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.