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" is the death of Christ 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.

And at the time of supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot of Simon to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was departing to God, arose from the supper, took off His outer garment, and taking a towel, girded Himself; Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

The Evangelist, wondering that Christ washed the feet of the one who dared to betray Him, says: "When the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas." Thus to the end He took care of the correction of the traitor. And the words: "at the time of supper" are not set without purpose, but to show the inhumanity of Judas, since participation in the supper did not change him. "Jesus, knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands," that is, He entrusted to Him the salvation of the faithful, and it is necessary to show them all that pertains to salvation, among other things, and to wash the disciples' feet, for by this humility is legitimized... And in other words: knowing that the Father has committed all things to Him, and that He has come forth from God and is departing to God, and His glory will not diminish if He washes the feet of His disciples. For He did not steal glory in order to fear losing it, and therefore not to undertake any humble work. A similar feeling is experienced by those who do not have true nobility. Since they have stolen glory for themselves, they do not even want to bend down, so as not to lose what does not belong to them and what they have stolen. But He was the King of all and the Son of God. For this is the meaning of the words: "He came from God," that is, from the essence of the Father, and again "departs to God." Therefore His glory, when He is so high and so great, will not diminish if He washes the feet of the disciples.

Note, I beseech you, that if humility is the work of one who proceeds from God and departs to God, then pride will obviously be the work of one who proceeds from demons and departs to demons. But when you hear that "the Father has delivered up to Him," do not think that the impotence of the Son is revealed here, but oneness of honor and oneness of mind with the Father. For if because it is said that the Father has delivered up to Him, the Son appears to you to be powerless, then imagine the Father also to be powerless. For to Him also, as the Apostle says (1 Corinthians 15:24), the Son will deliver up the kingdom. But this is not the case; and "tradition" means, so to speak, the oneness of mind and cooperation, and the good will of the Father.

Note also the superlative degree of humility. For He does not wash before supper, but when all are seated, He alone rises, and the rest rest. He lays aside His garments, teaching us to make ourselves unhindered and easy to serve. He girds himself with a towel, doing everything Himself – both washing and rubbing. He pours in water, and does it Himself, and does not order someone else to do it. All this is an example and a law for us as to how we should serve, namely, with all diligence, to do everything ourselves, and not to use the service of others.

He came up to Simon Peter, and he said to Him, "Lord! Do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not know now, but you will understand later."

The Lord does not wash Peter's feet first, although he had primacy over the disciples, but perhaps the traitor, being impudent and shameless, reclined higher than Peter, and the Lord washed his feet. Where does this come from? From the following. "He began," it is said, to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them, and then he came to Simon Peter. From this it is clear that the Lord did not wash Peter first. For if the Lord had not washed someone before Peter, the Evangelist would not have said, "He comes to Simon Peter." None of the other disciples would have dared to accept washing before Peter, and the traitor could have dared to do so. For if the Lord had begun to wash any of the other disciples, this one, whoever he might have been, would not have allowed the Lord to be allowed to do so, and would have said the same thing as Peter: "Lord, shall Thou wash my feet?" This means that of the other disciples, the Lord washed the traitor first, then Peter. And the rest, enlightened by the example of Peter, naturally did not contradict, but accepted such a high honor given to them by the Lord. Consider also the power of the words of the Apostle Peter. Wilt thou wash my feet with the hands with which thou didst cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and open the eyes of the blind? Will you, Who have done this and more than this, wash me, a servant and an unlearned one, and not your hands, nor any other most honorable member, but your feet, the last member of all, which is considered especially filthy and dishonorable? What about the Lord? He says, "What I am doing, now you do not know it; My work contains deep humility, which I teach you also. However, after you have cast out demons in My name, when you have seen My ascension into heaven, when you have learned from the Holy Spirit that I sit at the right hand of the Father, then you will understand that He Who humbled Himself to the point of washing your feet, He is the One who gives you such power over the demons, and ascended and was glorified with the Father, not in the least degraded by humility. And therefore you yourself have implanted in yourself humility, which does not humiliate, but elevates more.

Peter said to Him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, he has no part with me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord! not only my feet, but also my hands and head.