Воины же, когда распяли Иисуса, взяли одежды Его и разделили на четыре части, каждому воину по части, и хитон; хитон же был не сшитый, а весь тканый сверху. Итак, сказали друг другу: не станем раздирать его, а бросим о нем жребий, чей будет: да сбудется реченное в Писании: разделили ризы Мои между собой и об одежде Моей бросали жребий (Пс. 21, 19). 

Чем диавол лукавит, в том исполняются пророчества. И смотри истину. Распятых было трое, и однако же речи пророков исполняются на Нем только одном. И заметь точность пророчества. Пророк сказал не о том только, что они разделили, но и о том, что не разделили. Прочие одежды они разделили на части, а хитон - нет, но дело о нем предоставили жребию. Слова "тканый сверху" прибавлены также не без значения. Но одни говорят, что сими словами иносказательно выражается, что Распятый был не простой Человек, но имел и "свыше" Божество. Некоторые же говорят, что евангелист описывает самый вид хитона. Так как в Палестине, соединяя два куска материи, то есть два полотна, ткут одежды, употребляя, вместо шва, тканье, то Иоанн, чтобы показать, что таков именно был хитон, сказал, что он "весь тканый сверху", то есть соткан от начала и сверху донизу. Указывает же этим замечанием на бедность одежд Христовых. Иные же говорят, что в Палестине ткут холсты не так, как у нас: у нас сверху находится основа и уток, а полотно ткется снизу и таким образом идет кверху; там, напротив, основа находится снизу, а ткань ткется сверху. Таков, говорят, был хитон Господа. Без сомнения, и здесь является таинство. Тело Господа соткано свыше, ибо Дух Святый пришел и сила Всевышнего осенила Деву (Лк. 1, 35). Ибо, хотя Он принял долу сущее и падшее естество человеческое, но Плоть Божественная образована и соткана свышней благодатью Святаго Духа. Итак, Святое Тело Христа, разделяемое и раздаваемое в четырех частях мира, пребывает неразделимо. Ибо, будучи уделяем каждому поодиночке и каждого освящая Своим телом, Единородный Своей плотью всецело и нераздельно обитает во всех. Ибо, будучи везде, Он никак не разделен, как и апостол Павел взывает (1 Кор. 1, 13). Поелику все слагается из четырех стихий, то под одеждой Иисусовой можно разуметь эту видимую и сотворенную природу, которую бесы разделяют, когда умертвят сущее в нас Слово Божие; стараются они привлечь нас на свою сторону чрез привязанность к мирским благам, но не могут разодрать хитон, то есть сущее во всем существующем Слово, по которому все существует (Пс. 32, 5). Ибо, сколько бы много раз я ни обольстился текущими благами, я все-таки знаю, что они текущи, знаю и качество, и существо обманчивых и преходящих вещей.

     Так поступили воины. При кресте Иисуса стояли Матерь Его и сестра Матери Его, Мария Клеопова, и Мария Магдалина. Иисус, увидев Матерь и ученика, тут стоящего, которого любил, говорит Матери Своей: Жено! се, сын Твой. Потом говорит ученику: се, Матерь твоя! И с этого времени ученик сей взял Ее к себе. 

The soldiers acted according to their own foolishness; He cares for the Mother, teaching us to take care of our parents until our last breath. And look, while there are other wives here, He cares only for the Mother. For parents who hinder in the matter of worship of God should not be paid attention to, and those who do not hinder should be taken care of in every way. In the same way, since He Himself departs from life, and it was natural for the Mother to grieve and seek protection, He entrusts the care of Her to a disciple. The Evangelist hides his name out of modesty. For if he had wanted to boast, he would have given the reason why he was loved, and it was probably some great and wondrous one. Oh! how He honored the disciple by making him His brother. It is so good to be with Christ who suffers, for it leads to brotherhood with Him. Consider how He does everything on the Cross without confusion, cares for His Mother, fulfills the prophecies, opens paradise to the thief, while before the crucifixion He experiences spiritual anguish, exudes sweat. It is clear that the latter belongs to human nature, and the former to the power of God. May Marcion and all the others be put to shame, who talk idly that the Lord appeared to the world in a phantom. For if He was not born and did not have a Mother, why does He take such great care of Her? - Why is Mary of Cleopas called His Mother's sister, while Joachim had no other child? Cleopas was Joseph's brother. When Cleopas died childless, then, according to the legend of some, Joseph took his wife in marriage and bore his brother children. One of them is the now mentioned Maria. She is called the sister of the Mother of God, that is, a relative. For the Scriptures are in the habit of calling relatives brothers. For example, Isaac says of Rebekah that she was his sister, although she was his wife. So here, too, the imaginary daughter of Cleopas is called the sister of the Mother of God by kinship. - In the Gospels there are four Marys: one is the Mother of God, who is called the Mother of James and Josiah, for they were the children of Joseph, born of his first wife, perhaps the wife of Cleopas. The Mother of God is called their Mother, as a stepmother, because She was considered the wife of Joseph. The other is Magdalene, from whom the Lord drove out seven demons; the third is Cleopas, and the fourth is the sister of Lazarus. And so this disciple took Mary to himself, for the pure is entrusted to the pure. See how the female sex is firm in adversity, and the men have all forsaken the Lord. Verily, He has come, Who strengthens the weak and accepts the humiliated.

     After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst." There was a vessel full of vinegar. The soldiers, having drunk a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop, brought it to His lips. And when Jesus had tasted the vinegar, he said, It is finished! And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. 

"Knowing," says Jesus, "that all things are already finished," that is, that nothing remains unfulfilled in the plan of God's economy. So free was His death. For the end of His body did not come before He Himself willed, and He willed after He had fulfilled all things. For this reason He said: "I have power to lay down My life" (John 10:18). He says: "I thirst," and in this case again fulfills the prophecy. And they, showing their wicked disposition, will give Him vinegar to drink, as they did with criminals. For hyssop is added because it is harmful. Some say that hyssop is called a reed, because such is the top of the reed. They put their lips to the reed, because Jesus' mouth was high. And thus the prophecy was fulfilled, saying: "In the time of my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Psalm 68:22). After drinking, He said: "It is finished!" that is: and this prophecy with all the rest has come true, nothing remains, everything is over. He does everything without embarrassment and with authority. This is evident from what follows. For when all was accomplished, He "bowed His head," because it was not nailed, "gave up His spirit," that is, gave His last breath. With us, it is the opposite: first our breathing stops, and then our head bows. But he first bowed his head, and then gave up his spirit. From all this it is clearly revealed that He was the Lord of death and did everything according to His own authority.

     But since it was Friday then, the Jews, in order not to leave the bodies on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), asked Pilate to break their legs and take them off. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, when they saw Him dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.