them not in such a way that He had just now begun to reign over them - He was always Lord and King as God by nature - but in such a way that, having become a man and giving Himself for the lives of all, He redeemed everyone to Himself and through Himself brought them to God and the Father. Thus, from time immemorial and from the beginning, reigning as God together with His Parent, He is appointed king as a man, to whom, together with others, reign is given, according to the measure of human nature. After all, a king is not the same as a person as a rational animal, possessing intelligence and knowledge, having these as natural properties. This (mind and knowledge) lies in the concept of essence (man), while this (royal dignity) is external, adjunct and does not belong to inseparably innate properties: it comes and goes without changing the object at all, as far as the essence is concerned. Thus, royal dignity is given and comes from outside to a person - from God, “for through Me,” he says, “kings reign and rulers rule over the earth through Me” (Prov. 8:15-16). So, reigning over everything with the Father, since He was and is and will be God by nature, He assumes dominion over those living in the world, in a manner and measure appropriate to man. Therefore, he says, “that everything that You gave Me, You have.” In the proper and precise sense, everything is the property of God, and it is only given to us, His creatures. And if it behooves the Divine nature to possess and rule over everything, then it is only natural for us to receive. And indeed, He testified that those who undoubtedly believe in Him are characterized by sincere slavery and zealous obedience, for He says: “For the words that You gave Me, I gave them, and they received and knew truly that I came from You, and believed that You sent Me.” Clearly calling his sayings the “words” of God and the Father, because of the identity of the essence and since God the Word reveals the desires of the Father, just as, without a doubt, what comes from our lips and through external pronunciation entering the ears of our neighbor reveals the secrets that lie in the depths of the heart. That is why the prophetic word said about Him that “His name is called: “Great is the Angel of Council”” (Is. 9:6). The truly wonderful and supernatural and great advice of the Parent reveals the Word that exists in Him and from Him, through the utterance of words, as a person when he became like us, and after ascending to heaven - through knowledge and spiritual light-guiding. After all, He reveals His secrets to those who are worthy, as Paul will testify in the words: “Do you seek proof of what Christ says in Me?” (2 Cor. 13:3). So, He testified of those who loved Him that they accepted and kept the words given to Him from God the Father. And besides, they are convinced that He came from God and was sent, while those who suffered from the opposite mood did not recognize this. Not having accepted His words and not keeping their faith free, they did not admit and did not believe that He came from God and was sent. Thus, the Jews once said: “If this man were from God, he would not have broken the Sabbath” (John 9:16), another time: “We are Moses’ disciples: we know what God said to Moses, but we do not know where He comes from” (John 9:28–29). You see how they rejected the messenger (Him from God), so that they shamelessly proclaim that they do not know where He comes from. And that they, suffering from great stupidity of reason and for the sake of the mere incarnation, stumbling as if on a certain stone, did not accept His ineffable and eternal birth, I mean from God and the Father, you can easily be convinced of this when you hear the words of the Evangelist: “And for this reason the Jews sought to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His Father” (John 5:18). The cry of the wicked Jews to Him is also recorded: “We will not stone You for a good deed, but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33). You will clearly understand from here how the true guardians of His words recognized and believed that He shone forth from the Father - for this, I believe, means the word “came out” - and was sent to us, “proclaiming the commandment of the Lord,” according to what was said in the psalms (Ps. 2:7). And those who ridiculed this Divine word from the Father at the same time rejected faith and clearly rejected that He is God and from the Father, who came to us for the sake of our salvation, becoming at the same time like us, but without sin. Therefore, he rightly assimilates to God and the Father those who are good and truly devoted to Him in the obedience of their souls, without mentioning those completely opposite to them, so that, starting from our times, what He said would become clear. What is this? “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven: but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33). God and the Father Himself promised to do this, once exclaiming in the voice of Isaiah: “Be ye witnesses unto Me, and I am a witness, saith the Lord God, and the Servant whom I have chosen” (Is. 43:10). So, the Savior conducts a conversation both as God and at the same time as a man, for at the same time He was both God and man, uttering a word impeccable in both respects and providentially adapting to the needs of the time what was appropriate for each (Divinity and humanity). That (nothing) should be outside the Kingdom of Christ, even if something is acquired by the Father, for They have common power over everything John 17:9–11. I pray for them: I do not pray for peace, but for [those] whom You have given Me, for they are Thine [with You] 1040. And all of Mine is Thine [essence], and Thine is Mine, and I am glorified in them 1041. And I am no longer in the world, and these are in the world, and I am coming to You 1042 He intercedes again as a man, the Reconciler and Mediator of God and men (1 Tim. 2:5), and as our truly great and all-holy High Priest, with His prayers he propitiates His Parent, performing His own sacrament for us. After all, He Himself is the Sacrifice and Himself the Priest, Himself the Mediator, Himself the all-blameless offering, the true Lamb, “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Thus, that ancient mediation of Moses was, as it were, a certain image and a clear shadow of that mediation that was revealed in recent times by Christ, and the sub-legal bishop in his image outlined the priest above the law, for the shadow of truth is the law. After all, the divine Moses and with him the glorious Aaron always acted as mediators between God and the assembly of the people, either rejecting the wrath (of God) for the sins of the Israelites and calling on the highest favor on those who were exhausted, then praying for them, and blessing them, and according to the established order, making legal sacrifices and, in addition, offerings either for sins, or thanksgiving for the benefits that they received from God. But above the types and subordinate images, the High Priest and together the Mediator Christ, who appeared in recent times, “pleads” for us as a man and generously benefits us as God, together with God and the Father, distributing benefits to the worthy. Paul showed this to us very clearly in the words: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 1:2). So, who begs as a man, He also distributes as God. Being a holy high priest, blameless and sinless, He did not offer Himself for His weaknesses, as was usually the case for those who received the legal priesthood (Heb. 7:27), but, on the contrary, He offered Himself for the salvation of our souls, and, moreover, one day, for the sake of our sins, He became an intercessor for us, “and He is the propitiation for our sins,” according to the word of John, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world ( 1 John 2:2). But perhaps someone will make the following objection to our reasoning: will not what the disciple said contradict the words of the Savior? After all, our Lord Jesus Christ in these words seems to have clearly renounced intercession for the whole world, and the wise John expressed exactly the opposite of this, for he affirms that the Savior must be an intercessor and propitiator not only for our sins, but for the whole world. But what should be the solution to this objection, or how the disciple will prove to be in agreement with the saying of the Lord, is not difficult to say. Blessed John, since he was a Jew and from the Jews, so that no one would think that the Lord is an intercessor with the Father for the Israelites alone, and not for other nations scattered throughout the whole earth, although they were to be glorified by faith in Him and would soon be called to the knowledge of salvation through Christ, considers it necessary to say that the Lord is the propitiation not for the descendants of Israel alone, but for the whole world, that is, for those who were to be called from every nation and nation through faith to justification and sanctification. And our Lord Jesus Christ, having separated the true believers from those who had the opposite mood and decided to annoy Him with such stubborn disobedience - from the most worthy listeners of His divine words, who had already bowed the neck of their hearts and, as it were, put on the yoke of slavery to God - for them, He said, alone it is appropriate to pray, for whom He is the mediator and high priest, He considered them alone to be the ones to deliver the benefits of intercession. He says about them that although they are given to Him, they also belong to the Father, since there is no other way to the property of God except through the Son. He Himself will teach you this in the words: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Pay attention to how the Father, having given to His Son those of whom we are speaking, acquired them for Himself. Realizing this, the greatest expert on the Holy Scriptures beautifully says: “For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). The world is reconciled with God by the fact that Christ is the Mediator, receiving those who come through faith and bringing them through Himself to the Father. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah had already previously inspired us to choose peace with God in Christ in the words: “Let us make peace with Him, let us make peace for those who come” (Is. 27:5-6). Having alienated from our soul that which alienates us from the love of Christ, I mean badness, a tendency to sin, an inclination to worldly sensuality and, in addition, to the mother and nurse of all evil - unnatural error, we will become friends and friends of Christ and will establish peace with God and unite with the Father Himself through the Son, as those who have received into ourselves the Word born of Him and in Those who cry in the Spirit: “Abba Father!” (Rom.8:15). So, those given to Christ became the property of the Father, however, without therefore becoming outside of Christ, for God and the Father reigns with Him and rules through Him over His own. After all, one and the same kingdom and power is one over all the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, and what constitutes the property of the Son must belong to both the glory of the Son (God?) and the Father, and vice versa, what is called subordinate to the Father - this, of course, must also be possessed by the Son. That’s why he says: “Everything is mine – Yours is and Yours is Mine.” Where the complete identity of nature shines and appears, there the glory of dignity is the same, that is, not separately any of the existing things is assimilated to One and taken away from the Other, but a completely equal and one and the same glory extends to everything in general. He who by his essence is the heir of the Divine virtues of His Father, He Himself is the one who has everything that the Father has, and He will show His Parent to those who have everything that belongs to Him (the Son). Each of Them naturally manifests itself in the Other, and the Son shines in the Father, and the Father in His turn in the Son. In this way the Inspired Scriptures guide us in secret. When, therefore, one of the advantages of the Father is the possession of power over everything, then this must also be the case with the Son, for He is the outline of His essence, not allowing any dissimilarity or change in anything. However, He, as He claims, is glorified in the times given to Him, as if declaring prayer for them to be the fairest reward. What, then, is this prayer and for what reason does it ask the Father for favor for His true followers? “I am not (am) in the world,” he says, “but they are in the world (the essence), but I am coming to You.” While still cohabiting and co-present with the holy Apostles in flesh on earth, He was a clear and visible intercession, as if always ready and able to provide help to those in danger, which is why they were very bold. After all, the human spirit usually relies and hopes more not on what is dark, but on what is quite obvious. We do not say this in order to assert that the Lord is weak in saving anyone, even if He is not visibly present. Anyone who thinks this way would rightly turn out to be a fool. “For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). But He knew that the disciples would fall into considerable cowardice, as if left alone on earth, while the world rages like fierce waves and usually attacks the preachers of the Divine word to the uninitiated with unbearable horrors and excessive dangers. So, since “I”, he says, “I am coming to You” - for I will soon ascend to co-seat and co-reign as God with God and the Father, and they will remain “in the world” for now - then “I pray for them.” Given to Me, they became Yours, and I consider it necessary to take care of both Yours and Mine, and “I am glorified in them, because everything that You have given Me is Yours, and Yours is Mine.” And this speech is true, because just because some of those in the world were given to Christ and therefore became the property of the Father, they will not refuse to glorify Him through Whom they entered into communion with God and the Father, but those brought through Him will remain no less His property. After all, He has everything in common with the Father, both Divinity by nature and omnipotence, for we have one God, worshiped in the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity. We are all the property of God, the one and only and true one, subordinate as slaves to the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity. That the dignity of the Divine is natural in the Son, although it is said that he received it from the Father for the sake of humanity and the image of humiliation John 17:11. Holy Father! keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We are 1043 Notice everywhere the connection between two sides - that is, the human, which has our inherent insignificance, and the divine, which has a glory that exceeds everything. Speech is a mixture of both and, as we have said in detail in previous discussions, neither the divine is carried to the highest heights, nor does it appear completely beyond the limits inherent to us. And this is because He is God, who became a man by some unspeakable and ineffable combination, occupying, as it were, a middle place, so that he neither departs from the definition of the true Divinity nor completely leaves the boundaries of humanity. The ineffable birth from God and the Father, since He is the Word and the Only Begotten, elevates Him to the Divine essence and to the glory that rightly follows Him. And humiliation brings Him down into likeness to us, without forcibly forcing Him to do this, Who, together with the Father, is king over everything - the Only Begotten could never be forced to do anything contrary to His will - on the contrary, as something voluntary, accepted and preserved out of love for us. After all, He humbled Himself (Phil. 2:7), that is, voluntarily and without any coercion. Otherwise, that is, if someone were able to completely rule over Him and ordered Him to do this against His desire, then He would no longer voluntarily be subjected to a state of humiliation. So, He emptied Himself voluntarily for our sake. After all, otherwise we would never have received the title of sons by grace and gods, if the Only Begotten had not subjected Himself to humiliation for us and for our sake, in accordance with Whom, being transformed through the communion of the Spirit, we ourselves are called children of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1) and gods (John 10:34-35 from Ps. 81:6). Therefore, when he says something, connecting in some way with the divine and the human, then do not be tempted by this and leave unreasonable amazement to the invented incomparable art of speech, which always subtly maintains for us this dual image, so that the speaker at the same time is both God by nature and true man, beautifully combining the insignificance of humanity with the glory of ineffable Nature and impeccable and free from any reproach, maintaining in the most perfect way the conformity (of speech) in relation to both. In saying this, we are not saying that the nature of the Word has descended into a worse state than it was at the beginning. Not at all, for such an opinion would not be devoid of extreme stupidity, since the deity is completely dispassionate, does not allow any change, on the contrary, it retains its state unchanged, but the fact that the image of voluntary humiliation, as if by necessity an acquired form of humility, according to humanity, forces, as if in a lower state than in which the Father is, to appear equal to Him and conformable to Him and from Him, the Only Begotten God appeared 1044. And do not be surprised if you hear that the Son in humanity seems lower than the greatness of the Father, since Paul assures us that in the same (humanity) He is lower than the Angels, when he writes: “Jesus was made little less than the angels, because he suffered death with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9), although the holy Angels are commanded to worship Him, “for when,” it is said, “ introduces the Firstborn into the universe, says: and let all the angels of God worship Him” (Heb. 1:6; Ps. 97:7), and also the holy seraphim stood around and occupied an official position when He appeared to the prophets “seated on a high and exalted throne” (Is. 6:1). So, since we are talking about His genuine and actual birth from God the Father, humanity is not the property of the Son. But, on the other hand, it is also His property, since He appeared as a man, always remaining what he was and is and will incessantly, having lowered Himself, for our sake, into what he was not. “Father,” he says, “Holy! Keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We are.” With the power and omnipotence of an ineffable nature, he wants to protect the disciples, with all justice assimilating to the true and real God the power to preserve those whom He wills. And by this again he glorifies not some other nature, but his own, precisely as if in the person of the Father, from whom he was born as God. That’s why he says: “Father, keep them in Your name that You have given Me,” that is, the Divine (name). But, he says, the name of Divinity is given to Him again differently, because He, not being God by nature, is called to the dignity of Divinity acquired (from outside) by Him. In this case, He would have been adopted like us, and would have had a counterfeit and acquired glory and an untrue nature (Divine), which is not appropriate for us to think. Therefore, He would cease to be the Son (of God) by nature. But since, according to the testimony of the Divine Scriptures, the Word became flesh (John 1:14), that is, man, he accepted, it is said, what he had as God, for the name and actual possession of Divine glory cannot naturally belong to man. Understand again and understand exactly how He revealed Himself as the living and hypostatic power of God the Father, through which He accomplishes everything. After all, exclaiming and saying: “Keep them,” he was not content with just these words, but again skillfully introduced himself as the force and instrument of Him who gave birth to him acting in this protection, for he says: “Keep them in your name, which you gave me.” Notice the precision of the expression. Observation of us and providence, devoting and appropriating only the Divine nature, immediately affirms that because of His human form, what is given to Him is that which is inherent in His nature, that is, “the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). Therefore, we say that this belongs to the Son by nature, as (born) from the Father, and by humanity - as a gift, since he receives it as a person, since it relates to His humanity, which is similar to us. After all, man is not God by nature, but Christ is God by nature, although he is conceived by man because he is from us. However, he wants, in complete unanimity and agreement of desires, to preserve the disciples, as if united with each other in soul and heart, and by the law of peace and mutual friendship he binds them into some indissoluble union of love, so that they achieve such a unity that their voluntary union becomes a reflection of the natural unity understood in the Father and the Son, that is, indissoluble and undiminished, not distracted by any worldly objects or passions for the dissimilarity of desires, but preserving in the unity of piety and holiness the undiminished power of love, as actually happened. Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles we read: “(The) multitude of believers had one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32), obviously in the unity of the Spirit. The same thing was expressed by Paul himself: “There is one body and one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4) - “we are one body, many, in Christ, for we all partake of one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17; cf. Rom. 12:5) and we are all anointed in the one Spirit of Christ. As future companions (Eph. 3:6), partakers of the same Spirit, and wants to protect His disciples in unity of spirit, by no means dissoluble, and unharmed unity of mind. If anyone thinks that the disciples are united in another way, just as the Father and the Son are “one” not only in essence, but also in will, for there is one desire in the Holy Nature and one and the same will in everything, he can understand and will not deviate from the proper understanding, since in true Christians one can see the unity of desires, although the oneness in us is not the same as in the Father and the Son who is from Him and in Him. John 17:12–13. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me, and kept them, and none of them perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Now I will come to You 1045 The Savior’s speech gradually moves to a clearer presentation, and what was unclear at first is now clarified and revealed, as if changing from a cloudy sky to clear weather. The blessed disciples believed that the removal of the Savior would bring them great harm, which obviously means the body, for nothing can prevent Him as God from being present with those with whom He wishes. But they assumed that no one would protect them when Christ ascended to heaven, and they would be subjected to all sorts of calamities, since there would be no one at all to take them away from the hands of the oppressors; on the contrary, they would fall under the power of those who would freely do with them whatever they wanted and subject them to all kinds of persecution. But although they became wise and the Fathers and luminaries of the universe, nevertheless, without any hesitation, we consider it necessary to say that they should have had in mind not only the fleshly presence of our Savior Christ, but to know that even if he moved away from being present with them in the flesh and although he was not visible with bodily eyes, nevertheless, without any doubt, it was fitting to represent Him as present and always with them by His Divine authority. In fact, can God lose His properties or what will prevent Nature, which rules over all, and be able to stop Her, as if by necessity, in the effective manifestation of Her properties? After all, the effectiveness and power of the Divine serves to be everywhere, to fill the sky ineffably, to fill the earth as well, to contain everything and not to be contained by anything, for God is not contained by space and is not limited by space or any limits. The qualityless, boundless and incorporeal nature does not allow anything like this. So, since Christ was together and at the same time God and man, then the disciples, of course, should have known that, even if he was absent physically, he should not be completely absent, but, of course, coexists with them, according to the ineffable property of His Divine nature. That is why the Savior Himself earlier said: “Holy Father! keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me.” And now again: “When I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You gave Me,” as if pointing here to His disciples that the power to protect someone belongs more to the effectiveness of the Divine, and not to the carnal presence. After all, the flesh itself was not sanctified by itself, but, by the co-presence of the Word united with it, transformed in some way into His natural power, it becomes the cause of salvation and holiness for those who partake of it. Therefore, we cannot at all assimilate all Divine activity to the flesh in itself, but, with the right way of thinking, we must attribute it to the Divine power of the Word. And in fact, doesn’t guarding the disciples in the name of the Father mean this and nothing else? Are they preserved for the glory of God? So, rejecting fear from the hearts of the disciples due to their opinion that He is leaving them, and often repeating the same thing, He says that their complete safety will not depend on their physical cohabitation with the Teacher, but, on the contrary, on the fact that He was God by nature. Having unceasing power and strength over everything - for He is unchangeable and does not at all allow transformation into something that does not always remain the same - He, without any obstacle, will also be able (even after His departure) to protect them and deliver them from any evil that befalls them. Pay attention again to the concern for our benefit and well-being hidden in this saying. As if having begged God and the Father for the protection of the saints, He says that He Himself has already done this, showing Himself equal in power and equivalent to His Parent, even more so by the very hypostatic power of the One who gave birth. Indeed, who has the inherent ability to do the same thing that the real and true, by universal recognition, God can do? Shouldn’t, without any doubt, both equality in power and identity in nature be recognized as inherent in Him? And He Who remained as God “in the name” of God, having, as a result of the Divine works He accomplished, clothed itself with the glory befitting the name, how can it turn out to be of another nature or of a different nature, and not really be what God is by nature? Nothing that exists can perform the works proper to God unless it is essentially what we consider to be God. Here too, His saying contains a double meaning, due to the incarnation. The matter of protecting and observing those to whom it is due for the sake of piety, He, as it were, takes away from created nature and transfers it to the “name” of the Father, assimilating the Divine only to the Divine nature. Therefore, again, although he says that he kept the disciples, he did not assimilate the accomplishment of this work to human limitations; on the contrary, he asserts that it was fulfilled “in the name” of God, placing Himself, as it were, outside this work, since He was and is thought of as flesh, and at the same time assimilating to Himself the power to protect and perform Divine works, since He is God from God, the omnipotent power of the Father, a strength not made, but from what it is, revealing the nature from where it comes uttered ineffably. And if here again he says that He was given the name of Divinity, although He is God by nature, since the Only Begotten came from God, then he does not in the least harm the truth of the matter and does not deprive Himself of the honor and glory due to Him, not at all. After all, it is human nature to receive, and this is what it should primarily learn, since it has nothing in itself. So he preserved, he says, His disciples and showed such care for them that no one died, except one, whom he called “the son of perdition” as doomed to destruction by his own will, or rather, by his own worthlessness and wickedness. And we should not at all think that by Divine and unchangeable judgment the traitor among the disciples was caught in the net of a fowler and found himself in the snare of the devil. In such a case, he would be innocent, as if forced by a supreme decree. Who can resist the judgment of God? But he is condemned as having committed an abomination, so it would have been better for him not to have been born at all (Matthew 26:24). For what reason? Because he, the unfortunate one, is exposed as having done this precisely of his own free will, and not under coercion from anyone. And as one who has loved such a terrible destruction, he should rightly be called a child of destruction, since he is doomed to death and destruction, awaiting the day of destruction as if it were the pangs of birth and crying. And since I added to these words: “let the Scripture be fulfilled,” we consider it useful to tell readers the following. It was not because the Scripture said that the traitor died and reached such depravity that he betrayed the honest blood of Christ for a few pieces of silver, but since he was undoubtedly destined for death, as one who betrayed the Lord due to his inherent evil, then the Scripture, which is not in the nature of making mistakes, foretold that this would certainly happen. After all, it is the word of God, who knows everything and carries in His mind everyone’s way of life and behavior from beginning to end. So the Psalmist, assimilating to Him the knowledge of everything, both past and expected in the future, says to Him in one place: “You know all my thoughts from afar, you know my path and my destiny, and you foresee all my ways” (Ps. 139: 2-3). So, foretelling everything in advance and contemplating the future as the present, in addition to everything else that was said about Christ, the Divine word also foretold to us that the traitor placed among the disciples would perish. Foreknowledge and prediction of the future, of course, was not the desire and command of God, nor did the prediction serve as a compulsion to commit the foreshadowed sin and atrocity against the Savior - on the contrary, it rather turned away from it, since it was, without a doubt, possible for someone who knew this, if he wished, to refuse and protect himself from it, as having a free attraction to everything he wants. But perhaps you will say: how did Christ protect (His disciples) when, by the attraction of their own desires and voluntary impulses, others found themselves escaping the devil’s snares, and only the unfortunate Judas of all was caught? What, then, was the benefit of the security mentioned here? To this, most noble one, we will also answer that, of course, wakefulness is wonderful, the strength of our mind and the strength of will for virtue and doing good are very useful, for in this way we will achieve “our salvation” (Phil. 2:12). However, this alone will not be enough for the human soul. After all, she necessarily needs higher assistance and grace, which eases obstacles for her and makes the difficult and rocky path of righteousness completely traversable. And that we have absolutely nothing that does not come from Divine grace, listen to the words of the Psalmist about this: “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders have labored in vain; If the Lord does not watch over the city, the watchman will watch in vain” (Ps. 127:1). So, it is necessary for us, I affirm, on the one hand, to try to demonstrate our own strength of character and God-loving mood and to show ourselves courageous in the work of accomplishing our salvation, and on the other hand, to also ask from God for the highest assistance, as some kind of irresistible and indestructible all-armor, as soon as we decided to courageously strive. And since God once granted us and deigned to do this, we can already overcome the power of our enemies and defeat the power of the devil, if we do not want to obey the one calling us to sensual pleasure or another kind of sin. After all, as soon as we surrender our will to him and, through our attraction to evil, find ourselves surrendering ourselves into his snare, will it really be fair to blame anyone else, and not, on the contrary, attribute the blame to our own follies? And isn’t this the same thing that Solomon said long ago: “The folly of a man harms his ways, and accuses God in his heart” (Prov. 19:3). But this is undeniable. Therefore, if it was impossible for the traitor, along with the other disciples, to receive help from the Savior, then let someone prove this, and we will agree. If he, having a fence (near him) of Divine grace along with others, of his own free will fell into the ditch of destruction, then did not Christ protect him, showing him His mercy and, as far as giving help to a person was concerned, would have saved him 1046 if he himself, of his own free will, had not wished to be exposed (to evil)? Thus grace shone in others, always saving those who made their own will as if it were a collaborator (assistant of grace), for this is how the image of everyone’s salvation will be arranged. John 17:13. And this I say in the world, that they may have My joy filled in them 1047 Remember again what we just said, and you will fully understand the meaning of the above text. Everywhere He presents to us a dual idea of ​​His face, showing the Divine dignity shining in Him and, for providential purposes, not rejecting the limitations befitting His humanity. And indeed, it was absurd for Him to want to deny what He voluntarily accepted for our sake. Having no need for anything and perfect in everything from the perfect Father, He humbled Himself, not seeking any of His own benefit, but delivering benefit to us from this humiliation. So, at the same time presenting Himself as both God and man, He, as it were, convinces the disciples to understand that both in His absence and in His presence He can equally do what contributes to their salvation according to God, and just as He protected them while still on earth with them in humanity, so He will protect them in His absence, according to Divinity, thanks to His Divine essence. After all, although the Divinity is not located in any place, it is not absolutely absent from anything that exists: It fills everything and passes through everything and is outside everything and is in everything. And turning to His Father with the words: “Holy Father, keep them,” He immediately presented Himself as the real and active power of the Father in everything. It is at the same time that He shows that He is not outside His nature, but exists in it and from it and has an inseparable unity with it, although He is thought of as existing by Himself, for He says: “Keep them in Your name, which You gave Me, and again: When I was with them, I guarded them in Your name, which You gave Me” (John 17:11-12). Hence it is necessary to think that just as He Himself has already kept in the name given to Him by the Father, that is, in the glory of the Divinity, for “he has given Him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9), so again He desires that the Father Himself also has kept in the name given to Him, since He should not be excluded from participation in this matter. This is because the Father will protect those who truly believe in Him through the Only Begotten as through His power, so that He does not act in anything that exists except through Him. Therefore, if (being) in the flesh He protected (the disciples) with the power and glory of the Divine, then how can He cease to honor the disciples with the mercy they need, and how can there be a cessation of their protection on His part, although the Divine power of the Only Begotten always abides and the power inherent in Him by nature remains in constant firmness? For the Divinity, which always possesses its inherent advantages, is by no means subject to change or transformation into any worse state. So, I said, he says, “in the world, so that” Our disciples “may have My joy filled in them.” How is this possible, we will say further, not wanting to leave any ambiguity in this saying. The blessed disciples thought that when Christ stayed and cohabited with them, of course in the flesh, they would easily be freed from all misfortune, freely avoid dangers from the Jews and remain inaccessible to those who wished to harm them, and when he separated from them and went to heaven, they would easily fall into all danger and even be exposed to the most extreme disaster, since there would no longer be anyone who would be able to protect them and ward off the invasion temptations. For this very reason, our Lord Jesus Christ, neither denying once accepted humanity, nor showing Himself as having no Divine power, manifested both in His speech, saying that as a man He was given the name of Divinity, but mercy and protection in Him and through Him are accomplished from the Father over those who honor Him. What wisdom lies in these words? So that the blessed disciples would learn and fully understand, applying a sharp mind to this saying, that, even being present with the flesh, He accomplished the work of saving them not through it, but by the glory and omnipotent power of His Divinity. Therefore, he says, no harm will come to the disciples from the fact that He will not be present with the flesh, since the Divine power of the Only Begotten can easily protect them, even if the flesh itself was not present. We say this not because we do not attach any importance to the holy body of Christ, but because the effectiveness in this matter should be attributed precisely to the glory of the Divine, for the body of the Lord itself was sanctified by the power of the Word united with it, which is why it is effective for us in the mysterious blessing (Eucharist), so that it can implant its holiness in us. The Savior Himself spoke about this, once having a conversation with the Jews and talking a lot about His flesh, calling it truly life-giving and true bread, saying: “For the bread that I will give you is My flesh, that I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). When they were greatly amazed and much perplexed as to how the nature of created flesh could be the cause of eternal life for them, He answered: “The flesh means nothing, but the Spirit gives life: the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). And here he also says that the flesh can obviously mean nothing for the sanctification and life-giving of those who receive it, as far as the nature of human flesh is concerned. But since she is thought of and recognized as the church of the Word, therefore, without a doubt, she must be the culprit of both holiness and life, but precisely not thanks, of course, to herself, but thanks to God united with her, Who is holy and life. Therefore, referring everything to the effectiveness of the Divinity, he says that for His disciples His departure with the flesh, in relation to their protection, will not have any harm. After all, even if he hides in heaven, the Savior will not be absent from those who love Him, but will continue to be with them by the power of His Divinity. So, “so that” they may “have My joy filled within themselves,” I have spoken “in the world,” he says. What kind of “full” and perfect “joy” is this? To know and believe that Christ was not only a man similar to us, but that along with this similarity to us, except for one sin, He is also the true God. It is obvious, therefore, and there is no doubt that He must always have the power to protect those who honor Him, at whatever time He wishes, even if His presence with the body is not visible. This is precisely the opportunity for us to have complete joy, as if we always have a Co-Representative close to us, who can deliver from all evil. John 17:14–15. I gave them Your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world 1048. I do not pray that you keep them away from the world, but that you keep them from evil 1049 He reveals the most necessary gift for us from the highest favor and from the Father, which, he says, as a kind of just and fitting reward should be from Him to those exposed to dangers for His sake. After all, the world hates for the sake of God the servants of God and the executors of the laws determined by Him, who do not consider worldly charms to be anything, who, in justice, should receive assistance from Him and grace and stay in prosperity. Relying in some way on Him and hoping for Him, fighting for His sake and not being afraid to expose themselves to excessive dangers, how could they ultimately be left without a reward corresponding to their efforts? Therefore, the Savior says that “I gave them Your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” They accepted, he says, and very willingly, Your, Father, word that came to them through Me, that is, the gospel preaching, which easily turns those who accept it away from worldly life and earthly thoughts. That is why they were subjected to hatred from the world, that is, from those who wanted to think about worldly things and who love this sensual and nasty life. After all, the words of saints are unpleasant for worldly people, since they always distract from the evils of this life and reveal the impurity of worldly life, accuse the sinfulness of the world and with bitter denunciations strike those who enjoy falling and spinning in earthly evil, and also fight against all violence, remove ambition and teach them to renounce and possibly further shun covetousness as the mother of all evils, but also commanding them to be outside primordial delusions and those captured in the devil's snare, urging everyone to go to God. It is for this reason, the Father says, that they are subjected to hatred. Not guilty of anything shameful and wicked, they became, as it were, most unbearable for the people of the world, but since “I gave them” a “word” from You, therefore they too have already become outside the world, like I am. After all, behavior and life in Christ are completely removed from earthly thoughts and worldly conditions, which, following in the footsteps, to the best of our ability, we ourselves will avoid being among the worldly people. Therefore, the divine Paul commanded us to follow in His footsteps (cf. 1 Pet. 2:21). And we will follow Him properly especially when we love thoughts about only the super-worldly and, placing our mind above carnal thoughts, look at only the heavenly. He again ranks himself among the disciples of humanity, Whom, in imitation, when He is thought of as a man, we ascend to every kind of virtue, as we recently said, avoiding all sin in the world and finding ourselves alien to its evils. This is, without a doubt, what the divine Paul writes to us about himself and about Christ, “through whom peace has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14), - however, in another place he commands: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). And Paul imitated our Lord Jesus Christ, of course, not in the sense that the Lord is the Creator of everything: after all, besides those already created, He did not create for us other heavens, did not bring into being the seas or the earth. How did you imitate? Obviously, in his morals and behavior he reflected the wonderful image of the life He revealed to us, as far as this could be accessible to him, for who can compare with Christ? So, having united Himself with us in humanity and, or rather, having become for us the beginning of the great good, I mean, leaving the world through a transcendental life - above the world is the gospel life and preaching, I, He says, “are not of the world,” which also applies to you, since His Divine word has settled in your souls. But just as the world “hates” Me, he says, so does “them.” But the world hates Christ because it resists His words and does not accept His teaching, having completely given over its thoughts to the desires of evil. And in the likeness of our Savior Christ, he obviously hated the disciples themselves, who preached His word for His sake, which Paul also did, saying: “For Christ we represent (we are ambassadors), since God exhorts through us: we pray for Christ (in the name of Christ): be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). What does He ask for, after revealing that the disciples will be hated by those attached to worldly evil? “I do not ask,” he says, “that You take them away from the world, but that You keep them from evil.” Christ desires the saints not to be freed from human affairs and not to be separated from bodily life, who have not yet completed the field of their mission (apostleship) and have not shone with the virtues of piety, but after cohabiting with worldly people and guiding them to a way of life pleasing to God, with then glorious exploits, to be carried away to the highest city and dwell in the countries of the holy Angels. Therefore, as we find, one of the saints approaches the good-loving God and sings: “Do not lead me away in half my days” (Ps. 101:25), for it is not harmless for God-loving souls to separate from life with the flesh before completing their excellent lifestyle. Therefore, the Law of Moses teaches that, as if as a form of wrath and punishment, death is sent to sinners at the wrong time, and often proclaims that one must avoid evil, “lest you die out of season” (Ex. 28:35; Lev. 8:35, 10:7, 22:9; Num. 18, etc.; cf. Eccl. 7:17). Otherwise, the desire of the saints to withdraw from our affairs (earthly life) would have to cause considerable harm to those who are weak in the faith, even more - they would be completely left without leaders in piety, not having those able to do this. Knowing this, Paul also said: “It is better to be separated from the flesh and be with Christ, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake” (Phil. 1:23-24). So, providing for the salvation of the unconverted (to faith), the Lord says that worldly people should not be left without educators and leaders; on the contrary, he prays that the saints will be preserved, always remaining outside of evil life and rejecting the onslaught of temptations by the power of the almighty Father. It should be noted again that He calls His own and the word that came from Him, we mean the Gospel, the word of God and the Father, showing Himself not to others with the Father, because of consubstantiality. Thus, in the gospel books we will find that the people of Judah were amazed before Him, since He taught them “as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29). After all, they conducted conversations with the people, completely preferring what the law required. Our Lord Jesus Christ, not at all following the images in the shadow and letter (contained), but uttering His word with Divine authority, says: “It was said to the ancients: do not kill. But I tell you” (Matthew 5:21–22): do not covet. And although the law decreed regarding Divine sayings that nothing should be added to them or taken away from them (Deut. 4:2), Christ both took away and added, turning images into truth. Therefore, He should not be considered among those under the law, that is, creations, for whoever is fit by nature to be among the slaves must, of course, be subject to the law. Thus, Christ called His word the word of the Father, for He is in the Father and from the Father the Word, proclaiming the will of the Divinity, I say, true and one, which is conceived in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. John 17:16–17. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world 1050. Holy Father 1051, keep 1052 them in [Thy] truth 1053. Your word is truth And in these words he again showed and brought into view for whom He has the need to intercede before God and the Father and for whom exactly it was fitting to do this, when He is already thought of as our Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), High Priest (Heb. 3:1) and Intercessor (1 John 2:1), according to the Holy Scriptures, so that if someone happens to commit some kind of fall, or sin against the proper understanding or deed, or sometimes be subject to unexpected temptations, or overwhelmed by the devil’s wiles, He approached us (to God) with the appropriate way of mediation and, together with His Parent, gave blessings to worthy people. After all, this also befits Him as the true God by nature. So, he says, those who have received Your word through Me, Father, have My image reflected in them, have become conformed to Your true Son, following His example, driving away the disturbance of worldly evil and finding themselves distant and alien in this life from sensual passions and all shame. Therefore, “keep them in Thy truth.” After all, purity is natural in Christ and above the word, for He is the true God, who does not know and does not allow falling into sin, on the contrary, he is the source of all virtue and the radiance of holiness. The divine and all-ruling nature, of course, cannot do anything other than what is truly appropriate and is thought to be inherent in it. In the holy disciples or in all those who believe in Him, purity, that is, non-participation in worldly evil, appears only through the highest mercy and grace, eliminating the defilement of falls already committed and removing the crimes of life, on the contrary, imparting the purity of a holy life, but not without difficulty remaining in constancy. Therefore, the words of Paul seem wise to me: “So whoever thinks to stand, be careful not to fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). After all, our affairs are always in turmoil (are) and our life is subject to various fluctuations, since the evil one constantly tempts, always lies in wait and wants to stain with hard-to-follow machinations of villainy, even if it were possible, even those who have already been cleansed, for “his dishes are chosen,” according to the word of the prophet (Hab. 1:16). So, having testified to His disciples the extra-mundane life and conformity to His essential (essentially) purity through imitation, He also asks the Father that they be preserved, saying, as it were: “O All-Holy Father! If they were in the world, that is, if they were living a life honored in this world - if, having given up their hearts to earthly and temporary pleasures, they seemed to depict in themselves the ugliest form (ἰδέαν) of the evil one - then he (the evil one) would not attack them with his temptations and would not at all arm himself against his own children, finding in them a reflection of his inherent evil. But since they, following My example, despising the charm of this world, have become outside the world and in their morals reflect the clearest image of My incomparable purity and for this reason they have as their spy and enemy Satan, who is always gnashing at the saints, then I finally consider it necessary that they be protected. But protection, of course, is impossible without Your “truth,” that is, without Me, for I am by nature Your truth, Father, the essential and living and hypostatic Word.” This is precisely what one can assume He expresses in this saying. Look how in all, so to speak, His words, He always adds His own face to the activity of the Father, no matter what it relates to, as if proving the truth of the fact that “all things became through Him and without Him nothing became” (John 1:3) 1054. So, in the slightly above words, He asked His Parent to preserve the disciples “in the name” given to Him (John 17:11). And in these words He wants the petition for them to be fulfilled “in truth.” What does this difference in words mean or desire? Is it not to show the single activity of the Father performed through Him in protecting the saints? There, in the words that the disciples must be protected “in the name of the Father,” he expresses that those who are exposed to disasters for the sake of God belong to the withdrawal by the power and glory of the Divine from the power of one who wants to do evil (the devil), which was something that happened to them, which Christ, although he is silent about now, but which he once revealed to His disciples in the words: “Simon, Simon! So Satan asked you to be scattered like wheat: I prayed for you, so that your faith would not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). After all, much is arranged in secret regarding us, since Christ provides for and protects the life of everyone. Here, the words “keep them in the truth” clearly indicates a guide to the perception of the truth through the enlightenment of the truth. This is because no one can come to the knowledge of the truth without enlightenment through the Spirit, nor acquire an accurate assimilation of Divine dogmas, of course, to the extent accessible to people. After all, the mysteries contained in the Inspired Scripture exceed our understanding, and therefore even a moderate knowledge of Christ is not an inglorious gift. Thus, blessed Peter, having confessed the Lord as the true Son of the Living God, rightly heard: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah (son of Jonah), because flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). He reveals to the saints His Son, Who is the truth, a Son who does not allow Satan to direct the minds of believers to false knowledge, which, having once indulged in, Hymenaeus and Alexander “suffered ruin in their faith” (1 Tim. 1:19-20), since they rejected the right word of truth. Therefore, of great importance for the proper stay in the rightness of thoughts and deeds is the protection of the Father in the name of God and the truth, so that we neither fall away from the purity of deeds, nor, by deviating towards ignorance, move away from the dogmas of the true religion. This can easily happen to us ourselves, as soon as we have become outside the world, not denying our birth in the world - after all, we were all formed from dirt and from the earth, according to what is written (Gen. 3:19; Job 33:6) - but by the quality of our deeds we are moving away from life in the world, for those who love conformity with Christ, walking on earth, live in heaven. We must again pay attention to the fact that he very prudently calls the Father “holy” here, almost reminding Him that, being a saint, he takes care of the saints. Holy is everything that is removed from worldly impurity, that is natural in Christ, in likeness with the Father, but acquired and ascended into holy disciples through sanctification by grace and purity and holiness of life. Thus, everyone can conform to the Divine and supra-mundane Image. That Christ is holy not by communion with another and that sanctification through the Spirit is not alien to His essence John 17:18–19. As You sent Me into the world, and I sent them into the world: and for them I will sanctify Myself, that they too may be sanctified in the truth 1055 Having now expressively called the Father “holy” (John 17:11) and having made a prayer to protect the disciples in the truth, that is, His Spirit - after all, the Spirit is truth, according to the word of John (1 John 5:6), just as the Spirit of truth is (John 16:13), obviously the Only Begotten Himself - says that He “sent them” into the world in imitation with His own embassy, for as a messenger and Jesus became the high priest of our confession, according to the word of Paul (Heb. 3:1), of course, in a manner befitting humanity and the image of humiliation. But as soon as the disciples were appointed for this, he says, they had, without a doubt, the need for sanctification from the Holy Father, obviously instilling the Holy Spirit in them through the Son. And in fact, the Savior’s disciples would never have achieved such glory as to become the luminaries of the entire universe, and would not have withstood unbearable troubles from the tempting or the devil, if their minds had not been protected by the communion of the Spirit, and they had not been strengthened through Him to fulfill some unusual and superhuman commandment (about love) and through the enlightenment of the Spirit were not easily guided to a clear understanding of the Inspired Scripture and sacred dogmas of the Church. So the Savior, appearing to them after the Resurrection, as it is written (Acts 1:4), and giving them the order throughout the entire universe to proclaim the grace of faith, “commanded not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for (the fulfillment of) the promise of the Father,” which they heard from Him and from the mouths of the holy prophets. So, in those days, says the Lord, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28). And the Savior Himself clearly announced that the outpouring of the Spirit would come upon them, in the words: “I have many more things to tell you, but you cannot perceive them now, but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes and guides you into all the truth” (John 16:12–13); and again: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate” (John 14:16). After all, although the Spirit is the own Spirit of God and the Father, nevertheless there is also the own Spirit of the Son Himself, not as another and different, or separately in each (Father and Son) conceivable and existing, but since the Son is from the Father and in the Father by nature, being the true fruit of His essence, then He appropriates to Himself by nature the Father’s own Spirit, emanating from the Father and given to the creature through the Son Himself, not in any way auxiliary or conceivable in subordination, but as, according to what I just said, emanating from the very essence of God and the Father and poured out on those worthy to receive Him through the Word of one essence and from Him (the Father) appearing - of course, the appearance to being in itself (to originality), - abiding and existing in Him always both together (with Him) and, as it were, separately (from Him). After all, we affirm that the Son exists self-hypostatically and, on the other hand, both abides in His Parent and also has in Himself the One who gave birth to Him. And that the Spirit of the Father is the Spirit of the Son and the Father, sending or promising to distribute Him to the saints, and the Son again gives Him as His own, because of the identity of essence with the Father, and that the Father acts in everything through Him, this was again clearly indicated by Himself in the words: “It is profitable for you that I should go away: for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you” (John 16:7), and in another saying: “And I will pray.” He will give you a Father and another Advocate” (John 14:16). Here he clearly promises that He Himself will send us an Intercessor. So, if the disciples who follow My words are appointed to be ambassadors in the world according to My example, then “keep” them, “Holy Father, in Thy truth,” that is, in Thy Word, in which and through which the sanctifying Spirit is 1056. What is the meaning in these words of the Savior? The Father called upon us ourselves sanctification in the Spirit and through the Spirit, and what was in us from the first times of being and at the beginning of creation by God again wants to be revived in us. We say this in view of the fact that the Only Begotten Mediator and represents the person of the Intercessor for us before the Heavenly Father. But in order to free this saying from darkness and make the meaning of these words clear to listeners, let us briefly say something about the primordial. The divine Moses said about him that God, taking dust from the earth, formed man. Then, bringing this animal (the description of his creation) to its perfect completion and teaching how he was animated, he says: “he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7), indicating that the soul was not given to man without sanctification through the Spirit and did not remain completely alien or devoid of the Divine nature. That which had such a low origin would never have turned out to be in a higher image (created), if, by the will of God, it had not received and inherited education through the Spirit, like a certain beautiful face (lit.: mask). Since the pure image of the essence of the Only Begotten is His Spirit, according to what Paul wrote: “Whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the Image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29), then those in whom He (the Spirit) is present He makes conform to the Image of the Father, that is, the Son, and thus all things are raised through the Son to the Father, from Whom He is, through the Spirit. That is why he asks to renew and, as it were, again transform human nature into the original image through the communion of the Spirit, so that, as invested with that first grace and again having received conformity with Him, we would already find ourselves above and stronger than the sin that reigns in this world and care about only the love of God - completely surrendering to the attraction to all that is good and possessing a mind that overcomes the love of the flesh, preserving unchanged the beauty of what was invested in us the Image. This is spiritual life, this is the power of service in the spirit. But - if again it is necessary to shorten a long argument in a few words - the original gift of humanity, that is, sanctification through the Spirit, and the communion of the Divine nature, Christ called upon us, in the person of His disciples, as the firstfruits of those who receive (this gift), which is why the saying is true that “the laboring farmer must be the first to share in the fruits” (2 Tim. 2:6). However, so that in this He would be first (Col. 1:18) - after all, the Firstborn (Rom. 8:29), who is still thought of as among many brothers and among us (Heb. 2:11) because of the similarity with us, was fitting to be for us the beginning and the door and the way of all good - it is necessary to add the following later, that is: “for them I will sanctify Myself.” This saying is somewhat difficult to explain and not easy to understand. However, everything that sanctifies the Word and reveals “the depths out of darkness” ( Job 12:22 ) will explain this mystery to us. What is sanctified, he says, according to legal custom is that which is presented to God as a kind of dedication or gift as a sacrifice to God, for example, all the firstborn that opens the womb (of the mother) between the sons of Israel: “Sanctify to Me all the firstborn that opens the womb,” God said to the illustrious Moses (Ex. 13:2), that is, dedicate, separate and designate as sacred (victim). In fact, we will not say and we will not accept assurances from anyone else that God commanded Moses to impart sanctification to anyone through the Spirit. The ability to do something like this goes beyond the boundaries of created nature and should befit and belong exclusively to God alone. So, when (God) wanted to appoint elders along with him (Moses), he did not command Moses himself to communicate sanctification to the chosen (elders), but, on the contrary, he clearly said that he would take from the Spirit that was on him and give it to each of the appointed elders (Num. 11:17). The reason is that the power to sanctify through the communion of the Holy Spirit belongs only to Nature, which rules over all. The meaning of this word, I mean its use in the law, can be clearly presented to us by Solomon himself in the words: “It is a snare for a man to quickly sanctify something of his own, for after a vow one has to repent” (Proverbs 20:25). So, understanding “sanctification” in the ordinary sense of consecration and separation, we affirm that the Son sanctified Himself for us, for He offered Himself as a sacred and holy sacrifice to God and the Father, “reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19) and bringing to love (God) that which had fallen from it, that is, the human race: “He is our peace,” according to what is written (Eph. 2:14). However, our reunion with God should seem complete through Christ the Savior only through communion and sanctification in the Spirit, for we are bound and, as it were, united with God by the Holy Spirit, having received Whom we become partakers and sharers of the Divine nature and through the Son and in the Son we perceive the Father Himself. Therefore, the wise John writes to us about Him: “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, which He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13). And besides, what does Paul say? “Because you are sons,” he says, “God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba the Father” (Gal. 4:6). Thus, if we had to remain unparticipated in the Spirit, then God would not at all be known to be present in us - and if we had not received the Spirit making us sons (of God), then we would not be sons of God at all. What kind of reunion (with God) would there really be, or how else would we appear as partakers of the Divine nature, if neither God were present in us, nor were we devoted to Him through the calling to the communion of the Spirit? But here we are called partakers and associates of the Supreme nature and churches of God, for for our sins the Only Begotten sanctified Himself, that is, consecrated Himself and offered Himself as a sacred sacrifice in the aroma of the fragrance to God and the Father. And this is so that, with the removal of what separated and, as it were, fenced off human nature from God, that is, sin, there would no longer be any obstacle (for man) to be able to be close to God and have communion with Him, through the communion, obviously, of the Holy Spirit, transforming us into righteousness and holiness and into the original image. After all, if sin separates and separates man from God, then righteousness, without a doubt, must unite and, in the absence of any mediation, in some way introduce us to God Himself. And we are made righteous or justified through faith in Christ, “Who was delivered up because of our transgressions,” according to what is written (Rom. 4:25), “and rose again for our justification.” After all, in Him, as in the firstfruits of the race, human nature changed to new life and, ascending, as it were, to its original beginning, was transformed to holiness. That is why he says: “Sanctify them, Father, in Thy truth,” that is, in Me, for Thy Word is truth, that is, I again: after all, I sanctified Myself “for them,” that is, I dedicated and offered, having died alone for all, that I may transform them to new life and that they “be sanctified in truth,” that is, in Me. Having explained and accepted the meaning of the interpreted saying in accordance with our understanding of it, we will not hesitate to move on to other considerations, for I consider the desire to carefully examine thoughts that are not easily comprehended to be a most honorable activity, both for those who want to do this, and for the most inquisitive listeners. So, our Lord Jesus Christ said that He sanctifies Himself for us, so that we too may become “sanctified in the truth.” How He is sanctified, although He is holy by nature, so that we too become sanctified - this again, adhering to the dogmas of the Church and not transgressing the direct rule of faith, let us consider as best as possible. He affirms that, being God by nature and in image and equality with God and the Father, the Only Begotten made Himself of no reputation, according to the Scriptures (Phil. 2:6-7), and became man from a woman (Gal. 4:4), having received everything that is characteristic of man, except sin alone, and inexpressibly uniting Himself with our nature, by voluntary desire. And this is so that, having transformed it (human nature) in Himself first and through Himself again into that beauty, I mean the original, thus turning out to be for us the second Adam, that is, the Heavenly Man (1 Cor. 15:47), and becoming the first of all and the firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20, 23) of those who are rebuilt to a new life, obviously in incorruption and the righteousness and holiness received through the Spirit, to transfer these benefits through Himself to the whole race. Therefore, although He was Life by nature, He found Himself among the dead, so that, having abolished our death in us, He could transform us into His life. And also, being the righteousness of God and the Father (1 Cor. 1:30), He became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), according to the word of the prophet: “He takes away our sins” (Is. 53:4), and is numbered with us among the transgressors (Is. 53:12), in order to justify us through Himself, tearing up “the handwriting that was against us and nailing it to His Cross,” according to what is written ( Col.2:14). In the same way, again, being holy by nature as God, and to all creation - for its indwelling, existence and holiness - by giving the communion of the Holy Spirit, He Himself is sanctified for our sake in the Holy Spirit, and it is not anyone else who sanctifies Him, but, on the contrary, He Himself does this to Himself, for the sanctification of His flesh. After all, He accepts His own Spirit, and accepts it precisely because He was a man, but He nevertheless gives It to Himself, like God. And he did it for us, and not for himself. Precisely so that, as soon as this work began from Him and in Him first, the grace of sanctification would pass in this way to the entire race. Indeed, just as through crime and disobedience in Adam, as the firstfruits of the race, nature was condemned to death, in the person of the first one, hearing: “You are earth and to earth you shall go” (Gen. 3:19), in the same way, I think, through the obedience and righteousness of Christ, since He became under the law, although being a legislator like God, blessing and life-giving could be transferred to all nature through the Spirit. After all, the Spirit transforms into incorruption what was destroyed by sin and restores to new life what has become dilapidated from negligence and has come to destruction. But perhaps you will say: how was it that the Holy One was sanctified by nature, and moreover through the communion (of the Spirit)? How does He who gives His own Spirit to all who are worthy to receive Him, I mean both celestial beings and people, gives it to Himself? Indeed, this is difficult, even completely unthinkable and impossible to explain, when you imagine the Word that appeared from God as detached and as if standing apart from humanity being sanctified (Him). However, as soon as you begin to contemplate with amazement the incomprehensible unity and intercourse with the flesh, and God appears to your mind by nature as having become a man similar to us, you will no longer be amazed, but, having removed all confusion from your thoughts and imagined in your mind the Son at the same time as God and man, you will not deny from Him what is due to His humanity, even if it relates to the person of one by nature Son, I mean Christ. In fact, shouldn’t we consider death completely alien to the Word that gives life to everything? But you will say that you suffered this in the flesh, for the body is subject to death, and therefore it is said that you died, because His own body died. This reasoning is excellent, and what you say is correct. Indeed, for our sake, providentially giving up His body to death, He again introduced His life into it, not obviously freeing Himself from the bonds of death, since He is thought of as God. After all, He came (to earth) and became man not for His own sake, but in order to show human nature through Himself and in Himself the path to avoiding death and returning to the original incorruptibility. Applying this reasoning to this issue, you will come to an understanding of the image of the sanctification of Christ. Can we really assert that the earthly body, in relation to its nature, is holy, even if it does not receive sanctification from the holy God by nature? And is this really possible? What difference would there be in this case between earthly flesh and holy flesh by nature and sanctifying essence? If it is true that every rational creature, and in general everything called into being and placed among creatures, does not have sanctification as the fruit of its nature, but receives this grace from the Holy One by nature, then would it not be the height of absurdity to think that this flesh has no need of God, who by his nature sanctifies everything? So, if the flesh itself is not holy, then therefore it was sanctified in Christ, as soon as the Word indwelled it, through the Holy Spirit sanctifying His church and transforming it into the quality (holiness - ἐνέϱγειαν) of its own nature. That is why the body of Christ is thought of as holy and sanctifying, precisely as, according to what we have just said, it has become the church of the Word united with it bodily, as Paul says (Col. 2:9). For the same reason, the Holy Spirit descends from heaven on Him in the form of a dove, which the wise John (the Baptist) testified in his words - so that we again know that, as in the firstfruits of a renewed nature, the Spirit descended in the first Christ, since He (Christ) appeared as a man receiving sanctification. But we will not at all assert that Christ became holy according to the flesh when the Baptist “saw the Spirit descending” (John 1:32). He was holy both in the embryo and in the womb (of the Mother), which is why it was said to the blessed Virgin: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You and the Power of the Most High will overshadow You” (Luke 1:35). But the vision (of the dove) was given as a sign to the Baptist. However, we think that His flesh was sanctified through the Spirit, since the Word, holy by nature and from God, in likeness with other creation, anointed His own church with Him (the Spirit). And the Psalmist, who knew this, exclaimed, contemplating the face of the Only Begotten in humanity: “For this reason, O God, Thy God has anointed Thee with the oil of joy more than Thy partakers” (Ps. 44:8). And although the Son Himself anointed His church, it is said that the Father does this, for He acts no other way than through the Son. The Son, whatever He does, attributes everything to the Father, from Whom He was born, for, as it were, the root and source of His Son is the Father. Thus, there is nothing surprising in the fact that He says about Himself that He is also sanctified, although He is holy by nature, when the Scriptures call the Father and His God, although He is also God by nature. But, I think, in all fairness and in accordance with the truth, this must be attributed to the needs of humanity and the image (of Him) that corresponds to us. Just as He died for us according to the flesh as man, although He was God by nature, and how, placed among the creatures and under the yoke for the sake of mankind, although He is the God of all, He calls the Father His God, in the same way He affirms that He sanctifies Himself for our sake, so that when this (the work of sanctification) touches us, in Him, as in the firstfruits of the renewed nature, we too may be “sanctified in truth,” that is, in the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is truth, according to the word of John (1 John 5:6), and not another, different from the Son, is His Spirit, precisely in relation to essence, as existing in Him and proceeding through Him (δἰ αὐτοῦ πϱοιόν). He also says that “He was sent into the world,” although He existed in it before His incarnation, for He was in the world, although the world did not know Him, according to what is written (John 1:10), indicating the image of the message is no other than the one that He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, since He became a man and appeared as an “angel of great counsel” (Is. 9:6), in the likeness of the prophetic ministry. And saying that disciples are appointed in His likeness and are sent by Him to proclaim the gospel and heavenly preaching to the world, he affirms that they need sanctification in the truth so that they are able to best and courageously accomplish the feat of their apostleship. That the Son is naturally one with His Father God, and He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, according to an essential connection and image of unity; likewise, we ourselves, having accepted faith in Him, find ourselves one with each other and with God, both physically and spiritually John 17:20–21. I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe for the sake of their word in Me 1057, that they may all be one. As You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they too may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me 1058 Christ Himself appeared, as it were, as the firstfruits of those being recreated to new life and as the first Heavenly Man, for, according to Paul, “the second Adam is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47). That is why he said: “And no one has ascended into heaven, only the Son of Man who came down from heaven” (John 3:13). Those disciples who were first chosen by Him and received the dignity of following Him stood in close communion with the Firstfruits and were much closer to Him than others, who became both self-seers (Luke 1:2) and spectators of His glory (John 1:14; 1 John 1:1), always being with Him, cohabiting with Him and collecting in their souls the beginnings of useful teaching (Acts 1:21-22). Thus, they were and are, after being above all and all the “Head of the church body” (Col. 1:18), the most honorable and most glorious members. And that is why he asks His Father to send blessings on them through the Spirit and holiness, without a doubt, and through Himself. It could not be otherwise, since He is the living and true and omnipotent and effective wisdom and power of Him who gave birth to Him. But lest anyone who does not pay due attention to the words of the Inspired Scripture should think lightly that the descent of the Divine Spirit is called upon the disciples alone, but this does not apply at all to us, that is, to those who were after them in ancient times, the Mediator between God and people, the Intercessor and High Priest of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25), wanting to prevent the unreasonable thoughts of such, considered it necessary to add this saying to the above words, that is, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their word.” Indeed, it would be strange if through the first one, I mean Adam, condemnation extends to everyone and the most inglorious image of the earthly is worn even by those who have not sinned, that is, at the time when the forefather transgressed the commandment given to him, and when Christ came, Who appeared as the Heavenly Man, those called by Him to righteousness, obviously through faith, would not all reflect in themselves His image as well. And just as the most inglorious image of the earthly, we affirm, appears in such a form and form that has the filthiness of sin, and the weakness of death and corruption, and the impurity of carnal passions and earthly thoughts, so, on the contrary, we think, the image of the Heavenly, that is, Christ, shines with purity and truth, incorruptibility in everything, life and holiness. But otherwise it was impossible to raise us to the original beauty, once we fell away from it for the sake of crime in the first (Adam), other than through receiving unspeakable communication and unity with God, for this is how the nature of the earthly inhabitants was originally structured. And this unity with God in no one could be otherwise than through the communion of the Holy Spirit, introducing into us His property of holiness and transforming the nature that has fallen into corruption into the life characteristic of Him and in this way raising to God and to His image that which is devoid of this glory. After all, the Son is the pure image of the Father, and the natural likeness of the Son is His Spirit. That is why, transforming human souls as if into Himself, He (the Spirit) inscribes the Divine image in them and imprints the reflection of the Supreme Essence. So, our Lord Jesus Christ “prays” not for “only” the twelve disciples, but for “all” who at all times had to obey and follow the words that came from them (the Apostles), encouraging listeners to receive sanctification through faith and to the purification accomplished through the communication of the Spirit. But he did not consider it necessary to leave the content of the petition unclear to us, so that through this we would learn what we should be and what path of righteousness we should follow to fulfill His will. What is this petition and what does it consist of? “So that,” he says, “we may be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may be one in us.” So, he asks for a union of love, like-mindedness and peace - a union that brings believers to spiritual unity, so that the unanimous and inseparably unanimous unity reflects the features of the natural and essential unity conceived in the Father and the Son. However, this union of love between us and the power of like-mindedness, of course, by no means reach such inseparability as the Father and the Son have, preserving unity in the identity of essence. Here the unity is natural, true and contemplated in existence itself, and there is the appearance and imitation of true unity. In fact, can prints be completely equal to seals? Likewise, the reflection of truth in our mental representation is not identical with the truth itself, but although it appears in the same (external) form, it nevertheless has considerable differences. If, therefore, one of the heterodox imagines that it is possible to pervert this natural identity and the unity of the Son with God and the Father that follows from this, then, as proof and confirmation of his folly, he will cite us as an example, saying this: just as we are not all one by identity, understood in the sense of the unity of bodies, and not by the mixing of souls with one another, but by the mood and disposition of love, like-mindedness and agreement in relation to the will of God, so the Son is one with Father, we will, of course, reject such a heretic as, without a doubt, ignorant and completely reckless. For what reason? According to the fact that what is superior to us should not be applied to us, neither the incorporeal should be subordinated to the necessities of bodies, nor what is characteristic of God should be attributed to people. After all, if there were absolutely no separation or difference between us and God, then let him think about us what is proper to God. But if there turns out to be some kind of limitless distance, then why do they (heretics) define the shortcomings of our nature as a rule and standard for God, subordinating Nature, which is above all necessity, to a necessity dependent on our limitations, and thus find themselves already committing an absurd and reckless thing? After all, by imprints they represent the seal and by imitative likeness - the truth, valuing as second what occupies first place, and to those in second place they assimilate the properties of what is first. But so that, delving into discussions about this, we do not seem to anyone moving away from the words being interpreted, we consider it necessary to say again that as an example and image of undivided love, harmony and unity, conceived in unanimity, Christ, taking the essential unity that the Father has with Him, and He, on His part, with the Father, wants to unite us in some way with each other, obviously just like the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, so that one the whole body of the Church is conceived, ascending in Christ through the intercourse and union of two peoples into one perfect one. So Paul says: “He is our peace, who made the two one and destroyed the enmity in His flesh, abolishing the law of commandments by teachings, in order to create two in Himself into one new man, creating peace, and to reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing their enmity” (Eph. 2:14-16). This is accomplished by the fact that those who believe in Christ have unanimity among themselves and have adopted, as it were, one heart, through complete similarity in religion, obedience in faith and a good-loving mind. This is what, without moving away from the proper goal, on the contrary, considering it necessary, I decided to say now. But since the meaning of the interpreted words forces us to enter into deeper speculation, especially since the Savior encourages us to do this in the words: “As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us,” then we must pay special attention to what kind of reasoning we should make about these words. Already in previous discussions, we said, not without reason, that the image of Divine unity and the essential identity and perfect interpenetration of the Holy Trinity should be reflected in the unity of like-mindedness and unanimity of believers. Here we will try to show the natural unity by which we are connected with each other and all with God, perhaps not without bodily unity, I mean with each other, although we are separated by the difference of bodies, since each of us seems to be contained in our own boundary and hypostasis. So, for example, Peter cannot be and be called Paul, and Paul, in turn, Peter, although in relation to unity through Christ both of them are thought of as one. So, when confessing the natural unity of the Father and the Son and, obviously, of the Holy Spirit - after all, by faith one Divinity in the Holy Trinity is accepted and glorified - we must again consider how we ourselves find ourselves one with each other, both physically and spiritually, and with God. Having shone from the very essence of God and the Father and having the whole Parent in His nature, the Only Begotten became flesh, according to the Scriptures (John 1:14), as if mixing Himself with our nature through ineffable intercourse and unity with this earthly body, and thus God, who existed by nature, was called and became a truly Heavenly Man - not a God-bearer, according to some, who certainly do not understand the depth of the mystery, but together and at the same time being both God and man, so that, divided by nature and far removed from one another in relation to only-begottenness, as if uniting in Himself, to reveal man as a fellow and partaker of the Divine nature. After all, the communion and indwelling of the Spirit has passed onto us ourselves, having received its beginning through Christ and in the first Christ, when He is thought to be similar to us, that is, man, and sanctified, although He is by nature God, since He appeared from the Father, Himself sanctifying the church with His Spirit and all the creation that came into being through Him, which should be sanctified. Thus, the Sacrament of Christ became, as it were, a certain beginning and way of the fact that we also received the Holy Spirit and unity with God, for we are all sanctified in Him, in the manner already stated above. So, the Only Begotten determined a certain method, refined by the wisdom appropriate to Him and the advice of the Father, so that we ourselves would converge and mingle in unity with God and with each other, although each separated from the other by souls and bodies into a special personality - namely (this method): in one body, obviously His own, blessing those who believe in Him through the sacramental communion (Eucharist), makes them co-corporeal both with Himself and with each other. Who, indeed, could separate and tear away from their natural union with each other those who, through one holy body, are united in unity with Christ? After all, if “we all partake of one bread,” then we are all one body (1 Cor. 10:17), for Christ cannot be divided. Therefore, the Church is called the body of Christ, and we are individual members, according to Paul’s understanding (1 Cor. 12:27). All of us, through the holy body united with one Christ, as having received Him, one and indivisible in our bodies, we must consider our members to belong to Him more than to ourselves. And that, with the position of the Savior as the Head, the rest of the body is called the Church, as if made up of individual members, Paul will show this in the words: “So that we are no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine in the wickedness of men, in cunning with the cunning of deceit, but being truly in love, we may grow into Him all things, who is the Head Christ, from whom the whole body is built and held together through every means.” the addition of addition (increase in growth), according to the action in the (appropriate) measure of each individual member, the regeneration of the body creates itself into the building up in love” (Eph. 4:14-16). And that we, having become in communion with His holy flesh, also acquire unity in the body, I mean with Christ, - this is again testified by Paul, speaking about the mystery of religion, “that (the mystery of Christ) was not made known to other generations to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, (namely) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ” ( Eph.3:5-6). If we are all co-corporeal with each other in Christ, and not only with each other, but also with Himself, obviously, with Him Who abides in us through His flesh, then is it not already clear that we are all one, both in each other and in Christ? Christ is, after all, a union of unity, being together both God and man. Regarding unity in the Spirit, having gone through the same path of reasoning, let us say again that we all, having received the same Spirit, I mean the Holy One, are united in some way with each other and with God. True, there are many of us individually and Christ infuses each with the Spirit of the Father and His own, but he (the Spirit) is one and indivisible - spirits separated from unity with each other, we understand by being, in a special (personal) existence, gathers into unity through Himself and, as if something makes everyone in Himself one. Just as the power of the Holy Flesh makes co-corporeal those in whom it will be, in the same way, I think, the one and inseparably living Spirit of God leads everyone to spiritual unity. Therefore, again the divine Paul declared to us: “Treating one another with love, being diligent to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:2-6). Thus, while one Spirit dwells in us, one Father of all in us will be God through the Son, containing all that partakes of the Spirit in unity with each other and with Himself. And that through the sacrament we are united with the Holy Spirit, this will become clear from the following. If we, having abandoned our spiritual life, have once given power over ourselves to the laws of the Spirit, then is it not already indisputable for everyone that, having rejected, as it were, our own life and having accepted the supra-mundane reflection of the Holy Spirit united with us, we almost turned into a different nature, as it were, being called not only people, but also sons of God and heavenly people because we appeared as sharers of the Divine nature? So, we are all one in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, I understand one thing by the identity of properties - here we must remember what was said at the beginning of the discussion - and by uniformity in religion and communion with the Holy Flesh of Christ, and by communion with one and the Holy Spirit, as has already been said. About the fact that by nature the Son is one with His Father God, although He says that, as if as a grace, He accepted this unity with the Father John 17:22–23. And I have given the glory to Me, I have given it to them, that they may be one, as We are one 1059. I am in them and You are in Me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me 1060 The Only Begotten, we affirm with all thoroughness, has an essential and natural unity with His Father and, since he was born in the true way of birth, is thought to exist from Him and in Him, and although he is recognized as having a separate and special personal existence, he is nevertheless represented by the co-innate identity of essence as one thing with the Father. But since for the sake of providence for us, salvation and life, He seemed to have abandoned His original place, that is, equality with God and the Father, and seems to have plunged into the extreme degree of dishonor - this was “he made Himself of no reputation” (Phil. 2:7), - from time immemorial and from the beginning existing with the Father, He accepts this (humiliation) with the flesh, with this earthly and mortal shell and with the human image, conceivable precisely in relation to their nature (regardless of union with the Divine nature in Christ), necessarily asking themselves, as if in the quality of grace, that which is inherent in Him by nature (Divine), for He was and is in the form and equality with the Father - therefore, since the flesh existing from the Woman is not consubstantial with God and the Father and is not identical with Him by nature, or the entire church from the Virgin, which, having once been received into the body (once made the body) of the Word, it is then considered as one thing with Him - after all, there is one Christ and one Son even when he became man; This is why (Christ) is thought to have received unity with God and the Father, being taken into this unity with the flesh, which in itself does not have oneness with God. And if it is necessary to say somewhat briefly and clearly, the Only Begotten says that what was given to Himself was given to His flesh, given, of course, from the Father through Him in the Spirit. After all, the image of unity with God has no other way, even when it is thought of in relation to Christ, since He appeared and was called man, when through union with the Spirit the flesh is sanctified in the ineffable image of intercourse and thus it ascends to an unfused union with God the Word and through Him with the Father, obviously by position (union with the Word), and not by nature. This, he says, given to Me from You, Father, grace and “glory,” obviously, to be “one” with You, “I gave to them, so that they could be one, just as We are one.” We unite with each other in the previously mentioned images. But we also unite with God. How this is, the Lord has given us the clearest presentation of this, namely: exposing the benefit of His teaching, He says: “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfect in one.” The Son dwells in us both bodily as a man, communicating and uniting with us through a mysterious blessing (Eucharist), and also spiritually as God, by grace and the action of His Spirit, restoring our spirit to new life and making us sharers of His Divine nature. Consequently, the union of our unity with God and the Father is Christ, who bound us to Himself as a man, and with God - as God, naturally existing in His Parent. Otherwise, it was impossible to raise a nature subject to corruption to incorruption, except in such a way that Nature, standing above all corruption and change, would descend into it, raising in some way to its own good that which always falls down, and by communication and union with Itself, as it were, extracting from the limits appropriate to created nature, transforming into Itself that which is not such in itself. So, we are completed (brought) into unity with God and the Father through the Mediator Christ. Having received into ourselves both bodily and spiritually, as we have just said, the One who is by nature and truly the Son, having an essential unity with Him (God the Father), we become glorious fellows and partakers of a Nature that surpasses all. However, desiring that we should be received into unity with God and the Father, Christ at the same time delivers from the Father through Himself a benefit to our nature and indicates that this power of grace should serve as a clear conviction of those who think that He is not from God. In fact, can there be any place for such slander if He through Himself lifts up those who join Him through faith and true love to unity with the Father? So, he says, when they acquire unity with You, Father, through Me, then they will know “the world that You sent Me,” that is, by Your good pleasure I come with help to the earth and with the arrangement of salvation for those who are lost on it. And besides, and no less, he says, those who have received such anxiously bestowed grace will know that “You loved them as You loved Me.” After all, having accepted into unity with Him the One who is similar to us and from us, that is, Christ, and having been worthy of such great love - we are again talking about a person - and having given us the opportunity to achieve this, has he not equally accomplished the work of love? And let this not confuse anyone who has intelligence. It is obvious and indisputable that a slave in no way can be equal to his Master, and God and the Father could not love His Son equally with creatures. However, we must keep in mind that from eternity we see the Beloved as having the beginning of love when he became a man. So, having received what he had, he must not appear to have received this for himself, but for us. How He came to life, destroying the power of death, not arranging the resurrection for Himself, since He is the Word and God, but giving it to us through Himself and in Himself, for in Christ there was the whole nature of man, trampling upon the bonds of death; Thus, he should not be thought of as having received love from the Father for himself, for he was always and incessantly beloved, but in order to give us love from the Father, he receives it from Him even when he became a man. Therefore, just as we will be, and have already become, conformed to His resurrection and glory, both in the firstfruits of the race and in the first - in Christ, so we have received conformity to love, giving primacy in everything to the Only Begotten and rightly marveling at the incomparable mercy of the Divine nature towards us, bestowing His blessings on His creatures and communicating to creatures what belongs to Him and only one. John 17:24. Father! which you have given to me, I will, that where I am, they also may be with me, that they may see my glory, which you have given to me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world 1061 Having offered up a prayer for His disciples, or rather for all those who come to Him through faith, and having asked the Father for unity and love and holiness, He immediately adds this too, showing that to be with Him and to be worthy to see His “glory” belongs to no one else but those already united through Him with the Father and having achieved the love that He Himself seems to have from the Father. After all, we are beloved as sons in the likeness of the truly and naturally existing Son, for although not in equal measure, of course, yet the most accurate reflection of the matter, as if equal to the truth, represents His glory. “I want,” therefore, Father, says, “so that” through faith those who came to You and, thanks to Your light-giving, became Mine “with Me” and saw “Mine” “glory.” And how great a blessing should we consider being with Christ Himself, what word could express this to us? After all, we will be in unspeakable joy - and the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and the mind has not imagined, “what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). What, therefore, could there be a lack of means for complete complacency for those who will inherit coexistence with the Lord of all Christ Himself? So the wise and most sacred Paul himself appears to us as worthy of this state of all reverence, if he says that it is better to “be separated and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). But he, who prefers this great and amazing dignity to this (earthly) life, shouldn’t he be a true witness to the fact that He who gives everything to everyone abundantly gives to His true disciples this great gift of being with Him? But this will also confirm in the same way what he told us elsewhere. Having Christ in him as the speaker and the revealer of “the age of power to come” (2 Cor. 13:3; Heb. 6:5), he said again like this: “The dead will rise, but we who are alive and remain with Him will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16–17). In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself clearly promises to grant us exactly this very thing in the words: “I will go and prepare a place for you; I will come again and take you with Me, so that where I am, you also may be with Me” (John 14:3). Or, interpreting not very subtly, we will more simply understand that through this the highest abodes are designated, or, turning to other thoughts, we can admit that, as it were, the same place is given to us and Christ, as if a similar and equivalent honor, precisely by similarity and likeness. After all, we will be conformed to His glory (Phil.3:21) and will co-reign with Him, according to the Holy Scriptures (2 Tim.2:12; Matt.19:28; Rev.3:21). He also promises, in a way that He Himself knows, to lie down with us in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 26:29; cf. Matthew 8 and Luke 13:29). But that we will be with Christ, will partake of His glory and become partakers of the Kingdom, we will now leave proof of this with great arguments, as not at all doubtful, and move on to another saying, namely: “let them behold My glory.” Thus, the vision of the glory of Christ will not belong to the unclean and sinful, and not to those who dishonor the Divine Law, but, on the contrary, only to the righteous and good. And we learn this again from the words of the Prophet: “Let the wicked be lifted up, so that they do not see the glory of the Lord” (Is. 26:10), and in the Gospel sermons of the Savior Christ (it is said): “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8). But who can these have a pure heart, if not those who are in unity with God through the Son in the Spirit, having removed themselves from all carnality, having put as far as possible worldly pleasures from themselves and, as it were, renouncing their own life, but devoting themselves to the will of the Spirit alone and living purely and completely in Christ, as Paul was, because of the great purity inherent in him, he was not afraid to say: “To Christ I have been crucified: and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:19–20). I also hear another saint singing like this: “Create a pure heart in Me, O God, and renew a right Spirit in my insides; cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me: give me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with the Lord’s Spirit” (Ps. 50:12-14). He calls the Spirit the joy of salvation, as being the originator of endless and constant joy and giving dominion over worldly passions, for He is the Spirit of true salvation (the Savior), that is, Christ. Giving Him different names, he also added a pure heart and called him a right spirit, since those who do not have a straight heart, but, on the contrary, a crooked and corrupted one, as the Psalmist says (Ps. 100:3), have not yet been united with God and have not become partakers of the blessing of Christ through the Spirit. So, generally speaking, the Savior wanted to give His disciples a fair amount of grace - as a result of being with Him, they could see His “glory.” But He, he says, was loved even “before the foundation of the world,” clearly indicating here the most primordial power of His sacrament and the fact that the path of our salvation, accomplished through the mediation of Christ, was foreseen by God and the Father. But this knowledge was not given to people at the beginning, but the law arose - the leader of the godly order of life, presenting to us an unclear knowledge in images, since God and the Father preserved the grace of the Savior until the appropriate time. Knowledge of this is very useful for us to overthrow the pride of the Jews and the wicked arrogance of the Israelites, who decided to forever defend the law, even when, with the revelation of the truth, the prototypes should no longer be considered anything. It is also very useful for refuting those who think that the recent and new Council of the Father invented this sacrament for us. Therefore, Paul, refuting the assumption of those who reason in this way, said in one place about Christ that He was foreknown “before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20; Eph. 1:4; Heb. 9:26). But it should be noted that, he says, the disciples themselves and the Divine glory and power over everything were given to Him from the Father, not because the Lord of glory is conceived as God by nature and having essentially the dignity of a king, but, on the contrary, because He appeared as a man, for whom everything is God-given, and not from his own nature, for everything in the creature is from God, there is absolutely nothing of his own in it, even if it appears to have any good. John 17:25. Right Father! and the world does not know You, but I know You, and these [they] know, because You sent Me 1062 “Right” here he calls the Father, although he could have called Him differently, for He is pure, holy, immaculate, creator and creator and everything that befits Nature reigning over everything. Therefore, it is worthy of wisdom to find out what is the reason for calling Him righteous, although Christ could have called Him differently, for great benefit can be brought to us if we do not leave without investigation the thoughts contained in the Inspired Scripture. So, defining exactly the meaning of this passage, let's say the following. Since Christ desired that we should be sanctified by the good pleasure of His Father, then, acting as an intercessor and fulfilling the duty of a mediator, He interceded for us all in the words: “Holy Father! Keep them in Thy truth” (John 17:17), expressing by this that there is no other truth except His own Spirit, through which He strengthens our souls, imprinting in them likeness with Himself and, as it were, protecting with ineffable power to indestructible courage, that is, arousing an ardent readiness for uncontrollable virtue, so that, in the complete absence of everything that hinders and can turn back, they quickly rush to do the will of God and consider the various evil tricks of the devil and worldly sensuality as nothing. Once sealed with the Holy Spirit and having received a deposit of grace in their minds, they have a protected heart as one clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). So, in order for us to enjoy such much-desired blessings, Christ called upon us sanctification from the Father. And now, I believe, He again shows similar concern. After all, to what he said about the proper sanctification of us from the Father, this is what he added about us: “And I have given them the glory that You gave Me, so that they may be one, just as we are one: for You have loved them, even as You have loved Me,” and again: “Father! whom You have given Me, I want them to be with Me wherever I am” (John 17:22–24). And immediately after these words he calls the Father “right”, and with all justice, by whose good will and desire the Son became man, in order to become the author of sanctification through the Spirit, and unity with God, and dwelling in the highest mansions, dwelling and contemplating with Him - for human nature, created “for good works” (Eph. 2:10) - after all, God did not create man for evil in the beginning - but reduced to evil by the wicked tricks of the devil and, as if from its foundation, knocked out of its original and God-loving behavior. Therefore, it was quite truly necessary for the just Father to raise up again those who were overthrown by violence and, carried away to the unseemly, to restore them to their original position, that is, to free from the ugliest sin and transform, as it were, into the original image, what was created in the first place, and subject the one who crushed and wickedly dared to destroy, that is, Satan, to the punishments he deserved, although I consider all kinds of punishments insufficient for one who showed such great madness against God. So, “Right Father,” says, “for You are right, and Your judgment is good and right” (Ps. 119:137), - You, who sent Me, Your true and authentic Son, into the world for help and renewal. But what kind of madness, he says. “The world has not known You,” precisely this, “the world has not known,” otherwise, having understood such a humane determination and meek benevolence, it would have run to its Savior and would have willingly begun to serve You. This is what Christ said to the Father, as if offering Him gratitude for us and for our sake, since, being just, He was pleased to give salvation to those who suffered from violence and condemned the devil to destruction. And the world, he says, that is, those who opposed the Divine and Gospel preaching, thinking about worldly things, did not know the Father to be just, “for the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,” as Paul says, “so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ did not shine (for them)” (2 Cor. 4:4). On the contrary, He testified about His disciples that they knew and knew Him, and here again assimilating to them a glorious and rewarding dignity, for He reveals them to have become above all worldly humiliation and disdain, because they knew the Father and, which, of course, is obvious and indisputable, the Son Himself. When, therefore, the world is accused as not having known the Father, that is, the true and by nature God, and the disciples, on the contrary, are testified as having known it, is it not finally clear to everyone that they could not be of the world, having already become belonging to the all-worldly Christ, according to what Paul said: “Through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14), - and about us again: “who are Christ Jesus, (those) are the flesh (their) crucified with passions and lusts” (Gal.5:24)? We call the disciples those who have become outside the world, not because of their local and physical position, for they are “as lights in the world, containing the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16), but because, walking on earth, they live in heaven and, having renounced the lusts of the flesh, or rather, placing their minds above all worldly lusts, they have strived for the most excellent and highest virtue, according to what was said in psalm: “For God's rulers of the earth have risen greatly” (Ps. 46:10). That is, thanks to God, the courageous, having left the baseness of earthly thoughts, came to know higher thoughts, for this, I think, means “rose.” So, the world, he says, has not known You to be right, Father. I know, for the advice - I and Your wisdom - not really caring about My innate glory and Divine dignity, I humbled Myself and descended into human poverty in order, by Your good pleasure, to save the race that had fallen away from communion with Us. And while the world did not know this, the disciples were enriched with knowledge, realizing truly, “that You sent Me,” that is, I came in order to bring a good end to Your desires through the salvation of the perishing earth. John 17:26. And I told them Your name, and I will say, Yes, the love with which You loved Me will be in them, and I will be in them 1063 And He Himself, and together with Him the disciples who listened to Him, says, came to know God. But lest anyone, carried away by deception into absurd thoughts, perhaps think that both in Christ Himself and in the disciples the knowledge was absolutely the same, he immediately distinguishes and brings to light the difference, showing Himself to be the revealer, and them to have received knowledge through Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the word and advice and wisdom of the Father, without teaching knows everything that is in Him (the Father), and comprehends the depths of Him who gave birth to Him, just as, without a doubt, the human mind - what is in it - and the mind inherent in us and characteristic of us is knowledgeable in general of everything that is in us. And the divine disciples do not have the opportunity to know something about God as the fruit of their knowledge, but, guided by the Spirit, they comprehend the exact meaning of the mysteries of the Son and thus gain the opportunity to understand the Father. Therefore, Christ beneficially and quite rightly added that “I have proclaimed your name to them, and will proclaim it.” Notice again how the same effectiveness of both, that is, the Father and the Son, is manifested in the matter of perception (by people) of the Vision of God. The Father teaches by revealing His Son, and the Son teaches no less by revealing the Father. Therefore, he says to blessed Peter, near the borders of Caesarea, called Philippi: “Blessed is Bar-Jonah, which flesh and blood has not revealed to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13, 17). After all, the disciple confessed and affirmed that he believed that He is Christ, the Son of the Living God. And now He says about Himself that “I have proclaimed Your name to them, and I will proclaim it.” Thus, the Only Begotten did not stop revealing to us the meaning of His sacrament after He first revealed it to our ancestors, but He always does this, providing everyone with enlightenment through the Spirit and leading those who love Him to the knowledge of that which is above reason and words. What will he accomplish and what benefit will he bring to us by what he has already revealed, as he claims, to his disciples and will proclaim to their descendants, and He also showed this in the words: “so that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Those who have been able to know God and the Father through pure contemplation and have been taught the exact meaning of the sacrament of Christ will undoubtedly belong and will undoubtedly be shown perfect love from the Father, in likeness with the Son, for the Father loves His Son most perfectly. Christ Himself also indwells, of course through the Holy Spirit, through Himself into spiritual unity with God and the Father, raising the one who has come to know Him and carries within himself intact the work of knowledge of God. He “told” to us the “name” of the Father, showing us Himself as the Son. Indeed, with the knowledge of the Son, without a doubt, it must necessarily be combined and always accompanied by the knowledge of Him who begat Him, just as the opposite is true. If it must be true and indisputable that the Father together with the Son, and the Son in turn together with the Father are thought and represented, and the knowledge of each of them corresponds to the other, then how is it that the Son, according to some wicked people, is already a creation? After all, whoever speaks about the Son conveys to his listeners knowledge about the Father, and whoever pronounces the word “creation” gives the idea of ​​the One who created him. But since the Son calls God Father, and not creator or creator, he obviously recognizes Himself as His true offspring. Therefore, the Son, of course, is the Son, and not a creation, as they think, and therefore the Creator is the Creator, and no longer the Father. It should not cause any harm to our reasoning that the name of birth or sonship can be used about us. What in the proper and strict sense relates and belongs to the Son by nature is transferred to us, since Holy Scripture often uses figurative speech and sometimes refers to sons by adoption what belongs to the Son by nature. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that we also received the name generation (children), at the desire of the man-loving God to honor us, even if he even called those who, as is known, are from the earth, gods (John 10:34-36; Ps.81:6). :glava18 John 18:1–2. This is what Jesus said: He went out with His disciples to the half-stream of Kedrsk, where there was a helicopter city, into which He and His disciples went 1064. Knowing also Judas, betray Him, the place where Jesus gathered there many times with His disciples 1065 Having enlightened the disciples and prepared them with appropriate words for the practice of every virtue, commanding them to choose the most pious and God-loving life, in addition, making a promise that He Himself would abundantly give them spiritual gifts, and saying that the highest blessings would be sent down from the Father, He already voluntarily leaves, without delaying the time of suffering and without fearing death for everyone. And how natural it was for Him to do this, for Whom the time had come to suffer in order to redeem with His suffering the liberation of everyone from suffering - for that one who came only in order to purchase the whole earth with His blood to God and the Father. After all, when the Jews indulged in furies against Him and, out of their madness, tried to subject Him to stoning, He escaped in a godly manner, making Himself invisible and very easily escaping the hands of those who sought Him (John 8:59), for He did not want to suffer yet, since the proper time had not yet called for this. When it had already arrived, leaving the room where He secretly taught His disciples, He came to the place where both the Savior of all Christ Himself and the holy disciples usually often stayed. He did this again, allowing the traitor to easily find Him. The “Garden” was a place that fulfilled the image of an ancient paradise, for, as it were, it was the head of the place and the return, so to speak, of everyone to the beginning. After all, the beginning of our sorrows happened in paradise, and in the “garden” the suffering of Christ began, bringing correction to everything that once happened to us. John 18:3. Judas, having received [reception] the spirit [squad] and the servants from the bishops and Pharisees, came there with lamps and lamps and weapons 1066 It is necessary again for the divine Evangelist to point out that Jesus was “in the garden,” where many other people or people did not gather, with the intention of defending Him, but He alone was with His disciples alone, in order to show the depravity of the traitor’s heart in relation to rationality. After all, conscience in everyone is very capable of giving rise to fears and causing strong timidity if we ever think of something wicked. In this very state, in my opinion, the traitor brings both the “detachment” (of warriors), equipped with military weapons, and the “servants” of the Jews, as if he intended to capture the hands of some famous villain. After all, he should have known that he could never have taken Him if He had not wished to suffer and had not done so out of free will. But, having a mind spoiled by wicked deeds and, as it were, intoxicated by excessive audacity, he no longer looks where he is striving, and does not realize the impracticability of his undertaking. Yes, he thought that with the help of the crowd following him and human hands he would surpass His Divine power. And do not be surprised that he, pathetic, suffers from such an illness and turns out to have conceived something worthy of laughter. Having already given orders over his soul to another and having sold the power over his desires to the devil, he already belonged entirely to his fury, since he had already attacked him and, like a poisonous snake, lay in wait for him. But with all justice, one can marvel and call the fall of a traitor worthy of incessant tears. He who has just supped with Christ and shared bread with Him, a participant in the holy meal and, together with the others (the Apostles), ate instructions on piety, who heard Him clearly speaking, “that one of you will betray Me” (John 13:21), jumps up, so to speak, from the seats surrounding the table and, rising from his recent reclining (at supper), hastily leaves to serve payment to the Jews. Not wanting to remember the instructions of piety and not coming to the desire for hope for the future, even caring very little about the (apostolic) dignity given to him and, in a word, giving preference to such small and insignificant money over all eternal blessings, he turns out to be both a trap and a devil’s snare for Christ, and the primate and at the same time a collaborator of Jewish atheism. In addition, I have to laugh a lot and this is what. The crowd that comes with the traitor takes care of the attack on Christ, holding lanterns and torches. Probably, I think, they were wary of stumbling in the darkness and involuntarily falling into pits. But - this is madness! - they, pathetic ones, due to their great stupidity, do not see that they are stumbling over that Stone, about which God the Father speaks: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (Rom. 9:33; Is. 8:14). And being much afraid of the pit, they do not feel that they are falling into the sources of the abyss and the underworld of the earth, and, avoiding the evening twilight, they consider the eternal and unceasing night to be nothing. After all, wickedly plotting against the Divine light, that is, Christ, they had to walk in darkness and midnight, according to the word of the prophet (Is. 59:9). And not only this, but they will also go into the very “utter darkness” (Matthew 8:12) to give account there for the wickedness against Christ and be subjected to strict and endless condemnation. John 18:4–6. Jesus, knowing all that was to come, came and said to them: Whom are you looking for? 1067 She answered Him: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them: I am. And Judas also stood and betrayed Him with them 1068. When I said to them, “I am,” I walked back and fell to the ground [ground] 1069 At night a traitor comes, leading with him Jewish servants along with a detachment of soldiers. After all, as we just said, he, relying on the large number of his companions, thought that he would even take Him by force and find Him staying in the usual places, since the (not yet arrived) day did not yet allow departure to any other place and the night still kept the Lord, as it were, under its roof. So, in order to expose him (Judas) in the fact that in both cases he reasoned humanly and also thought in vain here, Christ Himself prevents the beginning of the attack (on Him) and completely voluntarily comes out to meet them, thereby showing them that He knew their daring undertaking and that although it was very easy for Him, as He knew this in advance, to hide and leave, yet He voluntarily gives Himself up to suffer, not having been subjected to violence from anyone involuntary danger. And this is so that neither the Hellenic sages would mock, turning the cross into a temptation and the guilt of their frivolity (1 Cor. 1:23), nor the murderer of the Jew would turn his contempt on Christ, imagining that he had overpowered Him even against His will. If He questions those who came to take Him, then, of course, not because He did not know whom they came to look for, but in order to again expose those who came for this purpose and saw Him that they could not at all know the One Whom they were looking for, and thereby confirm us in the just thought that He would never have been taken if He had not voluntarily given Himself over to those who were looking for Him. In fact, pay attention to the fact that although the Lord clearly said: “whom are you looking for”? - they did not immediately say that we came to take You, the speaker, but as about someone else not present and invisible they say: “Jesus of Nazareth.” But to this, perhaps, someone will raise the following, quite natural, objection: for example, the soldier might not have known, and the Jewish servants might also not have known Jesus. To this we will say that it is completely groundless for anyone to object to us. In fact, how could those subordinate to the (Jewish) clergy not know the One who always taught “in the church every day” (Matthew 26:55), according to the word of the Savior Himself? However, so that anyone, relying on this kind of reasoning, would not move away from the proper understanding of the matter, the divine Evangelist, in foreknowledge of this, considered it necessary to add that along with the soldiers and servants “Judas also stood, betraying Him.” Could the traitor really not know the Lord? You will also say that it was night and darkness and it was inconvenient to see the One Whom they were looking for. But isn’t the writer of the book worthy, who did not leave even such a small thing without warning? After all, he said that with lanterns and lamps in their hands they burst into the garden. Having thus eliminated the debate about this, the Divine is the dignity of Christ, Who declares Himself to those who sought Him, although hitherto they did not know Him, for in order to reveal such a state of them, that is, their inability to recognize Him, He clearly says: “It is I.” But in order to reveal the futility of crowds and the complete insignificance of all human power before the ineffable and Divine strength, turning with a meek and gentle word, he spreads a crowd of those who were looking for Him to the earth, so that we learn that if the nature of created beings cannot bear even one word of God, even if it were humane, then how can it withstand the threat, according to what is said in the psalms: “You are terrible, and who will He resist You from Your wrath” (Ps. 75:8)? And this particular event and the incident with those who came to take (Christ) serves as a sign of the fall of the entire people in general. Thus, the prophet 1070 mourns the Jews, saying: “The house of Israel is fallen, there is none who is able to raise it up” (Am. 5:1–2). This case also serves as an image of a more general and necessary subject, namely: it teaches that everyone who plots evil against Christ will certainly fall. John 18:7–9. Again, ask them: who are you looking for? They decided: Jesus of Nazareth 1071. Jesus answered: Reh to you, for I am; If you seek Me, leave these behind 1072: that the word that you have spoken may be fulfilled, that you have given them to Me, and have not destroyed anyone from them 1073 He asks a second time for the special purpose of revealing the enormity of the blindness that has taken root in their mind. As if deprived of an accurate mind and with a mind damaged by wickedness, they did not know that they were talking with the One Whom they were looking for. Moreover, by His very deeds, Christ reveals to us the truth of what He said: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). So, the Lord fights for the salvation of the Apostles and, voluntarily exposing Himself to danger, goes out to those who came to lead Him to suffering, obviously sent from the bishops and Pharisees. Therefore, when He asked Him whom they had come to take and bind in the nets of death, they said: “Jesus of Nazareth,” then He, pointing to Himself and almost accusing them of slowness, commanded them to leave the others to go, for it was necessary for one to die for all, equal to the life of all, “so that he might rule over both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14:9). In fact, it was impossible for anyone to imagine the matter otherwise, that is, for the death of the holy Apostles to take place for the destruction of death and corruption, when they themselves should be counted, and with all justice, among those freed from death and corruption, having received the same nature as us, over whom the power of death was also violent. Only He who is from the Living Father had to be the one and the first to give up His body to death as a ransom for the lives of all, so that it (the body), following the life of the Word united with it, would finally become a guide for the nature of bodies in overcoming the snares of death. After all, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep is the Lord and the firstborn from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20), through His resurrection, making the ascent to incorruption very quick for His followers. So, He leads the disciples out of immediate danger, knowing that the feat of suffering was primarily due to Him at that time, and not by the work of anyone else, showing our correction, but by Himself and by the one Essence reigning over all. However, the wise Evangelist turns this particular event, which at that time only happened with only the disciples who were with Him, into clear evidence of the universal and universal mercy for those who come to Him through faith, for He ordered, he says, to leave the disciples, “so that the word that He said would be fulfilled, that whom You gave Me, I did not destroy any of them.” Indeed, can one doubt that He will show mercy to those who will live and believe after that? If there was no negligence about the few, then is it possible that there was negligence about the many? Having shown such mercy to the very few (disciples), how can he neglect those who exceed any number? For many are those who believe. So, take the particular into the image of the universal, and from the fact that He does not at all want His disciples to be in danger, it is easy to see what and how great the anger will be against His murderers. Indeed, does He not completely hate that which is contrary to His will? How, then, and why, finally, could there be any doubt that the perpetrators of deeds he hates will suffer some severe and endless condemnation? John 18:10. Simon Peter, having a [sword] knife, draw it and strike the bishop's servant and cut off his right ear: and the name of the servant is Malchus 1074 But what made, perhaps someone will ask, the divine Evangelist remember this and expose the disciple, contrary to custom, as having even used a sword against those who appeared to take Christ and became more than appropriately strong and ferocious, and Christ (to imagine) forbidding him to do this? And although, perhaps, it may seem unnecessary to someone to explain this, this is in fact not the case, for (the Evangelist) gave us an example of benefit that is of no small importance to us. From this event we learn to what extent the innocent zeal of piety towards Christ reaches and what we can do in this kind of struggle without falling into anything that offends God. The example of this event encourages us not to carry iron (swords), or lift stones against someone, or beat opponents with wood, but to strive together in piety towards Christ. After all, our weapons are not carnal, according to the word of Paul (2 Cor. 10:4), but, on the contrary, we treat even murderers (ourselves) with meekness when circumstances do not allow us to avoid them. Indeed, it is much better for the Righteous Judge Himself to repay others for our grievances, than for us to demand judgment for blood, under the pretext of piety. In addition, one can point out that it would be the height of absurdity to honor the One who voluntarily suffered death precisely for the destruction of death by the death of (our) persecutors. And in this it was also necessary to follow Christ. After all, if He had been called to death out of necessity and violence, as being unable by His power to ward off an attack that was insurmountable due to the multitude of servants, then, perhaps, there would have been nothing unfair for those who embraced love for Him in their determination to defend Him with all their might and to resort to all sorts of means just to save Him Who, through the wickedness of some, was involuntarily exposed to danger. But since He, being the true God, having the power to completely destroy the attackers and even at the very, so to speak, beginning of the struggle, made them feel so great His power that He laid out their fate with only one, and, moreover, meek Word - after all, they all fell on their backs - then could it really be possible for us, as if with indomitable and uncontrollable anger, to rush with all zeal to what He Himself did not do, although very easily could? Something similar, as we find, was written elsewhere by the holy Evangelists. Thus, the Lord once came with the desire to stop in a village bordering Judea. It belonged to the Samaritans. But they rudely rejected the One who wanted to come to them. And so, indignant at this, the disciples approached Him and said: “Lord! If you want, let us tell fire to come down from heaven and destroy them” (Luke 9:54). But the Savior again says to them: leave them, or you do not know that “I can ask My Father, and now He will present Me with twelve legions of Angels” (Matthew 26:53). After all, He did not come as God in order to use His own and natural power against His enemies, on the contrary, in order to be a teacher of extreme mercy towards us and to present an example of the highest kindness. That’s why he says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). But the intention of Peter, who raised the sword against his opponents, does not contradict the legal commandment, for it commanded to repay the innocently offended foot for foot, and hand for hand, and wound for wound, and harm for harm (Ex. 21:24-25). But for what purpose did they come armed with swords and swords, equipped with weapons and gathered in large numbers, if, undoubtedly, not for something that could expose the disciples to death? After all, they carried with them both swords and swords, which the Savior clearly pointed out to us, in another place telling them: “You came out like a robber with swords and swords to seize Me! Every day I sat in the church teaching, and you did not take Me” (Matthew 26:55). So, Peter’s intention was legal and did not contradict the ancient statutes. But our Lord Jesus Christ, since He came in order to teach the higher law and transform us into meekness similar to Him, prohibits intentions consistent with the law as not having the full perfection of true good, for perfect good does not lie in the rewards of an equal; on the contrary, it is manifested in the highest gentleness. But perhaps even after this someone will doubt and say to himself: but where did Peter get the sword? Let us answer again that the duty imposed by law to defend oneself from offenders also introduced the need for a sword. In fact, what if someone wanted to kill completely harmless people with a sword, how could he receive equal retribution (from the victims who do not have swords)? In addition, it is also likely that the holy Apostles, leaving their house in the middle of the night and intending to enter groves and gardens, feared attacks by wild animals, for the country of Judea was especially abundant in animals. And if you say to this: but why did the disciples need the sword? Wasn’t Christ enough in case of danger, that is, to drive away animals and remove fear from them? Yes, we will answer, and this is a very beautiful speech, for Christ was omnipotent. However, we see that, although Christ could do other (many) things, the disciples led a life as usual for us. In fact, shouldn’t we admit that Christ could make bread out of stones, and create money out of nothing, which could be enough to cover their expenses? But they also took out the loaves and carried the ark, collecting offerings. And also when Christ once wished to swim across the lake with them, they entered the boat with Him, although it would have been possible to go through the water itself if Christ had wished for this. Thus, it is in vain to accuse the disciples of following the human way of life if anyone sees them using it. Peter then “cuts off the right ear” of the servant, which event, as in the image (example), shows that the people of the Jews were, as it were, deprived of the right ear, for they did not want to understand the words of Christ, but preferred the left ear, following only their own madness, “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13), according to what is written, since, trampling on the ancient law, they turned to “teachings - the commandments of men” ( Matthew 15:9). John 18:11. Jesus said to Peter: Put [your] sword into [his] sheath: the cup which the Father gave me, shall I not drink of it? 1075 This commandment contains the law of the gospel life and has the meaning of a commandment, not the one that was spoken by the ancients in the Law of Moses, but given by Christ, which so excludes the use of the sword, and even more so the defense, that even if someone would like to hit us on one of the cheeks and, perhaps, would demand the other, we must convert it too (Matthew 5:39), as if uprooting it from our own. souls of human cowardice. However, even if, he says, My law did not contain a definition of gentleness, then your mind, Peter, departed from common sense, and you committed an act completely contrary to the nature of things. After all, if God and the Father determined and deigned to drink this cup for Me, that is, to voluntarily undergo, as it were, deep sleep, death, for the destruction of death and corruption, then should one shy away when, through drinking it, one must believe, so many different kinds of benefits are brought to the human race? This meaning is clearly defined in the interpreted saying. Similar to him and here's what. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wanting to make His disciples the most firm in the faith and preventing temptation because of the honorable cross, once said, talking with them privately: “Behold, we ascend to Jerusalem and the Son of Man is given into the hands of sinners, and they will crucify Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again” (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:18). But the divine Peter, not understanding the benefit of suffering, but looking only at the ignominy of suffering, says: “Be merciful to yourself, Lord, that this may not be done to you” (Matthew 16:22). What does Christ have to do with this? “Get behind Me, Satan; You are an offense to me, because you do not think about the things of God, but about the things of men” (Matthew 16:23). So, the deed and goal of a person who wants to think what is pleasing to God should be not to value worldly honors at all and not to place any value on the loss of good fame among people, if through this it brings benefit to others, for love, it is said, does not seek its own (1 Cor. 13:5). On the contrary, to a person who turns and directs his gaze to only the human and to concern only for his own good, and not for helping the misfortune of his neighbor, the loss of empty glory on earth seems unbearable. Therefore, just as there (Matthew 16:23) Peter was called the temptation of Christ, although he could not be tempted, who spoke out of love, which indeed could not remain without reproach, meaning only the suffering on the cross, and not the benefits of suffering - for he tried, as much as depended on him, to turn away what was determined and decided for the life of all - so here, through jealousy and the sword and a very impetuous intention, he is found to be doing the same thing. However, he again receives a prohibition, having heard not only this: “Put your sword in its sheath,” but also, as another Evangelist reported, this addition from Christ: “for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). In fact, let us briefly repeat what we have already said earlier, since the suffering did not occur against the will and was not caused by Jewish violence, then how can there be a need for protection and repelling with the sword this insolence and wicked intentions of the Jews who came against Him? The Father and God, he says, “gave the cup” to Him, that is, death, although accomplished through the mediation of Jewish hatred of God, since this, of course, would not have happened at all if He had not allowed this to happen for our sake. Therefore, Christ said to the most eloquent Pilate: “You would not have any power over Me if it had not been given to you from above” (John 19:11). Through the power of Pilate, he says, the Son’s voluntary desire for suffering and the highest permission for this from the Father were fulfilled. John 18:12–14. Spira [the troop] and the captain [chief of a thousand] and the servants of the Jews brought Jesus and bound Him 1076. And [from] he said to Anna first: Caiaphas’s father-in-law, who was the bishop of that summer 1077: Caiaphas consulted with the Jews, because it was not [useful] for one man to die for the people [people] 1078 With the removal of obstacles, when Peter let go of the sword from his hand, and Christ seemed to give Himself into the hands of the Jews, although he could not have suffered and could have easily escaped, both the soldiers and their commander, and the servants with them, are carried away by indomitable rage and, as if by irresistible audacity, are kindled. Having taken the Lord who has already completely surrendered to them, they tie them in bonds, although He came to us in order to take us out of the bonds of the devil and free us from the nets of sin. They are taken “to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas,” from which we have the idea that he, therefore, was the culprit and organizer of the crime against Christ, and from him, probably, the sold out traitor demanded a crowd (servants and soldiers) to take Christ. That is why the first one is assigned to him. Thus, for the Jews and for us, in fact, it has already turned out to be true and fulfilled that they were speaking with the voice of the prophet: “Let us bind the righteous, because we do not need him” (Is. 3:10). Indeed, the Jews did not need Christ - not because He Himself was such, but because to them, who had a sin-loving and passionate mood, it seemed that He did not bring anything better, introducing the righteousness above the law and the true will of the good-loving God, offering it to knowledge without any cover, while the law did not go this way, but through shadows and riddles indirectly and only barely indicated to the listeners what could bring them benefit. Therefore, just as for those with damaged vision, perhaps, the light of the sun does not need the light of the sun, without delivering them any benefit, which is prevented by illness, and for those susceptible to a painful state of health, dishes seem to be completely unnecessary, although they can bring the desired health, so to the Jews Christ seemed somehow unnecessary, although he was the author of salvation, for salvation was not dear to them. And they sent Him bound to the bishop Caiaphas 1079. “Now there was Caiaphas, who advised the Jews that it was profitable for one man to die for the people.” So, through the cunning of Anna and the villainy of those hired for this, the sacred and holy Sacrifice, that is, Christ, is caught, and, captured in the net, is led to the culprit or leader of the unrighteous slaughter. And this was Caiaphas, although crowned with the grace of the priesthood. Thus, just as in words he is the beginning of murder, so he later turns out to be the beginning of villainy itself. After all, he accepts the bound Jesus and, as if the fruit of some of his advice and wicked plans, committed, unfortunate, this most wicked of all evils. In fact, what could be worse than wickedness against Christ? John 18:15. Simon Peter, another disciple, walked after Jesus 1080 While the other disciples, as it turns out, were frightened and immediately fled from the wrath of the murderers, “Peter” is overwhelmed by love for Christ and, driven by a strong feeling, with danger to himself, “follows” Him and looks at the outcome of the matter, and goes with him and the “other disciple” rises to equal courage with him. It was John, the truly God-loving compiler of this Divine book (Gospel). He says that it was “another student,” but does not clearly name him, avoiding suspicion of vanity and perhaps further discouraging the idea of ​​appearing better than others. After all, high feats, if they turn out to be inherent in one of the right-thinking, never reach the ears of others through their own lips. Yes, it is a very ugly thing if someone boasts not from others, but through his own lips. So the Inflower says: “Let your neighbor praise you, and not your mouth; let someone else praise you, and not your mouth” (Prov. 27:2). John 18:15. The same disciple knew the bishop and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the bishops 1081 Very prudently, he again goes so far as to remember this and does not refuse to communicate such a particular, for the general benefit. Since he intended to set out in his writing what was done and said in the “bishop’s courtyard” itself, he gave us, as it were, the necessary explanation of how he could enter there: “he was a sign,” he says, “he was” to the “bishop.” That is why, he says, he freely penetrates (there), since his acquaintance with the boss - he did not deign to name friendship - gave him unhindered access inside (the yard). So, to make sure that what happened in the courtyard is not described from the words of others, but that the compiler himself (of this description) was a spectator and direct listener of what was happening, he gave us a most useful report about his acquaintance (with the bishop). John 18:16. Peter stood outside the door. Isis, another disciple, whom we know to the bishop, and spoke to the door and brought Peter in 1082 Peter would not have hesitated to enter with ardent zeal if a maid had not been guarding the gate and had not previously made it difficult for strangers to gain access inside. And of course, it would not be at all difficult for a man to push a woman aside if this did not entail accusations of outrage. Thus, as if out of necessity, the student stops, albeit sadly, at the door, until another, thinking that he was very sad for this reason, brought him in, talking to the servant who was at the entrance and demanding to let his companion through. John 18:17. The servant of the door says to Peter: Are you food and a disciple of this Man? He says: not 1083 After our Savior Jesus Christ had already foreshadowed to Peter his future threefold renunciation and that, before the cry of the loop, he would seem to weaken in faith, the Evangelist now gives a private description of where and how this event took place. The woman posted at the gate asks if he is one of the disciples of the One who was subjected to an unjust trial. But Peter denies and seems to reject any accusation, saying “no.” And this, without a doubt, is not because he was afraid of the possibility of being taken or refused to declare the truth, but because he put the possibility of being subjected to something, even against his will, in second place and behind the desire to be with Christ. Thus, the fall was out of love, and it is in love for God that the renunciation seems to be rooted, which happened, although not as a result of correct reasoning, but nevertheless caused by the zeal to be with the Sufferer. John 18:18. The slaves and servants stood there, having created fire, as if it were winter, and I was warming myself. Be and Peter stood with them and warmed themselves 1084 Entering inside the doors and mingling with the servants, he pretends to be doing the same thing as them, although depressed by sadness and having in his heart a heavy concern so that with his sad and sad face he does not give evidence of his compassion for the Judged One and does not end up not achieving his desire. In fact, it is completely incredible to think that the disciple loved his flesh so much that even in such a difficult state of soul he began to take care of a remedy against the winter cold, but even if it were possible to use something even better, he would not have allowed this at a time when Christ was subjected to such torment. So, very prudently, he takes on the appearance of carelessness of the servants and, as if nothing at all brought him sadness, eliminates the harm (cold) of winter, so that through this he would be considered as one of those belonging to the (bishop's) house and thus avoid a (secondary) renunciation if anyone asked again. But the Savior’s word was not false, for what, without a doubt, He knew as God, He foretold this to the disciple. John 18:19. The bishop asked Jesus about His disciples and about His teaching 1085 The lawyer and teacher, to whom the Divine Sermon commanded: “Judge righteous judgment” (cf. Deut. 1:16, 16:18), with the help of a detachment of armed soldiers and many wicked servants, having seized the Lord as if some famous robber, “asks about the teaching and the disciples,” thereby indicating the absence of wines, for the Judged One knew no sin. He asks “about His teaching”: is it contrary to the Mosaic laws or is it consistent and similar to the ancient statutes and what is the purpose of His teaching - is it the desire to be guided by ancient customs or to arrange the introduction of some new and alien worship? And he did this with malicious intent, for he thought that Christ would clearly speak out against the law and, having rejected the Mosaic Law, would arouse the insolent tongue of the Jews against Himself, so that in the end He would find himself, as it were, subjected to just punishment for fighting God. After all, fighting against God was equivalent to opposition to the Divine laws, if one of the people turned out to actually do or say something like that. How a simple man is treated with Christ and the Lord of the law is considered deserving of fair condemnation for breaking the law, not remembering the saying: “He who says to the king is wicked: you are wicked” (Job 34:18). John 18:20. Jesus answered Him: I spoke boldly to the world, I always taught in the congregation and in the sanctuary [church], where all the Jews meet, and in secret I did not say anything in secret 1086 Asking, he says, about something unknown that everyone knows, would be a futile effort - and how could one still think about hiding something that should no longer be unknown? Something similar, it seems, is what Christ says in order to reject the accusations invented by the craftiness of the rulers and unskillfully composed. I think that He points to something else in these words. After all, “I”, he says, “said with boldness to the world”, that is, what was revealed to you through Moses is (expressed) through images and shadows and does not clearly teach the will of God, but gives a figurative representation of the truth and, clothed in the coarseness of the letter, does not convey knowledge of what is necessary, - and “I spoke with boldness to the world”, it was without riddles and shadows that I presented the perfect idea of good and showed a completely straight path, free from any crookedness piety towards God. “I spoke to the world,” he says, and not to the people of Israel alone, for although our teaching may not yet have become known throughout the entire universe, it will become so over time. "I always taught in the synagogue". What does this mean, is it not necessary to say? It even involuntarily forces, it seems, the representatives of the Jews to remember the following prophecy about Him, precisely what the divine Isaiah also told us 1087, as if on behalf of Christ: “I did not speak in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth” (Is. 45:19), and again: “All day long I stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contradictory people” (Is. 65:2). In fact, to speak not in secret and not in a dark place, what else could it mean than “with boldness” to conduct conversations and speak in places where there is a considerable gathering of listeners? Therefore, it very well and thoroughly leads to the recollection of the words of the prophet, so that they will know that they are wickedly judging Him who should have been the object of their hopes, for the promise belongs to the Jews, according to the word of Paul (Rom. 9:4). John 18:21. Why are you asking Me? and asked those who heard, what was said to them: Behold, these are they who know, even Reh Az 1088 He denounces the lawyers for violating the very law by which they boasted. After all, those who have not yet been convicted prematurely, as if punished, are already working unnecessarily to find crimes. Why, then, do you ask Me, he says, and call to the defense of someone who has already been subjected to violence and received punishment before being exposed? You can give another meaning to the saying. Those who already hated Me, he says, and subjected them to such terrible dishonor, even if I began to say something about Myself, they would probably not hesitate to declare it a lie. Therefore, find out from the words of others - it is not at all difficult to find witnesses who were listeners to My words. But perhaps there will be someone who will think that He who knew minds and hearts (Ps. 7:10) pointed to one of those present as possible listeners to Him. But this is not so (you need to understand). He pointed specifically to some of the servants who had truly once been amazed at His teaching. But how and when, this also needs to be said to explain the (interpreted) saying. Thus, the same again divine Evangelist reported something similar - that when our Savior Christ once explained and revealed to the Jews who had gathered the doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, the leaders of the Jewish people again began to become enraged and, carrying within themselves the fire of envy of Him, tried to remove Him. The Evangelist says this: “And the bishops and Pharisees sent servants to take Him” (John 7:32). But while our Savior was delivering a very long speech, the Jewish ambassadors began to be convinced along with all the others (listeners) and to be surprised more than anyone else who made up the crowd. The Evangelist speaks about this again like this: “The servants came to the bishops and Pharisees and they said to them: Why didn’t they bring Him? The servants answered: no man ever spoke like that. And the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also offended?” ( John 7:45–47 ). You hear how the Pharisees oppose, finding the servants already convinced and amazed. Knowing exactly this, the Savior says: “Ask those who heard: these know what I said.” Seeing exactly those who were then present here, he says “these,” or pointing out that the very servants (performers) of your wickedness were surprised at the beauty of My teaching. John 18:22. This was the only thing he said to Him, standing before the servants, hit Jesus on the cheek, saying: Is this what you answered to the bishop? 1089 Also, this, as what was to happen over Christ, was foreshadowed by the voice of the prophet: “I gave My back,” he says, “to be struck (with a whip), and My cheeks to be slapped” (Is. 50:6). And this, once foreshadowed, comes to fulfillment in the condemnation of the pride of the Jews and in the removal and destruction of the dishonor that lay upon us, since we sinned in Adam the first, breaking the Divine commandment. After all, He is dishonored for us, since He takes our sins, according to the word of the prophet (Is. 53:4), and suffers for us. Just as He accomplished the destruction of death by putting His body to death, in the same way, I believe, the slap in the face that dishonored Christ leads to the destruction of the dishonor that lay upon us for crime and sin that generates evil, for He alone, equal to all, was subjected to dishonor for all. But, I think, the whole creation would have shuddered if it had been endowed with the ability to feel this insolence, for the Lord of glory was subjected to reproach at the wicked hand of the one who struck. However, I believe that it cannot be alien to an inquisitive researcher to want to know why this impudent and all-wicked servant strangled Jesus, who said absolutely nothing rude or angry, but gave very meek answers to everything of which he was accused. But, apparently, it was not the Jewish leader himself who commanded to beat Him and attack Him with such incredible insults. And perhaps someone will suggest here a common and frequent phenomenon among servants when they, bringing to their superiors those accused of some iniquity, force them to speak as meekly as possible, and if they say anything inappropriate, then subject them to insult. But I think it was not for this reason that this fury against Christ happened then - we will find another pretext for this insolence if we pay attention to what was said before. We just said that some of the servants made the bosses sad. These were they who, when they were ordered to take Jesus, returned, having received such secrecy from Him and such astonishment before Him that they openly declared: “Never has man spoken thus.” To this, the very upset Pharisees said: “Have you also been deceived? Did any of the Pharisees or of the rulers believe in Him? But this (crowd) people, who do not know the law, are cursed” (John 7:46–49). Since therefore the words of the Savior evoked in the leaders the memory of the displeasure that arose in them against the servants - after all, the Savior presented them as witnesses of His teaching, saying: “These know what I said,” then the servant, accused by them of respect for Christ, rejecting from himself the suspicion of goodwill towards Him and, as if directing the attention of the leaders to other (thoughts), stops the speech of Christ with slaps, not allowing him to speak something that could cause harm to the impudent crowd (of people who were among) the servants (bishop's). John 18:23. Jesus answered him: if the verbs are evil, bear witness to the evil; but if it is good, why do you slay Me? 1090 He strongly accuses the servant of injustice, even if the Judged One were not glorious, for he recklessly beats the One Who was least fitting, prompted to do so not by lawless words or having any other reason for such insolence, but driven only by innate fury to brutal savagery of character. Accuse, he says, if you wish, and refute My words as unjustly spoken. If you can’t do this, why do you finally beat the one who uttered innocent words? This is the generally accepted and ordinary meaning of this passage. But, in my opinion, this saying has a slightly different meaning. Perhaps He exposes the servant of the greatest injustice, not because he simply hit, but because after his previous surprise before the Teacher, without any guilt now, he decided to subject him to dishonor. If, he says, you had not once been touched by My words, if I had not been considered by you to be a most excellent Teacher and had not been recognized as some wonderful interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, if you yourself had not then exclaimed: “Never has man spoken thus” (John 7:46), - in that case there might, perhaps, have been some reason to be merciful towards your inexperience and not impute guilt for it. But since you knew and were surprised and, perhaps, he says, would not have rebelled against My words, if you had chosen to now remember your own words, then how can you consider your sin innocent? So you can understand the saying. In addition, one can see that in these words the Savior outlines for us some incomparable and supernatural image of boundless long-suffering and the idea of ​​the highest and immeasurable mercy, as if presenting Himself as a most glorious example. After all, He who had the power to destroy completely all the Jews with just His wave is subjected to slavish strangulation. And He does nothing, does not give immediate punishment to any of the offenders, since He is not subject to our weaknesses, anger and sadness have no power over Him, He is not burdened with the burden of violence, but meekly shames the one who attacked Him (the servant), saying that it is not proper to beat Him Who has not uttered anything inappropriate, and, having been subjected to the most, apparently, terrible punishments, does not forget His techniques and His teaching, for with appropriate admonition he convinces the servant of Jewish pride to move away from their recklessness in this matter, having Himself received “evil instead of good,” according to what is written (Ps. 34:12), and rewarding the dishonored with good for evil. But our Lord Jesus Christ, even though he was crushed, is long-suffering, although he is the true God and Lord of earth and heaven. And we, pitiful, “earth and dust” (Gen. 18:27), insignificant and small, like the greenery of a garden - “after all, a man is like the grass of his days, and like the flower of the field, so shall he blossom,” according to what is written (Ps. 102:15), if ever one of the brothers sins in a word and says something, even if not very offensive, we consider it necessary, like dragons, to scath him for one word we insatiably strike him with thousands of words, not showing leniency to human cowardice, not taking into account the general weakness of nature, not covering our anger with mutual love for each other, not even looking at “Jesus, the leader and finisher of our faith” Himself (Heb. 12:2; cf. Rom. 12:19), but trying to avenge ourselves, and, moreover, cruelly, although the Divine Scripture says: “The way those who hold grudges to death" (Prov. 12:26), then again: "Let not every man hold evil against his brother in your hearts" (Zech. 7:10). So, may the Lord of all Christ Himself serve us as an example of mercy towards each other and immeasurable patience, who for this purpose tells us in one place: “A student is not higher than a teacher, and a servant is not higher than his master” (Matthew 10:24). In Greek the verse was omitted, probably under the influence of the omyotheleuton from v. 15 m. in code Λ 9th century, brought by Tischend. from the East and one code. Vulg. 10. c. ed. Wordsworth, but attributed to the field, from the glory. omission Spicy and Typogr. [at Amph.]. World. and Brest. 15th century Amph.: accepts, acc. with Sir. Pesh var. ed. Pusey, probably under the influence of Art. 15. Al. zane vm. like . Sav. welcome and tell. In Greek Syn. op. the verse is probably in omyotolevton with the 14th verse, for which reason the 14th verse is also omitted. From the glory op. Simon. at Amph.? elika Const. and late but ancient and Al. very much. In Greek and glory no and, like Cyrus. in interpretation. Mst. dividing vm. for the sake of O reoh. Op. you according to one Thurs. Greek NEO Mir. Al. late but cheat. A and Mar. acc. other Greek accepts Ass. World. Brest. acc. Cyrus. and Greek λαμβάνει, but others will accept according to. other Greek λήψεται. Sav. story Ἐναϱγής, maybe it should be corrected according to Min and others. ἐνεϱγής – efficax – effective. To whom op. other Greek and Al. here: not enough. No, and before you see in O and the World. and according to rare Greek Gal. World. Zogr... Oh and like az, without and Sav. Ass. Al. Dr. Greek Thurs. not to them. like... Nek. Greek op. ϰαὶ prev. ὅτι St. Cyrus. cheat ἐγὼ as plural glory W arr. and before from student. Sav. and Ass. His disciples. Sav. in yourself, Al. to each other. Mar. Al. what is this Sav. Ass. G that this is the World. what is a hedgehog? ZG to us, others to us. World. Z op. and before you see, Peace. op. and and you'll see. Op. and before Yako As. and Karp. cheat az Mst. Al. Al. few . Oh op. the whole verse. Type. op. 17–19 Art. Ancient as well as Al. what is this as some Greek. OA World. everything that is like other Greek. Al. that this is Sav. that this is Zogr. Gal. op. What . Al. few . Oh Mar. World. don't know, Sav. Zogr. Gal. We don’t know, Al. not vemy Ass. and Good from a little to the end of the verse they omit. Cyrus. without οὖν as alone, but glory. cheat same . OA understood, Al. mind you. Al. want . Ancient and vm. his G wanthot. Sav. with the question - and you will not see - and you will see. There is no HP and you will see. World. op. both and O rekokh. Kut. question. GZ and the whole world Legal. in the 1st m. and the world is, in the 2nd the world, OS Mst. World. and peace, Mar. and peace. Legal in the 1st m. Good. Rip Al. you'll cry. Sav. op. you... burst into tears... to joy. Ass. op. Art. 20–23. Vm. ὥϱα nek. some ἡμέϱα. Al. strikes. All ancient λύπην before. through sadness and Al. vm. late and heat grief . Sav. and Al. godina, pr. year. Greek ϑλίψεως exactly in front. grief GZ Mar. Peace, but Oh Sav. sadness Sav. and when - he will come. World. Carp. to be born Al. the youth - no longer - before. Gal. adolescence vm. Human . OGZ Mar. World. and you are now [Peace. op. now]. Sav. and now you are Al. and you are already sad - your heart is different from your heart. Al. no one will take it, no one else will take it. All these th. resp. Greek options. Slav. imate resp. Greek ἔχετε, but in Cyrus. other Thu. ἔξετε. Slav. will pay accordingly ἀϱεῖ, but Cyrus. αἴϱει, resp. Greek var. All ancient Slavs: you will be sad. Al. and late sadness imate . Nothing Al. vm. nothing ancient Vm. that ancient what . Cyrus. without yako like some Greek. and OSAG, others with Yako Mar. World. Al. from father O Mir. Mar., father ASZG Al. Op. your Sav. You can’t pray in SG, for nothing. O filled with others will be fulfilled, Al. to be fulfilled: Ass. beginning with amen. Vm. cheso ancient Al. and late eliko and elika. Slav. cheat in my name after my father acc. one Greek Slav. ask, but Greek. bud. ask . Al. on this day - very often. World. from me vm. me. Siya Al. other si S. se . Cyrus. op. but the agreement is coming. one Greek ZAN, other reading. Oh Mar. World. Al., and G will come as Sir. sch. About the coming, others will come, Al. is coming. Late hour, but ancient. time, without hesitation, Al. boldness, late java. With the behavior of As. I announce. Al. as if not yet compatible. Thurs. ὅτι code. 9th–10th century vm. ὅτε. In 27 Art. op. Az OAZ Mir., Read. From Mar. Al. In N like . Vm. Izidokh OG Mst. Al. Izid – yd – SAZ Mar. World. Carp. N. Al. on this day - ask - zane. World. I beg you. Vm. izidoh - priidoh G Mst. O isid - come - AS Mar. World. N. In A and Izid from God [so Zlat.] and came. With op. isid [nek. lat. op. died from God and Sir. syn.]. Arr. Usually the whole world is AZGN. Legal s . Greek some cheat. others don't cheat. αυτω. Slav: but parables do not speak. Some other things, Al. late wemy. Z and Al. not a single one. Al: they say - with boldness - demand imashi - Nek. You came YUDTB at Amph. acc. Greek rare Thurs. ἐλήλυϑας vm. ἐξήλϑες. Ancient author. op. νῦν in 32 Art. and 31 art. not mark question. hour Al. vm. year ancient goes from Jur. Type. and some other vm. OAS Mar is coming. 3 World. N. Al. To the World. come vm. come. acc. Greek you'll be angry about the world. Yu Karp. Al. vm. AS Mar will burst out. ZGN. in its own - and AYUN vm. own other Al. and me. Here at Kir. and to the point. second: ἔχετε, as the most ancient and the author. codd. and more minus. Sire. on foot and Hercules Copt. Italian no. Vg. no. from glory – St. Al. exactly: sorrow imathe. But by 6:21 ἔξετε with D and min. Mn. Italian more Vg. more Ef Go Sir. syn. Cyprus Gil. and all the ancient words: you will be sorrowful OAZ Mar. World. N, be sad. SG Mst. Slav. ce Type. Good this Al. si etc. world 1st OA [world] NW World. N Al. world Peace. peace G Al. in the world OS Mir. Al., all over the ZN world [AG world]. world 3rd OS, all over the world. or the world AZG Mst. whole world N. world Mar. World. Al. [world] before az approx. like S Ostrozh and later. And az bo. In ancient Slav. the world and the world do not differ in spelling, but in some way. in arr. whole . Cyrus. ἐπάϱας – εἶπεν, others ἀνέϱε ϰαὶ εἶπεν and slav. erected and spoke, Ass. World. Legal vzved, Al. move up. Zogr. and Al. hour , other hour . Cyrus. ἱνα ϰαὶ, slav. yes and, but auto. without and as the World: yes Son. Al. exactly: your Son, your other Son, like O, but your other. Al. like, others like. And Al. N everything is in. all sorts of other things. D T all the same, Al. eternal life vm. other belly in . or belly in . The coincidence with reading the code is noteworthy here. D: εχη, vm. δώσει, with the omission of αὐτοῖς. Slav. behold, some: eternal belly, others: belly in. Al. eternal life Al. and later: sent, ancient: ambassador. Now. Jesus Christ resp. ancient: iskhsa or nskha under titles, Nick: nsous christa. Al. correct: isahsa. Performed - ἐτελείωσα, like many and famous, but authoritative. and Kir. in comm. and to 15:8: having completed – τελειώσας. Cyrus. cheat αὐτὸ and in 15:8, as some. not much, but nice. no cheat Al. exactly: I am you, others: I glorified you. O and Yur: created, but others are more precise: accomplished. Cyrus. τὸν ϰόσμον εἶναι, but no. γενέσϑαι τ. ϰ. or τ. ϰ. γ. - you, father, agree. Greek G Mar. World. Al., but other op. You . Al. at home, Sav. op. Al. exactly: before you even had peace, others: before you even had peace. At the end of the verse you have Cyrus. and to 3 and 17:1. and slav., but others after εἶχον. St. Cyril adheres to the Alexandrian reading of John 1:18, that is, instead of “Son” we read “God”. See note. to this verse. Your name is Al. acc. Cyrus. and author. vm. Thy name D. It. Vg. and other glories. and also Const. Al. and late vm. ancient even and hedgehog. Sav. Your name is revealed. Ostrom. observosha, Al. observe . Ancient no. everything is great Kir. παϱά σοι and in interpretation, according to no. some vm. σοῦ author. Verbs, as they are now. vm. ancient also known as Al. - Al. true, vm. etc. in truth. Ambassador Ostrom. Sav. Ass. Zogr. vm. sent you to others Greek πεϱὶ αὐτῶν, but glory. all: about these. About everything, this is an addition to them. in 11th century ADS. - about those same ancient words. but ZYuDT about these, Ass. not a hedgehog, Al. but about them - zane. Gal. I beg Vm. I pray for the second one. Ancient aka Peace. Nick. hedgehog, but Const. Al. and late theirs. Sav. I pray to you. Al. exactly: there is a vm. others all: the essence. Al. and already vm. others to whom . Al. and you... and az. Sav. a si . Yur: in this world, As. in this world according to no. Greek Good Type. I'm coming, Sav. I'll come. St. Cyrus cheat ᾧ [attraction to ὀνόματι vm. ὅ] acc. more author., vm. οὕς, like D2, some. It. Vg. Goth. Copt. Ef. Epiph. But many It. Zlat. Gil. and Sir. syn. op. until the end of the verse. Ancient “I will keep Thy name even,” As. Gal. World. Nick. in – hedgehog. Cyrus. as we agree more auto vm. and we are many others. and glory OSA Mar. World. G. Slav. approx. in the world [A: in this, N: in everything] as plural. and sire. syn. Sav. op. with them . Slav.: in Your name - not corresponding. Greek Ancient I am Vm. them, even [World. Nick. e – hedgehog] reading οὕς, like some vm. ᾧ like others and Cyrus. [those. in the name that ... cf. to Art. 2nd]. After saving Kir. cheat them, like Ass. I, World. Nick. e. Words: ᾧ δέδωϰάς μοι op. Greek syn. and sire. syn. Mn. Greek op. and before no one else. Al. and not a single one of them perished, op. not before destruction Gal. World. etc. don't die. Legal Good at Amph. death - exactly vm. disastrous dr. Al. Yes, the scripture will be fulfilled - for sure. Legal Good in Amph.: let the scripture come to an end, all others: let the books come true. Sav.: I’ll come right away. I'm coming. That is, on His part, He helped Judas to save him. Instead of διασῶσαι, Pusey suggests reading διασώσας, but you can also read διασώσαι ἄν. Cyrus. ἐν αὐτοῖς, as in the interpretation in one place according to. many Greek, but in other places according to. author: ἑαυτοῖς – and glory: in oneself. Ancient and Al. I am Vm. their late Ancient and Az acc. var. and Vg., but Al. without and acc. author. AGN as usual approx. all and everything before the world and the world. World. op. me and cheat. I hate you. End of verse with like op. no. and Sir. syn. World. does not have e [vm. I etc.] after stir. Al. and Kut. from the evil one vm. ancient and heat from hostility. Nek. ϰἀγώ and glory. like Az OSG Mar. World. N, others acc. author. like az. Nek. Greek I am not from the world, just like glory. These words are not read. in the author., but in St. Cyrus. they exist both in the interpretation of this [one πάτεϱ, apparently] and in the interpretation. 18–19 Art. Pus. 723, 14–15, Aub. 990. d [also without ἅγιε] and to 25 art. Pus. 3, 9, 9–10, Aub. 1006. p. [πάτεϱ ἅγιε], - they read. in one Greek Code. D. at Did. Sire. on foot and Pers. [one πάτεϱ]. Τήϱησον and to the point. There are 25 of these verses, but to 18–19: ἁγίασον, acc. author. glory Holy Kut. sanctify them. In Thy truth Al. and Kut. vm. in truth ancient [your approx. Mar. and World], Pandas. your truth, but Cyrus. here without σοῦ and further in the interpretation as one, but further in the same interpretation ση and to Art. 18–19 and 25 σοῦ, like other Greek. Ancient: you sent me as an ambassador. Al. late and now: you sent. Ancient: I vm. their . Ancient for nya and for not vm. for them. Ac. I consecrate. Ancient Ostrozh to himself. and late In ancient yes there will be you too. they, acc. Cyrus. and one Greek reading, but now. and late Yes, and they will agree. other Greek Ancient and heat sacred to the truth. Sav. approx. Father after me, and omission. and before they . Ἐν ᾧ ϰαὶ δἰ οὖ τὸ ἁγίαζον ἐστί τε ϰαὶ πϱόεισι Πνεῦμα. Ac. op. same Mar. op. about before the believers. You. I pray and pray to you. only, and Yur. Good Type. united O and others in their word, but Sav. and Ass. in words Jur. words, Sim. My words, Brest. for their words, Al. words for their sake. Gal. op. and before the believers. Sav. in Your name vm. in Mya. Ac. Mar. World. Gal. Nick. Yes, they are all one; the rest will be Ass. Just like you agreed. no. Greek Oh Mar. cheat and the world Ass. and the whole world. Al. in naya. Vm. Ancient people will believe. has faith according to Thurs. πιστευση, but Al. believes according to other Thu. Everything is ancient. Ambassador, Al. late you sent. Sav. op. and before az. Drevneslav cheat. and before we agree. It. Vg. and no., but Al. no cheat Al. cheat after all, Const. and late esmy, esm, heat. esma acc. Greek var. Ancient cheat and before I agree. no. Vg. and It., except Mar. Sav. World. Al. - let Al know. vm. Yes, others understand. All glory is read. and before will understand according to. Greek var. Sav. op. may the Ancient One understand. ambassador without you. Ancient: I have loved you. Ancient as well as [acc. Vg.] you loved me, As. love - but Good. and Al. op. and before me Al. me vm. ancient me. Vm. you are cheating in me. you ancient [Mar. Ti s ъ above the line], but Yur. Al. Const. and late You . Ancient even vm. late theirs according to Thurs. οὓς, but the World. Mick the hedgehog according to other Thu. ὅ. Al. where is more Russian? than ide, and therefore better. Al. and they, in Greek. Cyrus. and others ϰαι αὐτοί others ϰἀϰεῖνοι, – others: and ti, Sav. and si. Al. zane vm. like . Gal. as well as the world and Yu. vm. peace. Legal op. my acc. no. Greek Legal began the world vm. addition of the world. And before the world op. S and Mar. acc. no. Greek Sav. I don't know. Cyrus. cheat αὐτοὶ vm. οὕτοι – error. Ancient ambassador, but Al. and late you sent. Al. and one evang. 15th century at Amph. op. Knowing you is a mistake. Ancient and Al. Love, Nick. love, Sav. Carp. love. Ancient se, si, Al. this. Ancient and Greek no cheat and before this. Zoe Jesus acc. other Thu. flow O A Mar. GNAl. but 3 islands. Sav. World. outflow. A Mar. N vrat [as now. at 19:41], OG vrtp, With Sim. grad, Jur. Good Type. Mst. Al. fences, World. Const. late Vratograd. Al. where . Greek var.: τῶν ϰέδϱων and Cyrus. and slav., others τοῦ ϰέδϱου, others τοῦ ϰέδϱών – correct. Op and before Judas OZG Mir., and others read. acc. Greek var. World. and one 15th century. at Amph. vedeashe bo Judas, Const. Al. and late betray him accordingly. Greek ὁ παϱαδίδους αὐτὸν, but others like him [and] betrayed him, but Ass. op. and the next that . Al. Zane – tamo. Al. OS many times, A Mar. World. GN multiplied. It's all ancient. vm. poor. Kyiv. and now. Greek οὖν. Cyrus. here is the cheat. παϱαλαβών – rare reading. but against Nestorius λαβών resp. author. lamps OA Mir. Mst. Al., luminaries Mar. ZGN, Sav. op. – Jur. Let's drink the peoples, Al. lamps - exactly vm. friend: with lights. World. weapons, etc.: weapons. Greek οὖν and δε, glory. With everything going on Sim. everything going on Jur. Mst. in all that is coming, the others are as they are now. Cyrus. cheat ἐξήλϑε ϰαὶ λέγει, like some, but glory. out speech – ἐξέλϑων εἶπεν like others. Ost and ishd. Cyrus. Ναζωϱαῖον, Nazorea OGZ Mar., like some and Vg., but others Ναζαϱηνόν and Sav. World. Mst. Nick. Al. [Sav. 9 tbsp. Nazarene] - nazo [a] Ryan. Al. verb. Ass. Judas agreed with them. no. [Gal. answered and decided]. Al. and Ev. 15th century at Amph. betray Him, others like [and] betray without Him. When is it warm? and Kyiv., but ancient. like or yes like Al. like wretchedness. Al. speech to them, as agreed. Cyrus. and one in Greek, but others without acc. Friend. Thurs. Ancient: Idosha - fall and I go - I will fall on the ground and on the ground. In the text: the prophet Jeremiah - probably erroneously. - "Ed". Vm. too late in ancient times same . Sometimes they are alone, sometimes others. Al. leave it - exactly, vm. ancient don't do it. Al. otiti. Al. exactly: yes, not a single one of them will be fulfilled. Ancient: no one else from them. Drevn: I, e, even vm. them, theirs, Al. Siya vm. these . In the text Cyrus. ὠτίον acc. one, but to the point. ὠτάϱιον acc. etc. About having vm. other owned . Ac. servant of the bishop, respectively. other Thu. Sav. corresponding to the slave. var. Legal strike Kut. truncate. Al. after take it out . OG Mst. AZ Mar. Malchus, Peace. N Malech, Sav. Malkh Al. Malchos. Mst. Malach. Ancient same, new poor. Al. Petrou, Nick. Petryu, others Petrovi Al. Carp. invest, Sav. return it, etc. stick it in. Kut. sword, etc. knife. Cyrus. cheat their acc. no. Greek from glory Sav. Carp. [your] in the sheath Al., in its place Sim. into the spoon Kut., into the scissor[s] other Cyrus. cheat αὐτῆς acc. no. gave mi Al. Mst. [to me], yes Peace, let others drink Mst. Am I drinking Al? Can't Sim., isn't the imam etc. Ancient Jewish, Mar. -ies. Al. - Yasha. Mar. Yasya – the whole World. Nick. more – svezashe – vedoshe. Ac. knitting weight. Nick. sephira - would be Peace. to ianne – kaiape – pa, Al. to Annan. Sl. cheat αὐτὸν – after ἤγαγον, acc. var. Cyrus. ἀπήγαγον. Al. that summer last summer. Sav. only in summer. Meeting Al. vm. The advice given by Dr. Mar. Z is kinder than vm. une[e], Al. crawls to destroy one person [resp. other Thu. ἀπολέσϑαι]. Perhaps St. Cyril read this rare addition in verse 13. One Al. resp. Greek will follow [more precisely: followed] Jesus. Al. he - to the bishop Vm. bishops and bishops Vm. bishops. Greek some: ὁ γνωστός others ὃς ἦν γνωστός, some. ἐϰεῖνος vm. ἄλλος. Ac. standing in front of the gate - goalie. Al. other acc. Cyrus, but others, respectively. other Thu. Al. Bishop Vm. -ovi etc. O S World. Nick. speech to the door [:] bring in Peter vm. and introduce Peter as a Greek. Resp. Cyrus. and others, but glory to another reader: servant Petrovi. Petru Nick. Al. Al. lithargy vm. verb. Gal. op. about Us. op. door Sav. op. from, as well as heat. contrary to the Greek Zogr. that . Al. coals - literally [a fire of coals] - zane. Slav.: Peter is with them, following other readings. Sav. creatively Sav. asked As. op. 1st his. Boldness - Al. - to the world Sav. Met Mar. Al., but others around the world. Sav. Al. learn Mar. Z S host acc. Greek, but removed A G World. Nick. - to the gatherings of O, to the gatherings of Al. [own in the synagogue]. Ac. in churches. Al. exactly in the sanctuary, other in the church-vi, As. -wah – Al. exactly: they converge [but always as plural. Greek vm. all are the author.], O are gathering, others are gathering, As. I'm getting ready. Arch. Jewish Al. secretly - exactly vm. other tai . Al. nothing vm. nothing, etc. Vm. πάλιν, perhaps we should read πάλαι - no time. Arch. ask Sav. Arch. Al. heard, others - shaya. O-sha. Sav. all vm. si, Al. ty G Sav. see, others lead. Same cheat. Arch. World. Al., but other op. [in Greek cheat]. he was told by Al. acc. Greek but glory to him: εἷς παϱεστηϰὼς τῶν ὑπηϱετῶν. Cyrus. acc. one, but other εἷς ὑπηϱετῶν παϱεστηϰώς. Al. standing alone from the servants - for sure. vm. al.: one from the upcoming servants. Ac. Sav. for Lanita. Al. exactly: das[t] strangulation [slap] isvi. Al. still vm. taco. Nick. Bishop Vm. others – ovi. Sav. talk about goodness with G. listen to Arch. Met Legal – mail Arch. - also Al. resp. Greek vm. whether others You might be interested in: