Again they say to the blind man, "You, what will you say about Him, because He has opened your eyes?" He said, "He's a prophet." Then the Jews did not believe that he was blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of this man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind?" How does he see now? Who were those who asked, What wilt thou say of Him? They were among the prudent. For they said, How can a sinner do such things? In order not to appear vain defenders, they cite as a testimony the one who received the beneficence, as having experienced His power, in order to stop the mouths of slanderers. See how prudently they ask. They did not say, you what you would say about Him, because He made the Sabbath, because He did not keep the Sabbath, but they remind you of the miracle, "because He opened your eyes," as if inciting the healed man to tell the truth about Christ. They remind him and urge him: because He has opened your eyes. He is said to have done you good. Therefore, you must preach about Him. The blind man now confessed what he could, namely, that He was not a sinner, but of God, that He was a Prophet, although some say that He was not of God, because He did not keep the Sabbath. - Christ anointed with one finger, and He is considered a Sabbath violator. They themselves untie animals with all their hands in order to give them water, and consider themselves pious. - The hard-hearted and stubborn call upon his parents in order to put them in difficulty and thereby force them to reject the former blindness of their son. Since they could not stop their well-intentioned lips, they frightened their parents, in the hope of destroying the miracle. So they put them in the middle and interrogate them with fury and with even greater malice. They do not say, "Is this your son, who was once blind," but "of whom you speak," as if to say, "Whom you have made blind, and the fame of which you have spread everywhere," is utterly fictitious and false. But, O wicked Pharisees! What father would allow himself to lie like that about his child? On both sides they are pressed and forced to give up their son, on the one hand, by the expression "of whom you speak," and on the other, by the question, "How does he see now?" By the false testimony of the parents that their son had been blind before, they demean this miracle, that he later became sighted. They say: either what he sees now is false, or that he was blind. But it is true that he sees: therefore you have falsely divulged that he was formerly blind.

His parents answered and said to them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he sees now, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know; Ask yourself when you are of perfect age: let him speak of himself. Thus answered his parents, because they feared the Jews; for the Jews have already conspired that whoever acknowledges Him to be Christ shall be excommunicated from the synagogue. Wherefore his parents said, He is of perfect age; Ask yourself. The Pharisees asked the parents of the blind man three questions: 1) Is this their son? 2) Was he born blind? and (3) how did he become sighted? To the first two questions they answer in the affirmative, that this is their son and he was blind, and they do not answer about the method of healing because of ignorance. This happened, without a doubt, in order that the truth might be recognized more firmly, so that it might be testified to by the one who received the beneficence, and therefore the most reliable witness, as his parents say: he himself is of perfect age, he is not a child or an underage, so that he does not understand how he was healed. His parents answered this because they were afraid of the Pharisees. They were unsteady and faint-hearted than their son. And he became a fearless witness to the truth; he began to see well with his mental eyes.

So they called a man who was blind a second time, and said to him, Give glory to God; we know that That Man is a sinner. He answered and said to them, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; One thing I know is that I was blind, and now I see. And they asked him again, What has he done to thee? How did He open your eyes? He answered them, "I have already told you, and you have not listened; What else do you want to hear? or do you also want to become His disciples? And they rebuked him, and said, Thou art His disciple, and we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; But we do not know whence He comes. Just as parents insisted on asking their son for them, so do the arrogant ones. They bring him, not to ask, but to impress upon him the accusation of the Healer. For the suggestion "give glory to God" means to confess that Jesus did nothing for you, and in not attributing anything good to Jesus is the glory of God! They say we know that He is a sinner. Why did you not rebuke Him when He called you to this, saying, "Which of you shall convict Me of sin" (John 8:46)? The blind man says, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know, and now I do not experience it, nor do I affirm it." But I know very clearly that He performed a miracle on me. Therefore, let this matter be considered by itself and give an idea of Him. Then, when they again asked him what He had done to you, accusing the Saviour of having anointed you on the Sabbath, this man understood that they were asking not for the sake of clarification, but for the sake of accusation, and he answered them reproachfully, "I do not want to speak to you any more, because many times I have told you, and you have not listened." Then, which could have especially wounded them, he adds: Do you also want to become His disciples? Obviously, he himself wants to be His disciple. Joking and laughing at them, he says it calmly; and this shows a soul that is brave and undaunted, and not afraid of their fury. To his offense they say: "You are His disciple, and we are the disciples of Moses." And here they are clearly lying. For if they had been disciples of Moses, they would have been Christ's, as He Himself says to them: "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me also" (John 5:46). They did not say, "We have heard," but, "We know" that God spoke to Moses, although their ancestors had told them about it. That which we have received by ear, they say, we know for sure, but He Whose miracles we have seen with our own eyes and Whose Divine and heavenly teaching we have heard for ourselves, is called a deceiver (John 7:12). You see to what madness their malice has driven them.

The man who had received his sight answered and said to them, "This is not surprising, that you do not know where He comes from, but He has opened my eyes." But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will listens to him. From eternity it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If He were not of God, He could not do anything. You, says the Jews, reject my Healer, because you do not know where He comes from. And I say that He is all the more worthy of wonder, because, not being one of the nobles and glorious among you, He can do such deeds as clearly testify that He possesses some higher power and does not need any human help. - Then, since before some of them also said: "How can a sinful man work such miracles?" he also takes up this condemnation of them and reminds them of their own words. We all know, he says, that God does not listen to sinners, but listens to him who honors Him and does His will. Notice from this how he not only puts away sins from the Lord, but also presents Him as a great saint of God and doing everything according to His will, when he says: "If anyone honors God and does His will." Further, knowing that they want to obscure the miracle, he preaches with full understanding about the beneficence. If He had not been of God, He would not have performed such a miracle as no one has done since eternity. If, perhaps, the eyes of the blind were opened, but not spoiled from birth, but from some disease. But what has now been accomplished is an unheard-of thing. So, obviously, the one who performed such a miracle is more than a man. - Some people go into cold and subtle questioning. How is it said that God does not listen to sinners? He is a lover of mankind. What, they say, is meant here by the words: God does not listen to sinners? Such a question should not be answered. However, it must be said that these words - God does not listen to sinners - express the idea that God does not give sinners the power to work miracles. For the Spirit of God will not dwell in a body that is burdened with sins. Those who sincerely and from the heart ask for forgiveness of sins, God hears not as sinners, but as repentants. For at the same time as they ask forgiveness for themselves, they have already passed from the ranks of sinners to the ranks of penitents. Therefore it is rightly said that God does not listen to sinners. He does not allow sinners to work miracles. For even if they should ever ask for anything of the kind, how would He give what He asked for those whom He hates because they arrogate to themselves that which is quite unseemly to them? And if He listens to those who ask forgiveness, He listens not as sinners, but as penitents. "Take note. Having said, "If any man honour God," he added, "and does his will." For many worship God, but do not do the will of God. And there must be both at the same time: both worship of God and the fulfillment of the will of God, in other words, faith and works, or, as the Apostle Paul put it, faith and a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:5), in short; contemplation and activity. For faith is truly alive when it also has God-pleasing deeds, from which comes a good conscience, just as a vicious conscience comes from evil deeds. And again, works are alive when they have faith, and in separation from one another they are dead, as it is said: faith without works is dead (James 2:26), and works without faith. Consider, perhaps, the boldness that truth gives to a poor man, who is not at all remarkable, and he denounces the great and glorious among the Jews. So great is the power of truth, while falsehood is very timid and bold.

They answered and said to him, "Thou art all born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they threw him out. And when Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and found him, he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, "But who is he, Lord, that I should believe in Him?" Jesus said to him, "And you have seen him, and he has spoken to you." And he said, I believe, O Lord! And he worshipped Him. As long as they hoped that this man would speak to please them, he was summoned and questioned, and more than once. But when they learn from the answers that he does not think alike with them, but is disposed to the truth, they humiliate him as born in sins. It is completely unreasonable to blaspheme him for blindness, and to think that he, as a very sinful man even before his birth, was condemned to be born blind, which is unfounded. "Like sons of lies, they drive him, the confessor of the truth, out of the temple. But it served him well. They drove him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple immediately found him. They dishonored him for his opinion in favor of Christ, and he was vouchsafed to know the Son of God. Jesus, it is said, found him, like the ascetic who receives a wrestler who is greatly exhausted and crowned. And what does he say? Do you believe in the Son of God? Why does he ask about this, when he argued so much with the Jews, spoke so much for Him? He does this not out of ignorance, but out of a desire to teach the blind man the knowledge of Himself. He had not seen Him at all before, and he had not seen Him after His healing, because the Jews, those worst dogs, dragged Him hither and thither. Now He asks him in order to point to Himself in response to his question about who the Son of God is. At the same time, He shows him that He highly values his faith, saying, as it were, "So many people have offended Me, but I do not impute it to them in the least." I care about one thing - about faith. Lord, who is this Son of God? - he asks lovingly. Jesus answers, "He is the one whom you have seen and who speaks to you." He did not say, It is I who healed you, who said to you, Go, wash yourself; but at first he speaks secretly and obscurely: and thou hast seen him, and then more clearly: and he also speaks to thee. The Lord seems to have said with intention: "Thou hast seen Him," precisely to remind him of his healing and that he had received from Him the ability to see. And immediately he believes, and in deed he manifests a fervent and true faith, he worships and confirms the word by his deeds, that he glorifies Him as God, because the law commands that only God should be worshipped (Deuteronomy 6:13). "Note, perhaps, that this miracle took place in the spiritual sense as well. In general, every person was blind from birth, that is, from subjection to birth, with which corruption is associated, for since we are condemned to death and to multiplication through passionate birth, from then on, as it were, a thick cloud has spread over our mental eyes, and, perhaps, that leather garment of which the Holy Scriptures mention (Gen. 3:3). 21). In particular, the pagan people were blind. And he was blind from birth. For example, the Greeks, because they deified the begotten and the perishable, became blind, according to the saying: "Their foolish heart is darkened" (Romans 1:21). In the same way, the Persian sages (magicians) spent their lives talking about birth and birthdays. - Jesus "saw" this blind man, that is, every person in general, or, in particular, pagans. As the blind man could not see the Creator, He, out of the grace of mercy, Himself visited us, the East from above (Luke 1:78). How did he see it? "Passing by," that is, not being in heaven, and, in the words of the prophet, bowing down from heaven and looking upon all the sons of men (Psalm 13:2; 2:3), but appearing on earth. And in another sense: "passing by" he saw the pagans, that is, he did not come to them predominantly. For He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), and then, as if in passing, He looked at the Gentiles sitting in the darkness of complete ignorance. - How does it cure blindness? Spitting on the ground and making a shaving. For whoever believes that the Word descended into the holy Virgin as a drop dripping on the ground, will anoint his mental eyes with the clay of spittle and earth, that is, the one Christ, consisting of the Divinity, whose sign (symbol) is the drop and the spittle, and Humanity, the sign of which is the earth, from which the body of the Lord is. Will healing stop at faith? No; one must go also to Siloam, the source of baptism, and be baptized into the One who was sent, that is, Christ. For all of us who have been spiritually baptized have been baptized into Christ. And whoever is baptized will be subjected to temptations after this. Perhaps for the sake of Christ who healed him they will bring him before kings and rulers (Luke 21:12). Therefore, it is necessary to be firm and unyielding in confession; not to renounce out of fear, but, if necessary, to become both excommunicated and expelled from the synagogue, according to what is said: "Ye shall be hated by all men for My name's sake, and ye shall be cast out of the synagogues" (Matt. 24:9; Jn. 16:2). If people who are hostile to the truth both drive out the confessor of it, and remove him from what is holy and precious to them, that is, from riches and glory, then Jesus will find him, and when he is dishonored by his enemies, then he will be especially honored by Christ with knowledge and the most thorough faith. For then he will worship Christ most of all as a visible Man and as the true Son of God. For there is no other Son of God and another Son of Mary, as Nestorius impiously blasphemed, but one and the same Son of God and Man. Vide. When he who was once blind asked, "Who is the Son of God, that I should believe in Him?" then the Lord answered, "He is He Whom you have seen, and Who speaks to you." Who spoke but He who was born of Mary? And He is also the Son of God, but not another and different. That is why St. Mary is truly the Mother of God. For She gave birth to the Son of God, made flesh, indivisible, and One in two natures, Who is Christ the Lord.

And Jesus said, I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. And when some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this, they said to him, "Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin on you; but as you say that you see, the sin remains upon you. The Lord saw that the Pharisees derived more harm than good for themselves from the miracle, and through this they became worthy of greater condemnation, and therefore He says: "As it seems and as it turns out in deed, I have come to judgment, that is, for a greater punishment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see, such as the Pharisees, may become blind with the eyes of the soul. For he who does not see from birth sees both in soul and body, but those who consider themselves to see have become blind in mind. Here He speaks of vigilance and blindness of two kinds. The Pharisees, who always grasped at sensual things, thought that He was speaking of sensual blindness, and said, "Are we also blind? They were ashamed of this bodily blindness alone. And the Lord wanted to show them that it is better to be blind in the body than unbelievers, and He said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin." For if you were by necessity, by nature, blind, you could be forgiven for the unbelief with which you are infected. But now you say that you see, and yet, having witnessed the miracle of the blind man, you still remain in unbelief, and therefore are not worthy of forgiveness. For your sin remains indelible, and you will be punished all the more because you do not come to faith in obvious miracles. These words, if you were blind, you would have no sin, can be understood in this way. You ask about bodily blindness, of which alone you are ashamed. And I say of your spiritual blindness, that if you were blind, that is, ignorant of the Scriptures, you would not have such a grievous sin upon you, for you would sin out of ignorance. And now you say that you see, and pretend to be prudent and experienced in the law, therefore you condemn yourselves and have a greater sin upon you, because you sin consciously.

CHAPTER TEN

The Lord, saying that you are truly blind in soul through the disease of unbelief, rebuked the Pharisees for their unbelief. In order that they may not be able to say that we abhor Thee, not because of our blindness, but in order to avoid deception, He conducts a long discourse on this. Which one? He sets forth the signs of both the true shepherd and the wolf-destroyer, and thus shows of Himself that He is good, referring to works as a witness. - First He sets forth the distinguishing characteristics of the destroyer. He, he says, does not enter by the door, that is, by the Scriptures, for he is not testified by the Scriptures or the prophets. The Scriptures are truly the door; for through them we draw near to God. They do not allow wolves to enter, for they excommunicate heretics, making us safe, and imparting to us the knowledge of whatever we desire. Thus, a thief is one who does not enter the sheepfold through the Scriptures to take care of the sheep, but ascends the Inda, that is, makes a different and unusual path for himself, as, for example, Theudas and Judas. Before the coming of Christ, they deceived the people, destroyed them, and perished themselves (Acts 5:36, 37). Such will be the vile Antichrist. For they have no testimony from the Scriptures. He also alludes to the scribes, who did not fulfill a single word of the commandments of the law, but taught the commandments of men and traditions. He decently said: it rises. It goes to a thief who jumps over the fence and does everything with danger. These are the signs of a robber. - These are the signs of a pastor. The shepherd enters through the Scriptures, and the doorkeeper opens the door to Him. By the doorkeeper, perhaps, you should also understand Moses, for the words of God were entrusted to him. Moses opened the door to the Lord, no doubt by speaking of Him. The Lord Himself said: "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me also" (John 5:46). Or the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit. Since the Scriptures, understood in the illumination of the Holy Spirit, show us Christ, it is right that the Spirit is the doorkeeper removed. To Him, as by the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the Scriptures are revealed, through which the Lord enters into the care of us and through which He is revealed to be the Shepherd. And the sheep listen to the voice of the Shepherd. - The Pharisees often called the Lord a deceiver and proved this by their own unbelief, saying: "Did any of the rulers believe in Him" (John 7:48)? Therefore, the Lord shows that He should not be considered a destroyer because they do not believe, but they should be excluded from the number of sheep. I, he said, entered by the door. Obviously, I am truly a Shepherd. You have not followed me, and by this you have shown that you are not sheep. Whence then does He bring forth His sheep? From among the unbelievers, as, for example, He brought out from among the Jews a blind man, who both heard Him and recognized Him. - And he goes before the sheep, although it is the other way around with the bodily shepherds, for they walk behind the sheep. This shows that He will lead everyone to the truth. And He sends disciples like sheep into the midst of wolves (Matt. 10:16). Thus, truly, the pastoral ministry of Christ is extraordinary. They will not follow someone else's, because they do not know someone else's voice. And here, no doubt, he alludes to Theudas and Judas, whom the sheep did not follow, for few were deceived, and even they, after their death, fell behind. And the whole world followed Christ, both during His life, and especially after His death (John 12:19). - He also hints at the Antichrist, for he too will deceive few, and after his destruction he will have no followers. The words, "They do not go," show that after the death of the deceivers no one will listen or follow. Thus, the Scriptures are the door. Through this door the Lord leads the sheep to pasture. What pasture? The future pleasure and peace into which the Lord leads us. If in other places He calls Himself a door, there is no need to marvel at this. For when He wants to portray His care for us, He calls Himself a shepherd, and when He wants to show that He leads to the Father, then He calls Himself a door, just as He is in different senses both a Sheep and a Shepherd. The words of the Divine Scriptures are also understood under the door; and the Lord Himself is and is called the Word; therefore, it can also be called the Door.

Jesus told them this parable. But they did not understand what he was saying to them, so Jesus said to them again, "Verily, truly, I say to you, that I am the door of the sheep." All of them, however many have come before Me, are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them. Jesus spoke to them in these words a parable, or simile, and used obscure speech to make them more attentive. When he has achieved this, he resolves the ambiguity and says: I am the Door. "Everything, no matter how many of them came." He did not say this about the prophets, as the Manichaeans are mad. They use this saying to prove that the Old Testament is not from God, and the prophets were not sent by God. Here, they say, the Lord said that everyone, no matter how many came, is thieves and robbers. But He did not say this about the prophets, but about Theudas and Judas, and the rest of the rebels. And what He said about them is evident from what He added: "The sheep did not listen to them." For the sheep did not listen to these troublemakers, but they listened to the prophets, and as many as they believed in Christ, all believed through them. And in other words, "the sheep did not listen to them." He said this in praise. But nowhere is it seen that He praises those who did not listen to the prophets, on the contrary, He strongly condemns and rebukes them. Then, pay attention to the accuracy of the expression: how much "did not come", and does not say: how much "it was not sent". For the prophets came because they had been sent, and the false prophets, like the rebels aforesaid, proceeded to corrupt those who were deceived when no one had sent them. So God says: "I did not send them, they fled" (Jeremiah 23:21).

Я есмь дверь: кто войдет Мною, тот спасется, и войдет, и выйдет, и пажить найдет. Кто Мною, дверью, войдет и приведется к Отцу, и станет Его овцою, тот спасется, и не только спасется, но и получит великую неустрашимость, как и Господь, и Владыка. Ибо это обозначает словами: "и войдет, и выйдет". Так и апостолы смело входили и выходили пред повелителей, и выходили радостными и непобедимыми (Деян. 5, 41). "И найдет пастбище", то есть обильную пищу. И иначе: так как наш человек двойствен, по выражению апостола Павла, внутренний и внешний (Рим. 7, 22; 2 Кор. 4, 16), то можно сказать, что входит тот, кто заботится о внутреннем человеке, и тот опять выходит, кто члены, которые на земле, и дела плотские умерщвляет во Христе (Рим. 8, 13). Такой найдет пастбище и в будущем веке, по сказанному: Господь пасет меня, и ни в чем не будет у меня недостатка (Пс. 22, 1).

Вор приходит только для того, чтобы украсть, убить и погубить; Я пришел для того, чтоб имели жизнь и имели с избытком. Я семь пастырь добрый: пастырь добрый полагает жизнь свою за овец; а наемник не пастырь, которому овцы не свои, видит приходящего волка и оставляет овец и бежит; и волк расхищает овец и разгоняет их. А наемник бежит, потому что наемник, и не радит об овцах. Так как приставшие к Февде и Иуде, и прочим отступникам были убиты и погибли, то прибавил: вор приходит только для того, чтобы украсть, убить и погубить, называя ворами их и подобных им. А Я, говорит, пришел для того, чтобы имели жизнь. Они убивали и погубляли своих последователей, а Я пришел, чтобы жили и имели нечто большее, именно: причастие Святаго Духа, под чем нужно разуметь и Царство Небесное. Итак, во Христе все имеют жизнь, ибо все воскреснут и будут жить; а праведники получат и нечто большее, именно: Царство Небесное. Потом ведет речь и о страданиях и говорит: Я жизнь (душу) Мою полагаю за овец, - выражая сим, что Он идет на страдания не по принуждению, а добровольно. Словом "полагаю" показывает, что никто ее не отнимет у Меня, а Я Сам отдаю ее. Намекает и на мятежников, не раз упомянутых. Они, говорит, не положили жизни за овец, но оставили своих последователей, ибо были наемники. А Сам Господь поступил наоборот. Когда взяли Его, Он сказал: если Меня ищете, то оставьте сих, пусть идут, чтобы исполнилось слово, что никто из них не погиб (Ин. 18, 8; 17, 12) и притом тогда, когда иудеи пришли на Него хуже, чем волки на овец. Ибо пришли, сказано, с мечами и кольями, чтобы взять Его (Лк. 22, 52). Под волком здесь можно разуметь и мысленного врага, которого Писание называет и львом (1 Пет. 5, 8), и скорпионом (Лк. 10, 19), и змием (Быт. 3, 1; Пс. 90, 13). Говорится, что он "похищает" овцу, когда пожирает кого-нибудь чрез худое дело; "разгоняет" когда посредством злых помыслов смущает душу. Справедливо можно назвать его и вором, который "обкрадывает" чрез лукавые помыслы, "убивает" чрез соглашение с ними, "погубляет" чрез дело. Иногда приражается к кому-нибудь помысл злобный, это будет воровство. Если человек согласится с лукавым внушением, тогда, можно сказать, диавол убивает его. Когда же человек на деле совершит зло, тогда он погибает. Может быть, и это значат слова: вор приходит только для того, чтоб украсть, убить и погубить. - Господь делает совсем иначе, чем этот вор. Он дает божественную жизнь, освещает и помыслы наши добрыми внушениями, и тела добрыми делами; дает и нечто преизбыточествующее, именно то, что мы можем приносить и другим пользу посредством дара учительского, а также и Царство Небесное, как бы придавая нам некоторую лишнюю награду. Он подлинно Добрый Пастырь, а не наемник, каковы начальники иудейские, которые не заботятся о народе, а имеют в виду только то, чтобы получить с него плату. Ибо они искали не пользы народу, а себе прибыли от народа.

Я семь Пастырь добрый; и знаю Моих, и Мои знают Меня. Как Отец знает Меня, так и Я знаю Отца; и жизнь Мою полагаю за овец. Есть у Меня и другие овцы, которые не сего двора, и тех надлежит Мне привесть, и они услышат голос Мой: и будет одно стадо, и один Пастырь. И отсюда ты можешь узнать различие между пастырем и наемником. Наемник не знает овец, что происходит оттого, что он не надзирает за ними постоянно. Ибо если бы он постоянно смотрел, то знал бы их. А пастырь, каков Господь, знает своих овец, потому и печется об них, и они опять знают Его, потому что пользуются Его надзором и по привычке узнают своего Покровителя. Смотри. Прежде Он узнает нас, а потом уже мы Его. И не иначе можно познать Бога, как быв познанными от Него (1 Кор. 13, 12). Ибо Он прежде усвоился нам плотию, став Человеком, потом уже мы усвоились Ему, получив дар обожения. Желая показать, что неуверовавшие недостойны быть познанными от Бога и не суть овцы Его, Он сказал: Я знаю Моих, и Мои знают Меня, как написано: познал Господь Своих (2 Тим. 2, 19). Чтобы кто-нибудь не подумал, что Он узнавал, как человек. Он присовокупил: как Отец знает Меня, и Я знаю Отца, то есть: Я так верно знаю Его, как Сам Себя. Часто повторяет: "Я жизнь Мою полагаю за овец" для того, чтобы показать, что Он не обманщик. Ибо выражения: "Я Свет, Я Жизнь" для немысленных казались надменными, Но слова: "Я хочу умереть" не заключают никакого самохваления, а, напротив, выражают великое попечение, так как Он хочет предать Себя за людей, которые бросали в Него камнями. - "Есть у меня и другие овцы". Это говорит об язычниках. Они не того двора, который под законом. Ибо язычники не ограждаются законом. "И тех надлежит Мне привесть". Ибо и эти в рассеянии, и те не имеют пастырей. И благоразумные, и способнейшие к вере из иудеев были без пастырей, следовательно, тем более, язычники. Мне "надлежит" собрать и язычников, и иудеев. Слово "надлежит" здесь означает не принуждение, а то, что непременно последует. "И будет одно стадо, и один Пастырь". Во Христе Иисусе нет ни иудея, ни язычника (Гал. 3, 28), и никакого различия. Ибо у всех один образ, одна печать крещения, один Пастырь, Слово Божие и Бог. Пусть устыдятся манихеи, отвергающие Ветхий Завет, и услышат, что одно стадо и один Пастырь; ибо Один и Тот же Бог Ветхого и Нового Завета.

Потому любит Меня Отец, что Я отдаю жизнь Мою, чтобы опять принять ее. Никто не отнимает ее у Меня, но Я Сам отдаю ее; имею власть отдать ее и власть имею опять принять ее. Сию заповедь получил Я от Отца Моего. От этих слов опять произошла между Иудеями распря.

Как же Я буду обманывать вас, когда знаю, что вас Бог любит? Напротив, не лучше ли решусь умереть за вас, если не для иного чего, то для того, чтобы Отец Мой за это еще более возлюбил Меня? Говорит это так уничижение из снисхождения, потому что слушатели не принимали, когда Он говорил о Себе возвышенно. Придавать другой смысл этому изречению было бы нелепо. Ибо, неужели Отец прежде не любил Его, а начал любить только теперь, и причиной сему стала смерть Его за нас? Нет; а, как я сказал уже, Он выразился таким образом по снисхождению. Иной может сказать и следующее. Любовь к нам Бога и Отца была известна. А Бог и Отец увидел, что и Сын Его явил к нам такую же доброту, ибо восхотел и умереть за нас, и в точности сохраняет свойства благости Отчей, Посему Отец по справедливости возлюбил Сына, возлюбил не в качестве дара Сыну и как бы награды за Его смерть за нас, но потому, что увидел в Сыне сродство Существа с Самим Собою, и потому любить Сына был побуждаем как бы непреодолимым законом природы.