If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him and does not know Him; but you know Him, for He is with you, and will be in you.

He said above: I will do whatever you ask; now he shows that one should not ask simply, but with love for Him and keeping the commandments. For then I will do it when you ask in this way. And it is different. Hearing that they would be forsaken by Him, they could naturally be saddened and troubled in their souls. He says, "Loving Me does not consist in being sad and troubled, but in obeying My words." I have given you a commandment not to be afraid of those who kill the body (Matt. 10:28). If you love Me, then keep it and no longer grieve over My death. For it is not characteristic of him who keeps the mentioned commandment to grieve. How, then, not keeping My commandment, but fearing death, do you say that you love Me? To this they might have said, "How can we not grieve when we are about to lose your comfort and guidance?" Therefore he says, "This will not happen; You will not be left without consolation. For I will ask, that is, I will beseech the Father, and He will send you another Comforter, another but one like Me. Let Sabellius be ashamed of these words, who says that there is one person of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For behold, listen: he will send "another" Comforter; it means that the face of the Spirit is different. Let Macedonius also be ashamed, who says that the Spirit of another being is inferior to the Son. For listen: the Spirit is also the Comforter, as is the Son. Thus, the Spirit is the Comforter, just as the Son is. Thus, the Spirit, who is of one essence with the Son, is undoubtedly of one essence with the Father. For the Father and the Son are one and the same being. Do not be surprised if He says, "I will pray the Father." For He does not ask as a servant; but in order to assure the disciples that the Comforter Spirit would certainly come to them, He condescended to them and said: "I will beseech" the Father. For if He had said, "I will send," they would not have believed so much; and now, in order to make His word more trustworthy, He says: "I will pray the Father," that is, if it is necessary to both ask and pray, then I will try in every way that the Spirit will come to you. This is similar to how we often say: I will lay down my life so that this and that may happen. Though often the work does not require much effort, yet we speak in this way, wishing to show that we will not give up the effort. Otherwise. Since the Lord offered himself for us as a sacrifice to the Father, propitiating him by his death as a high priest, and then, after the destruction of sin and the cessation of enmity, the Spirit came to us, therefore he says, I will pray the Father, and will give you a Comforter, that is, I will propitiate the Father for you, and reconcile him to you who are hostile to him because of sin, and he, propitiated by my death for you, and reconciled to you, will send you the Spirit. "May He be with you forever." He also said this for their consolation. His coming is not like mine, it is not only for a time, but will last forever; He will not forsake you even after your death, but will abide with you and glorify you; He always dwells with all the saints, even after their death, especially since they then rise even more above the passions of the flesh. "The Spirit of truth," he says, that is, the Spirit is not of the Old Testament, for he is the image and shadow, but of the New, which is the truth. Those who lived under the Law also had the Spirit, but had it in form and shadows, and now, it can be said, the Truth itself has essentially descended to the disciples. And lest they think that the Spirit will be incarnate like Him, he says that the world cannot receive Him. He, he says, will teach you differently from me, for the world cannot receive him bodily. He will dwell in your very souls.

Otherwise. His "world" cannot accept Him, that is, people who are vicious and philosophize about the world, because they do not see Him, that is, because His essence is immense. For by vision here he means contemplation with the mind, which is why he added: "and does not know Him." Obviously, by saying, "He does not see," He expressed what He "does not know." Thus He comforts the apostles when He says that the world cannot receive Him, but that this excellent gift will be given to you, and will abide "with you," and what is still more, it will abide "in you." For the word "with you" indicates external help from intimacy, and "in you" indicates inner dwelling and strengthening. This also shows that He is God. For God says: "I will dwell in you, and I will walk" (Lev. 26:12). So the world cannot receive the Spirit, because it does not know Him, and you know Him. Why? Because you are not of the world. That is why you are able to receive Him, and He is now "with you" and will always be "in you."

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while, and the world will see Me no more, for I live, and you will live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

Do not be afraid, he says, "I have said to you, I will send another Comforter." Do not think that you will not see Me again. For I will not depart from you forever. I will come and will not leave you orphans. Since at the beginning of his speech he called them children, now he decently says: "I will not leave you orphans." And so that they do not think that He will still appear to them and everyone with a body, He says: "The world will see Me no more." You are the only ones who will see Me after the resurrection. "For I live"; though I shall accept death, yet I shall be resurrected. "And ye shall live," that is, when you see Me, you will rejoice, and, as after death, you will be made alive by My appearance. Or thus: As My death has brought to life, so ye also, though ye die, shall ye live. Therefore, do not grieve for Me who is dying, nor for yourselves. For even if you die, you will live in the life to come. "In that day you will know that I am in My Father," that is, when I am resurrected, then you will know that I am not separated from the Father, but have the same power. "And ye are in Me," that is, preserved by Me, "and I am in you," that is, I am with you, I deliver you from sorrows, I work miracles through you, and in general I glorify you through everything. And in other words: "I am in you," as the Head in the members, for the apostles are members of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:23), "and you are in Me," as members in the Head. When He was resurrected, then He made clear to them the knowledge of all these things. For after the resurrection, the grace of the Spirit taught them all things.

When you hear the words: "I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I in you," do not understand them in the same meaning. For the Son in the Father is of one essence, and in the Apostles as a helper and helper, and the Apostles in Him as receiving from Him help, assistance, and fervor. Many other names are used about God and about people, but not in the same sense. Thus, we are also called gods (Psalm 81:6), but not in the same sense as God. The Son is called the Image and Glory of the Father (Heb. 1:3), and man is called the same; but not in one meaning. This is how these words should be understood. As well as the following words: "As the Father has sent me, so I also send you" (John 20:21) – should we understand simply? The Father sent the Son in the sense that He, being incorporeal, became incarnate, having been born of a Virgin. Is it possible that this is why the Apostles were also from heaven and incorporeal, and then became incarnate, and each of them was born of a virgin?! But to understand the words of Scripture in this way is obvious madness.

Whoever has My commandments and keeps them loves Me; but whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and appear to him Myself. Judas – not Iscariot – said to Him: "Lord! What is this, You want to reveal Yourself to us, and not to the world?

With these words, as we said above, He calms their sorrow, teaching them that He loves Him, not he who grieves over His death, which sorrow they also feel, but he who keeps His commandments and commandments not to be attached to the present life, but to lay down their lives for God and for good. He says to them as it were: you think that out of love you grieve over My death, but I, on the contrary, set it as a sign of love that you should not grieve. That this is the thought in His words is shown by the fact that He says a little further: "If you had loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I go to My Father" (v. 28). Therefore, whoever loves Me has My commandments, and not only has, but also keeps them, lest the thief, the devil, come and steal this treasure, for careful care is needed not to lose them. What reward will he receive who loves Me? "He will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself." Why did He say, "I will appear to him Myself"? Since after the resurrection He had to appear to them in a God-like body, so that they would not take Him for a spirit and a ghost, He also foretold these things to them, so that when they saw Him then, they would not remain in unbelief, but remember that He had foretold these things to them, and that He appeared to them for keeping His commandments, so that they might always strive to keep them, The mystery of the resurrection is great, and they would accept it with difficulty; therefore He prepares them, saying that He Himself will appear to them. For after His resurrection He also ate in order that He might not be considered a phantom, which Judas now had a thought. Judas, who is now mentioned, thought that as we see the dead in dreams, so He will appear to them; therefore he says: "Lord! What is this, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us, and not to the world?" You die and want to appear to us in a dream, just as the dead appear. For "what is this" are the words of the frightened and troubled. What does the Lord answer to this? How does He overthrow his opinion as false?

Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; but the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me.

Judas, in great fear, thought that the Lord would appear to them in a dream after His death, which is why he proposed the above-mentioned question. And the Lord, refuting his opinion, says that as the Father Himself appears, so will I Myself appear to you. For I and the Father will come together to him who keeps My words. I will not appear to you in a dream; but since I will come with the Father, as it is fitting for the Father to appear, so will be my appearance to you. The words: "We will make our abode with him" also overthrow the opinion of Judas. Dreams are short; but I will appear and abide with the Father. Therefore My visitation is not like a dream. He foretells them of His appearance, as I have said, so that they do not consider Him a phantom, and at the same time He stirs them up to keep His commandments by assuring them that both He and the Father are the ones who keep them. In the same way, on the contrary, both He and the Father are removed from the one who does not keep the commandments, as from one who does not love. For whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And whoever does not love the Son does not love the Father either. For the word belongs to both the Son and the Father. Therefore, whoever does not keep the words of the Son, that is, the Father, does not love both the Son and the Father. Therefore, you, disciples, keep My words, for by this you will prove your love for Me and for the Father.

Others say that the question is: Why do You want to appear to us, and not to the world? – the disciple Judas offered not out of fear, but out of love for people. He wished that the benefit of the manifestation should be not only for the disciples, but also for the whole world. And the Saviour shows that not everyone is worthy of such blessings; but only those who keep His commandments will be made worthy of His appearing and the love of the Father. For in him who keeps the commandments, God and the Father dwells. But not in the same way as in the Son; for in the Son He dwells naturally, but in man morally.

These things have I said to you while I was with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have told you.

Since the Lord's words were incomprehensible to the disciples, and they did not understand some of them, and for the most part they doubted them, so that they do not ask Him again and tell them what commandments we must keep, He frees them from cares and confusion, saying that the Comforter will make unclear and incomprehensible things incomprehensible to you. This, which seems obscure to you, I have said, being with you and being with you; but if I depart, you will be taught all things. Therefore, you need not grieve over separation from Me, when it will bring you so many blessings and so much wisdom. For as long as I Myself abide with you, and the Spirit does not come, you cannot comprehend anything great or lofty. He often mentions the Comforter because of the sorrow that befalls them, giving them a good hope that He will guide them. The Comforter will come "in my name." This means: He will not teach you anything that is alien to My teaching, He will not seek His own glory, but He will come in My name, that is, for the glory of My name, and not His own, as teachers who are hostile to each other do, drawing their followers with them. Some in the words "in My name" understand the name of Christ: "Comforter". For it is said: "We have Jesus Christ as an advocate (Comforter)" (1 John 2:1). And just as the Spirit who came to the disciples became the Comforter, relieved their sorrow, He came in the name of Christ, for He is also the Comforter, just as Christ is. But the Apostle Paul also calls the Spirit Christ, when he says: "You do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in us. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). Then he added: "But if Christ is in you..." (v. 10). Do you see how he said above that the Spirit of God dwells in them, and then added, Christ is in you. It is clear that the Apostle called the Spirit Christ. And since the Spirit is called Christ, then the words: "The Father will send Him 'in My name'" you must understand in such a way that He also will be called Christ, the Holy Spirit both taught and reminded: "taught" all that Christ did not say to them, as not being able to contain; recalled" all that the Lord, although He had said, could not retain in their memory, either because of the vagueness of what was said, or because of the weakness of their minds.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, and let it not be afraid.