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John 8:44–45. You are of your father the devil and want to do the lusts of your father: he is a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, for there is no truth in him 628. (When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own people, for he is a lie, just as his father was: But I have told you the truth, you do not believe Me) 629 With all fairness, having removed them from kinship with Abraham and denouncing them as having no resemblance to his morals and having moved away from piety towards God himself, and, moreover, explaining the reason for their inability to listen to His words, he again shows who most justly and most naturally should be called their father. “You,” he says, “are of nature from the father of the devil,” who, he says, “was a murderer” in the beginning, “and does not stand (resist) in the truth; he is a liar,” - he has a liar and a father, whom he clearly defined in the following words (and indicated) who it is. Contained in a few words, this sentence has great ambiguity and requires especially precise research, because the conversation about this differs in depth and, I believe, is incomprehensible to many. As for the simplest and most understandable (literal) meaning, no one else is identified as the father of the Jews except Satan, who fell from heaven. But the following words, as if about this father defined for them: “because there is a liar, just like (ϰαϑὼς ϰαί) his father” 630, somewhat confuse us and even make us a lot perplexed. About whom, in fact, speaking sensibly, can we assume that he was the father of the devil? Has anyone else fallen before him, to whom this second would be likened in appearance and morality? Indeed, it is impossible to provide passages from the Holy and Divine Scriptures to prove this. And what is not said in the Inspired Scriptures is by no means acceptable to faith 631. On the contrary, every spirit among demons is called (and appears as) the offspring of the devil Satan, according to what our Savior Christ said: “But if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself” (Matthew 12:26). But we know one of the others, preeminent and supreme, - this is the one to whom it was said through the prophet Ezekiel: “You are an imprint of likeness and a crown of beauty, born in the sweetness of the paradise of God, you are clothed with every costly stone” (Ezek. 28:12-13). Who else, therefore, without fear of error, should we assume according to which this one is imprinted, I mean similarity in depravity? Some of the ancient interpreters, in explaining this passage, beautifully argued that that original Satan, who is considered the leader of all other demons, is bound, as it is said, by the power of God (Matt. 12:29; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6) and was thrown into Tartarus itself for punishment for his insolence against God, and after him some other one appeared, similar to his father in abominations, the current prince of this age (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; Matt. 9:34, 12:24; Eph. 6:12 and others), and that it is about him that the Savior says that “he was a murderer from the beginning and because he is a liar, like (ὥσπεϱ) his father.” Although at first glance this explanation seems very simple and natural, the first thing that prevents us from agreeing with it is this. From the time of the coming of our Savior, the dominion of the devil began to fall and evil and unclean spirits began to be sent into the abyss. So, the demons, approaching Him, asked: “Do not command us to go into the abyss,” as it is written (Luke 8:31). We remember that they uttered a great cry about this, saying: “Leave what to us and to you, Jesus of Nazareth? We know You, Who You are: the Holy One of God, came here before the time to torment us” (Mark 1:24; Matthew 8:29). The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ had come to strike and crush them in various ways, no doubt, they themselves knew from the great rumor about Him among the Israelites, but they accused Him of the untimeliness of His coming, arrogantly and maliciously blaming the time of His appearance. However, “before the time” they do not speak at all as having been subjected to torment at some other time, but as awaiting one time of coming, in which they, without a doubt, had to suffer what they expected. To this we will say this: if, while he is bound, according to the interpretation of some, someone else has deceived Adam and has not yet stopped the rage of which he is accused, then the first will be completely innocent in relation to us, he will justly be freed from all guilt, he has not killed anyone, has not deceived, has not deceived - and the words of God will not justly apply to him: “Just as a garment stained with blood will not be clean, so you will not be clean, because the earth He has destroyed mine and killed my people” (Is. 14:19–20). If, therefore, we assume that now the one who is called the first is not involved in the listed atrocities, then who, we must determine, does the second after him imitate or whose image does he bear, surpassing his leader in villainy and having even cruder traits of badness than him? Perhaps it would be interesting to enter into a more extensive study of this subject, but we consider it unnecessary to dwell too much on something for which we do not (now) have much need. So, we must turn to another interpretation and carefully examine whom Christ appoints to the Jews as their father, their one-equal and like-minded father, whose father should rightly be considered the demon, that is, the well-known evildoer Satan. Thus, the Lord refers them (the Lord by father) to Cain, who was the first of all people to be convicted of dislike for the chaste (Abel) and after that Satan turned out to be the beginning of envy, murder, deceit, lies and delusion, of whom (Satan) in all fairness he can be called a son as having imprinted in himself the whole image of his wickedness. After all, just as God is considered the father of every saint and righteous person - the beginning of the sanctification and righteousness of all, in the same way, I think, in the same way, Satan - the beginning of all villainy - should rightly be considered the father of every villain. And since Cain was given to the Jews as a father, and Cain himself was given Satan, according to what we have said, then, following the words of them themselves (Cain and Satan), we will again try to clearly prove: firstly, that Satan rebels against the reproofs of God, then - that he is a deceiver and a liar, finally - that he is a murderer out of envy; and having shown Cain to be of one mind and of the same mind with him (Satan), we will then transfer the speech to the third party - to the Jews, who have in themselves the whole image of his (Cain's) badness. As if not recognizing his dignity as honorable, but desiring a much higher nature and not preserving the boundaries of his rank, Satan was overthrown and fell, as if exposed through this from God and for learning to know the measure of his nature. But due to his stubbornness, having received no benefit from this, he began to suffer from even worse depravity, not caring at all about the desire to correct his mood, but trying to remain, as it were, in the immobility of his depravity. When the first man was created by God, according to the narrative of Moses, and continued to keep the commandment given to him in paradise, I mean about the tree, Satan was the first to be inflamed with envy, being, as it were, convicted of his crime and disobedience (to God) by the first-created ones, while they were still keeping the commandment given, and with ingeniously woven seductions he tried to entice them to disobedience. Knowing what should follow for neglecting the decrees of the Great King, he convinces them to do this and thereby plunges those who have not caused him any harm into extreme disasters. That Adam’s crime was indeed a matter of the devil’s delusion and envy, and through him (the crime) death came, this will be taught both by the nature of the subject, and will be shown with all clarity by the following saying of the wise Solomon: “God did not create death, but through the envy of the devil, death entered the world” (Wis. 1:13, 2:24). Here is a clear speech about him (Satan). Then let Cain speak before us second. He was the firstborn of Adam, a farmer by occupation. His second was Abel, but he was a sheep shepherd. Since the natural law, without teaching, imparts knowledge of the Creator, commanded them to make sacrifices to God - for all that is good is sown and put into nature by God, then “Cain brought from the fruits of the earth,” as it is written, “and Abel brought from the firstborn of sheep and from their fats,” and God looked at Abel and his gifts, but did not heed Cain and his sacrifices (did not pay attention), - Cain was saddened (made Cain sad) and his face drooped, and the Lord God said to Cain: Why did you become sad and why did your face droop? If you did not bring fairly and did not choose fairly, did you not sin? Calm down". Then to Abel: “His loathing is against you, and you will prevail over him” (Gen. 4:3–7). So, Cain was convicted of having incorrectly divided what was sacrificed, and Abel rightly received praise and honor, which served as food for Cain’s envy. Just like Satan, he became embittered against the accusations that admonished him, and then, possessed by unrighteous envy, as we said, he pursues his brother with deceit, having already plotted an unholy murder: “Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go to another field, better than this” (Gen. 4:8), and he, not suspecting anything, pretending to call him to a pleasant and luxurious valley, brutally and for the first time killed gave the earth a dead man in what seemed to be the thought that he would probably earn respect for himself, as he no longer had a rival. But even after the murder he lied, for when God asked him: “Where is Abel, your brother?” (Gen. 4:9), he answered: “I don’t know,” and out of great madness he immediately added: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He almost says this: You, who crowned him unjustly, what benefit did you bring to him by protecting him? So, you can already quite clearly see in him, as if accurately reflected, the whole image of the devil’s evil and a completely complete likeness of his moral appearance. Now let our speech move directly to the atheism of the Jews: by assimilating to them the similarity with the depravity of Cain, we will show that they undertook against Christ the same thing that he did against Abel, so that with complete justice and thoroughness he could be called their father. So, the firstborn was Cain, as we said, but Israel was also the firstborn by adoption among the children of God, according to what was said to Moses: “My firstborn son is Israel” (Ex. 4:22). He sacrificed to God from the fruits of the ground, but “God did not heed his sacrifices,” as it is written (Gen. 4:5). But the service under the law of Israel, according to what has been said, turns out to be earthly, through bulls, sheep and fruits of the earth - and God also does not accept this service. “Why do I,” he says, “bring incense from Sheba and kinnamon (fragrant reeds) from afar from the land?” (Jer.6:20). Likewise, with the voice of Isaiah he cries out loudly: “Who demanded this at your hands?” (Isa.1:12). Then, after Cain, the righteous Abel appears with the intention of making a sacrifice from the sheep, for after the subordinate ministry and with the cessation of the prophets, the true Righteous Christ came, sacrificing to God and the Father not the fruits of the earth, but offering Himself as a fragrant aroma to Him as an immaculate sacrifice for the life and salvation of all. And rejecting service under the law as earthly, God and the Father “heeded” the sacrifice of our Savior Christ. “Accepted” means “approved.” What else then? Cain was condemned as having divided (chosen) wrongly and, exposed, was subjected to the disease of envy, even recklessly rushing to murder. So, through the Son, God gave inspiration to the Jewish people, demanded from the Jews the best for gift-giving, commanding them to move from subordinate service to spiritual fruitfulness and urging them to change the letter to the truth. But, exposed, they are indignant, stricken by paternal envy, burning with murder, and unjustly, against our Savior Christ. Cain deceived Abel and, taking him into the field, killed him. In the same way, the Jews, as far as they themselves are concerned, deceived Christ, under the guise of a friend, sending a traitor, who, to betray Him, approached and insidiously kissed him, saying: “Rejoice, Rabbi!” (Matthew 26:49). But they brought Him out into the field, that is, outside the gate, and killed Him, for “outside the gate” (Heb. 13:12) Christ suffered for us and for us. You see from here how they are in no way similar to Abraham or his descendants, but bear the image of their own and truly befitting father. As those who suffer immeasurably from similar and related evils, they rightly hear: “You are of your father the devil and want to do the lusts of your father: he was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth (does not stand), because there is no truth in him: when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, because he is a liar, just like his father 632: But I, because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me.” . Although the saying refers to Cain, cited here and indicated as the father of the Jews, it expands to a more general meaning, for by the power of His words the Lord does not limit it only to morals, but relates it to everything similar to it, applying the particular property of one to everything similar. So, when Cain, it is said, or another liar like him, speaks a lie, then he speaks from his own affinity (from his own nature). In what he learns from his leaders and from the founder of evil, turning lies as if into a natural need, he imitates his father, for he speaks lies. Therefore, he says, if his father turned out to be a false lover, he, as if by natural laws, is drawn to his grandfather’s and father’s ignobility, in himself he shows their badness and, making the depravity of his ancestors an illustrious example of his morals and life, he is, of course, distinguished by his own vices. If this usually happens and the depravity of the ancestors, reflected in their descendants who are the same as them, imparts to these latter the name of those children, then what prevents you from believing Me, who speaks the truth, because it was from the True Father that I was born, and not from anyone, as you impiously imagined, from the earthly, through fornication and unlawful cohabitation? The Lord could have used such words against the Jews. But you need to know that among people or intelligent spirits, kinship is the similarity that they have in morals and life with each other and with the father of all evil, the devil. Only in relation to the Only Begotten is the essence of the matter taken into the image of what is contemplated, since He is a completely complete image (of God the Father) and His one-nature with the Father is natural and essentially. Being truly from Him and having with Himself, together with natural properties and perfect likeness in all things, everything that He (the Father) has, He turns out to be the image, reflection and mark of His Parent. Therefore, if the Father is true, then the truth, of course, is also the One who is (born) of Him, that is, Christ. John 8:46. Which of you accuses Me of sin? 633 This is not a question of one who expects reproof, but, on the contrary, one who destroys and completely denies the possibility of falling into sin to the One who is the True God revealed from God, for “Christ did not commit sin” (1 Pet. 2:22). Every sin receives its origin as a result of a change from the better to the worse - it is generated in creatures that are subject to change and are capable of moving to the wrong. How can one imagine Him as sinning, Who does not know change and is incapable of moving on to anything inappropriate, but, on the contrary, invariably remains in His innate blessings, moreover, not from anyone else, but from Himself? So, the Lord asks the Jews whether they can even expose Him to sin? This reasoning, understood in a general sense, must, of course, extend to any sin in general. But, in addition, applying it properly to the subject of speech, we note that he does not ask about every sin in the present case and does so in anticipation of reproof, but we reason about it this way: always especially trying to shame the sin of the Jews, He did not want through this to again arouse them to the same accusations that we talked about earlier, namely: “We do not stone You for a good deed, but for blasphemy and because You are a man.” being, you make yourself God” (John 10:33). This also included the violation of the Sabbath, for which He was considered a great transgressor of the law. So, in this case, lying is called a sin. If I, he says, cannot at all be exposed as a liar, then why did you decide not to believe Me, Who is always true and says quite clearly that He was born of the True Father and that He knows no lies? Finally, give power to the undoubted faith that I, of course, am true when I say about Myself: “I proceeded from the Father and came” (John 8:42), and about you that your father is the devil (John 8:44), for you are liars and murderers just like him. He accuses them of murder for the good purpose of preventing their plans through this. He often resorts to repetition when he sees that his listeners do not understand Him. It is a very appropriate thing for teachers not to be lazy in any way they can to reveal a thought that is not immediately understood in order to implant it in the souls of their listeners. So, “when a liar,” he said, “speaks a lie, (he) speaks from his own, for (he) is a liar, like his father.” Why, without thinking and without doing something related to what was said (by Me), do you “not believe” Me, who speaks “the truth,” so that I appear (as if) speaking against the truth, although I am just as true as the Father? Apparently, the Jews here are accused of the fact that they cannot contain the words of truth because they are not the sons of truth. They falsely call God their father when they say: “We have one Father, God,” for God, being entirely truth, rejoices in the truth and desires that those who worship Him should worship “in truth and spirit” (John 4:24). On the contrary, the children of truth willingly accept what is related to it, that is, the truth. “You do not believe” Me, who speaks “the truth,” because you are not the sons of truth. The Lord, it seems to me, is saying something here to the Jews that can be clearly seen when applied to someone else. For example, a chaste person can address a dissolute son or servant or neighbor with the following speech: if, condemning fornication, I seem to you to be chaste and completely remove suspicion of this vice from myself, then why don’t you listen and believe my words that this is a bad and nasty thing? He will not, of course, answer such a question in denial, but, pointing out his disobedience, it will clearly expose him that, indulging in debauchery, he does not follow the exhortation to chastity. We should think the same about the Jews when Christ said: “If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?” Questions of this kind always presuppose the consciousness of those being asked, which serves to expose them to the fact that they do not have exactly what is required of them. Pay attention also to what does not say unconditionally and generally: “Why do you not believe Me?” – but also added “you”. This indicated the most ferocious unbelievers and the fact that there could be some with a more noble way of thinking and in their morals who did not retain the exact traits of Cain’s immorality, but strived to become children of God. One should, I believe, think that not all Jews without exception were plunged into uncontrollable madness, but there were some who had “zeal for God,” as Paul says (Rom. 10:2), “but not according to understanding,” and therefore were somewhat slow in faith. Among those who are so inclined, we must blame especially those who were inflamed with anger and uncontrollably rushed to murder, especially the wicked scribes and Pharisees. It is to them that the words are directed most of all: “Why don’t you believe Me?” - for Christ especially imparts immeasurable unbelief to them. After all, they were leaders and convinced their subordinates to contribute to their atrocities. Therefore, they are rightly accused of taking the key of knowledge, but they themselves did not enter, and they hindered others (Luke 11:52). So, the word "you" has a special and preferential reference to leaders. John 8:47. He who is from God will listen to the words of God: for this reason you will not listen, for you are not from God 635 In the expression “from God” it is not appropriate to see an indication that there are some born, as it were, from His being, which is absurd. But it cannot be understood in the sense of Paul’s saying: “All things are from God” (2 Cor. 5:18), that is, since He is the Creator and Maker of everything, the divine Paul says that all things are from Him. Therefore, this saying of the Lord cannot be understood in such a way that all good and bad come from God, since He is the Creator of everything. The expression “from God” indicates one who, through virtue and a life consistent with the law, is likened to God and is honored, as it were, with affinity with Him, which is why God places such people among His children. So, “he who is from God,” he says, will quickly and willingly accept Divine words, for what is related is always somehow sweet and close. And whoever is not from God, that is, who does not at all respect closeness to Him, will not listen with pleasure to the Divine words: goodness does not easily take root in bad people, they do not have a worthy competitive attraction to virtue, since their mind is filled with extreme depravity and strives only for its own will. When Christ says: “He who is from God hears the words of God,” then let no one think that he is commanding us to assimilate Divine words with bodily hearing alone, for which of the people, no matter how bad he may be, would not be able to hear all kinds of speech, unless the sense of hearing is taken away from him due to illness? The word “hears” is used here instead of “sympathizes, listens and hides in his mind,” according to what is said in the book of Proverbs: “A wise man in heart will accept the commandments” (Proverbs 10:8). Like some obscure sound or blow, having rushed past and needlessly disturbed the ear, the word disappears from the hearts of the unreasonable and proud; on the contrary, it enters the hearts of the reasonable as into fruitful arable land. Very clearly exposing the madness of the Jews and revealing their shameless slander, the Lord says that His words are the words of God. He teaches them to think about Him in the proper way - not to consider Him to be really born of Joseph or anyone else on earth, but to believe that He appeared from the being of God the Father as God from God, which, having understood, they are indignant and inflamed with the strongest rage, adding “iniquity to their iniquity,” as it is written (Ps. 68:28), through which they inflict even greater insults on Him. John 8:48. The Jews answered and decided to Him: Do we not say well, for you are a Samaritan and free from demons? 636 This stupidity of the Jews and excessive stupidity again deserves tears. They are caught by their own voices, like animals when they rush at hunters and fall into their knives. Convicted of the fact that lying is common and characteristic of them, they immediately prove the truth of this accusation and become furious when they hear from the Savior that they are not from God. And without any interval of time they reveal in themselves the most accurate image of the devil’s evil. They dare to call God, who appeared from God, a Samaritan and a demoniac, while they themselves, on the contrary, have within themselves a fierce and God-fighting demon, for no one will say: “Anathema Jesus,” except by Beelzebub, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor. 12:3). So, here too they turn out to be liars, proud and scolders and, as those who are accustomed to fighting God, will receive a fitting punishment from the Almighty Judge. One should again look here for the reason why the Lord is called a Samaritan and a demon. The words they prefaced: “Are we not speaking well,” make it clear that for some reason they scold Him as a Samaritan, and dare to call Him another (possessed). They call Him a Samaritan because He was indifferent to the commandments of the law and did not count the violation of the Sabbath as anything. After all, Judaism among the Samaritans was incomplete; their cult was somewhat mixed with foreign and Hellenic customs. Or for another reason they call Him a Samaritan, precisely because the Samaritans used to falsely boast of their purity and condemn others as defiled. Under this, I suppose, pretext, “Jews do not communicate with Samaritans,” as it is written (John 4:9), they also refuse to communicate with some others, turning away in some way from the defilement that results from this, since this chatter seems fair to them. Condemning the evil behavior of the Jews, the Lord called them sons of the devil, but Himself innocent of sin, testifying to His complete purity in the words: “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (above, John 8:46). In these words, He clearly attributes to Himself the most perfect purity due to the impossibility of falling into sin, and calling the Jews children of Satan, He condemns them as defiled and having a mind filled with all uncleanness, which is true. That is why they call Him a Samaritan, and they also call Him demonic because demons usually appropriate the honor due to God and shamelessly steal the glory of God. This is precisely, in their opinion, what Christ does when, being a man, he puts himself in the place of God in the words: “He who is from God hears the words of God” (John 8:47), thus revealing that these words of God are also His own words. Such was the pretext of the Jews for reproach, or rather, blasphemy against Him, and on such an impulse they spoke to Him the above words, which secured the eternal fire for them. I have to be surprised by them again here. Angry at the fact that they were often called sons of the devil and liars, they actually show the presence of this guilt in themselves, while, on the contrary, through the desire for virtue they should reject this accusation. After all, the love of swearing and calling what is not inherent in someone inherent is by no means characteristic, of course, not of those who are numbered among the children of God, but of the sons of the devil. And they, pathetic ones, not only scold, uttering lies on their own heads, so as not to say on Christ, but also claim that they do it “beautifully”, without at all realizing their depravity, which serves as proof of extreme blindness. John 8:49. Jesus answered: I am not a demon, but I honor My Father, and you do not honor Me 637 Speech is distinguished by meekness, but at the same time by greater decisiveness. He says very expressively: “I don’t have a demon,” and, as if contrasting Himself with them, He reveals Himself to be free from blame for this, but on the contrary, shows that in reality this applies to them. In fact, if they really did not have a demon, then, without a doubt, they would be afraid to call Him demonic, Who through works is testified to them as God. Therefore, it is very expedient to say: “I do not have,” as if transferring this accusation to them and it is to them that they actually acquire such a state (possession). So, I, he says, “do not have,” but you obviously (have) a “demon,” but “honor” My “Father,” calling Myself God and appearing from God and claiming that I do not know sin. After all, of course, He who is from God must be God, and He who is from the Unaware of sin must turn out to be the same as He from Whom He is. Otherwise, I would have to give up contradicting you and I would not speak such lofty words about Myself. After all, there would be no honor for God if it were thought of Him that He has a son who is not God. The Father, he says, would not be honored at all if He were called the father of one who falls into sin. So, testifying to My own glory, I, he says, do not at all blaspheme, as you assume, but, on the contrary, “honor” My Parent. John 8:50. I also honor Him in another way, namely when I say with all justice about you that you are not from God, since it is not appropriate to say of those who have reached such malice and are immersed in all depravity that they are from God. God honors and deigns to be close to Himself, of course, not a liar, a scolder, a blasphemer, a proud person and an offender, not inclined to unrighteous murder, but an honest, meek, pious, God-loving and good. So, I also “honor the Father” because I place outside of communion with Him those who are subject to extreme wickedness. And you again “dishonor” the one who does this and attack His praises to the Father, so that you turn out to be wicked not only against the Son, but also against the Father Himself. After all, if I, testifying to My height, thereby “honor” My Parent, then, without a doubt, “He will be dishonored,” he says, by the one who begins to subject Him (His Son) to excessive reproach. Thus, Christ fully confirms His words and clearly reveals that He is God by nature - and through this, He says, through which the Father is honored, in the complete absence of communication with Him in the crowd of wicked people, He reveals the Jews to be completely alien to God, for what could be more wicked than such speeches of theirs? “I do not seek My glory: I am seeking and judging 638 With all clarity, these words reveal the justice of what Peter said about our Savior: “He, when reviled, did not repay abuse; while he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed justice to the One who judged” (1 Pet. 2:23). In fact, see how He, although the wicked express terrible and unbearable insults to Him, and He hears this often, and not just once, He endures with His characteristic goodness and does not at all step out of the behavior appropriate to Him, doing this as an example for us, so that, trying to walk in His “footsteps,” we would not find ourselves repaying “battle for battle,” nor any other “evil for evil” (1 Pet. 3:9) those who insult us, but, on the contrary, overcome “evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). So, “I do not seek My glory,” he says - and this turns out to be said not because he considered it safe to offend Him or encouraged anyone to reach such wickedness - on the contrary, with this He expresses the following: I came, he says, not in order to gain glory from you for Myself, or in general seeking any honor and brilliant fame about Myself, for I humbled Myself - being in the form of God and the Father, I became for the sake of you as a person like you, - did not even consider it unworthy for Himself to take on the form of a servant, having the opportunity to remain in equality with God and the Father and to possess a glory that surpasses mind and word (Phil. 2:5-11) - how else can you think of Me that I seek glory from someone, and not vice versa, I want to remain in voluntary disgrace for the benefit of others? Either this is what Christ is saying here, or in another way we can understand that He does not seek His glory. After all, He could immediately punish His offenders and carry out judgment on them for blasphemy as those who dishonored the Lord of all Himself. However, He silently endures insult and is so patient that He did not want to repay His offenders even with just one simple word. But so that wickedness against God does not seem unimportant to anyone, He considers it necessary to immediately provide some protection from this and brought out the wrath of the Father against it. Although the Son is not malicious and does not immediately take revenge for His glory (for insulting Himself), the Father, he says, will not allow this. He will be an avenger and will rise up against the detractors, not as a defender of anyone else and not out of a desire to pay tribute to the insult of one of the saints, but precisely for the sin directed against Himself. After all, between the Father and the Son there is nothing separating Them, since this relates, we say, to the identity of essence, although Each must be thought of as existing separately (personally). That is why our Lord Jesus Christ says in another place: “He who does not honor the Son and the Father does not honor” (John 5:23). The Son has in Himself naturally (by nature) the Father co-glorified and, as another, coexisting especially. Likewise, again, the Father has the Son in Himself as a sharer of essence and, thus, glory in all things. So, the unfortunate Jews will be punished for blaspheming the Lord and the Son, turning out to be wicked against the entire Consubstantial (ὁμοούσιον) and the Holy Trinity and Nature, royal over all, as having offended her in the Son. Therefore, every prudent person should renounce offending the good God in any way. One should not be negligent just because He does not immediately bring His wrath upon those who sin against Him, for He is good, “he does not bring wrath every day, but if we do not turn, He will sharpen His sword” (Ps. 7:12-14), as it is written, and will draw His bow on us, in which are the vessels of death, that is, all kinds of shame and unbearable disasters. John 8:51. Amen, amen, I say to you: if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death 639 It is unnecessary here to go into lengthy disputes with people accustomed to censure. He turns his speech to what was necessary, that is, to the calling through faith to eternal life, and, as if saying goodbye to the ignorant offenders, he skillfully constructs His speech again. Having said earlier as about God that “he who is from God hears the words of God,” he immediately continues: “If anyone keeps My word,” revealing Himself to be God by nature and thereby teaching that for the Jews there is nothing left until the last stage of wickedness, if they call Him having a demon, Who gives eternal life to those who want to “keep His word.” Indeed, is it not through this that He is known as God by nature? Who else could have the power to give life forever to those who hear words from Him, if not God by nature? And the Divine word is observed when they do not transgress the Divine commandment, but constantly and strictly fulfill what is decreed and are in no way accused of not fulfilling the Divine laws. Notice again how precise this saying is. He did not allow it to be said: “If anyone hears My word,” but: “If anyone keeps My word.” After all, not only people guilty of sin perceive the word of God by hearing, but also the wicked crowd of demons themselves. Thus, the leader of all demons, Satan, when he dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ in the desert and went against the pricks because of the great ferocity of his temper, offered Him the Divine word, saying: “It is written that His angels are commanded concerning You, to keep You in all Your ways” (Luke 4:10; Ps. 90:11). So, the word of salvation does not lie in mere hearing alone, and life does not lie in teaching alone, but in observing what is heard and in letting the Divine word serve as the rule and guide of life. And in the saying that “he will not see death forever,” the firm guardian of His words, of course, does not at all destroy the death of the flesh, but either as God does not consider death to be death, for for Him there is nothing dead, how quickly He even brings into being the non-existent and easily gives life to that which has undergone corruption, or says that the saints will not see death in the future age, which in its own sense should be considered the true age, without end, like this (age) of ours (has an end). The words that those who follow His Divine teaching will not see death in that age does not indicate that some may die after the resurrection: the death of all is destroyed by the death of Christ and the power of corruption has disappeared. But with all justice he calls eternal punishment death. You can be convinced of this by considering His earlier words: “Truly I say to you, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life” (John 3:36), although everyone will come to life and enter into life again, both believers and unbelievers, for the resurrection is by no means partial, but is the same for everyone in this very respect, that everyone will come to life. But how can one who does not believe the Son not see life, although we expect the resurrection of everyone? Everyone, without a doubt, knows that by life Christ usually means eternal life in bliss and glory, which knows no end, which is reserved in hope for the saints. Just as he who does not obey the Son, he says, will not see life, although everyone expects to be revived, indicating by this not the life of the body, but so calling the bliss prepared for the saints: in the same way, I think, the noble and courageous guardian of His Divine words will not see death, he says, forever, meaning by this, of course, not the death of the body, but the punishment prepared for sinners. Just as in that saying, bliss is indicated through life, so here is punishment through the word “death.” John 8:52. The Jews decided to Him: Now we understand, as if we had a demon 640 Again they come forward with accusations against the truth, indignant as if they were insulted by the fact that the Lord called them liars. But even against their will they testify to the truth of the Savior’s words and by doing what they think to dishonor Him, they thereby show, on the contrary, that He spoke the truth. They were blind, unfortunate ones, and had a heart filled with such insensibility that they did not think at all about the obligation to eliminate what they were accused of, but always fell into (new) vices, even more shameful than the previous ones, and were caught in their own nets. So they think to defend themselves by saying that they are not blaming Him in vain, but at the same time they are only further exposed in lies and seem to be even more strangled by the chains of their own sins. It is very reckless that they say here: “now we have learned.” After all, they often barked at Him and blasphemed Him because He had a demon, and yet they say that “now” they only “recognized”, thereby condemning their former unbridled language. After all, if only now they knew, they did not know before. How did they say that they were raging about Him Whom they did not yet know, according to their own statement? Yes, the wicked people of Judea have long been deceitful and have uttered devilish malice against Christ with unbridled lips. And to confirm their chatter, they steal the saying of our Savior Christ, thanks, as one must assume, to their great stupidity, hoping to defend the truth with lies. Then, through which they could learn that they were wickedly sinning, lawlessly offending the Giver of eternal life, through this very thing they again imperceptibly went to strengthening their illness, for they do not think that they need to repent of this, but already claim that they are convinced of the truth of their words 641 And the prophet is true when he says, “that the ways of the Lord are straight and the righteous will walk in them, and the wicked will faint in them” ( Os.14:10). And here everyone should be amazed at their incomparable madness. Seeing how with one voice the Savior crushed countless numbers of demons and evil spirits and against their will drove them out from those in whom they were, they are not afraid to say that He has a demon, although through the necessary reasoning they were convinced that Satan could not cast out Satan, for “every kingdom,” says Christ, “divided in itself, will be desolate; and every house and city divided against itself shall be desolate; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided within himself: how can his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:25–26). And then someone else will say, and quite rightly: “The people are indeed foolish and heartless, their eyes do not see, their ears do not hear” (Jer. 5:21). Neither by word or teaching do they change to desire a better way of thinking, nor with the eyes of their mind do they see Nature, which is king over all, but with excessive dishonor, as if with stones, they beat it, or rather, each one of his own soul. John 8:52. Abraham died and the prophets died, and You said: If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death 642 When the arrogant people of Judea lied to their own head, saying to the Savior: “You have a demon,” they did not want to express anything else by this, but that You make Yourself God if you transfer to Yourself the honor and glory appropriate to the Divine Nature, for this is usually for demons, as we have already spoken about in other places. They do not understand anything other than what is visible, and do not recognize God the Word in human flesh, but, without elevating their mind even a little above the bodily and establishing themselves only on earthly things, they revolve only in lower phenomena that are subject to sensory perception. For this reason, they are tempted, unfortunate ones, and think that the Truth, that is, Christ, is telling a lie - they even assume that He exalts Himself above the glory due to God if he decides to place Himself not on an equal footing with the Almighty, but thinks of Himself as something more and believes that He can, or even promises to do what God and the Father has not done. To confirm this, we should consider why they are indignant when they say that Abraham and the prophets died, and why, in order to refute the words of the Savior, they pretend to be the death of the saints. They want to say this: we are not deceived in saying that You have a demon - the proof of these words of ours is not far off - for You promise to surpass even God Himself in miracles and to easily accomplish what He Himself did not do - after all, Abraham and the prophets, although they kept the word of God, did not stand in contradiction with the laws of nature, but were subjected to and fell under this common death of the body - then You say that the guardian of Your words is not at all tastes death, how can you not thereby affirm that Your deeds are higher than His deeds, and whoever promises to surpass God is not an obvious madman? Due to their great ignorance, they think that in these words the Lord indicates only the death of the body and that He promises the immortality of the flesh to those who obey Him, although the prudent should first of all keep in mind that with God nothing dies, being quickened even if it dies. After all, if it has passed from non-existence into being, then isn’t it all the easier and more convenient for this thing that has already passed into being to be called back into being, even if it has fallen asleep for a while for the sake of the Economy? So, not knowing the glory of the Savior, the Jews seem to be puffed up over His words and call Him mad because He promised to do something great, which God did not do, and as proof of this slander they cite the death of Abraham and the holy prophets and through this they think to convict Christ of magnifying with empty words as promising to give unceasing life to those who keep His word, but destroying the glory of God by assuring to give them something greater (than God gives). John 8:53. When were You sick of our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died And here the speech of the Jews is obscured and seems to contain a hidden thought. In fact, what do they again express in these words, meaning something that, although befitting a person, is nevertheless bitter, according to their intention? Now, they say, although they kept the Divine word, Abraham and the prophets died, and from You we have just heard a promise to some of something more. After all, if You say that they will not die at all, then, without a doubt, they are higher than those named (Abraham and the prophets), precisely because they will not die. Therefore, tell us, they say, and answer us this question: are you “greater” (“You are Abraham”) and the prophets, if you promise to make others greater than those? Will You not die, while they died, but will You remain immortal, being a man and having a body from the earth? How could You give to others what You yourself do not have? After all, without a doubt, You will die, as soon as You are a man. If You are not greater than Abraham and the prophets and suffer a common death with them, then You will not be able to give to others the benefit that You do not have. Their ambiguous question has a similar idea to this. And do not be surprised that they think nothing more about Christ. As we have often and thoroughly said, they consider him a simple man and one of those like us, completely unaware of the Only Begotten God the Word united with the flesh. Therefore, they ask: “Who do you make yourself?”, thinking of correcting, due to the excessive delusion of your mind, the mistaken Lord and advising Him, as one who does not know what he should think, to think a little more modestly. After all, they say, You do not know Your nature, have forgotten about Your humanity and are not content with the measure given to You by God. “Who” are you really “making of yourself” if you promise to give something higher than the honor communicated from Him (God to man) and boldly assert that you will do something superior to His (God’s) power? Thus, they accuse Him of blasphemy and, like snakes, pounce on Him, believing that Christ should undergo just punishment for the fact that He does not honor the measure of humanity, but is so exalted and exalted that it is carried beyond the inherent glory of the Lord of all and tramples on the honor of the holy patriarchs and prophets. By proposing this question: “Who do you make yourself?”, they insidiously challenge Him to answer and already expect to clearly hear from Him such an exclamation: yes, I am greater than Abraham and the prophets, although these words of the Lord would certainly be true, since God, who exceeds all nature, both visible and spiritual, cannot stand in any comparison with humanity. John 8:54. Jesus answered: Though I myself am glorified, my glory is nothing 643 The whole purpose of the saying is directed towards the face of the holy Abraham and the prophets, but the Lord, as we see, applies its meaning to Himself due to the fact that the Pharisees were inclined, even without any pretext, to the anger of the Pharisees and every word only intensified in him the ferocious desire to kill. Envy makes those in whom it is present, prone to sin, and arouses furious anger at something that is completely inappropriate. Christ again wanted to express something like this: the Jews attacked and in every possible way opposed His words, making abundant use of blessed Abraham and the prophets for this and clearly proclaiming: “Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died and the prophets died” (John 8:53). In addition, they later accused Him of exceeding the glory of the saints and exalting themselves above them, saying: “Who do you make yourself?” The Lord should have clearly defended himself against this and said before everyone: yes, I am greater and higher than Abraham and the prophets - but a wise Jew would not have endured such a speech - he would have immediately been indignant at this and, appearing to have love for the Father and hiding behind the defense of the glory of the saints, would have attacked Christ even more ardently and would have begun to seem rightly harboring murderous intentions against Him. That is why the Lord, transferring the words to Himself, says: “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing.” As if he were saying this: let none of those who exist on earth think great things about themselves, for if we want to reason within ourselves about what the glory of man is, we will find it non-existent: “All flesh is grass and all the glory of man is like the flower of the field” (Isa. 40:6) - nothing, he says, therefore it is not surprising that Abraham and the prophets after him died, for what is the glory of man? when his nature is under the power of death and decay, likening grass that easily withers? Having skillfully applied to himself the measure inherent in Abraham or the prophets and saying: “My glory is nothing,” it seems that this brings to the memory of Judaea what Abraham clearly said about himself: “I am earth and dust” (Gen. 18:27) and that the blessed prophets cried out to God: “Remember that we are dust” (Ps. 102:14). In view of this, we, of course, will not say that he who glorifies the saints diminishes their glory. But it was finally necessary, and the benefit of the word called for Him to show what difference His Divine and ineffable nature has from those subject to death and corruption. John 8:54. There is My Father, glorify Me To accurately clarify and reveal the meaning of this saying, I will use the same words and use the same expressions. As an irresistible proof and an irresistible argument, the Jews always pose the question: “Are You really greater than our father Abraham, who died, and the prophets died, who do You say Yourself are?” They were truly convinced that He Himself would die and undergo death and corruption, and in this respect would no longer be greater than Abraham and the holy prophets - and in general they did not think anything great about Him at all. In view of this, our Lord Jesus Christ finally considers it necessary to show that He, as existing from the eternity of the Parent (descended from the eternal Father) and Himself is eternal. Therefore he says: “There is My Father who glorifies Me.” The word “is” must be understood here not in a simple and ordinary sense, but as an indication of the existence of the Father. And the Son, born inexpressibly from the existing Father, without any doubt, possesses this property of His Parent, that is, existence. That is why He is higher than Abraham and the prophets. They died like earthly beings from mortal fathers. And incomprehensibly He who came from the existing (Father) is always glorified from His Father, not as needing glory, for He is the King of all glory (Ps. 23:10), but as having the advantage of being born of the eternal Father and therefore being eternal and Himself, essentially possessing the dignity of the Parent. Thus, there is no obstacle to representing the glory of the Son of God and calling the Father His glory, since the Father Himself is glorified in the same way from the Son, not as needing glory, but since it is considered and has the glory to be recognized as the Father of such a Son, that is, the same as He, God. That is why the Son Himself speaks to the Father: “Father, glorify Your Son, that the Son also may glorify You” (John 17:1). So, human glory is complete nothingness. Everything earthly is subject to death, and precisely according to the body, although it will rise. But the Only Begotten is glorified from His Parent as having, along with all other benefits, the property of His being. And what is the difference between Him and all creation, this is shown to us in a few words by the blessed Psalmist: “The heavens will perish, but You will remain, and they will all wear out like a garment, and you will change them like a garment, and they will change, You are the same, and Your years will not cease” (Ps. 102:27-28). Everything created is perishable, and if it has not yet decayed, it is because it is contained for this purpose by the Divine will, but God is incorruptible and eternal by nature, possessing this not by the will of another, like a creature, but always abiding in his goods, among which there is eternity 644. John 8:54–55. You say that He is our God, but you do not know Him 645 It exposes them, and very strongly, that they have love for God in bare words alone, but in reality they are very far from the true knowledge of God. As if he were repeating to them what was announced to them by the prophet, namely: then he said that “this people draws near to Me, they honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Is. 29:13), but now he beneficially and in accordance with the former proclaims that “they did not know Him.” And this word is true. To know, for example, that there is a God does not at all mean to have knowledge of Him. That God exists and exists, “even the demons believe and tremble,” according to what is written (James 2:19). And in order to know that He exists, one should also have thoughts about Him that are appropriate and worthy of Him. So, for example, no one, I believe, who is prudent will work to find out what God is by His nature, for it is impossible to find out. However, what is inherent or not inherent in Him, everyone can very easily know with the help of the Holy Scriptures. Thus, we know and believe that He is omnipotent; we know that He is not powerless; we know what is good; we know that I am not evil; we know what is righteous or not unrighteous; we know that it is eternal; We are confident and think that He is not limited by time and is not temporal, like us. Thus, in words and lips the Jews express and clearly confess God as their God, yet they do not know Him, and we do not find them understanding that He is incorruptible and eternal. After all, if they had known, then, I think, they would not have reached such stupidity as to assume that the Only Begotten Son, who came from His being, would die. In the same way, pointing to the death of Abraham and the prophets, would they not say to Him recklessly: “Who are you making yourself?” Is it not quite natural to assert that those who know who the Father is by nature must necessarily believe that such is the Word that came from Him? Just as a sweet stream flows from a sweet source, and good fruits will be born from good trees, so, I believe, He who comes from God by nature should be considered true God and He who is born of the Eternal Father should be recognized as eternal like the Parent. Therefore, it is timely in this case to say to the Jews: “Either recognize the tree as bad and its fruit as bad, or recognize the tree as good and its fruit as good” (Matthew 12:33), “for a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:18). Is it possible, in view of this, to admit, or better yet, is it not filled with all sorts of madness to think that He who is born of the immortal Father is mortal, and to place one who has not known corruption among the corruptible? John 8:55. But I know Him: and if I say that we do not know Him, I will be like you, lie 646 After all, it is unnatural for that which has come from the Existing and always Immutable not to be existing and always immutable, for what is born from the Eternal is eternal. It is easier to interpret this saying in another way, namely: “I know,” he says, of My Father; if I say that I do not know, “I will be a liar” like you, who do not know God, but say that you know Him. What this knowledge consists of and why people are accused of ignorance, we have already clearly spoken about this and will not add anything more. John 8:55. But I know Him and keep His word As for the simple meaning in the above saying, we note that Christ speaks again as a man and brings Himself down to our state, not leaving a slave image until the appropriate time. Therefore, he says that he knows the Father, “and keeps His word.” We do not think that He needs to testify about Himself or list anything that is due to Him, but this is done for the sake of greater art of speech. By saying that He knows the Father and keeps His word, it shows that the Jews thought contrary to what He Himself, according to His statement, has, that is, they do not know God and do not consider it necessary to keep His word. Otherwise, they would very willingly accept the One who was foretold by Moses and the prophets. So among us, a similar way of speech is considered noble and beautiful, although it has the power of exposure and imperceptibly shows someone what his vices are, but at the same time preventing rage against exposure. So, for example, some decent and otherwise excellent person may say in order to censure a thief or a drunkard: “I am a decent person, I have never stolen someone else’s property and I have never been a drunkard.” We will not, of course, think that such a person would testify and speak about himself through this, but he blames for properties that are opposite to these. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said this, namely that He knows the Father and keeps His word, on the other hand, and at the same time pointing out to the wicked Jews that they do not know God, do not keep His word and are not worthy of any observance of the law determined by them from above. If we need to understand these words in another way and more subtly explain what is indirectly expressed here, then we can, in addition, say this. The Son knows His Father, having not the same knowledge as we have, but that which is peculiar to God and inexpressible. Just as a person born of man knows the nature of his parent not through learning from someone else, but from what he himself is (from his own nature), so the Son “knows” His Father from what He (the Son) is (from His nature) and “keeps His word,” that is, preserves in Himself in its entirety (volume) His entire being. The term “word” here means limit (volume). So the human word, that is, the limit (definition, scope of the concept) of its being, is a verbal (reasonable) animal, mortal, possessing intelligence and science. In the same way, for example, the word of an Angel can be recognized as a definition of his being. In relation to God by nature, we cannot allow a word or definition, for we do not know what He is by nature, but the Son knows His Father and, Born from His being, knows what He who gave birth to Him is by nature. So, following our custom and using human words, He says that the word of the Father, as if the definition 647 of His essence, He “keeps” in Himself, for He is the image of His Parent and the mark, free from any dissimilarity, and has in Himself all the God-appropriate and special properties of the Parent. John 8:56. Your father Abraham would have rejoiced that he might have seen My day: and he saw and rejoiced 648 Day here refers to the time of advent, when the true Light shone for us and the Sun of Truth rose, the darkness that then embraced us like blindness ceased, under the rule of the prince of this age, the whole universe, so to speak, blackened with his wickedness and pushed into polytheistic error, which darkened the mind of everyone in various ways. Therefore, the divine Psalmist, as if seeing the longed-for time of His coming, proclaimed, saying in the Spirit: “This day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). In other cases, the Divine Scripture usually calls the time of each object day, according to what has been said: “The day of the Lord of hosts is upon every offender and proud man, and they will be humiliated” (Is. 2:12), and again: “What will you do on the day of triumph and on the day of the feast of the Lord?” (Hos.9:5). On that day the plans of some will perish, says the Psalmist (Ps. 145:4), calling the day the time of the expected judgment of God, when the nobles of this world will not benefit the lies of their original thoughts and the empty and proud pomp of wealth. “Your Father Abraham rejoiced,” he says, “to see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” How and when, should we think, blessed Abraham contemplated the day of our Savior Christ, that is, saw the time of His coming in the flesh? It is not easy to give a clear answer to this. However, one can think that, as one of the holy prophets, God revealed His mystery to him. Or we can assume that he really contemplated the day of the slaughter of the Lord, on which our bliss was established and all good things were communicated to us, when in the image of Him (the Lord) he was commanded to sacrifice his only begotten and firstborn son Isaac: at this time of his sacred rite, as in a prototype being performed, this sacrament naturally appeared before his eyes with all clarity and accuracy. Other explanations of this saying can be offered to the curious. Thus, when he saw three men at the oak of Mamre (Gen. 18:1), he received a promise from God that he would be the father of many nations, which promise could only be fulfilled by the fact that through faith in Christ the nations were called to call Abraham their father, to lie with him in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 8:11) and to participate with him in all the good gifts of our Savior. So, “he saw,” he says, “Abraham is My day, and,” seeing, “he rejoiced.” It is necessary to say why Christ considered it necessary to say this. Seeing Him as a simple man because He was clothed with flesh, the Jews did not think anything Divine about Him, but considered Him mortal, like us, as brought from non-existence to existence. And that He was eternal, as having come from the eternal Father, they did not want to believe this for the sake of their great recklessness. Therefore, in order to clearly show that He is not a newborn and not a creature like us, but that even their most ancient fathers recognized him as eternal, He says this. At the same time, it seems to be beneficial to reproach them for the fact that they recklessly and stupidly neglect what served as joy for the leader of their family. After all, he only “saw and rejoiced.” And they, already possessing and having the opportunity to use, with their unbelief insult and despise such great grace. Or maybe it indirectly indicates that He is greater and higher than Abraham, if it was a joy for him to even know something about Him. It was impossible to speak about this clearly and without any secrecy due to the unbridledness of their anger, but He points this out again in a different way. The speech of the Jews is completely insane and causes great laughter. It deserves fair surprise that they reached such a level of unreason that they could not understand anything at all as they should. Our Savior Christ used numerous figures of speech for them, constantly used the same words and pointed out to them His eternity in a variety of ways, and yet they understand absolutely nothing more than what they see with their bodily eyes. As those who have completely lost and ceased the activity of the mind, they do not direct their hearts to what is proper to God, but again recklessly accuse Him of lying, as one of the people like us, who began to exist and be among those who exist only when he was born, not correctly understanding the words that they heard from Him. After all, He said that “Abraham saw” His day, and they, having distorted the meaning of the words contrary to Him, say: “You are not yet fifty years old, and how then have you seen Abraham?” Yes, truly pathetic is the reckless Jew, who has forever lived with great ignorance and cultivated unbridled madness in himself. John 8:58. Jesus said to them: Amen, Amen, I say to you: before even Abraham was not, I am 650 Christ again turns to his usual and amiable form of instruction. Sometimes He speaks very mysteriously and, covering the presentation with various secrets, does not allow it to be clear to everyone. But when He saw that His listeners did not understand anything, then, stripping the speech of all obscurity, He offered it in a clear and simple form, which He hastens to do in the present case. Since he finds them not understanding anything, although a long speech has already been said, and unable to comprehend that He is eternal, as having come from the eternal Father, and incomparably higher than Abraham, as God, He already clearly says, as if in the form of an oath, using “Amen” to confirm His words: “Before Abraham’s being, I am (exist).” It is by no means to be thought that the Only Begotten boasted of His existence before Abraham alone, for He exists before all time and has an eternal birth, being without beginning in the Father. But since in the present case He had to compare Himself with Abraham, He says that He exists before him, just as, for example, the hundredth number could say: I am greater than ten, and would say this not as having the advantage of being a neighboring number with ten, but as being very superior and exceeding ten. So, He does not compete with the times of Abraham and does not assert some small advantage of Him over the times of Abraham, but since He is above every time and surpasses the number of every age, He says that He exists before Abraham, expressing the real truth. Very precisely and beautifully he uses “was” (γενέσϑαι) about Abraham, and “am” (εἰμί) about Himself, showing that Abraham, as having come from non-existence (ἐξ οὐϰ ὄντων γενομένῳ), Of course, one should undergo corruption, and He, as always existing (ἀεὶ ὄντι), is in no way characterized by turning into non-existence. So, He is greater and higher than Abraham: greater - as eternal, and higher because He is not destroyed, like that one. John 8:59. They took the stone and threw it down: Jesus hid himself and left the church (church) 651 They do not see the truth, since they themselves were actual liars and had a liar as their father, according to the word of the Savior (John 8:44). They are again indignant at something in which there was nothing capable of irritating. Thinking of standing up for the allegedly insulted glory of their forefather, through this they were again inflamed with untimely anger. And although, on the contrary, they should have thought about the meaning of the words of the Lord and who says it, they, recklessly carried away into unreasonable and brutal madness, are trying to stone Him, as if they had not yet insulted Him enough with their abuse or had only brought a little anger upon themselves with their stupidity. The Jews' attempt was ardent and reckless. But without time it did not move into action, for the time for suffering had not yet come. Christ does not hide Himself in such a way that He sought refuge under walls or put up something else to protect His body, but by the power of His Divinity He made Himself invisible to those who sought Him. And he was not content with hiding, but also leaving the church, drawing for us here, as it were, an image of certain spiritual objects. After all, He is always manifest to those who love Him, according to the saying: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). But He leaves those who are accustomed to fight against God and does not appear to any wicked person; He does not consider it pleasant in any way to be together and deal with those who persecute Him; on the contrary, He leaves them and withdraws, as if stripping Himself of all complacency and leaving those from whom evil will suffer deprived of His grace, as far as the desire to harm Him and the intentions of the wicked are concerned, although Christ reveals all of them to be vain, ineffable. by force destroying the wicked insolence of those who sin against Him. John 9:1. And passing by the form of a man blind from Christmas 652 When the Jews were furious against Him and were already trying to stone Him, He immediately leaves their church and removes Himself from the wickedness of His persecutors. But as He passes, He immediately sees the “blind from birth” and this gives a clear indication that He will move away from the abomination of the Jews and leave the host of God-fighters, but will look to the pagans and turn the abundance of His love to them, who are likened to the blind from birth in that they were in error, from an early age they were deprived of the true knowledge of God and did not have light from God, that is, enlightenment through the Spirit. We should also pay attention to what this care of the blind man by Christ in passing could mean. One can, in my opinion, think that Christ did not actually come to the pagans, but for Israel alone, as He Himself once said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). The sight of the pagans was corrected as if by the passing of Christ, who transferred His mercy to them, due to the unbelief of Israel. This is precisely what was sung through Moses in the words: “I will stir up jealousy in them because of a foolish people; because of a foolish people I will provoke them to anger” (Deut. 32:21). They were an unreasonable people, serving the creature instead of the Creator, like dumb animals, having reached the point of all ignorance and devoted to the earth alone. Since Israel, wise through the law and understanding through the prophets, angered (God), God himself was angered for this, as soon as the former fools were taken to their proper place (Israel), to whom through faith and “Christ became wisdom and sanctification and redemption,” according to what is written (1 Cor. 1:30), obviously - light and insight. The fact that it is not from the pre-birth sins of the soul that bodily suffering befalls anyone, and also that God does not bring the sins of the fathers upon anyone, punishing those who have sinned nothing, but that the just brings judgment on all. John 9:1. And He asked His disciples, saying: Rabbi, who sinned, this one, or his parent, and was born blind? Jesus answered: Neither this one sin nor his parent, but let the works of God be revealed in him 653 Those who are inquisitive in good subjects and very wise disciples, however, not without Divine inspiration, were prompted to desire to know this and are beneficially curious, preparing benefits from this not so much for themselves as for us. In fact, we receive considerable benefit when we hear here from the Omniscient the true opinion and, in addition, we are repelled by the abomination of empty teachings, which were not only among the Jews, but also some of those who were overly proud of the knowledge of the Inspired Scripture and, apparently, belonging to Christians, dared to pass off as truth what was rather a matter of being carried away by their own ingenuity and their own desires - and not they were afraid to mix the Hellenic error into the dogmas of the Church. The unfortunate Jews grumbled a lot about the fact that they were allegedly being punished for the wickedness of their ancestors and God was supposedly imposing on them the sins of their fathers for no reason - they ridiculed this as a most unjust judgment and even said in the form of a proverb: “The fathers ate unripe grapes, and the teeth of the children were set on edge” (Ezek. 18:2). These same (Christians), suffering from an ignorance close and related to the ignorance we just named (the Jews), claim that the souls of people are created and exist before the creation of bodies, but, having voluntarily fallen into sin and, moreover, before their bodies, they are then united with them (the bodies) and, as if as a punishment, receive existence in the flesh. But with one short word, Christ destroyed the foolishness of both, claiming that neither the blind man nor his parents sinned. He overthrows the teaching of the Jews with the words that a person was born blind not as a result of any sin, neither his own, nor his ancestors’, nor even his father’s or mother’s. He also crushes the empty chatter of others who say that souls sin before the body. One can rightfully ask such people: how does Christ say that neither the blind man nor his parents sinned, although we cannot consider them completely pure from sin? After all, as people, it is, without a doubt, natural, even more necessary, for them to fall into sins. The question therefore arises: what time does Christ determine at which His word should prove true for us, that “neither he nor his parents sinned?” Obviously, he speaks of the time before the birth (of man), in which, as if they did not exist at all, they did not sin. We had a long discussion about such idle talkers, who mistakenly regard as truth the opinion that souls sinned to the point of bodies and therefore became incarnate and passed into this earthly region at the beginning of the Gospel when revealing and explaining the words: “There was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world” (John 1:9). It would be unnecessary now for us to enter into a discussion about this again. But where the Jews happened to come to such an opinion and assumption, it is necessary to say about this and clearly show that, being unable to understand the Divine word, they deviated from common sense. Once upon a time, Israel built a tabernacle in the desert and God called the priest Moses to Himself on Mount Sinai. But since he was there with God for a very long time - precisely up to forty days - he began to seem to the people as a procrastinator. Then they rose up against Aaron alone and, out of cowardice, carried away by the Egyptian false service, they cried out like this: “Make us gods who will go before us, for Moses, this man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what became of him” (Ex. 32:1). Then what followed, I think we need to briefly talk about it. “They made a calf,” as it is written (Acts 7:41), and God was rightly angry for this - he even threatened to destroy the entire assembly (of the people). Then Moses approached Him with intercession and through prolonged prayer asked for mercy. The Creator of everything bowed to forgiveness and decided that although He would not punish the people, He would not go with them to the land of promise, but would send His Angel with them, as if as a leader. Moses was saddened by this and, from God’s reluctance to go along with the people, he quite correctly concluded that Divine wrath had not yet reached a complete cessation. God deigned to do this too. Then (Moses), to clearly confirm and prove that complete forgiveness had been given, began to ask for a sign from Him, namely, to see Him. If, he says, I have found grace from You, show me Yourself, so that I can clearly see You, how quickly I found grace from You and so that “I may know that this great people are Your people” (Ex. 33:13). God also did this, as far as was possible, confirming His servant in everything, namely, that He had forsaken the sin of the people, and that He would go with them to the land of promise. Then, in conclusion, as if putting a crown on his promises, he commands him to hew out two other boards, apparently instead of the broken ones, in order to again inscribe the law for him, presenting in this considerable proof of His mercy towards them. When Moses prepared for this, “the Lord came down in the cloud,” as it is written (Ex. 34:5-7), “and appeared before him there and called on him in the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and cried: The Lord God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and truth, keeping righteousness, showing kindness to thousands, taking away sins, iniquities and unrighteousness, will not cleanse the guilty, bringing the sins of the fathers on the children and on the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.” The message here is completely clear. Let me return to the question posed at the beginning. God affirms that He has the meekness befitting God and a certain incomparable love for mankind, for, we believe, this is His speech, and not someone else, and precisely the wise Moses, as some think, offering prayers of thanksgiving for the people. That this is what the Lord of all things says about Himself, no one else will assure us of this, but the blessed Moses himself in the book of Numbers, when Israel, through inappropriate cowardice, again offended God by the fact that some began to reproach the land of promise, precisely those who, at the command of the Lord, were sent by Moses to inspect it. As soon as they returned from the land of foreigners, they came again to the people and began to utter bitter words about it, claiming that this was a country so wild and brutal that it could destroy those who settled on it. By this they brought the listeners into such despair that they shed tears and wanted to return to the works of Egypt. “Let’s appoint leaders,” they said, “and let’s go to Egypt” (Num. 14:4). And when God threatened to destroy them, Moses again began to beg Him and appears before God as if with a reminder of the promise He had given him, saying this: “And now let Your power be exalted, O Lord, according to what You have spoken in words: The Lord, long-suffering, abounding in mercy, true, taking away iniquity, iniquity and sins, and by cleansing He will not cleanse the guilty, paying for the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth. kind: forgive the sin of Your people, according to Your great mercy, just as You were merciful to them from Egypt until now” (Num. 14:17-19). It turns out that God Himself, who is above all, testifies to His love for mankind and extreme patience. But we should finally understand the reason for the false opinion of the Jews that our good God is, as it were, vindictive and severely angry. Of course, I don’t think that they have any reason to blame the Divine Scriptures for the lack of complete perfection in them, but they owe only to their ignorance the idea that God really brings the sins of parents onto children and that Divine wrath in its duration extends even to the third and fourth generation and unjustly punishes those who have not sinned in anything for what others are accused of. On the contrary, if someone were wise among them, shouldn’t it be appropriate to reason that the Source of truth and our morality cannot commit untruth? After all, people impose punishments determined by law on criminals, without at all affecting their descendants, unless, of course, these latter turn out to be co-authors and accomplices of crimes. And the One who also determined for us the laws of all truth, how could he turn out to be an admirer even among ourselves of things that are decisively condemned? Next, we must also keep this in mind. He established numerous laws through Moses and appointed various punishments for those living an ungodly life. But nowhere does He institute that sinners and their descendants should be punished together with them. He determined punishment only for criminals and those guilty of breaking the law. Therefore, it is wicked to think in a Jewish way, but the wise must always keep in mind the properties of the Divine Nature and everywhere observe what is due to the kingly Nature (Divine) over all. Thus, in all fairness, we must think that the God of all, putting on display His inherent mercy and wanting to evoke respect for His extreme love for mankind and for this exclaiming: “The Lord is long-suffering and abounding in mercy, true, takes away iniquities and sins” (Num. 14:18), would not want to be considered so vindictive that He extends His wrath even to the fourth generation. How, then, will He be long-suffering and abundantly merciful, or how will He take away sins and iniquities, if He is not limited to proportionate punishment on the head of the criminal, but extends beyond the third kind and, like what kind of whirlwind, attacks the innocent? So, it is completely incredible and borders on extreme stupidity to think that God testifies to the simultaneous presence in Him not only of philanthropy and mercy, but also of such a long-lasting and unreasonable anger. Then, in addition, those who think Jewishly must assume something else, namely, that God does not know the appropriate time for each thing. If he promises to be long-suffering and turns out to so easily put off His wrath, then why does he add: “By bringing the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation”? To do this would mean nothing more than to want to frighten those who accept the remission of crimes from Him, that they should have no hope left if He is so vindictive and holds His just anger for so long for insulting Himself by them. What, tell me, will the holy teacher Moses himself appear before us then? Wouldn’t he appear to be the perpetrator of the most unreasonable deed if, when Israel offended God and had to be punished, he approaches with prayer and, asking God for forgiveness and love for mankind, untimely says to God: because You are usually such that you repay the sins of the fathers on the children’s children. This would be to encourage wrath rather than to call for mercy, and to ask for resentment rather than for long-suffering. But through these words, in my opinion, he thought to beg God and, as it were, to bring to His memory what He Himself proclaimed when He announced His inherent goodness. That He is long-suffering and abundantly merciful, and that it is His nature to take away sins and iniquities, this is what is revealed from these words, which apparently indicate His cruelty. So, how we should understand these words of God, I think this must finally be said. “The Lord,” he says, “is long-suffering and abounding in mercy, and takes away iniquity and sins” (Ex. 34:6-7). The next saying that follows must be understood as a question and read with a question mark: “And by cleansing will he not cleanse the guilty?” (v. 7) - so that you understand the saying in this sense: the long-suffering and abundantly merciful God, who takes away iniquity and sins, will not be able to cleanse the guilty with cleansing? But this is certain - it will cleanse, of course; otherwise, how is He long-suffering and abundantly merciful and completely takes away sins if He does not cleanse the guilty? At the same time, to prove His inherent long-suffering and mercy, He also cites the fact that He will lay the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation - without punishing the son for the father - don’t think about it! - and without imposing on the distant descendant, as if some kind of burden, the sins of the ancestors. No, He points to something like this. There is, for example, some lawless person, with a soul filled with all depravity. The one who chooses such a way of life must be punished without any delay, but God is long-suffering and merciful and does not expose him to the wrath that is due to him. Then he has a son who is not inferior to his father in wickedness and surpasses his parent in wickedness. And God is patient with him. And from him came a third, or from a third a fourth, in no way inferior to his fathers in all kinds of vices and practicing the same wickedness as them. Then, finally, God inflicts His supreme wrath, which was due from the very beginning to the whole race, having been long-suffering enough - even more than it should be. Indeed, the postponement of punishment until the fourth generation, does not this serve to praise truly Divine mercy? That it is not God’s nature to punish a son for a father, nor a father for a son, you can easily learn this from the clear words of Ezekiel the prophet to the Jews themselves, because of this very reason they grumbled and said: “The fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of the children were set on edge.” “And the word of the Lord came to me,” he says, “saying: Son of man, what is this parable among you in Israel: the fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of the children were set on edge? As I live, says the Lord, if this parable is still spoken in Israel, for all souls are Mine, just as the soul of a father, so the soul of a son, are Mine: the soul that sins will die, but the son will not receive for the iniquity of the father, nor the father will receive for the iniquity of his son, - everyone in his iniquity that he has sinned will die in it” (Ezek. 18:1-4, 20-24). But, I believe, no one will think such nonsense that God did not determine the most perfect law from the very beginning, but seemed to change His intentions and change his mind for the better and, like one of us, was barely able to determine the proper law only in a later decision. After all, if we approve the first laws, then, obviously, we will thereby condemn the later ones, and if we give priority to the later ones, then, of course, we recognize the first ones as inferior to those. Thus, God will determine contrary laws and, like us, turns out to be sinning against what should be, legislating this and that. But, I believe, everyone will say that the Divine Nature can in no way be subject to the above absurdities or ever sin against what is due. So, as proof of His incomparable love for mankind, He cites this saying: “He who repays the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” That the humane God usually does not immediately punish those who have sinned, but, on the contrary, delays and postpones punishment until distant times, you will understand from His words: “And He filled My wrath, and endured, and did not put an end to them” (Jer. 6:17). And in another place: “The sins of the Amorites have not yet been fulfilled until now” (Gen. 15:16). You see how he was filled with anger, for some have already committed something worthy of complete rage, but he is long-suffering like God and delays carrying out his anger against those who offend Him. But in order, as on a board, to draw you a proof of what has been said and, through the very deeds, to certify that the interpreted saying serves as praise for God’s love for mankind, I will cite something contained in the sacred books and from the Divine Scripture itself I will try to prove that the sins of the fathers are transferred to children to the third and fourth generation, not unjustly, but justly and deservedly for those who have been subjected to this. Due to the length of the story, I will present it briefly. So, we read in the Third Book of Kings, Ahab reigned over Israel after others, who, having fallen into the most lawless desire of a vineyard that did not belong to him, kills the owner, I mean Naboth, although he did not himself order this, but only did not resist the stubbornness of his wife (1 Kings 21ff.). God must have been indignant at this, then he spoke to him through the prophet Elijah: “This is what the Lord says: since you killed and inherited, therefore this is what the Lord says: in the place where the pigs and dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there the dogs will lick your blood and the harlots will wash in your blood” (1 Kings 24:19). And after this: “This is what the Lord says: Behold, I will bring evil upon you and burn after you, and I will destroy Ahab who urinates against the wall, and who is imprisoned, and who remains in Israel, and I will give your house as the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha the son of Ahiin, for the insults with which you angered Me and caused Israel to sin. And Jezebel spoke, saying, Dogs eat her up in the suburbs of Israel, and the dogs eat up the dead man of Ahab in the city, and the birds of the air eat up the dead man in the field” (1 Kings 21:21-24). When the Lord of all threatened to do all this and certainly bring it, Ahab tore his clothes and, entering his house, as it is written (1 Kings 21:27), he lamented, shed bitter tears and girded his loins with sackcloth. And since God began to feel pity for him, who had come to such a mood, he began to soften His anger and, as if placing some kind of bridle on its immediate manifestation, said to the prophet: “Have you seen how Ahab is crushed before My presence? I will not bring this in his days, but in the days of his son I will bring disaster” (1 Kings 21:29). Under whom this was accomplished, this is what you should find out. From Ahab was born Ahaziah, who “did,” they say, “evil before the Lord and walked in the way of his father Ahab and the way of Jezebel of his mother” (1 Kings 22:52). But from Ahaziah, it is said, Joram was born, about whom it is also written that he walked “in the sins of the house of Jeroboam” (2 Kings 3:3). But the third Ahaziah also reigned from Joram, about whom the historical book also reports that he “did evil before God, like the house of Ahab” (2 Kings 8:27). Since the time has already come for the proper punishment of the house of Ahab, who did not stop their wickedness against God until the fourth descendant, Jehoshaphat, the son of Nameshah, 654 is finally anointed king over Israel, who destroys Ahaziah and with him Jezebel, destroys the other seventy sons of Ahab, fulfilling to the end the wrath of God, for which he receives honor and grace. In fact, what does God say to him? “Because you have chosen to do what is right in My sight, and have done all that is in My heart for the house of Ahab, fourth sons (to the fourth generation) will sit with you on My throne” (2 Kings 10:30). You see that he barely punished bad (children) from bad (fathers) in the fourth generation, but extends mercy to his honorer to the fourth generation. Stop, Jew, blaming Divine truth, for as praise we must accept the words: “He who repays the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” John 9:3. But may the works of God be revealed in him This saying is difficult to explain and has many puzzling points; perhaps it would be more prudent to pass it by (in silence) and leave it (without interpretation) because of the greatest difficulty. But so that, with the destruction of Jewish dogmas, something else akin to “no matter what root of bitterness grows up and does not cause harm,” according to the words of Paul (Heb. 12:15), - after all, perhaps, anyone would imagine that through this the bodies of people are called to suffer, so that the works of God may be revealed in them - then, it seems to me, it is useful to say a little something to this in order to prevent the harm that could result from this and to prevent all access to false conclusions. We have already proven that God does not bring the sins of parents onto their children, unless they are involved in the wickedness of those (above, Chapter 1, Book 6 to 9:2-3), and that, moreover, the incarnation does not occur as a result of previous (birth) sins (Book 1, Chapter 9 to 1:9). In an amazing way, Christ destroyed and rejected both, as God knowing everything, or rather, Himself being the ruler over our affairs and the distributor of what is due and proper to everyone. After all, if he says that the blind man did not sin and was not blinded for this, then he declares it madness to consider the human soul guilty of sins that preceded the body. And with a clear speech that neither his parents sinned, which is why their son was born blind, he overthrows the unreasonable opinion of the Jews. Having thus taught His disciples as much as they needed to know for the overthrow of dogmas that we have just indicated, and having told them as much as was appropriate to offer to human knowledge, He is silent about the rest and no longer adds an explanation of the reason for the birth of one who was blind, who was innocent of any previous fall from sin, having assimilated to the Divine Nature alone, as its exclusive property, knowledge and order in all such subjects. But very skillfully he again turns the answer to another certain object and says: “But let the works of God appear in it.” So, is it really possible, someone will ask, and now telling us this, the Lord expresses the dogma that only for this reason alone do human bodies have to suffer, “so that the works of God may be revealed in” them? But this doesn’t seem like it at all; on the contrary, it’s completely absurd to reason and think like that. Not as a dogma, as some might think, He says this. That some suffer because of sins we often learn from the Holy Scriptures. Thus, Paul clearly writes in his Epistle to those who, as if with unwashed feet, dare to approach the Divine altar and with unclean and profane hands touch the sacrament of blessing (Eucharist): “For this reason you have many weak and sick people, and they die quite (many), for if they judged themselves, they would not be judged, but those who are condemned from the Lord are punished, so that we may not be at peace. condemned" (1 Cor. 11:30-32). Thus, on those subject to disease and death, this suffering is sometimes inflicted through Divine wrath. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when he freed the paralytic from a long illness and miraculously showed him healthy, “behold, he said, you have become healthy, do not sin, lest it become worse for you” (John 5:14). This indicates that, having once escaped and been saved by grace from Him, he can be exposed and fall into something even worse thanks to sin. But they can say: let’s agree that this is true. However, what reason could be given to explain the fact that some are subjected to terrible suffering from the cradle and the first times of life, being born with diseases already from the mother’s womb? We, of course, do not believe in the pre-existence of the soul, just as we do not recognize its sins before the body. How, in fact, can someone who has not yet been called into existence sin? But if there is no sin and no crime preceding suffering, then what can we finally indicate the cause of suffering? What is infinitely greater than us is completely inaccessible to the understanding of our reason, and I would advise the prudent to completely abandon such studies (Sir.3:21-22) - and first of all to yourself. We must meditate more on what has been established for us, and not explore the depths, not search for difficulties and not boldly try to unearth what is hidden in Divine and ineffable advice alone, but, on the contrary, piously leave to the knowledge of God alone, which is due exclusively to Him, with the true conviction and faith that, being the source of all truth, He will not do or decide anything either in relation to us or in relation to any other creature. such that would turn out to be unbecoming to Him and would not come from the foundations of true justice. So, in view of this disposition that is appropriate for us, I think that the Lord does not dogmatically say: “Let the works of God appear in him,” on the contrary, He diverts the answer to the question, as it were, onto another path and transfers it from depths (knowledge) inaccessible to us into the realm of morality. And this is quite common for Him. That this is true (to verify this), listen again to how He, when the holy disciples were once very curious about the end of the age and tried to find out with extreme accuracy about His second coming and transgressed the measure due to people, - clearly removing them from such questions, He says: “It is not your business to know the times and seasons that the Father has set in His authority, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit who has come upon you and you will be Mine.” witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea” (Acts 1:7–8). Do you hear how he by no means allows us to seek what is least appropriate for us, but exhorts us to turn to what was necessary. Thus, here too, having clearly said what he needed to know, he is silent about the rest, knowing that it is appropriate for Him alone to know about this. But in order not to arouse in them a desire to ask about the same thing again by complete silence, He, skillfully presenting as if in the form of a rebuke and as if an answer corresponding to the question, says: “but let the works of God be revealed in him,” which in other and simpler words can be expressed like this: not as a result of his own sins or his parents, this person was born blind, but if he once had to undergo this, then he can be glorified to God, for if by a higher action he turns out to be free from the depressing and exhausting suffering, then who would not marvel at the doctor? Who wouldn't see in him the power of a healer? This idea, I think, is contained in this saying. Let those who are wiser interpret it better. If others begin to argue and assert that this man was born blind so that Christ would be glorified in him, then again we will say to such: is it really, my dear, that he alone in the whole of Judea was blind from birth at the time of the coming of our Savior, and there is no other like him? But I think they will even involuntarily agree that there were, in all likelihood, quite a large number of such people in the whole country. Why did Christ reveal Himself or reveal His love for mankind on this one alone or on not many others? But I think it’s completely unnecessary to argue about this. So, having rejected what was said at the beginning (misconception) as completely stupid, let us state the truth, namely: having revealed to us in these words as much as we needed to know, He directs His disciple to another subject of reasoning, skillfully diverting him from the study of these words. John 9:4. It is fitting for us 655 to do the works of Him who sent us 656 until 657 the day is: the night will come, when no one can do In these words, very clearly and as if condescendingly, he makes another reproach to the disciples as having turned to something other than what they should have been doing, having abandoned the travelled, rough and easily accessible path and daring to walk along a road that was not at all appropriate for them. Why, he says, are you asking something about which it is better to remain silent? Why, having left an object corresponding to the time, do you try to find out what is above the human mind? Now is the time, he says, not for such research, but for action and intense effort, for, on the contrary, I think we must abandon curiosity about this and try to fulfill the commandments of God - and since the word “us” pointed to the Apostles, we must fulfill the works of the apostleship. And if the Lord counts Himself among those sent and places Himself among those who must do, then He says this, of course, not because He is with us or as one of us, by necessity inherent in slaves, is subordinate to the will of the Master, but adheres to the usual and generally accepted way of speech among us. Thus, we have the habit, especially when simple speech does not make an impression on the listeners, to attach and associate ourselves with them, as, without a doubt, the wisest Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians finally transferred the speech to himself and Apollos: “And this, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos, so that in us you might learn not to philosophize beyond what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6). So, “while it is day,” he says, we will do “the works of Him who sent us,” for “the night will come when no one can do it.” Day here refers to the period of life in the body, and night the time in the state of death. Since the day is appointed for work, and the night for inaction and sleep, therefore, the time of life when one should do good, he says, is day, and night is the time in a state of rest, when nothing can be done at all, “for he who has died is justified (freed) from sin,” according to the word of Paul (Rom. 6:7), due to the impossibility of doing anything, he finds himself outside of sin. Without any doubt, Divine Scripture knows the spiritual day in another sense, as well as another night different from this one. But each of these types of interpretation has its own time and place, thanks to which a correct understanding of the interpreted sayings is obtained. To try to forcefully and where it is not appropriate to clothe in a spiritual interpretation that which is useful in a historical sense means nothing more than simply mixing indiscriminately what is useful and, through great ignorance, polluting the benefits resulting from it. John 9:5. Whenever I am 658 in the world, I am the light of the world Are we really going to assume that Christ was never at all in the world, or are we going to believe that, having ascended to heaven after the resurrection from the dead, he no longer dwells among those who are in this life? As the true God, He fills and embraces not only the heavens and the firmament beyond them, but also our universe. And just as when He lived with the flesh among people in this world, He did not leave heaven, so, according to the correct way of thinking, we must reason that although in the flesh He left this world, nevertheless, His Divine and Ineffable nature will always dwell in it and rule everything, not moving away from anything existing (in the world) and not leaving anything, but present everywhere in everything - filling this whole world and the conceivable one above it, but filled with itself alone. Now we should consider what the Lord is talking about here. Having overthrown the opinion of the Jews as empty and showing their passion for rotten dogmas, and giving His disciples advice that they need to get used to doing what is pleasing to God and get out of the habit of being carried away by the search for something completely unnecessary, even threatening that the time of business could run out on them, with their complete inaction, if they do not use all their efforts to decorate themselves with them (deeds) while they are in this world with the flesh, - he takes Himself as a model of the deed: after all, here I am, he says, doing what is fitting for Me, and if I came to illuminate what needs light, then I must also infuse light into the eyes of the body, if they suffer from a terrible lack of light, especially when one of the sufferers comes (with a request for this). Thus we must take this saying in its historical and simple (literal) sense. But there is no doubt that the Only Begotten is also a spiritual light, knowing and able to illuminate not only this world, but also all other supermundane creation. And if we apply this sense of these words to the proposed contemplation, then, I believe, we will not find ourselves doing anything incredible. John 9:6–7. This river, I will spit on the ground, and create clay from the spitting, and anoint the clay on his eyes, and say to him: go, wash in the font of Siloamste, the hedgehog says: sent. I went and washed my face, and when I came I saw 659 Taking this healing of the blind man as an image of the calling of the pagans, let us again speak briefly about the meaning of the sacrament and in general. First, let us point out that in passing and after leaving the Jewish church, the Lord sees a blind man. Then we will usefully add here the fact that without the intercession or request of anyone to Him, but by His own impulse and self-will, the Savior comes to the desire to heal a person, and we consider this as a sign that there was no intercession from the multitude of pagans, for all were in error, but, being God and good by nature, as if by self-calling, He came to mercy for them. Indeed, how could this diverse number of Hellenes or pagans, who had a mind cluttered with incomparable ignorance, so that they could not see the Enlightener at all, ask God for mercy in any way? Therefore, just as the one being healed, of course, did not see Jesus, but through His mercy and love for mankind receives (insight) beyond expectation, so the same thing happened through Christ to the pagans. And that the healing takes place on Saturday, then Saturday here can serve us as an image of the end time of the present age, when the Savior shone forth to the pagans, for the end of the week is Saturday, and the Only Begotten came and appeared to all of us at the last hour and at the end of the age. But even about the method of healing, it is appropriate to say with true amazement: “How great are Your works, O Lord, You have done all things with wisdom” (Ps. 103:24). But why, someone might ask, even though he could easily do everything with a word, confuses “shaving” with “spitting”, and having anointed the “eyes” of the sufferer, it turns out to be commanding him to do something (apparently) too unnecessary: ​​“go,” he says, “wash in the pool of Siloam.” I think there is a deep meaning in these words, for the Savior does not command anything in vain. He anoints us with clay, adding, as it were, what is missing and absent from the nature of vision, and thereby showing that He Himself was our educator in the beginning, the creator and creator of everything. But this matter also has some mysterious meaning. What kind of thing is this and what we are inclined to understand here, let’s also say about this. After all, it was possible for the pagans to be washed from the blindness that enveloped them and to see the Divine and Holy Light, that is, to receive knowledge of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, only through the fact that they became partakers of His holy Flesh, were washed from the sin that blackened them, and were freed from the power of the devil, obviously through holy baptism. And just as the Savior outlined a preliminary image of this sacrament to the blind man, he also fulfilled the meaning of this sacrament through anointing with spitting. And in the image of holy baptism he commands him to flee and wash himself in Siloam, whose name the wise and spirit-bearing Evangelist considers it necessary to interpret. This is because by “sent” we mean no one other than the destruction of sin and the devil’s dominion from above, who came to us from God and sent the Only Begotten Son and, recognizing that it is He Himself who is invisibly carried on the waters of the holy font, we wash ourselves with faith, not to cleanse the uncleanness of the flesh, according to what is written, but as if we were washing away some filth and uncleanness from the eyes of the soul, so that Finally, we were able, pure, to purely contemplate the Divine beauty. So, just as we believe that the body of Christ is life-giving, since it is the church and dwelling of the Living God the Word and possesses all His power, so we honor it (the body) and is capable of imparting enlightenment, for it is the body of natural and true Light. And how, when he resurrected the deceased only-begotten son of a widow, he was not content with just one order and the words: “Young man, I say to you, stand up” (Luke 7:14), although he could fulfill all His desires with a word, but also put his hand on the coffin, showing by this that His body also has life-giving power; so here he anoints with spitting, teaching thereby that His body can communicate enlightenment through a simple touch, for it is the body of true Light, as we said. The blind man leaves and quickly washes himself, immediately fulfilling the order and in himself, as if showing the good obedience of the pagans, about whom it is written: “His ear listened to the readiness of their hearts” (Ps. 9:38). Thus, experience itself testifies to the hard-heartedness of the pitiful Jews and the readiness of the pagans to obey. By washing and washing, a person is immediately freed from blindness and returns, “seeing,” for it could not be otherwise than according to the will of Christ. Therefore, faith is wonderful, providing us with the God-given power of grace; on the contrary, double-mindedness and doubt are harmful, for “a double-minded man is not stable in all his ways,” as it is written, and will not receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:7–8). John 9:8–9. The neighbors and others like him saw him before, like a 660 beggar, saying: Isn’t this the one who sits and asks? Inii verbahu, as if 661 is similar to him. He says: as I am Great miracles hardly evoke faith in themselves and are inaccessible to understanding, but are perceived by the mind without research, since trying to investigate something that exceeds the mind and word is a sign of bewilderment. Therefore, I think, some of those who had previously seen a blind man who usually stayed at street crossroads did not believe it, and were now amazed that they unexpectedly met him with bright eyes. This event causes doubt and division in them. Some, paying more attention to the greatness of the matter, say that this is not the same person, but very similar to their acquaintance (the blind man) - and this is quite natural for those who, having rejected the truth, seem to be pushed towards involuntary falsehood. Others, more reasonable and possessing a brighter mind, in awe of the miracle, say that it is he (the former blind man). The healed man immediately resolves the dispute by testifying about himself, since everyone knows himself, no matter how crazy he may be. A miracle, incredible in its excessive power, brings great and universal glory to the Wonderworker. John 9:10. I say to him: why did you open your eyes? They hardly dare to believe that this is the same one whom they have known for a long time, and, having stopped arguing about it, they ask how he got rid of blindness and how this extraordinary thing was accomplished. After all, such curiosity and exploration of the way an event took place is usually surprising. And they do this not without Divine guidance, in our opinion, but in order to recognize, even against their will, the omnipotence of our Savior, thanks to a clear and open announcement to them by the blind man, which can serve as an excellent image of the fact that the converted pagans, freed from their original blindness and having received illumination from our Savior Christ through the Spirit, are teachers of the Israelites. And that what is said is true, deeds will proclaim it. John 9:11. He answered: the man called Jesus, make clay and anoint my eyes and say to me: go wash in 662 Siloam. Shed and, having washed, regained her sight It turns out that he still does not know that the Savior is God by nature, for he would not speak about Him so humiliatingly. Apparently, he thinks and talks about Him as one of the saints, having drawn such a view of Him, it seems, from a dark rumor spread throughout Jerusalem, and rumors about Him everywhere. Thus, usually people with a damaged body and overwhelmed by extreme need do not have the leisure to acquire accurate information about others, since they spend all their care on their hopeless poverty. Therefore, he calls Him the simplest person and tells him the method of healing. He, under the influence of the greatest miracle, of course, should have been convinced of the superhuman nature of the Wonderworker and given due glory to Him. But he thinks that saints can perform miracles with the help of God, and is carried away by the idea that this is one of them. John 9:12. And 663 deciding to him: where 664 is Toy? Verb: we don’t know They do not seek Jesus out of good intentions, but they also do not try to find out where and with whom He resided, so that, having found Him, they might ask for something useful for themselves. But, being blind with the eyes of the mind more than he was previously blind with the eyes of the body, they are kindled with the most unjust anger and attack like untamed beasts, imagining that our Savior has broken the commandment commanding us not to do anything at all on the Sabbath. They are furious to the extreme because He dared to take clay, rub the earth with his fingers, and, moreover, commanded a man to wash it off on the Sabbath. That is why, without any shame, they spew out the question in rage and madness: “Where is He?” They bestow humiliation and reproach on Him who was and was due rich glory. While they should, if they were good and capable people, crown the Divine power with appropriate praises, they, on the contrary, due to their excessive malice, push away just thoughts and deeds, fall into inappropriate jealousy, unjustly decide that it is necessary to defend a law that is supposedly broken in some way, and look for Jesus as having done work on the Sabbath and, through healing a person, violated such an important commandment. Apparently, they thought that God is unmerciful and angry on the Sabbath and is very indignant if he sees the healing of man, created in His image and likeness, by Him for whose sake the Sabbath is, “for the Lord is the Son of Man even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8), according to the word of the Savior. John 9:13–14. Leading him to the Pharisee, who is sometimes blind. It was Saturday, on the same day 665 Jesus created clay and opened his eyes They take a man to the authorities not for the purpose that they would recognize what happened to him (the miracle) and be surprised, for it was unnatural for those who harbored excessive hatred of our Savior Christ to ever have such a mood, but to present him as obvious proof, as they thought, of His iniquity and to accuse him as a transgressor of the law by having made clay on the Sabbath. Rejecting what was worthy of surprise in this miracle, they seem to seize on it as if it were a crime, presenting the person on whom the miracle was performed as proof of what they had done, and at the same time they think that they are performing a pious deed in accordance with Jewish customs, and are striving to carry out the decree of the law. Namely, in Deuteronomy, the real and true God, teaching that the minds of God-loving people should not be mistaken and should not recognize any gods besides Him, but commanding to recognize only the One True One and to arm themselves with strong anger against those who boldly decide to think anything other than this, says this: “If your brother persuades you from your father or your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife (being) in your bosom, or a friend equal to your soul, secretly saying: let us go and serve other gods... do not agree with him and do not listen to him, and do not let your eye spare him, and do not pity him, and do not cover him: be sure to tell about him” (Deut. 13: 6, 8-9). The Jews again, looking only at the fall of others and what was legalized in relation to one thing only, unreasonably extended to everything, those noticed in anything that went beyond the series of legal commandments, brought them to the leaders, imagining through this to honor the Lawgiver. For this reason, I think, they were looking for Jesus, saying: “Where is He?” And finding themselves unable to find Him anywhere, they lead him, as it were, as a secondary figure on whom a miracle was performed, with their statement as if sealing that the law was broken by the One who healed him on the Sabbath. And that they were burning with uncontrollable anger for preparing clay on Saturday, the blessed Evangelist clearly declares to us and skillfully makes it worthy of laughter when he adds the words: “It was Saturday on the day when he made clay” and “Jesus.” John 9:15. The Pharisees also asked him: How did you receive your sight? They try to find out exactly the image of the healing, as if kindling a fire of envy in themselves, but they are curious, not knowing, as it seems to me, about the miracle. In fact, isn’t it strange that they did not ask those who came to them and brought the former blind man at all about the reason for this bringing, but, as if they (who brought the blind man) were not enough to accuse Christ, they force him (the blind man) to testify about the matter with his own voice, thinking that the meaning of slander will be stronger from this. Note that they do not simply ask whether he is healed, but they try to hear exactly about “how he received his sight.” Clearly, they tried very hard to hear exactly what He did with clay and anointed “my eyes.” After all, this, as they foolishly believed, was the whole crime of the law, and, pointing to the violation of higher decrees, they thought that it was quite right to be indignant and demand punishment for the Lawbreaker. John 9:15. And he said to them, “Put clay on my eyes, and when I wash myself, I see.” They greedily accept the story of the miracle, as if it were some kind of food for envy, and hastily seize an excuse for their anger against Him. The former blind man talks about what happened in the simplest way and speaks very artlessly, in short confessions as if praising the Doctor, for he is partly amazed at the nature of the matter. It seems that he thought in such a way that, having anointed him with clay as an extraordinary medicine, He miraculously made him sighted. But with special expressiveness, in my opinion, and as a result of bitter thoughts, he said: “I made clay” and anointed “my eyes.” One can assume that he says something like this: I myself know what I am saying in front of haters, but I will not hide the truth. I will return gratitude to my Benefactor, and will not indulge in inappropriate silence. This is almost a recognition of a Doctor who did not use a sophisticated method of healing, who did not remove the disease with iron and cutting, who did not bring benefit with medicinal potions, who did not use commonly used means, but who used extraordinary new methods: he made “dust” and anointed “my eyes, and I washed and see.” In all fairness, one must be amazed that this man skillfully attached to his words about this, as if some kind of crown, this “I see.” By this he seems to be saying: I will not show the power of the Healer in vain, I will not reject grace, for I have already long-desired (vision). I myself, he says, was blind at birth and in my mother’s womb, having this ailment, anointed with clay, received healing and “see”, that is, I don’t just seem to have open eyes, hiding the darkness in the depths, but I really look - I already have in vision what was previously only in my ears: now the brilliant light of the sun shines on me, now the beauty of new wonderful visions embraces my gaze; Now, finally, I recognize Jerusalem, and I “see” the Divine shining church in it, and I really contemplate the honorable altar in the middle of it, and if I find myself outside the gates, then I can look around all of Judea and know what a mountain is and what a plant is, and when the time falls towards evening, then the beauty of heavenly miracles will not be hidden from my eyes, neither the bright choir of stars, nor the golden light of the moon - thanks to this I will be amazed at the art Builder, from the beauty of creations I also know the Creator (Wis.13:5). So, as for the breadth of contemplation and art in words, the interpreted saying has the following meaning, that is, the words “I see” and “dust” made and anointed “my eyes.” After all, pleasantness is not alien to contemplation, and our word, that is, the church word, does not renounce it as something illegal. And truly the power of his Healer remains unslandered when he who was brought to the court of the priests because he received mercy from Christ says such things. John 9:16. There is no word from the Pharisees: This man is from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath. Meanwhile, on the contrary, they had to admit that the Lord Himself of His own laws was already present and that it was pleasant and kind to God to do good on the Sabbath and not to leave without hope those who ask for mercy. When will someone not praise the doer of good, or at what time should there not be virtue? They, although they honored that ancient Jesus who took Jericho on the Sabbath and commanded their fathers to do everything customary to the victors and thus did not attach any importance to the Sabbath rest, attack Christ and, in their thinness, try not only to deprive Him of Divine glory, but also do not accord Him the honor due to the saints. Capable, thanks to their envy, of nothing but idle talk, they accuse of wickedness the One who justifies the world and who for this purpose came to us from the Father. John 9:16. Ovii said: How can a sinful person perform signs? And there will be strife among them And these think of Him even more humiliatingly, speaking and reasoning about Him as a simple man. However, under the influence of a miracle, they give Christ precedence over the law and, from the Divine sign, already presenting proof of the significance of the Sabbath, they turn out to be much more just judges. In fact, to completely exempt from the charge of a crime and consider Him free from sin, Who did not refuse to do what was appropriate on the Sabbath, does not this contradict the regulations on the Sabbath? According to what seems to be a necessary conclusion and one that has great grounds in itself, they come to such a thought and say this. After all, it is obvious and completely indisputable that God would not give the power to do anything miraculous to those who despise the Divine law and impute the highest decrees to nothing. But, as the Jews think, He gave this to Christ, although he broke the Sabbath law. Can we therefore doubt that doing anything on the Sabbath does not lead to sin, or that doing good deeds is much superior to abstaining from work on it? After all, the Levites, as the Savior Himself again says in one place, are allowed to perform sacred acts on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:5), and remain unpunished for this activity; on the contrary, evasion from the matter is not punished with impunity. Who will blame them for sacrificing oxen or other kinds of sacrifices on the Sabbath? Rather, on the contrary, they should have been blamed if they did not do what was necessary and required by subordinate service. If, therefore, the sacrifices under the law, dedicated for the salvation of someone, were unhindered on the Divine altar on the Sabbath, then was it not all the more fitting that works of Divine grace should be performed towards a person, for whose sake a miracle should be approved on the Sabbath? However, it seems that those who said: “How can a sinner perform such signs?” were also thinking of doing something else? They try, so to speak, to protect the entire host of saints. After all, if, they say, we admit that even those who are accustomed to sin can shine with deeds that exceed word and reason and themselves turn out to be creators of miracles, then what obstacle will there be for the slanderers to accuse the host of prophets or even, finally, to attack the blessed Moses himself and regard such a worthy prophet as nothing, although the best of all virtues are attested to him? So, for the sake of Christ, they defend the glory of their fathers, taking, as it were, a pretext of love for them and what was said about Him. John 9:17. Again, to the blind man, what are you saying about Him, since you opened your eyes? They think to ridicule those who want to judge the law, forgetting, it seems to me, the saying: “Judge righteous judgment” (Deut. 1:16). As if fettered by the bonds of envy, they do not at all want to listen to the voice paying homage to Christ - they turn away, as if from some greatest enemy of theirs, from the one who wanted to testify to the miracle and, caring little about themselves, turn arrogant speeches to the man who was healed - they again ask about what they have often heard, and finally call the One who did something on the Sabbath a bad and sinful person. Believing that for this the blind man would condemn Him along with them and follow their words, so that, refusing to give thanks for deliverance from suffering and being afraid of their anger, he would accuse Him as a transgressor of the Sabbath law. Yes, the mind of the Pharisees is undoubtedly bad, because it is ignorant. In fact, how could the voice of one ungrateful person harm the power of a miracle? Or would Christ have turned out to lack Divine glory if the blind man, perhaps, had fallen into fear and, not wanting to endure any sorrows, had refused to give thanks? But envy is always capable of prompting those subject to it to do something as quickly as possible, even if this rightly deserves great ridicule. On the contrary, a mind free from envy avoids reckless thoughts and does not go beyond the boundaries of truth. Yes, the Pharisees are truly pitiful and arrogant, hoping to deviate from the truth those who decided to think and speak the truth and were already ready for gratitude and, thanks to a miracle, became close to clear knowledge, forcing them to say something inappropriate about the One who miraculously called him to a state that exceeded hope. John 9:17. He said that he is a prophet Those who do not accept sound and right teaching receive a sharp arrow in their hearts, apparently trying to enrich themselves with hatred alone, for “the treacherous will not receive prey,” as it is written (Proverbs 12:27). Their efforts ended contrary to their intention, and beyond their expectations they heard “that He is a prophet.” Thus, the healed person agrees with others. Those who intelligently understand the nature of the matter declare that a sinful person cannot do such a thing. And the one on whom the miracle was performed, as if following in the footsteps of the opinions of those, says that He is a prophet, without yet knowing exactly who He really is, but having already followed the path trodden by the Jews. It was their custom to call miracle workers prophets, as those testified by God in holiness. So, just as those, out of respect for the Sabbath, do not dishonor the greatness of the Divine sign and call the One who performed it innocent of any sin, in the same way, I think, this (blind man), being far from petty judgments about the Sabbath, assimilates the highest glory to the One who gave him sight, and, placing Him among the saints, calls Him a prophet. And it seems to me that he no longer particularly cares about the commandments of the law, otherwise he would not have been amazed at Him so much and would not have placed the doctor among the prophets, although He seemed to violate the commandment about the Sabbath. So, having benefited from a miracle, he glorifies the Wonderworker above the legal commandment, who committed an innocent violation of the law for the sake of good. John 9:18–19. The Jews did not believe in him, for he was blind and saw, until they cried out to the parent who had received his sight and asked them, saying: Is this the son of Vayu (yours), whom you say was born blind? What the hell does he see now? Their strong hatred for the Healer does not allow them to believe in what was recognized by everyone. Pierced by the sting of madness, they care little about the truth and first forced the blind man himself to speak falsely against Christ, and now they are trying in vain to persuade his parents to do the same, so everything turned out quite the opposite. A completely unnecessary question is put to the parents of this person, which, it seems to me, due to their excessive unreason, insults the very law that is highly respected by them. After all, the neighbors, as it is written (above, v. 13), brought the former blind man and, to a question similar to the present one, they answered that he was born blind, and testified that he had now received his sight. Then, while the law clearly proclaims that with two or three witnesses every word is true (Deut. 19:15), they deprive the meaning of the testimony of not only two or three, but, as it turns out, a much larger number of people and turn to others - the parents of the healed person, thereby committing a lawless and ignorant act. But the law is nothing for them when they try to do something for their own pleasure. When the miracle witnessed by the neighbors and the healed man himself forced them to remain silent even involuntarily, they had the hope of forcing those questioned (the parents of the blind man) to neglect the truth and speak according to their wishes. Notice with what indignation they are asked: “Is this your son of whom you say that he was born blind?” It’s as if they are trying to suggest that they will do something terrible to them, and instill great fear, thereby forcing them to say what they wanted to hear from them, that is, that he was not born blind. They had a single and wicked goal - to destroy the people’s idea of ​​Christ and destroy the faith of those who had already begun to be amazed at Him. Just as those who are trying to destroy any well-fortified city surround it on all sides and besiege it in every way - they either rush to undermine the walls, or smash the towers with blows from siege weapons, so the daring Pharisees with their unbelief besiege a miracle, leaving not a single kind of wickedness (untried for this purpose). But it was impossible to eliminate as non-existent what was already recognized by everyone, and to turn into a non-existent idea what had already caused surprise in many. John 9:20–21. The answer of his parent and the rest: we know that this is my son and that he was born blind: how now he sees, we are not known, or whoever opened his eyes, we are not known: ask yourself, age has to speak about itself (says) They recognize it as true and not subject to any doubt, in which they could in no way be deceived. After all, they say, they know their own son and do not deny the authenticity of his birth from them, but clearly state that he was born with the defect of blindness. However, they shy away from telling the miracle, leaving it to the very nature of the matter to speak loudly about it and claiming that it is most appropriate for their son to tell them how he received the healing. Fear of danger often prompts one to shirk duty. Therefore, trembling before the cruelty of the Pharisees, they did not follow the wonderful commandment “even to death to strive for the truth” (Sir.4:32). On the contrary, it was natural for them to have some other state, namely: the poor man is fearful in everything and, due to his poverty, avoids opposing anyone, often resorts to involuntary silence and forced patience - already sufficiently crushed by the severity of poverty, he is afraid to be exposed to any other troubles. Presumably, the parents of the blind man were in a similar state, although their speech was in full accordance with the state of affairs (and did not in the least deviate from the truth). In fact, everyone will agree that to know the one born of them, without any doubt, was, of course, characteristic of them, and not of the one born; It was appropriate, of course, not for parents to know a doctor, but for someone who has experienced the grace of a miracle. Thus they clearly acknowledge what they know, called to it by duty. And what could he (their son) tell more accurately, since he had more accurate knowledge about this, they urge (the Pharisees) to ask him (the son) about this. And not without Divine inspiration, it seems to me, they added to their words: “he has age,” for this also gives a certain accusation of the wickedness of the Pharisees. After all, if the one who has received sight due to time and age has the ability to think, then when he says that there was a miracle and how it happened to him, he speaks not from a child’s mind, but from a completely mature one and capable of confirming everything he wants. Thus, and from here, it is with all necessity necessary to discern the shameless unbelief of the Pharisees, for they do not believe either their neighbors or the blind man himself, who testifies to this not from a tender childish mind and not from a childish inclination to deceive, but who has an age capable of understanding the nature of objects. John 9:22. This is the rest of his parent, as if they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already formed, and if anyone confessed Christ to be, he would be excommunicated from the host It is wonderful and just that our Lord Jesus Christ sends “woe” to the heads of the Pharisees: “For woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of knowledge and did not enter in yourselves and hindered those who entered” (Luke 11:52). Let the God-loving one again pay attention to whether there is in these words the beauty of truth, for Christ could by no means tell a lie. Now, besides the fact that none of them tries to communicate the teaching about His coming, they, without any hesitation, terrify those who themselves could understand this from the miraculousness of His deeds and, with their brutal cruelty, create an ineradicable obstacle to the recognition of the One Who could be seen in His miraculous deeds themselves. Thus, they, pathetic ones, are not ashamed to make someone who is grateful (a healed blind man) and therefore already ready for faith excommunicated from communion (the synagogue), as if by their power to separate from God the one who is attached to God, as if to force the Lord of all Himself to be an accomplice to them in their inherent rage against everyone. However, the venerable Evangelist defends (the parents of the blind man) and says that those questioned were overcome by fear and therefore did not want to say that their son was healed by Christ, in order to expose and make clear for posterity the enormity of the madness of the Jews. Indeed, what could be more inhuman than those who determine punishment even for gratitude and consider those worthy of execution who could understand the One proclaimed by the law and the prophets. And that the wicked intentions of the Jews were not unknown to the holy prophets, we learn about this from the Holy Scriptures. Thus, He who searches the hearts and inward parts, “who pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and judges the thoughts and intents of the heart, to whom all things are laid bare and revealed” (Heb. 4:12-13), says through Isaiah: “Woe, you apostate children, this says the Lord: you have made counsel, and not by Me, covenants, and not by My Spirit, to add sin to sin” ( Isa.30:1); for whoever says that Jesus is Lord will say, without a doubt, by the Holy Spirit, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor. 12:3), but whoever cares about the opposite will not say by the Holy Spirit. By whom? He, or rather, will speak like Beelzebub. So, the intentions of the Jews were not through the Holy Spirit, for they added sins to sins, first of all bringing death upon their own heads for their unbelief, and then sending it to others due to the fact that they prevented them from confessing Christ. And indeed, their enterprise was filled with extreme wickedness, and besides, the Psalmist ridicules those engaged in such useless and empty deeds in the words: “Lord, in Your wrath You will trouble them, and fire will consume them, You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed among the sons of men; because they have undertaken evil against You, they have formed a plan in which they will not be able to resist” (Ps. 20:10-12). Yes, they were by no means able to fulfill their God-fighting plan, although they often tried to destroy the glory of Christ in countless ways. Therefore, they find themselves behind, that is, they move away from the face and from the eyes of the Lord of all (Ps. 20:13), rightly hearing: “Walk by the light of your fire and by the flame that you kindled” (Is. 50:11). John 9:24. Having proclaimed the second man, who is blind, and decided to him: give glory to God: we know that this Man is a sinner Finding themselves unable to dissuade this person from giving glory to Christ, they try to achieve this in another way and try in some way through flattery to attract him to their goal, intensifying through many words to force him not to mention Christ at all and not to proclaim Him as a healer, but very insidiously they say that the glory for the miracle should be given to God, presenting themselves here as caring about piety, and also trying to win him over to their side and believe them, although they reach the highest degree It is wickedness if they say that the sinner is the One who came to destroy sin. However, they do not present the slightest evidence of such slander, but, being arrogant and thinking something great and extraordinary about themselves only because they led the people, they command that they be trusted because of the nobility of their persons and agree with them as if as an obligation. For this “we know” will prove to contain incomparable exaltation for those who explore the secrets of their souls. But this also gives reason to marvel at the madness of the Jews. But they, broadcasting in words and terribly arrogant, exclaiming with great pride: “We know,” push away the sayings of the law and regard Moses as worthless, and the sayings of the prophets seem worthless to them. Thus, they do not take into account what was foreshadowed by the voice of the prophet as taking place at the coming of our Savior Christ. “Then,” he says, “the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear, then the lame will leap up like a deer, and the tongue of the tongue-tied will be clear” (Is. 35:5-6). Thus, the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, who spent thirty-eight years in his weakness, was healed, as it is written (John 5ff.), according to one saying of the Savior, leaving his bed and jumping up like a deer. But while because of him they should have been surprised at Jesus, they were saddened for the violation of the Sabbath and, worried about the (imaginary) violation of the law, they destroyed the grace of the miracle. Likewise, the dumb man once spoke, after the demon was expelled from him. At the same time, they revealed such great folly that they did not receive the slightest benefit from it. The blind man received his sight, the prophetic sermon was fulfilled, the Voice of the Spirit was realized, and so what? Again, here they suffer the same thing, they condemn the Wonderworker, they consider as a sinner the One who could shine magnificently and show those who have already come what was expected from ancient times. John 9:25. He answered: although I am a sinner, I do not know: I know only that I am blind 666 now (now) I see It seems that the former blind man received a twofold grace from Christ: along with his bodily eyes, his mind was also enlightened - in his carnal eyes he has the brilliance of our (visible) sun, and a spiritual ray, I mean enlightenment through the Spirit, receives it inward and receives it in the heart. Listen to how, out of very great love for Christ, he resists the abominations of his superiors and skillfully repels them, as if drunk and confused. Having composed his speech with appropriate reverence and having paid tribute to those in the position of leaders, he reverently says: “Whether He is a sinner, I don’t know.” We do not claim that in these words he declares himself ignorant of the fact that Christ was not a sinner, but we think that he told them something similar to this: forced against his will to affirm what should not be, I will not slander my Benefactor, I will not agree with those who want to dishonor Him to whom all honor is due, I will not call such a Wonderworker a sinner, I will not impose a bad sentence on the One who is able to perform deeds. God, the miracle visible on me does not allow me to agree with your words; “I was blind and I see”: I believed His deeds not according to the words of anyone else, I am not carried away simply by other people’s stories, it is not the deeds (performed) over others that I have to be amazed at; I myself, he says, serve as proof of His power, I stand sighted, once blind, as a certain image, revealing the beauty of His love for mankind and reflecting the greatness of Divine power (omnipotence). A similar meaning, I believe, should be acquired by the words of one who has received the light. They are again curious and explore the image of the performance of a Divine miracle, doing this not out of a good intention and desire to know the truth, but, although they considered it to be a deed more shameful than any vice and exceeding all evil - the glorification of Christ by any of the existing (people), they again look for all this, hoping that that person (blind), perhaps, will not repeat the same thing, but will make a mistake in something when talking about the event and say anything that contradicts previous words, so that, seizing on this disagreement, he is declared a deluded person and a liar. Excessively arrogant in their minds, they imagined that the power of a miracle was contained in a person’s words alone, and not the other way around, in deeds. I think they were in the same state as those who are strongly possessed by unjust hatred of someone, when they ask about something they have done, and then, so that it does not seem to have been done justly, more than once, but often they want to hear about it from those telling it, as if sharpening their dulled anger at him for the most acute excitement. After all, conscience always shames and denounces us and constantly accuses us of untruth, even if this untruth seems pleasant due to partiality. So, they encourage him and even involuntarily force the healed person to return to the same thing and in the same words, as if inspiring each other and ordering them to intensively observe whether anything was done contrary to the law in the miracle (performed) on Saturday. Yes, conscience strangles their ferocious and bestial mind, imposing on them, even against their will, as if a bridle. John 9:27. I answered them: I have spoken to you already, and you have not heard, what do you want to hear again? It’s unnecessary, he says, to tell the same thing again to disobedient ears, and it’s completely in vain for you to often ask about it if you don’t get any benefit from it, and although you’ve fully learned it, you still force me to repeat the same thing not for the sake of benefit, as experience shows. Thus, the healed man here denounces the Pharisees for being completely insane, “turning their ears away from the truth,” as it is written (2 Tim. 4:4), being angry without reason at the violation of the law, commanding the one who wanted to glorify the Wonderworker for this to appear as an accuser, or assuming that he has reverence for Him. Indeed, they had such a goal, since for them it was completely indifferent and had no significance to the crime of the law, why, leaving the right court, they turned only to what was pleasing to themselves, although they forgot the words of God: “The lips of the priest will preserve the judgment and the law will be required from his mouth” (Mal. 2:7). John 9:27. Food and do you want to be His disciple? He had already clearly confessed and without any pretense that he had been taught not only by word, but also by a miracle, and had already believed, having accepted the miraculous insight as teaching, for in the words to them: “Do you really want to be His disciples,” he seemed to have revealed his mood as having already desired and become (His disciple). Concerned in some way, even before complete faith, about fulfilling the commandment: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8), he turns out to be quite ready, without any envy, to teach them useful things. He claims that he will often and sincerely talk about the miracle if only they really make his story a science for themselves. Thus he fulfilled, and very beautifully, the words of the book of Proverbs: “Speak in the ears of those who hear” (Sir.25:12). Blessed John himself says in one place that Jesus stood in the church itself, teaching and explaining what seemed to be a violation of the law in the opinion of those listening. However, the Jewish leaders were not at all excited by this and did not dare to say: “Stop teaching those who disagree with the ancient laws”; Thus, their behavior was consistent with the opinion of the people that we had just expressed about them. And indeed, as it is written, “Some of the Jerusalemites said: Is not this he whom they seek to kill? So he clearly speaks and they don’t say anything to Him: did the rulers really know that He is the Christ?” ( John 7:25–26 ). They say something like this: those who have received power know that He is truly Christ, and although they are plotting to kill Him, they do not attack Him, who speaks with such great boldness, even with simple words. Given the prevalence of such an opinion throughout Jerusalem, even the blind man once knew this and heard about it. Therefore, with some respectful reproof, he says: is it really in vain that you force me to repeat the same words and glorify the miracle, or do you find pleasure in this story and already want to receive teaching from Him, but are you ashamed of each other and prefer ungrateful (to each other) shame to such wonderful knowledge? John 9:28. And reproaching him and deciding: You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. By saying this, the Evangelist is making fun of him in some way. Notice to what recklessness those who have received the priesthood have reached such that they condemn such an honorable work, that is, the leadership of Christ, for which some of the saints, having a wonderful love, say alone: ​​“How sweet are Your words to my throat, better than honey and honeycomb to my lips” (Ps. 119:103); the other also (speaks) as if to our Lord Jesus Christ about those who do not believe Him: “Do this, and Your word will be to me the pleasure and joy and joy of my heart” (Jer. 15:16). But without assimilating any of the sacred words, they consider the man led by Christ (the healed blind man) to be not innocent for this very reason (guidance), but, considering their dogmas to be true, they appoint Christ as the blind man’s teacher, and Moses as their teacher. And indeed, the pagans were enlightened by Christ through the gospel teaching, and Israel died with the Mosaic images and was buried under the darkness of the letter. That’s why Paul says about them in one place: “Until today, when Moses is read, a veil is laid over their hearts” (2 Cor. 3:15). And that we describe the story of the blind man as a prototype of the pagans, transforming what happened to him figuratively into the truth with them (the pagans of the past), this cannot be doubted. However, it must be pointed out that a work that is pleasant and filled with all glory is reproach for Christ’s sake. And through the fact that those who want to persecute those who love Him think to cause grief, through this very thing, without knowing, they delight them and, instead of causing them real harm, on the contrary, they only make them more glorious. And of course, humiliating their own heads, and not at all Christ, the destructive Pharisees say about Him: “That one” (you are a disciple), and about themselves, as if expanding to excessive arrogance, they say: “We are Moses’ disciples.” John 9:29. We know, like Moses the verb God, but we do not know this, from where there is Again with arrogance, having as their weapon the usual and beloved madness and boasting of unbridled shamelessness, they proclaim this: “We know.” And by adding that “God spoke to Moses,” through this, although they acknowledge the duty to honor Him, in another respect they again insult Him and impute His commands to nothing. They recklessly condemn Him whom they do not yet know, and, even knowing them, they dishonorfully dishonor, although the law completely prohibits anyone from doing or condemning any untruth and lawlessness. They say here again something like this: undoubtedly, God spoke to Moses, no reason will make anyone doubt this, He gave laws through him and laid down commandments for every action, therefore the transgressor of the Holy Scriptures - thinking contrary to him, and obviously breaking the statute of the Sabbath, for you were healed on the Sabbath - the one caught and guilty of this rightly befits not to be known, and we quite thoroughly affirm that He did not keep the Divine law. So, when they say about Christ: “We don’t know where He comes from,” they say this not because they don’t know who He is and where He comes from, for from another place they clearly admit that they know about Him, namely: “Is not this the carpenter’s son, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say that I came down from heaven?” (Matthew 13:55; John 6:42). We should not take this as an indication of ignorance: “We do not know this, where He is from,” but see here the fruit of their inherent arrogance. Subjecting Him to contempt and considering Him as nothing at all, they speak about Him like this. It seems that something else is being indicated here, for the property of contemplation prompts us to turn to a more subtle investigation: “we know,” it is said, “what God spoke to Moses,” therefore, we must without hesitation believe his words and observe the Divine decrees, “But this we do not know,” for God did not speak to Him and we do not recognize anything like that about Him. But the Pharisees, although accustomed to consider themselves wise men and much boasting of their knowledge of Divine words, should have thought that God and the Father, foretelling through the wise Moses the coming of Jesus at the proper time, said this: “I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren, like you, and I will give My word in His mouth, and He will speak to them according to what I command Him, and the man who will not listen to what the Prophet will speak It is in My name that I will exact it from him” (Deut. 18:18–19). Anyone can say to the Jews, reproaching them with all justice: Oh, you who only know how not to believe! If you are more willing to trust the words of Moses, as God spoke to him, then is it not appropriate to do the same in relation to Christ, whom you heard loudly and clearly express: “The words that I speak are not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (John 14:24); and again: “I do not speak on My own behalf, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a commandment, what I would say and what I would say” (John 12:49). Thus, the words of the Pharisees were only an excuse and an invention of empty reasoning. After all, if they say that it is proper to follow Moses because God spoke to him, then why don’t they think the same about Christ, although He clearly spoke the words we just cited? But, on the one hand, valuing the law and pretending to consider the will of God worthy of honor, on the other hand, they violate it even worse, dishonoring the fact that they do not want to accept the more appropriate preaching of the time, which consisted in proclaiming Christ as a prophet thanks to His coming in the flesh. John 9:30. The man answered and said to them: “This is wonderful, because you don’t know where it comes from, and you opened my eyes.” I am very surprised, he says, if you say that you do not know Him who is testified to such great holiness and Divine omnipotence through His works - you, who imagine yourself to be constantly serving God, leaders of the law, dedicated to the Holy Scriptures, endowed with authority and especially with the knowledge of those who think right. In fact, who should know those who work miracles with the help of God, if not those assigned to the priesthood, to whose care the sacred sacrament is entrusted? And speaking about himself that he is amazed at their complete ignorance of the One who performed such an amazing and miraculous sign, he secretly reproaches them for the fact that they are so far removed from holiness and from proper piety that they are not ashamed to admit their complete ignorance of the truly Holy One, that is, Christ. But to continue our word, let us point out the truth of the beautiful saying: “Every animal loves what is like itself, and a husband should be attached to what is like itself” (Sir.13:19-20). How could they, if they were good and holy, begin to turn away from the desire to become attached to the Holy and Good? Thus, this saying contains a denunciation of the wicked behavior and life of the Pharisees. But I think that something else is also indicated, since someone who loves to direct his mind to contemplation should more accurately examine the thoughts hidden in each saying. So what is it? All of Judea was filled with great fame about our Savior Christ, however, as a prophet (only). This is because the law foretold His coming in the words: “The Lord our God will raise up a prophet from among your brothers” (Deut. 18:15). At the same time, they cherished the hope that, having appeared in due time, he would tell them something above the law and, having fully explained the truest desire of the legislator, would teach them the most appropriate teaching. And do not be surprised if the Jews had such hope and rumor, when the same expectation was widespread among foreigners, as the famous Samaritan woman proves in the words: “We know that the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ; when He comes, He will tell us all things” (John 4:25). So, the Jews knew, and very well, that Christ would come, for this means the Messiah, and would explain to them the best will of God, and in addition, in the clear saying of Isaiah it is indicated that he would open the eyes of the blind, namely: “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened” (Is. 35:5). But another rumor also circulated throughout Jerusalem, since the prophet Isaiah says that the ineffable birth (Son) of God the Father is completely unknown, in the words: “Who will confess His generation?” (Isa.53:8). And the Jews again, perverting the meaning of these words according to their own understanding, imagined that Christ would be completely unknown and no one would know where He came from, although the Divine Scripture most clearly presents to us His birth in the flesh and therefore exclaims: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son” (Is. 7:14). And that again the mind of the Jews was deprived of guidance to perceive the necessary truths and they assumed that Christ would be unknown, this is not difficult to see from the words that, according to the assurance of the Evangelist John, the Jerusalemites say about Him: “For some of the Jerusalemites said: Is not this this one whom they seek to kill? And so he boldly speaks, and they do not say anything to Him: did the rulers truly know that this is Christ? But this we know where He comes from, but when Christ comes, no one will know where He comes from” (John 7:25-27). So, while the Jews think so unreasonably about Christ, the former blind man already quickly perceives the idea of ​​Him from the miracle and, as it were, grabs the saying of the Pharisees to reinforce his thoughts when he says: “There is a strange thing in this, that you do not know where He comes from, and (a) opened my eyes.” He says, “I have two signs, and very clear ones, that He is Christ, namely: you do not know where He comes from (first), but He also opened my eyes (second). Therefore, it is clear that He is Himself Foretold by the Law and Witnessed by the Voice of the Prophets. John 9:31. We know that God will not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a reader of God and does His will, he will listen to him Having mocked them in some way through the prophetic and lawful predictions, as if it had already been accomplished in that they do not know where Christ comes from, although the eyes of the blind are open, he, out of a desire to have comprehensive grounds for his faith, adds something else. He imagines himself going from necessary and generally accepted positions to the search for what is necessary and proper and leads, as it were, to some kind of pious conclusion. Very beautifully and sensibly, he asserts that God, who loves truth and virtue, never listens to those who love sin, and, considering this as indisputably and universally recognized, he contrasts the opposite thought as true and in no way refutable, that is, that the Lord of all certainly listens to the worshipers of God. Thus, although the purpose of the inference has Christ alone in mind, it is expressed in a general way and has a universal significance. After all, I have already pointed out earlier that the former blind man has a more earthly idea of ​​Christ and, not yet knowing the true God in Him by nature, thinks and speaks of Him as a prophet, who can undoubtedly be called a worshiper of God. But this is not at all fitting for Christ, for He is God by nature, accepting service from the worshipers of God as if as a spiritual sacrifice. John 9:32. Since time immemorial it has not been heard that someone opened the eyes of a blind man. Quite, it seems, irritated and greatly grieved, saddened by the reproaches for Christ, since they seemed to say with reproach: “You are the disciple of Him, we are the disciples of Moses” (v. 28), - he tries to defend his Mentor and in some way contrasts the glorious deeds of our Savior with the deeds of Moses, revealing Him to be as superior (to Moses) as He is greater (before Moses) in working miracles. Indeed, is it not necessary for the Maker of greater things and to be the highest in glory? This is, of course, indisputable. And at the same time, it seems to indicate the fulfillment with the coming of Christ of the predictions of the most ancient prophecy: “Then,” it is said, “the eyes of the blind will be opened” (Is. 35:5), for no one has ever done anything like this before and is not glorified for it, but this is being fulfilled through Him alone, whom you, I don’t know why, did not hesitate to call a sinner. Although a numerous choir of prophets appeared and a countless number of righteous people are indicated in the Holy Scriptures, “from the beginning of time it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind” (blind from birth). Therefore, is this not Christ, who brought fulfillment to the prophetic predictions, leading to the fulfillment of what was once announced? After all, if no one else but Him opens the eyes of the blind, then what, finally, is able to oppose faith? What can turn one away from recognizing Him? Or, with all doubt removed, shouldn’t the mystery of knowing Him go as if in a rapid procession along a smooth road? Thus, in these words the healed man defends the Savior Christ. Notice how nobly and skillfully he composes his defensive word. Without any doubt, of course, it was a matter of great courage to say that Christ is higher and more glorious than Moses and the prophets. But it was also useful to think that, angry at this, the Pharisees would insidiously present themselves as advocating for the saints as insulted (with these words) and would try to find here a plausible pretext for punishing this man, so that he, alive and visible to everyone, would not be a reminder of Christ’s glory and, as it were, some image of His inherent Divine power. That is why, rejecting the anger (that could have arisen among the Pharisees) because of this and blocking the further path of their murderous plans, he expresses the meaning of his speech in general and not quite clearly, saying that from time immemorial no one has ever done what Christ did to him. And this was nothing more than an indication that Christ is higher and more glorious than all, by His deeds demonstrating such inherent strength and omnipotence as none of the saints ever possessed. Thus, he crowns his Physician with superiority over everyone, taking as proof a miracle that is impossible and inaccessible to others, that is, the removal of blindness. John 9:33. If this were not from God, he could not do anything One who has just received his sight and has been miraculously liberated from his original blindness finds himself seeing the truth more clearly than those taught by the law. Well, in fact, he uses very many wise words to prove the falsity of the opinions of the Pharisees. Since they madly said about Christ that “We do not know where He comes from” (v. 29), it again strongly exposes them as thinking erroneously if they say that they do not know such a Wonderworker at all, while it is obvious to everyone that it is impossible for anyone who is not from God to do anything that is done through Divine power. God accomplishes such things through the saints alone. But to someone who is alien to holiness and has not yet achieved piety towards Him, He would never have given the opportunity to be adorned with such glory. Otherwise, let the crazy Pharisee appear and answer, what kind of difference does God have between the holy and the unclean, the righteous and the sinful, the ungodly and the God-loving? After all, if both are allowed to shine in exactly the same deeds, without any difference, then everything is already mixed up and we can rightly say what is written: “For what is it sufficient (worthy) for us to work for Him or what is the benefit for us to go towards Him?” ( Job 21:15 ). After all, if, as one of the Hellenic poets said, “there is an equal fate for the one who remains in peace and for the one who fights” (Iliad, song 9, v. 318), and both the bad and the good are equally honored, then will it not be in vain to experience bitter labors for the sake of virtue? But we must think that this is not so. Why? “For those who glorify Me,” says God, “I will glorify, and whoever humbles Me will be humbled” (1 Samuel 2:30). I would also ask the superstitious Pharisees: if God works indifferently and through sinners, then why didn’t the Egyptian magicians do the same thing as the great Moses? Why didn’t they perform the same miracles as him and receive the same glory as him? But you will say that the rod of Moses that fell to the ground became a serpent, and the rods of the magicians became exactly the same. Against this, listen to this from us: their rods did not turn into snakes, but it was a deception and a ghost that hid reality from human vision - a kind of magical art that gave the rod the appearance of a snake. And Moses’ rod actually turned into a serpent and passed into the nature of the beast. You can discern the truth of what has been said in the difference given here by Scripture: the rod of Moses ate the rods of the magicians. Since these latter had only the appearance of snakes, and the first actually and by nature was what he was, he became angry, so that he turned out to be an animal, and no longer a rod, and with an indescribable, exceeding power, he ate the snake, which miracle God performed. And let the Pharisee answer me: those who gave their rods the appearance of snakes, why didn’t they show a clean and leprous hand, but, finding themselves unable (to do this), clearly said: “This is the finger of God” (Ex. 8:19)? Why, tell me, did the priests of Baal not bring down fire from heaven, while Elijah did (1 Kings 18:24, 14, 38)? Is God partial? Not at all. Being righteous and loving the righteous, He performs miraculous gifts through the saints, but not through sinners. Thus, the former blind man with all thoroughness stops the impudence of the speech of the Pharisees and denounces them in erroneous reasoning, if they say that He is not from God, who through the power to perform miracles is testified as being by nature from God. John 9:34. I answered and decided to him: You were born entirely in sins, and did you teach us? And cast him out For many, the wounds from reproof and correction through them are unpleasant. They are easy and pleasant for the wise, since they contain great benefit and advancement for the better, although they are combined with remorse (conscience). But it is bitter for those who love sins - for what reason? Having given their souls over to evil pleasures, they turn away from the unpleasant admonition (conscience) that torments them for this and consider it a harm to move away from what is pleasant, not paying any attention to useful objects. Just as those who have fallen from a ship and are captured by the water current are not able to resist and, considering it dangerous to swim against the water, are carried along by the water current alone, in the same way, I think, these, about whom we were just talking, overcome by the dominion of their own passions, remove all bridle from them, refusing to oppose them in anything. That is why the pitiful Pharisees are indignant and, brutally gnashing at the adviser of good, willingly open up access to anger and, reaching extreme madness, scold uncontrollably: giving in to their usual arrogance, they say that the blind man is born in sins, guided here by childish Jewish opinions and ignorantly following untenable teaching. That no one, either for his own sake or for the sake of his parents, is born blind or with any other physical defect, and also that God does not impose the sins of parents on children, this, it seems to me, we have already proven comprehensively and in extensive reasoning when we interpreted the saying: “Teacher! Who sinned, this one or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). So, because the former blind man was able to denounce the Pharisees, he is not only subject to censure, but also expelled from them. And take this event again as an image of a true object. An indication that the Israelites will abhor the Gentiles as having been brought up in sins due to previous deception, everyone can see in the words spoken to him by the Pharisees. And they expel him because the preachers of the teaching about Christ were rejected and expelled from the Jews. John 9:35. Jesus heard and cast him out “I heard,” says the divine Evangelist, our Lord Jesus Christ, not so that he needed to be told by anyone, but because, as one of the wise said somewhere, “The Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and with an ear of hearing hears all things” (Wis. 1:7, 10), for He hears, as the Psalmist says: “Does he not hear? And does not he who formed the eye understand (Ps. 93:9)? Therefore, when for His sake we are subjected to insults or endure any sorrow from those who oppose God, we must believe that God, without a doubt, will be a spectator of this and hears the test that befalls us, for such is the very nature of the subject and the reproach for His sake of His true followers resounds with a loud cry in the Divine ears. John 9:35. And he found him saying to him: Do you believe in the Son of God? 668 The former blind man is driven out by the Pharisees, but after a short time Christ finds him and, having “found” him, leads him in secret. So, this should serve us as a sign that God is in charge of those who wish to defend Him and are not afraid to be exposed to danger for their faith in Him. In fact, you hear how, as a kind of good reward, having revealed Himself to him, he tries to instill in him the most perfect teaching about faith 669. He also adds a question in order to obtain consent, for this is the image of faith. Therefore, those approaching divine baptism are asked whether they believe, and then, when they express this and confess, we already introduce them to grace as our true believers. The image of this, therefore, originates from here, and from our Savior Christ Himself we learned how to talk about faith. Therefore, the divine Paul claims (1 Tim. 6:12) that he makes his confession of this before many witnesses, that is, the holy angels. And if it is scary to tell a lie before the holy Angels, then isn’t it even more so before Christ himself? But he asks the former blind man not only whether he wants to “believe,” but also adds “in whom,” for faith “in the Son of God” is not as in a man, one of our kind, but as in God made man; this is the fullness of the sacrament of Christ. And when he says: “Do you believe,” he says, as it were: Do you want to be above the madness of those? You, having said goodbye to the unbelief of those, accepted faith, for it is “you” that introduces precisely this kind of opposition in relation to others. John 9:36. And who is, Lord, may I believe in Him 670 A soul prepared by wise reflection and exploring the teaching of truth with the free eyes of the mind freely enters it, as if into a harbor, and opens an easy entrance to everything useful. The proof of what has been said will again be the former blind man. Through many conclusions and reasoning, having already reached the point of reverence before the mystery of Christ and being amazed by His ineffable power - from what no one else, but he himself has experienced, thus he turns out to be ready to believe and without delay moving towards this, for he asks to whom he should devote the faith already prepared in him. After all, only this one thing was missing for him, prepared for this, as we said. John 9:37. And Jesus said: You have seen Him, and He says with you, He is Asked about whom one must believe, Christ points to Himself and does not simply say: “I, the Speaker,” but calls the Son of God both visible and speaking, constantly caring for our benefit and presenting various aids for an immutable and true faith, so that, considering ourselves pious, we do not fall into the snares and snares of the devil and foolishly turn away the truth of the sacrament. After all, some of those who are considered Christians, not understanding exactly the purpose of building a house with the flesh, have already dared to separate from the Word (Logos) the church of God, received for our sake from a wife, and divided the one and true Son into two sons. Out of great madness, they consider it unworthy to admit that the Only Begotten became man - that is, what He did not consider unworthy to do for us; for He, “being in the form of God,” according to what is written (Phil. 2:6–7), “counted it not by abduction to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant,” in order to be a man like us, but obviously without sin. They think absurdly and, in some way contrary to the Divine and humane Council, remove from true sonship, as far as their own thoughts are concerned, the church received from a wife and do not allow humiliation, but invent a glory that deviates from the truth and say that the other is from God the Father the Only Begotten Son, that is, from the essence of His begotten Word, and the other is again a son from a wife. Then: if the inspired Scripture preaches one Son and Christ, then are not those filled with all wickedness who divide the one and true Son into two? For since He is God the Word, He is thought of as different from the flesh; since He is flesh, He is thought of as something different from the Word; but since the Word, who was from God the Father, became man, this “other and other” must be completely abolished thanks to the ineffable unity and intercourse. The Son is one and only both before he was united with the flesh and when he was united with the flesh. And thanks to the flesh we call Him a complete man, that is, consisting of soul and body. It is for this reason that the question: “Who is the Son of God?” - The Lord again very prudently did not say: “I,” for in this case some, it seems, could unreasonably assume that this indicates the one Word that appeared from God and the Father. But, eliminating any pretext for doubt, he first pointed to Himself with the words: “and you saw Him,” and then, next to this, he points to the Word Himself who dwelt in the flesh by adding more words: “and He who speaks to you is He.” You see from here what unity the Word has. He did not make a distinction, but calls Himself both (man) subject to bodily eyes, and (Word) cognizable from the word. Therefore, it is extremely ignorant and wicked when some rashly say: “The man of Christ,” for, being God, He became man inseparable, since He is God also with the flesh. This is precisely the most perfect confession of faith and knowledge in Him. John 9:38. He said: I believe, Lord. And worship Him 671 The former blind man is quick to confess faith and ardent to piety. As soon as he learned that the one present and visible was the true Only Begotten Son, he “worshiped” Him as God. Although he saw Him in the flesh, not having truly Divine glory, but enlightened in the heart by His inherent power and authority, accordingly, he rises to wise and good thoughts and imagines in his imagination the beauty of His Divine and ineffable nature. After all, he would not have “worshipped” as God if he had not believed that He was God, guided to such a thought by the wonderfully accomplished miracle that happened to him. But since we apply this whole event with him to the pagans, we should talk about this again. Notice that by his worship he represents the image of spiritual worship to which the pagans were led through faith. It was customary for Israel, according to the statute of the Mosaic Law, to serve the Lord of all by sacrificing oxen, burning incense, and offering other animals. And those who believed among the pagans do not know this way of worshiping God, but performed something else, spiritual, which God calls especially kind and pleasant to Himself. “I don’t eat,” he says, “the flesh of oxen, but I don’t drink the blood of goats either” (Ps. 49:13). On the contrary, he commands us to offer a “sacrifice of praise” (Ps. 49:14), that is, worship with song, about which the Psalmist, having seen through the Holy Spirit, says that the pagans will reach him through faith, as if turning speech to our Lord and Savior: “Let all the earth (in all the earth) worship (worship) You, and sing (sing) to Your name” ( Ps.66:4). But our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, showing the superiority of spiritual worship over the legal, says to the Samaritan woman: “Believe Me, wife, that the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem; But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also seeks such as those who worship Him: the Spirit is God, and those who worship Him must be worshiped in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24). And thinking correctly, we come to the conclusion that the holy Angels are distinguished by the same service to God and, like some kind of spiritual spear-carrying, bring worship to God. Thus, the Spirit, when he commands the inhabitants of heaven to render Divine honor to the First-Begotten and Only-Begotten, says: “And let all the Angels of God worship Him” (Deut. 32:43). But the divine Psalmist also calls us to this in the words: “Come, let us worship and fall down before Him” (Ps. 94:6). It would not be difficult to talk about this at length and at length. But, giving due measure to the word, let us refrain at this time from citing the sayings of Scripture. However, let us also recall that the former blind man perfectly fulfilled the image of pagan worship, placing worship next to the confession of faith. John 9:39. And Jesus said: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see will be blind. Explaining to us the reason for His appearance in this world, Christ says in the words of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for whose sake He has anointed Me, He has sent Me to bring good news to the poor, to preach release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind” (Is. 61:1). And in another place he says: “The deaf hear, the blind receive their sight (to) see” (Is. 42:18). If, therefore, he states that He was ordained by the Father and God for the reason of preaching sight to the blind, then how does he say here: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who see become blind?” Really, who will say, is Christ the servant of sin (Gal. 2:17), according to the word of Paul? It won't happen. He came then to accomplish the goal proposed to us out of mercy, that is, to illuminate everyone with the light of the Spirit. But the Jews, who were prone to unbelief, did not accept the grace that shone upon them, as if self-proclaimedly calling darkness upon themselves. This is exactly what is written about them in the prophetic instructions: “When they looked for light, darkness appeared to them, and while they were expecting light, they walked in darkness” (Is. 59:9). As for the preaching of the law, the Jews expected radiance and light, that is, Christ, for they recognized that He would come and expected Him. But although they seemed pious in this regard, they walked in darkness, that is, in deep darkness, and the reason for this exposure to their darkness was not someone else, but they themselves brought this disaster upon themselves by their unbelief. So, I came, he says, to impart sight to the blind through faith, but the insensitive mood of the unguided and disobedient, directed more toward unbelief, turned the coming of the Enlightener into condemnation for them; since they do not believe, they are condemned. The Savior expressed this to you more clearly in other words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in the Son is not condemned, but he who does not believe in the Son is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Son of God” (John 3:18; cf. v. 36). Thus, very skillfully, the beginning of the argument leads from a given object that is at hand and makes the miracle performed on the former blind man as if the root for his speech, for he claims that he received his sight not only in the body, but also in the mind, since he accepted faith. The Pharisees were in the opposite state, for they did not see His glory, although it shone very clearly in this greatest and new miracle. John 9:40. Hearing from the Pharisees that they were with Him, they decided to Him: Are we food and blind? The Pharisees carefully watch and diligently follow the Savior Christ, although they have a sharp arrow in their hearts and are stung by sorrow and envy for the sake of His glory. They follow Him, collecting food for hatred, inventing various slander about miracles and through this corrupting the simple minds of the simple. When they heard these words from Christ, they again became furious, since it was obvious that these words were directed against them. And as He said generally and vaguely: “so that those who see may become blind” (v. 39), then, not yet having a solid reason to accuse Him of offense, they slyly inquire about the meaning of these words, turning them to their own face and as if demanding to say more clearly whether He calls them blind too, in order to again condemn Him as a violator of the commandment of the law. After all, they, constantly revolving in the writings of Moses, knew that it was written: “Thou shalt not revile the ruler of thy people” (Ex. 22:28). So, they say this either in the expectation that He will offend them and they will seem to have reason to attack, be indignant and even, without being subject to guilt, build feats against Christ, or actually having something worse in mind and plotting some kind of slander characteristic of them. Since Christ said: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see can see” (v. 39) - and through these words pointed out the sight of the blind man, then they, not being able to bear the reminder of the miracle, rebel again, excited by envy, and try to resist Him, daring to say something like this: You boast greatly, having not accomplished anything that You, in your opinion, have done, and even if you don’t want to, they say about us too imagine Your miracles? Perhaps it is possible for You to claim that You also healed us who were blind? Do you not want us to assimilate to You the glory of a healer and a miracle worker, having been deceived like the blind man about whom You claim that he, born blind, received his sight? Would you dare to slanderously say the same thing about us as about him? Yes, the speech of the Pharisees was crafty and very sharp, ridiculing the miracle of the blind man and considering it more likely to be slander than reality. After all, a fool is not ashamed of anything. John 9:41. Jesus said to them: Even if you were blind, you would no longer have sin; Now you say, as we see, your sins will abide 672 Again the Savior moderates them, skillfully dissolving the reproof. Avoids any insult, but shames, exposing the meaning of the truth. Shows that the possession of sight not only has no benefit for them, but moreover, they will fall into a state worse than that in which the one who does not see anything is. After all, a blind person, he says, not seeing the miracles being performed at all, remains outside of sin and remains innocent in this regard. And contemplatives and spectators of miracles, thanks to their great foolishness and evil nature, did not accept faith as a result of their (miracles), have an indelible sin and inevitable condemnation for this. So it is natural to think about bodily blindness and sight. Appropriately speaking about the spiritual and applying a similar meaning to this saying, let us say again that a foolish person could rightfully ask for leniency from a judge, but a person with a keen mind and understanding of benefit, but directing his heart to shameful deeds and shamelessly surrendering to the power of harmful pleasures, if he demands mercy, then his request will not provide him with any help in avoiding due punishment, but he will with all justice will be destroyed by indulging in the unforgivable sin. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, pointing to this very thing in the Gospels, says: “He who knew the will of his master and did not do it will suffer many blows” (Luke 12:47). The one who did not know is charged with the guilt of ignorance, but the one who knew and, out of recklessness, did not want to do it, is subject to the accusation of extreme negligence. Notice again how prudent the Savior’s word was here too. It does not directly say that “you see,” but “you say that we see.” Indeed, it would be very improper to testify to the understanding of those whose minds were so blind and dull that they dared to say of Him, “We know that this man is a sinner” (v. 24). Thus, the Jews themselves condemn themselves, claiming what they see, and doing nothing at all that they should have done, and knowing the will of the Lord, but despising it to such an extent that they resist even the greatest miracles. John 10:1–5. Amen, amen, I say to you: do not enter through the doors into the sheepfold, but by entering elsewhere, that thief is a robber. And when the shepherd enters through the door, he eats for the sheep. The doorkeeper opens the door, and the sheep hear his voice, and his own sheep calls out the name and drives them out. When all of his 673 are gone (expelled), he walks before them, and the sheep follow him, as if led by his voice. They do not follow strangers, but flee from him, as if they do not know alien voices 674 If you are not careful enough, it may naturally seem that the proposed parable was not introduced at the right time. In fact, when speaking about blindness and sight, He immediately speaks of sheep, a courtyard and a door. But whoever has a wise mind instilled in him and who diligently directs his attention to these contemplations will again see that speech proceeds as if on a straight road and does not deviate anywhere from the proper path. What I have often said, I will repeat it again and again. It was the custom of the Savior Christ to respond not only to words spoken by voice when someone approached Him, but, since He sees the insides and hearts, to give answers to thoughts alone. This is because “all things are naked and revealed to Him, and there is no creature hidden from Him” (Heb. 4:13). Therefore, he says to one of the saints: “Who is this one who hides his intentions from Me and contains words in his heart and thinks to hide them from Me?” ( Job 38:2 ). So, since the wicked crowd of Pharisees, as we just said, asked whether they were blind, so that if he told the truth that they were so, that is, blind, they could again condemn Him for insulting the leaders and for the fact that He reviled those who had received authority over the people. After all, they were too arrogant about this. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, again reflecting this intention of theirs, considers it necessary and useful to introduce this parable, somewhat secretly and as if in a riddle, pointing out that due to selfishness they are not able to be firm leaders and this dignity cannot be strong among them, with their arrogance offending the giver of this (dignity) God. On the contrary, He teaches that this should belong only to those whom He Himself calls to lead the people. So, He calls Himself the door, who, at His own request, assigns experienced and God-loving people to lead the verbal flocks. He calls the one who thinks that an honor not given to him can be obtained by violence and tyranny, such as those about whom he speaks through one of the prophets, who “reigned, but not through Me, ruled, but not through My Spirit” (Hos. 8:4; Is. 30:1). In these words, he secretly indicates that although it is pleasant for them to rule over the people, it is appropriate to strive for this only for those who believed and accepted the Divine preaching through Him, in order to have unshakable and well established power, which was the case with the holy Apostles and the teachers of the holy churches that followed them, to whom the “door opens”, that is, or the Angel appointed to monitor the churches and assist priests for the benefit of the nations, or again the Savior Himself, being Himself both the door and the Lord of the door. Quite rightly, he commands a flock of sheep to listen and obey properly the voice of the shepherd, on the contrary, with all diligence to turn away from the “voices of strangers,” so that you, generalizing the meaning of this saying, understand the true state of affairs. After all, we teach in churches, presenting the dogmas of Holy Scripture and, as it were, some kind of spiritual food, offering the gospel and apostolic word. And those who listen to such teaching are those who believe in Christ and are distinguished by an incorruptible faith, who refuse the voices of false shepherds and turn away from them as from a disastrous evil. But what, one might ask, is this indicated to the Pharisees? In general, and in brief words, I will repeat this again. He shows Himself as the master of the court and the door and the gatekeeper, so that they know for sure that they will not have firm and stable power if they do not come to it through Him and do not receive God-given benefits. And adding that the sheep obey their shepherds, but run away from strangers, again nobly hints that they will by no means stand at the head of those who believe in Him, on the contrary, the sheep will run away from their teaching and follow the shepherds supplied by Him. John 10:6. Jesus spoke this parable to them: but they did not understand what was said to them. Simply the word of the saints and free from Hellenic sophistication, for “God has chosen the foolishness of the world,” according to Paul, “to put to shame the wise” (1 Cor. 1:27). I used the term parable here (παϱοίμίας), calling it a comparison (παϱαβολήν). Probably because the meaning of both is mixed through both, as through one thing, of course signified. In addition, we point out that the divine Evangelist is very surprised at the foolishness of the Jews. As the very experience of reality testifies, they have a mind like stone or iron, not at all caring to listen and perceive what is useful. Therefore, he spoke to them in the voice of the prophet Joel: “Tear apart your hearts, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13). Being God by nature and seeing what is hidden in the depths, He knew, of course, that the Pharisee did not understand anything in His words, although he was accustomed to boasting about his knowledge of the law and boasting about his imaginary wisdom. Therefore, he gives them the clearest interpretation and reveals the meaning of the parable in a few words. As He is good by nature, He also guides the unworthy to perceive, so that some benefit may appear for them. He clearly calls Himself “the door of the sheep,” teaching the generally accepted truth, for through faith in Him alone we achieve communion with God, to which He Himself is a witness, saying about this: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Either he wants to indicate something similar, or, which is more consistent with the proposed contemplations, he again makes it clear that through Him we come to leadership and authority over the verbal sheep, according to the words of Paul: “No one receives honor for himself, but he who is called of God” (Heb. 5:4). And indeed, none of the holy prophets declared themselves and the glorious and great choir of the Apostles will not appear to have called themselves to this, but were appointed by the will of Christ, who called them to the apostleship by name and each separately, as he says in the proposed parable. After all, we know that in the Gospel of Matthew the names of the apostles are placed side by side and right after them the image of their appointment is added: these, he says, the Savior appointed twelve, whom he called apostles (Matthew 10:5; cf. Luke 6:13). So, seeing in the crazy Pharisee a desire for leadership and an ardent desire for the name and work of leadership, He usefully teaches that He Himself is the giver of leadership to someone and is strong to deliver it, for, being the door of the sacred and divine court, He will accept the fit and close the entrance inside to the unfit for this. John 10:8. All of them, as soon as they came 677, were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them In every possible way, wanting to tame the wild heart of the Pharisees and convert them to common sense, he tries to show how useless and dangerous is the audacity to take on leadership not through the highest ordination and not through the Divine command, but through human stupidity to imagine that one can have power, even if the Giver did not want it. So, having clearly called Himself the door, since He alone brings the worthy to leadership, he immediately presents the attempts of the ancients, so that, as if seeing on a board the image of the end of such attempts, they would already clearly know that the power to rule and lead herds and peoples is given only by the highest grace, and not by tyrannical enterprises. Therefore, here too it is useful to recall from the history of the ancients that “all who came were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.” Some appeared on stage under the guise of good shepherds, but since the One who bestows power and forces obedience to the rulers was not with them, the flock of sheep ran away from them. But one should not at all assume that with the word “all” our Savior Christ destroys the mission of the holy prophets. It’s not against them, but against others. As I soon suggested talking about false shepherds and henceforth intruding into the sheepfold, then, after it was clearly indicated in the previous speech who was being discussed, it is necessary to say this “all”, and we should not at all think that the face of the holy prophets is rejected here. How could He reject them, Who through them presented clear signs of His coming in the words: “I multiplied visions and spoke parables through the prophets” (Hos. 12:10)? He sent Moses and said to Jeremiah: “Do not say that I am young, for you will go to everyone to whom I send you, and according to everything I command you, you will speak” (Jer. 1:7), to blessed Ezekiel: “Son of man, I will send you to the house of Israel, to those who grieve Me” (Eze. 2:3). So, the purpose of this saying is addressed not to the choir of holy prophets, but, on the contrary, as you see, to those who once in Judea pretended to be prophets and told lies that they came from God, and convinced the people not to obey the true prophets of God, but to their own fabricated enterprises and words, about which in one place the Lord Himself, the Lord of all and God, says: “I did not send prophets, and they themselves ran, I did not speak to them, and they themselves prophesied” (Jer. 23:21). And to the blessed Jeremiah: “The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor did I speak to them, nor did I command them, because they prophesy to you visions and fortune-telling and prophecies of their own hearts” (John 14:14), - “whether they are prophets and whether they have the word of the Lord, let them appear before Me” (John 27:18) - “what (may they have in common) chaff and grain? (John 23:28). And indeed, the word from God has the most nourishing power and protects the human heart, according to what is written (Ps. 103:15), and the word of wicked false prophets or false teachers, being very fragile and straw, does not bring any benefit to the listeners. So, when he calls those who appeared before His coming thieves and robbers, he points either to the lying and deceiving crowd of those we have just named (false prophets), or the meaning of this saying can be attributed to those about whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles. One day, the Jewish leaders, having gathered the holy Apostles and placed them at their most lawless judgment seat, intended to expel them from Jerusalem and expose them to the greatest dangers. But Gamaliel called them to remember the false teachers, saying: “Men of Israel! Think within yourself about these people, what you intend to do: before these days, Theudas rose up, calling himself something great. About four hundred people came to him. He was killed, and all who obeyed him were scattered and turned into nothing. After this, Judas the Galilean arose during the days of the census and carried away the people with him. But he also perished, and all who obeyed him were scattered” (Acts 5:35–37). You see from here clearly and indisputably that Christ says this not about the holy prophets, but about persons of a different kind, in order to convince the Pharisees, even against their will, that presiding over the people does not at all depend on their own reckless desire and does not happen without the will of God, but power over everything belongs to Divine good will and one must strive to enter through the true door, and not try, like robbers, to enter the courtyard from there. sheep John 10:9. I am the door: By me whoever enters will be saved, and will go in and will come out and will find pasture. From what usually happens, it transforms speech, as it were, from history into spiritual contemplation, and what is almost spread out before the eyes and does not present any difficulty for understanding, makes the image of objects less clear. Thieves, he says, and robbers, brazenly invading sheep stalls, do not enter through the doors, but jump up somewhere else and, with danger to themselves, jump over the fence of the yard, for such a robber and one who recklessly decides to commit crime can very easily be caught. And those entering through the door itself make a completely safe entrance, obviously, as if they were not unknown or unknown to the owner of the sheep, for they enter in the presence of a gatekeeper who opens the door for them. But such, he says, will be together with the sheep in complete safety, making the most lawful and without any crime entry, free from suspicion of robbery. This is the historical meaning. And turning its meaning into spiritual benefit, let’s say that those who enter into governing the people without Divine instructions, as if refusing to enter through the door, will certainly perish, oppressing the Divine judgment with their atrocities. And those who have received power from God and go to this through Christ with great boldness and love will rule over the sacred court and will not only be far from the wrath (Divine) on them, but, on the contrary, will receive honors for this and expect the speedy granting of the highest crowns, since their goal was not to harm the sheep in any way, but, on the contrary, to benefit them and, doing what is pleasing to the Lord of the flock, always try protect His subjects. Also in these words, the Lord greatly frightens the stubborn Pharisees, saying that they will not retain, but will lose the power they have, and this is in all fairness, since they think to have it firmly not through God, but through their own stupidity. But even here I have to be amazed at the Savior’s incomparable love for mankind. Yes, “the Lord is generous and merciful” (Ps. 110:4), offering everyone the path of salvation and calling to it in many ways, even the very disobedient and stubborn. The proof of what has been said will again come from the case itself. When neither miracles nor aspirations aimed at future hope and glory convince the Pharisee to accept His teaching, he quickly moves on to what would naturally cause them great confusion and, as if due to an inevitable need, turn to good obedience. Knowing that they strive to gain glory from the authorities and do not care at all about delivering benefits from here, he says that they will be deprived and will completely lose what is highly valued by them and in their hands, if, quickly changing to obedience to Him, they do not receive mercy from Him. John 10:10. The thief does not come, unless he steals and kills and destroys: I came, but they have life, and they have more When our Savior Christ called Himself a door and taught that it belongs to Him to bring in whomever He wishes, and to leave out those who are unfit and incapable of salvation, and, in addition, called those who were impostors in relation to the heavenly grace that was not communicated to them, robbers and thieves, the pitiful Pharisees again wondered who it was that came to such daring, perhaps he himself belonged to the number of those whom appearance He accuses. After all, they considered Him a false shepherd and false leader, who appeared of his own free will, and not God who became man, according to the most ancient preaching of the Inspired Scripture. It was natural for them, having collected true knowledge about Him, to discard it with their unbelief as some kind of hard-to-bear burden and to care and find pleasure in only one thing - in ruling over the people. And since He knew that they were thinking this or whispering to each other, then, without waiting for a clearer statement from them, He defended himself in an appropriate manner and asserted that from the very deeds one can determine who is a shepherd and who is a thief. This, he says, is not at all difficult to determine if you pay attention to the goal and image of each person. “The thief comes,” he says, to harm the livestock, since the desire to rob, without a doubt, has such an outcome. But a truly good shepherd will not come into the sheepfold for anything harmful, but, on the contrary, to bring them benefit and zealously accomplish what he considers to be of great benefit to them. Let the true meaning of the speech be revealed in a different way and let the Pharisee pay attention to what the false shepherds and false teachers delivered to those deceived by them and what good Christ will give at His coming or to what prosperity He will lead us. So, those who once decided to tell a lie and were deluded that they were sent from God, but who prophesied, in the words of Scripture, “from their hearts, and not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16), and besides them also Theudas and Judas the Galilean, who carried away the people after them (Acts 5:37), perished along with those carried away by them. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to bring us eternal life, appeared out of love for us. With such contrast and difference in the image of the coming, shouldn’t both mood and life be opposite? So, from the properties of deeds, he says, it is necessary to determine who are those and who is He. The divine Paul also points out this to us in the words: “I tell you a mystery: we will all rest, but we will not all be changed, 678 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52). After all, everyone will rise from the dead, because the grace of resurrection has been given to all nature. And in Christ alone, who from the beginning was the first to destroy the power of death and resurrected into eternal life, all of humanity in general is also transformed into incorruption, just as again in Adam, in one and the first, he is condemned to death and corruption. But at that time there will be a great difference between the resurrected. Some who have fallen asleep with faith in Christ and received the pledge of the Spirit during their bodily life will receive the most perfect grace and, called to Divine glory, will be changed. And others, who did not believe in Christ and imputed such a glorious reward to nothing, will be exposed again by His voice and, having inherited with others only revival, will receive punishment for such prolonged unbelief. They will descend to hell for punishment, with useless late repentance, for there will be, it is said, there weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). John 10:11. I am the good shepherd Having pointed out in advance with all clarity how much harm the pretense of false prophets or false shepherds brought to the ancients, and having presented the benefits of His coming, and also from the very comparison of the sheep, having received certification and crowning of His truth, He now proclaims with all justice: “I am the good shepherd.” In vain, he says, you are plotting this against Me and, being unable to accuse Me of any desire to replace benefit for the sheep (with harm), you are not horrified to count Me among those who are accustomed to do this - you call a truly good person evil and you damage a fair judgment on every matter according to the statute of the legislator out of pride. So, he denounces the leaders of the Jews as unrighteous, as not caring at all about the commandments of Moses, as not knowing the purpose of His coming, so that the prophet Isaiah would finally be found to have spoken the truth about them: “Woe,” he says, “to those who call evil good and good evil, who call sweet bitter and bitter sweet, who count light as darkness and darkness as light” (Is. 5:20). And in fact, isn’t this what those who turn the true light, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, into darkness by not ashamed to classify our good Shepherd with the false shepherds and even dare, perhaps, to place Him lower than them in honor? The imaginary rulers of that time showed great respect to those who falsely appropriated the Divine word to themselves, in the name of prophecy tried to empty the minds of their flock, turned them away from the path to the truth and directed them to their own will, and not God’s. So Samaeus the Salamite, opposing the words of God with his own false teaching, boldly challenged the glory of Jeremiah. This one was in chains, and the other was honored by Zedekiah as a reward for his lies (Jer. 29:32). But the unfortunate Pharisees now go much further than those in wickedness and with shameless audacity attribute to Christ even what the false teachers did not have. Indeed, what do they say about Him in front of those who listened to His word with pleasure? “He has a demon and is raging, why are you listening to Him?” (John 10:20). Therefore, He Himself speaks about them through the prophet Isaiah: “Woe to them, because they are separated from Me; they are unhappy, because they disrespected Me; and I redeemed them, but they spoke lies against Me” (Hos. 7:13). And again: “Their leaders will fall with the sword for the intemperance of their tongue” (Hos. 7:16). Are not those worthy of all punishment who recklessly use their language so impudently that they dare to assert against Christ what, of course, it is not for us, but only for them and others like them, to both admit to their ears and to say recklessly? John 10:11–13. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But the hireling and the 679 shepherd, who are not his own sheep, see the wolf coming 680 and leave the sheep and run. And the wolf will plunder them and scatter them 681. As if there is a mercenary and does not care 682 about the sheep Man retreated from the love of God, deviated into sin, was removed for this from the sacred and divine court, that is, from the fence of paradise, and, having been subjected to such misfortune, became the prey of the devil, who tempted to sin and death, which grew out of sin, to these fierce and indomitable wolves. When Christ, the good shepherd over all, appeared, He laid down His life for us, fighting with this pack of fierce beasts, endured the cross for us in order to put death to death by death, underwent condemnation for our sake in order to free everyone from condemnation for transgression, by faith abolishing the dominating sin and “nailing the handwriting that was against us with His cross,” as it is written (Col. 2:14). So, the father of sin, like “sheep in hell” (Ps. 49:15), set out to shepherd us, putting us to death, according to what was said in the psalms. But the truly good Shepherd died for us, so that, having removed us from the dark abysses of death, he would give us the opportunity to be numbered among the heavenly choirs and, instead of stables in the abysses of the abyss and the depths of the sea, to give us the highest abodes with the Father. That’s why he says to us in one place: “Do not be afraid, little flock! For the Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). But this is about Christ. Now let's think about them. For anyone who judges them with the right eye, they will in reality turn out to be nothing more than mercenaries, false shepherds, cowards, traitors and lazy people, not paying any attention to the benefit of the sheep, but trying only to get from everywhere what is pleasant and pleasing to everyone. Yes, they were “hirelings,” according to the word of the Savior, and they were “not their own” sheep, but of Christ, who bought them at the beginning and ordained priests for the highest honors for the Jewish people. But they, being careless about such great honors and not at all valuing the flock's yard, betrayed the sheep to the wolf. How, let's talk about this briefly. In ancient times, the numerous Jewish people recognized only God as king, gave Him didrachms and sacrifices and, as if some kind of tribute, offered a life in accordance with the law. But a foreign man (people), like some wild “wolf,” came upon this people, imposed both the name and the work of slavery, put on the yoke of the human kingdom, forced them to move to an illegal and immoral life, demanded taxes and tore them away from the Kingdom of God, for those who were subjected to such troubles it became necessary to obey the laws of their rulers. A foreigner came, removing the power of God, that is, the tribe that received the priesthood, to which both judgment and law were granted by God, perverted everything, subjected it to oppression, forced itself to mint coins and committed all kinds of violence. The shepherds, however, did not stay awake against such unbearable oppression. They saw the “wolf coming” and, leaving the flock, ran away, for they were not “their own sheep” - they did not call on the One who could help, who saved from the Babylonians, who turned away the Assyrian, who killed by the hand of an Angel “one hundred eighty-five thousand” foreigners (Is. 37:36). And that submission to the power of foreigners caused considerable harm to Israel and weakened piety, you can learn from reality itself. When Pilate once condemned the incredible audacity of the Jews, who demanded that he crucify the Lord, and without hesitation said: “Shall I crucify your king?” (John 19:15) - it was then that they, having overthrown themselves from slavery to God and dissolved the bonds of original dominion, subjected themselves to a new yoke, shamelessly proclaiming: “We have no king except Caesar” (John 19:15). It seemed fair to the Jewish leaders to do and proclaim this. Therefore, they should be held responsible for all disasters. And they are with all justice condemned as traitors to the herd, as cowards, devoid of courage and absurd, who completely refused to protect and fight for the herd under their control. Therefore, God accuses them with the words: “The shepherds were foolish and did not seek the Lord, therefore the whole flock did not understand and was scattered” (Jer. 10:21). So, reality itself proves that Christ is the truly good Shepherd of the sheep, but they are more destructive than good, and are completely alien to real praise. John 10:14. I am the good shepherd Again he solemnly proclaims the superiority of His power over the Jews, which is no longer proven by the testimony of anyone, but from the very study of affairs. As before, having contrasted His deeds with the atrocities of the false prophets and shown the best outcome of His exploits in comparison with their lies, they, he says, were very inclined only to theft, murder, destruction, deception and what is not appropriate to talk about, but He Himself, on the contrary, came so that the sheep would not only have life, but also something more, - beautifully and rightly proclaimed: “I am the shepherd kind" ; so here too, having defined a truly good shepherd by his voluntary desire to die for the sheep and willingly lay down his life for them, and calling the hireling an alien henchman, and a coward, and a fugitive, and the like, since he knew about himself that he would lay down his life for the flock, he again exclaims with all seriousness: “I am the good shepherd.” And My sheep were scattered, for there were no shepherds, and they became food for all the wild beasts, and My sheep were scattered over every mountain, and over every high hill, and over the face of all the earth, and there was none to seek out, nor to bring back” (Ezek. 34:2-6). The Jewish leaders had only one goal - to satisfy covetousness, receive offerings from their subordinates, collect taxes and establish superlegal commandments, but no attention was paid to what could bring benefit or was able to protect the subject people. Therefore, again the truly good Shepherd speaks to them: “Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep out of their hands, and I will leave them from feeding My sheep, and the shepherds will feed them no more, and I will take My sheep out of their mouth, and they will no longer be food for them” (Ezek. 34:10). And again after some other words: “And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them, and My servant David, and he will be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and David will be a ruler among them. I the Lord have spoken. And I will make a covenant of peace with David, and I will destroy the evil beasts from the earth, and they will dwell in the wilderness, and they will sleep in the oak groves. And I will give them around My mountain, and I will give rain to you, rain of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its fruit” (Ezek. 34:23–27). So, in these words, God declares with all clarity that the godless crowd of Pharisees will be removed from leadership over the Jews, and has clearly determined that after them, Christ, descended from David in the flesh, will preside over the verbal flocks of believers. Through Him He established the covenant of peace, that is, the Gospel and Divine preaching, leading us to the love of God and bringing us the Kingdom of Heaven. Through Him again also comes the rain of blessing, that is, the firstfruits of the Spirit, making the soul in which it abides as if it were some kind of fruitful soil. And just as the Pharisees caused a lot of harm to the sheep, not at all concerned with herding them, but, on the contrary, trying in every possible way to harm them, Christ brought salvation and appeared as the giver and author of the highest blessing; then rightly this is what He recognizes Himself in the words: “I am the good shepherd.” But let no one be offended by the fact that God and the Father called the man who was from the seed of David a servant, even though he was God by nature and the true Son; on the contrary, let him take into account that He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7). Therefore, He is rightly called (servant) from God and the Father, according to the image He took. John 10:14–15. And I know My, and they know My Me: as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father And what is essentially Ineffable Nature is completely inaccessible to both us and other intelligent creatures. Therefore, how can we have the knowledge of the Son equally with the Father? For we must pay attention to how He affirms that He knows us, and He will be known from us, just as He knows the Father and His Father. So, we must also examine what kind of intuition we should apply to these words according to their meaning. And what comes to my mind during research, I will not hide, and everyone is free to accept it. Therefore, it is completely unreasonable, even more wicked, to imagine that the Lord does not know anyone; on the contrary, we should think that He said that they do not have any relationship or communication with Him. I do not know, he says, (you) as being lovers of virtue, as those who kept My word, or who came into contact with Me through good deeds. According to the above, you should also understand about the wise Moses, when God says to him: “I know you more than all others, and you have found grace from Me” (Ex. 33:12) instead of: in property (closeness) I placed you with Me more than anyone else, and you have achieved great grace. We say this without destroying knowledge and the meaning of knowledge, but only defining the image (meaning) that most corresponds to the contemplative meaning of the words being interpreted. So, “I know,” he says, “My people know Mine and Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father,” instead of: I am related to My sheep and My sheep are related to Me in exactly the same way that the Father is related to Me and I, in turn, am related to the Father. Just as God the Father knows His Son, having Him as His true generation and the fruit of His being, and likewise the Son knows God, having Him as His true Father and being born of Him, in the same way we, having become related to Him, are called His race and children, according to what He said: “Behold I and the children that God has given Me” (Heb. 2:13). We find ourselves and are called a race, and a genuine one, of the Son, and through Him of the Father, since, being the Only Begotten God (cf. interpretation on John 1:18), He became man, taking on a nature identical to us, only, of course, without sin. Otherwise, how “we are the race of God” (Acts 17:29) and how could we be “partners of the Divine Nature” (2 Peter 1:4)? After all, it is not only the fact that Christ wished to take us into kinship with Himself that we have a subject of praise, but in reality this kinship belongs to all of us. And this is because the Word of God remains Divine Nature even with the flesh, and we are His kin, although by nature God, for the sake of the perception of the flesh that is identical to us. So, the image of kinship turns out to be similar. Just as He is related to the Father and, due to the identity of nature, the Father is related to Him, so we are related to Him, since He became a man, and He is related to us. Through Him, as through the Mediator, we come into contact with the Father. As if there were some kind of middle ground between the highest Divinity and humanity, there is Christ, being at the same time one and the other and, as it were, embracing in Himself what is so separated from each other 683: as God by nature He comes into contact with God and the Father, and as a true man - with people. But perhaps someone will say: don’t you notice, my dear fellow, to what dangerous conclusion your speech leads? After all, if we think that He, since He became a man, knows His own, that is, He entered into kinship with His sheep, then who remains outside the flock? In this case, everyone will be related to Him, since they are people, like Him. What then will be more in the word “Mine?” What advantage can those who are truly His have? After all, if everyone is related, for the reason already mentioned above, then what more will those who know Him have? To this we answer that the image of kinship is common to everyone, both those who know Him and those who do not know Him. After all, He became man, not partially benefiting some and not others, but having mercy on all fallen nature. But such an image of kinship with Him will turn out to be completely useless for those who insult Him with their unbelief, and it is actually assigned to those who love Him as a special reward. Just as the work of resurrection extends to everyone, due to the resurrection of the Savior, who resurrected with Him the whole human nature, but it is completely useless for those who love sins, for they will descend into hell, receiving revival only for punishment, while for those who lead a wonderful life it will serve to great benefit, for they will receive resurrection for participation in blessings that exceed the mind; In the same way, I think, the matter of kinship concerns everyone, both evil and good, but not for everyone it has the same meaning - for those who believe in Him it will serve as the reason for achieving true affinity with Him and the benefits associated with it, and for non-believers it will be a grave accusation of ingratitude and wickedness. This is how we talk about it. Let someone else come up with something better. Finally, we must pay attention to how truly and at the same time thoroughly the saying is constructed, for it does not speak about them indifferently and mixedly, but puts each subject in its own special, appropriate place. He did not say: Mine know Me and I know Mine, but first He puts Himself as knowing His sheep, and then, He says, in this way He too will be known from them. And if we take knowledge to mean knowledge, as we said at the beginning, then you can understand the saying this way: we were not the first to know Him, but He knew Him first. So Paul, in his letter to the Gentile Christians, says something similar: “Therefore remember you, Gentiles according to the flesh, called uncircumcised, so-called circumcised by the circumcision of the flesh, done with hands, that at that time you were without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without god in the world; but now in Christ Jesus those who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:11-13). Out of immeasurable mercy, Christ brought Himself to the pagans and knew them before He was known by them. And taking knowledge into the meaning of property and kinship, we will again say this: it was not we who began this work, but the Only Begotten God from God (cf. the interpretation and reading of John 1 of St. Cyril), for it was not we who adopted the Divinity, which is higher than human nature, but He, God by nature, took on the seed of Abraham, as Paul says (Heb. 2:16), and became man, so that, being like his brothers in everything except sin (v. 17), to accept as a kinship someone who does not have one in himself, that is, a person. Therefore, it is necessary to say that He knew us in advance, then, thus, we are Him. John 10:15. And I lay down my life for the sheep As for His own family, He comes to the defense in every possible way and declares Himself ready for all dangers, at the same time exposing through repetition that He really is a good Shepherd. Those who left the sheep to the wolves were rightly called cowards and mercenaries, but He, since he knew that it was necessary to protect them so much as not to retreat even before death, should rightly be recognized as a good Shepherd. And saying that “I lay down My life for the sheep,” since I am a good Shepherd, amazes the Pharisees and makes it clear that they will one day reach such furies and such madness against Him that they will put to death the One who should not have been subjected to it at all, but, on the contrary, deserved all praise and surprise for the sake of both the deeds that he performed and the great skill in shepherding the flock. It should be noted, however, that Christ did not suffer death for us and for our sake against his will, but turns out to be going to it voluntarily, although he could easily have avoided suffering if he had not wanted to suffer. So, in His voluntary suffering for us we must see the perfection of His love for us and the immensity of mercy. John 10:16. And other sheep are imam, even those who are not from this fold, and you must be brought to Me, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock, one Shepherd And indeed, Christ testified to the teaching of the nations, giving salvation and undisguisedly saying that through which salvation was to be received. And the divine Psalmist, as if calling those living everywhere into one assembly and commanding the universe to gather for a heavenly holiday, says: “All nations, clasp your hands, shout to God with a voice of joy” (Ps. 46:2). And if anyone wants to investigate the reason for such a bright and glorious celebration, he will find clear words about it: “Because the king of all the earth is God, sing wisely, God reigns over all nations” (Ps. 46:8-9). And in one place he brings the Lord Himself in His own words, proclaiming the gospel sermon to all nations together, precisely in the forty-eighth psalm he says: “Hear, all you nations, be inspired, all you who inhabit the world, the begotten of earth and the sons of men, the rich and the poor together! And my mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding” (Ps. 49:2-4). And in fact, what can be pointed out more wisely than the Gospel instructions, what can we find expressed with such intelligence as the teaching of Christ? So - back to the beginning - it clearly foreshadows that many Gentiles will be added to the same fold with the converts of the Israelites. But why, someone may ask, more precisely examining the meaning of the interpreted saying, does the Savior, speaking to the Jewish leaders and speaking to people who had a heart inflamed with hatred and envy, reveal secrets? Why, tell me, was it necessary to teach such people that He would rule over the Gentiles and that He would bring sheep from outside Judah into His folds? What do you say to this, what will you answer? It is not as friends that secrets are communicated to them (by the Lord), however, it is not in vain that he gives them an explanation regarding this, but because it could benefit them, as far as it depended on Himself, for such was the proposed saying, although the minds of the listeners, being frivolous, remained completely unreceptive and inaccessible to obedience. Often responds not only to words spoken by the tongue, but also to thoughts located in the depths of the soul. Being the true God, He has clear knowledge of everything. Therefore, when the godless Jews ridiculed His words and His promise to strive for His sheep to the point that He was willingly and voluntarily ready to die for them, they took it for idle talk and considered Him to be raging, He finally considers it necessary to show that they laugh because of their inherent ignorance and at the same time immeasurable wickedness and decide in their words and deeds to censure what God and the Father always deigns to great honor, for “He loves Me for this,” says that you, through great foolishness, considered it to be nothing. Indeed, aren’t you insolent and full of all kinds of wickedness, who consider ridiculous what is most pleasing to God? Through these words he partly makes it clear to them that they are very hateful before God. After all, if He loves the One who lays down his life for the sheep of the flock entrusted to Him, then it is absolutely necessary to think that he considers as abominable the one who sees a wolf coming and leaves the flock to the invading and raging one, and he himself takes flight, in which deeds he exposed those who received authority over the Jewish people or court. So, at the same time he exposes them for their hatred of God and wickedness because they were not afraid to ridicule what is very honorable with God. However, Christ affirms that He is loved by God and the Father not only for the fact that he lays down a soul, but for the fact that “he lays down in order to take it,” since it is in this that the greatness of the blessings arranged for us especially shines. After all, if he had only died and not been resurrected, then what would be special then? What benefit would He have brought to our nature if He had remained dead with us, subject, along with others, to the bonds of death and ascendant corruption? But since he died in order to receive (the soul), it was precisely by this that he saved the whole of nature, abolishing the power of death, and revealed us as a new creature. So, the Son does not enjoy the love of God and the Father in such a way that He would have remained outside of love if the Dispensation had not happened to us, for He was always and constantly loved. Let's clarify this. Properties inherent in objects by nature or by state (acquisition) then have a particularly favorable condition for their discovery when they come into action. For example, fire has the natural property of heat, but when it acts on any combustible material, then we especially learn what and how great a force is inherent in it. In a similar way, for example, a grammarian or one who has mastered some other science arouses respect for himself, as I believe, not when he is silent, but when he offers others to understand the beauty of the science known to him. Likewise, the Divine and Ineffable Nature, when it produces something peculiar to it and always present, then it especially reveals itself in all its beauty before itself and appears as such before us. Just as for any of us, for example, when we see the true features of our image in our own offspring, love reaches the greatest intensity, especially when he looks (at his own offspring), in the same way, I think, God and the Father, it is said, loves His Son, who laid down His soul for us and accepted it again. After all, the work of love is to decide to suffer, and, moreover, ingloriously, for the sake of saving others - and not only to die, but also to again accept the destined soul, in order to put to death death and remove the shame of corruption. So, always being beloved by nature, He, of course, aroused love for Himself and by the fact that with His love for us He calls His Parent to joy, since from here He could see a completely pure and truly radiant image of His nature. Some understand “the father of the devil” or “dimiurge” (this interpretation is mentioned and refuted here by Cyril) - Hippolytus in the Philosophumena adopts this interpretation of Peratam V. 15 Migne XVI. 3. 3178. a, - here, perhaps, we should add Pseudo-Justin Cohort. ad gentes, p. 21, - Epiphanius quotes the text three times in the sections on the Gnostics - Cainites XXXVIII, 4 Dind. 2, 275, Archontics XL, 5, ib. 294–295 and Manichaeans LXVI. 63.ib. III. 1. 87, - the same Augustine In Ioann. tr. XLII, ed. Bened. Paris. 2-a, III. 2. col. 2108, - in connection with the heretics who taught about a lower god, unjust and the author of the Mosaic Law, Origen also cites the text, although he interprets it differently, Migne XII. 289. d – 292 a, etc. Others, like St. Cyril, by “murderer from the beginning” they mean Cain and Judas as children of the devil, and by “because he is a liar (like) his father” - the devil as their father (cf. Aphraata ed. Parisot, col. 784 lin 9-10: “and the Savior said to them: you are the sons of Cain, and not the sons of Abraham" - Epiph. Haer. XLVI, 63, Dind. III, p. Still others, taking ὁ πατήϱ as a predicate, by αὐτοῦ mean ψεύστου: he is a liar and he is the father of him - a liar, that is, Cain, Judas, every liar - a sinner (cf. Polycarp Philipp. VII, Ignatius Philad. diss. ed. VI, 1–2, – Pseudo-Clim. Rom. III. 97, - perhaps the above quotation from Pseudo-Justin Cohort should also be included here. ad gentes, p. 21, – Clement Alex. Strom. 1, 17 Pott. 368–369, – Origen XII, 292. and cf. 1195. a, 1196. a, 359. a, others, – Didymus, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ephraim, Macarius, etc.). Finally, in ancient times there are traces of the attribution of αὐτοῦ to the further preceding ψεύδος, obviously through its personification in the personal and immediate ψεύστης. Thus, in the Arabic text of Tatsianov Diamessaron according to ed. Ciasca (cap. 35, pag. 136, lin. 3–4), according to the biblical Arabic text in Walton, read. so: “and when he speaks a “lie” (אל – כדב Bibl., כדבא Ciasca – both female singular units), from his (his own) he says, “because he” (לאבה) “is a liar” (Biblical כדיב Ciasca כדאב – noun or adj. man. p. unit) “and the father of lies” (Biblical and ואבו אל). True, Ciasca below the line gives a variant without a sign: שאכשה = “and his father” (suff. masculine - “liar”, not “her” - that is, “lies” - feminine), but whether the variant actually belongs to Tatian’s Diatessaron or the Biblical text - where it was taken from and whether this is not a conjecture of Chiasca himself - all this is hidden publisher. (His remark on page XIV of the preface that to the versions of the two codes Vatik. (A) and Borj. (B) etiam tribui debent lectiones nulla litera notatae, does not explain such options at all.) However, there is a very remarkable coincidence with this original reading for antiquity in the expression of Ephraim the Syrian, who, as is known, used Tatian’s Diatessaron, and, of course, there can be no talk of the influence of the Arabic translation on the Syriac works of Ephraim - in Assem. 1, 560. F. דדגלשתא אבא - “father of lies” (noun feminine r. singular) about Satan, as the father and god revered by the pagans by the nations, in connection with John 8:44: “you are of the father of the devil.” Regarding other ancient translations, we note: Ital. and Vulg. cum loquitur "mendacium" ex propriis loquitur, "quia mendax" est et pater "ejus" and var. sicut et only interpret ὅτι into reasons. meaning, and in everything else they do not contain anything more corresponding to the readings of the original, - Sir. Pesh. “and when (ואמתי) says (ממלל) “a lie” (כדבותא – female singular), on his own behalf he says, “because” (מטל – ד) a “liar” (דגל – male singular) is he (הו) even (or “also” אף) “his father” (אבוה – suff. pronoun. 3 liter singular h. masculine, next or “liar” or “devil”, that is: “because (he) is a liar, even” (or “also”) “the father of a liar”, - or: “because the liar is also his (the devil)” father. Sir. Jer. “when (כד) is (is) speaking (יהא ממלל) “lies” (דגליו – plural), he speaks from himself, “because he” (דהש – the one that, – which he) “liar” (דגלאית) “is” (or “he is a liar” הו) “and also" (or "and even" ואוף) "his father" (אבשי - suff. masculine r. singular, that is, "the devil is also the father of a liar" or "and the father of the devil is also a liar." Sir. Sin. "and when (שמא - ד) says "a lie" (דגלתא n. female r., as in Ephr.), says on his own behalf, “because” (מטל – ד) “a liar” (דגלא) “he” (הו – is) “and his father” (ואבוהי – suff. male r. singular, that is, either the devil or the liar (Memph.) ed.). Oxf. 1898: “because (he) is deceitful, and so is his father.” In ancient Slavic texts, “lying” is also distinguished. Greek ὅτι, only Al. “before”) lie is and his father” his pronoun can only refer to either “lie”, that is, “father of the liar”, or to the devil, that is, “father of the devil”. This second remark does not allow us to interpret the manifestation of the devil’s lies without historical restrictions, but in general like this: the devil from himself (as the originator of all evil in general and lies in particular) always tells a lie (such as) that (as if) the liar is also his Father - the devil, that is, God - thus, with his lies, the devil casts a shadow on the truth of God, exposing God as the same liar as he himself is - devil In addition, God Himself, the Supreme Primordial Being, as the “father of the devil,” is something unbiblical, even extra-gnostic, for the Gnostics considered the father of the devil not God himself, but the lower demiurge. Although it is dogmatically acceptable to think that, as the Good Creator, God wants to be the Father of all His creatures, that is, for them all to be God-like and good, like God. But the creation itself (the devil) does not want to be God-like, does not desire sonship with God, and recognizes God not as the Father, but as its enemy. Finally, it is possible to take the words: “he is a liar and his Father” as the speech of the devil (as if for a quotation of the words of the devil in the speech of the Lord), like 1 John 4 - and “Him” to be attributed to Christ (cf. to clarify 1 John 1:10–24, esp. 2:22–23 and 5:10). But this interpretation also contradicts the entire ancient exegetical tradition. D and some. op. the whole verse and some ἐλέγχει Non-author. cheat – ἐλέγχῃ. Vm. "from" ancient and later "from" Al. He also: “convict”, following the worst. reading (and one XV Amph.). In Ass. op. "about sin" and one XV in Amph. op. the whole verse. Greek no. approx. δε, Al. “even if”, Mar. and some late “whether”, but all others only: “even”, corresponding. best Greek reading. Al. “You do not believe in Me,” others: “You do not have faith in Me.” The entire verse is omitted. code. D and No. 4 Amph. 15th century Nek. vm. ἀϰούετε read. πιστεύετε. In D G and 113 op. ὅτι – ἐστέ, in Sir. syn. there is no “from God”, but only: “because you are” Al.: “like you.” Ostrom. Mst. Mar. Zogr. “verb bzhi”, World. "and gl bzhei" . Nick. “Bzhiih verbs”, Al. "gl bikh", Const. and later: "gly bzhiya" . Sim. “listens” (Arch. op.). Mar. "this" without "for the sake of" . Al. “You don’t listen to God” Ostr. Mst. Nick. Al. “carry from bga” Mar. Zogr. Ass. Gal. World. In the ancient Slavs, like the Greek, there is no “ugly” (Kyiv, 1788 and now) or “zhe” (Nik. Al.). And the “Udeans” are all ancient. and Al. vm. now. "Judea" (Nik. "Judea"). “We are the verb” – all ancient Greek. and glory vm. now. “we verb” according to Greek D and some. This is the reasoning of St. Cyril is explained by the ambiguity of the Greek λόγος: word, mind, etc. Al. and late "our" . Gal. "saw" Nick. “And when he saw it, he rejoiced.” Late Amph. “If only I had seen... and seen, I would have rejoiced” - give the presumptive meaning of the saying, contrary to the Greek. Some Greek: τεσσαϱάϰοντα and ἑώϱαϰεν σε. Ancient "same", Al. and late "bad" Omission. "u" Ass. Peace Nick. Greek no. approx. ϰαί and οὖν, D and some. other lat. op. γενέσϑαι. Slav. without the particle O Mar. Zogr. Gal. Mst. Al., – with “and” Ass. and with the “same” World. Nick. late Al. literally: “before even Abraham was”, Sim. "Az beh" Greek various interpretations: τότε οὐν and δέ, some. op. δέ after Ἰησοῦς, – approx. at the end of the verse, like Slav. ϰαὶ (op. nek.) διελϑὼν διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν ϰαι (op.) παϱῆγεν οὕτως (op.) “wretched” Kyiv, 1788, a ancient "same". Ancient: “walking and walking”, – late: “walking by”. Spicy Mar. Sim. Gal. Mst. Nick. no tacos. cheat Ass. World. Zogr. Type: “from the church of God.” Al.: “they place - they passed from the sanctuary” (others read “and” before “passed”) “between them and walked like this.” D approx. ϰαϑήμενον "passing" Good. "transition" Ass. World. Carp. "coming" Arch. "passing" Sim. "mimoid" - others now. Wed. Philo's teaching about the Logos as the middle nature between God and man-creature - μεϑόϱιος φύσεως. Greek and glory here they read: "Az". Greek and glory approx. "Mine". You might be interested in: