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Commentary on the Gospel of John Book 7 - Cyril of Alexandria · Commentary on The Book of Genesis

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  Speaker 1: Section one commentary in the Gospel of John, Book seven.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Commentary on the Gospel of John,
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  Speaker 1: Book seven by Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall.
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  Speaker 1: The fragments which are extent of Book seven, Section one,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten eighteen. No man taketh it from me, but
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  Speaker 1: I lay it down of myself. I have power to
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  Speaker 1: lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
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  Speaker 1: In this place he teaches that he is not only
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  Speaker 1: a good shepherd enduring peril for the sake of his flock,
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  Speaker 1: but also in his nature God. Therefore, he would not
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  Speaker 1: have suffered death had he not been willing through his
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  Speaker 1: possessing the very god befitting power of undertaking this work
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  Speaker 1: so very advantageous to us, and the structure of the
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  Speaker 1: discourse taught the Jews this also that they were never
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  Speaker 1: going to prevail against him unless he was willing. And
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  Speaker 1: not only as regards laying down life did he say
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  Speaker 1: I have power, but this expression I have power he
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  Speaker 1: used with regard to both his death and his resurrection,
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  Speaker 1: in order that the action of might and energy might
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  Speaker 1: not appear to be that of another, as though it
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  Speaker 1: were a concession granted to him, as to a minister
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  Speaker 1: and servant in office, but in order that he might display,
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  Speaker 1: as a fruit of his own nature, the power to
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  Speaker 1: exercise authority over the very bonds of death, and easily
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  Speaker 1: to modify the natures of things in whatever way he wished,
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  Speaker 1: which is really a characteristic of him who is by
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  Speaker 1: nature God. This, then he wishes to show by saying,
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  Speaker 1: I have power to lay down my life, and I
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  Speaker 1: have power to take it again, Because neither commanded as
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  Speaker 1: a servant or a minister, nor even as it were,
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  Speaker 1: from necessity, nor being violently compelled by any but willingly
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  Speaker 1: he came to do this. This commandment received I from
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  Speaker 1: my Father, for lest any one should say that against
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  Speaker 1: the will of the son, the father is not able
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  Speaker 1: to take away his life, and hence introduce discord invariance
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  Speaker 1: into the one godhead of the Father and the Son.
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  Speaker 1: By these words which he says I received commandment, he
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  Speaker 1: shows that the Father also agrees and consents to this,
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  Speaker 1: and professes that they come forward to it as with
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  Speaker 1: one accord, although l though he is the will of
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  Speaker 1: the Father, and this will be found consistent also with
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  Speaker 1: his incarnation. By saying that he received in the way
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  Speaker 1: of a commandment, that which seemed right in the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of his Father, he being by nature God, does not
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  Speaker 1: make himself inferior to the Father, but observes what befits
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  Speaker 1: his participation of man's nature. Again, he puts us in
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  Speaker 1: mind that he is himself the prophet, concerning whom the
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  Speaker 1: Father said, he shall speak according as I shall command him,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of the common will of both Father and son,
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  Speaker 1: as received like a commandment. This he spake to the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: lest they should think that he said things contrary to
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  Speaker 1: the ordinances of the Father. And if the Father named
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  Speaker 1: his own consubstantial son a prophet, be not troubled, or
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  Speaker 1: when he became man, then also the name of prophet
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  Speaker 1: was suitable to him. Then also we may say that
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  Speaker 1: commandments were given to him by the Father agreeably to
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  Speaker 1: his human nature. But one who receives commandments is not
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  Speaker 1: for that reason inferior or unlike in essence or nature
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  Speaker 1: to one who gives commandments. Inasmuch as men give commandments
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  Speaker 1: to men, and angels to angels, and we do not,
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  Speaker 1: for that reason say that those who are commanded are
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  Speaker 1: of different nature or inferior. Therefore, the Son is not
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  Speaker 1: inferior to the Father, although he became man in order
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  Speaker 1: that he might become a pattern of all virtue for us.
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  Speaker 1: By this means, he also teaches us that we ought
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  Speaker 1: to obey our parents in all things, although we are
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  Speaker 1: equal to them as regards our nature. And in some places,
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  Speaker 1: when it is said by the Father, I will command,
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  Speaker 1: the meaning is I will deal fitly with as when
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  Speaker 1: he said, and I will command the whole world for
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  Speaker 1: their evil deeds, and the ungodly for their sins. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: there are times when the Son speaks with helpful condescension,
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  Speaker 1: so that we may, as far as is possible, get
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  Speaker 1: an understanding of the ineffable oracles. Yet his having said
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  Speaker 1: I received a commandment does not make one who is
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  Speaker 1: in his nature God cease to be God. Either therefore,
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  Speaker 1: say he is God and ascribe to him all that
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  Speaker 1: properly befits the Godhead, or say plainly he is a creature.
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  Speaker 1: For the fact of having received a commandment does not
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  Speaker 1: strip any one of the qualities which naturally belong to him.
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  Speaker 1: But since the son speaks whatever the Father commands him,
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  Speaker 1: and he says, I and the Father are one, thou
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  Speaker 1: art obliged to say either that the Father commanded the
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  Speaker 1: son to tell the truth or to tell a lie.
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  Speaker 1: For what the son hath received commandment to speak, he speaketh,
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  Speaker 1: For he saith the Father which sent me. He hath
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  Speaker 1: given me a commandment what I should say and what
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  Speaker 1: I should speak. And although he also said, my father
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  Speaker 1: is greater than I, that is nothing to the contrary.
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  Speaker 1: For in so far as he is in his nature God,
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  Speaker 1: he is equal to the Father. But in so far
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  Speaker 1: as he became mad and humbled himself, he, in accordance
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  Speaker 1: with this, speaks words which befit his humanity. Nevertheless, as
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  Speaker 1: the name of commandment to something external to the essence
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  Speaker 1: of a person, it could not be made an objection
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  Speaker 1: to his essence, for it is not in the father's
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  Speaker 1: giving him commandment that the son has his being, nor
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  Speaker 1: could this ever be made the limit of his essence.
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  Speaker 1: The son, therefore, as being the counsel and wisdom of
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  Speaker 1: the Father, knows what is fittingly determined by him, And
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  Speaker 1: if he receives it as a commandment, do not marvel,
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  Speaker 1: for by human modes of expression, he signifies things beyond expression,
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  Speaker 1: and things unspeakable by our voices are brought down to
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  Speaker 1: the mode of expression usual amongst us, so that we
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  Speaker 1: may be enabled to understand them. Accordingly, let us blame
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  Speaker 1: not the inconsistency of the matter, but the weakness of
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  Speaker 1: the words, which cannot reach to the full expression and
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  Speaker 1: accurate interpretation of the matters as they ought. Nineteen twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty one rose a division again among the Jews because
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  Speaker 1: of those words. And many of them said, he hath
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  Speaker 1: a devil and is mad? Why hear ye him? Others said,
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  Speaker 1: these are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil?
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  Speaker 1: Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? The
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  Speaker 1: words of the Savior go down into the hearts of
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  Speaker 1: his hearers, and those whom they find gentle and yielding,
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  Speaker 1: they immediately mold and transform to a good condition. But
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  Speaker 1: those whom they find hard they recoil from, or in
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  Speaker 1: some manner turn away from. So that he who has
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  Speaker 1: his mind somewhat prepared for fair reason will gladly receive
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  Speaker 1: the saving words, but he who is not so will not.
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  Speaker 1: Something of this sort was what happened to the people
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  Speaker 1: of the Jews to experience, For when they had heard
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  Speaker 1: the Saviour's words, they are divided into two parties, and
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  Speaker 1: those who are more amenable to reason now inclined towards
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  Speaker 1: the first principle of salvation. But the heart of heart
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  Speaker 1: become worse than they were at first. And the inspired
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  Speaker 1: Evangelist seems to be struck with astonishment as to how
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  Speaker 1: it happened that the people of the Jews were divided
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  Speaker 1: on account of these words. For I think it is
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  Speaker 1: very evident that from surprise at the hardness of those
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  Speaker 1: who did not believe. He says, there arose a division
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  Speaker 1: because of these words, by means of which he seems
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  Speaker 1: to imply the Jews ought to have been fully persuaded
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus was the Christ, so wonderful were the words
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  Speaker 1: of the Savior. But when even these words were spoken,
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  Speaker 1: by which it was fair to expect that even the
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  Speaker 1: very hard to catch would be ensnared into conviction, there
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  Speaker 1: arose a division among them. He marvels much therefore, that
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  Speaker 1: they had given themselves over in an unholy manner, to
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  Speaker 1: a shameless disregard of evidence. For I suppose it was
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  Speaker 1: just to accuse them in proportion as it was reasonable
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  Speaker 1: to marvel at the words of our Savior. He certainly
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  Speaker 1: spake god befitting words, and such as went beyond men,
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  Speaker 1: and the magnificence in God, befitting boldness of his superhuman
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  Speaker 1: words drive the multitude to intemperate folly. And since it
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  Speaker 1: was usual for those who were, in truth possessed with
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  Speaker 1: devils to speak evil very readily, being of course easily
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  Speaker 1: provoked to rage, and outside the pale of all intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: And since they thought that the Lord was a mere man,
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  Speaker 1: not understanding that he was in his nature God. For
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  Speaker 1: these reasons they said he had a devil, as one
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  Speaker 1: who blasphemed so intemperately because they heard him say such
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  Speaker 1: things as it befitted only God to say, looking upon him,
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  Speaker 1: is one like ourselves, and not yet knowing who he
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  Speaker 1: was by nature, they considered him to speak evil when
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  Speaker 1: he spake in any way that befitted God, therefore agreeably
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  Speaker 1: to his incarnation, and condescendingly, because of the infirmity of
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  Speaker 1: his hearers, he also often employs our manner of speech.
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  Speaker 1: The people of the Jews, therefore are divided, and some
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  Speaker 1: understanding nothing whatever of the mysteries concerning him are insolent
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  Speaker 1: in an unholy manner. But others, who are more reasonable
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  Speaker 1: in their habit of mind, do not condemn him rashly,
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  Speaker 1: but ruminate on his words and carefully test them, and
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  Speaker 1: begin to perceive the sweetness in them. And in this
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  Speaker 1: way they arrive at a most praiseworthy discernment, and do
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  Speaker 1: not a tribute to the babblings of a demoniac words
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  Speaker 1: so sober and full of the highest wisdom. For it
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  Speaker 1: is the custom of those demons, when they are driving
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  Speaker 1: men mad, to speak beside the mark. The Pharisees, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: were more like demoniacs, who called by this name one
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  Speaker 1: who was free of all disease, and did not notice
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  Speaker 1: that they were proclaiming the disease which was in themselves,
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  Speaker 1: and were doing no other than explaining in their folly
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  Speaker 1: the very evil that possessed themselves. And for my part,
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  Speaker 1: I think that they speak with the highest degree of
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  Speaker 1: evil craftiness when they say the Lord is demoniac, For
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  Speaker 1: since he charged them with being wretched and hireling shepherds
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  Speaker 1: who abandoned their sheep to the wolf, and cared altogether
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  Speaker 1: so little for their flock, being in no small alarm,
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  Speaker 1: lest perhaps the people, understanding what was so, should now
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  Speaker 1: refuse any longer to be shepherded by them, and follow
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  Speaker 1: the instruction given by Christ. On this account, trying to
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  Speaker 1: cheat the understanding of the common people, they say, he
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  Speaker 1: hath a devil, why hear ye him? But these words, too,
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  Speaker 1: the words of those men who spake with evil craft,
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  Speaker 1: had the opposite result to that which they intended. And
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  Speaker 1: the others, judging from the quality of the words, discern
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  Speaker 1: that the words of the Lord are without blame, not
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  Speaker 1: such as would be those of one possessed with a devil. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: the miracles, says one, offer an irresistible testimony, for although
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  Speaker 1: you find fault with his words, is not blamelessly spoken.
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  Speaker 1: Yet it is impossible that any one can at the
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  Speaker 1: same time be possessed with a devil and do such
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  Speaker 1: works as only God is able to do. Therefore, fair
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  Speaker 1: judges recognized him from his works, and also from admiration
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  Speaker 1: of the words which he spake. Twenty two twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: And it was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the
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  Speaker 1: temple in Solomon's porch. But the Lord was not present
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  Speaker 1: at the feast as one who would share the feasting,
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  Speaker 1: for how could he he who said I hate I
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  Speaker 1: reject your feast days? But in order that he might
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  Speaker 1: speak his most profitable words in the presence of many people,
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  Speaker 1: showing himself openly to the Jews, and to mingle himself
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  Speaker 1: with them without being sought. And we must suppose that
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  Speaker 1: the feast of the dedication here signifies either the chief
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  Speaker 1: feast called by this name in memory of that when
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  Speaker 1: Solomon performed the dedication, or the other when Zurabibul at
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  Speaker 1: a later time, together with Jeshua, rebuilt the temple after
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  Speaker 1: the return from Babylon. For as it was winter and
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  Speaker 1: rainy weather at this time, probably all the people flocked
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  Speaker 1: to the porch. Therefore, Christ also went there in order
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  Speaker 1: that he might make himself known to all who were
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  Speaker 1: willing to see him, and distribute blessings to them. For
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  Speaker 1: those who saw him were provoked to ask somewhat of him,
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  Speaker 1: because at holidays, more than at other times, men are
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  Speaker 1: naturally given to stir up anxiously such arguments. Twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: The Jews therefore came round about him and said unto him,
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  Speaker 1: how long dost thou hold us in suspense? If thou
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  Speaker 1: art the Christ, tell us plainly. The envy which embitters
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  Speaker 1: them takes away all keenness to perceive what might lead
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  Speaker 1: to faith. But the greatness of the works he performed
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  Speaker 1: forces them to admiration. Nevertheless, they find fault with his words,
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  Speaker 1: and say that the obscurity of his teachings stood in
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  Speaker 1: the way of their being able to understand what they
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  Speaker 1: ought to learn. They accordingly request him to speak more clearly,
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  Speaker 1: although they had often heard him and had received a
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  Speaker 1: long instruction on this point. For though he did not
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  Speaker 1: say distinctly I am the Christ, yet he brought forward
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  Speaker 1: in his public teaching many statements of the honorable names
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  Speaker 1: which naturally belonged to him, at one time saying I
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  Speaker 1: am the Light of the world, and again at other
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  Speaker 1: times I am the Resurrection and the Life, I am
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  Speaker 1: the Way, I am the Door, I am the good Shepherd. Surely,
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  Speaker 1: by these names which he gives himself, he signifies that
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  Speaker 1: he is the Christ. For the Scripture is wont by
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  Speaker 1: such honorable names to decorate the Christ. Although the Jews
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  Speaker 1: required him to call himself plainly by that title, Yet
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  Speaker 1: it would perhaps have been in vain and not very
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  Speaker 1: easy of acceptance to say in simple words, I am
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  Speaker 1: the Christ, unless actions followed for proof by which it
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  Speaker 1: might have been reasonably believed that he was the Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And it is beyond comparison better that he should be
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  Speaker 1: recognized as the Christ, not from the words which he said,
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  Speaker 1: but from the attributes which naturally belong to him, and
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  Speaker 1: from which the divine scriptures concerning him foretell and declare
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  Speaker 1: that he would be manifestly known. Which things the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: in their littleness of soul not understanding. They say, how
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  Speaker 1: long dost thou hold us in suspense? For it is
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  Speaker 1: usual for those who are contemptuous to speak thus twenty
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  Speaker 1: five Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed
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  Speaker 1: not the works that I do in my father's name.
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  Speaker 1: These bear witness of me. Even Christ therefore considered it
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  Speaker 1: superfluous to say the same things over again to those
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  Speaker 1: who had often heard them and had not been persuaded
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  Speaker 1: by them. For every one's nature ought to be estimated
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  Speaker 1: from the quality of his works, and we ought, by
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  Speaker 1: no means to look solely at his words. And he
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  Speaker 1: says of himself that he accomplishes his works in his
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  Speaker 1: father's name, not enjoying the use of power from above
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  Speaker 1: in the manner of an ordinary saint, nor accusing himself
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  Speaker 1: of want of power. Being God of God consubstantial with
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  Speaker 1: the Father the power of the Father, but as ascribing
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  Speaker 1: to the divine glory the power of his performances. He
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  Speaker 1: says that he does his works in his father's name.
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  Speaker 1: Yet he also gives the honor to the Father, lest
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  Speaker 1: he might give the Jews a pretext for attacking him. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: he also thought it fitting not to overpass the limit
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  Speaker 1: of the form of a servant, although he was God
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  Speaker 1: and Lord. And by saying that in his father's name
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  Speaker 1: he did his works, he teaches that the Jews blessphemed
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  Speaker 1: when Day said that he cast out devils by Beelzebub.
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  Speaker 1: And since the Father does the marvelous deeds not because
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  Speaker 1: he is a father, but because he is in his
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  Speaker 1: nature God, so the son also, not because he is
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  Speaker 1: a son, but as God of God, is able himself
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  Speaker 1: to do the works of the Father. Wherefore, suitably to
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  Speaker 1: his nature, he said he did his works in him
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  Speaker 1: his father's name twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight. But
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  Speaker 1: ye believe me not because ye are not of my sheep.
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  Speaker 1: But I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice,
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  Speaker 1: and I know them, and they follow me, and I
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  Speaker 1: give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
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  Speaker 1: A willing readiness to obey characterizes the sheep of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: as disobedience marks those that are not His. For thus
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  Speaker 1: we understand the word here as equivalent to obey, namely,
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  Speaker 1: the words that are spoken, and they who thus hear
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  Speaker 1: God are known by Him, and known signifies brought into
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  Speaker 1: friendly relationship. For no one is altogether unknown by God.
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  Speaker 1: When therefore he saith I know mine, he saith this,
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  Speaker 1: I will receive them and bring them into friendly relationship,
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  Speaker 1: both mystically and firmly. And anyone might say that inasmuch
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  Speaker 1: as He has become man, he brought all men into
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  Speaker 1: friendly relationship by being of the same race, so that
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  Speaker 1: we are all united to Christ in a mystical relationship
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  Speaker 1: inasmuch as he has become man, but they are alienated
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  Speaker 1: from Him who do not preserve the correspondent image of
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  Speaker 1: His holiness. For in this way also the Jews who
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  Speaker 1: are united in a family relationship with Abraham the faithful,
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  Speaker 1: because they were unbelieving were deprived of that kinship with
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  Speaker 1: him on account of the dissimilarity of character. And he saith,
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  Speaker 1: and my sheep follow me. For they who are obedient
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  Speaker 1: and follow by a certain God given grace in the
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  Speaker 1: footsteps of Christ, no longer serving the shadows of the law,
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  Speaker 1: but the commandments of Christ, and giving heed to his
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  Speaker 1: words through grace, shall rise to his honorable name, and
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  Speaker 1: be called sons of God. For when Christ descends into
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  Speaker 1: the heavens, they also shall follow him. And He says
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  Speaker 1: that He gives to those that follow him as he
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  Speaker 1: recompense and reward, eternal life and exemption from death or corruption,
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  Speaker 1: and from the torments that will be brought upon the
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  Speaker 1: transgressors by the judge. And by the fact of his
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  Speaker 1: giving life, he shows that He is, in his nature life,
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  Speaker 1: and that he furnishes this from himself, and not as
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  Speaker 1: receiving it from another. And we understand by eternal life
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  Speaker 1: not only the length of days which all both good
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  Speaker 1: and bad are going to enjoy after the resurrection, but
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  Speaker 1: also thus spending it is bliss. It is possible also
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  Speaker 1: to understand by life the mystical blessing by which Christ
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  Speaker 1: implants in us his own life through the participation of
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  Speaker 1: his own flesh by the faithful. According to that which
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  Speaker 1: is written, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
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  Speaker 1: blood hath eternal life. End of section one, Section two
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  Speaker 1: of Commentary on the Gospel of John Book seven by
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  Speaker 1: Cyril of Alexandria, translated by Reverend Thomas Randall. This LibriVox
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain twenty nine thirty And
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: which hath given them unto me, is greater than all,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and no one is able to snatch them out of
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. The
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: faithful also have the succor of Christ, the devil not
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: being able to snatch them, and they who have an
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: endless enjoyment of good things remain in it. No one
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: henceforth snatching them away from the bliss that is given
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: to them into punishment or torments. For it is not
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: possible that they who are in Christ's hand should be
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: snatched away to be punished because of Christ's great might.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: For the hand in the divine scripture signifies the power.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: It cannot be doubted. Therefore, that the hand of Christ
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: is unconquerable and mighty to all things. But when he
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: saw the Jews mocking at him as being a mere man,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: not understanding that he who to sight and touch was man,
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  Speaker 1: was in his nature God. To persuade them that he
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: is the power of the Father, he saith, no one
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  Speaker 1: shall snatch them from my Father's hand, that is from mine.
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  Speaker 1: For he says that himself is the all powerful right
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  Speaker 1: hand of the Father, forasmuch as by him the Father
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  Speaker 1: affecteth all things, even as by our hand the things
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: are affected, which we do. For in many places of
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the scripture, Christ is named the hand and right hand
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of the Father, which signifies the power, and the all
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: producing energy and might of God is named simply his hand.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: For in some way the language used concerning God is
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: always superior to bodily representation. And the Father is said
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to give to the Son, not as to one who
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: had not always creation under his hand, but as to
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  Speaker 1: him who is in his nature life, bringing us are
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  Speaker 1: in need of life, to the Son, that we may
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  Speaker 1: be made alive through him, who is in his nature
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  Speaker 1: life and has it of his own. But also inasmuch
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: as he has become men, it is suitable for him
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  Speaker 1: to ask and to receive from the Father things which
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: he already had as being in his nature God. For Christ,
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  Speaker 1: having admitted what pertain to his humanity, recurs to his God,
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  Speaker 1: befitting dignity, taking pleasure in the advantages of his nature,
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  Speaker 1: for the prophet of the faithful, and for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of sound faith, which is never at all to suspect
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: that the Son is inferior to the Father. For thus
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: he is shown to be the undamaged image of the Father,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: preserving in himself whole and sound, the very impress of
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the Father. And we say the Son and the Father
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  Speaker 1: are one, not blending their individualities by the use of
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  Speaker 1: that number, as do some who say that the Father
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  Speaker 1: and the Son are the same person, but believing the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Father by himself and the Son by himself to personally subsist,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: and collecting the two into one sameness of essence, also
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  Speaker 1: knowing them to possess one might, so that it is
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: seen without variation, now in one and now in the other,
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  Speaker 1: I and the Father are one. By the word one,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: he signifies the sameness of their essence, and by the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: word r he severs into two that which is understood.
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  Speaker 1: And again binds them up into one godhead. But this
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  Speaker 1: also we must understand, in opposition to the Arians, that
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  Speaker 1: in his saying I and the Father are one, there
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: is signified not the proof of sameness of will, but
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the oneness of their essence. For indeed, the Jews understood
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  Speaker 1: that in saying this, he said that himself was God
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  Speaker 1: and equal to the Father, and Christ did not deny
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  Speaker 1: that he had said this as they understood it. Thirty one.
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  Speaker 1: The Jews therefore took up stones again to stone him
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  Speaker 1: for not refraining themselves from him when he said that
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  Speaker 1: himself was one with the Father. They rushed to kill him,
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  Speaker 1: although each of the works wrought by him proclaimed that
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  Speaker 1: he was in his nature God, and not only now,
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  Speaker 1: but on other occasions also when they took up stones
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: to kill him, they stood motionless through the power of Christ,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: so that it became evident from this also that he
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  Speaker 1: would not suffer except he was willing. Moreover, in his gentleness,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Christ checked their unreasonable impulse, saying, not for which of
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the words that I said are ye angry, but for
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: which of the works that I did? For if I
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: had not done, He says, many god befitting works which
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: show that I am in my nature God. Ye might
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  Speaker 1: be reasonably angry with me now hearing me say that
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: I and the Father are one. But I should not
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  Speaker 1: have said this had I not shown it by all
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: things that I did. And he speaks of the works
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: as from the Father, not from himself, showing this modesty
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  Speaker 1: for our prophet, so that we may not boast when
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: we receive anything from God. And he says, the works
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: were shown from the Father, not to indicate that the
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  Speaker 1: power exhibited in them was other than his own, but
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  Speaker 1: to teach that they were the works of the whole Godhead.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: And we understand one Godhead in Father and Son and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. For whatsoever the Father does, this is accomplished
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: by the Son in the spirit. And again what the
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Son does, this the Father is said to do in
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the spirit. Wherefore, also Christ saith, I do nothing of myself,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: but the Father, abiding in me, he do with the
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: works thirty three for a good work. We stone thee
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: not but for blasphemy, having a zeal for God, but
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  Speaker 1: not according to knowledge. They became angry when they heard
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Christ saying I and the Father are one. For what
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: was the impediment to his being one with the Father
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  Speaker 1: if they believed that he was God by nature. Wherefore
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: also they attempt to stone him, And in self defense,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: giving the reason why they did so, they say, we
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: stone thee not on account of the good works which
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: thou didst, but because thou blasphemist. They were the blasphemers,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: on the contrary, because they wished to stone one who
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: was truly God, not knowing that Jesus was destined to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: come not in the undisguised Godhead, but incarnate of the
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: seed of David. And thus they speak of his true
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: confession as blasphemy. I said, ye are gods, and so on,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: since therefore the Father called certain men gods, and of
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: necessity the honorable name was something external superadded to them.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: For he who is God by nature is one only
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  Speaker 1: lest Jesus also should be deemed to be one of
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  Speaker 1: that class, clothed in the glory of the Godhead, not
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  Speaker 1: as essentially his own, but rather as something external superadded
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  Speaker 1: to himself. In the same way as was the case
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  Speaker 1: with those others, he as a matter of necessity, clearly
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: distinguishes himself from them, for he shows that he differed
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  Speaker 1: so far from their poverty that, when he was in
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: them then only, and on that very account they were
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: called gods, because He is the Word of God, the Father.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: And if the word being in them was in any
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: case as sufficient to make those who were really only
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: men shine with the honor of the Godhead, how could
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: he be anything else than God by nature, who bestowed
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: freely even upon those others his splendor. In this way,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: now convicting the Jews that not because he said I
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and the Father are one, they were stoning him. But
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: without reason, he says, if because I said I was God,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I seem to blaspheme, why when the Father said, by
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the Law to certain men, ye are gods, did ye
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: not judge that to be blasphemy? And this he says,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: not as instigating them to say anything against the Father,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: but to convict them of being ignorant of the law
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: and the inspired scriptures. And seeing that the difference between
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: those who were called gods and him who is in
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: his nature God, is great. Through the words which he uses,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: he teaches us the distinction. For if the men unto
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: whom the word of God came were called gods and
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: were illumined with the honor of the God God, by
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: admitting and receiving the Word of God into their soul.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: How could he through whom they became God's be other
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: than in his nature God, For the Word was God,
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  Speaker 1: according to the language of John, who also bestowed this
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: illumination on the others. For if the Word of God
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: through the Holy Spirit leads up to superhuman grace and
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: adorns with a divine honor those in whom he may be,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: why saith he say ye that I blaspheme when I
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: call myself son of God and God, Although by the
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: works I have done from Him, I am born witnessed
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: to as in my nature God. For having sanctified me,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: he sent me into the world to be the savior
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: of the world. And it is the attribute only of
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: one in his nature God, to be able to save
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: men from the devil and from sin and from corruption.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: But perhaps when the divine scripture saith that the Son
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: was sent from the Father, the heretic straightway deems the
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: expression is support to his own error, and will say,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: in all probability, ye who refused to speak of the
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Son as inferior to the Father, do ye not see
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: that he was sent from him as from a superior
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: and a greater one. What then, shall we say, surely
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: that the mention of his being sent is particularly suitable
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: to the measure of his self humiliation? For thou hearest
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: that Paul, uniting both, then says that the son was
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: sent from the Father when he was also made of
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: a woman, and under the law is a man amongst us,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: although being lawgiver and lord. And if the son be
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: understood as made in the form of a servant, then
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: said to be sent from the Father, he suffers no
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: damage whatever with regard to his being also consubstantial with
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: him and coequal in glory, and in no respect at
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: all falling short. For the expressions used among ourselves, if
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: they are applied to God, do not admit of being
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: accurately tested. And I say that we ought not to
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: understand them just exactly as they are usually understood among ourselves,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: but as far as may be suitable to the divine
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: and supreme nature itself. For what else could happen unless
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: the tongue of man possessed words competent to suffice for
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: setting forth the divine glory. Accordingly, it is absurd that
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: the pre eminence of the glory, which is highest of all,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: should suffer injury through the weakness of the human tongue
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: and its poverty of expression. Remember that which Solomon says,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the glory of the Lord maketh language obscure. For when
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: we waste our labor in trying to express accurately the
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: glory of the Lord, we are like to those who
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: wish to measure the heavens by a span. Therefore, when
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: anything is said concerning God in words generally apply to men,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: it must be understood in a manner befitting God. Else,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: what wilt thou do when thou hearest David singing in
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: his Psalm, O, Thou that sittest upon the Cadevim, show thyself,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: stir up thy strength, and come to save us? For
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: how does the incorporeal sit? And where does he call
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: upon God of the universe to come too for us?
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: The God who saith by the prophets? Do not I
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord? Where therefore should
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: he come to for us when he filleth all things? Again?
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: It is written that some were building a tower to
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: reach unto heaven, and the Lord came down to see
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the city and the tower, and the Lord said, come
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: and let us go down. And there confound their tongues.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Where did the Lord go down? Or in what manner
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: doth the Holy Trinity urge itself on to the descent?
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: And how tell me did the Savior himself also promise
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to send to us the peraclet from heaven? For where
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: or whence is that which filleth all things sent? For
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world as it
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: is written. Therefore, the expressions ordinarily used of ourselves signify
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: things above us, if they are spoken concerning God. Dost
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: thou wish to understand any of those things so difficult
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of comprehension, Then thy mind proves too weak to grasp them,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: And dost thou perceive that its ist so be not
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: provoked to anger, O man, But confess the weakness of
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: thy nature, and remember him that said, seek not out
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: the things that are above thy strength. When thou directest
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: thy bodily eye to the orb of the sun, immediately
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: thou turnest it away again, overcome by the sudden influx
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: of the light. Know therefore that the Divine nature also
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: dwells in unapproachable light, unapproachable that is, by the understandings
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of those who over busily look into it. Therefore, also,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: when things concerning God are expressed in language ordinarily used
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: of men, we ought not to think of anything base.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: But remember that the wealth of the divine glory is
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: being mirrored in the poverty of human expression. For what
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: if the son is sent from the Father, shall he then,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: on this account be inferior? But when from the soular
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: body its light is sent forth, is that of a
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: different nature from it and inferior to it? Is it
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: not foolish merely to suppose such a thing for a moment. Therefore,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: the Son, being the light of the Father, is sent
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: to us, as we may say, from a son that
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: darteth forth its beam, which indeed David also entreats, may
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: take place, saying, O send out thy light and thy truth.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: And if it is a glory to the Father to
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: have the light, how dost thou call that in which
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: he is glorified inferior to him? And the Son himself
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: also says concerning himself, whom the Father sanctified and sent. Now,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: the word sanctified is used in the Scripture in many senses,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: for it is said that anything dedicated to God is sanctified.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: For instance, he said unto Moses sanctify unto me all
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: the first born. And again that is sanctified, which is
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: prepared by God for the execution of any of his designs.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: For he speaks thus concerning Cyrus and the Meds, when
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: he determined that they should make war against the city
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: of the Babylonians. The mighty ones are comb to fulfill
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: mine anger, being both joyous and proud. They have been sanctified,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: and I lead them. And again that is sanctified, which
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: is made to participate of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: son saith that himself is sanctified by the Father, as
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: having been prepared by him for the restitution of the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: life of the world and for the destruction of those
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: who oppose him, or still further, in so far as
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: he was sent to be slain for the salvation of
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the world. For indeed those things are called holy, which
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: are set apart as an offering to God. And we
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: say that he was sanctified even as men like ourselves
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: are when he became flush, For his flesh was sanctified,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: although it was not in its nature holy, by being
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: received into union with the Word. And because this is
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: come to pass, he is sanctified by the Father, for
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the Godhead of Father and Son and Holy Spirit is
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: one thirty seven thirty eight. If I do not the
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: though ye believe not me, believe my works, that ye
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: may know and believe that the Father is in me
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: and I in Him. What he says is this, though
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: it is easy for anyone to call God Father, yet
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: to demonstrate the fact by works is hard and impossible
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: to a creature. By works, however, of a god befitting character.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: He says, I am seen to be equal to God
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: the Father. And there is no defense for your unbelief,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: since you have learned that I am equal to the
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Father by the evidence of the god befitting works which
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: I do. Although as regards the flesh, I seem to
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: be one among you, like an ordinary man. Hence it
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: is possible to perceive that I am in the Father
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: and the Father in me. For the sameness of their
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: essence makes the Father to be and to be seen
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: in the Son, and the Son in the Father. For truly,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: even among ourselves, the essence of our Father is recognized
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: in him that is begotten of him, and in the
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Parent again that of the Child. For the delineation of
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: their nature is one in them all, and they all
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: are by nature one. But when we distinguish ourselves by
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: our bodies, the many are no longer one, a distinction
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: which cannot be mentioned concerning one who is God by nature,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: for whatever is divine is incorporeal. Although we conceive of
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: the Holy Trinity as in distinct subsistences, for the Father
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: is the Father and not the Son. The Son again
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: is the Son and not the Father. And the Holy
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Spirit is peculiarly the Spirit, although they are not variance.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Through their fellowship and unity one with another. The Holy
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Trinity is known in the Father and in the Son,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: and in the Holy Spirit. But the designation of each
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: one of these who have been enumerated, denotes not a
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: part of the Trinity, but the whole of it, Since
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: in truth God is undivided and simple, although distributed in
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: these subsistences. Therefore, as there is but one Godhead in
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Father and Son and Holy Spirit, we say that the
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Father is seen in the Son, and the Son in
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the Father. And it is necessary to know this other
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: point also, that it is not the wishing the same
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: things as the Father, nor the possessing one will with him,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: that makes the son say, I am in the Father
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and the Father in me, and I and the Father
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: are one. But because being the genuine offspring of the
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: essence of the Father, he shows forth the Father in himself,
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: and himself also is shown forth in the Father. For
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: he says that he wills and speaks and affects the
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: same things as the Father, and easily performs what he wishes,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: even as the Father doth, in order that he may
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: be acknowledged in all respects consubstantial with him, and a
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: true fruit of his essence, and not merely is having
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: a relative unity with him, only in similarity of will
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: and the laws of love, which unity we see belongs
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: also to his creatures. Forty forty one forty two. And
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: he went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: John was baptizing, And there he abode, and many came
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: unto him, and they said, John indeed did no sign
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: But all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: and many believed on him. There. Leaving Jerusalem, the Savior
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: seeks a refuge in a place possessing springs of water,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: that he might signify obscurely as any type. How he
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: would leave Judea and go over to the Church of
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: the Gentiles, which possesses the fountains of baptism. There also
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: many approach unto him, crossing through the Jordan. For this
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: is signified by Christ taking up his abode beyond Jordan. They, therefore,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: having crossed the Jordan by holy baptism, are brought unto God.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: For truly he went to cross from the synagogue of
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: the Jews unto the Gentiles. And then many came unto
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: him him and believed the words spoken by the saints
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: concerning him, and they believed on him. There where the
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: springs of water are, where we are taught the mystery
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: of Christ. For Christ was not in the streams before
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the Jordan, but somewhere beyond. And He came and abode
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: continuing constantly in the Church of the Gentiles. And we
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: honor John not as having performed and may God befitting work,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: but as having born true witness concerning Christ. For Christ
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: was more wonderful, not only than John, but than every saint,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: For whereas they were prophets, he was the wonder working God.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: And we must notice that the words of John and
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: of the other prophets are a way to lead us
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: to believe Christ. And Section two Section three of Commentary
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: on the Gospel of John, Book seven by Cyril of Alexandria,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: translated by Reverend Thomas Randall. This LibriVox recording is in
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter eleven one two. Now a certain
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. With a purpose,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: does the evangelists make mention of the names of the women,
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: showing that they were distinguished for their piety, wherefore also
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the Lord loved them, and of the many things which
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: probably had been done for the Lord by Mary. He
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: mentions the ointment not at haphazard, but to show that
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Mary had such thirst after Christ that she wiped his
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: feet with her own hair, seeking to fasten to herself
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: more really the spiritual blessing which comes from His holy flesh.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: For indeed she appears often with much warmth of attachment,
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: to have sat close to Christ without being distracted by interruption,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: and to have been drawn into friendly relationship with him.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Three his sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: he whom thou lovest is sick. The women send to
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord, ever wishing to have him near them, but
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: on this occasion, sending under a fair pretext on account
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: of him who was sick. For they believed that if
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: Christ would only appear, the sufferer would be set free
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: from his disease. And they gently remind him of the
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: love which He had for the sick man, drawing him
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: thither especially by this means, for they knew that He
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: took thought for this man, and he was able, even
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: though absent, to heal him, as being God and tending
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: all things. Nevertheless, they thought that if He were present,
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: he would put forth his hand and awaken him. Not
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: even they possessed as yet the perfection of faith. Wherefore
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: also they are troubled, as it seems probable with the
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: thought that Lazarus would not have been ill at all
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: had not Christ neglected him. For say they, since such
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: as are beloved by God possess all good things, why
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: is he whom thou lovest sick? Or perhaps they even say,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: great is the audacity of the sickness because it dared
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: to attack such as are beloved by God. And it
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: may be too that they seemed to say something of
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: this sort, since thou lovest and healest even thine enemies.
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: Much rather oughtest thou to confer such benefits on them
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: that love thee, for Thou art able to do all
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: things by merely Thy will. Therefore their language is full
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: of faith and proves their close relationship to Christ. Four.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: But when Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness is
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: the Son of God may be glorified. Thereby the Lord
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: now says this, not that the men may go away
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: and report it to the sisters of Lazarus, but as
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: God for telling what should come to pass, because he
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: saw that the conclusion of the affair would be for
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: the glory of God, not that the sickness came upon
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: the man for this reason that he should be glorified,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: for it would be silly to say this. But since
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: it had come, he also saw that it would result
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: in a wonderful end. And he says that himself is
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: in his nature God, for that which is done is
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: done for his glory. For after saying that the sickness
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: was for the glory of God, he added that the
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Son of God may be glorified thereby speaking concerning himself.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: And if he himself said that the sickness of Lazarus
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: was not unto death, and yet his death took place,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: there is nothing to marvel at for looking on to
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the final result of the affair, and seeing that he
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: was going to raise him up after a little time,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: we do not consider anything that took place in the interval,
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: but only how the end would result. For the Lord
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: determined to set forth the weakness of death and to
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: show forth all that happened as for the glory glory
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: of God, that is of himself. Six. When therefore he
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: heard that he was sick, he abode at that time
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: to days in the place where he was, and he
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: deferred his arrival in order that he might not heal
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: him while sick, but raise him when dead, which is
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: a work of greater power, so that he would be
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: more greatly glorified. Seven. Eight And after this he saith
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: to his disciples, let us go into Judea again. His
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: disciples say, unto him, Rabbi, the Jews were, but now
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: seeking to stone thee, and goest thou thither again. Now,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: when the Lord said, let us go into Judea again,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: he seems almost to declare, even though the people there
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: are unworthy of kindness, yet now that an opportunity presents
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: itself of conveying them some advantage, let us go back
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: to them. But the disciples and their love for him,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: think it right to try to hinder him. And moreover,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: as men, they suppose that he would be unwilling to
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: put himself in peril by going amongst the Jews. Wherefore
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: also they remind him of the madness of the Jews
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: against him, all but saying, why again dost thou seek
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: to be amidst the unbelieving and ungrateful people, who are
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: not softened either by thy words or even by thy works,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: who even yet are of murderous intent against Thee, and
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: who are boiling with passionate rage. Either then they say this,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: or their language signifies that he is leading them to
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: evident danger. Nevertheless, they are obedient to their teacher, as
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: to one who knows what is best. Nine ten Jesus answered,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: are there not twelve hours in the day? If therefore
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: he may see the light of this world. But if
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because the
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: light is not in him. Perhaps he compares to the
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: ever moving course of the day, the easily swayed the novelty,
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: loving mind of men, which is not established in one opinion,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: but vacillates from one way of thinking to another, just
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: as the day changes from one hour to another. And
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: thus also thou wilt understand the words are there not
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: twelve hours in the day? That is, I says He
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: am the day and the light. Therefore, just as it
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: is not possible for the light of the day to
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: fail without having completed its appointed time, so it is
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: not among possibilities that the illumination which proceeds from me
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: should be shrouded from the jews without having fully reached
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: its fitting measure of philanthropy. And he speaks of the
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: time of his presence as day, and of that before
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: it as night, as also when the Lord says, we
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: must work the works of Him that sent us while
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: it is day. This therefore is what he here says.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: It is not now a time for me to separate
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: myself from the Jews, even though they be unholy, for
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I must do all things that pertain to their healing.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: For they must not now be punished by having the
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: divine grace, like the light of the sun, withdrawn from them.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: But just as the light of the day does not
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: fail until the twelve hours have been completed, so the
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: illumination that proceeds from me is not shrouded before the
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: proper time. But until I am crucified, I remain among
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: the Jews, sending forth unto them like light the understanding
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: of the knowledge of God. For since the Jews are
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: in the darkness of unbelief, and so stumble at me
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: as at a stone, I must go back to them
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: and enlighten them, that they may desist from their madness
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: in fighting against God. Eleven these things spake he, and
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: after this he saith unto them. Our friend Lazarus has
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: fallen asleep. But I go that I may awake him
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: out of sleep. A worthy cause draws me towards Jerusalem,
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: For so much as signified by the words, our friend
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: has fallen asleep. And if we should let it past neglected,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: we should incur the reputation of being devoid of compassion.
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: Wherefore we must avoid the disgrace of such conduct and
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: run to the help of our friend. Despising the plots
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: of the Jews, and showing his own god befitting power,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: he calls the departure of the human soul from the
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: body by the name of sleep, and very rightly, for
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: he does not think it proper to call it death.
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: Who created man for immortality, according as it is written,
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: and made the generations of the world to be healthful. Moreover,
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: the language is also true, because the temporary death of
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: our body is, in the sight of God, really asleep,
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: and nothing different, brought to an end by a mere
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: and single sign from that which is by nature life,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: namely Christ. And notice that he did not say, Lazarus
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: is dead, and they go to raise him to life,
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: but says he is fallen asleep, avoiding boastfulness for our
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: instruction and profit. For without some such good reason, he
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: would not uttered a sentence so obscure in its hidden
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: meaning that not even the disciples themselves understood what was said.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: For he did not say, I go to quicken him
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: into life, or to raise him up from the dead,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: but that I may awake him out of sleep. Which
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: was at the time insufficient to suggest his real meaning.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: Twelve thirteen. His disciples therefore said, Lord, if he is
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: fallen asleep, he will recover. Now, Jesus had spoken of
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: his death, but they thought that he spake of taking
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: rest in sleep. They, not understanding the force of the words,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: thought that Jesus spake of taking rest in sleep, which
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: when thick men can do, they generally experience refreshment. Wherefore,
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: the disciples say, it is not worth while to go
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: and disturb Lazarus from his sleep, for it does not
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: benefit a sick man to awake him out of sleep.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: And this they said, wishing to hinder him from the journey.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: By remarking that it was not me to go into
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: the midst of those murderers for the sake of doing
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: something which could produce no good result. Fourteen fifteen. Then
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, unto them, plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: am glad for your sakes that I was not there
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: unto him. The disciples, therefore, not understanding that he had
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: called death by the name of sleep, he made his
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: meaning clearer, saying he is dead and he says that
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: he is glad not out of a love of glory
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: because he was going to do the marvelous deed, but
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: because this was going to become for the disciples a
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: ground of faith. And the words I was not there
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: signify as follows. If I had been there, he would
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: not have died, because I should have had pity on
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: him when he was suffering only a little. But now
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: in my absence, his death has taken place, so that
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: by raising him to life, I shall bestow upon you
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: much advantage through your faith in me. Aunt Christ says
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: this not as being able to do god befitting deeds
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: only when he is present, but because if he had
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: been present, he could not have neglected his friend until
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: the occurrence of death. And he says, let us go
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: unto him as unto a living person, for the dead,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: inasmuch as they are destined to live, are alive unto
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: him as God. Sixteen. Thomas, therefore, who is called Lithemus,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: said unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: we may die with him. The language of Thomas has
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: indeed zeal, but it also has timidity. It was the
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: outcome of devout feeling but it was mixed with littleness
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: of faith, for he does not endure being left behind,
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: and even tries to persuade the others to adopt the
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: same resolution. Nevertheless, he thinks that they are destined to
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: suffer death at the hands of the Jews, even against
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: the will of Christ, by reason of the murderous passion
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: of the Jews, not looking at the power of the
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: Deliverer as he ought rather to have done. And Christ
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: made them timid by enduring with patience beyond measure the
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: sufferings he experienced at the hands of the Jews. Thomas
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: therefore says that they ought not to separate themselves from
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: their teacher, although undoubted danger lay before them. So perhaps
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: with a gentle smile, he said, let us go, that is,
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: let us die, or he speaks thus of a certainty.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: If we go, we shall die. Nevertheless, let us not
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: refuse to suffer, for we ought not to be cowardly
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: to such a degree. Because if He raises the dead,
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: fear is superfluous. For we have one who is able
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: to raise us again after we have fallen seventeen eighteen nineteen. So,
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: when Jesus came to Bethany, he found that he had
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: been in the tomb four days already. Now Bethany was
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: nigh unto Jerusalem, fifteen furlongs off, and many of the
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: concerning their brother. He mentions also the length of days
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: that had intervened after the death of Lazar, for this
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: reason that the miracle may be the more marveled at,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: unless any one should chance to say that he had
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: come after one day, and that Lazarus was not dead,
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: but he had raised him up from sickness. And he
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: says that many Jews were in Bethany, although the place
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: was not a populous one, being come out of Jerusalem.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: For at the distance of road between the two places
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: was not so great as to hinder their sincere friends
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: from being with Martha and Mary. And since the miracle
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: was talked about by all in Jerusalem and the country
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: round about, he gives the reason that as there were
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: many people there, the story was naturally spread abroad in
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: all directions, some telling what had been done from admiration,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: and others through envy, to attach a false accusation to
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: the miracle through their lying account of it. Martha, therefore,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him,
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: but Mary still sat in the house. Perhaps Martha was
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: the more eager to do such things as might be necessary,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: wherefore also she first went and met him. But Mary
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: was the more intelligent, Wherefore, as possessing a more sensitive soul,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: she remained at home, receiving the attentions of her consoling friends.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: But Martha, as a simpler person, started off intoxicated, indeed
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: with her grief, but nevertheless acting with more vigor twenty one,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. Martha therefore said, unto Jesus, Lord,
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: And even now I know that whatsoever thou shalt ask
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: of God, God will give thee Jesus saith unto her,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: thy brother shall rise again, Martha answered him, I know
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: that he shall rise again at the last day. What
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Martha says amounts to this. Not for this reason, she says,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: did my brother die because the nature of man is
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: subject to death, but because thou wast not present, who
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: art able by thy word to conquer death. But in
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: her grief, wandering beyond propriety, she considered that the Lord
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: was no longer able to do anything, as the time
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: for help had gone by, and she thought that he
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: had come not for the raising again of Lazarus, but
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: that he might console them for softly and gently. She
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: reproaches him for his tardiness in not immediately coming when
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: it would have been possible for him to help them
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: when they sent, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest,
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: is sick in the words whatsoever thou shalt ask of
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: God he will give thee are the words of one
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: who is almost afraid to ask plainly what she wishes. Nevertheless,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: she stumbles concerning the truth, and that she speaks not
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: as to God, but as to one of the saints,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: his being seen in the flesh, causing her to think
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: that whatsoever he should ask as a saint, he would
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: receive from God, not indeed knowing that being in his
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: nature God and the power of the Father, he possesses
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: irresistible might over all things. For if she had known
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: that he was God, she would not have said, if
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: thou hadst been here, for God is everywhere through his
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: adversity to arrogance. However, the Lord did not say, I
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: will raise up thy brother but he shall write again,
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: all but softly rebuking her in saying, he indeed rises
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: again as thou wishest, but not as thou thinkest. For
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: if thou supposest that it will be accomplished by prayer
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: and supplication, take upon thyself the part of prayer. But
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: do not bid me do it. Who am a wonder worker,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: able by my own might to raise the dead. The woman,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: having heard this, and being ashamed now to say raise
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: him to life, yet in some degree instigating him to
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: do the work at once, seems somewhat to be saddened
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: at the postponement of the time, saying, I know that
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: he shall rise again at the last day, but I
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: long to see before that time the resurrection of my
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: brother again. When the Lord said, thy brother shall rise again,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: the woman all but signifies her agreement with this doctrine, saying,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: I know that, for I believe that the dead will
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: be raised, according as thou didst teach. For the hour cometh,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: and they shall come forth, they that have done good
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: ill unto the resurrection of judgment. And likewise, Isaiah also
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: in the spirit said the dead shall be raised, and
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: they that are in the tombs shall be awakened. For
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: I do not disbelieve in the doctrine of the resurrection,
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: as the Sadducees do. Twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven.
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, unto her, I am the Resurrection and the life.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: never die. Believest thou this she saith unto him, yea Lord,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: of God, even he that cometh into the world assuredly
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: a fruit and reward of faith in Christ is eternal life.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: And in no other way does this come to the
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: soul of man. For although we are all raised to
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: life through Christ, yet this eternal life given to the
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: faithful is the true life, namely to live unendingly in bliss,
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: for it to be restored to life only for punishment
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: differs nothing from death. If therefore any one notices that
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: even the saints who have received promises of life die,
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: this is nothing, for it is only what naturally comes
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: to pass. And until the proper time has been reserved
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: the display of the grace of resurrection, which is powerful,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: not partially but effectually in the case of all men,
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: even of those saints who have died in time past
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: and are tasting death for a short time until the
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: general resurrection. For then together all will enjoy the good things.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: And in saying, though he die, yet shall he live,
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: the Savior did not take away the death in this
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: present world, but admits that it has such might against
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: the faithful that it naturally happens to them, and no more,
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: because He has reserved the grace of resurrection until the
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: proper time. He certainly says, he that believeth on me
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: shall not be without a participation in the death of
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the flesh in the ordinary course of human nature. But
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: nevertheless he will suffer nothing worthy of fear in this
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: as God is able easily to make alive whomsoever he will.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: For he that believeth on him hath in the world
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: to come an endless life in bliss and perfect immortality. Wherefore,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: let not any of the unbelieving mok For Christ did
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: not say from this present moment he shall and know
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: why I see death. But when he said absolutely he
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: shall never see death in any wise he spake concerning
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: the world to come, reserving the end of the promise
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: until then, and saying, unto Martha believest Thou, he demands
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: the confession of faith as the parent and patron of
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: the eternal life. And she readily assented and accurately confesses,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: not simply believing that he is a Christ and a
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: son of God, for a prophet also can be a
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: Christ by reason of being anointed, and the same person
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: can be understood to be a son of God. But
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: using the definite article, saying the Christ the Son of God,
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: she confesses the only and preeminent and true Son. Therefore
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: her faith was on the Sun, not on a creature.
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: End of section three, Section four of commentary in the
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: Gospel of John, Book seven by Cyril of Alexandria, translated
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: by Reverend Thomas Randall. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: public domain. Believest Thou, in this having previously explained the
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: force of the mystery in himself and shown plainly that
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: he is by nature, life and very God, he demands
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: assent to the faith, furnishing in this matter a model
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: to the churches. For we ought not quite vainly to
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: cast our words into the air when we confess the
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: venerable mystery, but to fix the roots of the faith
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: in heart and mind, and then to let it bear
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: fruit in our confession. And we ought to believe without
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: any hesitation or double mindedness. For the double minded man
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: is insolent and halting as regards the faith. Wherefore also
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: he is unstable in all his ways. Nevertheless, it is
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: necessary to know that we make the confession of our
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: faith unto God, although we are questioned by men, I mean,
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: those whose lot it is to minister in sacred things
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: when we say the I believe at the reception of
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: Holy baptism. Certainly, therefore, to speak falsely and to slip
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: aside towards unbelief, is a most awful thing. Lest we
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: may have as both judge and witness of our folly,
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: the Lord of all himself, saying, even I am a witness,
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: saith the Lord. And we must observe that as Lazarus
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: was lying dead on his behalf in a certain way,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: the assent of the faith is demanded of the woman
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: that the type in this also may have forced among
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: the churches. For when a new born babe is brought
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: either to receive the chrism of the catechumenate, or that
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: of the complete Christian condition. At holy baptism. The person
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: who brings it repeats aloud the amen on its behalf,
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: and on behalf of those who are assailed by extreme sickness,
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: and on that account are going to be baptized. Certain
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: persons make the renunciation of Satan and the declaration of
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: attachment to Christ by an act of charity, lending, as
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: it were, their voices to those who are disabled by sickness,
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: a thing which we see to have been done in
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: the case of Lazarus and his sister. And Martha wisely
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: and prudently first shows the confession of faith, but afterwards
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: she may reap the fruit of it twenty eight twenty nine.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: And when she had said this, she went away and
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: called Mary, her sister, secretly saying, the Master is here,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: and calleth thee. And she, when she heard it arose
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: and went unto him, she went away to call her sister,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: that she might also share the happiness which arose from
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: the expected event, and receive at once in common with herself,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: the dead one raised again beyond all hope. For she
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: had heard the words thy brother shall rise again. And
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: she told the good news of the coming of the
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: Savior to her sister secretly, because there were sitting by
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: her some of those Jews who felt ill will towards
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: Christ for his wondrous works. And we shall not find
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: in the gospels that Christ said, call thy sister to me.
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: But Martha, taking the undeniable emergency of the affair and
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: the right due to her sister of being invited to come,
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: as equivalent to an uttered command, she speaks as she does.
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: And Mary readily ran towards him, and was willing to
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: go to meet him, for how could she help doing
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: this when she was in such great grief at his absence,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: and had such a warm feeling of piety and great
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: love towards him. Thirty thirty one Now, Jesus was not
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: yet come into the village, but was still in the
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: place where Martha met him. The Jews, then, which were
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: with her in the house and re comforting her, when
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: they saw Mary that she rose up quickly and went out,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: followed her, saying that she was going unto the tomb
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: to weep there. The Jews, therefore, who were present, thinking
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: she had run to the tomb, to tear herself in
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: her grief, follow her doing this by the will of God,
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: in order that they might go in a body to
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: see the marveloust deed, even without wishing to do so.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: For had not this taken place by the providence of God,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: the evangelist would not have mentioned it, neither would he
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: have written down the concurrent causes of each matter, had
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: he not been everywhere very zealous for the truth. Therefore
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: he stated the cause. Wherefore many ran to the tomb
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: and were found there and became beholders of the marvelous
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: deed and reported it to others. Thirty two Mary, therefore,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: down at his feet, saying, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: my brother had not died. Certainly, Mary says that death
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: had happened to her brother prematurely through the absence of
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and says that he had come to the
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: house when the time for healing had passed by. And
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: it is possible also from this to conjecture that she
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: said this as to God himself, although she did not
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: speak accurately, from thinking that he was not present, even
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: though absent in the body, but being more accurate and
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: intelligent than Martha. She did not say whatsoever thou shalt
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: ask of God? God will give thee. Wherefore to her
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: the Lord says nothing, Whereas to Martha he spake at
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: some length, and Mary, intoxicated with her grief, he does
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: not reprove, for saying if thou hadst been here, to
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: him who fills all creation, doing this also for our example,
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: that we should not reprove those who are in an
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: agony of mourning. And he condescends still further, revealing his
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: human nature, and weeps and is troubled when he sees
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: Thirty three thirty four. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, where
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: have ye laid him? Now? Since Christ was not only
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: God by nature, but also man, he suffers in common
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: with the rest that which is human. And when grief
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: begins somehow to be stirred within him, and his holy
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: flesh now inclines to tears, he does not allow it
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: to indulge in them without restraint, as is the custom
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: with us, but he groans in the spirit, that is,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: in the power of the Holy Spirit. He reproves in
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: some way his own flesh, and that, not being able
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: to endure the action of the God had united with it,
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: trembles and presents the appearance of trouble. For this I
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: think to be the signification of he was troubled, For
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: how otherwise could he endure trouble? Shall that nature, which
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: is ever undisturbed and calm, be troubled in any way?
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: The flesh therefore is reproved by the spirit being taught
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: to feel things beyond its own nature. For indeed, on
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: this account, the Almighty Word of God was made in flesh,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: or rather was made flesh, that He might strengthen the
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: weaknesses of the flesh by the energies of his own spirit,
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: and withdraw our nature from two earthly feelings, and transform it,
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: as it were, to such feelings only as are pleasing
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: to God. Surely, it is an infirmity of human nature
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: to be abjectly overcome by griefs. But this, as well
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: as the rest, is brought into subjection in Christ first,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: that it may be also in us. Or thus we
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: must understand the words. He groaned in the spirit and
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: was troubled, that is to say, as equivalent to being
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: moved to compassion by reason of many weeping, He in
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: a manner gave commandm into his own spirit to overthrow
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: death before the time and to raise up Lazarus. And
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: it is not as being ignorant that he asks where
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: have you laid him? For he who had known of
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: Lazarus's death when he was in another part of the country,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: how could he be ignorant about the tomb? But he
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: speaks thus as being averse to arrogance. Therefore he did
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: not say, let us go to the tomb, for I
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: will awaken him, although asking the question, particularly in the
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: way he did, has the significance. Moreover, also by saying this,
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: he prepared many to go before him, that they might
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: show him that which he sought with a set purpose.
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: Therefore he said this, also drawing by his words many
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: to the place, and appears not to know, not at all,
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: shrinking from the poverty of man's condition, although in his
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: nature God and knowing all things, not only those which
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: have been, but also those which shall be before their existence,
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: and the asking a question therefore does not imply any
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: ignorance in him who, for our sakes was made like
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: unto us. But rather he is shown from this to
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: be equal to the Father. For he too asks a question, Adam,
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: where art thou Christ also feigns ignorance, and inquires where
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: have you laid him? So that through the inquiry a
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: multitude might be gathered together to the manifestation, And that
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: by his enemies, rather than by others, testimony should be
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: given to the miracle of restoring to life one who
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: was already corrupt thirty six thirty seven. The Jews therefore said,
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: behold how he loved him? But some of them said,
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: could not this man, which opened the eyes of him
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: that was blind, have caused that this man also should
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: not die? Certainly, the evangelist, seeing the tearless nature weeping,
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: is astonished, although the suffering was peculiar to the flesh
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: and not suitable to the Godhead. And the Lord weeps,
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: seeing the man made in his own image, marred by corruption,
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: that he may put an end to our tears, for
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: for this cause he also died, even that we may
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: be delivered from death. And he weeps a little and
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: straightway checks his tears lest he might seem to be
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: at all cruel and inhuman, and at the same time
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: instead diructing us not to give way over much and
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: grief for the dead, for it is one thing to
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: be influenced by sympathy, and another to be effeminate and unmanly.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: For this cause, therefore he permitted his own flesh to
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: weep belittle, although it was in its nature tearless and
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: incapable of any grief so far as regards its own nature.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: And even they who hate the Lord admire his tears,
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: for they who follow philosophy to an extreme and have
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: a brilliant reputation therein shed tears with the greatest reluctance,
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: as overcoming by manly vigor every misfortune. And the Jews
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: thought that he wept on account of the death of Lazarus.
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: But he wept out of compassion for all humanity, not
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: bewailing Lazarus only, but understanding that which happens to all,
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: that the whole of humanity is made subject to death,
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: having justly fallen under so great a penalty, and others
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: being wounded by envy, said nothing good, For in truth
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: they did not find fault with the Lord for suffering
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: Lazarus to die. For this would have been the language
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: of men who believed that he was able to stay death.
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: But they almost speak, thus, where is thy might a
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: wonder worker? For behold, even when thou wert unwilling, he
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: who was beloved by thee has died, for that thou
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: didst love him, as evident from thy weeping. If therefore,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: that which was done to the blind man was the
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: work of thy might, thou wouldst be able also to
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: stay death, which is a similar deed beyond the nature
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: of man, as malignantly rejoicing. Therefore, because they saw his
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: glory in a manner diminished, they say this thirty eight
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: thirty nine, Jesus therefore, again, groaning in himself, cometh to
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stonely
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: against it, and Jesus saith, take ye away the stone.
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: Here we understand the groaning as if it were the
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: will struggling with a sort of movement according to its power,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: both because he rather sternly reproved his grief and the
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: tears which were about to be shed from his grief.
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: For as God, he in the way of a master,
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: reproves his manhood, bidding it be manly in sorrowful circumstances,
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: or by his god befitting movement. He distinctly lays it
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: down that we must henceforward overthrow the powerful influence of death.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: And this he makes manifest by his very own flush,
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: and signified by the movement of his body that which
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: was concealed within. And this is shown here by the
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: expression he groaned, which means that through the outward action
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: of his body he indicated his hidden commotion. And he
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: did not roll away the stone himself for these two reasons,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: first to teach that it was superfluous to work wonders
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: when there was no necessity for them, and secondly to
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: teach that he himself awakes the dead, but his angels
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: will be at hand to minister in the event, whom
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: indeed the Lord elsewhere in a parable calls reapers. Martha,
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him Lord.
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: By this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: four days. It is usual to refuse to believe in
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: the possibility of great deeds, and to be somewhat reluctant
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: to admire. Is a feeling which naturally is consequent upon
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: things beyond our experience. It seems to me that even
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: the good Martha suffered this, for the excessive greatness of
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: the event took from her the sure confidence of faith,
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: and the strangeness of the hope bewilders her proper reason.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: And it is nothing astonishing if she, who had confessed
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: her faith, is again overtaken by littleness of faith through
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: the excessive greatness of the marvelous deed. For either solely
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: out of honor to Christ, she said, by this time
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: he stinketh that he might not be disgusted by the
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: bad smell of the corpse, or she says this as
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: if from shame for the relatives of the dead hasten
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: before the body becomes ill smelling to bury it down
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: in the earth, out of consideration for the living, and
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: deeming it a dishonor to the dead, that it should
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: become an object of loathing to any Forty Jesus saith
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: unto her, said, I not unto thee, that if thou believest,
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: thou shouldst see the glory of God. A most excellent
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: thing is faith when it is produced from an ardent mind,
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: and it has such great power that not only is
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: the believer healed, but in fact others also have been
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: healed besides them that believed, as the paralytic let down
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: through the tiles at Capernaum by the faith of those
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: who carried him, and as Lazarus by that of his sister,
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: to whom the Lord said, if thou believest, thou shalt
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: see the glory of God all but saying, since Lazarus,
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: being dead, is not able to believe, do thou fill
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: up that which is lacking of the faith of him
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: that is dead. And the form of faith is twofold,
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: first dogmatic, consisting of an ascent of the soul to
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: something as he that believeth on the son is not judged,
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: and secondly a gift by the participation of grace from Christ.
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: For to one, he says, is given through the spirit
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: the Word of wisdom. And to another faith which is
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: not merely dogmatic, but also capable of affecting things beyond
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: human power, so as even to remove mountains. The faith
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: of Martha, however, by the feebleness of her reason, fell
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: away into unbelief. But the Lord does not permit it
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: to remain. So he affects a speedy remedy for the suffering,
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: For he says, she must believe that she may behold
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: what was beyond hope, For double mindedness is a great
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: infirmity and deprives us of the gracious gifts of God. Wherefore,
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: by rebuking her, Christ warned the whole human race not
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: to be detected in the evil ways of double mindedness
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: and shunning vainglory. The Christ did not say, thou shalt
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: see my glory, but the glory of God, and the
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: glory of God was the raising the dead. Surely, therefore
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: he himself, who said I Am the resurrection is by
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: nature the God whose glory he says, not long afterwards
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: the woman should see, since thou wilt suppose that the
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: truth and the Christ is the Truth, does not lie.
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: And it was promised to her that her dead brother
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: should rise again. And Mary, being more intelligent, utters no
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: word of doubt. But Martha was affected by the disease
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: of double mindedness. Forty two. And Jesus lifted up his
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: eyes and said, Father, I thank THEE that thou hurtest me.
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: And I knew that thou hearest me always. But because
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: of the multitude which stands by. I said it, that
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: they may believe that Thou didst send me. Of course,
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: it is agreeably to his self humiliation as a man,
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: that the Christ thus speaks in a lowly manner, not
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: according to the excellency of the Godhead. And he offers
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: his thanks to the Father, not on account of Lazarus only,
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: but for the life of all men, for being good.
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: He is of one mind with the Father in bringing
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: back to life the nature of man which had fallen
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: into liability to corruption through its disobedience. And there is
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: no distinction between his goodness and that of the Father.
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: And just as we ourselves even are persuaded by our
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: own reasonings to leave undone what we had intended to do. So,
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: also the Lord, being the word and counsel of the Father,
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: has made the Father friendly to us. And of course
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: we do not say that what is divine indulges in anger,
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: but that God, being just and good, knows when it
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: is the proper time to rebuke and when it is
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: the proper time to relax. However, the Lord gives thanks,
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: and this he does as a pattern for us honoring
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: the Father. And when an equal gives thanks to an equal,
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: he by no means does this as a mark of
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: inferiority of essence. And on this account Jesus notifies that
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: because of the multitude he speak thus all but saying,
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: I have simulated the outward appearance of prayer, and I
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: gave thanks in conformity with my assumed condition. For I
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: knew that thou hearest me always, for the one nature
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: of the Godhead is not disobedient to itself, since the
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: mind of the Trinity, Father, son, and Spirit is one. Knowing. Therefore,
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: he says that our purpose is one and our will
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: is one. Because of the multitude, I spake thus, and
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: the Christ thus speaks because of the Jews, giving thanks
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: to the Father, as if affecting by him his God
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: befitting deeds, that they might no more say it was
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: by Beelzebub he did signs. And he also explains his
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: conduct with regard to the outward appearance of prayer, that
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: we may not be caused to stumble, saying, because of
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: the multitude, I did this. Moreover, he says, thou didst
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: send me because of the suspicions of the Jews, for
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: I came not of myself, as do the false prophets.
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: But with thy approbation and good will, I emptied myself,
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: taking the form of a servant, that I might restore
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: the life to all. The manner of the prayer therefore
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: was in agreement with his assumed condition and suitable to
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: his outward appearance in the flesh, not to the excellency
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: and a comparable splendor of the Godhead. For to ask
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: and to receive would be actions altogether befitting a servant
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: rather than a lord, and are usual with such as
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: are under dominion. Nevertheless, Christ does even these things without blame.
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: For having accepted for himself the condition of a man,
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: how could he any longer decline the characteristics of humanity.
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: End of section four Section five of Commentary in the
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: Gospel of John, Book seven by Cyril of Alexandria, translated
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: by Reverend Thomas Randall. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: public domain from the Syria. In the seventh book of
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: the Commentary on the Gospel of John, Cyril writes as follows.
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: For the Son is in every respect perfect in himself,
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: and in no way does he lack any single excellence,
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: for he is begotten of the essence of God. The Father,
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: and is full of power and of God befitting glory.
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: Everything is under his feet, and there is nothing which
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: his power cannot affect, For according to the voice of
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: the Saint, he can do everything. Yet, although it is
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: true that everything is in his possession, he asks, it
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: is said, from the Father, and receives the heathen and
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: the uttermost parts of the earth as a glorious inheritance.
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: But it is necessary that we should ask how he
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: receives or when, For this is in truth fitting and necessary.
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: I mean that we should, in such matters ask about
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: the times, and to gate the occasions, and to make
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: a diligent inquiry as to their significations. When therefore, he
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: became men when he emptied himself, as it is written,
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: when he humbled himself to the form of those to
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: whom it is befitting that they should ask. Then it
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: was that he both did and spake those things that
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: are befitting to men, And we are told that they
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: were made perfect concerning him from the Father. For where
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: did he exhibit the outward appearance of humility, or how
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: did that self emptying show itself victoriously, except that contrary
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: to his majesty, he endured something willingly, when for our
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: sake he emptied himself, for in the same way that
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: he was weary from the fatigue of the journey, although
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: he is the Lord of powers, and as he was
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: in need of food, although he is the bread which
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: came down from heaven and giveth life to the world,
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: and as he endure death in the flesh, although it
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: is he in whom we move and have our being.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: So it is said that he asked, although he is
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: the Lord of all, that when the only begotten became man,
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: he was not then at first called to his kingdom.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: We might easily show, but to dispute much about this
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: would be not far removed from folly. Therefore we maintain
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: that what thou hast spoken of was done rather for
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: the same reason. Thinkest thou that the Lord prayed for
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: Lazarus and thus obtained for him life. But thou wilt
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: not continue to think this at all. When thou art
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: reminded of the words that remain, for he not only said, father,
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: I thank thee that thou hurtest me, but he added further,
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: because of the multitude which standeth a round, I said
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: it that they believed that thou didst send me, and
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: thou seest hear the occasion of the prayer clearly, For
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: because the Jews were wicked and bold, so that they
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: made an accusation when the Lord was working miracles, and
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: said that by Beelzebub he performed those god befitting deeds.
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: Therefore he justly refuted the thought that was in them,
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: and showed that he performed everything together with the Father
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: as God, and did not, like those men the false
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: prophets come of his own will. Moreover, as regards his
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: choosing to speak words which seemed not right for God,
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: he said, because of the multitude which standeth the round,
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: I said it that they may believe that thou didst
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: send me. Had it not therefore been me to correct
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: the notion of those standing around, in order that it
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: might be understood that the miracle which he received for
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: lazarus sake was from above and from the Father, he
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: would not have said at all these words. Father, I
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: thank thee that thou hurtest me, for he was both
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: the will and the word and the counsel of the Father.
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: As regards all excellencies, what counsel did he ask, or
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: what will or what word of him who begat him
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: that he might receive some works, when he had the
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: Father in him by nature, and he was in the
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: Father because he was of his essence. How as one
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: far removed did he ask of the Father? Or how
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: was he not able to expel from a corpse sad death,
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: who even at the beginning, formed man out of inanimate
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: matter and exhibited him animated and rational. We will accept
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: therefore the explanation which does not err in the faith,
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: not of those men speak foolishly, but of the scripture
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: spoken by the Spirit, in which there is nothing crooked
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: or perverse forty three forty four. And when he had
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot,
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: a napkin. Oh, the marvel, the ill smelling corpse. Even
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: after the fourth day from death, he brought forth out
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: of the tomb, and him that was fettered, fast and
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: bound hand and foot, he commanded to walk. And immediately
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: the dead man started up, and the corpse began to run,
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: being delivered from its corruption and losing its bad smell,
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: and escaping through the gates of death, and without any
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: hindrance to running, being caused by the bonds. And although
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: deprived of sight by the covering which was overhe his face,
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: the dead man runs without any hindrance towards him who
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: had called him, and recognizes the masterful voice. For Christ's
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: language was god befitting, and his command was kingly, having
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: power to loose from death and to bring back from corruption,
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: and to exhibit energy beyond expression. The use of a
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: piercing cry, however, was altogether strange and unwonted in the
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: Savior Christ. For instance, God the Father somewhere says concerning him,
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: he shall not strive nor cry aloud, and so on,
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: For the works of the true Godhead are without noise
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: or tumult of any kind. And this was the case
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: with Christ, for he is in his nature God of
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: God and very God. So then what do we say
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: when we see that he cried aloud in an unusual manner.
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: For surely no one will do grade himself to such
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: a depth of folly as to say that Christ ever
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: went beyond what was fitting, or indeed ever aired from
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: absolute perfection. How then is it to be explained? Certainly
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: the cry has a reason and a purport which we
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: feel it necessary to state. It was for the good
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: of the hearers. Christ wrought the miracle upon Lazarus as
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: a sort of type of the general resurrection of the dead.
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: In that which was fulfilled in the case of an individual,
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: he set forth as a beautiful image of what will
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: be universal and common to the whole race. For it
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: is part of our belief that the Lord will come,
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: and we hold that there will be a cry made
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: by the sound of a trumpet, according to the language
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: of Paul, proclaiming the resurrection to those that lie in
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: the earth, although it is manifest that the deed will
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: be affected by the unspeakable power of the all mighty God.
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: For on this account also the law given by Moses,
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: when laying down directions concerning the feast of Tabernacles, says,
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: celebrate it as a memorial of trumpets. For when human
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: bodies are about to be set up again as tabernacles,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: and every man's soul is about to take to itself
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: its own bodily habitation in a way as yet unknown,
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: the masterful command will be previously proclaimed, and the signal
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: of the resurrection will sound forth even the trump of God,
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: as it is said, as a type. Therefore of this
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: in the case of Lazarus, Christ uttered a great and
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: audible cry, not much heeding his usual habit, that he
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: might exhibit the type of what is to be expected. Hereafter,
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: Jesus saith unto them loose him and let him go
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: for the good. Therefore he bade them with their own
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: hands to lose him, that they might have no opportunity
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: of misrepresenting what had been done, but might be witnesses
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: of the miracle. And this too is representative of the
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: general resurrection. When being loosed from sin and the corruption
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: of death, every one will be set free. For falling
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: into sin. We have wrapped the shame of it like
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: a veil about the face of our soul, and are
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: fast bound by the cords of death. When therefore the
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: Christ shall, at the time of the resurrection, bring us
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: out from our tombs in the earth. Then in very
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: truth does he loosen us from our former evils, and,
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: as it were, remove the veil of shame, in command
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: that we be let go freely from that time forward,
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: not under the dominion of sin, not subject to corruption,
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: or indeed any of the other troubles that are wont
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: to cause suffering, so that there will be fulfilled in
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: us that which was said by one of the holy prophets.
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: Ye shall both go forth and leap his calves, let
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: loose from bonds, and consider. I pray you the miracle
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: as regards its inner meaning. For if our mind be
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: dead like Lazarus, it behooves our material flesh and our
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: nobler soul, like Martha and Mary, respectively, to approach the
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: Christ with a confession of faith and to entreat his help.
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: Then he will stand by us and command the hardness
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: that lies upon our memory to be taken away, And cry,
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: with the loud voice of the evangelic trumpet, come forth
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: from the distractions of the world, and loose the cords
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: of our sins, so that we may be able in
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: full vigor to devote ourselves to virtue forty five forty
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: six many. Therefore, if the Jews which came to marry
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: and beheld that which Jesus did, believed on him. But
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: some of them went away to the Pharisees and told
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: them that which Jesus had done overcome by the miracle,
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: many believe, but others wounded with envy deemed the marvelous
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: deed a fit opportunity for carrying into effect the intentions
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: of the envious, and reported to the leaders what had
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: taken place, that when those men also were grieved at
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: the works which the Christ had wrought, they might have
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: some consolation of their own grief in the knowledge that
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: others shared their feelings and were partakers of the same
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: foolish grief, and that as they were unable themselves to
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: injure him who had done no wrong, they might rouse
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: to anger against him those who possessed more power forty
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: seven forty eight. The chief priests there therefore in the
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: Pharisees gathered a council and said, what do we for
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: this man doeth many signs? If we let him thus alone,
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: all men will believe on him, and the Romans will
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: come and take away both our place and our nation.
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: Of course, the Pharisees also cease to wonder and are
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: turned to grief, And when they see him stronger than death,
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: they take counsel to kill him, not considering his unspeakable authority,
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: but thinking of him as a mere man, they said,
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: what do we for this man doeth many signs? Although
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: they ought rather to have believed from this that he
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 1: was indeed the Christ of whom the Inspired Scripture had
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: previously proclaimed in many places that he would be a
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: worker of many signs. But the actually alleged as a
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: reason by which they endeavor to persuade the more thoughtless
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: to kill him. And they say, if we leave him
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: thus alone, that is, if we allow him to live
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: and to work wonders, we shall suffer terrible things. For
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: if many believe in this breaker of the law, all
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: that we have will by and buy go from us.
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: And presently, when at length the Jews have grown weak,
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: the Romans will attack us, and will not permit us
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: to freely practice the customs of our fathers, or to
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: rule our own people, or to give judgment themselves, rather
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: giving judgment. And we doing so no longer forty nine
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: fifty fifty one fifty two. But a certain one of them, Caiaphas,
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: being high priest that year, said, unto them, ye know
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: nothing at all, nor do ye take account that it
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: is expedient for us that one man should die for
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: the people, and that the whole nation perish. Not now
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: this he said, not of himself, but being high priest
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: that year, he prophesies that Jesus should die for the nation,
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 1: and not for the nation only, but that he might
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: also gather together into one the children of God that
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: are scattered abroad. Behold the very thing of which we
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: were speaking, the very thing which the Jews were secretly
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: exercising themselves to bring into effect. This their high priest
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: openly counsels them to do, even to kill the Christ,
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: saying that it would be for the nation, although the
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: nation was unjust, and he makes a true statement, his
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: words being verified not by the perversity of the people,
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: but by the power and wisdom of God. For they,
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: to their own destruction, put the Christ to death, but he,
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: being put to death in the flesh, became for us
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: a source of all good things. And what he calls
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: the destruction of the nation, namely, the being under the
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: hand of the Romans and losing the shadow of the law,
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: the very thing which they were seeking to turn away,
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: they actually suffered. Prompted therefore by an unlawful principle, Caiaphus
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: said what he did. Nevertheless, his language was made to
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: indicate something true, as being spoken by one in the
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: official position of a prophet, For he proclaims beforehand of
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: what good things the death of the Christ would become
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: the source, saying that which he did not understand, and
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: glorifying God as Balem did, under constraint, since he was
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: holding the prerogative of the priestly order, the prophecy being
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: as it were, given not to him personally, but to
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: the outward representative of the priesthood, unless, indeed, as may
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: have been the case, the words spoken by Caiaphas were
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: accomplished and came to pass afterwards without his having received
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: any prophetic gift whatever, For it is probable that what
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: some people say will really happen, although they may say
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: it without certainly knowing that it will come to pass.
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: Caiaphas then said that the death of Christ would be
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: for the Jews only, but the evangelist says that it
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: would be for all mankind, for we are all called
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: the offspring and children of God, inasmuch as He is
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: the father of all, having by way of creation, begotten
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: as it were, and brought into existence the things that
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: were not, And also because we had from the first
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: the honor of being made in His image, and were
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: allotted the supremacy over earthly things. And were accounted worthy
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: of the divine covenant, and enjoyed the life and bliss
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: of paradise. But Satan, being unwilling that we should remain
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: in that condition, scattered us, and in divers manners, led
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: man astray from his nearness to God. And the Christ
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: collected us all together again and brought us, through faith
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: into one fold, the Church, and united us under one yoke,
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: all being made one Jews, Greeks, Barbarians, Scythians, and we
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: are fashioned again into one new man and worship one God.
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: Fifty three. So from that hour fourth they took counsel
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: together that they might put him to death, for they
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: had the desire to defile themselves with Christ's blood. And
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: from the moment at which the assembly took place, it received,
• 1:55:47
  Speaker 1: as it were, a fresh start, the common consent of
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: all to it being publicly acknowledged. For the evangelists did
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: not say simply from that hour they took counsel to
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: commit the murder, but they took counsel together. That is
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: to say, the very thing which seemed desirable to each
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 1: one individually was pleasing to them all collectively. Fifty four.
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: departed thence into a city called Effrem, near to the wilderness,
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 1: and there he tarried with his disciples. Here also therefore,
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: as God to the condemnation of the Jews, he knows
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: their secret design, although no one reported it to him,
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: and withdraws not because he was afraid, but lest his
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: presence might seem to irritate those who were already eager
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: for his death. And he also teaches us to retire
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: from the passions of those who were angry, and not
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: to thrust ourselves into dangers, not even when they may
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: be for the sake of truth. When we are actually
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: overtaken by dangers, to stand firm, but when we see
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 1: them coming, to get out of their way because of
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: the uncertainty of the issue. Fifty five Now the passover
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: of the Jews was at hand, and many went up
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover to
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: purify themselves, passing over everything else. The evangelist goes on
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: to the time of the passion, and he calls it
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: the passover of the Jews, typically for he refers to
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 1: the true passover not of the Jews, but of Christians
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: who eat the flesh of Christ, the true lamb, and
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: according to the ancient custom, those who had sinned, whether
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: wilfully or through inadvertence, purified themselves before the feast, and
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: the typical passover was not shared in by any gentile
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: or uncircumcised person, or stranger, or hired servant or unclean person,
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: all which types are spiritually fulfilled. In the case of
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: Christians fifty six fifty seven, they sought therefore for Jesus,
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: and spake one with another as they stood in the temple.
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: What think ye that he will not come to the feast?
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: Now the chief priest and the Pharisees had given commandment
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: that if any man knew where he was, he should
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: show it that they might take him. The form of expression, however,
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: leaves it doubtful whether the words think ye that he
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: will not come to the feast are the utterance of
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 1: those who hated or of those who loved him, For
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 1: it was not unlikely that those who believed on him
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: might speak to the unbelievers. Thus, since ye took counsel
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: to put Jesus to death, and think that he is
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: ignorant of what you have secretly planned, this will be
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 1: a clear son to you that he is God, For
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: of course he will not come now to join us
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: in celebrating the feast, because as God, he knows your plans.
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: Or the expression may be thus paraphrased as the utterance
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: of those who hated Jesus, as it is ever accustomed
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: with Jesus to set aside the law. Are ye who
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: believe on him willing to acknowledge that this is his character,
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: seeing that he is not now come to the feast,
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: disregarding the law of the feast by not joining us
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: in the celebration of it. And they say this not
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: because it was necessary for all to go together to
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem at the Passover, as at the feast of Tabernacles,
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: but rather implying that his not coming up to Jerusalem
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: was an indication of cowardice, as though he was unable
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: to protect himself at such a time, and on that
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: account failed to come again. Those appointed to take him
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: may have said these words to one another, being in despair,
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: because they did not yet see him come, and were
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: eager quickly to execute that to which they had been appointed.
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve one two. Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover,
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 1: came to Bethany, where Lazarus was the dead man whom
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: he had raised from the dead. So they made him
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: a supper there, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: of them that sat at meet with him. Disdaining the
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: plot of the Jews, the Lord gives himself up, willing
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: to suffer when the time for suffering was come, going
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: to Bethany, not actually into Jerusalem. Lest suddenly appearing to
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: the Jews he might kindle them to anger, but by
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: the rumor of his being so near, gradually softening the
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: rage of their wrath, and he eats with them Lazarus,
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: thereby reminding those who saw them of his god befitting power.
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: And by telling us this, the evangelist shows that Christ
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: did not despise the law. Whence, also, six days before
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: the Passover, when it was necessary that the lamb should
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: be purchased and kept until the fourteenth day, he ate
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: with Lazarus and his friends, perhaps because it was a custom,
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: not of law, but from long usage, for the Jews
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: to have some little merrymaking on the day before the
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: lamb was taken, in order that after the lamb was obtained,
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: they might devote themselves. From that time until the feast,
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: to fasting or spareness of food, and to purifications. The
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: Lord therefore is seen to have honored even in this
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: the customs of the feast. And in amazement, the evangelist
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: says that he who had been four days dead, was
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: eating with the Christ to remind us of his god
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: befitting power. And he adds that Martha, out of her
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: love towards Christ, served and ministered at the labors of
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: the table. End of section five. End of commentary on
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: the Gospel of John, Book seven by Cyril of Alexandria,
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: translated by Reverend Thomas Randall.