The people who had been with Him before testified that He had summoned Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. That is why the people met Him, for they heard that He had performed this miracle. And the Pharisees said among themselves, "Do you see that you do not succeed in anything?" the whole world follows Him. The people who saw the miracle of Lazarus testified and preached about the power of Jesus. For this reason those who heard about the performance of this miracle, that is, believed, met Him with glory; if they had not believed, they would not have changed so quickly. The Pharisees saying, "You see, you have no time for nothing"

Therefore, having no success, leave your shackles and do not sin in vain.

Of those who came to worship on the feast were some Greeks; they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and besought him, saying, "Lord! we want to see Jesus. Philip goes and tells Andrew about it; and then Andrew and Philip told Jesus about it. And Jesus answered and said unto them, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Verily, verily, I say to you, if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it will bear much fruit. Because of the beauty of the temple and the miracles handed down by the Jews, many of the Greeks also came to worship. They were close to becoming strangers, that is, to accept Judaism. When word of Jesus reached them, they approached Philip and asked him to give them the opportunity to see Jesus. Philip, in humility and decency, speaks to Andrew as if he were higher than himself. Andrew does not take up the report, does not decide it by himself, but, taking Philip with him, dares to report to Jesus (such good order and mutual love prevailed between them). What about the Lord? Since He had commanded His disciples not to go on the way to the Gentiles (Matt. 10:5), and now He saw that the Gentiles themselves were already coming to Him (for the Greeks who wanted to see Him were undoubtedly pagans), and the Jews were building His snares, He said: "It is time at last to go to suffering, for the time of the Cross has come, that the Son of Man may be glorified." What is the use of not receiving the Gentiles who come to us, and of imposing oneself on the Jews who hate and persecute? And so, since the Gentiles come to us, now is the time to be crucified. Therefore, I will allow the Jews to finish their schemes and allow them to crucify Me, so that they will later be crucified without any excuse, since I will graciously leave them as crucifiers and murderers and turn to the Gentiles who have already begun to come to My teaching. For it would be very unjust to give nothing to the Gentiles, who thirst for the word and salvation, and to give abundantly to the Jews, who trample on what is given to them and plot evil against the Benefactor. Then, so that the disciples would not be offended by the fact that He was dying when the Gentiles also began to come, He said: "This very thing, that is, My death, will increase the faith of the Gentiles even more." For as a grain of wheat bears much fruit when it is sown and dies, so my death will bear much fruit for the faith of the Gentiles. Therefore, let no one be offended, because My death does not hinder the joining of the Gentiles, but let him be convinced by the example of the seed that My fall in My death will increase the number of believers. For if this is the case with the grain, how much more will it be with Me. For, having died and risen again, through the resurrection I will manifest My power even more, and then all will believe in Me as God.

He who loves his soul will destroy it; but he who hates his soul in this world will preserve it to eternal life. Whosoever serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be; and whosoever serves me, my Father will honour him. Since the Lord was close to suffering and knew that the disciples would be filled with sorrow, therefore He says: "You should not grieve in the least for My death." For if you yourself do not die, it will be of no use to you. And in general, any person who loves the present life and loves his soul, that is, fulfills its inappropriate desires, when he pleases it more than he should, and does not despise death, will destroy it. And whoever hates it, that is, does not serve it and does not bow down before it, will preserve it unto eternal life. Wishing to show how severe an aversion one should have to the lusts of the soul, He said, "Who hates?" We can neither see the faces nor hear the voices of those whom we hate: we must treat the irrational desires of the soul in the same way, that is, hate them with complete hatred. With the words: "Whoever hates his soul "in this world" shows the temporality of the matter. This commandment seemed murderous and inconsistent with the love of life. He softened it by adding: "in this world." I, he says, do not always command to hate the soul; but "in this unfaithful world" turn away from it, when it enjoins you to "do unlike" (Romans 1:28). He also adds benefit: "He will preserve it unto eternal life"; you will hate it for a time, but you will keep it alive forever for divine life. Wishing to persuade them still more to despise the present life and encourage them against death, he says: "Whosoever serves Me, let him follow Me," let him be ready for death as I am. Then He offers consolation: "Where I am, there will My servant be." Where is Christ? In heaven. For the heavenly and the earthly are opposed to each other. Whoever loves to be on earth will not be in heaven, and whoever avoids earthly things and this world will be high in heaven. "Whosoever serves me, my Father will honor him." He did not say, "I will mail him," but, "Father." This shows His affinity with Him. For the true Father will honor him as a servant of His true Son. At the same time, this shows that He is not an adversary of God. For God the Father would not honor a servant who opposes Him. Therefore, let us not set the love of our soul in keeping it from dangers for the truth's sake, and not wishing to suffer evil for good; but if we are servants of Christ, we give it up in danger for the truth, and will undoubtedly be in the same condition as Christ is now; I do not speak in divine dignity, for He is God by nature, but in that with which human nature can be adorned; for He is God by nature, and we are gods by adoption and by grace.

My soul is now troubled; and what shall I say? Father! deliver me from this hour! But at this hour I have come. Father! glorify Thy name. Then came a voice from heaven: I have glorified, and I will glorify again. What is He saying? He seems to contradict himself. Above, it seems, He prepared others for death and persuaded them to hate the soul, but now, near death, He is indignant. This is not fitting for one who exhorts to death, but averts from it. But if you examine carefully, you will find that His very indignation is an exhortation to contempt for death. Lest anyone think of saying that it is easy for Him to be so inquisitive about death and to persuade others to endure misfortunes, when He Himself is beyond human suffering and beyond danger, He shows that He Himself has experienced what is proper to people and is a partaker of our nature, although without sin. Therefore, although He, as a Man who loves life by nature, does not desire death and is indignant, yet He does not renounce it, since it is needed for the salvation of the world. For this reason, he says, at this hour I have come, to receive death for all. This clearly teaches us that we, too, even if we are indignant, even if we grieve, yet we do not escape death for the truth. And I, he says, am indignant, for I am truly a man, and I allow human nature to reveal what is proper to it, yet I do not tell the Father that He should deliver Me from this hour; but what am I saying? "Father! glorify Thy name," that is, please Me to accept the cross and death for the salvation of all. Behold, He called death for the truth the glory of God. For this reason the Father also says: "I have glorified, and I will glorify again"; glorified by those miracles which Thou didst perform in My name before the Cross; "and I will glorify again," having performed miracles through Thee on the Cross itself; and after the burial I will make My name and Thee more glorious, by raising Thee up and sending down the Spirit.

The people who stood and heard it said, "This is thunder." And others said, "The angel spoke to him." Jesus answered, "This voice was not for me, but for the people." Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. This He said, giving us to understand by what death He would die. Since so many were coarse and ignorant, they took the voice for thunder, although this voice was articulate and very clear. For they soon forgot the words of the voice, retaining only its echo. Others remembered the very words of the voice: "And I have glorified, and I will glorify again," however, not understanding what meaning of these words they thought that the angel spoke to Him, and these words, as if spoken by an angel, were incomprehensible to them. But Jesus says, "This voice was not for me, but for you." I had no need of teaching that the Father had glorified and would glorify His name. And you had to be taught that I am not an adversary of God, but act for the glory of the name of God. For if the name of God be glorified through me, how can I be an adversary of God? Therefore this voice was for you, that you might know that I am working for the glory of God, and if you cannot know for yourselves, you would know by questioning what you do not know. The words, "Now is the judgment of this world," seem to have no connection with the previous one. For what is their relation to the words: "I have glorified, and I will glorify again"? But there is no doubt that there is a connection. Since the Father from above said: "I will glorify," the Lord shows us the way to glorify. What exactly? That the prince of this world will be cast out and defeated, and for peace there will be judgment, that is, vengeance. These words have the following meaning: now is the judgment and vengeance for this world being carried out. Since the devil has put this world to death, making all men guilty of sin, but having attacked Me and found no sin in Me, he has brought Me under death on an equal footing with others, he will be condemned by Me, and thus I will avenge the world. Let him put death on the rest for sin; but what has he found in me like the rest, that he may put me to death? And so, now I am carrying out the judgment of this world, that is, vengeance for it. For having slain him who slew all, and then attacked Me, the innocent, I will avenge all those whom he slayed, and the cruel ruler (tyrant) condemned by My death will be cast out. The expression "cast out" is used in comparison with the way convicts are pushed out of the court of justice in judicial places. "He will be cast out" – it can also be understood that he will be cast out into outer darkness. He will lose his dominion over men, and will not reign as before in them, and in their souls, and in their mortal body, but I will draw all to Myself when I am lifted up to the cross. For all, even among the Gentiles, will be drawn to faith in me. Since they themselves cannot come to Me, restrained by this ruler, I, having defeated him, sent him out, and cut off the threads of his dominion over men, will draw them also against his will. He called this in another place a theft: "No one," he says, "can plunder the things of the strong, except he first bind the strong" (Mark 3:27). When "I shall be lifted up," He said this, giving to understand by what death He would die, that is, He would be crucified, for this signifies the height of the Cross.

The people answered him, "We have heard from the law that Christ abides forever; how then do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said to them, "Yet a little while the light is with you; walk while there is light, so that darkness does not overtake you, and he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. As long as the light is with you, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. Thinking to rebuke the Lord and make it difficult for Him as the untrue Christ, they say: if Christ is immortal, and You say of Yourself that You will die, how can we believe that You are truly the Christ? They spoke so maliciously. For the Scriptures, which they call the Law, mention not only the resurrection, but also suffering. Thus, Isaiah points to both: to suffering and death, when he says: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter"; on the resurrection, when he says: "The Lord wants to cleanse Him from the plague and show Him with light" (Isaiah 53:11), David also mentions death and resurrection together. For He says: "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell" (Psalm 15:10). Likewise, the patriarch, blessing Judas, prophesies about Christ: "He lay down, fell asleep like a lion, and like a lion's cub: who will wake Him?" (Gen. 49:9). Therefore, rejecting the sufferings of Christ and attributing the resurrection to Him, they did so maliciously. We know from the Law, that is, from the Scriptures (for the Law, as we have often observed, is the name of all Scripture), that Christ endures for ever. "Rightly you know this, for He abides forever and, as God, abides even after the resurrection. But how did you not learn of suffering, when the same Scriptures, as we have shown, teach both together? How, they say, do you say that the Son of Man must be "lifted up"? Do you see, they understood much from the Lord's flowing speeches, for example, they understood that by the words: "to be lifted up" He was speaking about the Cross? Yes, they really understood a lot, but out of their evil will they hid behind ignorance. Notice what they say. How do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Their speech is full of malice. They say as it were: although we do not know of whom you speak, and who the Son of man is, yet we clearly understand the truth that whoever is exalted, whoever he is, is not the Christ; it is incompatible; for the Scriptures say that Christ is immortal. What about the Lord? Shutting their mouths and showing that His sufferings do not in the least hinder Him from abiding forever, He says: "There is still a little time of Light in you." He called Himself Light. As the light of the sun does not disappear at all, but is hidden and shines again, so My death is not corruption, but the west and repose, and through the resurrection I will shine again. And since suffering does not in the least hinder Me from being eternal, and the Scriptures testify of Christ that He is eternal, then I am truly the Christ, although I will endure suffering. For I am the Light; I will go in and come up again. So, while the Light is with you, walk, that is, believe in Me. What time is He talking about here? He speaks of the time before suffering, or of the time after suffering, or of both Places. Therefore, he says, walk and believe in me, both before my crucifixion and after it. He points to this with the words: "As long as the Light is with you," that is, as long as you can believe in Me; but you can believe in Me, who am the Light, both before and after sufferings. But he who walks in unbelief does not know where he is going. For whatever the Jews are doing now, they do not know what they are doing, but walk as it were in darkness; they think that they are on the straight path, but everything is the opposite for them, when they observe the Sabbath and circumcision. But not so do those who believe. They walk in the light, doing all things that pertain to salvation. For they escaped the shadow of the law and the darkness of divination, and came to the light which was hidden in them, but which now shone forth, and became sons of Light, that is, of Christ. "That ye may be," he says, "sons of Light," that is, My sons. Although the Evangelist at the beginning of the Gospel says that some are born of God (1:13), here he calls them sons of Light, that is, of Christ. Let Arius and Eunomius be ashamed. For here also it is shown that the Father and the Son have one action.

When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them. So many miracles did He do before them, and they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled; God! Who believed what we heard? and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? (Isaiah 53:1). Therefore they could not believe that, as Isaiah said, "This people have blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, that I may heal them" (Isaiah 6:10). Why did the Lord hide from them? Now they did not lift up stones against Him, nor did they say any blasphemy, as they did before. Why did He hide? Though they said nothing, yet when He penetrated into their hearts, He saw that their wrath was increasing. In order to tame their hatred, He hides. That they did not believe, but were vexed, the Evangelist also pointed out when he said: "He did so many miracles, and they did not believe in Him." And of course, it is a matter of no small malice not to believe in so many miracles. So many, he says, miracles about which he has kept silent. So. Jesus hid himself in order to calm their malice, and at the same time to give them time and tranquillity, so that they could calm down and discuss His words and deeds. For in such a case, if they wished, they could come to understand His dignity - the Godhead. Though He knew their unbelief beforehand, yet what depended on Himself, He did and allowed, giving them, as it is said, time to discuss. In the words, "They have not believed in him, that the word of Isaiah may be fulfilled," there is not a cause, but an event. For they did not believe in Christ, not because Isaiah foretold about them, but the prophet foretold about them because they would not believe. The same thought is expressed in the words: "Therefore they could not believe that Isaiah had yet spoken of them." By all this He wants to confirm that the Scriptures are not false, and that Isaiah's prophecy was not fulfilled in any other way than he had predicted. Lest anyone speak and wonder why Christ came, if he knew that the Jews would not believe in Him, for this purpose the Evangelist cites the prophets who foretold this; But Christ, though He knew of their unbelief, yet He came so that they would not have an excuse for their sin, and could not say that we would believe if He had come. The words: "could not believe" mean the same as "did not want." For an evil and wicked man, as long as he remains so, that is, chooses evil, cannot believe. But when you hear that God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, do not think that He simply makes some good and others evil (away with such a thought!), but by complete blindness understand abandonment from God. Let me explain by an example, Suppose that someone is moderate in malice. God seems to be with him, because there is hope that such a person will be converted. When a person plunges into the depths of malice, then God leaves him because of his evil will. Of a man who has lost the Divine light and walks in the darkness of sin, it is said that he walks like a blind man; the absence of the Divine word, which softens the hearts of those who accept it, is a hardening of the heart. He is already blinded who does not receive the ray of Divine light at all, and he is petrified who does not want to listen to the teaching that softens the heart, and the withdrawal of God completely blinds and darkens him. Therefore, when you hear that God blinds, understand that He blinds because He is not intrinsic. For if God were inherent in man, man would not become blind. If there were sunshine, there would be no darkness. And now the sun produces night. How? When it comes in. In the same way, God makes people blind by withdrawing from them. And he departs from them because of their malice, and from there, like blind men, they sin irretrievably and fall irreparably. Let us also consider the words of Isaiah: "Lord! Who believed our hearing?" For the word "who" is used in many places of Scripture instead of "no one." The prophet said this as if on behalf of Christ. It is as if Christ says to the Father: Lord! Who believed Our hearing? - that is, no one believed Our word and My preaching, which He called "hearing". For He says, "What I have heard from My Father, that I say" (John 8:26). "And the arm of the Lord was revealed to whom?" - that is, the powerful action of miracles, which I called "the arm", was not revealed to any of the foolish Jews, but they slander Me even when I work so many miracles.

This is what Isaiah said, when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. However, many of the rulers also believed in Him, but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess, so as not to be excommunicated from the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. This is what Isaiah said when he saw His glory. Whom? Son. Although the prophet, judging by the connection of the speech, seems to have seen the glory of the Father, the Evangelist says here that Isaiah saw the glory of the Son, and the Apostle Paul says that he saw the glory of the Spirit (Acts 28:25). Truly one is the glory of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Isaiah, he says, saw glory: the smoke that appeared to him, the seraphim, the coals, the altar, the throne (Isaiah 6:1). So Isaiah saw this glory and spoke of Him, that is, of the Son. What did He say about Him? That which is said above, that he blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts. The Evangelist notes that many of the rulers also believed in Him, showing that the Pharisees lied when they said: "Did any of the rulers believe in Him?" (John 7:48). For behold, many of the rulers believed, but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess. For they have loved the glory of men. Christ had said to them about this before: "How can you believe, when you receive glory from men, and reject the glory that is from God alone" (John 5:44)? Thus, the Evangelist shows that what Christ predicted happened to them. Truly, they were not bosses, but slaves, and slaves of the lowest. From now on we learn that whoever loves glory is a slave and dishonorable.

And Jesus cried out, and said, He that believeth in Me believeth not in Me, but in Him who sent Me; and he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. Jesus, yielding to the fury of the Jews, hid for a while, and then appeared again and cried out openly. And showing that He Himself is equal to the Father and not an adversary of God, He says: "He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me," saying, as it were, "Why are you afraid to believe in Me?" Faith in Me goes back to My Father. Note also the accuracy in words. The Lord did not say, "He who believes in Me," but, "He who believes in Me," which means faith in God. For it is one thing to believe in someone, and another thing to believe in someone. If anyone believes anyone, it can be understood that he believes the justice of his words, and whoever believes in Him as God. Therefore it may be said, He believes the Apostles; but to believe in the apostles is impossible to say. Therefore the Lord did not say, "He that believeth on Me." For both Paul and Peter could have said, He that believeth unto me. And the Jews were reproached for not believing Moses (John 5:46). But He said more: he who believes "in Me" than He shows that He Himself is God, as He also says to His disciples: "Believe on God, and believe on Me" (John 14:1). Therefore, whoever believes in Him raises his faith to the Father, and he who does not believe in Him does not believe in the Father. "And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me." Is it he who sees bodily features? No. For the Father is not the body, so that it may be said that he who sees Christ bodily sees the Father also, but by seeing understand, I beseech thee, the contemplation of the mind. The Lord says as it were: whoever embraces My being by the contemplation of the mind, as far as it is possible for man, embraces the essence of the Father as well. Whoever acknowledges Me as God undoubtedly acknowledges the Father as well. For I am the image of the Father. All this shows the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. Let those who suffer from Arianism hear that he who believes in the Son does not believe in Him, but in the Father, so that either the Father is a creature, or the Son is not a creature. As if someone were to say that he who draws water from the river does not take it from the river, but from the source, so he who believes in the Son does not believe in the Son, the river (for the Son is not another being with the Father, and has nothing different from the Father), but believes in the source of good, that is, the Father.

I have come into the world as a light, that whosoever believeth in Me should not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. Again with these words He shows His consubstantiality with the Father. For as the Father is everywhere called Light in the Scriptures, so He also says of Himself: "I have come into the world as light." For this reason the Apostle Paul also calls Him Radiance (Heb. 1:3), showing that there is nothing mediating between the Father and the Son, but the Father and the Son are together, as light and radiance are together. Therefore the Son is Light, because He delivers from error and dispels the darkness of the mind, and because just as the Light, with its manifestation, becomes visible and reveals other visible objects, so the Son, having come and appeared to us, gave knowledge of Himself and of the Father, and enlightened the hearts of those who received Him with all knowledge. "If," he says, "any man hears me and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world." The meaning of these words is this: I am not guilty of condemning the unbelieving man, for I did not come primarily for this, but it happened afterwards. I came to save and taught for this. But if anyone does not believe, I am not the cause of his condemnation, but he brought it upon himself. This will become even clearer from what follows. Listen, then, to what follows.

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath judge unto himself: the word which I have spoken, it shall judge him at the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what to say and what to say. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say, as the Father told Me. I judge no one, but he who does not believe has a judge for himself. And it is our custom, and we often say, when we want to punish a disorderly child, that it is not we who punish him, but his carelessness and disorder, and it is not we who condemn him, but our convictions, to which he has not submitted, they accuse him as disobedient. So also the Lord says: "I do not judge, but the word that I have spoken, it will judge." For why did they not believe? Is it not because I am an adversary of God and seek my own glory? But I did not speak of Myself, but spoke all things from My Father, and nowhere did I pretend Myself to be philosophizing anything else. For the Father who sent me gave me a commandment what to say and what to say. What deep humility there is in these words! Is it, Lord, that before the Father sent Thee and gave Thee a commandment, Thou didst not know what to say, did not know the commandment which is eternal life? did not know this eternal life? How did You say: "I am life" (John 11:25)? Do you see what an incongruity arises if we do not understand wisely what is said? Therefore, know that the Lord expresses Himself so humbly because His hearers are weak. And what does He want to express by this? The fact that He does not speak, does not philosophize anything other than the Father. For just as those who are sent, he says, say nothing but what is commanded, so I Myself do not reason, nor have I taught anything else except that which is for the glory of the Father. So, wishing to prove this, that is, oneness of mind with the Father, he recalled this example, that is, the commandment. Wherefore he adds, "Therefore what I say, I speak as the Father has told me." And since I have spoken nothing of myself, what justification will those who do not believe present? Without any contradiction, they will be condemned for not believing the Father. So, Orthodox Christian, do not imply anything base in humble words, for example: "I have received the commandment" and the like, but understand them wisely, as well as this: "I have accepted the commandment what to say and what to say." For the Son, being the Word, and expressing what is in the Mind, that is, the Father, says that he has received from Him the commandment what to say and what to say. In the same way, our word, if we want to be true, says what the mind offers it, and the word never differs in essence from the mind, but is completely of the same essence.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, showed by His deeds that, having loved His own who are in the world, He loved them to the end. The Lord knew the hour of His death before all ages, and when it came, He did a deed full of much love for humanity and condescension, and manifesting great love for His disciples. For, intending to leave them, he shows a strong love for them. The words, "having loved them, loved them to the end," mean that He did not omit anything that should have been done by one who loves deeply. Wherefore in the end of all things he does this: he washes the feet of his disciples, in order to fully show his love for them, and to leave them great consolation in the midst of the calamities that befall them, a consolation in the thought that he who loves them to the point that he has washed their feet will not forsake them even in calamities. "Transition" refers to Christ's death because of His ascension after His resurrection. And so, since He had to pass away from this world, He shows His love for His own, and calls His disciples because of their nearness. To His God, and to all men according to the right of His creation, which is why it is said: He came to "His own," and "His own" did not receive Him (John 1:11). But the saints are His own because they are close to Him, just as here He called His disciples His own. He added: "To those who are in the world," because there are others of His own, for example, Abraham and the patriarchs; but they are not in this world, because they have migrated from here. These are His own, who are in the world, He loved to the end, that is, He showed perfect love for them.