Fragments on the Gospel of John (in the catenae) 1 Positing him as the Creator of all things, he predicates the name of the Word of him. For since, in

 but by the good pleasure of God, he willed that creation should exist. This wisdom, therefore, willed to assume a creative relation to the things that

 again overtakes the light. And that I might change the theorem to something clearer, the light is the truth but when falsehood and all deceit, that i

 but having come to him with scientific proof and articulated understanding, they believe in him and call upon him. Whence Jesus, after the great progr

 But First must be understood instead of Before. However, what he says is something like this: Jesus, being before me and prior to me, came behind

 it is accomplished by choice, then that which is from God comes to pass, and this is the giving of grace for grace from God. 12 But the law was given

 he sees by applying his own mind, just as we are said to see visible things by a glance of the eyes. But God is also seen by those to whom He judges t

 and hiding his power for proceeding toward the dispensation. Since, therefore, it is not possible for any human to show a demonstration of the manner

 a more solid body. But if this were so, the opening of the heavens would not <have> come under sight, for neither is the Holy Spirit which descended f

 he says confidently, from Nazareth is indeed the one who was found and truly he is good. To whom Philip said: “Come and see” the found Jesus, wishing

 having been cast upon it, it seemed to be thought that all things came from water〛. 30 They believed is said instead of They were confirmed. For h

 For to know certain people from their actions and words is possible even for a mere man. But Jesus, not being a mere man, but God become man, knows al

 is grieved at the loss of pleasant things, does not cling with steadfastness to the agreeable things that are present. He wants us, therefore, to be s

 saying we may signify it through the ones being ruled, declaring it either from the place † when of the earth [of him] or of the inhabited world we an

 of wild beasts, having disbelieved God, who promised them the land, thus will they be saved by gazing at the uplifted serpent because of God who comma

 that the one who has done evil should depart from evil † but look to the good and that the one who professes to rejoice in the truth should at some t

 of the only sower of good things. He is none other than Jesus, of whom you have said you baptize, who has been testified to by me, to whom you say all

 by the prophets, in the last «of the days has spoken to us, who live during the visitation

 John. He came for a witness, to bear witness «of the Light».〛 For if the prophets before John also spoke from the earth, how do they bear witness conc

 to come to a woman. 53 But perhaps someone might inquire into the reason why Jews do not associate with Samaritans, which it is possible to find in th

 it must be said, from which Jacob along with his sons was drinking spiritually, and from it were drinking also

 and being lovers of the word, they considered that it was then the time for food and supposed that perhaps just as to Daniel in Babylon by the command

 human nature is not able. But since such a discourse does not come to men bare of matter and bodily examples, for this reason Jesus spits on the groun

 For since there are differences of signs, so that, as the apostle says, both the one in the law and the lawless one, whom the lord consumes with the b

 God, being asked for things by sinners on the basis of works, does not listen. 71 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he sai

 of the sensible it is no longer possible to hear about the bodily... when “Jesus answered and said to her: If you knew the gift of God and who it is

 Aenon, near Salem. Aenon is interpreted as Eye of torment and Salem He who is ascending. Therefore, those who receive the second ransom are now mo

 Jesus to the one who had died. For your sakes, he says, I am glad, those of you believing from learning that he died when I was not with him, and so t

 waits at home to receive him, as one capable of his visit. And she would not have gone out of her own house, unless she had heard her sister saying: “

 outcome is uncertain. But for an allegorical interpretation, it must be said that 〚Jesus formerly walked openly among the Jews through the prophets, b

 to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance so from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from

 able to believe 〚because their eyes had been blinded by the evil one〛 it was not impossible for them to believe by approaching Jesus 〚and saying: Son

 the sun, the light that does not set and is without evening, having come to the world and through wonders both befitting God and beyond reason having

 you see that I have.”〛 And concerning how it is said to him, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” and concerning the name of Thomas, such things mi

 emphatic. For one who proclaims great doctrines, according to the meaning, as is fitting, utters them with a great voice. 116 And has become should

 named it from the reigning God. For indeed among us in common usage, his kingdom is sometimes signified from the one who reigns, and sometimes from th

 and the mere sight of the one envied casts no small spark into the envious.] 130 [For this reason he would have mingled with us .... and becoming for

 risen from the dead. We acknowledge him as head according to the prefiguration of his resurrection, of whom we are members in part and a body through

human nature is not able. But since such a discourse does not come to men bare of matter and bodily examples, for this reason Jesus spits on the ground and makes clay. See then if you are able, narrating all of Scripture and the manner of its declaration therein, to say that it is composed, on the one hand, because of its divine thoughts, from the spittle of Christ, and on the other hand, because of its declaration as in histories and human affairs, from the earth on the ground. So that every letter of the Law and the Prophets and the other Scriptures is from such clay, with which one must also anoint the eyes of those who do not see, and after this to go away to the Siloam of the one sent by God; by which is signified a sort of swimming in the midst of investigations and questions about the truth, for indeed Job somewhere says: "But a mortal swims otherwise in words." Let us therefore wash off with the water of the pool "of the one sent" the clay anointed on our eyes, so that after this we may be able to see again. And you will understand the clay to be the beginning of the elements of the oracles of God, according to which as infants we are nourished with milk; but when the things of infancy are done away with and we partake of solid food, we cast off the clay, so that we may return to Jesus seeing. And all these things revolve around the Son of God; for according to different conceptions He Himself is also the one who was sent. And accept the human things before Siloam, but refer the sent water and Siloam to his more divine things. And in Isaiah you will understand that the divine and stable word is signified by these things, but the words of nations and of the heterodox by Rezin and the son of Remaliah. For how did the people want kings instead of the water of Siloam, and how is the water of the river strong and great, the king of the Assyrians and all his power, unless he himself happens to be some opposing power, overwhelming with the multitude of its persuasions the Judea that does not want the water of Siloam and prevailing over it? But to not heal him on the spot, but to command him to go away and wash, and to provide the healing to him as he washed, was the act of one managing it so that no one would miss the miracle that was happening. For just as he commanded the paralytic to take up his mat on a day when it was not lawful to do this, so that in this way everyone, by accusing the lawlessness of the miracle that happened, might learn its greatness, so also he commanded this man, being far from the pool, to go away and wash. 64 The beggar begs because of a lack of necessities and an inability to provide them more decently. Such you would find among the Greeks and barbarians who profess the truth, as if begging for help, from a lack of a fitting provision † for the rational part of truth, which is unconditionally rich in theorems. But forbidding such an investigation, the word says somewhere: "My son, do not live a beggar's life, as it is better to die than to beg." But the steward of unrighteousness in the gospels is ashamed to beg, and for this reason he said to the one who owed a hundred measures of wheat: "Take your bill and write sixty," and to the one who owed a hundred baths of oil: "Take your bill and make it eighty," preferring to receive from the one who owed his master rather than to beg with shame, and for this he was praised. Therefore Jesus freed the man from his birth from blindness, but also from begging. For He granted to him, along with sight, also the contemplation of how the things necessary for the salvation of his soul would be provided for him. Here, then, blindness is the cause of begging, but in the Acts, lameness, and he who is freed from them will no longer beg. 65 But if, as the Pharisees supposed, he who does not keep what they considered to be the sabbath is not from God, while the priests in the temple who profane the sabbath were from God, then it was not clear that he who did not keep their sabbath was not from God; so that the saying was not spoken by all the Pharisees of that time, but some of the Pharisees said this, as the evangelist says. And pay attention also to "Such signs" not being placed there in vain.

ἀνθρωπίνη οὐ δύναται φύσις. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος οὐ γυμνὸς ὕλης καὶ σωματικῶν παραδειγμάτων εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἔρχεται, διὰ τοῦτο πτύει χαμαὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ποιεῖ πηλόν. ὅρα τοίνυν εἰ δύνασαι πᾶσαν τὴν γραφὴν καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ ἀπαγγελίας διηγούμενος εἰπεῖν συνεστηκέναι διὰ μὲν τὰ θεῖα νοή ματα ἀπὸ τοῦ σιέλου τοῦ χριστοῦ, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὡς ἐν ἱστορίαις καὶ ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασιν ἀπαγγελίαν ἐκ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν χαμαὶ γῆς. ὡς εἶναι τὸ πᾶν γράμμα τοῦ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν γραφῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τοιοῦδε πηλοῦ, ᾧ καὶ χρίσαι δεῖ τοὺς τῶν μὴ βλε πόντων ὀφθαλμούς, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὸν Σιλωὰμ τοῦ ἀπεσταλμένου ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· δι' οὗ δηλοῦται ἡ ἐν ταῖς ζητήσεσι καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας διαπορήσεσιν ὡσπερεὶ κολύμβησις, καὶ γὰρ Ἰώβ πού φησι· «Βροτὸς δὲ ἄλλως νήχεται λόγοις». ἀπονιψώμεθα τοι γαροῦν τῷ ὕδατι τῆς κολυμβήθρας «τοῦ ἀπεσταλμένου» τὸν ἐπι χρισθέντα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς πηλόν, ἵνα μετὰ τοῦτο ἀναβλέψαι δυνη θῶμεν. νοήσεις δὲ πηλὸν τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν στοιχείων τῶν λογίων τοῦ θεοῦ, καθ' ἣν ὡς νήπια γάλακτι τρεφόμεθα· ἐπειδὰν δὲ καταργηθῇ τὰ τοῦ νηπίου καὶ στερεᾶς τροφῆς μεταλάβωμεν, ἀπορριπτόμεθα τὸν πηλόν, ἵνα ἐπανέλθωμεν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν βλέποντες. πάντα δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ στρέφεται· κατὰ γὰρ διαφόρους ἐπινοίας αὐτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἀπεσταλμένος. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀνθρώπινα ἐκδέχου πρὸ τοῦ Σιλωάμ, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰ θειότερα αὐτοῦ ἀνάφερε τὸ ἀπεσταλμένον ὕδωρ καὶ Σιλωάμ. καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἡσαίᾳ νοήσεις τὸν θεῖον καὶ εὐσταθῆ λόγον διὰ τούτων σημαίνεσθαι, λόγους δὲ ἐθνῶν καὶ ἑτεροδόξων τὸν Ῥαασὼν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Ῥομελίου. ἐπεὶ πῶς ἀντὶ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ Σιλωὰμ βασιλεῖς ἤθελεν ὁ λαός, πῶς δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ ποταμοῦ ἐστιν ἰσχυρὸν καὶ πολύ, τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς καὶ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς δύναμίς τις ἀντικειμένη τυγχάνῃ, κατακλύζουσα τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἑαυτῆς πιθανῶν τὴν μὴ θέλουσαν Ἰουδαίαν ὕδωρ τοῦ Σιλωὰμ καὶ ἐπικρατοῦσαν αὐτοῦ; τὸ δὲ μὴ παρ όντα θεραπεῦσαι, κελεῦσαι δὲ ἀπελθόντα νίψασθαι, καὶ νιψα μένῳ τὴν θεραπείαν παρασχεῖν, οἰκονομοῦντος ἦν τὸ μηδένα λα θεῖν τὸ γινόμενον θαῦμα. ὥσπερ γὰρ τῷ παραλύτῳ τὸν κράββατον λαβεῖν ἐκέλευσεν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ καθ' ἣν οὐκ ἐξῆν τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἵν' οὕτως ἕκαστος ἐγκαλῶν ἐπὶ τῇ παρανομίᾳ τοῦ γεγονότος θαύματος μανθάνῃ τὸ μέγεθος, οὕτω καὶ τούτῳ πόρρωθεν ὄντι τῆς κολυμβήθρας ἐκέ λευσεν ἀπελθόντι νίψασθαι. 64 Ὁ προσαίτης δι' ἀπορίαν τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ ἀδυναμίαν τοῦ εὐσχημονέστερον αὐτὰ πορίζειν ἐπαιτεῖ. τοιούτους δ' ἂν εὕροις τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπαγγελλομένων τὴν ἀλήθειαν Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρ βάρων οἱονεὶ αἰτοῦντας ὠφέλειαν, ἀπορίᾳ πρέποντος πορισμοῦ † τῷ λογικῷ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπεριστάτως πλουσίων θεωρημάτων. ἀλλ' ἀπαγορεύων τὴν τοιαύτην διαζήτησιν ὁ λόγος φησί που· «Τέκνον, «ζωὴν ἐπαιτήσεως † μὴ βιώσῃ, ὡς κρεῖττον ἀποθανεῖν ἢ ἐπαιτεῖν». ἐπαιτεῖν δὲ αἰσχύνεται ὁ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις οἰκονόμος τῆς ἀδικίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ μὲν ὀφείλοντι ἑκατὸν κόρους σίτου ἔλεγε· «∆έξαι «σου τὸ γράμμα καὶ γράφε ἑξήκοντα», τῷ δὲ ἑκατὸν βάτους ἐλαίου· «∆έξαι σου τὸ γράμμα καὶ ποίησον ὀγδοήκοντα», προκρίνας τοῦ μετ' αἰσχύνης ἐπαιτεῖν τὸ λαβεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀφείλοντος τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐπαινεθείς. οὐ μόνον τοίνυν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπήλλαξε τὸν ἀπὸ γενετῆς τῆς τυφλότητος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ προσαιτεῖν. ἐχαρίσατο γὰρ αὐτῷ ἅμα τῷ βλέπειν καὶ θεωρίαν πῶς ποριστέον αὐτῷ ἔσται τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν ψυχῆς ἀναγκαῖα. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἡ τυφλότης τοῦ προσαιτεῖν αἰτία, ἐν δὲ ταῖς Πράξεσιν ἡ χωλότης, ὧν ὁ ἀπαλλαγεὶς οὐ προσαιτήσει ἔτι. 65 Εἴπερ δὲ ὡς ὑπελάμβανον οἱ Φαρισαῖοι, ὁ μὴ τηρῶν ὃ ἐκεῖνοι ἐνόμιζον εἶναι σάββατον οὐκ ἔστι παρὰ θεοῦ, οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἱερεῖς τὸ σάββατον βεβηλοῦντες παρὰ θεοῦ ἦσαν, οὕτω δὲ οὐκ ἐναργὲς ἦν τὸ μὴ εἶναι παρὰ θεοῦ τὸν τὸ σάββατον αὐτῶν μὴ τηροῦντα· ὡς μηδὲ ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν τότε Φαρισαίων τὸν λόγον εἰρῆσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων τινὲς τοῦτο ἔλεγον, ὥς φησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστής. πρόσχες δὲ καὶ τῷ «Τοιαῦτα σημεῖα» μὴ μάτην κει μένῳ.