Commentaries on John (in catenae) 1 Jo 1, 1 In the beginning was the Word, without beginning, he says, according to time, and the Word was with God, a

 time, the impassible, that from such a father, this is of the same substance. The Father was God with whom the Son was, and the Word who was with the

 by an artistic work, as providing in that which is provided for. 9 Jo 1, 11 How did he who is always everywhere and present in the world come to his o

 Jo 1, 15 He was always first, for he is by nature God and Son of God, but I am his slave and herald. This one was indeed always first, but he comes af

 gestures of honor and great words, or rather where there is a profit of a little money, the temple or the law is nothing but where there is the great

 and little by little she progressed, so that she not only confessed [him as] Messiah and Christ, but also preached to the city and her homeland and in

 for the Father judges no one, would have given the suspicion that he himself abdicated his authority. But for this reason he places the gave, so t

 according to human opinion and judgment, his testimony is not true. Therefore the Lord also, indicating this in response to their opinion, said: 'If I

 to be instructed and to be benefited. 42 Jo 6, 6 Or testing is said instead of exercising him, stirring up his thoughts and leading him toward the

 leading us up to the teaching of the Father, you send us back again to yourself, if indeed you have seen and you are about to unfold the Father’s teac

 Declaring the multitude and magnitude of the gifts, he calls them rivers. Therefore, no one, neither of the ancient prophets nor of the disciples then

 of cities, in which he also had relatives, he did not rise up for the destruction of the angels he saw typically and iconically as they were proceedin

 For that one, he says, was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. And who else, he says, is s

 the clay was used for another reason than what has been said, in order to demonstrate very clearly that He Himself also formed Adam from clay. Moreove

 something humble and human about him, so that the weak hearer may not fall away or the evildoer find an occasion for wickedness, he runs back again to

 He said to the disciples concerning the Greeks who wanted to see him: that the hour has come, that the Son of Man might be glorified. 74 Jo 12, 27 To

 I did not expect that anyone would ever come to such madness and ingratitude and foulness, so as to repay his benefactor with murder and betrayal afte

 but the Jews, ending their life, were sent away to death and punishment. Therefore He says: And where I go, you cannot come. But to them He speaks thu

 you sought to see with bodily eyes, but looking at the flesh, which I willingly took up on your behalf, you have seen nothing lofty nor worthy of my d

 the discourses already being about to cease. 90 Jo 15, 9-11 I have spoken these things to you which things are these? that as the Father has loved me

 A tribunal had its beginning in that city in which the audacious act of murder was also committed. And the refutation came not through words, but thro

 to the Son. And this the blessed Paul also proclaimed, saying: according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages with this glory t

 in the Father, that is, consubstantial. Why then did He not say, 'as You, Father, are to Me and I to You,' but with the preposition? Most of all, He a

 take and kill? He said, take and judge. But were they not prepared for the murder of the Master, and were they not intoxicated with rage and envy, so

 he was about to show, leading them again through this to a higher estimation. 114 Jo 21, 17 Since he asked him a third time, making the question equal

time, the impassible, that from such a father, this is of the same substance. The Father was God with whom the Son was, and the Word who was with the Father was God, and was likewise both God and God, likewise one God was; for the Father was co-unoriginate with the Son. And consider what great zeal the evangelist had to proclaim the Word God; for since he said 'Word,' he also said 'with God'; so that no one, while enumerating other properties, should suspect the Word to be something other than God, he did not wait to speak of the particulars, but immediately cried out 'and the Word was God,' tolerating to say nothing else after 'and the Word was with God' other than that 'the Word was also God.' Then, having declared the object of his zeal, he again goes through the characteristics and properties of the Godhead that are contained in this. 3 Jo 1, 3-4 He says not only 'through him all things were made,' but also 'and whatever has been made.' 'In him was life,' that is, the only-begotten Word of God, the beginning and constitution of all things visible and invisible, who grants to beings in many ways to be and to live and to move, not proceeding by some division and alteration into each of the things that are distinct by nature. but one life containing all things, proceeding to each as may be fitting for it and as it is able to partake. 4 Jo 1, 4 'In him was life,' that is, he is the source of life that is not corrupted nor dissolved. And if of this, much more is he the cause of this mortal life, which is dissolved for a purpose. And in whom was such a life? Clearly in the Son; for he, having come into the world, brought it to all men through faith in him and supplied it. 5 Jo 1, 5 The darkness is either death or error or sin; for neither does death overcome those who have sincerely believed in him and have become guardians of his commandments and have received true life in themselves through these things; for 'he who believes in me,' he says, 'though he die, yet shall he live.' nor sin; 'for you are not of the world'; nor error, nor affliction or mistreatment; 'for be of good cheer,' he says, 'I have overcome the world.' And if those who have been deemed worthy of the life supplied from there have enjoyed so great a light, as to have become superior to all darkness and to have scattered the mist from there, what must one think also about the one who supplies the unending and light-bearing life? 6 Jo 1, 6 'There was a man sent' instead of 'he was made for this very purpose: to be sent before the Word and to proclaim the dignity of his Godhead'; for he did not proclaim what he proclaimed about Christ in passing or by some chance or otherwise according to human ambition, but as a duty and as having been made for this very purpose: to be sent as his forerunner and herald and to declare. 7 Jo 1, 6-9 Since he spoke in a rather human way 'to bear witness concerning the light,' lest it might seem to some that the Word gained something from the witness of John, he ran back again to what is high and fitting and says: 'and the true light, which enlightens every man.' He was, he says, he does not need witness; for he was and is always light, but the witness is for the sake of men, so that having believed and being led by the hand by their fellow servant, they might be saved. The light was and enlightens every man, so that the light enlightens John himself; for John was a man sent. Therefore the light did not need his witness, but, as we have said, he bears witness, so that those who hear, having believed, might be saved. 8 Jo 1, 10 This shames and stops the mouths of those who say the world belongs to the evil one; for the good one would not have endured to be in the creation of an enemy and foe. Wherefore also, refuting this suspicion more clearly, he says, 'and the world was made through him'; for above he spoke universally: 'all things were made through him'; but now he also speaks specifically of the world itself, which some, on account of the seeming irregularities in it, have imagined to be of another, evil principle, and not of the beneficent one. He clearly exposed their irrationality and shamelessness by saying, 'and the world was made through him'. And 'he was in the world,' not as being contained or circumscribed in it, far from it, but as being everywhere. Thus also in the world as a creator in his creation, as an artist in his

χρόνον, τὸ ἀπαθές, τὸ ἐκ τοιούτου πατρός, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁμοούσιος. ἦν θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς ὃν ὁ υἱὸς ἦν καὶ θεὸς ὁ Λόγος ὁ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἦν καὶ ἦν ὁμοίως καὶ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς ὁμοίως εἷς θεὸς ἦν· καὶ ἦν συνάναρχος γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τῷ υἱῷ. ἐννόει δὲ καὶ σπουδὴν ἡλίκην τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ εἰς τὸ ἀνακηρῦξαι θεὸν τὸν Λόγον· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπεν Λόγον, εἶπεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεόν· ἵνα μή τις καὶ τὰ ἄλλα καταλέγων ἴδια ἄλλο τι τὸν Λόγον ὑποπτεύσῃ παρὰ τὸν θεόν, οὐκ ἀνέμεινεν τὰ κατὰ μέρος εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' εὐθέως ἀνέκραξεν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος μηδὲν ἕτερον ἀνασχόμενος ἐφεξῆς εἰπεῖν τοῦ καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. εἶτα τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἀνειπὼν πάλιν ἐπεξέρχεται καὶ ἃ ἐμπεριέχεται τούτῳ χαρακτηριστικὰ καὶ ἴδια τῆς θεότητος. 3 Jo 1, 3-4 Οὐ μόνον φησὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τι γέγονε. ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωή, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, ἡ πάντων ἀρχή τε καὶ σύστασις ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, ἡ τὸ εἶναι καὶ ζῆν καὶ κινεῖσθαι πολυτρόπως τοῖς οὖσι χαριζομένη, οὐ κατὰ μερισμόν τινα καὶ ἀλλοίωσιν εἰς ἕκαστα τῶν τῇ φύσει διεστώτων χωρῶν. μία δὲ ἡ πάντα ζωὴ χωροῦσα πρὸς ἕκαστον ὡς ἂν αὐτῷ πρέπῃ καὶ δύνηται μετασχεῖν. 4 Jo 1, 4 Ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, τοῦτ' ἔστι πηγή ἐστι τῆς ζωῆς τῆς μὴ φθειρομένης μηδὲ λυομένης. εἰ δὲ ταύτης, πολλῷ μᾶλλον αὐτῆς αἴτιος καὶ τῆς ἐπικήρου ταύτης καὶ πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον λυομένης. ἐν τίνι δὲ ἦν ἡ τοιαύτη ζωή; δῆλον ὅτι ἐν τῷ υἱῷ· οὗτος γὰρ ἐλθὼν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις αὐτὴν ἐπήγαγε διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως καὶ ἐχορήγησεν. 5 Jo 1, 5 Ἡ σκοτία ἢ ὁ θάνατος ἢ ἡ πλάνη ἢ ἡ ἁμαρτία· τοὺς γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν εἰλικρινῶς πεπιστευκότας καὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ φύλακας γεγενημένους καὶ τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς ζωὴν διὰ τούτων ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δεξαμένους οὔτε θάνατος περιγίνεται· ὁ γὰρ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, φησίν, κἂν ἀποθάνῃ, ζήσεται. οὔτε ἁμαρτία· ὑμεῖς γὰρ οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πλάνη, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ θλῖψις ἢ κάκωσις· θαρσεῖτε γάρ, φησίν, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον. εἰ δὲ οἱ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν χορηγουμένης ζωῆς ἀξιωθέντες τοΣούτου φωτὸς ἀπήλαυσαν, ὥστε παντὸς σκότους γεγονέναι κρείττους καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀχλὺν διασκεδάσαι, τί χρὴ διανοῆσαι καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ χορηγοῦντος τὴν ἀνέσπερον καὶ φωτοφόρον ζωήν; 6 Jo 1, 6 Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰς τοῦτο αὐτὸ γέγονεν εἰς τὸ προαπεστάλθαι τοῦ Λόγου καὶ κηρῦξαι τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ· οὐ γὰρ κατὰ πάροδον ἢ κατά τινα συγκυρίαν ἢ ἄλλως κατὰ ἀνθρωπίνην φιλοτιμίαν ἐκήρυξεν ἅπερ ἐκήρυξεν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ χρέος καὶ ὡς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο γεγενημένος εἰς τὸ πρόδρομος αὐτοῦ καὶ κῆρυξ ἀπεστάλθαι καὶ χρηματίσαι. 7 Jo 1, 6-9 Ἐπειδὴ ἀνθρωπινώτερον εἶπε τὸ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα μή τισι δόξῃ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰωάννου μαρτυρίας κερδαίνειν τι τὸν Λόγον, εἰς τὸ ὑψηλὸν καὶ πρέπον πάλιν ἀνέδραμεν καί φησιν· καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον. ἦν φησιν, οὐ χρείαν ἔχει μαρτυρίας· φῶς γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἔστιν ἀεί, ἀλλ' ἡ μαρτυρία τῶν ἀνθρώπων χάριν, ἵνα πιστεύσαντες καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὁμοδούλου χειραγωγηθέντες σωθῶσιν. ἦν τὸ φῶς καὶ πάντα ἄνθρωπον φωτίζει ὥστε καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην αὐτὸν φωτίζει τὸ φῶς· ἄνθρωπος γὰρ ἦν ἀπεσταλμένος ὁ Ἰωάννης. οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἐδεῖτο τῆς μαρτυρίας αὐτοῦ τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἔφημεν, μαρτυρεῖ, ἵνα πιστεύσαντες οἱ ἀκούσαντες σωθῶσιν. 8 Jo 1, 10 Τοῦτο ἐντρέπων καὶ ἐμφράττων τὰ στόματα τῶν λεγόντων τοῦ πονηροῦ εἶναι τὸν κόσμον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠνέσχετο ἐν τῷ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ καὶ πολεμίου εἶναι ποιήματι ὁ ἀγαθός. διὸ καὶ ἐναργέστερον ταύτην τὴν ὑποψίαν ἀναιρῶν καὶ ὁ κόσμος, φησίν, δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· ἄνω μὲν γὰρ καθολικῶς εἶπεν· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· νῦν δὲ καὶ ἰδικῶς αὐτὸν τὸν κόσμον, ὅν τινες διὰ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ δοκούσας ἀνωμαλίας ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς πονηρᾶς, ἀλλ' οὐ τῆς ἀγαθοποιοῦ ἐφαντάσθησαν. ὧν τρανῶς τὴν ἀλογίαν καὶ ἀναισχυντίαν διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο ἐστηλίτευσεν. τὸ δὲ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν οὐχ ὡς περιεχόμενος ἢ περιγραφόμενος ἐν αὐτῷ, ἄπαγε, ἀλλ' ὡς πανταχοῦ. οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὡς ποιητὴς ἐν τῷ ποιήματι, ὡς τεχνίτης ἐν τῷ