 CHAPTER XI that the son is naturally one with God his Father, and that he is in the Father and the Father in him, according to the essential bond and character of their unity, and that likewise also we ourselves, when we receive faith in him, are proved one with each other and with God, both in a corporeal and in a spiritual sense. 2021 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word, that they may all be one. Even as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me. Christ is, as it were, the first fruits of those who are built up into newness of life, and himself the first heavenly man. For, as Paul says, the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. Therefore also John wrote, And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man. And in close connection with him, the first fruits, yea, and far nearer unto him than others, were those who were chosen to be disciples, and who held the rank of his followers, who also with their own eyes beheld his glory, ever attending upon him, and in converse with him, and gathering in, as it were, the first fruits of his succour into their hearts. They were then, and are after him, who is far above all others, the head of the body, the church, the precious and more estimable members thereof. Furthermore he prays that on them the blessing and sanctification of this spirit may be sent down from his Father, but through him holy. For it could not be otherwise, since he is the living and true and active and all-performing wisdom and power of him that begat him. But that none of those who were not well-practiced attentively to hearken to the inspired writings might thoughtlessly imagine that upon the disciples only he prayed that the spirit of God might come down, and that he did not pray for us who clearly follow after them, and live in an early age of Christianity, the mediator between God and man, the advocate and high priest of our souls, is induced with a view to check beforehand the foolish imaginations of such men to add this passage to what he had said. Namely, Neither for these only do I pray, but them also that believe on me through their word. For it would have been in a manner absurd that the sentence of condemnation should fall upon all men through one man, who was the first, I mean Adam, and that those who would not send at that time, that is, at which the founder of our race transgressed the commandment given unto him, should wear the dishonorable image of the earthy. And yet that when Christ came among us, who was the man from heaven, those who were called through him to righteousness, the righteousness of course that is through faith, should not all be molded into his image. And just as we say that the unlovely image of the earthy is seen in types, and in a form bearing the defilement of sin, and the weakness of death and corruption, and the impurity of fleshly lusts and worldly thoughts. So also, on the other hand, we think that the image of the heavenly, that is, Christ, shines forth in purity and sincerity, and perfect in corruption, and life, and sanctification. It was perhaps impossible for us who had once fallen away through the original transgression to be restored to our pristine glory, except we obtained an ineffable communion and unity with God, for the nature of men upon the earth was ordered at the beginning. And no man can attain to union with God, saved by communion with the Holy Spirit, who implants in us the sanctification of his own person, and molds anew into his own life the nature which was subject to corruption, and so brings back to God and to his likeness that which was bereft of the glory that this confers. And the Son is the express image of the Father, and his spirit is the natural likeness of the Son. For this cause, molding anew, as it were, into himself the souls of men, he stamps them with the likeness of God, and seals them with the image of the Most High. Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, prays not for the twelve apostles alone, but rather for all who were destined in every age to yield to and obey the words that exhort those who hear to receive that sanctification that is through faith, and to that purification which is accomplished in them through partaking of the Spirit. And he thought it not right to leave us in doubt about the objects of his prayer, that we might learn hereby what manner of men we ought to show ourselves, and what path of righteousness we ought to tread, to accomplish those things that are well-pleasing to him. What, then, is the manner of this prayer? That, he says, they may be one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. He asks, then, for a bond of love, and concord, and peace, to bring into spiritual unity those who believe, so that their unitedness, through perfect sympathy and inseparable harmony of soul, might resemble the features of the natural and essential unity that exist between the Father and the Son. But the bond of love that is in us, and the power of concord, will not of itself altogether avail to keep them in the same unchangeable state of union as exists between the Father and the Son, who preserve the manner of their union in identity of substance. For the one is, in fact, natural and actual, and is seen in the very definition of the existence of God, while the other only assumes the appearance of the unity which is actual. For how can the imitation be wholly like the reality? For the semblance of truth is not the same in conception with truth itself, but presents a similar appearance, and will not differ from it so long as there does not occur an occasion of distinction. Whenever, then, a heretic, imagining that he can upset the doctrine of the natural identity and consequent unity of the Son with God the Father, and, then, to demonstrate and establish his crazy theory, brings forward our own case, and says, Just as we are not all one by reason of actual physical identity, nor yet by the fusion of ourselves together, but in temper and disposition to love God, and in a united and sympathetic purpose to accomplish his will, so also the Son is one with the Father. We shall then reject him wholly and guilty of great ignorance and folly. And for what reason? Because things superhuman do not entirely follow the analogy of ourselves. Nor can that which has no body be subject to the laws to which bodies are subject. Nor do things divine resemble things human. For if there were nothing at all to separate or create a distinction between us and God, we might then apply the analogy of our own case to the things which concern God. But if we find the interval betwixt us to be something we cannot fathom, why do men set up the attributes of our own nature as a rule and standard for God, conceiving of that nature which is not bound by any law in the light of our own weaknesses, and so suffer themselves to be guilty of doing a thing which is most irrational and absurd? In so doing they are constructing the reality from the shadow, and the truth from that which is conformed to its image, giving the second place of honour to that which has of right the first, and inferring their conception of that which is first from that which is second to it. But that we might not seem to dwell too long on the discussion of this subject, and so to be straying away from the text, we must once more repeat the assertion, that when Christ brings forward the essential unity which the Father has with Himself, and Himself also with the Father, as an image and type of the inseparable fellowship, and concord and unity that exist in kindred souls, He desires us in some sort to be blended with one another in the power that is of the holy and conceptual trinity, so that the whole body of the Church may be in fact one ascending in Christ through the fusion and concurrence of two peoples into one perfect whole. For as Paul says, for he is our peace, who made both one, and break down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself of the twain one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body and to God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And this was, in fact, accomplished, those who believed on Christ being of one soul one with another, and receiving as it were, one heart, through their complete resemblance and piety towards God, and their obedience and believing, and aspirations after virtue. And I think that what I have said is not wide of the mark, but is rather requisite and necessary. But as the meaning of the passage compels us, leaving this subject to enter upon a more profound inquiry, and our saviour's words especially incite us thereto. Even is thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. We must attentively consider what explanation we must heregive. For in what has gone before we rightly maintain that the union of believers, in concord of heart and soul, ought to resemble the manner of the divine unity, and the essential identity of the Holy Trinity, and their intimate connection with each other. But in this place we are now desirous of pointing out a sort of natural unity by which we are joined into each other and all of us to God, not altogether falling short of a kind of physical unity I mean with each other, even though we are distinguished by having different bodies, each one of us, as it were, retiring to his own personal environment and individuality. For Peter cannot be Paul, nor be spoken of as such. Or again, Paul as Peter, even though both be in fact one after the manner of their union through Christ. Taking for granted, then, the physical unity that exists between the Father and the Son, and also of course the Holy Spirit, for we believe and glorify one Godhead in the Holy Trinity. Let us further inquire in what manner we are proved to be one with each other and with God, both in a corporeal and a spiritual sense. The only begotten, then, proceeding from the very substance of God the Father, and having entirely in his own nature him that begat him, became flesh according to the Scripture, blending himself, as it were, with our nature by an unspeakable combination and union with this body that is earthy. And thus he that is God by nature became, and is in truth, a man from heaven. Not inspired merely as some of those who do not rightly understand the depth of the mystery imagine, but being at the same time God and man, in order that, uniting as it were in himself things widely opposed by nature and averse to fusion with each other, he might enable man to share and partake of the nature of God. For even unto us has reached the fellowship and abiding presence of the Spirit, which originated through Christ and in Christ first, when he is in fact become even as we are, that is, a man, receiving unction and sanctification, though he is by nature God, inso much as he proceeded from the Father himself, sanctifying with his own spirit the temple of his body as well as all the creation that to him owes its being and to which sanctification is suitable. The mystery then, that is in Christ, is become, as it were, a beginning and a way whereby we may partake of the Holy Spirit and union with God, for in him are we all sanctified, after the manner I have just indicated. In order then that we ourselves also may join together and be blended into unity with God and with each other, although through the actual difference which exists in each one of us, we have a distinct individuality of soul and body. The only begotten has contrived a means which his own due wisdom and the counsel of the Father have sought out. For by one body, that is, his own, blessing through the mystery of the Eucharist, those who believe on him, he makes us of the same body with himself and with each other. For who could sunder or divide from their natural union with one another those who are knit together through his holy body, which is one in union with Christ? For if we all partake of the one bread, we are all made one body, for Christ cannot suffer severance. Therefore also the Church is become Christ's body, and we are also individually his members, according to the wisdom of Paul. For we, being all of us united to Christ through his holy body, in as much as we have received him who is one and indivisible in our own bodies, owe the service of our members to him rather than to ourselves. And that, while Christ is accounted the head, the Church is called the rest of the body, as joined together of Christian members. Paul will prove to us by the words that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error. But speaking truth in love may grow up in all things into him, which is the head, even Christ, from whom all the body, fitly framed in it together through that which every joint supplyeth, according to the working and due measure of each several member, make it the increase of the body under the building up of itself in love. And that those who partake of his holy flesh do gain there from this actual physical unity, I mean with Christ, Paul once more bears witness when he says, with reference to the mystery of godliness, which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of Met, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, to wit that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ. And if we are all of us of the same body with one another in Christ, and not only with one another, but also of course with him who is in us through his flesh, are we not then all of us clearly one both with one another and with Christ? For Christ is the bond of union, being at once God and man. With reference then to the unity that is by the Spirit, following in the same track of inquiry, we say once more that we all receiving one and the same Spirit, I mean the Holy Spirit, are in some sort blended together with one another and with God. For if we being many, Christ, who is the Spirit of the Father and his own Spirit, dwells in each one of us severally, still is the Spirit one and indivisible, binding together the deceivered spirits of the individualities of one and all of us, as we have a separate being, in his own natural singleness and to unity, causing us all to be shown forth in him through himself and as one. For as the power of his holy flesh make it those in whom it exists to be of the same body, so likewise also the indivisible Spirit of God that abideth in all, being one, bindeth all together into spiritual unity. Therefore also the inspired Paul thus addressed us. For bearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, there is one body and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. For while the Spirit, which is one abideth in us, the one God and Father of all will be in us, binding together into unity with each other and with himself whatsoever partakeeth of the Spirit, and that we are made one with the Holy Spirit through partaking of it, will be made manifest hereby. For if, giving up the natural life, we have surrendered ourselves wholly to the laws of the Spirit, is it not henceforth beyond question that by denying, as it were, our own lives, and taking upon ourselves the transcendent likeness of the Holy Spirit who is joined into us, we are well nigh transformed into another nature, so to say, and are become no longer mere men, but also sons of God and heavenly men, through having been proved partakers of the divine nature. We are all, therefore, one in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One, I mean, both in identity of mental condition, for I think we ought not to forget what we said at first, and also in conformity to the life of righteousness, and in the fellowship of the Holy Body of Christ, and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, which is one, as we just now said. And of Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Part 1 of Commentary in the Gospel of John Book 11 by Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 12 That the Son is by nature one with God his Father, though he says that he received, as by way of grace, his being one with the Father. 2223 And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovest them, even as thou lovest me. We say, and therein we are justified, that the only begotten hath an essential and natural unity with his Father, in so much as he was both in the true sense begotten, and from him proceeds, and is in him. And though he seem in his own person to have a separate and distinct being, yet that he is accounted by reason of his innate identity of substance as one with the Father. But since in his incarnation on our behalf, in order to save our souls, he abdicated, as it were, that place which was his at the beginning, I mean his equality with God the Father, and appears to have been in some sort so far removed therefrom as to have stepped outside his invisible glory, for this is what is meant by the expression he made himself of no reputation. He that of old and from the very beginning was enthroned with the Father, receives this as a gift when in the flesh. His earthy and mortal frame and human form, which was actually part of his nature, of necessity requiring as a gift that which was his by nature, for he was and is in the form of the Father and inequality with him. Though therefore the flesh from a woman's womb, that temple wherewith the Virgin endowed him, was not in any wise consubstantial with God the Father, nor of like nature with him, yet when once received into the body of the word, henceforth it was accounted as one with him. For Christ is one, and the Son is one, even when he became man. In this aspect of his person he is conceived of as taken into union with the Father, being admitted there too even in the flesh which originally enjoys not union with God. And, to speak more concisely and clearly, the only begotten says that that which was given unto him was given to his flesh, given to, of course, holy by the Father, through himself in the Spirit. For in no other way than this can union with God be affected, even in the case of Christ himself, so far as he manifested himself as, and indeed became, man. The flesh, that is, was sanctified by union with the Spirit, the twain coming together in an ineffable way, and so unconfusedly attains to God the Word, and through him to the Father, inhabit of mind, that is, and not in any physical sense. This favor and glory, then, he says, given unto me, O Father, by thee, that is, the glory of being one with thee, I have given unto them that they may be one, even as we are one. For we are made one with each other after the man are already indicated, and we are also made one with God. And in what sense we are made one with him, the Lord very clearly explained, and to make the benefit of his teaching plain added the words, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one. For the Son dwells in us in a corporeal sense as man, commingled and united with us by the mystery of the Eucharist, and also in a spiritual sense as God, by the effectual working and grace of his own Spirit, building up our Spirit into newness of life and making us partakers of his divine nature. Christ, then, is seen to be the bond of union between us and God the Father, as man making us as it were his branches, and as God by nature inherent in his own Father. For no otherwise could that nature which is subject to corruption be uplifted into incorruption, but by the coming down to it of that nature which is high above all corruption and variableness, lightening the birthing of ever-sinking humanity, so that it can attain its own good. And by drawing it into fellowship and intercourse with itself, well nigh extricating it from the limitations which suit the creature, and fashioning into conformity with itself that which is of itself contrary to it. We have therefore been made perfect in unity with God the Father, through the mediation of Christ. For by receiving in ourselves both incorporeal and spiritual sense, as I said just now, him that is the Son by nature, and who has the essential union with the Father, we have been glorified and become partakers in the nature of the Most High. When Christ desires us to be admitted to union with God the Father, he at the same time calls down upon our nature this blessing from the Father, and also declares that the power which the grace confers will be a convincing refutation of those who think that he is not from God. For what ground will there be any longer for this false accusation, if of himself he exalts to union with the Father those who have been brought near to him through faith and sincere love. When then, O Father, they gain union with thee, through me, then the world will know that thou didst send me. That is, that I came to succor the earth by thy loving kindness, and to work out the salvation of those who air therein. Besides, nonetheless, he says, will they know, who have partaken of a grace so acceptable, that thou lovest them even as thou lovest me. For surely he that received into union with himself, him that is man, even as we are, that is Christ, and deemed him worthy of so great love, we are arguing here concerning Christ as man, and gave to us the chance of gaining this blessing, surely he would speak of his love as dealt out to us in equal measure. And let not any attentive hearer be perplexed hereby, for it is clear beyond dispute that the servant can never vie with his master, and that the Father will not give as fully measure of his love to his creatures as to his own son. But we must consider that we are here looking upon him that is beloved from everlasting, as commencing to beloved when he became man. What, therefore, he then, as it were, took and received, we shall find that he took not for himself but for us. For just as, when he lived again after subduing the power of death, he accomplished not his resurrection for himself, for he is the Word and God, but gave us this blessing through himself and in himself, for man's nature was in Christ in its entirety passed bound by the chains of death. In like manner we must suppose that he received the Father's love, not for himself, because he was continually beloved of him from the beginning, but rather he accepts it at his hands upon his incarnation, that he may call down upon us the Father's love. Just as, then, we shall be, nay, we are even now, as in Christ first the first fruits of our race, made conformable to his resurrection and his glory, even so are we, as it were, like him. Beloved, but yielding the supremacy in all things to the only begotten, and justly marveling at the incomparable mercy of God shown towards us, who showers, as it were, upon us the things that are his, and shares with his creatures what appertains to himself alone. 24. Father, those whom thou hast given me, I will that where I am, they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. After having prayed for his disciples, or rather all those who come to him through faith, and having required of the Father that they may have union with him, and love, and sanctification, he proceeds at once to add these words, showing that to live with him and to be deemed worthy to see his glory, belongeth only to those who have been already united to the Father through him, and have obtained his love, which he must be conceived to enjoy from the Father. For we are loved as sons, according as we are like him who is actually by nature his son, for though it be not dealt out to us an equal measure, yet, as it is a complete semblance of the love the Father hath for the Son, and is coincident therewith, it images for the glory of the Son. I will, therefore, he says, O Father, that those who are mine, through their coming to me through faith, and the light that proceeded from thee, may be with me and see my glory. And what language can reveal the greatness of the blessing which is implied in being with Christ himself? For we shall enjoy ineffable fruition of soul, and I hath not seen nor ear heard, nor mind conceived, would God hath prepared for those that love him. For what thing that maketh for the fullness of joy can be lacking to those who have allotted to them the portion of being with Christ himself, the Lord of all? Yea, the wise and holy Paul seems to have thought of the things surpassing conception, for he says, to depart and be with Christ is far better. And, surely, he that preferred this great and acceptable reward to this world's life will bear us true testimony that great is the blessing of converse with him which he confers on his own. He that giveth all things to all men plentiously. And the word spoken through him to us will also help to support our contention. For having in himself Christ speaking and revealing the powers of the age to come, he spoke also after this manner. For the dead shall rise, he says, and also we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Further our Lord himself plainly promises us this blessing, saying, I go and will prepare a place for you. I will come again, and will receive you with myself, that where I am, there ye may be also with me. For either, without thinking deeply on the subject, we shall readily conclude that our abiding home in heaven is meant, or following another line of thought, we shall suppose that the same place will be allotted to us as to Christ, that is, similar and analogous honours, according to our likeness to himself, for we shall be conformed to his glory, and shall reign with him, according to holy writ. And he promises that, like as he is want, we shall also be enthroned in the kingdom of the heavens. Leaving then for the present as beyond dispute, any further proof that we shall be with Christ and share his glory, and be partakers in his kingdom, we proceed to the other point, I mean the words, that they may behold my glory. Not therefore to the profane and sinners, nor to those who dishonour the law of God, would let be given to gaze on the vision of Christ's glory, but only to the holy and righteous. This also we may know by the prophet's words. Let the impious man be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord. And did the gospel message of our Saviour Christ. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And who can the pure in heart be but they who, by union with God, through the Son, in the Spirit, have rid themselves of fleshly lusts, and put far away from them the pleasure of the world, and have, as it were, denied their own lives, and resigned them wholly to the will of the Spirit, and who are in all purity and sincerity fellow-citizens with Christ, such as was Paul, who out of his own exceeding purity feared not to say, I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me. I hear also the voice of another of the saints in his song. Make me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the Holy Spirit from me. Give me again the comfort of thy salvation, and establish me with thy free Spirit. He calleth the Spirit the comfort of salvation, as giving men joy on ceasing and perpetual, and affording them guidance through all the changes and chances of the world. For the Spirit belongseth to the only true Savior, that is, Christ. He giveth him many names, and adds a pure heart to his prayer, and straightway invokes the Spirit. Since they who were not yet united unto God, and made partakers of Christ's blessing through the Spirit, have not a perfect heart, but rather one that is forward and distraught. To sum it up therefore in brief, Christ desired that to his followers might be granted in special the blessing of being with him, and beholding his glory, for he says that he was loved even before the foundation of the world, hereby clearly showing how ancient was the great mystery of the redemption he wrought for us, and that the way of our salvation, affected through the mediation of Christ, was foreknown by God the Father. This knowledge was not indeed vouchsafe to men upon earth at the beginning, but the law intervened, which was our schoolmaster to teach us the divine life, creating in us a dim knowledge through types, God the Father keeping for the fitting time the blessing through the Savior. And this knowledge seems to us of much avail to show how groundless was the scorn and impious murmuring of the children of Israel, who chose continually to advocate the law, even when at the advent of the truth, they ought henceforth to have made of no account the types, and it seems very useful also to contrivert the others who think that the council of the Father, which contrived the great mystery of our redemption, was an afterthought. Therefore also Paul said concerning Christ, destroying the contention of those who hold this view, that he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the last times. We must observe also, that he says that the Father had given unto him the disciples themselves, as well as divine glory and universal dominion, not in his character as by nature God, the Lord of all, who therefore has kingly dignity inherent in himself, but rather insofar as he manifested himself as man, who has all things as gifts from God, and not as his birthright. For the created world receives everything from God, and nothing at all that is in it is its own, though it appeared to possess things that are good. Twenty-five. O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee, and these knew that thou didst send me. He here calls the Father righteous, where he might have used another title, for he is holy, pure, undefiled, maker and creator of the world, and whatever else befits the ruler of the universe. It is very desirable then to inquire why Christ entitled him righteous, when he might have given him another name. It will then be productive to us of much profit, if we do not allow any passages of holy writ to escape us. When then Christ desired us to be sanctified by the favor of his Father, fulfilling himself the character of advocate and mediator, he made his intercession for us in the words, Holy Father, keep them in thy truth. Meaning by truth nothing but his own spirit, by whom he secured our souls, sealing them in his likeness, and edifying them as it were by his ineffable power, so that courage is undaunted, and exhorting us to manifest unrestrained zeal in abundant good works, and to let nothing stand in our way, or avail to call us back, so that we may hasten eagerly on our course to do God's pleasure, and may set it not the manifold inventions of the devil and the pleasures of the world. For they who have once been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and who receive into their minds the earnest of his grace, have their hearts fortified, as they are girded with power from on high. Christ therefore besought the Father that he was sanctify us, in order that we might enjoy blessings so acceptable. Here, too, I think, he seems to have some such idea in his mind. For besides what he said about our need of sanctification from the Father, he also added these words concerning us. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as we are one, for thou lovest them, even as thou lovest me. And again, Father, those whom thou hast given me, I will that where I am, they also may be with me. After thus speaking, he straightway calls the Father righteous and with reason, for by his approval and consent the Son became man, that he might endow the nature of man, which was created for good works, with sanctification through the Spirit, and union with God, and with an abiding place in the Mantis above, there to live and reign with him. For God did not create man at the beginning to work wickedness, but his nature was perverted into vice by the impious wiles of the devil, and was led astray from its guidance of old by the hand of God, and, as it were, upheived from its foundation. Truly it well be seemed the righteous Father to lift up again that human nature which had been cast down through the devil's malice, and to establish in its former position that which had been unduly debased, and to rid it of the foulness of sin, and, as it were, transform it into its original image as it had been at first created, and also to subject the adversary that assaulted man and impiously dared to compass his ruin, that is, Satan, to the vengeance that was meat, though me thinks any kind of chastisement were slight for him who exhibited such madness against God. Therefore he saith, O righteous Father, for thou art righteous and good, and true is thy judgment. For thou hast sent down me, who am thine own true Son, to the world to succour and renew it. But, alas, for the blindness of the world, he says, for though thou wert such as I have said, the world knew thee not. For surely they should straightway have seen the loving kindness of thy judgment and thy merciful will, and should have hastened to welcome their Savior, and have brought him willing service. Christ then held this discourse with the Father, offering up, as it were, thanks on our behalf and for our sake, inasmuch as he, in his righteousness, had vouchsafed salvation to those who had suffered through the devil's malice, and had doomed the devil to perdition. And the world, he says, that is, they who opposed the divine message of the gospel through their worldly mindedness, have not learned that the Father is righteous. For the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, as Paul says, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should not dawn upon them. But he bore witness to his own disciples that they knew and understood him, and hereby he endows them once more with a great and enviable dignity. For he shows them to be far above all the humiliation and contumaly of the world, through their knowledge of the Father, and clearly also through their confession that Christ was the Son. When, therefore, at the same time as the charge was brought against the world that it knew not the Father, that is, the true and living God, he bore witness to the disciples that they knew him, is it not henceforth quite beyond dispute that they were not of the world now that they had become Christ, who is above the world, according to the Sang of Paul, through which the world hath been crucified unto me and I unto the world, who sayeth again concerning us, and they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lust thereof. When we say that the disciples were out of the world, we do not mean that they were absent so far as their bodies and position in space were concerned, for they appear as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. We rather mean that, while they still walked upon earth, they were citizens of heaven, and that bidding farewell to the lust of the flesh, and lifting their minds high above all worldly desire, they had attained to an exceeding height of virtue, according to the saying in the Psalms. The mighty men of God have been exalted high above the earth. For they who have reached true manliness through God have put aside the groveling thoughts of earth, and turned their minds heavenward. For this, I think, is the meaning of the word exalted. The world, then, he says, O Father, knew not thee in thy righteousness. But I know thee, for I am thy counsel and wisdom. I regarded not the glory and divine dignity that is mined by nature, but humbled myself and descended to human poverty, that I might save with thine approval the race that had fallen away from kinship with us. Though the world knew not this, yet were the disciples enriched with this knowledge and verily comprehended that thou hast sent me. That is, that I have come to bring thy purpose to a glorious issue by rescuing the world which was in peril. 26 And I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known, that the love were with thou lovest me may be in them, and I in them. He says that knowledge of God the Father was at once in him and in the disciples who attended him. And lest any man should be beguiled into gross extravagance as of opinion, and think that his disciples had this knowledge in an equal degree with himself, Christ at once distinguishes between them and himself, and makes the difference very clear, showing that he revealed God unto them, while they, through him, received knowledge. For our Lord Jesus Christ, as he is the Word and counsel and wisdom of the Father, intuitively knows what is in him, and concerns himself about his Father's most secret thoughts. Just as indeed the mind of a man knows what is in him, and is nothing that is in our hearts is hidden from our human understanding. The inspired disciples, on the other hand, do not enjoy, as the fruit of their own understanding, the ability to form any conception about God, but through the light of the Spirit lay hold of the true meaning of the mysteries of the Son, and so are enabled to know the Father. Very appropriately, then, unto our Prophet Christ added the words, And I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known. Observe too how both persons, I mean the Father and the Son, effectually work together to make the Godhead comprehensible to men. For the Father makes us wise by revealing to us his own Son, and nonetheless also the Son makes us wise by revealing to us the Father. To the Blessed Peter, moreover, he spake these words about the parts of Caesarea called Philippi. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. For the disciple confessed and maintained his belief that he was Christ, the Son of the living God. And now he says concerning himself, I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known. For the only begotten ceases not to reveal unto us the meaning of the mystery concerning himself, as he revealed it to his first followers at the beginning. And this he doeth continually, implanting in each of us the light of the Spirit, and guiding those that love him to the knowledge of those things which pass their understanding and conception. What his purpose is, and what kind of benefit he will confer on us by his declaration that he had already revealed the Father unto the disciples, and would also make him known to their successors, he pointed out to us when he said, that the love were with thou lovest me may be in them, and I in them. For they who have been able by purity of thought to know God the Father, and have been thoroughly instructed in the knowledge of the mystery that is in Christ, will wholly gain and indisputably enjoy the perfect love of the Father like unto the Son. For the Father loves his Son with a perfect love, and Christ also himself abideth in him through the Holy Spirit, uniting through himself into spiritual fellowship with God the Father, him that knows him, and as intraveil as it were, with the unperverted word of divine truth. He makes known to us the name of the Father by declaring to us himself who is his Son. For hand in hand with the knowledge of him that was begotten we'll be closely linked the knowledge of him that begat him, just as the converse is also true. And if the saying is true, and to be accepted without question, that the conception of the Son is necessarily implied in that of the Father, and so also the conception of the Father in that of the Son, and the knowledge of one is contained in the knowledge of the other, how can the Son any more be a creature, as some impious men say. For if a man speak of the Son, he thereby instills the idea of a Father in his hearers. While if he were to call him a creature, he leads them on to the conception of a Maker. But as the Son calls God Father, not Maker or Creator, he is clearly conscious that he is himself in fact a Son. Therefore the Son is deemed and is a Son, and not a creature, as they say, which would imply that he that made him was his Creator and not his Father. And the force of the argument will be no wit damaged by the fact that the title of child or Son is accounted human. For the attributes which peculiarly and especially belong to him as being by nature the Son of God is Father, these were brought down even to us. Holy writ often so applying them on occasion, and at times investing those who are sons by adoption with the attributes of a Son by nature. And it is no marvel if we also have obtained the title of Son, and that God has thus chosen to honor us in his loving kindness, as he has even called those gods who are avowedly sprung from the earth. End of Chapter 12 Part 1 Chapter 12 Part 2 of Commentary in the Gospel of John Book 11 by Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. 18.1.2 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kedron, where was a garden into which he entered, himself and his disciples. Now Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus off times resorted thither with his disciples. After having enlightened his disciples and turned them by suitable instruction to all those things that make for righteousness, and after having bidden them choose the life which is most spiritual and pleasing to God, and besides also promising himself to fulfill them with spiritual graces, and saying that blessings from the Father above would be showered down upon them, Jesus goes forth readily, not shrinking from the time of his suffering, nor yet fearing to die for all men. For what likelihood could there be that he should do this, who was brought face to face with suffering, that by his own agony he might purchase exemption for all, when too for this purpose only he had come, that he might by his own blood reconcile the whole earth to God the Father? It is true that often when the Jews chose to rage against him, and attempted in their fury to stone him, he escaped by his divine power, rendering himself invisible, and withdrawing himself with the greatest ease from the reach of those who sought him, for he was not willing yet to suffer, the fitting time not yet calling him there too. But as the time had now come, Christ left the house where he had instructed his disciples in the mystery, and came to the place whither he himself, the saviour of all mankind, was want often to resort, together with his holy disciples. He did this too from a wish to make it easy for the traitor to find him. The place was a garden, typifying the paradise of old, for in it, as it were, all places were summed up, and in it was consummated our return to man's ancient condition. For in paradise the troubles of mankind had their origin, while in the garden began Christ's suffering, which brought us deliverance from all evil that had befallen us in time past. 3. Judas then, having received the band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, come with thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Very appropriately then the inspired evangelist says that Jesus was in the garden, when no number of men, nor any crowd, were congregating together, or contemplated coming to his sucker, and that he was alone with his disciples, that he might display, in all its nakedness, the great folly of the thoughts the traitor harbored in his heart. For our conscience is very apt to create alarms in us, and torment us with the pangs of cowardice, whenever we are bent on any unholy deed. Such, I think, was the state of the traitor's mind, when he brought in his train, the cohort, armed with weapons of war, together with the officers of the Jews, as though to capture a notorious malefactor. For in all likelihood he knew that he could never take him, unless he chose to suffer, and encountered death by his own will. But he had his understanding perverted by his unholy enterprise, and was, as it were, intoxicated by his own excessive audacity. And so he did not see whether he was tending, nor perceived that he was attempting what it was beyond his power to perform. For he thought that by the multitude of his followers, and by the hand of man, he could prevail over the divine power of Christ, and be not amazed that the miserable man should be afflicted with such madness, and be convicted of conceiving so ridiculous an idea. For when he gave up the rudder of his mind into another's hand, and sold to the devil the power over his desires, he was wholly possessed by his madness. For the devil leapt upon him once for all, and nestled in his bosom like a poisonous snake. Surely one may well wonder the traitor's fall, and find in it cause for ceaseless weeping. He that had just been supping with Christ and shared his food, and partaken at the holy table, and equally with the rest, had had the benefit of his words exhorting unto righteousness, and had heard him declare plainly that one of you shall betray me, so to say, leapt up from his seat at that very table, and straightway, after reclining with him at the board, hurried off to the Jews to earn the reward of his treachery. He gave no thought to Christ's inspiring words, entertained not the desire of future glory, and paid no heed to the honour given unto him. In short, preferred before the perfect blessedness which has no end, a mean and paltry sum of money, and proved himself the net and snare were with the devil and trapped Christ, the prime mover and fellow worker with the Jews and their iniquity against God. The following thought, too, moves my scorn in no small degree. The crowd that attended the traitor, when they made their attack upon Christ, carried lanterns and torches. They would seem to have guarded against, dumbling in the dark, and falling into pitfalls unawares, for such accidents often happen in darkness. But alas for their blindness, the miserable men in their gross ignorance, did not perceive that they were stumbling on the stone concerning which God the Father says, Behold, I lay in sighing in a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. They who were on occasion seized with fear of a small pitfall, saw not that they were rushing into the depths of the abyss and the very bowels of the earth, and they who were suspicious of the twilight of evening, took no account of perpetual and endless night. For they who impiously plotted against the light of God, that is, Christ, were doomed to walk in darkness and the dead of night, as the Prophet says. And not only so, but also to vanish away into outer darkness, there to give an account of their impiety against Christ, and to be consigned to bitter and endless punishment. 4. 5. 6. Jesus, therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth and saith unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, was standing with them. When therefore he saith unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. During the night the traitor appeared, bringing with him the servants of the Jews together with the band of soldiers. For, as we said just now, he thought that he would take him even against his will, trusting in the number of his followers, and believing that he would find him lingering in the spot whither he was wont to resort. And that day had not yet dawned to allow of his going forth elsewhere, but that night would be still detaining the Lord in the place of his lying down. Christ then, in order to show that Judas, in holding either view, had been regarding him as a mere man, and that his plans were vain, anticipates their attack, and goes out readily to meet them, showing thereby that he well knew what Judas presumed to attempt. And that, although it were easy for him, through his foreknowledge, to escape unawares, he went of his own will to meet his sufferings, and was not by the malice of any man involved in peril. To the intent that the scorn of philosophers among the Greeks might not be moved thereby, who in their levity make the cross a stumbling block and a charge against him, and that Judas, the murderer of his Lord, might not be highly exalted against Christ, thinking that he had prevailed over him against his will. He inquires of those who come to capture him, whom they have come in search of, not because he did not know, for how could that be? But that he might thereby prove that those who were for that very reason come, and were gazing upon him, were not able so much as to recognize him of whom they were in search, and so confirm us in the true conviction that he would never have been taken if he had not of his own will gone to those who sought him, for observe that when he openly asks, whom seek ye, they did not at once rejoin, we are here to take thee who thus speakest, but they reply as though he were not yet present or before their eyes, and say, Jesus of Nazareth. But perhaps some may reply, the Roman soldier perhaps knew not Jesus, and the servants of the Jews shared their ignorance. We answer that any such suggestion is groundless, for how could they who were selected to the priesthood fail to know him, who was in their power continually when he was teaching daily in the temple, as our Savior himself says? But that no one should trust in arguments of this sort, and misapprehending the truth, the inspired evangelist for seeing this is impelled to add, that with the soldiers and the servants was standing Judas also which betrayed him. Then how could the traitor fail to recognize the Lord? You might answer that it was night and dark, and therefore not easy to see him of whom they were in search. How worthy our admiration is, the writer of the book, in that not even so small a point as this has escaped his notice, for he has said that when they came into the garden they had lanterns and torches in their hands. A solution, therefore, is found to this curious inquiry, and the divine dignity of Christ is seen, who brought himself to those who were seeking him, though they could no longer of themselves recognize him. In order to prove that they were so blinded as not to be able to recognize him, he says plainly, I am he. And that he might show the fruitlessness of numbers, and the utter incapacity of all human power to affect anything against the ineffable power of God, by merely addressing them in mild and courteous language, he bows down to the earth the multitude of those who saw him, that they might be taught how powerless to endure his threatenings is the nature of created beings, unable as it is to bear one word of God, and that spoken in kindness. According to the word of the psalmist, terrible art thou, and who shall withstand thy wrath. That which happened to a portion, and befell those who came to take him, is, as it were, symbolical of the humbling of the entire race. Yea, the prophet Jeremiah laments for the Jews, saying, The house of Israel is fallen, there is none to raise it up. That which here happened is a type of what inevitably comes to pass in a similar case, for it teaches us that he is altogether doomed to fall who practices iniquity against Christ. Seven, eight, nine. Again therefore he asked them, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the word might be fulfilled which he spake. Of those whom thou hast given me, I lost not one. He asked them again a second time of set purpose, that he might show the extent of the blindness he had put in their minds. For they were robbed of their right judgment, and had their minds, as it were, deranged by their impiety, and knew not that they were speaking to him whom they sought. Christ indeed proved by his actions the truth of what he professed. I am, he says, the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. Christ then saves the apostles as with a shield, and bearing the brunt of the danger himself advances to those who will come to lead him to death, sent there unto, that is, by the high priests and Pharisees. When they answered, Jesus of Nazareth, to his question, whom have ye come to take and bind in the bonds of death? He pointed to himself, and well-nigh, accusing them of delay, bade them take him away and let the rest go free. For it was necessary that one should die for all, whose life was an equivalent for the lives of all men, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. For other reasons, too, it were wholly impossible to accept the opinion of some that the deaths of the holy apostles themselves also resulted in the overthrow of death and corruption, when they must themselves be reckoned among those who have been delivered from death and corruption. And with great reason, for their nature is one with ours, and over us death had dominion. It was necessary, then, that alone and first of all, the son of the living Father should give over his own body to death as a ransom for the lives of all men, that by connection with the life of the Word, which was united with itself, it might so prepare the way, that our mortal bodies might be enabled henceforth also to triumph over the bondage of death. For the Lord is the first fruits of them that are asleep, and the first born from the dead. And so, by his own resurrection, makes smooth for those who come after him the way to incorruption. He therefore withdraws the disciples from the peril of the moment, as well knowing that the conflict was in special need for himself, and showing thereby that our redemption was the work of none other, save only that nature which is supreme over the universe. The wise evangelist turns to a clear proof of the general and universal mercy, which will be shown to all who come to him through faith. This partial and special care here manifested to those who were with him. For, he says, he procured that his disciples should be suffered to go their way, that the Word might be fulfilled which he spake, of those whom thou gavest me, I lost not one. For how can there be any question that he will show mercy on them that come after the disciples? For where care is shown in small things, how can there be neglecting greater? And is it likely that he who showed mercy to a mere handful will pay no heed to a multitude whom no man can number? For the multitude of believers is exceeding great. You must receive, then, the partial as a type of the universal, and you can easily perceive, by his refusal to put his disciples in any danger at all, what and how great will be his wrath against his murderers. For does he not altogether hate whatever opposes his will? Can there be any further doubt that severe and endless punishment awaits those who do the things which are hateful to him? 10. Simon Peter, therefore, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was Melchus. 11. What was it, someone may say, that induced the inspired evangelists to make mention of this, and point out to us the disciple using a sword, contrary to his want, against those who came to take Christ, and stir to a hotter and more precipitate fit of wrath than was meat? And Christ thereupon rebuking him? This narrative may, perhaps, seem superfluous, but it is not so. For he has here given us a pattern expressly for our learning, for we shall know from what took place here to what lengths our zeal and piety towards Christ may proceed without reproach, and what we may choose to do in conflicts such as this, without stumbling on something displeasing to God. For this typical instance forbids us to draw a sword, or lift up stones against any man, or to strike our adversaries with a stick, when, through our piety towards Christ, we are in conflict with them. For our weapons are not of the flesh, as Paul saith. But we ought rather to treat even our murderers with kindness when occasion precludes our escape. For it is far better for other men to be corrected for their sins against us by him that judges righteously, than that we ourselves should make excuses for our blood-guiltiness, making piety our play. Besides, we may call it most irrational to honor by the death of our persecutors him who, to set men free from death, himself cheerfully suffered death. And herein we must surely follow Christ himself, for if he had been called to die perforce and of necessity, as, unable by his own power to repel the assault of his foes, who were invincible through the number of the servants of the Jews, there might perhaps have been nothing unreasonable in those who chose to love him, succoring him with all their might, and showing the utmost courage in order to rescue him from the peril into which he had been brought by the impiety of his foes against his will. But since being truly God he was able to destroy his adversaries, root and branch, and at the very outset of the conflict, so to say, had given them such a token of his might as by a single word, and that spoken in courtesy, to lay them low on the earth, for they all fell backward. How could it be right for us, in unbridled and inordinate wrath, to wilfully and recklessly proceed to lengths that he did not, though he might have done so with the utmost ease? We find also traces of the same spirit elsewhere recorded by the Holy Evangelist. For our Saviour once came to a village bordering on Judea, too lodged there. It belonged to the Samaritans, and when he was drawing nigh into it they roughly drove him away. The disciples were enraged there at, and came to him and said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven and consume them? And the Saviour answered them, let them alone, know ye not that I can besiege my father, and he shall even now send me twelve legions of angels. For he came not as God to use his own innate power against those who vented their fury upon him, but rather to school us, to patient forbearance under every affliction, and to be himself a type of the most perfect and passionless tranquillity. Therefore also he said, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. The purpose of Peter in drawing his sword against the adversaries does not trespass outside the commandment of the law, for the law bet us were quite unreproved evildoers. Foot for foot, hand for hand, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. For with what other object did they come armed with swords and staves, equipped with armor and banded together in numbers, than to wage such a conflict as they thought the disciples would wage in their extremity? For that they brought swords and staves, the Saviour plainly tells us, when he says elsewhere to them, are ye come out as against a robber with swords and staves to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and ye took me not. The passion of Peter, therefore, was lawful and accorded with the old enactments. But our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to give us teaching superior to the law, and to reform us to his meekness of heart, rebukes those passions which are in accordance with the law as incompatible with the perfect accomplishment of true virtue. For perfect virtue consists not and requital of like for like, but is rather seen in perfect forbearance. Someone may now, perhaps, raise the question and ask himself, why did Peter carry a sword? We reply that the duty of repelling the assaults of evildoers, according to the law, brought the need of a sword. For if one of the disciples had chosen to strike the innocent with a sword, how could the same issue have been tried? It is likely, too, that the holy disciples, as they were hurrying at midnight from their place of rest, and expected to find woods and gardens in their way, were suspicious of the attacks of wild beasts, for of these Judea was very fertile. Perhaps you may rejoin, but what need had the disciples of a sword, was not Christ sufficient for them in time of peril, and could not he scare away wild beasts, and release them from all fear on that account? If you say this, you say well, for Christ can do all things. But we shall find that, though Christ might have affected it otherwise, the disciples continue to live after the man are usual to men. For it must we not suppose that Christ was able to turn stones into bread, and out of nothing to create money sufficient to defray their expenses. Still they fetched loaves and carried a purse, taking alms of those who brought them. And when Christ wished to cross the sea in their company, they entered into his ship, though he might have walked over the billows, if he had been so minded. It is fruitless, then, to cavill at the disciples, for following the ordinary usages of mankind. Peter strikes off the right ear of the servant, and his action points, as in a figure, to the inability of the Jews to hear a right, for they would not hearken to Christ's words. They rather, so to say, honoured the left ear, obeying simply the dictates of their own misguided prejudice, deceiving and being deceived, according to the Scripture. For even when walking in the law ordained them of old, they turned to doctrines the precepts of men. 11. Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put up thy sword into its sheath, the cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it. Christ's bidding is fraught with the enactment of life according to the Gospel, and the spirit, not of the Mosaic law revealed to the men of old time, but of the dispensation of Christ, which so dissuades us from using the sword, or offering resistance, that if a man choose to smite us on one cheek, and then to demand the other to be smitten, we ought to turn to him the other also, cutting out, as it were, by the roots the human weakness of our hearts. But he says, in effect, even if no law had been laid down by me concerning forbearance under evil, thy mind, Peter, has failed to reason aright, and thou hast made an attempt altogether unsuited to the occasion. For when it was the decree and pleasure of God the Father, that I should drink this cup, that is, willingly undergo, as it were, the deep sleep of death in order to overthrow death and corruption, how then can I shrink from it, when so great blessings are certain to result to the race of man through my drinking it. The foregoing words well explain the drift of the passage before us. There is another passage also of similar purport. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to confirm the disciples in faith, and to remove, in anticipation, the stumbling block of his precious cross, once said to them in his discourse, as they were halting on the way. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, and they shall crucify him, and shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised up. And the inspired Peter, not considering the benefits of his death, but only regarding the ignominy of the cross, said, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall never be unto thee. What answered Christ? Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art a stumbling block unto me, for thou mind is not the things of God, but the things of men. For he that savourest the things that be of God makes it his end and object to set it not worldly honours, and to account as nothing the loss of reputation among men, so long as the good of his fellow men is achieved thereby. For love, the Apostle says, sigeth not his own. But he who is absorbed in the contemplation of the things of men, deems the loss of the paltry honours of earth intolerable, and looks only to his own advantage, and feels no sympathy with the losses of others. Just as in that passage Christ called Peter in offence unto him, though he was not want so to be, and though he spoke out of love, which yet could not escape blame, because he looked only at the death on the cross and not at the benefits to result therefrom. Peter tried so far as in him lay to prevent that which had been resolved and determined for the salvation of all men. So also here we see him doing the same, by his passion and impetuous act with his sword. He is once more rebuked, not merely by the words, put up thy sword unto its sheath. But according to another evangelist Christ added, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. And to repeat once more what we said before, sing that his capture was affected by his own will, and did not merely result from the malice of the Jews. How could it be right to repel or thwart in any way, and with a sword too, the bold attack of his combined foes and the impious conspiracy of the Jews? He says that God the Father gave unto him the cup, that is, death, though it was prepared for him by the obstinate hatred of the Jews, because it would never have come to pass if he had not suffered it for our sakes. Therefore also Christ said to boasting Pilate, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above. When Christ says that power was given Pilate from above, he refers to his own willingness to suffer death, and the consent of his Father in heaven. Chapter 12 Part 3 of Commentary in the Gospel of John Book 11 by Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. 12 13 14 So the band and the chief captain and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him, and led him away to Anus first, for he was Father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was High Priest that year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. Now that all obstacles had been overcome, and Peter had put away his sword, and Christ had, as it were, surrendered himself to the hand of the Jews, though he need not have died, and it was easier for him to escape, the soldiers and servants, together with their God, give way to cruel rage, and are transported with the ardor of victory. They took the Lord, who gave himself up holy to their will, and put fetters upon him, though he came to us to release us from the bondage of the devil, and to loose us from the chains of sin. And they bring him to Anus, who was the Father-in-law of Caiaphas, whence we may conclude that he was the prime mover and contriver of the iniquity against Christ, and that the traitor, when he received his hire, obtained from him the ban to take Christ. He is, therefore, taken away to him, first of all, for the Jews were bent on showing to us that that was indeed truly spoken of them which the Prophet put into their mouths. Let us bind the righteous man, for he is useless unto us. Christ was, indeed, to the Jews useless, not because of his own nature, but because, as they were prone to love sin and pleasure, he seemed to bring them no good thing, when he expounded to them a righteousness exceeding the law, and set before them, without concealment, the knowledge of the pleasure of the God that loves virtue. When the law pointed out no such way, but rather, in the darkness of allegory, feebly and indirectly indicated what might be a profit to its hearers. Just as, then, the sunlight is useless to those whose sight is injured, and brings them no profit, because the disease prevents it. And just as, to people in bad health, healthy food sometimes seems the most useless, though it used to bring the health so much desired. So, likewise, to the Jews the Lord seems useless, though he was the Prince of Salvation, for they refused to be saved. They sent him bound to Caiaphas, the High Priest. Now, Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. The sacred and holy victim, then, that is, Christ, was captured by the malice of Anas and the service of his hirelings, and ensnared within the net, was led to him that compassed and instigated this lodger of the innocent. This was Caiaphas, and he was adorned with the office of the priesthood. And by his questions he seems to have begun the shedding of blood, as he also was convicted of having originated the impious enterprise. He receives Jesus bound, and as the fruit of his counsel and impious designs, the miserable man committed the most impious act that has ever been committed. For what can be more grievous than impiety against Christ? 15. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did the other disciple. While the other disciples, it seems, were panic-stricken, and fled from the present wrath of the murderers. Peter, who was always moved there too by more fervent passion, clings to his love for Christ, and follows him at the peril of his life, and watches the issue of events. The other disciple accompanying him, and with like courage, sustaining a similar resolution. This was John, the truly pious writer of this divine work, for he calls himself that other disciple, without giving himself a definite name, fearing to seem boastful, and abhorring the appearance of being better than the rest. For the crowning achievements of virtue, if manifested by any of the righteous, yet are never blazoned forth to the world by their own mouth. For it very ill-be-seemsy man to in praise rather out of his own mouth than the conversation of other men. In the book of Proverbs it is written, Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips. 15. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest. The apostle shows great forethought in condescending to mention this fact, and does not scruple to enter into detail where it is profitable for us. For as he was about to set down in order in his book what was done and said, in the palace of the high priest, he was, as it were, compelled to show us how he was able to enter there with Christ. For, he says, he was known unto the high priest. He enters therefore without hindrance his knowledge of the leader of the people. For he is not thought proper to say friendship, allowing him free entrance within the doors. In order, then, that he might convince us that he did not compile his account of what took place in the palace from information drawn from others, but that he himself saw and heard what passed, he has given us this most useful explanation of his knowledge of the high priest. 16. But Peter was standing at the door without, so the other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, went out and spake unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter. Peter did not lag behind from any lack of fervor of heart, but only because the vigilance of the damsel at the gate made entrance perilous for those with whom she had no previous acquaintance. And though it might not have been difficult for a man to push a woman aside, yet it might have involved a charge of unruly behavior. The disciple, therefore, though in great distress of mind, was compelled to stay without, till the other, seeing that he was much grieved there at, brought him in with himself by speaking to the maid and presiding at the door, and asking as a favor that his companion in jealous fervor might accompany him. 17. The maid, therefore, that kept the door, saith unto Peter. Are thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. As Christ had already foretold to Peter that he with rice deny our Saviour Christ, and that before the cock crew his faith would fail, the inspired evangelist relates in detail where and how the prophecy was fulfilled. The maid seated at the door, then inquires of him whether he was not one of the number of the disciples of him who was undergoing the unjust trial. Peter denies it, and parries the question as though it were a charge, saying, I am not. Not fearing it all to be taken, or shrinking from proclaiming the truth, but disregarding and making light of enduring any kind of evil against his will in comparison with being with Christ. His transgression, then, proceeds from love, and his denial has its roots in the love of God, not indeed proceeding from any just reasoning, but at any rate testifying to the fervor of his desire to be with Christ. 18. Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold and they were warming themselves, and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. Peter, having passed inside the door and finding himself encircled by the servants, affects to do what they do, though bowed down with grief and with an intolerable burden of agony at heart, that he might not be convicted by his despondent and sorrowful countenance of feeling sympathy with the man who was on trial, and be cast out from the doors which contained all he loved. For it is quite incredible that the disciple should have been so carnally minded as to seek out a means of appeasing the chill of winter when he was thus heavy with grief. For if he might have enjoyed greater luxuries than this, he could not have borne to do so while Christ was thus afflicted. He intentionally models his behaviour on the apathy of the attendance, and, as though he had no inducement to despondency, shakes off the chill of winter, in order that he might create the belief that he was one of the inmates of the house, and might thus for the future escape answering any further questions with a denial. But the word of the Saviour could not be falsified, for he foretold to the disciple what he, as God, knew would surgeonly happen. 19. The High Priest therefore asked Jesus of his disciples and of his teaching. A teacher of the people learned in the law, one of those on whom the divine bidding lays the duty, Judge ye righteous judgment. After having taken the Lord, as though he had been a notorious robber, by a band of armed soldiers and a number of impious officers, asks him of his disciples and of his doctrine, showing thereby that he was in want of charges to bring against him. For the man who was now on trial knew no sin. He asks him about his doctrine to elicit from him whether it accorded with the mosaic law, or coincided and concurred with the old dispensation, and what purpose his disciples had implanted in their hearts, whether to submit to be guided by ancient customs, or to practice any strange and novel kind of worship. He did this in malice, for he supposed that Christ would make an outspoken attack on the law, and that, by pleading for the rejection of the mosaic dispensation, he would excite the Jews to embittered and furious revildings against himself, so that he might in the future appear to be paying a just penalty for deliberately fighting against God. For to enter the list against the divine commandments, if any mere human being were convicted of any word or deed with that intent, were to declare oneself an open enemy of God. And they were treating Christ as a mere man, and thought that they were doing well to chastise the Lord of the law for the transgression of the law, not remembering him that said, Impaeus is he that saith unto a king, thou art a lawbreaker. 20. Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world, I ever taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and in secrets beg I nothing. It were fruitless labour Christ says to search out his obscure which is universally known, and how can it be seemly, where full knowledge is present, to set up a pretense of ignorance. This is what Christ seems to us to say, with the object of releasing himself from the charges that had been fabricated and maliciously devised against him by the malice of the leaders of the people. But I think also that there is a suggestion of another meaning. For he says, I have spoken openly to the world. That is to say, the utterances given to you by the mediation of Moses come in types and shadows, and do not teach expressly the will of God, but rather create a vision of the actual truth beyond themselves, and, wrapped up in the obscurity of the letter, do not completely reveal the knowledge of those things which are needful for us. I have spoken openly to the world, and apart from riddles and the shadow, as it were, of the form of that which is good. I set before you the right and pointed out the straight path of piety towards God without any tortuous turnings. I speak to the world. Not, he says, to the one nation of the Israelites. For if the things that are of me are not yet known throughout the whole world, they will be so in due season. I ever taught in synagogues. We can scarcely fail to see what he means here. He reminds those of the Jews who were in his presence, me thinks, however reluctant, of prophecy which thus spoke concerning him. For what said the Divine Isaiah, putting the words in Christ's mouth? I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. And again, I have spread out my hands all the day unto a disobedient and rebellious people. For what else can not speaking in secret, in a dark place, mean, but giving discourses openly, and speaking in places where there is no small concourse of hearers? Very well and appropriately he brings to their recollection the saying of the Prophet, that they might learn that they are judging impiously that Messiah who was the due fulfillment of their hopes. For to the Jews belong the promise, as Paul says. 21. Why askest thou me? Ask them that have heard me, what I spake unto them. Behold, these know the things which I said. He rebukes those learned in the law, for that they themselves sinned against the law in which they took pride. For before he had been condemned they passed premature sentence upon him, and yet busied themselves in seeking for errors on his part. Why, then, he says, dost thou question me, and call on me to answer, who have already endured your attack, and had punishment allotted me before conviction? Or you may put another construction on what he said. Those who already hate me, and receive with such extreme dishonor whatever I tell them of the things that are mine, would not, perhaps, shrink from proclaiming what is false. Learn, then, from the lips of others. The search for witnesses would not be at all difficult, for these heard my words. Someone may perhaps imagine that he that knoweth the hearts and reigns indicated some of the bystanders as having chance to hear his words. But it is not so. For he referred to certain of the officers who once marveled at his doctrine. And, perhaps, to make our meaning clear, we ought to explain the time and occasion when this occurred. This same inspired evangelist has told us that once, when our Saviour Christ was preaching, and unfolding the doctrine concerning the kingdom of heaven to the assembled Jews, the teachers of the Jewish ordinances were sore enraged, and full of bitter envy of him, and strove to remove him from their midst. In the words of the evangelist, and the chief priest in the Pharisees sent officers to take him. But as our Saviour was continuing his long and full discourse, those which were sent by the Jews were convinced along with the rest, and were more amazed than any one else among the multitude of his hearers. Thus speaks the evangelist. The officers, therefore, came to the chief priest in Pharisees, and they spake unto them. Why did ye not bring him? The officers answered, Never man so spake. The Pharisees, therefore, answered them. Are ye also led astray? Observe how distressed at heart the Pharisees were when they found that the officers had been at length convinced and sore amazed. The Saviour, then, knowing this, says, Ask them that have heard me. Behold, these know the things which I said. After then he says, These know, looking at those who were then standing by, or else referring to the fact that even they who minister to the impiety of the chief priest themselves marveled at the beauty of his teaching. Twenty-two. And when he had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying unto him, Answer is thou the high priest so? It had been foretold, by the mouth of the prophet, that with Christ this would come to pass. I gave my back to the scourge, and my cheeks to them that smite. He was being led on, in truth, to the end, long ago foretold, to the verdict of Jewish presumption, which was also the abolition and determination of our deserved dishonor, for that we sinned in Adam first, and trampled underfoot the Divine Commandment, for he was dishonored for our sake, in that he took our sins upon him, as the prophet says, and was afflicted on our account. For as he wrought out our deliverance from death, giving up his own body to death, so likewise, I think, the blow with which Christ was smitten, in fulfilling the dishonor that he bore, carried with it our deliverance from the dishonor by which we were burdened through the transgression and original sin of our forefather. For he, being one, was yet a perfect ransom for all men, and bore our dishonor. But I think the whole creation would have shuttered had it been suffered to be conscious of such presumption. For the Lord of Glory was insulted by the impious hand of the smiter. And I think that it would display a spirit of pious research to desire to learn why this insolent and presumptuous officer smites Jesus, who had made no stubborn or angry reply at all, but had returned a very gentle answer to all the charges brought against him. And it may be observed that the leader of the Jewish nation had not bidden him smite Jesus, and assail him with such extravagant impiety. Some may perhaps alleges the reason the ordinary and received custom among the officers, when they brought to the rulers men accused of some transgression to compel them to reply courteously, even against their will, and treat them at times with contumely when they returned a rude answer. But I do not think this ever occurred to excite his passion against Christ. And if we fix a retention on what has already been said, we shall find another reason for his insolence. For we said just now that certain of the officers who were bidden to take Jesus came into collision with the rulers, and returned so far initiated into the mysteries of Christ, and amazed at him, that they openly declared, never man so spake. Where at the Pharisees were greatly enraged, and said, or ye also led astray, hath any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him, but this multitude, who know not the law, are accursed. Thus then the Saviour's words reminded the rulers of the indignation then stirred up in them against the officers, for he referred to them as witnesses of his teaching, saying, Behold, these know the things which I said. The officer was charged before them with having been struck with admiration of Christ, and wishing to repel the suspicion of being well disposed towards him, and to divert their thoughts elsewhere, smote him on the mouth, not suffering him to say anything that could injure the reckless band of officers. 23. Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, wise mightest thou me. He proved the officer guilty of a gross wrong, even if he that was on his trial had been a man of obscure position, for he smote him causelessly, contrary to his express duty, not urged thereto by legal commands, but rather incited to brutal ferocity of behavior by his own inbred madness. Call in question if it please thee, and refute my words, as not spoken aright. But if thou canst not do this, wise mightest thou me, with whose speech thou canst find no fault. This is, indeed, the ordinary and most usual interpretation of the passage. But I think the meaning of the passage is different from this. For it may be that he convicts the officer as guilty of the greater sin, not because he smote him merely, but because, after having been previously amazed at his teaching, and not having now found him in any wise guilty, he yet endured to treat him with contumely. For if, he says, thou hadst not once been struck by my words, if I had not then seemed to you to teach most noble doctrines, and thou hadst not been convinced that I expounded holy writ in a marvelous way, if thou hadst not thyself exclaimed, never man so spake, perhaps some plea might have been found for giving mercy to thy inexperience, and acquitting thee of this charge. But since thou hast known, and hast marveled at my teaching, and wouldst not, perhaps Christ says, have borne witness against my words, if thou didst now think it right to bear in mind thine own words, how canst thou have any cloak for thy sin? You may understand the passage in this way. But also remark how the Saviour herein sketches for us the pattern of his great long suffering towards us, in all its incomparable excellence, and, as in a well-defined portrait by the actions of his life, gives us a type of the nature of his exceeding great mercy. For he that, by one single word, might have brought utter ruin on the Jews, endures to be smitten as a slave. He offers no resistance, and does not requite his persecutors with instant chastisement, for he is not subject to our infirmities, nor under the dominion of passion, or resentment, or discomposed by their malicious insults. But he gently puts his adversary to shame, and tells him that he did not write to strike one who answered courteously, and in the hour of his imminent peril forgets not the virtues he continually practiced. For, by proper argument, he strives to induce the servant that ministered to the malice of the Jews to abandon his fit of passion, himself receiving evil for good, according to the scripture, but requiting those who were desondering him with good instead of evil. But our Lord Jesus Christ, even when he was smitten, endured it patiently, though he was truly God, the Lord of heaven and earth. And we, poor miserable mortals, mean and insignificant as we are, mere dust and ashes, and liken to the green herb. For, as four men, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, according to the scripture. When one of our brethren happens to have some words with us, and let's fall some vexatious expression, we think we do right to be enraged with the fury of dragons, and cease not to pelt him with a storm of words in return for one, not granting forgiveness to human littleness, nor considering the frailty of our common humanity, nor burying and brotherly love the passions that thus arise, nor looking unto Jesus himself, the author and perfecter of our faith. But eager to avenge ourselves, in that to the uttermost, though wholly writ declares in one place, he that pursues vengeance pursues it to his own death. And in another, let none of you harbor resentment in your heart against your brother. But let Christ, the Lord of all, himself be unto us a pattern of gentleness to one another, and exceeding great forbearance, for he, for this very reason, sayeth unto us, a disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his Lord. End of CHAPTER XII End of Commentary in the Gospel of John Book XI by Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall