Priest Georgy Chistyakov

The light shines in the darkness

Reflections on the Gospel of John 

Questi? colui che giacque sopra 'l petto

del nostro pellicano, e questi fue

di su la croce al grande officio eletto

Dante Alighieri, «Paradiso», XXV, 112-114

He, reclining with our pelican,

I clung to His breast; And from the height of the cross

I have assumed a great duty, serving Him.

(translation by M. Lozinsky)

A few words about the epigraph

Dante, or rather his beloved Beatrice, in whose mouth the poet puts these words, speaks here of St. John the Theologian, who during the Last Supper "reclined at the breast of Jesus" (John 13:23). In the Latin text of the New Testament, which was used by Dante, it is said that he recumbens in sinu Iesu. Dante renders this Latin expression with the Italian giacque sopra I petto del nostro pellicano, calling Jesus the Pelican, as was often done in the Middle Ages. Benvenuto di Rambaldo, in his commentary on the Divine Comedy, writes that Jesus "is justly called the Pelican, for He opened His ribs for our liberation, just as a pelican with blood from its own breast revives its dead chicks." By his death, Jesus resurrects us to a new life. This is what Dante means when he calls Him the Pelican.

Finally, when Dante reminds us that Jesus chose his beloved disciple from the Cross al grande officio, that is, "to a great duty," Dante reminds us that it was to him that the dying Son entrusted the care of his mother (John 19:26-27). One of the greatest religious geniuses of mankind, the author of the Divine Comedy, in just three lines introduces the reader to the special atmosphere of the Gospel of John, which, as Origen once wrote, can be understood only by clinging to the breast of Jesus and accepting His Mother as one's own "in her own world", as it is said in the Slavonic translation of this passage of the Gospel.

Dante, who, according to one of his first biographers, "already fell in love with the Holy Scriptures as a youth," is one of those who felt the Word of God especially subtly and perceived it incredibly deeply. At the same time, however, although thousands of books and articles have been written about Dante in all languages of the world, the scattered reflections on biblical texts and individual phrases of the Scriptures, translated by him from Latin into Italian, are still little understood by researchers. But they give amazing food for thought to the attentive reader!

It is difficult to say whether for this reason or for some other reason, but it was Dante Alighieri who became for the author of this book in his school years what Virgil was for Dante himself – lo mio maestro e 'l mio autore, that is, "my teacher and the reason for my writing". That is why in this book, which is devoted to the Gospel of John, that is, the part of the New Testament that touches the inner world of each of us most of all, where it is said, in the words of Dante from the seventh canto of Paradise, how Verbo di Dio dis-cender piacque u' la natura, that is, "the Word of God deigned to descend into human nature", the author simply could not do without relying on the spiritual experience of who have long become his eternal companion and irreplaceable mentor.

Part I

THE BOOK OF SIGNS

Chapter 1

A TOUCH OF GOD