Theophylact, Archbishop of Ohrid in the Byzantine province of Bulgaria (second half. XI — early XII century) was a prominent Byzantine theologian. A native of Euboea, he served for a long time as a deacon at the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and as a rhetorician. His duty was to explain the Holy Scriptures and compose instructive words in the name of the patriarch. Having become Archbishop of the Bulgarian Church, Blessed Theophylact showed himself to be a wise and firm pastor.

       Blessed Theophylact is not one of the saints whose memory is celebrated by the Orthodox Church, but he enjoyed from ancient times the glory of a holy father and teacher of the Church. Most of the works of Blessed Theophylact are interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, in which he follows the tradition of the Fathers of the Antiochian school, especially St. John Chrysostom.

       The work of Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, devoted to the interpretation of the Four Gospels, is accessible to everyone's understanding and simple, and at the same time since ancient times it has been revered by the Russian Church as a truly patristic and Orthodox creation, faithfully conveying the meaning of the Gospel sayings.

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Blessed Theophylact (Archbishop of Bulgaria).

Commentary on the Gospel of John

Preface

The power of the Holy Spirit, as it is written (2 Corinthians 12:9) and as we believe, is made perfect in weakness, in the weakness not only of the body, but also of the mind and eloquence. This is evident from many other things, as well as especially from what grace showed in the great theologian and brother of Christ. His father was a fisherman; John himself was engaged in the same trade as his father; not only did he not receive a Greek and Jewish education, but he was not at all learned, as the divine Luke remarks about him in Acts (4:13). And his fatherland is the poorest and most ignoble, like a place in which they were engaged in fishing, and not in science. He was brought into the world by Bethsaida. Yet see what kind of Spirit this unlearned, ignoble, and in no way remarkable has received. He thundered about what none of the other evangelists taught us. Since they proclaim the Incarnation of Christ, and have not said anything sufficiently clear and evident about His pre-eternal existence, there was a danger that people, attached to earthly things and unable to think of anything lofty, would think that Christ only began His existence when He was born of Mary, and was not born of the Father before the ages. As is well known, Paul of Samosata fell into such a delusion. For this reason the great John announces the heavenly birth, but does not fail to mention the incarnation of the Word. For he says: "And the Word was made flesh" (1:14). - Others say that the Orthodox asked him to write about the heavenly birth, since at that time there were heretics who taught that Jesus was a simple man. It is also said that St. John, having read the writings of the other Evangelists, marveled at the truth of their narration of everything and recognized them as sensible and not saying anything to please the Apostles. However, what they did not clearly say or completely kept silent, he disseminated, clarified and added in his Gospel, which he wrote while he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, thirty-two years after the ascension of Christ. - John was loved by the Lord more than all the disciples for his simplicity, meekness, good nature, and purity of heart, or virginity. As a result of this gift, he was entrusted with theology, the enjoyment of the sacraments, invisible to many. For "blessed," it is said, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). John was also a relative of the Lord. And how? Listen. Joseph, the betrothed of the Most-Pure Mother of God, had by his first wife seven children, four male and three female, Martha, Esther and Salome; this son of Salome John was the son. Thus, it turns out that the Lord was his uncle. Since Joseph is the father of the Lord, and Salome is the daughter of this Joseph, Salome is the sister of the Lord, and therefore her son John is the nephew of the Lord. - Perhaps it is not inappropriate to make out the names of John's mother and the evangelist himself. The mother, called Salome, means peaceful, and John means her grace. Thus, let every soul know that peace with men and peace from passions in the soul becomes the mother of divine grace and generates it in us. For it is unnatural for the soul, which is indignant and waging a struggle with other people and with itself, to be worthy of divine grace. - We also see another wondrous circumstance in this Evangelist John. Namely, he is the only one, and he has three mothers: his native Salome is thunder, for for the great voice in the Gospel he is the son of thunders (Mark 3:17), and the Mother of God, for it is said: "Behold thy mother" (John 19:27). - Having said this before the explanation, we must now begin to analyze the speeches of John themselves.

Chapter One

In the beginning was the Word.