Friday of the 4th Sunday of Pascha

As if to say, The sheep hear not them, but Me they hear; for I am the Door, and whoever entereth by Me not falsely but in sincerity, shall by perseverance be saved.

For if you believe that father Bacchus can give a good vintage, but cannot give relief from sickness; if you believe that Ceres can give good crops, Aesculapius health, Neptune one thing, Juno another, that Fortune, Mercury, Vulcan, are each the giver of a fixed and particular thing,-this, too, you must needs receive from us, that souls can receive from no one life and salvation, except from Him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has determined that this should be the way of salvation,-this the door, so to say, of life; by Him alone is there access to the light: nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all other ways being shut up and secured by an impenetrable barrier.

By this, then, which the Lord hath explained, that He Himself is the door, let us find entrance to what He has set forth, but not explained. And indeed who it is that is the Shepherd, although He hath not told us in the lesson we have read to-day, yet in that which follows He very plainly tells us: "I am the good Shepherd." And although He had not said so, whom else but Himself ought we to have understood in those words where He saith, "He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."

But what is this, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture"? To enter indeed into the Church by Christ the door, is eminently good; but to go out of the Church, is certainly otherwise than good. Such a going out could not then be commended by the good Shepherd, when He said, "And he shall go in and out, and find pasture." There is therefore not only some sort of entrance, but some outgoing also that is good, by the good door, which is Christ. But I am better pleased that the Truth Himself, like a good Shepherd, and therefore a good Teacher, hath in a certain measure reminded us how we ought to understand His words, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture," when He added in the sequel, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." For He seems to me to have meant, That they may have life in coming in, and have it more abundantly at their departure. For no one can pass out by the door-that is, by Christ-to that eternal life which shall be open to the sight, unless by the same door-that is, by the same Christ-he has entered His church, which is His fold, to the temporal life, which is lived in faith.

(Tr. xlv. c. 15) What is this, shall go in and out? To enter into the Church by Christ the Door, is a very good thing, but to go out of the Church is not. Going in must refer to inward cogitation; going out to outward action; as in the Psalm, Man goeth forth to his work. (Ps. 103:23)

"I am the door." Here it is noted that whoever enters through him enters unto salvation. Therefore he says: "I am the door," through which, namely, one enters unto salvation; and the reason is added: "If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved"; concerning which entrance, Matthew 7: "Enter ye in at the strait gate. How strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life!" because Christ was poor and lowly. Through this small door the rich, full of riches, do not enter; on account of which it is said in Matthew 19: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." This entrance is through faith and the Sacrament of Baptism; since the former is the gate of the virtues, and the latter of the Sacraments. He who enters in this way shall be saved; Mark, last chapter: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "And he shall go in and go out and find pasture; he shall go in" through contemplation, which calls back to interior things; "and he shall go out" through action; Numbers 27: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, provide a man who may go in and go out before them." Or, as Augustine explains, "he shall go in" to the contemplation of the Divinity, "he shall go out" to the sight of the humanity, "and shall find pasture," because he is nourished in all things: the intellect in the contemplation of the Divinity, and the senses in the contemplation of the humanity; concerning which pastures, Ezekiel 34: "I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel; in the most fertile pastures I will feed them."

It is asked concerning what he says, that "he will go out and will find pasture."

Against this: "No one putting his hand to the plow should look back"; therefore no one who enters will go out.

It must be said that there is a twofold going out: one contrary to entering, and this is a going out from the Church through unbelief; and concerning this the objection is raised, and concerning this Augustine says: "To enter the Church is good, but to go out is the worst"; and concerning this, First John two says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us." The other is from contemplation to action; and this is not of regression, but of exercise. Concerning this the Psalm says: "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening."

Therefore, however much one may be illuminated by the light of nature and acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into oneself so as within oneself to delight in the Lord, except through the mediation of Christ, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures. But to this door we do not draw near unless we believe in him, hope in him, and love him. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish to re-enter into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, that we enter through faith, hope, and charity in the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of life in the midst of paradise.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

These six considerations having therefore been traversed, as if they were the six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace, where the true peaceful one rests in a peaceful mind as in an interior Jerusalem; and as if also the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true contemplative, filled with the illumination of supernal wisdom, may be borne upward; and as if also the first six days, in which the mind must be exercised, so that it may at last arrive at the sabbath of rest; after our mind has contemplated God outside itself through vestiges and in the vestiges, within itself through the image and in the image, above itself through the similitude of the divine light shining upon us and in that light itself, insofar as is possible according to the state of wayfaring and the exercise of our mind; when at last in the sixth step it has arrived at this point, that it contemplates in the first and highest principle and the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, those things whose likenesses can in no way be found in creatures, and which exceed all keenness of the human intellect: it remains that, in contemplating these things, it should transcend and pass beyond not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, as it were the mercy seat placed upon the ark of God and the mystery hidden from the ages.

That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh to the Father but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved." Also in the same place: "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Also in the same place: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life; but the wrath of God shall abide upon him." Also Paul to the Ephesians: "And when He had come, He preached peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those which are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." Also to the Romans: "For all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God; but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God." Also in the same place: "For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again." Also in the Epistle of John: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father."

That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel according to John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

After His usual manner, He moulds the form of His speech to a spiritual application as though it arose naturally from the course of His story, and seems to treat things which are simple to look at and contain nothing difficult of comprehension, as images of things more obscure. For the thieves, He saith, and robbers, violently breaking into the enclosures of the sheep, do not enter by the door, but leap in by some other way, and by getting over the wall of the fold put themselves in danger. For perhaps, or rather very probably, one who is robbing in this way and rashly practising villainy may be detected and caught; but they who enter by the door itself, effect an entrance without risk, being manifestly not mean in conduct, nor yet unknown to the lord of the sheep. For he who standeth at the doors openeth to them and they run in: moreover, saith He, such as these shall be together with the sheep in great security, having effected an entrance very lawfully as it were and without guile, and without incurring any suspicion of being robbers. This therefore is the part of the story which is typical; and passing over to what is thereby intimated for our spiritual profit, we say this, that they who without the Divine sanction and will proceed to take the leadership of the people, as though altogether refusing the entrance by the Door, will perhaps also perish, doing violence to the Divine decree, at least by the motive of their endeavours. But they who are allotted a God-given leadership, and come to it by Christ, with great security and grace they will govern the most sacred fold, escaping so entirely from the anger which falls on the others that they even receive honour for their work: they will obtain crowns from above such as they do not yet dare to hope for; because their aim is not at all in any way to grieve their flocks, but rather to benefit them: they will do things well-pleasing to the Lord of the flock, and love by all means to keep safe those who belong to Him. By these words also the Lord greatly troubles the obstinate Pharisees, saying that they will certainly not be kept safe, but will utterly fall from the leadership in which they now are; and very justly, since they suppose they will possess it firmly, not by God's approval, but by their own folly. Bat herein I cannot help admiring the incomparable love for men shown by the Saviour. For the Lord is really compassionate and merciful, offering to all a way of salvation, and in divers manners inviting to it even the very obstinate and hardened. And I will take the proof of my assertion once more from the thing itself. For when He fails, either by marvellous deeds or by the longing which yearns and hopes for the glory which shall be hereafter, to persuade the Pharisees to receive His teaching; He sternly proceeds to that, by which it was likely they would be especially troubled, so that henceforth they might look upon obedience as an inevitable necessity. For knowing them to be attached to the glory of being leaders, and to eagerly reckon upon no ordinary gain from thence, He says they will be deprived of it, and will be utterly despoiled of that which was so highly valued, and which was then in their possession; unless they will yield themselves to willingly listen to Him, and seek pardon at His hands.

We are Christians and Catholics not because we worship a key, but because we have passed a door; and felt the wind that is the trumpet of liberty blow over the land of the living.

He is the Way, because he leads us through himself. He is the Door who lets us in, the Shepherd who makes us dwell in green pastures, bringing us up by waters of rest and leading us there. He protects us from wild beasts, converts the erring, brings back what was lost and binds up what was broken. He guards the strong and brings them together into the fold beyond with words of pastoral knowledge.

Where do you pasture your sheep, O good Shepherd who carries all your flock on your shoulders? For the one lamb that you took up is the entire human race, which you raised on your shoulders. Show me then the place of pasture, make known to me the waters of rest, lead me out to the good grass, call me by name that I, your sheep, may listen to your voice and may your call be the gift of eternal life.… "Show me, then," she says, "where you feed," so that I may find the pasture of salvation and be filled with the food of heaven which all people must eat if they would enter into life.

"If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pastures." For he will go in to faith, but will go out from faith to sight, from belief to contemplation, and will find pastures in eternal refreshment. His sheep therefore find pastures, because whoever follows him with a simple heart is nourished by the food of eternal greenness. But what are the pastures of these sheep, if not the inner joys of ever-verdant paradise? For the pastures of the elect are the present countenance of God, which when it is beheld without failing, the mind is satisfied without end by the food of life. In these pastures those have rejoiced in the fullness of eternity who have already escaped the snares of pleasurable temporality. There are the hymn-singing choirs of angels, there is the fellowship of the heavenly citizens. There is the sweet solemnity of those returning from the sad labor of this pilgrimage. There are the foreseeing choirs of prophets, there is the judging number of apostles, there is the victorious army of innumerable martyrs, the more joyful there as they were more harshly afflicted here; there is the constancy of confessors, consoled by the reception of their reward; there are faithful men whom the pleasure of the world could not soften from the strength of their manliness; there are holy women who conquered both the world and their sex; there are children who here transcended their years by their conduct; there are the elderly whom age rendered weak here, yet the power of good works did not abandon.

(super Ezek. Hom. xiii.) Shall go in, i. e. to faith: shall go out, i. e. to sight: and find pasture, i. e. in eternal fulness.

And by war he means the war that is in the body, because its frame has been made out of hostile elements; as it has been written, he says, "Remember the conflict that exists in the body." Jacob, he says, saw this entrance and this gate in his journey into Mesopotamia, that is, when from a child he was now becoming a youth and a man; that is, (the entrance and gate) were made known unto him as he journeyed into Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia, he says, is the current of the great ocean flowing from the midst of the Perfect Man; and he was astonished at the celestial gate, exclaiming, "How terrible is this place! it is nought else than the house of God, and this (is) the gate of heaven." On account of this, he says, Jesus uses the words, "I am the true gate." Now he who makes these statements is, he says, the Perfect Man that is imaged from the unportrayable one from above. The Perfect Man therefore cannot, he says, be saved, unless, entering in through this gate, he be born again. But this very one the Phrygians, he says, call also Papa, because he tranquillized all things which, prior to his manifestation, were confusedly and dissonantly moved. For the name, he says, of Papa belongs simultaneously to all creatures -celestial, and terrestrial, and infernal-who exclaim, Cause to cease, cause to cease the discord of the world, and make "peace for those that are afar off," that is, for material and earthly beings; and "peace for those that are near," that is, for perfect men that are spiritual and endued with reason. But the Phrygians denominate this same also "corpse"-buried in the body, as it were, in a mausoleum and tomb. This, he says, is what has been declared, "Ye are whited sepulchres, full," he says, "of dead men's bones within," because there is not in you the living man. And again he exclaims, "The dead shall start forth from the graves," that is, from the earthly bodies, being born again spiritual, not carnal. For this, he says, is the Resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, through which, he says, all those that do not enter remain dead. These same Phrygians, however, he says, affirm again that this very (man), as a consequence of the change, (becomes) a god. For, he says, he becomes a god when, having risen from the dead, he will enter into heaven through a gate of this kind. Paul the apostle, he says, knew of this gate, partially opening it in a mystery, and stating "that he was caught up by an angel, and ascended as far as the second and third heaven into paradise itself; and that he beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare."

The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz., the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection. For the beloved prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality. All these things are good together, if ye believe in love.

(Hom. lix. 3) Or, He refers to the Apostles who went in and out boldly; for they became the masters of the world, none could turn them out of their kingdom, and they found pasture.

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

Whoever enters through Me, the door, and is brought to the Father, and becomes His sheep, that one will be saved, and not only will be saved, but will also receive great fearlessness, like both Lord and Master. For this is what is meant by the words "and will go in and go out." So too the apostles boldly went in and came out before rulers, and came out joyful and unconquerable (Acts 5:41). "And shall find pasture," that is, abundant food. And in another way: since our man is twofold, according to the expression of the Apostle Paul, "the inner and the outer" (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16), it can be said that he enters who cares for the inner man, and he again goes out who "puts to death the members which are on the earth" and "the deeds of the flesh" in Christ (Rom. 8:13). Such a one shall find pasture both in the age to come, according to what is said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall not want" (Ps. 22:1).

The door admits the sheep into the pasture; And shall go in and out, and find pasture. What is this pasture, but the happiness to come, the rest to which our Lord brings us?

Or, to go in is to watch over the inner man; to go out, (Colos. 3) to mortify the outward man, i. e. our members which are upon the earth. He that doth this shall find pasture in the life to come.

I am the door. Here he clarifies his explanation: first, of the door; secondly, of the thief (v 10). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he repeats what he intends to explain; and secondly, he gives the explanation (v 9).

He repeats what he had already said, namely, I am the door: "If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar" (Song 8:9), that is, let us grant her an incorruptible power.

He explains this when he says, if any one enters by me, he will be saved. First, he shows that the purpose of a door, which is to keep the sheep safe, applies to himself; secondly, he mentions the manner in which they are kept safe (v 9b).

The door safeguards the sheep by keeping those within from going out, and by protecting them from strangers who want to come in. And this applies to Christ, for he is our safeguard and protection. And this is what he says: if any one, not with insincerity, enters, into the fellowship of the Church and of the faithful, by me, the door, he will be saved, i.e., if he perseveres: "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12); "We shall be saved by his life" (Rom 5:10).

The way the sheep are safeguarded is set forth when he says that he will go in and out and find pasture. This statement can be explained in four ways. First of all, according to Chrysostom, it simply affirms the security and freedom of those who cling to Christ. For one who enters some other way than by the door does not have free entry and exit; but one who does enter by the door has free exit, because he can leave freely. Therefore, when he says, he will go in and out, the meaning is that the Apostles adhering to Christ enter with security by living with the faithful, who are within the Church, and with unbelievers who are outside, when they became masters of the whole world and no one wished to cast them out: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out before them and come in before them…that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd" (Num 27:16). And find pasture, find delight in converting others, and find joy even when persecuted by unbelievers for the name of Christ: "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name," as we read in Acts (5:41).

Secondly, this can be explained as Augustine does in his Commentary on John. Two things are incumbent upon anyone who acts well, namely to be well-ordered to the things that are within him, and to those that are without. Within a person is the spirit, and without is the body: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day" (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, a person who clings to Christ will go in through contemplation, to protect his conscience - "When I enter my house," i.e., my conscience, "I shall find rest with her," i.e., with wisdom (Wis 8:16) - and out, namely, by good actions, to tame the body - "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening" (Ps 104:23) - and find pasture, in a clean and sincere conscience - "I will appear before your sight: I will be satisfied when your glory appears" (Ps 16:15). Again, by his actions he will find pasture, i.e., fruit - "He shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps 126:6).

The third explanation is also Augustine's as well as that given by Gregory in his Commentary on Ezekiel. The meaning, then, is this. Such a one will go in, i.e., into the Church, by believing - "I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle" (Ps 41:5), and this is to enter the Church Militant; and out, from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant - "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of the wedding" (Song 3:11); and find pasture, that is, the pastures of doctrine and grace in the Church Militant - "He makes me lie down in green pastures"; and the pastures of glory in the Church Triumphant: "I will feed them with good pasture" (Ez 34:14).

Fourthly, there is an explanation found in the work, On the Spirit and the Soul, which has been incorrectly attributed to Augustine. Here it is said that such a one will go in, that is, the saints will go in to contemplate the divinity of Christ, and out, to consider his humanity; and they will find pasture in both, because in both they will taste the joys of contemplation: "Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Is 33:17).

The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill. As if He said, And well may the sheep not hear the voice of the thief; for he cometh not but for to steal: he usurpeth another's office, forming his followers not on Christ's precepts, but on his own. And therefore it follows, and to kill, i. e. by drawing them from the faith; and to destroy, i. e. by their eternal damnation.

(Tr. xlv. 15) But He Himself explains it more satisfactorily to me in what follows: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and for to kill: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. By going in they have life; i. e. by faith, which worketh by love; by which faith they go into the fold. The just liveth by faith. And by going out they will have it more abundantly: (Heb. 10:38) i. e. when true believers die, they have life more abundantly, even a life which never ends. Though in this fold there is not wanting pasture, then they will find pasture, such as will satisfy them. To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal." Here it is noted that Christ himself enters as the true shepherd, not as a thief; on account of which he says: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal," by extorting temporal goods; "and to kill," by temporally afflicting his subjects; "and to destroy," by casting them down to hell through evil example. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," that is, to preserve life as a shepherd; that "they might have life," namely, the life of grace, concerning which life, above in chapter 6: "This is the bread descending from heaven, which giveth life unto the world"; "and that they might have it more abundantly," namely, the life of glory, concerning which, below in chapter 17: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This is called abundant, because it is said in Luke 6: "Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom."

[On how conversion revealed the true value of existence, which his former pessimism had been unable to perceive]

I have, almost all my life, been quite unable to feel that horror of nonentity, of annihilation, which, say, Dr. Johnson felt so strongly. I felt it for the very first time only in 1947. But that was after I had long been re-converted and thus begun to know what life really is and what would have been lost by missing it.

The Biological sort which comes to us through Nature, and which (like everything else in Nature) is always tending to run down and decay so that it can only be kept up by incessant subsidies from Nature in the form of air, water, food, etc., is Bios. The Spiritual life which is in God from all eternity, and which made the whole natural universe, is Zoe. Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to Zoe: but only the sort of resemblance there is between a photo and a place, or a statue and a man. A man who changed from having Bios to having Zoe would have gone through as big a change as a statue which changed from being a carved stone to being a real man.

And that is precisely what Christianity is about. This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.

While Our Saviour Christ was saying He Himself was the Door, and teaching that it was His both to admit those whom He would and to keep outside him who is unfit and quite useless for shepherd's work; and moreover, in addition to this, had denounced as thieves and robbers those who were self-appointed to an honour not given them from above; the wretched Pharisees again were taking counsel, deliberating Who this Man was that showed so much boldness, and considering whether He ought not Himself perhaps to be numbered among those whose coming He reproved: for they thought that He too was a false shepherd and a false teacher, as merely self-consecrated by His own determination; not that being God He had been made Man, according to the ancient declaration of the inspired Scripture. And it is indeed probable that even when they had gathered a true knowledge of Him, they rejected it as something which was intolerable to their unbelief, and refused to consider anything which was not in harmony with their own pleasure and their own dear delight; and this was to be leaders of the people and to be spoken of accordingly. When therefore He knew that such were their thoughts and that they so whispered one to another, He did not wait for them to express these ideas more openly, but answered them as was fitting, and declares that the question ought to be decided by testing their actions, as to who was the shepherd, and who was the thief; saying that it would be by no means difficult to thus discriminate, if any one would consider the object and behaviour of each. For the thief cometh, He says, for the destruction of the sheep, since the desire of taking plunder undoubtedly leads to this issue; but the really good shepherd will come without bringing any harm into the sheepfold, but rather will work for their advantage, and whatever he may understand to be for their greatest good, that he will zealously labour for.

Therefore let us now pass as from another image to the truer matter to which the force of the words applies, and let us again consider the Pharisees, how they at that time were acting like false shepherds and false teachers towards such as were, cheated by them; and then let us consider what Christ came to give, and what happiness He came to bring us. They certainly never scrupled to speak falsely, and feigning themselves to be sent from God, they prophesied (according to that which is written) out of their own hearts, and not out of the mouth of the Lord; and besides these, that Theudas also, and Judas of Galilee, drawing away people after them, were destroyed together with those who had been led to join them: but Our Lord Jesus Christ came to bestow upon us eternal life, out of the love which He had towards us. And their aims being so opposite, and the manner of their coming so different, how can it be explained except that their dispositions and offices were of opposite character? Therefore by the test of their behaviour in office we ought to discern. He says, on the one hand what they were, and on the other what He was. For thus it was possible perhaps to persuade the rulers not to think unreasonably of Him any longer by supposing Him to be one of the false shepherds, or one of those who climb up some other way into the sheepfold: but that rather Christ, the Door and the Porter and the Shepherd, had come, not only that the sheep may have life, saith He, but also something more; for besides the restoration to life of those who believe in Him, there is also the certain hope of being blessed with all good things. And probably the word more refers also to this life, meaning what is more abundant or more honourable, and implying the most perfect participation of the Spirit, although very secretly. For the restoration to life is common to both saints and sinners, to both Greeks and Jews, as well as ourselves, for: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall awake, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice, according to the sure promise of the Saviour. But the participation of the Holy Spirit is not thus common to all, being the more than life, as it were something beyond that which is common to all; and will be bestowed only upon those who are justified by faith in Christ: and the Divine Paul also will prove this to us, saying: Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all sleep, hut we-shall not all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For indeed all shall rise from the dead, because this is granted to all nature, through the grace of the Resurrection; and in One, that is, Christ, Who was the first and foremost to break down the dominion of death and attain eternal life, the common lot of humanity was changed and made incorruptible, even as also in one, that is, the first Adam, it was condemned to death and corruption. But there will be at that time an important difference among those who are raised, and very widely distinct will be their destiny. For those who have gone to their rest with faith in Christ, and who have received the earnest of the Spirit in the appointed time of their bodily life, will obtain the most perfect grace, and will be changed to the glory which shall be given from God. But those who have not believed the Son, and have deemed such an excellent reward of no account, shall be once more condemned by His voice, and, sharing with the rest in nothing save in the restoration to life, shall pay the penalty of such prolonged unbelief. For they shall depart down into Hades to be punished, and shall feel unavailing remorse. For, saith He, there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My first religion was pure Paganism, which among sincere men is more shortly described as extreme fear. Then there succeeded a state of mind which is quite real, but for which no proper name has ever been found. The ancients called it Stoicism, and I think it must be what some German lunatics mean (if they mean anything) when they talk about Pessimism. It was an empty and open acceptance of the thing that happens--as if one had got beyond the value of it. And then, curiously enough, came a very strong contrary feeling--that things mattered very much indeed, and yet that they were something more than tragic. It was a feeling, not that life was unimportant, but that life was much too important ever to be anything but life. I hope that this was Christianity.

In considering the war of the Albigensians, we come to the breach in the heart of Europe and the landslide of a new philosophy that nearly ended Christendom for ever. In that case the new philosophy was also a very new philosophy; it was pessimism. It was none the less like modern ideas because it was as old as Asia; most modern ideas are. It was the Gnostics returning; but why did the Gnostics return? Because it was the end of an epoch, like the end of the Empire; and should have been the end of the Church. It was Schopenhauer hovering over the future; but it was also Manichaeus rising from the dead; that men might have death and that they might have it more abundantly.

(Hom. lix. 1) The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; this was literally fulfilled in the case of those movers of seditiona, whose followers were nearly all destroyed; deprived by the thief even of this present life. But came, He saith, for the salvation of the sheep; That they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly, in the kingdom of heaven. This is the third mark of difference between Himself, and the false prophets.

Since those who joined Theudas and Judas and the other rebels were killed and perished, He added: "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy," calling them and those like them thieves. "But I," He says, "have come that they may have life." They killed and destroyed their followers, but I came so that they might live and have something more, namely: the communion of the Holy Spirit, by which one must also understand the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, in Christ all have life, for all shall rise and live; but the righteous shall also receive something more, namely: the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mystically, the thief is the devil, steals by wicked thoughts, kills by the assent of the mind to them, and destroys by acts.

Now he considers the thief. First, he mentions the mark of the thief; secondly, he says that he himself has the opposite characteristic, I came that they may have life.

He says that those who do not enter by the door, i.e., those who have come independently of me, are thieves and robbers; and they are evil. For in the first place, the thief comes only to steal, i.e., to usurp what is not his; these are the agitators and heretics, who fasten on to those who belong to Christ: "He lies in ambush to catch the ones who are poor" (Ps 9:4). Secondly, the thief comes to kill, and he kills by bringing in perverse teachings and evil practices: "As robbers lie in wait for a man…they murder on the way" (Hos 6:9). Thirdly, the thief comes to destroy, by casting into everlasting destruction: "My people have been lost sheep" (Jer 50:6). But these traits are not in me.

I came that they may have life. This is like saying: The above have not come in by me, otherwise they would do as I do. But they do the contrary, because they steal, and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, that is, the life of righteousness, by entering into the Church Militant through faith: "My righteous one shall live by faith" (Heb 10:38). We read of this life in 1 John (3:14) that "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." And have it abundantly, that is, have eternal life, when they leave the body. We read below of this life: "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God" (17:3).

As far as possible, therefore, let the bishop make the offence his own, and say to the sinner, Do thou but return, and I will undertake to suffer death for thee, as our Lord suffered death for me, and for all men. For "the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, that is, the devil, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf seizes upon them." We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to those who have offended, and hath promised repentance with an oath. But he who has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God concerning repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and forbearance, and besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which proclaim repentance, inasmuch as he has never learned them from you, perishes through his folly. But do thou, like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of thy flock.

The Lord Jesus is speaking to His sheep-to those already so, and to those yet to become such-who were then present; for in the place where they were, there were those who were already His sheep, as well as those who were afterwards to become so: and He likewise shows to those then present and those to come, both to them and to us, and to as many also after us as shall yet be His sheep, who it is that had been sent to them. All, therefore, hear the voice of their Shepherd saying, "I am the good Shepherd." He would not add "good," were there not bad shepherds. But the bad shepherds are those who are thieves and robbers, or certainly hirelings at the best.

We understand the Lord Christ as the door, and also as the Shepherd; but who is to be understood as the doorkeeper? For the former two, He has Himself explained: the doorkeeper He has left us to search out for ourselves. And what doth He say of the doorkeeper? "To him," He saith, "the porter [doorkeeper] openeth." To whom doth he open? To the Shepherd. What doth he open to the Shepherd? The door. And who is also the door? The Shepherd Himself.

In respect, then, of the profound nature of this question, I shall tell you what I think. Perhaps we ought to understand the Lord Himself as the doorkeeper: for the shepherd and the door are in human respects as much different from each other as the doorkeeper and the door; and yet the Lord has called Himself both the Shepherd and the door. Why, then, may we not understand Him also as the doorkeeper? For if we look at His personal qualities, the Lord Christ is neither a shepherd, in the way we are accustomed to know and to see shepherds; nor is He a door, for no artisan made Him: but if, because of some point of similarity, He is both the door and the Shepherd, I venture to say, He is also a sheep. True, the sheep is under the shepherd; yet He is both the Shepherd and a sheep. Where is He the Shepherd? Look, here thou hast it; read the Gospel: "I am the good Shepherd." Where is He a sheep? Ask the prophet: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter." Ask the friend of the bridegroom: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world."

But what are we to say of the hireling? He is not mentioned here among the good. "The good Shepherd," He says, "giveth His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the Shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." The hireling does not here bear a good character, and yet in some respects is useful; nor would he be called an hireling, did he not receive hire from his employer. Who then is this hireling, that is both blameworthy and needful? There are some in office in the church, of whom the Apostle Paul saith, "Who seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." What means that, "Who seek their own"? Who do not love Christ freely, who do not seek after God for His own sake; who are pursuing after temporal advantages, gaping for gain, coveting honors from men. When such things are loved by an overseer, and for such things God is served, whoever such an one may be, he is an hireling who cannot count himself among the children.

But give heed to the fact that even the hirelings are needful. For many indeed in the Church are following after earthly profit, and yet preach Christ, and through them is heard the voice of Christ; and the sheep follow, not the hireling, but the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hireling. Hearken to the hirelings as pointed out by the Lord Himself: "The scribes," He saith, "and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: do what they say; but do not what they do." What else said He but, Listen to the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hirelings? For sitting in Moses' seat, they teach the law of God; therefore God teacheth by them. But if they wish to teach their own things, hear them not, do them not.

Who is the hireling that seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth? He that seeketh his own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. He is one that does not venture plainly to rebuke an offender. Look, some one or other has sinned-grievously sinned; he ought to be rebuked, to be excommunicated: but once excommunicated, he will turn into an enemy, hatch plots, and do all the injury he can. At present, he who seeketh his own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's, in order not to lose what he follows after, the advantages of human friendship, and incur the annoyances of human enmity, keeps quiet and does not administer rebuke. See, the wolf has caught a sheep by the throat; the devil has enticed a believer into adultery: thou holdest thy peace-thou utterest no reproof. O hireling, thou hast seen the wolf coming and hast fled! Perhaps he answers and says: See, I am here; I have not fled. Thou hast fled, because thou hast been silent; thou hast been silent, because thou hast been afraid. The flight of the mind is fear. Thou stoodest with thy body, thou fleddest in thy spirit.

(Tr. xlvi. 1) Our Lord has acquainted us with two things which were obscure before; first, that He is the Door; and now again, that He is the Shepherd: I am the good Shepherd. (c. xlvii. 1, 3). Above He said that the shepherd entered by the door. If He is the Door, how doth He enter by Himself? Just as He knows the Father by Himself, and we by Him; so He enters into the fold by Himself, and we by Him. We enter by the door, because we preach Christ; Christ preaches Himself. A light shows both other things, and itself too. (Tr. xlvi. 5). There is but one Shepherd. For though the rulers of the Church, those who are her sons, and not hirelings, are shepherds, they are all members of that one Shepherd. (Tr. xlvii. 3). His office of Shepherd He hath permitted His members to bear. Peter is a shepherd, and all the other Apostles: all good Bishops are shepherds. But none of us calleth himself the door. He could not have added good, if there were not bad shepherds as well. They are thieves and robbers; or at least mercenaries.

(Tr. xlvii) Christ was not the only one who did this. And yet if they who did it are members of Him, one and the same Christ did it always. He was able to do it without them; they were not without Him.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. 1) All these however were good shepherds, not because they shed their blood, but because they did it for the sheep. For they shed it not in pride, but in love. Should any among the heretics suffer trouble in consequence of their errors and iniquities, they forthwith boast of their martyrdom; that they may be the better able to steal under so fair a cloak: for they are in reality wolves. But not all who give their bodies to be burned, are to be thought to shed their blood for the sheep; rather against the sheep; for the Apostle saith, Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Cor. 13:3) And how hath he even the smallest charity, who does not love connection (convictus) with Christians? to command which, our Lord did not mention many shepherds, but one, I am the good Shepherd.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix) He seeketh therefore in the Church, not God, but something else. If he sought God he would be chaste; for the soul hath but one lawful husband, God. Whoever seeketh from God any thing beside God, seeketh unchastely.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix.) The wolf is the devil, and they that follow him; according to' Matthew, Which come to you in sheeps' clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matt. 7:15)

(Tr. xlvi. 8) Lo, the wolf hath seized a sheep by the throat, the devil hath enticed a man into adultery. The sinner must be excommunicated. But if he is excommunicated, he will be an enemy, he will plot, he will do as much harm as he can. Wherefore thou art silent, thou dost not censure, thou hast seen the wolf coming, and fled. Thy body has stood, thy mind has fled. For as joy is relaxation, sorrow contraction, desire a reaching forward of the mind; so fear is the flight of the mind.

(Tr. xlvi. 7) But if the Apostles were shepherds, not hirelings, why did they flee in persecution? And why did our Lord say, When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another? (Mat. 10:23) Let us knock, then will come one, who will explain.

(ad Honor. Ep. clxxx.) A servant of Christ, and minister of His Word and Sacraments, may flee from city to city, when he is specially aimed at by the persecutors, apart from his brethren; so that his flight does not leave the Church destitute. But when all, i. e. Bishops, Clerics, and Laics, are in danger in common, let not those who need assistance be deserted by those who should give it. Let all flee together if they can, to some place of security; but, if any are obliged to stay, let them not be forsaken by those who are bound to minister to their spiritual wants. Then, under pressing persecution, may Christ's ministers flee from the place where they are, when none of Christ's people remain to be ministered to, or when that ministry may be fulfilled by others who have not the same cause for flight. But when the people stay, and the ministers flee, and the ministry ceases, what is this but a damnable flight of hirelings, who care not for the sheep?

(Tr. xlvi. 1) On the good side are the door, the porter, the shepherd, and the sheep; on the bad, the thieves, the robbers, the hirelings, the wolf.

(de Verb. Dom. s. xlix) We must love the shepherd, beware of the wolf, tolerate the hireling. For the hireling is useful so long as he sees not the wolf, the thief, and the robber. When he sees them, he flees.

(Tr. xlvi. 5) Indeed he would not be an hireling, did he not receive wages from the hirer. (c. 6). Sons wait patiently for the eternal inheritance of their father; the hireling looks eagerly for the temporal wages from his hirer; and yet the tongues of both speak abroad the glory of Christ. The hireling hurteth, in that he doeth wrong, not in that he speaketh right: the grape bunch hangeth amid thorns; pluck the grape, avoid the thorn. Many that seek temporal advantages in the Church, preach Christ, and through them Christ's voice is heard; and the sheep follow not the hireling, but the voice of the Shepherd heard through the hireling.

For the sake of his flock the shepherd was sacrificed as though he were a sheep. He did not refuse death. He did not destroy his executioners as he had the power to do, for his passion was not forced on him. He laid down his life for his sheep of his own free will. "I have the power to lay it down," he said, "and I have the power to take it up again." By his passion he made atonement for our evil passions, by his death he cured our death, by his tomb he robbed the tomb, by the nails that pierced his flesh he destroyed the foundations of hell.Death held sway until Christ died. The grave was bitter, our prison was indestructible, until the Shepherd went down and brought to his sheep confined there the good news of their release. His appearance among them gave them a pledge of their resurrection and called them to a new life beyond the grave. "The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep" and so seeks to win their love.

"I am the good shepherd." The Lord showed himself to be the good shepherd with regard to the good shepherd's entrance; here he shows secondly with regard to the good shepherd's affection; and he does this indeed in the following manner. First, Christ's friendship toward his sheep is shown; second, his diligence; third, his providence; fourth, his munificence; fifth, from this, the discord of the Jews.

First, therefore, Christ's true friendship toward the sheep is shown in comparison to the love of hirelings, which is not true love. Therefore he says: "I am the good shepherd," and he shows this: "the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep," from the vehement love which he has for them; whence he himself said below in the fifteenth chapter: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Such a shepherd was Paul, who said in Second Corinthians twelve: "Most gladly will I spend and be spent for your souls." Not so the hireling; on account of which he says:

It is asked concerning what he says: "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep."

From this it seems that a prelate is bound to die for his subjects. But against this: To suffer martyrdom is a work of supererogation; but no one is bound to works of supererogation unless he has bound himself by a vow: therefore it seems that a prelate is not bound to this.

Likewise it seems that all are bound to this; 1 John 3: "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

It must be said that to die for the Lord's flock can be in three ways: either for promoting it from good to better, and thus it is a matter of supererogation with respect to all prelates; or for freeing it from imminent danger, and thus every prelate is bound, because he has undertaken the care of the Lord's flock, and "their blood will be required from his hand"; or for one constituted in the extremity of necessity, who cannot escape damnation unless a man exposes himself to death; and thus I say that it is a matter of necessity with respect to all, just as selling one's possessions and giving to the poor when they are in extreme necessity.

And the arguments run according to these ways.

He is called Jesus: Sometimes He calls Himself a shepherd, and says, "I am the good Shepherd." According to a metaphor drawn from shepherds, who lead the sheep, is hereby understood the Instructor, who leads the children-the Shepherd who tends the babes. For the babes are simple, being figuratively described as sheep. "And they shall all," it is said, "be one flock, and one shepherd." The Word, then, who leads the children to salvation, is appropriately called the Instructor (Paedagogue).

The divine Instructor is trustworthy, adorned as He is with three of the fairest ornaments-knowledge, benevolence, and authority of utterance;-with knowledge, for He is the paternal wisdom: "All Wisdom is from the Lord, and with Him for evermore;"-with authority of utterance, for He is God and Creator: "For all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made;"-and with benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us: "For the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep;" and He has so given it. Now, benevolence is nothing but wishing to do good to one's neighbour for his sake.

As then we say that it belongs to the shepherd's art to care for the sheep; for so "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;" so also we shall say that legislation, in as much as it presides over and cares for the flock of men, establishes the virtue of men, by fanning into flame, as far as it can, what good there is in humanity.

And if the flock figuratively spoken of as belonging to the Lord is nothing but a flock of men, then He Himself is the good Shepherd and Lawgiver of the one flock, "of the sheep who hear Him," the one who cares for them, "seeking," and finding by the law and the word, "that which was lost;" since, in truth, the law is spiritual and leads to felicity.

Feed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master, fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above the clouds, which touches heaven. "And I will be," He says, "their Shepherd," and will be near them, as the garment to their skin. He wishes to save my flesh by enveloping it in the robe of immortality, and He hath anointed my body. "They shall call Me," He says, "and I will say, Here am I." Thou didst hear sooner than I expected, Master. "And if they pass over, they shall not slip," saith the Lord. For we who are passing over to immortality shall not fall into corruption, for He shall sustain us. For so He has said, and so He has willed. Such is our Instructor, righteously good. "I came not," He says, "to be ministered unto, but to minister." Wherefore He is introduced in the Gospel "wearied," because toiling for us, and promising "to give His life a ransom for many." For him alone who does so He owns to be the good shepherd. Generous, therefore, is He who gives for us the greatest of all gifts, His own life; and beneficent exceedingly, and loving to men, in that, when He might have been Lord, He wished to be a brother man; and so good was He that He died for us.

Having previously well and clearly shown how grievously those who lived in earlier times suffered from the hypocrisy of the false prophets and false shepherds, and having made manifest the advantages to be brought about by His own coming; having now also shown His own superiority by comparing the future destinies of the sheep, and being crowned as Conqueror by the votes of truth; He appropriately utters the words, I am the Good Shepherd. 'Certainly therefore,' He says, 'your plans against Me will be vain, since without being able to complain that I wish in any thing to damage the interests of the sheep, ye hesitate not to number Me with those who are wont to do this, and Him Who is truly good ye call evil, losing through your self-regard the ability to judge each matter fairly according to the injunction of the lawgiver.' Therefore He rebukes the rulers as unjust, as quite regardless of the words of Moses, as ignorant of the object of His coming, so that henceforth the prophet Isaiah may be acknowledged to speak truly concerning them, for he says: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. For indeed will they not be found to do this, who treat the True Light, that is, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as darkness, by scrupling not to reckon our Good Shepherd as one of the falsely-named shepherds, or perhaps daring to esteem Him even less honourable than they? For such as professed themselves utterers of the Divine Word, and exercised themselves under the guise of prophecy in robbing the understanding of the common people and in cunningly stealing them from the way of truth, and led their followers astray to do their own pleasure instead of God's,----such as these were held in high esteem by those who seemed to be in power at that time. Certainly Shemaiah the Salamite opposed his own falsehood to God's words, and made himself bold against the reputation of Jeremiah; for the latter was in bonds, and the former had honour from Zedekiah as a reward for his lies. And now the wretched Pharisees going far beyond similar impiety, and characterised by more daring insolence, do not assign to Christ even the position allowed to false teachers. For indeed what did they actually say to some who were listening with great pleasure to His discourse? He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him? Wherefore Himself also says concerning them, by the prophet Isaiah: Woe unto them! for they have fled from Me; wretched are they, for they have been impious towards Me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me. And again: Their rulers shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. For are they not worthy of every punishment, who foolishly whet their tongue to such a sharpness as to dare to say against Christ such things as are not becoming in any way for us, but only for those who hold similar opinions, either to receive within the ears or heedlessly to repeat?

He explains the proper method of testing a good shepherd, for He teaches that in a struggle for the salvation of the flock such a one ought not to hesitate to give up even life itself freely, a condition which was of course fulfilled by Christ. For man, having yielded to an inclination for sin, at once wandered away from love to God. On this account he was banished from the sacred and Divine fold, I mean the precincts of Paradise; and having been weakened by this calamity, he became the prey of really bitter and implacable wolves, the devil who had beguiled him to sin, and death which had been germinated from sin. But when Christ was announced as the Good Shepherd over all, in the struggle with this pair of wild and terrible beasts, He laid down His life for us. He endured the cross for our sakes that by death He might destroy death, and was condemned for our sakes that He might deliver all men from condemnation for sin, abolishing the tyranny of sin by means of faith, and nailing to His cross the bond that was against us, as it is written. Accordingly, the father of sin used to put us in Hades like sheep, delivering us over to death as our shepherd, according to what is said in the Psalms: but the really Good Shepherd died for our sakes, that He might take us out of the dark pit of death and prepare to enfold us among the companies of heaven, and give unto us mansions above, even with the Father, instead of dens situate in the depths of the abyss or the recesses of the sea. Wherefore also He somewhere says to us: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

Will you think less of him … because to seek for what had wandered, the good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep came on the mountains and hills on which you used to sacrifice and found the wanderer. And having found it, he took it upon his shoulders, on which he also bore the wood. And having borne the wandering sheep, he brought it back to the life above. And having brought it back, he numbered it among those who have never strayed.

For behold, he who is good not by an accidental gift but essentially, says: "I am the good shepherd." And he adds the pattern of that same goodness for us to imitate, saying: "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." He did what he taught; he showed what he commanded. The good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep, so that in our sacrament he might transform his body and blood, and satisfy with the nourishment of his flesh the sheep he had redeemed. The way has been shown to us through contempt of death that we should follow; the pattern has been set before us upon which we should be formed. First it is ours to mercifully spend our external goods on his sheep; but finally, if necessary, even to offer our death for those same sheep. From that first and lesser thing one arrives at the final and greater. But since the soul by which we live is incomparably far better than the earthly substance we possess externally, when will someone who does not give his substance for his sheep give his life for them? And there are some who, because they love earthly substance more than the sheep, deservedly lose the name of shepherd.

(Hom. xiv. in Evang.) And He adds what that goodness (forma bonitatis) is, for our imitation: The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. He did what He bade, He set the example of what He commanded: He laid down His life for the sheep, that He might convert His body and blood in our Sacrament, and feed with His flesh the sheep He had redeemed. A path is shown us wherein to walk, despising death; a stamp is applied to us, and we must submit to the impression. Our first duty is to spend our outward possessions upon the sheep; our last, if it be necessary, is to sacrifice our life for the same sheep. Whoso doth not give his substance to the sheep, how can he lay down his life for them?

A Great matter, beloved, a great matter it is to preside over a Church: a matter needing wisdom and courage as great as that of which Christ speaketh, that a man should lay down his life for the sheep, and never leave them deserted or naked; that he should stand against the wolf nobly. For in this the shepherd differs from the hireling; the one always looks to his own safety, caring not for the sheep; the other always seeks that of the sheep, neglecting his own. Having therefore mentioned the marks of a shepherd, Christ hath put two kinds of spoilers; one, the thief who kills and steals; the other, one who doth not these things, but who when they are done doth not give heed nor hinder them.

(Hom. lx. 5) Our Lord shows here that He did not undergo His passion unwillingly; but for the salvation of the world.

When, in reply to this, the Lord had figured the restoration of the lost ewe, to whom else is it credible that he configured it but to the lost heathen, about whom the question was then in hand,-not about a Christian, who up to that time had no existence? Else, what kind of (hypothesis) is it that the Lord, like a quibbler in answering, omitting the present subject-matter which it was His duty to refute, should spend His labour about one yet future? "But a `sheep' properly means a Christian, and the Lord's `flock' is the people of the Church, and the `good shepherd' is Christ; and hence in the `sheep' we must understand a Christian who has erred from the Church's `flock.

So after giving evidence derived from these facts, he said to them, "I am the good Shepherd." Therefore, if I act against the thieves, not only am I not the cause of destruction for those who obey me, but I even invite them to eternal life. And so I appear to be the Shepherd because I work for the good of the sheep. Since he asserts this decisively, he proves his argument even more so, so that he may not appear to vainly portray himself as the good Shepherd. And so, with the intention of demonstrating this with different arguments, as well as the facts themselves, he says, "The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." If, he says, the good Shepherd is the one who accepts suffering for every affliction of his sheep, since I am going to die for the salvation of the whole world, the testimony about me is beyond doubt. "I am the good Shepherd." Indeed, if the thief kills, on the contrary, not only do I not kill, but I also give new life to men and women after taking death from them. Therefore, in every respect, I appear to be the good Shepherd according to these facts.

Then He speaks also of the sufferings and says: "I lay down My life for the sheep," expressing by this that He goes to His sufferings not by compulsion, but voluntarily. By the word "lay down" He shows that no one takes it from Me, but I Myself give it up.

Here he explains the second clause of the parable, "he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep" (10:2). First, he gives the explanation; secondly, he makes it clear (v 14). First, he explains that he is the good shepherd; secondly, he states the office of a good shepherd (v 11b); thirdly, he shows that the opposite is found in an evil shepherd (v 12).

He says, in regard to the first, I am the good shepherd. That Christ is a shepherd is clear enough, for as a flock is led and fed by the shepherd, so the faithful are nourished by Christ with spiritual food, and even with his own body and blood: "For you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls" (1 Pet 2:25); "He will feed his flock like a shepherd" (Is 40:11). To distinguish himself from an evil shepherd and thief, he adds, good. Good, I say, because he fulfills the office of a shepherd, just as a soldier is called good who fulfills the office of a soldier. But since Christ had said above that the shepherd enters by the door, and here he says that he is the shepherd, and before he said he was the door (v 9), then he must enter through himself. And he does enter through himself, because he manifests himself and through himself knows the Father. We, however, enter through him, because it is by him that we are led to happiness.

Note that only he is the door, because no one else is the true light, but only shares in the light: "He," John the Baptizer, "was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light" (1:8). But we read of Christ that "He was the true light, which enlightens every man" (1:9). Therefore, no one else refers to himself as a door; Christ reserved this for himself. But being a shepherd he did share with others, and conferred it on his members: for Peter was a shepherd, and the other apostles were shepherds, as well as all good bishops: "I will give you shepherds after my own heart" (Jer 3:15). Now, although the Church's rulers, who are her children, are all shepherds, as Augustine says, yet he expressly says, I am the good shepherd, in order to emphasize the virtue of charity. For no one is a good shepherd unless he has become one with Christ by love, and has become a member of the true shepherd.

The office of a good shepherd is charity; thus he says, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It should be noted that there is a difference between a good shepherd and an evil one: the good shepherd is intent upon the welfare of the flock, but the evil one is intent upon his own. This difference is touched upon by Ezekiel (34:2): "Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?" Therefore, one who uses the flock only to feed himself is not a good shepherd. From this it follows that an evil shepherd, even over animals, is not willing to sustain any loss for the flock, since he does not intend the welfare of the flock, but his own. But a good shepherd, even over animals, endures many things for the flock whose welfare he has at heart. Thus Jacob said in Genesis (31:40): "By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night." However, when dealing with mere animals it is not necessary that a good shepherd expose himself to death for the safety of the flock. But because the spiritual safety of the human flock outweighs the bodily life of the shepherd, when danger threatens the safety of the flock the spiritual shepherd ought to suffer the loss of his bodily life for the safety of the flock. This is what our Lord says, the good shepherd lays down his life, i.e., his bodily life, for the sheep, the sheep who are his by authority and charity. Both are required, for they must belong to him and he must love them; the first without the second is not enough. Furthermore, Christ has given us an example of this teaching: "He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn 3:16).

"But the hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not," because he does not love them, but the profit for which he serves. On this Gregory says: "A hireling is one who holds the place of the shepherd, but does not seek the profit of souls, who yearns for earthly advantages, who rejoices in the honor of prelacy, who is delighted by the reverence shown to him by men"; of whom can be said that word from Matthew 6: "Amen I say to you, they have received their reward." This one, namely, "sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees," because he fears the wolf and does not love the sheep. "The wolf, as Gregory says, comes upon the sheep when any unjust person oppresses the faithful and the humble." Of such wolves, Acts 20: "I know," Paul says, "that after my departure ravenous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock." At the coming of such a wolf the hireling leaves the sheep; Zechariah 11: "O shepherd and idol, abandoning the flock!" Upon this hireling's flight follows the scattering of the sheep; and therefore he says: "And the wolf seizes and scatters the sheep": Ezekiel 34: "My flocks were scattered over the face of the earth, and there was none who sought them." And the reason for the aforesaid is given, namely the defect of true friendship.

It is asked here concerning the hireling, whether he should be cast out and prohibited.

That he should be prohibited from the sheep seems to be indicated here, because he is censured.

But that he should be tolerated seems to follow: Philippians 1: "Whether by occasion or by truth Christ is announced, in this also I rejoice and shall rejoice."

But that he should be praised; Luke 15: "How many hirelings in my father's house abound in bread?" There Ambrose says that they abound in faith, hope, and charity.

It must be said that the hireling differs from the thief: because the hireling speaks the truth and preserves the sheep, but the thief speaks falsehood and tears the sheep apart, like a heretic; and this one is entirely to be cast out, but the hireling is to be tolerated. But here there is a twofold distinction: because some serve for a temporal reward, and such a one is to be tolerated, but nevertheless censured: some serve for an eternal reward, and such a one is to be tolerated and approved, but nevertheless is not entirely to be extolled; but one who serves from love alone is to be extolled with praises.

Having made a skilful comparison between the prating speeches and lawless daring of some and the splendour of His own works, and having characterised and described the former as thieves and robbers and climbers into the sheepfold by some other way, and Himself as the really Good Shepherd; He now passes on to speak of the rulers of the Jews themselves, and shows His own leadership to be better than that of the Pharisees. And the demonstration of this again He makes most evident to them by means of a comparison. For He sets in contrast as it were with their heedlessness and indifference His own watchfulness and love; and again accuses them of caring nothing for the flock, whereas He says His care for it was so intense that He despised even life, which to all is so dear. And He explains the proper method of testing a good shepherd, for He teaches that in a struggle for the salvation of the flock such a one ought not to hesitate to give up even life itself freely, a condition which was of course fulfilled by Christ. For man, having yielded to an inclination for sin, at once wandered away from love to God. On this account he was banished from the sacred and Divine fold, I mean the precincts of Paradise; and having been weakened by this calamity, he became the prey of really bitter and implacable wolves, the devil who had beguiled him to sin, and death which had been germinated from sin. But when Christ was announced as the Good Shepherd over all, in the struggle with this pair of wild and terrible beasts, He laid down His life for us. He endured the cross for our sakes that by death He might destroy death, and was condemned for our sakes that He might deliver all men from condemnation for sin, abolishing the tyranny of sin by means of faith, and nailing to His cross the bond that was against us, as it is written. Accordingly, the father of sin used to put us in Hades like sheep, delivering us over to death as our shepherd, according to what is said in the Psalms: but the really Good Shepherd died for our sakes, that He might take us out of the dark pit of death and prepare to enfold us among the companies of heaven, and give unto us mansions above, even with the Father, instead of dens situate in the depths of the abyss or the recesses of the sea. Wherefore also He somewhere says to us: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. These words apply to the sheep tended by Christ: but let us now consider the state of the flocks of those others. Surely, by him who looks carefully and fairly into their condition, those others will be detected as nothing else than hirelings and false shepherds and wretches and betrayers and cowards, who have never taken any thought for the benefit of the sheep, but eagerly grasp on every side at whatever seems pleasing in any way to themselves individually. For they were hirelings, according to the Saviour's words, whose own the sheep were not. No: the sheep were Christ's, Who hired those men from the beginning, and appointed the priests to the highest honours and headships over the people of the Jews: but they, [dishonouring] so dignified [a position], and altogether neglecting the sheepfold, betrayed the sheep to the wolf, and we will briefly explain how they did it. In earlier times the numerous people of the Jews acknowledged God only for their king: to Him they paid the half-shekel, to Him they offered sacrifices and brought the observance of the Law as a sort of tribute. But there came upon them like some savage wolf a man of foreign race, imposing on them the name and the reality of slavery, and laying on them the yoke of a human sovereignty, compelling them somehow to adopt a strange and unwonted manner of life, demanding tribute, plundering the kingdom of God. For it was of course necessary for them when reduced to such distress to submit to the enactments of their conqueror. The foreigner came, overthrowing the rule which is from God, that is, the tribe ordained to minister in holy things, to whom judgment and the magistracy were committed by God; changing everything and exercising oppression; causing his own image to be struck on the coins, and practising all manner of arrogance. Against such intolerable insolence the shepherds did not show vigilance. They saw the wolf coming, and abandoned the flock, and fled, for the sheep were not their own; they did not call upon Him Who was able to help, Who delivered them out of the hands of the people of Babylon, and turned away the Assyrians, Who slew by the hand of an angel a hundred and eighty five thousand of the foreigners. And that the people of Israel were in no small degree injured and demoralised by the acceptance of the rule of the aliens, I mean under those of foreign race, thou mayest learn from the actual result. For at one time Pilate rebuked the unlawful boldness of the Jews, because they bade him crucify the Lord, and when he publicly said: Shall I crucify your King? they then actually at once threw aside their servitude under God, and burst asunder the bonds of their old allegiance, and proceeded to subject themselves as it were to a new yoke, exclaiming without more ado: We have no king but Caesar. And these things, both what the people did and what they cried out, appeared to their leaders to be right and proper; certainly therefore we must ascribe to them the authorship of all the people's misfortunes. So they are condemned, and very reasonably, as betrayers of the sheep, as wretches and cowards and most certainly 12 fond of fighting, even refusing altogether to protect and defend the sheep placed in their charge. Wherefore also God reproves them, saying: For the shepherds became brutish, and did not seek the Lord; therefore none of the flock had understanding, and they were scattered. From the events themselves therefore it is made manifest that Christ is a really Good Shepherd of sheep, but that the others are corrupters rather than good [shepherds] and are altogether to be excluded from any praise for sincerity.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

He is called not a shepherd but a hireling who feeds the Lord's sheep not out of heartfelt love but for temporal wages. Indeed, a hireling is one who holds the position of shepherd but does not seek the profit of souls; he gapes after earthly advantages, rejoices in the honor of his office, feeds on temporal gains, and delights in the reverence shown him by men. For these are the wages of the hireling: that for the very labor he performs in governance, he finds here what he seeks, and remains a stranger to the inheritance of the flock hereafter. But whether one is truly a shepherd or a hireling cannot be known with certainty if no occasion of necessity arises. In times of tranquility, the hireling often stands guard over the flock just as the true shepherd does; but when the wolf comes, it reveals with what spirit each one was standing guard over the flock. For the wolf comes upon the sheep when any unjust man and plunderer oppresses the faithful and humble. But he who appeared to be a shepherd and was not abandons the sheep and flees, because while he fears danger to himself from the wolf, he does not presume to resist his injustice. He flees not by changing his location but by withdrawing his support. He flees because he saw injustice and remained silent. He flees because he hid himself in silence.

But there is another wolf who without ceasing daily tears apart not bodies, but minds, namely the malignant spirit, who prowling around lies in wait for the sheepfolds of the faithful and seeks the deaths of souls. Concerning this wolf it is soon added: "And the wolf seizes and scatters the sheep." The wolf comes and the hireling flees, because the malignant spirit tears apart the minds of the faithful in temptation, and he who holds the place of pastor has no care of solicitude. Souls perish, and he himself rejoices in earthly advantages. The wolf seizes and scatters the sheep when he drags one person into lust, inflames another with avarice, raises another up in pride, divides another through wrath, goads this one with envy, trips up that one in deceit. The devil, as it were, scatters the flock like a wolf when he slays the faithful people through temptations. But against these things the hireling is kindled by no zeal, aroused by no fervor of love: because while he seeks only external advantages, he negligently permits the internal losses of the flock.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) Some there are who love earthly possessions more than the sheep, and do not deserve the name of a shepherd. He who feeds the Lord's flock for the sake of temporal hire, and not for love, is an hireling, not a shepherd. An hireling is he who holds the place of shepherd, but seeketh not the gain of souls, who panteth after the good things of earth, and rejoices in the pride of station.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) But whether a man be a shepherd or an hireling, cannot be told for certain, except in a time of trial. In tranquil times, the hireling generally stands watch like the shepherd. But when the wolf comes, then every one shows with what spirit he stood watch over the flock.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) The wolf too cometh upon the sheep, whenever any spoiler and unjust person oppresses the humble believers. And he who seems to be shepherd, but leaves the sheep and flees, is he who dares not to resist his violence, from fear of danger to himself. He flees not by changing place, but by withholding consolation from his flock. The hireling is inflamed with no zeal against this injustice. He only looks to outward comforts, and overlooks the internal suffering of his flock. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. The only reason that the hireling fleeth, is because he is an hireling; as if to say, He cannot stand at the approach of danger, who doth not love the sheep that he is set over, but seeketh earthly gain. Such an one dares not face danger, for fear he should lose what he so much loves.

(Hom. lx. 5) He then gives the difference between the shepherd and the hireling: But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth.

That "the harvest is great, but the workmen are few," this also is well-known and manifest. Let us, therefore, "ask of the Lord of the harvest" that He would send forth workmen into the harvest; [Matthew 9:37-38] such workmen as "shall skilfully dispense the word of truth;" workmen "who shall not be ashamed;" faithful workmen; workmen who shall be "the light of the world;" [Matthew 5:14] workmen who "work not for the food that perisheth, but for that food which abideth unto life eternal;" [John 6:27] workmen who shall be such as the apostles; workmen who imitate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who are concerned for the salvation of men; not "hireling" [John 10:12-13] workmen; not workmen to whom the fear of God and righteousness appear to be gain; not workmen who "serve their belly;" not workmen who "with fair speeches and pleasant words mislead the hearts of the innocent;" [Romans 16:18] not workmen who imitate the children of light, while they are not light but darkness — "men whose end is destruction;" [Philippians 3:9] not workmen who practise iniquity and wickedness and fraud; not "crafty workmen;" [2 Corinthians 11:13] not workmen "drunken" and "faithless;" nor workmen who traffic in Christ; not misleaders; not "lovers of money; not malevolent."

Why, a shepherd like this would be kicked off the farm! The wages held for him until the time of his discharge would be kept from him as compensation! In fact, the master's losses would need to be compensated from this shepherd's savings.

But Christ, confirming these foreshadowings Himself, adds: "The bad shepherd is he who, on seeing the wolf, flees, and leaves the sheep to be torn in pieces." Why, a shepherd like this will be tuned off from the farm; the wages to have been given him at the time of his discharge will be kept from him as compensation; nay, even from his former savings a restoration of the master's loss will be required; for "to him who hath shall be given, but from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.

He also hints at the rebels, mentioned more than once. "They," He says, "did not lay down their lives for the sheep, but abandoned their followers, for they were hirelings." But the Lord Himself did the opposite. When they seized Him, He said: "If you seek Me, then let these go their way, that the word might be fulfilled, that none of them perished" (Jn. 18:8–9, 12), and this at a time when the Jews came against Him worse than wolves against sheep. "For they came," it says, "with swords and clubs to seize Him" (Lk. 22:52). By the wolf here one can also understand the mental enemy, whom Scripture calls both a lion (1 Pet. 5:8), and a scorpion (Luke 10:19), and a serpent (Gen. 3:1; Ps. 91:13). It is said that he "snatches" the sheep when he devours someone through an evil deed; he "scatters" when by means of evil thoughts he disturbs the soul. He can rightly be called a thief as well, who "steals" through crafty thoughts, "kills" through consent to them, and "destroys" through the deed itself. Sometimes a malicious thought assails someone — this is the stealing. If the person consents to the wicked suggestion, then, one might say, the devil kills him. And when the person actually carries out the evil, then he perishes. Perhaps this is also what the words mean: "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy."

Now he considers the evil shepherd, showing that he possesses characteristics contrary to those of the good shepherd. First, he mentions the marks of an evil shepherd; secondly, he shows how these marks follow one another (v 12). Concerning the first he does two things: first, he gives the marks of an evil shepherd; secondly, he mentions the danger which threatens the flock because of an evil shepherd: the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

Note that from what has been said about the good and evil shepherd, there are three differences in their traits: first in their intentions; secondly, in their solicitude; and thirdly in their affections.

First, they differ in their intentions, and this is implied by their very names. For the first is called a good shepherd, and this implies that he intends to feed the flock: "Should not shepherds feed the sheep?" (Ez 34:2). But the other one, the evil shepherd, is called a hireling, as though he were intent on his wages. Thus they differ in this: the good shepherd looks to the benefit of the flock, while the hireling seeks mainly his own advantage. This is also the difference between a king and a tyrant, as the Philosopher says, because when a king rules he intends to benefit his subjects, while a tyrant seeks his own interest. So a tyrant is like a hireling: "If it seems right to you, give me my wages" (Zech 11:12).

But may not even good shepherds seek a wage? It seems so, for "Reward those who wait for thee" (Si 36:16); "The Lord God comes…his reward is with him" (Is 40:10); "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare!" (Lk 15:17).

I answer that wages can be taken in a general sense and in a proper sense. In a general sense, a wage is anything conferred by reason of merits. And because everlasting life, which is God - "This is true God and eternal life" (1 Jn 5:20) - is conferred by reason of merits, everlasting life is said to be a wage. And this is a wage that every good shepherd can and should seek. In the strict sense, however, a wage is different from an inheritance, and a wage is not sought after by a true child, who is entitled to the inheritance. A wage is sought after by servants and hirelings. Thus, since everlasting life is our inheritance, any one who works with an eye towards it is working as a child; but any one who aims at something different (for example, one who longs for worldly gain, or takes delight in the honor of being a prelate) is a hireling.

Secondly, they differ in their solicitude. We read of the good shepherd that the sheep are his own, not only as a trust, but also by love and solicitude: "I hold you in my heart" (Phil 1:7). On the other hand, it is said of the hireling, whose own the sheep are not, i.e., the hireling has no care for them: "My shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves" (Ez 34:8).

Thirdly, they differ in their affections. For the good shepherd, who loves his flock, lays down his life for it, i.e., he exposes himself to dangers that affect his bodily life. But the evil shepherd, because he has no love for the flock, flees when he sees the wolf. Thus he says, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. Here, the wolf is understood in three ways. First, for the devil as tempting: "What fellowship has a wolf with a lamb? No more has a sinner with a godly man" (Si 13:17). Secondly, it stands for the heretic who destroys: "beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Matt 7:15); "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). Thirdly, it stands for the raging tyrant: "Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves" (Ez 22:27). Therefore, the good shepherd must guard the flock against these three wolves, so that when he sees the wolf, i.e., the devil tempting, the deceiving heretic and the raging tyrant, he can oppose him. Against those who do not, we read, "You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel" (Ez 13:5).

Accordingly, we read of the evil shepherd that he leaves the sheep and flees: "Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock" (Zech 11:17). As if to say: You are not a shepherd, but only appear to be one: "Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fatted calves; yea, they have turned and fled together, they do not stand" (Jer 46:21).

But in Matthew (10:23) we find the contrary: "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next." Therefore, it seems to be lawful for a shepherd to flee. I reply that there are two answers to this. One is that given by Augustine in his Commentary on John. There are two kinds of flight: that of the soul and that of the body. When we read here, he leaves the sheep and flees, we can understand it to mean the flight of the soul: for when an evil shepherd fears personal danger from a wolf, he does not dare to resist his injustices but flees, not by running away, but by withdrawing his encouragement, refusing to care for his flock.

This should be the explanation when considering the first kind of wolf, the tempting devil, because it is not necessary to physically flee from the devil.

But since sometimes a shepherd does flee physically because of certain wolves, such as powerful heretics and tyrants, another answer must be given, as found in Augustine's Letter to Honoratus. As he says, it seems lawful to flee, even physically, from the wolves, not only because of the authority of our Lord, as cited above, but because of the example of certain saints, as Athanasius and others, who fled from their persecutors. For what is censured is not the flight itself, but the neglect of the flock; so, if the shepherd could flee without abandoning his flock, it would not be blameworthy. Sometimes it is the prelate himself who is the one sought, and at other times, it is the entire flock. It is obvious that if the prelate alone is sought, others can be assigned to guard the flock in his territory, and console and govern the flock in his place. So if he flees under these circumstances, he is not said to leave the sheep. In this way, it is lawful to flee in certain cases. But if the whole flock is sought, then either all the shepherds should be with the people, or some should remain while the others leave. But if all desert the flock, then these words apply, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

Here he mentions the twofold danger that threatens. One is the ravaging of the sheep; so he says, and the wolf snatches them, i.e., takes for himself what belongs to another, for the faithful are Christ's sheep. Therefore, leaders of sects and wolves snatch the sheep when they entice Christ's faithful to their own teachings: "My sheep have become food for all the wild beasts" (Ez 34:8). The other danger is that the sheep be scattered; so he says, and scatters them, insofar as some are led astray and others persevere: "My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them" (Ez 34:6).

"But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and the sheep are not his concern," that is, because he loves the reward and not the sheep. Whence Gregory: "He who, in presiding over the sheep, does not love the sheep but seeks earthly gain, cannot stand firm in danger for the sheep." Of such is said Ezekiel 13: "You did not go up against the adversary, nor did you set yourselves as a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." Gregory: "He flees, because he kept silent," because he was afraid: for fear is flight.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

Hence it is soon added: "But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and the sheep do not pertain to him." For the sole reason why the hireling flees is because he is a hireling. As if it were said openly: He who in presiding over the sheep does not love the sheep but seeks earthly gain cannot stand firm in danger to the sheep. For while he embraces honor, while he rejoices in temporal advantages, he trembles to oppose himself against danger, lest he lose what he loves. But because our Redeemer made known the faults of the false pastor, He again shows the form upon which we ought to be imprinted.

The Lord acts quite differently from this thief. He gives divine life, illuminates both our thoughts with good inspirations and our bodies with good deeds; He gives also something superabundant, namely that we can bring benefit to others as well through the gift of teaching, and also the Kingdom of Heaven, as if granting us some additional reward. He is truly the Good Shepherd, and not a hireling, as were the Jewish leaders, who did not care for the people but had in view only to receive payment from them. For they sought not the benefit of the people, but their own profit from the people.

Now he shows how the above-mentioned marks are related, for the third follows from the first two. Since the evil shepherd seeks his own advantage and has no love or solicitude for the flock, it follows that he is not willing to endure any inconvenience for them. Thus he says of the hireling, he flees, for this reason, because he is a hireling, that is, he seeks his own advantage, which is the first mark; and cares nothing for the sheep, i.e., he does not love them, and is not solicitous for them, which is the second mark. So we read in Job (39:16) about the evil shepherd: "She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers." The opposite is true of the good shepherd, for he seeks the welfare of his flock, and not his own: "Not that I seek the gift; but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit" (Phil 4:17). Furthermore, he is concerned for his sheep, that is, he loves them and is solicitous for them: "I hold you in my heart" (Phil 1:7).

When He saith, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father," who can be ignorant of His meaning? For He knoweth the Father by Himself, and we by Him. That He hath knowledge by Himself, we know already: that we also have knowledge by Him, we have likewise learned, for this also we have learned of Him. For He Himself hath said: "No one hath seen God at any time; but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." And so by Him do we also get this knowledge, to whom He hath declared Him. In another place also He saith: "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." As He then knoweth the Father by Himself, and we know the Father by Him; so into the sheepfold He entereth by Himself, and we by Him.

"I am the good shepherd." Here Christ's diligence toward the sheep is noted, which consists in the discernment and knowledge of the sheep, on account of which he calls himself the good shepherd: wherefore he says: "I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me"; and in this is noted his diligence, according to that word of Proverbs 27: "Be diligent to know the countenance of your cattle, and consider your flocks"; 2 Timothy 2: "The Lord knows who are his." This diligence he makes manifest through a comparison; whence he adds:

You may learn, if you will, the profound wisdom of the most holy Shepherd and instructor, the Lord of the universe and the Word of the Father. He presents himself to us by way of allegory as the shepherd of the sheep, and so in this way serves also as the teacher of children. Speaking through Ezekiel to the Jewish elders, he gives them a salutary example of true care. "I will bind up the injured and will heal the sick; I will bring back the strays and pasture them on my holy mountain." These are the promises of the good Shepherd. Pasture us children like sheep, O Lord. Fill us with your own food, the food of righteousness. As our instructor, feed us on your holy mountain, the church above the clouds that touches the heavens.

Again He exults in having gained the victory and obtained the suffrages [of His hearers to the effect] that He ought to be acknowledged as ruler of the Jews, suffrages not expressed by the open testimony of any, but arising from the investigation of facts which has just been |79 undertaken. For just as after He contrasted His own works with the villainies brought about by the false-prophets, and showed the result of His doings to be better than that of their falsehood: for He says that they came, unbidden, merely to steal and to kill and to destroy, to tell lies and to say things unlawful; but that He Himself was come that the sheep might have not life merely, but also something more; beautifully and rightly He exclaimed: I am the Good Shepherd: so also here, after characterising the really good shepherd as one who is ready to die on behalf of the sheep, and willing to lay down his life for them, whereas the hireling, even the foreign ruler, is a wretch and a coward and worthy of all such names previously given him; since He knows that He Himself is going to lay down His life for the sheep, with good reason He again cries aloud: I am the Good Shepherd. For He Who in all things hath the pre-eminence must of course be superior to all, so that the Psalmist once more may appear truthful, when he says somewhere unto Him: That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words and victorious when Thou art judged.

And besides what has been said, this other matter also deserves consideration. For my own part I think that teaching intended to be of great benefit to the people of the Jews was urged upon them by the Lord, not merely by His own words, but also the utterances of the Prophets, to persuade them to a willingness to think according to right reason, and to know of a certainty that He is the Good Shepherd and the others are not so. And whence? Surely it would not be unreasonable to suppose that even if they were not persuaded by words of His, yet at any rate they would not be unwilling to yield to those of their own Prophets. He accordingly says: I am the Good Shepherd, bringing to their remembrance as it were the words spoken by the voice of Ezekiel and recalling them to the minds of the Jews. For thus speaks the Prophet concerning Christ and those whose lot it was to rule the flock of the Jews: Thus saith the Lord God: O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves? do not shepherds feed their flocks? Behold, ye consume the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool, and ye slay them that are fat; but ye feed not My sheep. The diseased ye have not strengthened, neither have ye refreshed the side, neither have ye bound up the broken, neither have ye turned back the strayed, neither have ye sought the lost; but ye have killed even the strong with hardships. And My sheep were scattered because there were no shepherds, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field: and My sheep were scattered on every mountain, and upon every high hill, and over the face of all the earth; and there was none who sought them or turned them back. For the one aim of the rulers of the Jews was to look only for their own gain, and to make money out of the offerings of their subjects, and to collect tributes, and to impose burdens over and above the law, but certainly not to take any account of anything which was likely to benefit or able to keep in safety the people in their charge. Wherefore again the really excellent Shepherd speaks concerning them in these words: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hands, and. I will cause them to cease from feeding My sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My sheep out of their mouth, and they shall no longer be unto them for meat. And again, after other words: And I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and David shall be a Prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with David a covenant of peace, and I will cause the evil beasts to disappear out of the land; and they shall dwell in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will set them round about My hill, and I will give you rain, even the rain of blessing, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. Surely in these words God very well and distinctly declares that the unholy multitude of the Pharisees shall be removed from the leadership of the Jews, and manifestly announces that after them shall be set over the rational flocks of believers He Who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, even Christ. For by Him God hath concluded a covenant of peace, namely, the Evangelic and Divine proclamation, which leads us to reconciliation with God, and wins the kingdom of heaven. Likewise also through Him comes the rain of blessing, that is, the first-fruits of the Spirit, making as it were a fruitful land of the soul in which it dwells. And since the Pharisees caused no small grief to their sheep, in no wise feeding them, but rather suffering them to be in many ways tormented, whereas Christ saved His sheep and was shown to be a giver and promoter of blessings from above, He appears to be right in this which He says of Himself: I am the Good Shepherd.

And let no one find it a stumbling-block, I pray you, that God the Father called Him Who was made Man of the seed of David a servant, although He is by Nature God and Very Son; but let it rather be understood, that He has humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant. He is therefore called by God the Father by a name suitable to His assumed form.

When Jesus says, "I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father," it is equivalent to saying, I shall enter into a close relationship with my sheep, and my sheep shall be brought into a close relationship with me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with me, and again I also am intimate with the Father. For God the Father knows his own Son and the fruit of his [i.e., the Father's] substance because he is truly his parent. And again, the Son knows the Father, beholding him as God in truth, since he is begotten of him. In the same way, we also, being brought into a close relationship with God the Father, are called his family and are spoken of as children, according to what he himself said: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." Truly, we are called the family of the Son, and in fact we are part of his family. Through our relationship to the Son, we are related to God the Father, because the Only Begotten, who is God of God, was made man, and though separate from all sin, he assumed our human nature.

"I am the good Shepherd." And He adds: "And I know my sheep," that is, I love them, "and my sheep know me." As if He were saying openly: Those who love follow in obedience. For he who does not love the truth has not yet come to know it at all.

Since, therefore, you have heard, most beloved brethren, our peril, consider in the Lord's words also your own peril. See whether you are his sheep, see whether you know him, see whether you know the light of truth. But I say "know" not through faith, but through love. I say "know" not from belief, but from action. For the same John the Evangelist who speaks these things testifies, saying: "He who says that he knows God, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar."

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) As if He said, I love My sheep, and they love and follow Me. For he who loves not the truth, is as yet very far from knowing it.

From both Christ distinguisheth Himself; from those who came to spoil, by saying, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly"; and from those who cared not for the sheep being carried away by wolves, by never deserting them, but even laying down His life for them, that the sheep might not perish. For when they desired to kill Him, He neither altered His teaching, nor betrayed those who believed on Him, but stood firm, and chose to die. Wherefore He continually said, "I am the good Shepherd." Then because His words appeared to be unsupported by testimony, (for though the, "I lay down My life," was not long after proved, yet the, "that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly," was to come to pass after their departure hence in the life to come,) what doth He? He proveth one from the other; by giving His mortal life (He proveth) that He giveth life immortal. As Paul also saith, "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved." (Rom. v. 10.) And again in another place, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.)

Then because He said above "And the sheep hear his voice, and follow him," lest any should say, "What then is this to those who believe not?" hear what He addeth "And I know My sheep, and am known of Mine." As Paul declared when he said, "God hath not rejected His people whom He foreknew"; and Moses, "The Lord knew those that were His"; "those," He saith, "I mean, whom He foreknew." Then that thou mayest not deem the measure of knowledge to be equal, hear how He setteth the matter right by adding, "I know My sheep, and am known of Mine." But the knowledge is not equal. "Where is it equal?" In the case of the Father and Me, for there, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." Had He not wished to prove this, why should He have added that expression? Because He often ranked Himself among the many, therefore, lest any one should deem that He knew as a man knoweth, He added, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." "I know Him as exactly as He knoweth Me." Wherefore He said, "No man knoweth the Son save the Father, nor the Father save the Son", speaking of a distinct kind of knowledge, and such as no other can possess.

And from this you can learn the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. The hireling does not know the sheep, which comes from the fact that he does not watch over them constantly. For if he constantly watched, he would know them. But the shepherd, such as the Lord is, knows His own sheep, and therefore cares for them, and they in turn know Him, because they benefit from His watchfulness and by habit recognize their Protector. Look. First He knows us, and then we know Him. And it is not possible to know God otherwise than by being known by Him (1 Cor. 13:12). For He first made Himself one with us through the flesh, becoming Man, and then we were made one with Him, receiving the gift of deification. Wishing to show that those who did not believe are unworthy of being known by God and are not His sheep, He said: "I know My own, and My own know Me," as it is written: "The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).

Hence the difference of the hireling and the Shepherd. The hireling does not know his sheep, because he sees them so little. The Shepherd knows His sheep, because He is so attractive to them.

For the deceivers did not expose their lives for the sheep, but, like hirelings, deserted their followers. Our Lord, on the other hand, protected His disciples: Let these go their way. (infr. 18:8)

Here our Lord proves his explanation. First, he restates what he intends to prove; secondly, he gives the proof, I know my own (v 14b); and thirdly, he amplifies on it (v 17).

He says, I am the good shepherd, which has been explained above: "As a shepherd seeks out his flock…so will I seek out my sheep" (Ez 34:12).

Then he says, I know my own, he proves what he says. Now he says two things about himself, that he is a shepherd, and that he is good. First, he proves that he is a shepherd; secondly, that he is a good shepherd.

He proves he is a shepherd by the two signs of a shepherd already mentioned. The first of these is that he calls his own sheep by name. Concerning this he says, I know my own: "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim 2:19). I know, I say, not just with mere knowledge only, but with a knowledge joined with approval and love: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins" (Rev 1:5). The second sign is that the sheep hear his voice and know him. And concerning this he says, and my own know me. My own, I say, by predestination, by vocation and by grace. This is like saying: They love me and obey me. Thus, we must understand that they have a loving knowledge about which we read: "They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Jer 31:34).

Now concerning their blasphemous assertion who say that the Son does not perfectly know the Father, we need not wonder: for having once purposed in their mind to wage war against Christ, they impugn also these words of His, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." Wherefore, if the Father only in part knoweth the Son, then it is evident that the Son doth not perfectly know the Father. But if it be wicked thus to speak, and if the Father perfectly knows the Son, it is plain that, even as the Father knoweth His own Word, so also the Word knoweth His own Father, of whom He is the Word.

"As the Father knows me, and I know the Father," so, supply, I know my own, and my own know me. Chrysostom: "'As' is a mark of similitude, not of equality," just as below in chapter 17 the Son, praying to the Father for his disciples, says, "that they may be one, as we also are." This diligence he also makes manifest through its effect: whence he says: "And I lay down my life for my sheep." So the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 15: "I die daily for your glory, brethren"; and the Lord himself, Jeremiah 12: "I have given my beloved soul into the hands of the wicked."

And I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father.

Without sufficient thought any one might say that by these words the Lord wished to signify nothing more than this:----that He would be well-known to His own people, and would freely bestow knowledge concerning Himself upon those who believe on Him; and also that He would recognize His own people, manifestly implying that the recognition would not be without profit to those whose lot it might be to experience it. For what shall we say is better than being known by God? But since what is here expressed somehow claims for itself a keener scrutiny, especially because He added: As the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father; come and let us proceed towards such an understanding of the words before us. For I do not think that any living being who has a sound mind will say that he has power to be able to attain to such knowledge concerning Christ as that which we may suppose God the Father has concerning Him. For the Father alone knows His own Offspring, and is known by His own Offspring alone. For no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; nor again doth any know what the Father is, save the Son, according to the saying of the Saviour Himself. For that the Father is God and the Son likewise is Very God, we both know and have believed: but what their ineffable Nature is in its Essence is utterly incomprehensible to us and to all other rational creatures. How then shall we know the Son in like measure as the Father doth? For we must consider in what sense He declares that He will recognize us and be recognized by us, as He knoweth the Father and the Father Him.

Therefore we must also investigate what meaning we shall consistently attach to the words so as not to be out of harmony with the context; this we must seek for. For my part, I will not conceal that which comes into my mind; nevertheless let it be accepted [only] by such as are willing. For I think that in these words He means by "knowledge" not simply "acquaintance," but rather employs this word to signify "friendly relationship," either by kinship and nature, or as it were in the participation of grace and honour. In this way it is customary for the children of the Greeks to say they "know" not only those who are of more distant family relationship, but also, even their actual brothers. And that the Divine Scripture too speaks of friendly relationship as knowledge, we shall perceive from what follows. For Christ somewhere says concerning those who were not at all in friendly relationship with Him: Many will say to Me in that day, namely, in the Day of judgment, Lord, Lord, did we not by Thy Name do many mighty works, and cast out devils? Then will I profess unto them, Verily, I say unto you, I never knew you. Again if "knowledge" means simply "acquaintance," how can He Who has all things naked and laid open before His eyes, as it is written. Who even knows all things before they be,----how can He be without knowledge of any living beings? It is therefore quite unintelligible, or rather it is positively impious, to suspect that the Lord is without knowledge of any; and we will rather think that He means to speak of them as brought into no friendly relationship or communion with Him. As though He says: "I do not know you to have been lovers of virtue, or to have honoured My word, or to have joined yourselves unto Me by good works." Conformably with this thou wilt also understand what is spoken with regard to the all-wise Moses, when God says to him: I know thee above all [other men], and thou hast found grace in My sight; which signifies: "Thou, more than any other man, hast been brought into friendly relationship with Me, and hast obtained much grace." And when we say this, we do not take away the signification of "acquaintance" from the word "knowledge," but simply attach a more suitable meaning in harmony with our ideas on the subject. Accordingly, when He says: I know Mine, and am known by Mine, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; it is equivalent to saying: "I shall enter into friendly relationship with My sheep, and My sheep shall be brought into friendly relationship with Me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with Me, and again I also am intimate with the Father." For just as God the Father knows His own Son and the Fruit of His Substance, by reason of being really His Parent; and again, the Son knows the Father, holding Him as God in truth, inasmuch as He is Begotten of Him: in the same way, we also, being brought into friendly relationship with Him, are called His kindred and are spoken of as children, according to that which was said by Him: Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me. And we both are and are called the kindred in truth of the Son, and through Him of the Father; because the Only-Begotten, being God of God, was made Man, assuming the same nature as ours, although separate from all sin. Else how are we the offspring of God, and in what way partakers of the Divine Nature? For not in the mere will of Christ to receive us into friendly relationship have we our full measure of boasting, but the power of the thing itself is realised as true by all of us. For the Word of God is a Divine Nature even when in the flesh, and we are His kindred, notwithstanding that He is by Nature God, because of His taking the same flesh as ours. Therefore the manner of the friendly relationship is similar. For as He is closely related to the Father, and through the sameness of their Nature the Father is closely related to Him; so also are we to Him and He to us, in so far as He was made Man. And through Him as through a Mediator are we joined with the Father. For Christ is a sort of link connecting the Supreme Godhead with manhood, being both in the same Person, and as it were combining in Himself these natures which are so different: and on the one hand, as He is by Nature God, He is joined with God the Father; whereas on the other hand, as He is in truth a Man, He is joined with men.

But perhaps some one will say, "Dost thou not see, O fellow, to what a perilous hazard thy argument is leading thee? For if in so far as He became Man we shall think that He knows His own, that is, comes into friendly relationship with His sheep; who remains outside the fold? For they will be all together in friendly relationship, because they are men just as He is Man. Why then does He any longer use the superfluous word 'Mine?' And what is the peculiar mark of those that are really His? For if all are in friendly relationship from the above-mentioned cause, what greater advantage will those who know Him intimately have?"

We say in reply, that the manner of the friendly relationship is common to all, both to those who have known Him and to those who have not known Him; for He became Man, not showing favour to some and not to others, out of partiality, but pitying our fallen nature in its entirety. Yet the manner of the friendly relationship will avail nothing for those who are insolent through unbelief, but rather will be allotted as a distinguishing reward to those who love Him. For just as the doctrine of the resurrection extends to all men, through the Resurrection of the Saviour, Who causes to rise with Himself the nature of man in its entirety, yet it will profit nothing those who love sin, (for they will go down into Hades, receiving restoration to life only that they may be punished as they deserve); nevertheless it will be of great profit to those who have practised the more excellent way of life, (for they will receive the resurrection to the participation of the good things which pass understanding): in just the same way I think the doctrine of the friendly relationship applies to all men, both bad and good, yet is not the same thing to all; but while to those who believe on Him it is the means of true kinship and of the blessings consequent upon that, to those who are not such it is an aggravation of their ingratitude and un-holiness. Such is our opinion on this subject, but let any one who can do so think out the more perfect meaning.

Now however we must notice at the same time how true and carefully accurate the language is, for Christ is not found to treat subjects in inconsistent and varying ways, but to put every separate thing in its own and most suitable place. For He did not say: "Mine know Me and I know Mine," but He introduces in the first place Himself as knowing His own sheep, then afterwards He says that He shall be known by them. And if knowledge be taken in the sense of acquaintance, as we were saying at the beginning it might be, thou wilt understand something like this: "We did not first know Him, but He first knew us." For instance, Paul when writing to some of the Gentiles says something of this sort, as follows:----Wherefore remember, ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For out of His unbounded kindness Christ introduced Himself to the Gentiles, and knew them before that He was known by them. And if knowledge be understood as friendship and relationship, again we say likewise: "It was not we who began this state of things, but the Only-Begotten Son of God." For we did not lay hold of the Godhead which is above our nature, but He Who is in His Nature God took hold of the seed of Abraham, as Paul says, and became Man, so that being made like unto His brethren in all things, except sin, He might receive into friendly relationship him who of himself had not this privilege, that is, man. Therefore, as a matter of course, He says that He first knew us, then afterwards that we knew Him.

And I lay down My life for the sheep.

Thus He was prepared on behalf of those who were now His friends and relations to afford protection in every way, and He promises even willingly to incur peril, giving a proof in fact by taking this upon Himself that He really is the Good Shepherd. For some, abandoning the sheep to the wolves, were well designated on that account as wretches and hirelings; but since He knew that He must strive on their behalf so vigorously as not even to shrink from death, He might with good reason be deemed a Good Shepherd. And by saying: I lay down My life for the sheep, because I am the Good Shepherd, He covertly rebukes the Pharisees, and gives them perhaps to understand that one day they would act thus franticly, and reach such a pitch of madness against Him, as to compass the death of One Who by no means deserved this, but rather was worthy of all praise and admiration, both because of the deeds which He wrought and on account of His excellent skill in the duties of a shepherd.

Nevertheless we must remark that Christ did not unwillingly endure death on our behalf and for our sakes, but is seen to go towards it voluntarily, although very easily able to escape the suffering, if He willed not to suffer. Therefore we shall see, in His willingness even to suffer for us, the excellency of His love towards us and the immensity of His kindness.

Christ did not endure death against his will on our behalf and for our sakes. Rather, we see him go toward it voluntarily, although he could easily escape the suffering if he did not want to suffer. Therefore, in his willingness even to suffer for us, we shall see the excellent quality of his love toward us and the immensity of his kindness.

Hence in this passage the Lord immediately adds: "As the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep." As if he were openly saying: In this it is established that I both know the Father and am known by the Father, because I lay down my life for my sheep; that is, by that charity with which I die for the sheep, I show how much I love the Father.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) And I lay down My life for My sheep. As if to say, This is why I know My Father, and am known by the Father, because I lay down My life for My sheep; i. e. by My love for My sheep, I show how much I love My Father.

Then because His words appeared to be unsupported by testimony, (for though the, "I lay down My life," was not long after proved, yet the, "that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly," was to come to pass after their departure hence in the life to come,) what doth He? He proveth one from the other; by giving His mortal life He proveth that He giveth life immortal.

"I lay down My life." This He saith continually, to show that He is no deceiver. So also the Apostle, when he desired to show that he was a genuine teacher, and was arguing against the false apostles, established his authority by his dangers and deaths, saying, "In stripes above measure, in deaths oft." For to say, "I am light," and "I am life," seemed to the foolish to be a matter of pride; but to say, "I am willing to die," admitted not any malice or envy. Wherefore they do not say to Him, "Thou bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true," for the speech manifested very tender care for them, if indeed He was willing to give Himself for those who would have stoned Him.

(Hom. lx. 1) Then that thou mayest not attribute to the Shepherd and the sheep the same measure of knowledge, He adds, As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: i. e. I know Him as certainly as He knoweth Me. This then is a case of like knowledge, the other is not; as He saith, No man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father. (Luke 10:23)

(Hom. lx. 1) He gives it too as a proof of His authority. In the same way the Apostle maintains his own commission in opposition to the false Apostles, by enumerating his dangers and sufferings.

The force of love makes a person brave because genuine love counts nothing as hard, or bitter, or serious or deadly. What sword, what wounds, what penalty, what deaths can avail to overcome perfect love? Love is an impenetrable breastplate. It wards off missiles, sheds the blows of swords, taunts dangers, laughs at death. If love is present, it conquers everything.But is that death of the shepherd advantageous to the sheep? Let us investigate. It leaves them abandoned, exposes them defenseless to the wolves, hands over the beloved flock to the gnawing jaws of beasts, gives them over to plunder and exposes them to death. All this is proved by the death of the Shepherd, Christ. From the time when he laid down his life for his sheep and permitted himself to be slain through the fury of the Jews, his sheep have been suffering invasions from the piratical Gentiles. Like prisoners to be slain in jails, they are shut up in the caves of robbers. They are torn unceasingly by persecutors who are like raging wolves. They are snapped at by heretics who are like mad dogs with savage teeth.… In the light of all this, does the Shepherd prove his love for you by his death? Is he proving his love because, when he sees danger threatening his sheep, when he cannot defend his flock, he prefers to die before he sees any evil done to the sheep? But what are we to do, since the Life himself could not die unless he had decided to? Who could have taken life away from the Giver of life if he were unwilling?… Therefore, he willed to die—he who permitted himself to be slain although he was unable to die. And so, let us investigate the strength and the reason of this love, the cause of this death and the utility of this passion. Clearly, there is an established strength, a true reason, a lucid cause, a patent utility in all this blood. For unique power sprang forth from the one death of the Shepherd. For the sake of his sheep the Shepherd met the death that was threatening them. He did this that, by a new arrangement, he might, although captured himself, capture the devil, the author of death; that, although slain himself, he might punish; that, by dying for his sheep, he might open the way for them to conquer death.

Therefore, by giving a pattern like this, the Shepherd went before his sheep; he did not run away from them. He did not surrender the sheep to the wolves, but he consigned the wolves to the sheep. For he enabled his sheep to pick out their robbers in such a way that the sheep, although slain, should live; although mangled, should rise again and, colored by their own blood, should gleam in royal purple and shine with snow-white fleece.In this way, when the good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep, he did not lose it. In this way he held his sheep; he did not abandon them. Indeed, he did not forsake them but invited them. He called and led them through fields full of death and a road of death to life-giving pastures.

In a later passage He declares that He is known by the Father, and the Father by Him; adding that He was so wholly loved by the Father, that He was laying down His life, because He had received this commandment from the Father.

There is a different way of knowing. You see, I made them my own, for they are my own possession, … and they recognize me as the master. But then he also said, "Just as the Father knows me, I, also, know the Father," as if to say, I know the sameness of the nature and of the substance of the Father, being consubstantial with him, and he also knows mine. Nevertheless, I am not like the earlier teachers or like those who are teachers now, which is why I choose the danger on behalf of the sheep.

Lest anyone think that He was learning as a man, He added: "As the Father knows Me, and I know the Father," that is — I know Him as truly as I know Myself. He frequently repeats "I lay down My life for the sheep" in order to show that He is not a deceiver. For the expressions "I am the Light, I am the Life" seemed arrogant to the foolish. But the words "I wish to die" contain no self-boasting, but on the contrary express great care, since He wishes to give Himself up for the people who were casting stones at Him.

He shows that he is a good shepherd by mentioning that he has the office of a good shepherd, which is to lay down his life for his sheep. First, he shows the reason for this; secondly, he gives a sign of it; and thirdly, he shows the fruit of his sign.

The reason for this sign, that is, of his laying down his life for his sheep, is the knowledge he has of the Father. Concerning this he says, as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. This statement can be explained in two ways. In one way, so that "as" indicates just a similarity in knowledge; and taken this way, such knowledge can be given to a creature: "I shall know even as I am known" (1 Cor 13:12), i.e., as I am known without obscurity, so I will know without obscurity. In another way, the "as" implies an equality of knowledge. And then to know the Father as he is known by him is proper to the Son alone, because only the Son knows the Father comprehensively, just as the Father knows the Son comprehensively: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son" (Matt 11:27), that is, with a comprehensive knowledge. Our Lord says this because in knowing the Father, he knows the will of the Father that the Son should die for the salvation of the human race. He is also saying here that he is the mediator between God and man. For as he is related to the sheep as known by them and as knowing them, so also he is related to the Father, because as the Father knows him, so he knows the Father.

Then when he says, and I lay down my life for the sheep, he gives the sign: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us" (1 Jn 3:16). But since there are three substances in Christ, namely the substance of the Word, of the soul, and of the body, one might ask who is speaking when he says, I lay down my life. If you say that the Word is speaking here, it is not true, because the Word never laid down his soul, since He was never separated from his soul. If you say that the soul is speaking, this too seems impossible, because nothing is separated from itself. And if you say that Christ says this referring to his body, it does not seem to be so, because his body does not have the power to take up its soul. Therefore, one must say that when Christ died, his soul was separated from his flesh, otherwise Christ would not have been truly dead. But in Christ, his divinity was never separated from his soul or his flesh; but was united to his soul, as it descended to the lower world, and to his body, as it lay in the tomb. And therefore, his body, by the power of his divinity, laid down his soul by the power of his divinity, and took it up again.

So listen to this unity being even more urgently drawn to your attention: "I have other sheep," he says, "who are not of this fold." He was talking, you see, to the first sheepfold of the race of Israel according to the flesh. But there were others, of the race of the same Israel according to faith, and they were still outside, they were of the Gentiles, predestined but not yet gathered in. He knew those whom he had predestined. He knew those whom he had come to redeem by shedding his blood. He was able to see them, while they could not yet see him. He knew them, though they did not yet believe in him. "I have," he said, "other sheep that are not of this fold," because they are not of the race of Israel according to the flesh. But all the same, they will not be outside this sheepfold, because "I must bring them along too, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd."

Let them all be in the one Shepherd and speak with the one voice of the Shepherd, which the sheep may hear and follow their shepherd, not this or that shepherd, but the one Shepherd. And in him let them all speak with one voice, not with conflicting voices.

But of the one sheepfold and of the one Shepherd, you are now indeed being constantly reminded; for we have commended much the one sheepfold, preaching unity, that all the sheep should enter by Christ, and none of them should follow Donatus. Nevertheless, for what particular reason this was said by the Lord, is sufficiently apparent. For He was speaking among the Jews, and had been specially sent to the Jews, not for the sake of that class who were bound up in their inhuman hatred and persistently abiding in darkness, but for the sake of some in the nation whom He calls His sheep: of whom He saith, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But perhaps some one thinks that, as He Himself came not to us, but sent, we have not heard His own voice, but only the voice of those whom He sent. Far from it: let such a thought be banished from your hearts; for He Himself was in those whom He sent. Listen to Paul himself whom He sent; for Paul was specially sent as an apostle to the Gentiles; and it is Paul who, terrifying them not with himself but with Him saith, "Do ye wish to receive a proof of Him who speaketh in me, that is, of Christ?" Listen also to the Lord Himself. "And other sheep I have," that is, among the Gentiles, "which are not of this fold," that is, of the people of Israel: "them also must I bring." Therefore, even when it is by the instrumentality of His servants, it is He and not another that bringeth them. Listen further: "They shall hear my voice." See here also, it is He Himself who speaks by His servants, and it is His voice that is heard in those whom He sends. "That there may be one fold, and one shepherd." Of these two flocks, as of two walls, is the corner-stone formed. And thus is He both door and the corner-stone: all by way of comparison, none of them literally.

(de Verb. Dom. s. 1) The sheep hitherto spoken of are those of the stock of Israel according to the flesh. But there were others of the stock of Israel, according to faith, Gentiles, who were as yet out of the fold; predestinated, but not yet gathered together. They are not of this fold, because they are not of the race of Israel, but they will be of this fold: Them also I must bring.

(Tr. xlvii. 4) What does He mean then when He says, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Only, that whereas He manifested Himself personally to the Jews, He did not go Himself to the Gentiles, but sent others.

"And other sheep I have." Here Christ's providence toward the sheep is noted, which consists in the gathering together of his sheep, just as a shepherd gathers the sheep into one, lest they suffer attack.

Therefore he says: "And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold," namely the faithful predestined from among the Gentiles: "and them I must bring," as those who are straying: whence First Peter chapter two: "You were as sheep going astray, but are now converted to the shepherd and bishop of your souls." "And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd," on account of the union of the Church from Jews and Gentiles: whence Ephesians chapter two: "He is our peace, who has made both one," namely Gentiles and Jews into one fold. And he himself is the one shepherd; Ezekiel chapter thirty-four: "I will raise up over them one shepherd, who shall feed them, my servant David."

It is asked concerning what he says: "I have other sheep which are not of this fold": because no sheep is a sheep when it is outside the Church, none is innocent.

Likewise, how does he say: "It is necessary for me to bring them?" Because Matthew fifteen: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel": therefore he ought not to have brought them.

It must be said that he calls those sheep from the Gentiles, not yet called according to present justice, his own, because they were chosen according to eternal predestination. He brought them by the merit of his passion and by the word of preaching, not his own, but of the Apostles, because he himself in his own person had come specially and principally to preach to the Israelite people, to whom he had been promised and by whom he was to be killed.

And according to this, that passage of Matthew fifteen is to be understood: "I was not sent," etc.

It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and heaven will display far more variety than hell. "One fold" doesn't mean "one pool". Cultivated roses and daffodils are no more alike than wild roses and daffodils.

He is called Jesus: Sometimes He calls Himself a shepherd, and says, "I am the good Shepherd." According to a metaphor drawn from shepherds, who lead the sheep, is hereby understood the Instructor, who leads the children-the Shepherd who tends the babes. For the babes are simple, being figuratively described as sheep. "And they shall all," it is said, "be one flock, and one shepherd." The Word, then, who leads the children to salvation, is appropriately called the Instructor (Paedagogue).

"And other sheep there are also," saith the Lord, "which are not of this fold"-deemed worthy of another fold and mansion, in proportion to their faith. "But My sheep hear My voice," understanding gnostically the commandments. And this is to be taken in a magnanimous and worthy acceptation, along with also the recompense and accompaniment of works. So that when we hear, "Thy faith hath saved thee," we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have believed in any way whatever shall be saved, unless also works follow. But it was to the Jews alone that He spoke this utterance, who kept the law and lived blamelessly, who wanted only faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious; but though he quit the flesh, he must put off the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion.

Who, then, is so wicked and faithless, who is so insane with the madness of discord, that either he should believe that the unity of God can be divided, or should dare to rend it-the garment of the Lord-the Church of Christ? He Himself in His Gospel warns us, and teaches, saying, "And there shall be one flock and one shepherd." And does any one believe that in one place there can be either many shepherds or many flocks? The Apostle Paul, moreover, urging upon us this same unity, beseeches and exhorts, saving, "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that ye be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." And again, he says, "Forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Do you think that you can stand and live if you withdraw from the Church, building for yourself other homes and a different dwelling, when it is said to Rahab, in whom was prefigured the Church, "Thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father, thou shalt gather unto thee into thine house; and it shall come to pass, whosoever shall go abroad beyond the door of thine house, his blood shall be upon his own head? " Also, the sacrament of the passover contains nothing else in the law of the Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in the figure of Christ should be eaten in one house. God speaks, saying, "In one house shall ye eat it; ye shall not send its flesh abroad from the house." The flesh of Christ, and the holy of the Lord, cannot be sent abroad, nor is there any other home to believers but the one Church. This home, this household of unanimity, the Holy Spirit designates and points out in the Psalms, saying, "God, who maketh men to dwell with one mind in a house." in the house of God, in the Church of Christ, men dwell with one mind, and continue in concord and simplicity.

In divers manners He rattles His blows around the lawless Pharisees; for that they would almost immediately be thrust out from the charge of the sheep and that in their stead He Himself would govern and lead them, He intimates by many sayings. And He throws out hints that, having joined the flocks of the Gentiles to the better disposed of Israel, He will rule not merely the flock of the Jews, but will at once extend the light of His own glory over the whole earth, and call the nations in every quarter to the knowledge of God; not suffering Himself to be known in Judaea only, as was the case in early times, but rather in every country under heaven giving the information which leads to the enjoyment of the true knowledge of God. And that Christ was appointed to be a Guide of the Gentiles unto piety, any one may learn, and very easily; for the inspired Scripture is full of testimonies to this, and perhaps it would not be wrong to pass it over altogether, leaving it to the more studious to seek out such passages; but nevertheless I will adduce two or three sentences from the Prophets concerning this, before I pass on to what follows, Well then, God the Father somewhere says with regard to Christ: Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the Gentiles, a leader and commander to the Gentiles. For Christ bore witness to the Gentiles, giving them instruction unto salvation, and frankly telling them the things whereby they must be saved. And the Divine Psalmist, as if calling those in all quarters into one joyous company, and bidding all under the sun to gather themselves together to a heavenly feast says: O clap your hands, all ye Gentiles; shout unto God with the voice of exultation. But if it may seem good to any one to inquire into the cause of such a glorious and noble act of praise, he will find it clearly expressed: For God is the king of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding: God reigneth over all the Gentiles. And somewhere also he has introduced the Lord Himself announcing in His own words the Evangelic Proclamation to all the Gentiles together; for in the eight and fortieth Psalm He says: Sear this, all ye Gentiles; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, both the low-born and the nobles, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. For how shall any one mention any thing wiser than the Gospel precepts, or what shall we find so full of hidden understanding as the instruction which comes through Christ? Therefore, for our explanation must revert to what we began with, He clearly foretells that the multitude of the Gentiles shall be united into one flock with the obedient of Israel. But "For what reason," some one who is more keenly searching into the signification of this passage may say, "does the Saviour, when addressing the rulers of the Jews, and speaking to men whose hearts burned with hatred and envy, reveal mysteries? For tell me why such men should be informed that He would rule the Gentiles, and that He would gather into His own folds the sheep from beyond the limits of Judaea? "What then shall we say to this, and how shall we explain it? Not as to friends does He impart mysteries [to these men], but neither does He deem the explanation of these matters useless to them: on the other hand, He thus speaks because He knew it would profit them as much as anything He could do; for this was His object, although the mind of His hearers, being quite obstinate and not yielding to obedience, remained inflexible. And because He was aware that they knew the writings of Moses and the announcements of the Holy Prophets, and in the Prophets the statements are frequent and abundant that Christ was to |89 convert the Gentiles also to the knowledge of God: on this account He set this matter before them as a most manifest sign that He was clearly the One fore-announced. He publicly declared that He would call even those sheep who were not of the Jewish fold, in order (as we said just now) that they might believe Him to be really the One Whom the company of the holy men had foretold.

But because he had come to redeem not only Judea but also the Gentiles, he adds: "And I have other sheep which are not of this fold, and those I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." The Lord was looking upon our redemption, we who come from the Gentile people, when he said he would bring other sheep also. This you see happening daily, brethren; this you see accomplished today with the reconciled Gentiles. For he makes one fold, as it were, from two flocks, because he unites the Jewish and Gentile peoples in his faith, as Paul attests, who says: "He is our peace, who has made both one." For while he chooses the simple from both nations for eternal life, he leads his sheep to their proper fold.

Let us seek, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, these pastures, in which we may rejoice with the solemnity of so many fellow citizens. Let the very festivity of those who rejoice invite us. Surely if the people were celebrating a market somewhere, if they were gathering at the dedication of some church with a proclaimed solemnity, we would all hasten to be found there together, and each one would be eager to be present, and would consider himself afflicted with grave loss if he did not witness the solemnity of common joy. Behold, in the heavens the joy of the elect citizens is celebrated, all rejoice together over one another in their assembly, and yet we, lukewarm in our love of eternity, burn with no desire, we do not seek to be present at so great a solemnity, we are deprived of joys, and yet we are happy. Let us therefore kindle our spirit, brethren, let faith grow warm again in what it has believed, let our desires burn toward heavenly things, and thus to love is already to go. Let no adversity call us back from the joy of the inner solemnity, because even if someone desires to go to an intended place, no roughness of the road changes his desire. Let no flattering prosperity seduce us, because he is a foolish traveler who, seeing pleasant meadows along the way, forgets to go where he was heading. Therefore let the soul yearn with all desire for the heavenly homeland, let it seek nothing in this world, which it knows it will soon leave behind, so that if we are truly sheep of the heavenly Shepherd, because we are not fixed on the delight of the way, we may be satisfied with eternal pastures upon arrival.

(Hom. xiv.) But as He came to redeem not only the Jews, but the Gentiles, He adds, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.

(Hom. Evang. xiv.) Of two flocks He maketh one fold, uniting the Jews and Gentiles in His faith.

Observe again, the word "must," here used, doth not express necessity, but is declaratory of something which will certainly come to pass. As though He had said, "Why marvel ye if these shall follow Me, and if My sheep shall hear My voice? When ye shall see others also following Me and hearing My voice, then shall ye be astonished more." And be not confounded when you hear Him say, "which are not of this fold", for the difference relateth to the Law only, as also Paul saith, "Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision." "Them also must I bring." He showeth that both these and those were scattered and mixed, and without shepherds, because the good Shepherd had not yet come. Then He proclaimeth beforehand their future union, that, "They shall be one fold." Which same thing also Paul declared, saying, "For to make in Himself of twain one new man." (Eph. ii. 15.)

Remember in Thy good mercy the Holy and only Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole world, and all Thy people, and all the sheep of this fold.

This sentence alludes to those among the Gentiles who will believe, because many among the Gentiles as well as many among the Jews are destined to gather together into a single church and to acknowledge one shepherd and one lord, who is Christ. This has indeed actually happened. But at that time the miracles confirmed the words; now the fulfillment of the words confirms the miracles accomplished then even though this did not appear at that time.

This speaks of the Gentiles. They are not of that fold which is under the law. For the Gentiles are not fenced in by the law. For both these are in the dispersion, and those have no shepherds. And the prudent and most capable of faith among the Jews were without shepherds; consequently, all the more so the Gentiles. I "must" gather both the Gentiles and the Jews. The word "must" here does not signify compulsion, but rather that which will inevitably follow. "In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile" (Gal. 3:28), and no distinction whatsoever. For all share one form, one seal of baptism, one Shepherd, the Word of God and God. Let the Manichaeans be ashamed, who reject the Old Testament, and let them hear that there is one flock and one Shepherd; for one and the same God is the God of the Old and the New Testament.

For there is one sign of baptism for all, and one Shepherd, even the Word of God. Let the Manichean mark; there is but one fold and one Shepherd set forth both in the Old and New Testaments.

Then when he says, and I have other sheep, he sets down the fruit of Christ's death, which is the salvation not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles as well. For since he had said, "I lay down my life for the sheep," the Jews, who regarded themselves as God's sheep - "We thy people, the flock of thy pasture" (Ps 79:13) - could have said that he laid down his life for them alone. But our Lord adds that it is not only for them, but for others too: "He prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (11:51).

In regard to this fruit our Lord does three things. First, he mentions the predestination of the Gentiles; secondly, their vocation through grace; and thirdly their justification.

As to the first he says, and I have other sheep, that is, the Gentiles, that are not of this fold, i.e., of the family of the flesh of Israel, which was in a way a flock: "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob" (Mic 2:12). For as sheep are enclosed in a fold, so the Jews were kept enclosed within the precepts of the Law, as we read in Galatians (c 3). These other sheep, I say, that is, the Gentiles, I have from my Father through an eternal predestination: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage" (Ps 2:8); "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Is 49:6).

As to the second he says, I must bring them also, i.e., according to the plans of divine predestination it is time to call them to grace.

This seems to conflict with what our Lord says in Matthew (15:24): "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." I answer that Jesus was sent only to the sheep of the house of Israel in the sense of preaching to them personally, as we read in Romans (15:8): "Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs." It was through the apostles that he brought in the Gentiles: "From them I will send survivors to the nations" (Is 66:19).

In regard to the third he says, and they will heed my voice. Here he mentions three things necessary for righteousness in the Christian religion. The first is obedience to the commandments of God. Concerning this he says, and they will heed my voice, i.e., they will observe my commandments: "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:20); "People whom I had not known," i.e., whom I did not approve, served me. As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me" (Ps 18:43).

The second is the unity of charity, and concerning this he says, so there shall be one flock, i.e., one Church of the faithful from the two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles: "One faith" (Eph 4:5); "For he is our peace, who has made us both one" (Eph 2:14).

The third is the unity of faith, and in regard to this he says, one shepherd: "They shall all have one shepherd," that is, the Jews and the Gentiles (Ez 37:24).

But of His own passion itself, which lay not in any necessity He was under, but in His own power, all that He said in His discourse to the Jews was, "I go away." For to Christ the Lord's death was His proceeding to the place whence He had come, and from which He had never departed. "I go away," said He, "and ye shall seek me," not from any longing for me, but in hatred. For after His removal from human sight, He was sought for both by those who hated Him and those who loved Him; by the former in a spirit of persecution, by the latter with the desire of having Him. In the Psalms the Lord Himself says by the prophet, "A place of refuge hath failed me, and there is none that seeketh after my life;" and again He says in another place in the Psalms, "Let them be confounded and ashamed who seek after my life." He blamed the former for not seeking, He condemned the latter because they did. For it is wrong not to seek the life of Christ, that is, in the way the disciples sought it; and it is wrong to seek the life of Christ, that is, in the way the Jews sought it: for the former sought to possess it, these latter to destroy it.

Accordingly, because these men sought it thus in a wrong way, with a perverted heart, what next did He add? "Ye shall seek me, and"-not to let you suppose that ye will seek me for good-"ye shall die in your sin." This comes of seeking Christ wrongly, to die in one's sin; this of hating Him, through whom alone salvation could be found. For, while men whose hope is in God ought not to render evil even for evil, these men were rendering evil for good. The Lord therefore announced to them beforehand, and in His foreknowledge uttered the sentence, that they should die in their sin.

And then He adds, "Whither I go, ye cannot come." He said the same to the disciples also in another place; and yet He said not to them, "Ye shall die in your sin." But what did He say? The same as to these men: "Whither I go, ye cannot come." He did not take away hope, but foretold delay. For at the time when the Lord spake this to the disciples, they were not able to come whither He was going, yet were they to come afterwards; but these men never, to whom in His foreknowledge He said, "Ye shall die in your sin."

(Tract. xxxviii. 2) In accordance with what was just, He said that no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come; He now speaks to the Jews of His passion, as a free, and not a compulsory sacrifice on His part: Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way. Death to our Lord was a return to the place whence He had come.

(Tract. xxxviii. 2) Ye shall seek Me, then, He says, not from compassionate regret, but from hatred: for after He had departed from the eyes of men, He was sought for both by those who hated, and those who loved Him: the one wanting to persecute, the other to have His presence. And that ye may not think that ye shall seek Me in a good sense, I tell you, Ye shall die in your sin. (ἁμαρτίᾳ plural in our Transl.) This is to seek Christ amiss, to die in one's sin: this is to hate Him, from Whom alone cometh salvation. He pronounces sentence on them prophetically, that they shall die in their sins.

(Tract. xxviii. s. 2) This He tells His disciples in another place; without saying to them, however, Ye shall die in your sin, He only says, Whither I go, ye cannot follow Me now; not preventing, but only delaying their coming.

The connection of these words is such, that they might have been spoken at one place and one time, or at another place and another time: as either nothing at all, or some things, or many may have intervened.

Note: sin is in the singular number, your in the plural; to express one and the same wickedness in all.

"Jesus therefore said to them again." It was shown above that the doctrine of Christ liberates from the blindness of error; here it is shown and commended that it liberates from the servitude of sin. And this part is divided: because first it is shown that without knowledge of Christ servitude is perpetuated; second, that through the doctrine and word of Christ man is liberated from servitude, at the passage: "Jesus therefore said to those who believed."

The first, therefore, is shown in this order: first is set forth the threat of perpetual servitude; second, on account of the Jews' doubt, the exposition of the threat; third, the explanation of the things to be believed; fourth, the multiplication of believers.

First, therefore, is set forth the threat of perpetual servitude; and this is when a man dies in sin: and He threatens them with final impenitence.

"Jesus therefore said to them again: I go," namely, to the Father through the Passion; "and you shall seek me," namely, to persecute me: "and you shall die in your sin," and I shall be delivered from your hands. And the reason is added: "Where I go, you cannot come," because they could not enter into glory. Hence He threatened them with the death of guilt and the loss of glory. This the Lord said to the Jews; He said something similar to the disciples: "Where I go, you cannot come," below in the thirteenth chapter. But to the Jews He said it by way of threat, to the disciples He foretold it by way of deferral: whence afterwards He said to Peter: "Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow afterwards."

and whither I go, YE cannot come.

Not only does He say that they shall die in their sins, but declares clearly that, ascending not to the mansions above, they will remain outside of the good things of the kingdom: for they who received not Him Who came from above, how could they also follow Him ascending up? Double therefore is the punishment to them who believe not, and not in any single thing their loss. For just as they who have fallen into bodily loss of health must needs suffer and endure the trials of the suffering and besides be deprived of the pleasures of health; so and not otherwise do they who have departed into Hades, and there undergo punishment proportionate to the sins, both endure the state of punishment and lose the enjoyment of the hope of the saints. Most excellently then does our Lord Jesus Christ say not only that they shall die in their sins, but also that they shall not mount up to the mansions above: for binding them as by a twofold cord, does He haste to draw them away from their inherent ill-counsel. From all sides saving that which was lost and binding up the broken and raising up that which was broken down (for these are the ways of a Good Shepherd and One Who readily gives His Life for the salvation of the sheep) does He tell His own disciples, I will go and prepare a place for you, and will come again and receive you with Myself, showing that the very heaven will be accessible to the saints and teaching that the mansions above have been prepared for them that love Him, but to those who have chosen to disbelieve Him, rightly and needs does He say, Whither I go YE cannot come. For who at all will follow the All-holy Christ, if he love not the cleansing that is through faith? or how shall he that is yet defiled and that has not cleared off the filth from his passions be with our Lord Who loves us? What communion hath light with darkness, as Paul saith? For I deem that they ought to be holy who would say to the All-Pure God, My soul cleaveth after Thee.

I think that this meaning has now too not amiss been put on the words before us, but if one must go about and view it differently, and say yet something else besides, we will not shrink from doing this too. Whither I go, YE cannot come. Being Very God, I am absent from no one, I fill all things, and being with all, I dwell specially in Heaven, gladly having abode with holy spirits. But since I am the human-loving Framer of all things, I deemed intolerable the loss of My creation, I beheld man going away to utter destruction, I viewed him falling from sin unto death, I must needs reach forth an helping Hand to him as he lay, I must needs in every way aid him overcome and falling. How then was it meet to save that which was lost? it needed that the Physician should be with those in peril, it needed that Life should be there present with the dying, it needed that Light should have its abode with those in darkness. But it were not possible that ye being men by nature should take wing to Heaven and have your abode with the Saviour. Therefore have I Myself come to you, I heard the Saints oftentimes crying aloud, Bow Thy Heavens o Lord and come down; I bowed the Heavens therefore and have come down; for in no other way could ye look to come hither. Yet do I endure to remain with you, do ye more resolutely lay hold of life, purify yourselves through faith while He is with you Who knows to, and can, compassionate with authority. For I shall go, yea shall return again whither YE cannot come; even though ye should seek the Giver of salvation by an untimely after-counsel, ye shall not find Him: what follows ye may see. For ye shall surely die in your sins, and weighed down by your own transgressions, shall go mourning to the prison-house of death, there to pay the penalty of your lengthened unbelief. The Saviour then being good and exceeding loving to man, compels the Jews by fears of future punishment even against their will to be saved.

He said therefore unto them again, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me and shall die in your sins.

That we must needs take hold of the present time for whatever one may receive profit from to oneself, does Christ herein well declare unto us. For to be too late in what is good and to take after-counsel for what is profitable, clearly brings no gain but ministers wailing befitting the neglect. Our Lord therefore being good and gracious, as it is written, both bears with those who dishonour Him and aids those who insult Him and is found as God superior to all the littleness of man. Yet does He for their good threaten to depart from them, and says plainly I go My way, that He may implant in them a more resolved mind, and that they considering that they ought not to leave their Redeemer when present frustrate of His work, He may whet them to pass on to the faith and may make them now at length more ready unto obedience. And having cried out, I go My way, and threatened departure from the whole nation, He subjoined economically the damage therefrom ensuing unto them. For (He says) Ye shall die in your sins; and we shall see the nature of the thing bringing in the truth of what is said. For they who did not at all receive Him Who came to us from Heaven that He might justify all through faith, how shall they not beyond all contradiction die in their sins, and not receiving Him Who can cleanse them, how will they not have lasting defilement from their impiety? For to die unredeemed, yet laden with the weight of sin, to whom is it any doubt where this will conduct the soul of man? For deep Hades will, I deem, receive such an one, and he will continue in great darkness, yea he will inhabit fire and flames, with reason numbered among those of whom it has been said by Prophet's voice, Their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be for a sight to all flesh. Whereof that they may escape the trial, Christ kept manifoldly calling them to a speedy turning away from their wonted unbelief, saying not only that He should leave them and go away, but also of necessity putting before them how great misfortune they will thence undergo. For ye shall die (He says) in your sins. But since He put in between, And ye shall seek Me, and hitherto we do not find the Jews seeking Him, we shall reasonably go to some other meaning: for He must needs be True. For even though they now in the body and yet in full enjoyment of the pleasures of the flesh, for their exceeding senselessness seek not their Redeemer, yet when they wretched fall into hell and have their abode in the place of punishments, when they are in the ill itself, then, then will they seek even against their will. For there (He says) is weeping and gnashing of teeth, each (it is likely) of those there wailing his carelessness in what was good, and well-nigh saying what is in the Book of Proverbs, I have not obeyed the voice of him that instructed me and taught me. Therefore as Paul saith, Let us therefore fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His Rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For we must run, that we may obtain, and not by our disbelief insult Him Who draws us out of bitter bondage, but submit ourselves and with upturned hands lay hold on the grace.

"Then said Jesus unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me."

Why saith He this continually? To shame and terrify their souls; for observe what fear this saying caused in them. Although they desired to kill Him that they might be rid of Him, they yet ask, "whither He goeth," such great things did they imagine from the matter. He desired also to show them another thing, that the deed would not be effected through their force; but He showed it to them in a figure beforehand, and already foretold the Resurrection by these words.

Someone might say to this, "If He said this to those persisting in unbelief, how can He say to such, 'You will seek me'?" For often seeking Jesus is good, somehow the same as seeking the Word and truth and wisdom. But you will say that it is also said concerning those who plot, just as in, "They sought to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come," and in "I know that you are Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you," and in "Now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God." Therefore, it is said to those not seeking rightly, "You will seek me," not contradicting "Everyone who seeks finds." And there are always differences among those seeking Jesus, not all seeking Him genuinely and for their own salvation and to benefit from Him. For there are also countless fallen dispositions seeking Jesus; therefore, only those who have rightly sought Him found peace, who rightly could be said to seek the Word from the beginning, the Word with God, and to be brought near to the Father. But when the Word is present and appearing, if it is not accepted, it threatens to depart and says, "I am going away;" and if we seek Him after He has departed, we shall not find Him, but we shall die in our sins. He knows from whom He is going away and to whom He remains inaccessible until He is sought in due time. And it is said to those who have Him like this and have not yet observed Him: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down; or, 'Who will descend into the abyss? That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.' But what does the scripture say? 'The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart.'" To these, the Savior kindly shows also concerning the kingdom of God, so that they do not seek it outside themselves nor say, "Here it is," or "There it is;" for He says to them, "The kingdom of God is within you." And as long as we preserve within our soul the seeds of truth and its beginnings that were sown in us, the Word has not yet departed from us; but if we are corrupted by the outpouring of wickedness, then He will say to us, "I am going," so that if we seek Him we shall not find Him, but we shall die in our sins, caught in them and taken by those appointed to seize the soul, according to what was said: "Fool, this very night your soul will be demanded from you."

We should not pass over unexamined also the phrase, "You will die in your sins." If it is taken more commonly, it is clear that sinners will die in their sin, and the righteous will die in their righteousness; but if "You will die" is understood according to the death of the enemy of Christ, as one sinning unto death, it is clear that those to whom it was said had not yet died. And you inquire how those who did not believe while they were living will ever die. Someone will answer even to this, saying that at that time not yet believing was not yet a sin unto death, and those to whom the word came had not yet sinned unto death. But they were living in the weakness of their soul, and that weakness was unto death. Therefore, the physician, seeing them gravely ill, said in despair of their healing, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins." We said then that "since that infirmity was 'unto death' for them, since they learned from Jesus the difference of infirmities. Lazarus also was sick, but the physician knew that his sickness was not unto death; therefore he says: 'This sickness is not unto death.' Therefore, even when we take hold of our own sicknesses, let us be careful lest we fall sick unto death, the disease changing from one that can still have a cure to one that is incurable. At the same time, it becomes somewhat clearer also what is meant by 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' in relation to 'You will die in your sin.' For when someone dies in their own sin, where Jesus is going they cannot go; for no dead person can follow Jesus. 'The dead do not praise you, Lord, nor any of those who go down into Hades. But we, who are alive, shall bless the Lord.' You may also add to 'You will die in your sin' what is written in Ezekiel: 'The soul who sins shall die'; for the death of the soul is sin, though not every sin, but the one that John speaks of as unto death. He also distinguishes that some sins are the death of the soul, some its sickness, and perhaps even thirdly, some a loss to the soul, the sin namely from 'What shall a man profit if he gains the whole world but loses or suffers loss of his soul?' and from 'If someone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss.' To those, therefore, who die in their sin, he says: 'I go away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin; where I go, you cannot come,' but to Peter: 'Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward'; for it is possible that one who is a disciple of Jesus can now not be prepared to follow Him as He goes to the Father, but later diligently walking in His steps, they may follow their teacher and follow the Word of God. It is reasonable that someone, considering what pertains to the end, will dwell on 'Where I am going you cannot come,' and regarding it will say that one may be unable to do so now, but later may be able; and if there is a present age and another to come, to whom it is said, 'You cannot come,' in the present age (and much time remains until its completion) they cannot come where Jesus is, which is, where truth and wisdom and the Word are, for that is 'where Jesus is.' I know some who are not only in this age but also in the future held by their own sin, as those regarding whom the Word says: 'He who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness either in this age or in the age to come,' nor indeed even in the future age nor in the ages to come.

Why does He so often say to them, "I am going away, and you will seek Me"? In order to shake and terrify their souls. For see what concern they immediately fell into. Although they wanted to be rid of Him, asked Him to depart from them, and even wanted to kill Him, nevertheless they regarded the present circumstance as so important that they were thrown into perplexity by it. "I am going away." He says this often, also in order to show that He knows beforehand about His death, and that the Cross is a matter not of their power, but of His own will. "I," He says, "am going away": you are not leading Me, but I go voluntarily. "Where I go, you cannot come." By these words He shows that He will truly rise in glory and sit at the right hand of God, while they will die in their sins.

He shows here that He will rise again in glory, and sit at the right hand of God.

After our Lord showed his special position with respect to light, he here reveals the effect of this light, that is, that it frees us from darkness. First, he shows that the Jews are imprisoned in darkness; secondly he teaches the remedy which can free them (v 22). He does three things concerning the first: first, our Lord tells them he is going to leave; secondly, he reveals the perverse plans of the Jews, and thirdly, he mentions what they will be deprived of.

Our Lord says that he is going to leave them by his death, I am going away. We can see two things from this. First, that he is going to die voluntarily, that is, as going, and not as one led by someone else: "I am going to him who sent me" (16:5); "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself" (10:18). And so this appropriately follows what went before: for he had said, "and no one arrested him" (8:20). Why? Because he is going willingly, on his own.

Secondly, we can see that the death of Christ was a journey to that place from which he had come, and which he had not left, for just as one who walks heads toward what is ahead, so Christ, by his death, reached the glory of exaltation: "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Because of this God exalted him" (Phil 2:8); "Jesus—knowing that he came from God, and is going to God" (13:3).

We see their sinful plans by their deceitful search for Christ; he says, you will seek me. Some look for Christ in a devout way through charity, and such a search results in life: "Seek the Lord, and your soul will live" (Ps 68:7). But they wickedly searched for him out of hatred, to persecute him: "They who sought my soul used violence" (Ps 37:13). He says, you will seek me, by attacking me after my death with your accusations: "We remembered that while still living the seducer said: 'After three days I will rise'" (Mt. 27:63). And they will also seek out my members: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me" (Acts 9:4).

This will be followed by their death, and so he adds what they will be deprived of, foretelling to them, and you will die in your sin. First, he foretells that deprivation which consists in the condemnation of death; secondly, that deprivation which consists in their exclusion from glory, Where I am going, you cannot come.

He is saying: Because you will wickedly search for me, you will die while continuing in your sin. We can understand this in one way as applying to physical death: and then one dies in his sins who keeps on sinning up to the time of his death. And so in saying, you will die in your sin, he emphasizes their obstinacy: "There is no one who does penance for his sin, saying: 'What have I done?'" (Jer 8:6); "They went down to the lower regions with their weapons" as we read in Ezekiel (32:2).

In another way, we can understand this as applying to the death of sin, about which the Psalm says, "The death of sinners is the worst" (Ps 33:22). And just as a physical weakness precedes physical death, so a certain weakness precedes this kind of death. For as long as sin can be remedied, it is a kind of weakness which precedes death: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak" (Ps 6:3). But when sin can no longer be remedied, either absolutely, as after this life, or because of the very nature of the sin, as a sin against the Holy Spirit, it then causes death: "There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that" (1 Jn 5:16). And according to this, our Lord is foretelling them that the weakness of their sins results in death.

He shows the deprivation which consists in their exclusion from glory when he says, Where I am going, you cannot come. Our Lord goes by death, and so also do they. But our Lord goes without sin, while they go with their sins, because they are dying in their sin, and so do not come to the glory of the vision of the Father. So he says, Where I am going, willingly, by my passion, to the Father and to his glory, you cannot come, because you do not want to. For if they had wanted to and had not been able to do so, it could not have reasonably been said to them, "You will die in your sin."

Note that one can be hindered from going where Christ goes in two ways. One way is by reason of some contrary factor, and this is the way that sinners are hindered. This is what he is speaking of here; and so to those who are absolutely continuing in their sin he says, Where I am going, you cannot come. "He who is proud will not live in my house" (Ps 100:7); "It will be called a holy way, and the unclean will not pass over it" (Is 35:8); "Who will dwell in your tent? He who walks without blame" (Ps 14:1).

One is hindered another way by reason of some imperfection or indisposition. This is the way the just are hindered as long as they live in the body: "While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord" (2 Cor 5:6). To persons such as these our Lord does not say absolutely, Where I am going, you cannot come, but he adds a qualification as to the time: "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now" (13:36).

But on hearing these words, as is usual with those whose thoughts are carnal, who judge after the flesh, and hear and apprehend everything in a carnal way, they said, "Will he kill himself because he said, Whither I go ye cannot come." Foolish words, and overflowing with stupidity! For why could they not go whither He would have proceeded had He killed Himself? Were not they themselves to die? What, then, means, "Will he kill himself because he said, Whither I go ye cannot come?" If He spake of man's death, what man is there that does not die? Therefore, by "whither I go" He meant, not the going to death, but whither He was going Himself after death. Such, then, was their answer, because they did not understand.

(Tract. xxviii) They take these words, as they generally do, in a carnal sense, and ask, Will He kill Himself, because He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? A foolish question. For why? Could they not go where He went, if He killed Himself? Were they never to die themselves? Whither I go, then, He says; meaning not His departure at death, but where He went after death.

"The Jews therefore said." Here the second point is touched upon, namely, on account of the Jews' doubt, the exposition of the threat. For they doubted concerning what He had said: "Where I go, you cannot come": therefore they say: "Will He kill Himself, because He says: Where I go, you cannot come?" Augustine: "Foolish words, altogether full of senselessness. For if He were to kill Himself, could they not do likewise? If He spoke of death, were not all of them going to die?" On account of this doubt, the Lord sets forth the explanation of His threat; and He had said two things, therefore He explains two things: first, that which He had said: "Where I go, you cannot come." For because He had said this concerning going to the Father through glory, to which sinners could not ascend.

Why does He so often say to them, "I am going away, and you will seek Me"? In order to shake and terrify their souls. For see what concern they immediately fell into. In perplexity they say, "Will He kill Himself?" Although they wanted to be rid of Him, asked Him to depart from them, and even wanted to kill Him, nevertheless they regarded the present circumstance as so important that they were thrown into perplexity by it. "I am going away." He says this often, also in order to show that He knows beforehand about His death, and that the Cross is a matter not of their power, but of His own will. "I," He says, "am going away": you are not leading Me, but I go voluntarily. "Where I go, you cannot come." By these words He shows that He will truly rise in glory and sit at the right hand of God, while they will die in their sins. What then do they say to this? "Will He kill Himself?"

I affect nothing worldly, nothing earthly: I could never come to such madness as to kill Myself.

Then (v 22), he treats of the remedy which can set them free from the darkness. First, he gives the remedy for escaping the darkness; secondly, he shows the efficacy of the remedy (v 31). Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he indicates what is the unique remedy for escaping the darkness; secondly, he states the reasons why they should ask for this remedy (v 25); and thirdly, we see Christ foretelling the means of obtaining it (v 28). As for the first, he does two things: first, he gives the circumstances for Christ's words; and secondly, the reason why Christ can propose the remedy (v 23).

The circumstances surrounding Christ's words was the perverse understanding of the Jews. For since they were carnal, they understood what Christ said, "Where I am going, you cannot come," in a carnal way: "The sensual man does not perceive those things that pertain to the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14). Thus the Jews said, Will he kill himself? As Augustine says, this is indeed a foolish notion. For if Christ was going to kill himself, couldn't they go where he was going? For they could kill themselves also. Thus, death was not the term of Christ's going: it was the way he was going to the Father. Accordingly, he did not say that they could not go to death but that they could not go through death to the place where Christ, through his death, would be exalted, that is, at the right hand of God. According to Origen, however, perhaps the Jews did have a reason why they said this. For they had learned from their traditions that Christ would die willingly, as he himself said: "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself" (10:18). They seem to have especially gathered this from Isaiah (53:12): "I will give him many things, and he will divide the spoils of the strong, because he delivered himself to death." And so because they suspected that Jesus was the Christ, when he said, "Where I am going you cannot come," they understood it according to this opinion that he would willingly deliver himself to death. But they interpreted this in an insulting way, saying, Will he kill himself? Otherwise they would have said: "Is his soul going to depart, leaving his body when he wishes? We are unable to do this, and this is the reason for his saying, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'."

And what said the Lord to those who savored of the earth? "And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath." For this cause ye savor of the earth, because ye lick dust like serpents. Ye eat earth! What does it mean? Ye feed on earthly things, ye delight in earthly things, ye gape after earthly things, ye have no heart for what is above. "Ye are from beneath: I am from above. Ye are of this world: I am not of this world." For how could He be of the world, by whom the world was made? All that are of the world come after the world, because the world preceded; and so man is of the world. But, Christ was first, and then the world; and since Christ was before the world, before Christ there was nothing: because "In the beginning was the Word; all things were made by Him." He, therefore, was of that which is above.

But of what that is above? Of the air? Perish the thought! there the birds wing their flight. Of the sky that we see? Again I say, Perish the thought! it is there that the stars and sun and moon revolve. Of the angels? Neither is this to be understood: by Him who made all things were the angels also made. Of what, then, above is Christ? Of the Father Himself. Nothing is above that God who begat the Word equal with Himself, co-eternal with Himself, only-begotten, timeless, that by Him time's own foundations should be laid. Understand, then, Christ as from above, so as in thy thought to get beyond everything that is made,-the whole creation together, every material body, every created spirit, everything in any way subject to change: rise above all, as John rose, in order to reach this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Therefore said He, "I am from above. Ye are of this world: I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins." He has explained to us, brethren, what He wished to be understood by "ye are of this world." He said therefore in fact, "Ye are of this world," because they were sinners, because they were unrighteous, because they were unbelieving, because they savored of the earthly. For what is your opinion as regards the holy apostles? What difference was there between the Jews and the apostles? As great as between darkness and light, as between faith and unbelief, as between piety and impiety, as between hope and despair, as between love and avarice: surely the difference was great. What then, because there was such a difference, were the apostles not of the world? If thy thoughts turn to the manner of their birth, and whence they came, inasmuch as all of them had come from Adam, they were of this world. But what said the Lord Himself to them? "I have chosen you out of the world." Those, then, who were of the world, became not of the world, and began to belong to Him by whom the world was made. But these men continued to be of the world, to whom it was said, "Ye shall die in your sins."

Let none then, brethren, say, I am not of this world. Whoever thou art as a man, thou art of this world; but He who made the world came to thee, and delivered thee from this world. If the world delights thee, thou wishest always to be unclean; but if this world no longer delight thee, thou art already clean. And yet, if through some infirmity the world still delight thee, let Him who cleanseth dwell in thee, and thou too shalt be clean. But if thou art once clean, thou wilt not continue in the world; neither wilt thou hear what was heard by the Jews, "Ye shall die in your sins." For we are all born with sin; we have all in living added to that wherein we were born, and have since become more of the world than when we were born of our parents. And where should we be, had He not come, who was wholly free from sin, to expiate all sin?

(Tract. xxxviii. 4) From whom above? From the Father Himself, Who is above all. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. How could He be of the world, by Whom the world was made?

And Who was before the world, whereas they were of the world, having been created after the world had begun to exist.

"And he said to them: You are from below": above in chapter three: "He who is of the earth speaks of the earth"; "but I am from above," and therefore I go upward: and for this reason "where I go, you cannot come": because, as is said above in chapter three, "no one ascends into heaven except he who descended from heaven"; therefore you descend, but I ascend. Again: "You are of this world," because you cling to this world through love: "but I am not of this world," therefore I leave you in the world, and "where I go, you cannot come"; below in chapter sixteen: "I came forth from the Father and came into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father." Thus he explains what he had said: "Where I go": this is to be understood through power, not through weakness. He also expounds what he said: "You will die in your sin."

YE are of this world, I am not of this world.

CHAPTER IV. That the Son is by Nature God, wholly remote from likeness to the creature, as regards Essence.

He showed herein and very clearly what is the meaning of Above, what of Beneath. For since it was like that the Pharisees able to understand nothing would consider what had been said in a more corporal manner, and understand the Above and Beneath of place and would thence stray into many notions, profitably did our Lord Jesus Christ bare His word of the obscurity that seemed to have been cast upon it and from all want of clearness, putting more clearly in the sequel what He had said darkly. For YE (He says) are of this world, i. e., from beneath, I am not of this world, this then is From above. For God overpasses all that is created, not having superiority in local exaltation (for it were foolish and utterly uninstructed to conceive of the Incorporeal as local) but surpassing things originate by the ineffable Excellences of Nature. Of this Essence does the Word say that He is, not the creation, but the Fruit and Offspring. For observe how He says not, From above have I been created and made, but rather, I am, that He may show both whence He is and that He was ever Eternally with His own Progenitor. For He is as the Father too is: but He That is and is Eternally with Him That is, how He was not, let the folly of them who think otherwise say.

But haply the foe of the Truth will withstand us saying, "Not without qualification hath Christ said, I am not of the world, but by adding This, He hath shown accurately that there is another world, the spiritual, whence He might be."

Therefore among creatures is the Son (for this is what thy language, O sir, is working out for us), among those who have originate nature will the Creator be surely classed, putting about Him some angelic perchance and slave-befitting dignity you deem that yourself will escape the charge of blasphemy. For do you not know, that though you attribute to Him that highest position and status which the holy angels will be conceived of as having, though you confess that He is above every Princedom and Authority and Throne, and yet believe Him to be originate, you sin against Him no whit the less? For there is no worthy place whatever of superiority over the rest to the Only-Begotten, so long as He is at all conceived of as created. For not in having precedence of any hath He glory but in being not originate, yea rather God of God by Nature. But THOU again art classing Him Who beamed forth from God and therefore is God, with things originate, and thou reckonest Him to be a part of the world, and if not perchance of this one yet of another (for imagined distinction of worlds will make no difference at all, in respect of having been made): and dost thou not blush putting the Word Who sitteth with Him Who begat Him, in the category of His guards and those who stand before Him? for dost thou not hear Gabriel saying to Zacharias, I am Gabriel that stand in the Presence of God and I was sent to speak unto thee, and Isaiah, I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim were standing round about Him. And (marvel!) the Prophet was beholding the Son and called Him Lord of Sabaoth, and introduces Him as King with the highest Powers as Body-guard. And that it really was the Glory of the Only-Begotten which he was beholding, the wise John will testify saying, These things said Esaias because 16 he saw His glory: and of Him spake he. Wherefore the Divine Paul too, both from His Co-sitting with God the Father and from His being called Son by Nature, coming to most accurate perception of the Mystery and gathering the knowledge pertaining to the idea, says, For unto which of the Angels said (i. e., God the Father) at any time, My Son art THOU, this day have I begotten Thee? (for in the word I have begotten, He shows that the Son is by Nature God of God) and again, But to which of the Angels said He at any time, Sit on My Right Hand? And he does not in saying this accuse God the Father of either being wont to do aught unjust or as dishonouring the nature of the angels, when He honoured that by a position below the Son. For what hinders (may one say) since God the Father is just and good, His making the nature too of the angels assessor with Himself, if the Son be altogether among things originate, and con-natural with them in respect of having been created, even though by some other excellences He surpass the measure belonging to them, just as they may surpass us. But not unrighteous is God the Father, who bade the Angels to stand in the Presence, and gave this Dignity to their nature, having His own Son co-seated with Himself, since He knows that He is by Nature God, and that His own Offspring is not alien from His Essence. How then is He any longer originate, how of an originate world and not rather in the same [state] wherein is Very God, i. e., above all things that are conceived of and acknowledged to exist in every world?

But since ye put out as something great and resistless Christ saying with some fair distinction, I am not of this world; and by the word this, ye affirm that the other world is meant, saying that He is of it, let us see again if ye are not staying yourselves upon rotten arguments, prompted to reason and think thus by only your own want of thought. For the word This, or of this (as it may be), or whatever we say pronomically, is demonstrative, and not altogether or necessarily indicative of another. And verily the blessed Baruch, pointing out to us the One and only God, says, This is our God, there shall none other be accounted of in comparison with Him, but if the word This were altogether significant of another, how would not another be accounted of in comparison of Him? yea and the righteous Symeon too, prophesying the mystery of Christ, says, Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many dead in Israel and for a sign which is spoken against, although unto whom is it not most manifest, that not as severing us from other persons does the righteous man say, This, but intimating that He Who is now present and has been set for this, is by Himself? Therefore when Christ says, I am not of this world, not surely as being of another world does He say it, but as defining and laying down in a more corporeal form, as if two places, the originate nature I mean and that of the Man Who is Ineffable and above every essence, He puts the Jews in the place of things originate, saying, YE are of this world, Himself He altogether severing from things created, and connecting with the other place, I mean Godhead, says, I am not of this world. Hence contrasting (for our knowledge) the Godhead with the world, He gives Of this to the latter, Himself He apportions to God Who hath begotten Him and to the Essence which is Supreme over all.

"But" (says he) "God the Father will in nothing wrong the nature of the angels, if He do not please to honour it in the same degree as the Son. For variety in the creation, or the apportioning glory in befitting degree to each, in no wise argues that God is unjust, since how then should WE be less than the angels, albeit we confess that God is Righteous? What then we are in respect of the angels, that are the angels too in respect of the Son; for they yield as to one better than they, the being in greater honour than themselves be."

But, most excellent sir, shall we reply, shaming the unlearned heretic, if even though we be remote from the glory of the angels, since we come short of the piety too that is inherent in them and though there be much variety in the creation and diversity, and superiority in honour or inferiority according to the will of Him Who made them, yet is the being created common to all, and in this there is nought at all that surpasseth or cometh short of other. For that an angel should excel a man in honour and glory is nought wonderful, or an archangel too an angel; but the power of mounting up to the glory of Him Who made all things, we shall find to accrue to no one of creatures: for not any of the things that have been made will be God, nor will the bond be equal in honour with the Lord, co-sitting with Him and co-reigning. What measure then of honour will there be to the Son? being according to you originate and of the spiritual world, will He have God-befitting Dignity? how will that which is connatural with the creation mount up to the same glory as He Who is by Nature God, albeit God saith, My Glory will I not give to another? what (tell me) put the devil forth of the heavenly halls? was it the thirsting for honour which beseemed the originate nature, yet better and greater than the measure which accrued to him, and was it in this that the nature of his crimes lay? or was it that he dared to say, I will be like the Most High? For the creature pictured to itself that it could mount up to the Nature of its Maker and be co-throned with God Who has the power over all. Wherefore he hath also fallen as lightning, as it is written, from heaven. But THOU springing heedlessly upon things so insecure, accountst it nothing that the Son being according to you of some world, and consequently parcel of the creation, should be called by way of honour by God the Father to sit with Him, though Essence in no wise bestow upon Him this nor call Him to Dignity befitting and due to it. For He receives, if it be as YE in your babbling say, things above the creature in the way of favour. Away with such blasphemy, man, for we will not be thus minded, may God avert it! For we believe that angels and archangels and those in yet higher place than they, are diversely honoured by the Authority and Counsel of the All-wise God, Who allots to each of the things that are a just Decree: but as to the Son by Nature, we will not imagine that He is so, for no glory by way of favour and imported hath He, but since He is of the Essence of God the Father, Very God of God by Nature and Very, He is co-throned and co-seated with Him, having all things under His Feet as God, and of the Father with the Father in God-befitting way aloft above the whole creation. Wherefore rightly heareth He, For all things are Thy servants. And since from all sides He is found to be Very God, it is (I suppose) wholly clear that He is not of this world, i. e., originate. For the world here signifies to us the nature of created things, carrying the comparison from a part unto the whole that is conceived of as created. As then God withdrawing Himself from all connaturalness with the creature said in the Prophets, For I am God and not man (and not because He said that He is not man as we, shall we surely therefore class Him with angels or any other of things originate, but from part going unto the whole, will confess that God is by Nature Other than all things originate), so I deem that we ought piously to understand the hard things that come in our way; for we see in a mirror by a figure, as Paul saith.

And He said unto them, YE are from beneath, I am from above.

Some one haply of those who have a more studious mind and are wont to approve the more subtle of the Divine Thoughts, will enquire what it was that induced our Lord Jesus Christ, Who but now addressed the Jews and said, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, to add as something necessary, YE are from beneath, I am from above. For these words seem somehow not to harmonise altogether with those above, but they are replete with a hidden economy. For since He is God, having no need as the Divine Evangelist John himself somewhere says, that any one should testify of man, for He knew what was in man, for He penetrateth even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and conceptions of the heart: He is not ignorant of the unlearned fantasies of the Jews, who, since a gross and feeble mind was their inmate, when they heard from the Saviour's Lips, I go My way, foolishly thought either that leaving Judaea He would flee somewhere or that He is saying somewhat of this kind, While I live and survive believe, lest death should befall me. For, I go My way, taken in its common meaning signifies this too. And it is no wonder if the Jews have fallen into such uncounsel as even to imagine something of this kind as to Christ. For they knew not that He is God by Nature, but looking only to this body which is of the earth, they imagined that He was a man as one of us. Therefore does the Saviour blaming them say, YE judge after the flesh. Removing them therefore from so puerile and grovelling a notion, He again teaches them that not of any one subject to birth and decay are they reasoning such things, but of Him Who is in truth begotten from above and from God the Father. Not to Me therefore (He says) will belong death and flight, for I am from above, i. e., God from God (for God is above all) but you will this rather befit. For from, beneath are ye, that is of nature subject to death and falling under decay and dread. Of Me therefore (He says) do ye letting go your own weakness imagine nought of this sort, for not of equal honour with the Lord is the bond, with Him Who is from above and begotten of God the Father that which is from beneath and of the earth.

But that from above signifies the Eternal Generation of the Son from God the Father, wise reasoning will persuade us to hold. For from above understood of place signifies the being from Heaven, but nought would be in the Son special above the creature that is below and subject to God, if He come only from Heaven, since the more part of the angels too sent forth to minister walk below, ordering some of the affairs on the earth, descending from above and from Heaven. And the Saviour is a witness to us saying, Verily verily I say unto you, ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Since then angels too descend from above, from heaven, why vainly does Christ boast as of something great and surpassing the whole creation, in having come I mean from above? But one may without the smallest toil and trouble see Who is by Nature the Only-Begotten, what the angels that are from Him. Needs therefore does from above signify to us not this From Heaven which is common [to Him and the Angels] but that the Son beamed forth from the Nature Which is most exalted and above all things. Therefore doth from above in regard to the Only-Begotten Alone, |585 signify the being from God and nought else. For while all things are said to be and to exist from God, the Son has this special above all, viz., to be of the Very Essence of the Father by Generation and not as creatures by creation.

Here he clearly shows what he means by "above" and "below." The Pharisees would have understood what he said in a bodily way, thinking the "above" and "below" were localities. That is why our Lord clarifies what he had previously said so obscurely. For he says, "You are of this world," that is, from beneath; "I am not of this world," speaking of what is from above. For God surpasses all that is created. His superiority is not a localized kind of exaltation (as if the incorporeal could be conceived in any way as local, except by the foolish and utterly uninstructed). Rather, he surpasses derivative beings because of his own most excellent and ineffable nature. It is of this essence that the Word says he is. He has not been created by it. He is its fruit and offspring. For notice how he does not say, "I have been created and made from above" but instead says, "I am," in order to show both where he came from and also that he was always and eternally with his own progenitor. For he is even as the Father too is.…But the enemy of the truth … will say that by adding "this," Christ has shown that there is another world, the spiritual world, from which he might have come, implying the Son is a creature … in the same class as angels who … if he is not part of this world, is part of another.… But the word this or "of this" is a demonstrative pronoun that does not necessarily imply comparison with another.… Therefore when Christ says, "I am not of this world," he is not saying that he is part of some other world but is … putting the Jews in the place of things that have an origin, saying, "You are of this world" while he severs himself altogether from things created and connects himself instead with that other place, and by this I mean the Godhead, when he says, "I am not of this world." In this way, he contrasts the Godhead with the world so that we can understand.

"Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself?"

What then doth Christ? To remove their suspicion, and to show that such an act is sin, He saith,

"Ye are from beneath."

What He saith, is of this kind: "It is no wonder that ye imagine such things, ye who are carnal men, and have no spiritual thoughts, but I shall not do anything of the kind, for,

"I am from above; ye are of the world."

Here again He speaketh of their worldly and carnal imaginations, whence it is clear that the, "I am not of this world," doth not mean that He had not taken upon Him flesh, but that He was far removed from their wickedness. For He even saith, that His disciples were "not of the world", yet they had flesh. As then Paul, when he saith, "Ye are not in the flesh" doth not mean that they are incorporeal, so Christ when He saith, that His disciples are "not of the world," doth nothing else than testify to their heavenly wisdom.

Rejecting such a supposition of theirs and showing that suicide is a criminal act, the Lord says: "You are from beneath, and cannot conceive of anything divine, therefore it is natural for you to think this way; but I am not of this world, that is, I care for nothing worldly and earthly, and therefore I can never reach such madness as to kill Myself. For this is a demonic act, not a divine one." Here Apollinarius, seizing upon this saying, says after the Manichaeans: "Do you see, the body of the Lord was not of this world, but from above, from heaven; as Paul also says, 'The second Man is the Lord from heaven' (1 Cor. 15:47)." What then must be said? One should ask him how he understands the Lord's words to the apostles: "You are not of the world" (John 15:19) — does he really mean that they too had bodies from heaven, and not from this creation? Or did the Lord say this because they did not care about the goods of this world? In the same way one must understand these words, "I am not of this world," that is, I am not what you are, you who care about worldly things. In a similar manner, Paul also says to some: "You are not in the flesh" (Rom. 8:9), saying this not because they are bodiless, but testifying to their love of wisdom and freedom from fleshly passions.

Apollinarius, however, falsely infers from these words, that our Lord's body was not of this world, but came down from heaven. did the Apostles then, to whom our Lord says below, Ye are not of this world, (c. 15:19) derive all of them their bodies from heaven? In saying then, I am not of this world, He must be understood to mean, I am not of the number of you, who mind earthly things.

Then (v 23), he proposes the remedy for escaping from the darkness. First, he mentions his own origin, and then theirs; secondly, he concludes to his point (v 24).

With respect to the first, he distinguishes his own origin from theirs in two ways. First, because he is from above, and they are from below. Secondly, because they are of this world, and Christ is not. As Origen says, to be from below is not the same as to be of this world, for "above" and "below" refer to differences in place. Thus, so that they do not understand the statement that he is from above as meaning that he is from a part of the world which is above, he excludes this by saying that he is not of this world. He is saying in effect: I am from above, but in such a way that I am entirely above the entire world.

It is clear that they are of this world and from below. But we have to understand correctly how Christ is from above and not of this world. For some who thought that all visible created realities were from the devil, as the Manicheans taught, said that Christ was not of this world even with respect to his body, but from some other created world, an invisible world. Valentine also incorrectly interpreted this statement, and said that Christ assumed a heavenly body. But it is obvious that this is not the true interpretation, since our Lord said to his apostles: "You are not of this world" (15:19).

We must say, therefore, that this passage can be understood of Christ as the Son of God, and of Christ as human. Christ, as Son of God, is from above: "I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world" (16:28). Likewise, he is not of this sensible world, that is, this world which is made up of sense perceptible things, but he is of the intelligible world, because he is the very Word of God, being the supreme Wisdom. For all things were made in wisdom. Thus we read of him: "Through him the world was made" (1:10).

Christ, as human, is from above, because he did not have any affection for worldly and weak things, but rather for higher realities, in which the soul of Christ was at home, as in "Our home is in heaven" (Phil 3:20); "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also" (Mt 6:21). On the other hand, those who are from below have their origin from below, and are of this world because their affections are turned to earthy things: "The first man was of the earth, earthly" (1 Cor 15:47).

And so, because in Him the Jews believed not, they deservedly heard the sentence, "Ye shall die in your sins;" for in no way could ye, who were born with sin, be without sin; and yet, said He, if ye believe in me, although it is still true that ye were born with sin, yet in your sin ye shall not die. The whole misery, then, of the Jews was just this, not to have sin, but to die in their sins. From this it is that every Christian ought to seek to escape; because of this we have recourse to baptism; on this account do those whose lives are in danger from sickness or any other cause become anxious for help; for this also is the sucking child carried by his mother with pious hands to the church, that he may not go out into the world without baptism, and die in the sin wherein he was born. Most wretched surely the condition and miserable the lot of these men, who heard from those truth-speaking lips, "Ye shall die in your sins!"

But He explains whence this should befall them: "For if ye believe not that I am [He], ye shall die in your sins." I believe, brethren, that among the multitude who listened to the Lord, there were those also who should yet believe. But against all, as it were, had that most severe sentence gone forth, "Ye shall die in your sin;" and thereby even from those who should yet believe had hope been withdrawn: the others were roused to fury, they to fear; yea, to more than fear, they were brought now to despair. But He revived their hope; for He added, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." Therefore if ye do believe that I am, ye shall not die in your sins. Hope was restored to the desponding, the sleeping were aroused, their hearts got a fresh awakening; and thereafter very many believed, as the Gospel itself attests in the sequel.

For members of Christ were there, who had not yet become attached to the body of Christ; and among that people by whom He was crucified, by whom He was hanged on a tree, by whom when hanging He was mocked, by whom He was wounded with the spear, by whom gall and vinegar were given Him to drink, were the members of Christ, for whose sake He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And what will a convert not be forgiven, if the shedding of Christ's blood is forgiven? What murderer need despair, if he was restored to hope by whom even Christ was slain? After this many believed; they were presented with Christ's blood as a gift, that they might drink it for their salvation, rather than be held guilty of shedding it. Who can despair? And if the thief was saved on the cross,-a murderer shortly before, a little afterwards accused, convicted, condemned, hanged, delivered,-wonder not. The place of his conviction was that of his condemnation; while that of his conversion was the place also of his deliverance. Among this people, then, to whom the Lord was speaking, were those who should yet die in their sin: there were those also who should yet believe on Him who spake, and find deliverance from all their sin.

But look at this which is said by Christ the Lord: "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." What is this, "If ye believe not that I am?" "I am" what? There is nothing added; and because He added nothing, He left much to be inferred. For He was expected to say what He was, and yet He said it not. What was He expected to say? Perhaps, "If ye believe not that I am" Christ; "if ye believe not that I am" the Son of God; "if ye believe not that I am" the Word of the Father; "if ye believe not that I am" the founder of the world; "if ye believe not that I am" the former and re-former, the creator and re-creator, the maker and re-maker of man;-"if ye believe not that I am" this, "ye shall die in your sins." There is much implied in His only saying "I am;" for so also had God said to Moses, "I am who am." Who can adequately express what that AM means?

God by His angel sent His servant Moses to deliver His people out of Egypt (you have read and know what you now hear; but I recall it to your minds); He sent him trembling, self-excusing, but obedient. And while thus excusing himself, he said to God, whom he understood to be speaking in the person of the angel: If the people say to me, And who is the God that hath sent thee? what shall I say to them? And the Lord answered him, "I am who am;" and added, "Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, He who is hath sent me to you." There also He says not, I am God; or, I am the framer of the world; or, I am the creator of all things; or, I am the multiplier of the very people to be delivered: but only this, "I am who am;" and, "Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, He who is." He added not, Who is your God, who is the God of your fathers; but said only this: "He who is hath sent me to you." Perhaps it was too much even for Moses himself, as it is too much for us also, and much more so for us, to understand the meaning of such words, "I am who am;" and, "He who is hath sent me to you." And supposing that Moses comprehended it, when would those to whom he was sent comprehend it? The Lord therefore put aside what man could not comprehend, and added what he could; for He said also besides, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." This thou canst comprehend; for "I am who am," what mind can comprehend?

What then of us? Shall we venture to say anything on such words, "I am who am;" or rather on this, that you have heard the Lord saying, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins"? Shall I venture with these feeble and scarcely existing powers of mine to discuss the meaning of that which Christ the Lord hath said, "If ye believe not that I am"? I shall venture to ask the Lord Himself. Listen to me as one asking rather than discussing, inquiring rather than assuming, learning rather than teaching, and fail not yourselves also to be asking with me or through me. The Lord Himself, who is everywhere, is also at hand. Let Him hear the feeling that prompts to ask, and grant the fruit of understanding. For in what words, even were it so that I comprehend something, can I convey to your hearts what I comprehend? What voice is adequate? what eloquence sufficient? what powers of intelligence? what faculty of utterance?

I shall speak, then, to our Lord Jesus Christ; I shall speak and may He be pleased to hear me. I believe He is present, I am fully assured of it; for He Himself has said, "Lo, I am with you even to the end of the world." O Lord our God, what is that which Thou saidst, "If ye believe not that I am"? For what is there that belongs not to the things Thou hast made? Does not heaven so belong? Does not the earth? Does not everything in earth and heaven? Does not man himself to whom Thou speakest? Does not the angel whom Thou sendest? If all these are things made by Thee, what is that existence Thou hast retained as something exclusively Thine own, which Thou hast given to none besides, that Thou mightest be such Thyself alone? For how do I hear "I am who am," as if there were none besides? and how do I hear "If ye believe not that I am"? For had they no existence who heard Him? Yea, though they were sinners, they were men. What then can I do? What that existence is, let Him tell my heart, let Him tell, let Him declare it within; let the inner man hear, the mind apprehend this true existence; for such existence is always unvarying in character.

For a thing, anything whatever (I have begun as it were to dispute, and have left off inquiring. Perhaps I wish to speak what I have heard. May He grant enlargement to my hearing, and to yours, while I speak);-for anything, whatever in short be its excellence, if it is changeable, does not truly exist; for there is no true existence wherever non-existence has also a place. For whatever can be changed, so far as changed, it is not that which was: if it is no longer what it was, a kind of death has therein taken place; something that was there has been eliminated, and exists no more. Blackness has died out in the silvery locks of the patriarch, comeliness in the body of the careworn and crooked old man, strength in the body of the languishing, the previous standing posture in the body of one walking, walking in the body of one standing, walking and standing in the body of one reclining, speech in the tongue of the silent;-whatever changes, and is what it was not, I see there a kind of life in that which is, and death in that which was.

In fine, when we say of one deceased, Where is that person? we are answered, He was. O Truth, it is thou alone that truly art! For in all actions and movements of ours, yea, in every activity of the creature, I find two times, the past and the future. I seek for the present, nothing stands still: what I have said is no longer present; what I am going to say is not yet come: what I have done is no longer present; what I am going to do is not yet come: the life I have lived is no longer present; the life I have still to live is not yet come. Past and future I find in every creature-movement: in truth, which is abiding, past and future I find not, but the present alone, and that unchangeably, which has no place in the creature. Sift the mutations of things, thou wilt find was and will be: think on God, thou wilt find the is, where was and will be cannot exist. To be so then thyself, rise beyond the boundaries of time. But who can transcend the powers of his being? May He raise us thither who said to the Father, "I will that they also be with me where I am."

And so, in making this promise, that we should not die in our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ, I think, said nothing else by these words, "If ye believe not that I am;" yea, by these words I think He meant nothing else than this, "If ye believe not that I am" God, "ye shall die in your sins." Well, God be thanked that He said, "If ye believe not," and did not say, If ye comprehend not. For who can comprehend this? Or is it so, since I have ventured to speak and you have seemed to understand, that you have indeed comprehended somewhat of a subject so unspeakable? If then thou comprehendest not, faith sets thee free. Therefore also the Lord said not, If ye comprehend not that I am; but said what they were capable of attaining, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins."

(Tract. xxxviii. 6) Our Lord expresses His meaning in the words, Ye are of this world, i. e. ye are sinners. All of us are born in sin; all have added by our actions to the sin in which we were born. The misery of the Jews then was, not that they had sin, but that they would die in their sin: I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sin. Amongst the multitude, however, who heard our Lord, there were some who were about to believe; whereas this most severe sentence had gone forth against all: Ye shall die in your sin; to the destruction of all hope even in those who should hereafter believe. So His next words recall the latter to hope: For if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sin: therefore if ye believe that I am He, ye shall not die in your sin.

(Tract. xxxviii. 8) His saying, If ye believe not that I am, without adding any thing, proves a great deal. For thus it was that God spoke to Moses, I am that I am. But how do I understand, I am that I am, (Exod. 3) and, If ye believe not that I am? In this way. All excellence, of whatever kind, if it be mutable, cannot be said really to be, for there is no real to be, where there is a not to be. Analyze the idea of mutability, and you will find, was, and will be; contemplate God, and you will find, is, without possibility of a past. In order to be, thou must leave him behind thee. So then, If ye believe not that I am, means in fact, If ye believe not that I am God; this being the condition, on which we shall not die in our sins. God be thanked that He says, If ye believe not, not, If ye understand not; for who could understand this?

"I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins," and I explain how I mean it. "For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sin." But if you believe, you will not die — this is to be understood from the opposites; whence Augustine says: "Hope has been restored to those in despair, an awakening has been made for those who sleep"; above in chapter three: "He who is unbelieving toward the Son does not have life, but the wrath of God remains upon him; but he who believes in the Son of God has eternal life." This he had promised.

But here the first question concerns what he says: "You shall die in your sins."

It seems that he revealed to them their damnation, and therefore he was compelling them to despair: and according to this it seems that someone could have foreknowledge of his own damnation.

But this does not seem right; because knowledge and revelation are a gift of piety: therefore it does not compel despair.

To this the response is threefold: that the Lord did not say this by way of revelation, but by way of threat; hence He adds below the condition: "unless you believe." Otherwise it must be said that the Lord did not say this to people who would place faith in Him; therefore it did not compel them to despair; hence He said this not to believers, but to unbelievers. In a third way it is said that the Lord was speaking to the multitude; therefore the word was received generally, and no one took it specifically for himself.

This, then, is to be believed, according to Plato, though it is announced and spoken "without probable and necessary proofs," but in the Old and New Testament. "For except ye believe," says the Lord, "ye shall die in your sins." And again: "He that believeth hath everlasting life." "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." For trusting is more than faith. For when one has believed that the Son of God is our teacher, he trusts that his teaching is true. And as "instruction," according to Empedocles, "makes the mind grow," so trust in the Lord makes faith grow.

That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scriptures unless they first believed in Christ. In Isaiah: "And if ye will not believe, neither will ye understand." Also the Lord in the Gospel: "For if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." Moreover, that righteousness should subsist by faith, and that in it was life, was predicted in Habakkuk: "Now the just shall live by faith of me." Hence Abraham, the father of the nations, believed; in Genesis: "Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." In like manner, Paul to the Galatians: "Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Ye know, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. But the Scripture, foreseeing that God justifieth the heathens by faith, foretold to Abraham that all nations should be blessed in him. Therefore they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

For if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.

He explains more exactly what will happen, and having made the mode of salvation most evident, He shows again by what way they going shall mount up to the life of the saints, and shall attain to the city that is above, the heavenly Jerusalem. And not only does He say that one ought to believe but affirms that it must needs be on Him. For we are justified by believing on Him as on God from God, as on the Saviour and Redeemer and King of all and Lord in truth. Therefore He says, Ye shall perish if ye believe not that I am. But the I (He says) is He of Whom it is written in the Prophets, Shine shine o Jerusalem for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For I (saith He) am He Who of old bade go to the putting off of the diseases of the soul and Who promised the healing of love through saying, Return ye returning children and I will heal your backslidings. I am He Who declared that the God-befitting and olden goodness and incomparable forbearance should be poured on you, and therefore cried aloud, I, I am He That blotteth out thy sins and I will not remember. I am (He says) He Who by the Prophet Isaiah also said, Wash you, make you clean, put away your wickednesses from your hearts from before Mine Eyes, cease from your wickednesses, and come and let us reason together saith the Lord, even though your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten them as snow, even though they be like crimson, I will whiten them as wool. I (says He) am He concerning whom again Isaiah the Prophet himself says, O Zion that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain, o Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift ye up, be not afraid; behold your God, behold the Lord cometh with strength and His Arm with rule, behold His reward with Him and His work before Him: like a shepherd shall He feed His flock, He shall gather the lambs with His Arm and shall comfort those that are with young: and again, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers be clear. I am (He saith) He of Whom again it is written that suddenly shall come to His Temple the Lord Whom YE are seeking, even the Messenger of the covenant Whom YE are desiring, behold He cometh, saith the Lord of hosts, and who shall abide the Day of His Coming? or who shall stand in His Sight? for He shall enter in as fire in a smelting house and as the sope of fullers. I am (He saith) He Who for the salvation of all men promised to offer Myself for a Sacrifice to God the Father through the voice of the Psalmist and cried, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, a Body preparedst Thou Me; whole burnt offerings and for sin Thou delightedst not in, then I said, Lo I come, in the chapter of the Book it is written of Me, to do Thy Will, O God. I am, He saith, and the very law through Moses did preach Me, saying thus, A Prophet of thy brethren like unto me will the Lord thy God raise up unto thee, unto Him shall ye hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly.

Therefore with reason (says He) shall ye perish and shall pay to the Judge most righteous Doom, for your much unholiness of manners not giving heed to Him Who through many saints was fore-heralded to you, and attested by the things too which I work. For verily and in truth no argument will liberate from the obligation of undergoing punishment those who believe not on Him, seeing that the |594 Divinely-inspired Scripture is filled with testimonies and words regarding Him and Himself affords by His Works Splendour conformable to what was long ago prophesied of Him.

I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins.

Having by few words overturned the most ill-counselled fantasy of those who thus conceived, and convicted them again of talking nonsense about Himself, He returns so to speak to the original aim of His Speech, and resuming it again He shows them in how great ill they will be and into what they will fall, if they most unreasonably repulse any believing on Him. A thing very befitting a wise and grave master is this too: for I think that a teacher ought not to quarrel with the ignorance of his hearers nor to be slack in, his care for them, even if perchance they do not very readily take in the knowledge of the lessons, but anew, yea many times, to return to the same things and go through the same words (since verily the enduring ploughman cleaving the field and having exhausted no slight toil thereon, when he has sown the seed in the furrows, if he see any spoilt, he turns again to the plough, and grudges not to sow upon the now ruined parts): for having missed his aim the first time he will not altogether do the same the second. A like habit the Divine Paul too practising somewhere says, To |592 say 17 the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Seest thou that as the teacher is found superior to sloth, then to the hearers often follows the being in safe practice? Serviceably then does our Lord Jesus Christ repeating His Discourse with the Jews affirm that the penalty of not believing on Him will be in no passing things: for He says that they who believe not must surely die in their sins. And that death in transgressions is an heavy burden, because it will deliver the soul of man unto the all-devouring flame, none may doubt.

"I said therefore unto you that...if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins."

For if He came to take away the sin of the world, and if it is impossible for men to put that off in any other way except by the washing, it needs must be that he that believeth not must depart hence, having the old man; since he that will not by faith slay and bury that old man, shall die in him, and shall go away to that place to suffer the punishment of His former sins. Wherefore He said, "He that believeth not is judged already"; not merely through his not believing, but because he departeth hence having his former sins upon him.

Now, if the one who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ will die in his sins, it is clear that the one who does not die in his sins has believed in the Christ. But he who dies in his sins, even if he says that he believes in the Christ, has not believed in him so far as truth is concerned. And if faith is mentioned but it lacks works, such faith is dead. … For one who believes in [Christ's] justice does not do injustice. One who believes in his wisdom would not say or do anything foolish.… And if we collected the remaining attributes of Christ, we will easily discover that whoever does not believe in Christ will die in his sins because he comes to be the very opposite of what is seen in Christ. The sins themselves kill him.

What then does the Lord say to them again? "If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." If He came in order to take away "the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29), and it is not possible to receive forgiveness of sins other than through baptism, and it is impossible to be baptized without first believing, then the unbeliever will inevitably die in his sin, for not having received baptism, he has not put off the old man. Therefore the Lord also says in another place that "he who does not believe is already condemned" (Jn. 3:18), not only because he did not believe, but also because he dies with his former sins.

Then (v 24), he concludes his point. First, he explains what he said about their deprivation; secondly, he points out its remedy (v 24b).

We should note with respect to the first, that everything in its development follows the condition of its origin. Thus, a thing whose origin is from below naturally tends below if left to itself. And nothing tends above unless its origin is from above: "No one has gone up to heaven except the One who has come down from heaven" (3:13). Thus our Lord is saying: This is the reason why you cannot come where I am going, because since you are from below, then so far as you yourself are concerned, you can only go down. And so what I said is true, that you will die in your sins, unless you adhere to me.

Then, in order not to entirely exclude all hope for their salvation, he proposes the remedy, saying, For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sin. He is saying in effect: You were born in original sin, from which you cannot be absolved except by my faith: because, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sin.

He says, I am, and not "what I am," to recall to them what was said to Moses: "I am who am" (Ex 3:14), for existence itself (ipsum esse) is proper to God. For in any other nature but the divine nature, existence (esse) and what exists are not the same: because any created nature participates its existence (esse) from that which is being by its essence (ens per essentiam), that is, from God, who is his own existence (ipsum suum esse), so that his existence (suum esse) is his essence (qua essentia). Thus, this designates only God. And so he says, For if you do not believe that I am, that is, that I am truly God, who has existence by his essence, you will die in your sin.

He says, that I am, to show his eternity. For in all things that begin, there is a certain mutability, and a potency to nonexistence; thus we can discern in them a past and a future, and so they do not have true existence of themselves. But in God there is no potency to non-existence, nor has he begun to be. And thus he is existence itself (ipsum esse), which is appropriately indicated by the present tense.

"In the beginning was the Word." That through which he made things already was. That is how he made what as yet was not. We can understand it, and rightly understand it, in the sense that heaven and earth were made in the only begotten Word itself. They were, you see, made in that through which they were made. This can be, and be understood as, the beginning in which God made heaven and earth. This Word, after all, is also the wisdom of God, about which it is said, "You have made all things in wisdom." If God made all things in wisdom and his only begotten Son is without a shadow of doubt the wisdom of God, let us not doubt that whatever we have learned was made through the Son was also made in the Son. The Son himself, after all, is certainly the beginning. When the Jews were questioning him and saying, "Who are you? He answered, "The beginning." And there [in Genesis] you have, "In the beginning God made heaven and earth."

And savoring as these men always did of the earth, and ever hearing and answering according to the flesh, what did they say to Him? "Who art thou?" For when thou saidst, "If ye believe not that I am," thou didst not tell us what thou wert. Who art thou, that we may believe? He answered "The Beginning." Here is the existence that always is. The beginning cannot be changed: the beginning is self-abiding and all-originating; that is, the beginning, to which it has been said, "But thou Thyself art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." "The beginning," He said, "for so I also speak to you." Believe me to be the beginning, that ye may not die in your sins. For just as if by saying, "Who art thou?" they had said nothing else than this, What shall we believe thee to be? He replied, "The beginning;" that is, Believe me to be the "beginning."

For in the Greek expression we discern what we cannot in the Latin. For in Greek the word "beginning" is of the feminine gender, just as with us "law" is of the feminine gender, while it is of the masculine with them; or as "wisdom" is of the feminine gender with both. It is the custom of speech, therefore, in different languages to vary the gender of words, because in things themselves there is no place for the distinction of sex. For wisdom is not really female, since Christ is the Wisdom of God, and Christ is termed of the masculine gender, wisdom of the feminine. When then the Jews said, "Who art thou?" He, who knew that there were some there who should yet believe, and therefore had said, "Who art thou" that so they might come to know what they ought to believe regarding Him, replied, "The beginning:" not as if He said, I am the beginning; but as if He said, Believe me to be the beginning.

Just as if He had wished to say that He was the Truth, and to their question, "Who art thou?" had answered, the Truth; when to the words, "Who art thou?" He evidently ought to have replied, the Truth; that is, I am the Truth. But His answer had a deeper meaning, when He saw that they had put the question, "Who art thou?" in such a way as to mean, Having heard from thee, "If ye believe not that I am," what shall we believe thee to be? To this He replied, "The beginning:" as if He said, Believe me to be the beginning. And He added "for [as such] I also speak to you;" that is, having humbled myself on your account, I have condescended to such words. For if the beginning as it is in itself had remained so with the Father, as not to receive the form of a servant and speak as man with men; how could they have believed in Him, since their weak hearts could not have heard the Word intelligently without some voice that would appeal to their senses? Therefore, said He, believe me to be the beginning; for, that you may believe, I not only am, but also speak to you.

(Tract. xxxviii. s. 11) Our Lord having said, If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins; they enquire of Him, as if wishing to know in whom they are to believe, that they might not die in their sin: Then said they unto Him, Who art Thou? For when Thou saidst, If ye believe not that I am, Thou didst not add, who Thou art. But our Lord knew that these were some who would believe, and therefore after being asked, Who art Thou? that such might know what they should believe Him to be, Jesus saith unto them, The beginning, who also speak to you; not as if to say, I am the beginning, but, Believe Me to be the beginning; as is evident from the Greek, where beginning is feminine. Believe Me then to be the beginning, but ye die in your sins: for the beginning cannot be changed; it remains fixed in itself, and is the source of change to all things. (Tract. xxxix. 1, 2). But it is absurd to call the Son the beginning, and not the Father also. And yet there are not two beginnings, even as these are not two Gods. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son; not being either the Father, or the Son. Yet Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God, one Light, one beginning. (Tract. xxxviii. 11). He adds, Who also speak to you, i. e. Who humbled Myself for your sakes, and condescended to those words. Therefore believe Me to be the beginning; because that ye may believe this, not only am I the beginning, but I also speak with you, that ye may believe that I am. For if the Beginning had remained with the Father in its original nature, and not taken upon it the form of a servant, how could men have believed in it? Would their weakly minds have taken in the spiritual Word, without the medium of sensible sound?

In some copies we find, Who also speak to you; but it is more consistent to read for (quia), not, who (qui): in which case the meaning is: Believe Me to be the beginning, for for your sakes have I condescended to these words.

"They said therefore to him: Who are you?" Here is touched upon the explanation of the things to be believed. For because he had set forth his threat, that without faith in him no one could be freed from death, saying that they would die in sin unless they believed "that I am" — this indeed he had said implicitly — therefore the Jews seek to have it explained and to be taught in the faith. For this reason they said to him: "Who are you?" since we cannot be saved unless we believe in you. Similarly they asked of John above in chapter one: "Who are you?" And there follows the response of Christ, by which he instructs the Jews to believe in him: first regarding what pertains to creation made through him; second, what pertains to the person of the Father, at the place: "And they did not know." For first he is creator: on account of which he says:

"Jesus said to them: The Beginning," that is, I am the Beginning who creates: because all things through him received being, as was said above in chapter one: "In the beginning was the Word," and again: "All things were made through him." He is also teacher: "who also speak to you"; Hebrews chapter one: "In these last days he has spoken to us in the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the ages." Similarly the Lord responded to the Samaritan woman who asked: "I am he, who speaks to you"; and to the blind man, below in chapter nine.

Furthermore, since "principle" denotes the notion of emanation, which first and principally belongs to the Father: whence is it that the Son appropriates it to Himself?

I respond: It must be said that this name "principle" is sometimes taken essentially, insofar as it denotes a relation to the creature, and thus the whole Trinity is called principle; sometimes notionally, and thus the Father and the Son are one principle of the Holy Spirit; sometimes personally, and thus principle denotes the fontal emanation itself, which is found in the Father. And thus Augustine says that "the Father is the principle of the Divinity."

It must be said therefore that this name "principle," insofar as it is essential, is drawn to the person of the Son in two ways: in one way through the property of generation, and thus the Son is called principle from a principle, that is, the begotten one; in another way through the property of the Word, because the Son is the Word, and thus it is drawn here: "I am the principle, who also speak to you."

Jesus said unto them, That I speak to you at the beginning.

I am dishonoured (He says) albeit I invite unto everlasting life, unto forgiveness of sins, unto putting off of death and corruption, unto holiness, unto righteousness, unto glory, unto boasting in the sonship with God: yea I Who would crown you with all these, am counted for nought, and esteemed by you thus worthless, yea verily I am in deserved condition (He says) because I made a beginning of discourse with you, because I have spoken somewhat that could profit you, and devised to save those who were on the point of descending to such deep depravity as to aim at repaying bitter requital to Him Who hath elected to save them.

Something else besides does Christ appear to indicate to us hereby. It was right (He says) that I should not converse at all with you at the beginning but on them rather should confer this who shall most gladly rejoice in My words and without delay submit their neck to the Gospel ordinances. He means by these the multitude of the Gentiles. But while we conceive of Him as saying thus, we will guard against the words of the adversaries. For one of those who are wont to fight against Christ will haply say, "If the Son ought not to address the Jews at the beginning, but rather the Gentiles, He missed of what was fit, by doing this rather than that." But we will reply, Not as repenting of His own or of the Father's Will, does the Son say thus, nor yet as having transgressed what befitted the Economy (for God would not have devised ought which did not altogether beseem to be): but by saying that not to you was it right to speak at the beginning, nor among you to lay a foundation of saving teaching, He shows that both the Father and Himself are by Nature True and Loving to man. For lo He freely gave to the unholy Jews though not worthy of it the saving word, having put in the second place the multitude of the Gentiles albeit more readily making it their aim both to believe and obey Him.

What was it then which persuaded Him to prefer and fore-honour before the rest the stiffnecked people of the Jews? To them He made through the holy Prophets the promise of His Coming, to them was the grace due for the fathers' sake. Wherefore He also said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and to the Syro-phenician woman, It is not meet to take, the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs. Therefore has Israel been honoured and ranked before the Gentiles, although he had the crookeder disposition. But since he knew not the Lord of all and the Perfecter of the promised good things, the grace of the teaching departed at last to the Gentiles, whom it behoved the Lord at the beginning and first to have addressed, not in regard of the promise made to the fathers, but in regard of their innate obedience.

They said therefore to Him, Who art THOU?

Their word commingled with fiercest anger proceeds from boastfulness. For they eagerly ask, not to learn and believe, but out of much madness they spring (so to speak) on Christ. For He says in more simple word, I am, not adding, God of God, nor yet ought else to indicate His inherent Glory; but in lowly wise and apart from all boasting He says only this I am, leaving it to the better instructed to add what was wanting; and they go on to wildest and unbridled madness, and from unmeasured haughtiness they all but cut short the Saviour's word not yet advanced to its completion, and so to say rebuke and interrupt Him in the middle and say, Who art THOU? This is the part of one who openly says, Dost Thou dare to think of Thyself ought greater than WE know? we know that Thou art son of the carpenter, a man low and most poor, of no note with us and altogether nought. They therefore condemn the Lord as being nought, looking only to His family after the flesh, but the Magnificence that pertains to His works, and still more His Generation from above and from the Father, whence they might specially recognize that He is by Nature God, they do not so much as admit into their mind. For who will work the things that befit God Alone? will not He surely Who is by Nature God? but Christ wrought them; He therefore was and is God, even when made Flesh for the salvation and life of all. But they whose belief is confined to their own mis-counsels, and take no account at all of our Divine and Divinely-inspired Scripture; they in regard of the very things for which they ought to give thanks, do disparage Him, knowing neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

Punctuating therefore with emphasis at the word THOU, and throwing back what is called the acute accent, we take the word as a question with note of admiration; for they say THOU, as though, Thou Who art nothing at all, and art known by us to be so, Thou Who art mean and of mean extraction, what canst Thou say illustrious of Thyself, what worth speaking of those about Thee? For nought of such daring is foreign to Jewish madness.

"Then said they unto Him, Who art thou?"

Oh folly! After so long a time, such signs and teaching, they ask, "Who art thou?" What then saith Christ?

"The same that I told you from the beginning."

What He saith, is of this kind; "Ye are not worthy to hear My words at all, much less to learn who I am, for ye say all that ye do, tempting Me, and giving heed to none of My sayings. And all this I could now prove against you."

(tom. xix. in Joan.) It is manifest, that he, who dies in his sins, though he say that he believes in Christ, does not really believe. For he who believes in His justice does not do injustice; he who believes in His wisdom, does not act or speak foolishly; in like manner with respect to the other attributes of Christ, you will find that he who does not believe in Christ, dies in his sins: inasmuch as he comes to be the very contrary of what is seen in Christ.

After so much time, after so many miracles had been performed, they still ask Him: "Who are You?" So senseless, unjust, and mocking were they. The Lord says: "I tell you that which I have been telling you from the beginning."

Next we are given the reasons that can lead them to believe. First, we see the question asked by the Jews; secondly, the answer of Christ (v 25b); and thirdly, the blindness of their understanding (v 27).

Since our Lord had said, "If you do not believe that I am" it was left to them to ask who he was. And so they said to him, Who are you? So that we may believe: "The poor man spoke" (Sir 13:29).

When he says, the source, who is also speaking to you, he gives an answer which can lead them to believe: first, because of the sublimity of his nature; secondly, because of the power he has to judge (v 26); and thirdly, because of the truthfulness of his Father (v 26b).

Indeed, the sublimity of Christ's nature can lead them to believe in him, because he is the source (principium: source, beginning, origin). In Latin the word for source, principium, is neuter in gender, and so there is a question whether it is used here in the nominative or accusative case. (In Greek, it is feminine in gender and is used here in the accusative case.) Thus, according to Augustine, we should not read this as "I am the source," but rather as "Believe that I am the source," lest you die in your sins.

The Father is also called the source or beginning. In one sense the word "source" is common to the Father and the Son, insofar as they are the one source of the Holy Spirit through a common spiration. Again, the three Persons together are the source of creatures through creation. In another way, the word "source" is proper to the Father, insofar as the Father is the source of the Son through an eternal generation. Yet, we do not speak of many sources, just as we do not speak of many gods: "The source is with you in the day of your power" (Ps 109:3). Here, however, our Lord is saying that he is the source or beginning with regard to all creatures: for whatever is such by essence is the source and the cause of those things which are by participation. But, as was said, his existence is an existence by his very essence.

Yet because Christ possesses not only the divine nature but a human nature as well, he adds, who is also speaking to you. Man cannot hear the voice of God directly, because as Augustine says: "Weak hearts cannot hear the intelligible word without a sensible voice." "What is man that he may hear the voice of the Lord his God" (Ex c 20). So, in order for us to hear the divine Word directly, the Word assumed flesh, and spoke to us with a mouth of flesh. Thus he says, who is also speaking to you, that is, I, who was humbled for your sakes, have come down to speak these words: "In many and various ways God spoke to our fathers through the prophets; in these days he has spoken to us in his Son" (Heb 1:1); "It is the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who has made him known" (1:18).

Chrysostom explains this a little differently, so that in saying, the beginning, who is also speaking to you, our Lord is reproving the Jews for their slowness to understand. For in spite of the many signs which they had seen our Lord perform, they were still impenetrable, and asked our Lord, "Who are you?" Our Lord then answers: I am the beginning, that is, the one who has spoken to you from the beginning. It is the same as saying: You should not have to ask who I am, because it should be clear to you by now: "For although you should be masters by this time, you have to be taught again the first rudiments of the world of God" (Heb 5:12).

And to hear from the Father is the same as to be from the Father; He has the hearing from the same sense that He has the being.

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He had addressed to the Jews, so regulating His discourse that the blind saw not, and believers' eyes were opened, are these, which have been read to-day from the holy Gospel: "Then said the Jews, Who art thou?" Because the Lord had said before, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." To this accordingly they rejoined, "Who art thou?" as if seeking to know on whom they ought to believe, so as not to die in their sin. He replied to those who asked Him: "Who art thou?" by saying, "The Beginning, for [so] also I speak to you." If the Lord has called Himself the beginning, it may be inquired whether the Father also is the beginning. For if the Son who has a Father is the beginning, how much more easily must God the Father be understood as the beginning, who has indeed the Son whose Father He is, but has no one from whom He Himself proceedeth? For the Son is the Son of the Father, and the Father certainly is the Father of the Son; but the Son is called God of God,-the Son is called Light of Light; the Father is called Light, but not, of Light,-the Father is called God, but not, of God.

If, then, God of God, Light of Light, is the beginning, how much more easily may we understand as such that Light, from whom the Light cometh, and God, of whom is God? It seems, therefore, absurd, dearly beloved, to call the Son the beginning, and not to call the Father the beginning also.

But what shall we do? Are there, then, two beginnings? Let us beware of saying so. What then, if both the Father is the beginning and the Son the beginning, how are there not two beginnings? In the same way that we call the Father God, and the Son God, and yet say not that there are two Gods; and yet He who is the Father is not the Son, He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, is neither the Father nor the Son. Although, then, as Catholic ears have been taught in the bosom of mother Church, neither He who is the Father is the Son, nor He who is the Son is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit, of the Father and of the Son, either the Son or the Father, yet we say not that there are three Gods; although, if we are asked of each apart, we must, of whichever we are questioned, confess that He is God.

Let us then, brethren, by an antecedent faith that heals the eye of our heart, receive without obscurity what we understand,-and what we understand not, believe without hesitation; let us not quit the foundation of faith in order to reach the summit of perfection. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God: and yet He is not the Father who is the Son, nor He the Son who is the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, is neither the Father nor the Son. The Trinity is one God. The Trinity is one eternity, one power, one majesty;-three, but not three Gods. Let not the reviler answer me: "Three what, then? For," he adds, "if there are three, you must say, three what?" I reply: The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "See," he says, "you have named three; but express what the three are." Nay, count them yourself; for I make out three when I say, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Father is God as respects Himself, but He is the Father as respects the Son; the Son is God as respects Himself, but He is the Son as regards the Father.

What I say you may gather from daily analogies. So it is with one man and another, if the one be a father, the other his son. He is man as regards himself, but a father as regards his son; and the son man as respects himself, but a son as respects his father. For father is a name given relatively, and so with son; but these are two men. And certainly God the Father is Father in a relative sense, that is, in relation to the Son; and God the Son is Son relatively, that is, in relation to the Father; but not as the former are two men are these two Gods. Why is it not so here? Because that belongs to one sphere and this to another; for this is divine. There is here something ineffable which cannot be explained in words, that there should both be, and not be, number. For see if there appear not a kind of number, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost-the Trinity. If three, three what? Here number fails. And so God neither keeps apart from number, nor is comprehended by number. Because there are three, there is a kind of number. If you ask three what, number ceases. Hence it is said, "Great is our Lord, and great His power; and of His understanding there is no number." When you have begun to reflect, you begin to number; when you have numbered, you cannot tell what you have numbered.

Take an illustration from the Holy Scriptures, whereby you may in some measure comprehend what I am saying. After our Lord Jesus Christ rose again, and was pleased to ascend into heaven, at the end of ten days He sent from thence the Holy Spirit, by whom those who were present in that one chamber were filled, and began to speak in the languages of all nations. The Lord's murderers, terrified by the miracle, were pricked to the heart and sorrowed; sorrowing, were changed; and being changed, believed. There were added to the Lord's body, that is, to the number of believers, three thousand people. And so also by the working of another miracle there were added other five thousand. A considerable community was created, in which all, receiving the Holy Spirit, by whom spiritual love was kindled, were by their very love and fervor of spirit welded into one, and began in the very unity of fellowship to sell all that they had, and to lay the price at the apostles' feet, that distribution might be made to every one as each had need. And the Scripture says this of them, that "they were of one soul and one heart toward God."

Give heed then, brethren, and from this acknowledge the mystery of the Trinity, how it is we say, There is both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet there is one God. See! there were so many thousands of these, and yet there was one heart; there were so many thousands, and one soul. But where? In God. How much more so God Himself? Do I err at all in word when I call two men two souls, or three men three souls, or many men many souls? Surely I speak correctly. Let them approach God, and one soul belongs to all. If by approaching God many souls by love become one soul, and many hearts one heart, what of the very fountain of love in the Father and Son? Is it not still more so here that the Trinity is one God? For thence, of that Holy Spirit, does love come to us, as the apostle says: "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." If then the love of God, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, makes many souls one soul, and many hearts one heart, how much rather are the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one God, one light, and one beginning?

Let us hear, then, the Beginning who speaks to us: "I have," said He, "many things to say of you and to judge." You remember that He said, "I do not judge any one." See, now He says, "I have many things to say of you and to judge." But, "I do not judge" is one thing: "I have to judge" is another; for He had come to save the world, not to judge the world. In saying, "I have many things to say of you and to judge," He speaks of the future judgment. For therefore did He ascend, that He may come to judge the living and the dead. No one will judge more justly than He who was unjustly judged. "Many things," said He, "have I to say of you and to judge; but He that sent me is true." See how the Son, His equal, gives glory to the Father. For He sets us an example, and says as it were in our hearts: O believer, if thou hearest my gospel, the Lord thy God saith to thee, when I, in the beginning God the Word with God, equal with the Father, coeternal with Him that begat, give glory to Him whose Son I am, how canst thou be proud before Him, whose servant thou art?

(Tract. xxxix) Above He said, I judge no man; but, I judge not, is one thing, I have to judge, another. I judge not, He says, with reference to the present time. But the other, I have many things to say, and to judge of you, refers to a future judgment. And I shall be true in My judgment, because I am truth, the Son of the true One. He that sent Me is true. My Father is true, not by partaking of, but begetting truth. Shall we say that truth is greater than one who is true? If we say this, we shall begin to call the Son greater than the Father.

(Tract. xxxix. s. 6) The coequal Son gives glory to the Father: as if to say, I give glory to Him whose Son I am: how proudly thou detractest from Him, whose servant Thou art.

He is also judge, although now he does not speak words of condemnation, but of instruction and calling. For this reason he says: "I have many things to speak about you" — "about," that is, against you — "and to judge," which will not remain unexamined, not out of malice, but out of justice. "But he who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him, these I speak in the world": and therefore I judge truthfully; above in the fifth chapter: "As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just; because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me." And because he manifested himself in comparison to the creature, he manifests himself in comparison to the person of the Father, which the Jews could not understand.

Furthermore it is asked: since truth is appropriated to the Son, whence is it that the Son, speaking of the Father, attributes it to Him?

It must be said that He is called truthful because He speaks true words. Because therefore the Father speaks the Son, who is the true Word, to whom truth is appropriated, "truthful" by reason of the connoted origin can rightly be appropriated to the Father.

But He That sent Me is True, and I the things which I heard from Him, these speak I unto the world.

Having taken leave of the Jews' ill-instructedness, and reckoned as nought those who dared without restraint to revile Him, He returns again to what He was saying at the beginning, reserving the judging them and that in all freedom for not this present but for the fitting time, and retaining to the time of the Appearance its proper aim (for He came not to judge the world but to save the world, as Himself says). Wherefore keeping fast hold of the things befitting Him, and repeating the word that calls unto salvation, He carries on His exhortation. For herein was it meet that we should both marvel at the measure of His Forbearance and the exceedingness of His inherent Love for man: wherefore doth Peter too write of Him, Who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not but committed Himself to Him That judgeth righteously. Therefore will I expend (He says) discourse upon you now in particular, not for what ye are wont to do it, for faultfinding I mean and exercise unto nought that is profitable: but having reserved the judging you for its fit time, I will keep to what is for your good, and will not cease from care of you, even though ye of your innate madness foolishly insult Me. I said therefore to you just now, I am the Light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life; at this ye unreasonably vexed sprang sharply upon Me saying, THOU bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is not true; to this again I, Even though I bear record of Myself My record is true, for I know whence I came and whither I go. But if I seem to be burdensome to you saying these things to you, if I be not a reliable witness of the Dignities accruing to Me by Nature, yet He That sent Me is True and the things which I heard of Him, these speak I unto the world. I speak the same (He says) as the Father Who sent Me, I utter words conformable to His, in saying that I am by Nature Light. The things then which I heard God the Father say of Me, these things I speak to the world. If then I speak false according to you, and My record is not true, ye must certainly needs say that the Father spake falsely before Me. But He is True: therefore I do not speak falsely, and if ye do not believe My Words, reverence (He says) the Voice of Him That sent Me. For what said He of Me? Behold a Man, The Day-spring His Name, and again to those who reverence Him, And unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise and healing in His wings; and to Me Whom ye unknowing insult, He says, Behold I have given Thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the nations. But that I am also a Light was told you by Him, for He says, Shine shine O Jerusalem for thy Light is come and the glory of the Lord hath risen upon thee. These things did I hear the Father Who sent Me say of Me, and therefore do I say that I am the Light of the world, but YE disparaged Me, because of the Flesh only judging not rightly, and therefore are ye bold to say frequently, THOU bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is not true.

Therefore (for it is meet to sum up the whole mind of what is before us) He shows that the Jews are fighting right against God, and that not only with His words, but also with the Father's decree. For He knows that His Son is by Nature Light and calls Him therefore Dayspring and San of Righteousness, but they pulling down the destruction of unbelief upon their own heads reject the Truth calling good evil and therefore shall rightly the Woe follow them.

I have many things to say and to judge of you.

Seeing that the Jews condemn Him more recklessly, and though they have nothing at all to accuse Him of, are haughty on account only of the poorness of His Birth after the Flesh, and therefore say that He is nought, He shamed them mildly, having said above more openly, YE judge after the flesh, I judge no man. But judging after the flesh will reasonably have some such meaning as this: They who delight only in earthly things, see nought of the heavenly good things, but looking only to illustriousness in this life, admire the wealthy or him who boasts in some other petty glories. But they who after the law of God examine thoroughly into the nature of things say that he is really the man worthy of love and admiration, who has within him the desire to live according to the counsel and will of Him Who hath made him. For low position after the flesh will nothing harm the soul of the man who is accustomed to do well, and on the other hand illustrious portion in this life and the splendour of wealth will nothing profit those who refuse to live aright. They therefore judge after the flesh, as we said just now, who look not to holiness, who use not to prove their walk, their manners, but turn aside their mind to only earthly things and deem worthy of all admiration him that is brought up in wealth and luxury. YE then, O most unwise rulers of the Jews, albeit by the Law of Moses instructed unto accuracy of giving judgment, judging upon no grounds at all, condemn for only bodily low estate Him Who through many wondrous works is shown to you to be God. But I will not imitate your ill-instructedness, nor will I pass such kind of judgment on you: for nothing at all is human nature. For what is this perishable and earthly body? rottenness and the worm and nought else. Yet I will not for this reason condemn you, nor because ye are men by nature, will I therefore decide that ye ought wholly to be spurned: I have many things to say and to judge of you, that is, every accusing word has a full office to you-ward, not of one thing alone shall I accuse you, but of many, and in none shall I speak falsely as do YE, I have to judge you as disbelieving, as braggarts, as insulters, as fighters against God, as without feeling, as unthankful, as wicked, as lovers of pleasure rather than habitually loving God, as receiving honour one of another and seeking not the honour that cometh from the Only, as setting on fire the spiritual vineyard, as not feeding aright the flock entrusted to you by God, as not leading them by the hand unto Him That is proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets, i. e., Me. Such things will the Saviour be declaring to the Jews, but by adding, I have yet many things to say and to judge of you, He threatens them that He will one Day appear as their Judge, Who seemed to them to be nought by reason of the Flesh.

For this is the sense of,

"I have many things to say and to judge of you."

"I could not only prove you guilty, but also punish you; but He that sent Me, that is, the Father, willeth not this. For I am come not to judge the world, but to save the world, since God sent not His Son to judge the world, He saith, but to save the world. If now He hath sent Me for this, and He is true, with good cause I judge no one now. But these things I speak that are for your salvation, not what are for your condemnation." He speaketh thus, lest they should deem that it was through weakness that on hearing so much from them He went not to extremities, or that He knew not their secret thoughts and scoffings.

He has also heard and seen all things with the Father; and what He has been commanded by the Father, that also does He speak. And it is not His own will, but the Father's, which He has accomplished, which He had known most intimately, even from the beginning.

"He that sent me," says He, "is true; and I am telling the world those things which I have heard of Him." And the Scripture narrative goes on to explain in an exoteric manner, that "they understood not that He spake to them concerning the Father," although they ought certainly to have known that the Father's words were uttered in the Son, because they read in Jeremiah, "And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth; " and again in Isaiah, "The Lord hath given to me the tongue of learning that I should understand when to speak a word in season.

By reason of the inseparability of the two it was impossible for one of them to be either acknowledged or unknown without the other. "He who sent me," says Jesus, "is true; and I declare to the world what I have heard from him." And the Scripture narrative goes on to explain in a simple way that "they did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father," although they certainly ought to have known that the Father's words were uttered in the Son, because they read in Jeremiah, "And the Lord said to me, see, I have put my words in your mouth."

"You," He says, "are unworthy to fully hear My words, nor to know Who I am; for you all speak with the purpose of tempting, and do not wish to heed anything from My teaching. I could also expose you in this, and not only expose you, but also punish you." For this is what He hints at when He says: "I have many things to say about you and to judge." By the word "say" He indicates exposure, and by the word "judge," condemnation and punishment. "But," He says, "He who sent Me sent Me not to judge and convict. For God did not send His Son to judge the world, but to save the world (John 3:17). And since My Father sent Me to save, and He is true, for this very reason I now judge no one, but only speak what I have heard from My Father, that is, what serves for salvation, and not for condemnation." He said this so that they would not think that He does not punish them because of His powerlessness. He shows that He is not powerless, but does not wish to punish them, since He came not to punish, but to save. Some understand these words "He who sent Me is true" in this way: I could judge you even now, but I leave this for the age to come. Yet you do not believe and pay no attention to the time of recompense. But even if you do not believe, My Father is true, who has both appointed a day for your recompense and sent Me to proclaim this and revealed to the world His righteousness and power.

Or having said, I have many things to say, and to judge of you, thus reserving His judgment for a future time, He adds, But He that sent Me is true: as if to say, Though ye are unbelievers, My Father is true, Who hath appointed a day of retribution for you.

Secondly, they can be led to believe in Christ by his judicial authority; and so he says, I have much to say about you and much to judge, which means in effect: I have authority to judge you. Let us note that it is one thing to speak to us, and another to speak about us. Christ speaks to us for our benefit, that is, to draw us to himself; and he speaks to us this way while we are living, by means of preaching, by inspiring us, and by things like that. But Christ speaks about us, not for our benefit, but for showing his justice, and he will speak about us this way at the future judgment. And this is what is meant by, I have much to say about you.

This seems to conflict with what was said above: "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (3:17). I answer by saying that it is one thing to judge, and another to have judgment. For to judge implies the act of judging, and this does not belong to the first coming of our Lord, as he said above: "I do not judge anyone" (8:15), that is, at present. But to have judgment implies the power to judge; and Christ does have this: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son" (5:22); "It is he who was appointed by God to be the judge of the living and of the dead" (Acts 10:42). And so he says, explicitly, I have much to say about you and much to judge, but at a future judgment.

The truthfulness of the Father can also lead them to believe in Christ, and as to this he says, but the one who sent me is truthful. He is saying in effect: The Father is truthful; but what I say is in agreement with him; therefore, you should believe me. Thus he says, the one who sent me, that is, the Father, is truthful, not by participation, but he is the very essence of truth; otherwise, since the Son is truth itself, he would be greater than the Father: "God is truthful" (Rom 3:4). Whatever I have heard from him, what I have received, not by my human sense of hearing, but by my eternal generation, this I declare: "What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced to you" (Is 21:10); "The Son cannot do anything of himself" (5:19).

The statement, the one who sent me is truthful, can be connected in two ways with what went before. One way is this: I say that I have much to judge about you; but my judgment will be true, because the one who sent me is truthful: "The judgment of God is according to the truth" (Rom 2:2). The other way of relating this to what went before is from Chrysostom, and is this: I say that I have much to judge about you; but I am not doing so now, not because I lack the power, but out of obedience to the will of the Father. For the one who sent me is truthful: thus, since he promised a Savior and a Defender, he sent me this time as Savior. And since I only say what I have heard from him, I speak to you about life-giving things.

We have spoken to you on the preceding passage, suggesting how the Father may be understood as True, and the Son as the Truth. But when the Lord Jesus said, "He that sent me is true," the Jews understood not that He spake to them of the Father. And He said to them, as you have just heard in the reading, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself; but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things." What means this? For it looks as if all He said was, that they would know who He was after His passion. Without doubt, therefore, He saw that some there, whom He Himself knew, whom with the rest of His saints He Himself in His foreknowledge had chosen before the foundation of the world, would believe after His passion.

These are the very persons whom we are constantly commending, and with much entreaty setting forth for your imitation. For on the sending down of the Holy Spirit after the Lord's passion, and resurrection, and ascension, when miracles were being done in the name of Him whom, as if dead, the persecuting Jews had despised, they were pricked in their hearts; and they who in their rage slew Him were changed and believed; and they who in their rage shed His blood, now in the spirit of faith drank it; to wit, those three thousand, and those five thousand Jews whom now He saw there, when He said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." It was as if He had said, I let your recognition lie over till I have completed my passion: in your own order ye shall know who I am.

Not that all who heard Him were only then to believe, that is, after the Lord's passion; for a little after it is said, "As He spake these words, many believed on Him;" and the Son of man was not yet lifted up. But the lifting up He is speaking of is that of His passion, not of His glorification; of the cross, not of heaven; for He was exalted there also when He hung on the tree. But that exaltation was His humiliation; for then He became obedient even to the death of the cross. This required to be accomplished by the hands of those who should afterwards believe, and to whom He says, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." And why so, but that no one might despair, however guilty his conscience, when he saw those forgiven their homicide who had slain the Christ?

The Lord then, recognizing such in that crowd, said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." You know already what "I am" signifies; and we must not be continually repeating, lest so great a subject beget distaste. Recall that, "I am who am," and "He who is hath sent me," and you will recognize the meaning of the words, "Then shall ye know that I am."

The Lord then, recognizing such in that crowd, said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." You know already what "I am" signifies; and we must not be continually repeating, lest so great a subject beget distaste. Recall that, "I am who am," and "He who is hath sent me," and you will recognize the meaning of the words, "Then shall ye know that I am." But both the Father is, and the Holy Spirit is. To the same "is" belongs the whole Trinity. But because the Lord spake as the Son, in order that, when He says, "Then shall ye know that I am," there might be no chance of entrance for the error of the Sabellians, that is, of the Patripassians,-an error which I have charged you not to hold, but to beware of,-the error, I mean, of those who have said, The Father and Son are one and the same; two names, but one reality;-to guard them against that error, when the Lord said, "Then shall ye know that I am," that He might not be understood as Himself the Father, He immediately added, "And I do nothing of myself; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things." Already was the Sabellian beginning to rejoice over the discovery of a ground for his error; but immediately on showing himself as it were in the shade, he was confounded by the light of the following sentence.

Thou thoughtest that He was the Father, because He said, "I am." Hear now that He is the Son: "And I do nothing of myself." What means this, "I do nothing of myself"? Of myself I am not. For the Son is God, of the Father; but the Father is God, yet not of the Son. The Son is God of God, and the Father is God, but not of God. The Son is light of light; and the Father is light, but not of light. The Son is, but there is One of whom He is; and the Father is, but there is none of whom He is.

Let not then, my brethren, His further words, "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things," be the occasion of any carnal thought stealing into your minds. For human weakness cannot think, but as it is accustomed to act and to hear. Do not then set before your eyes as it were two men, one the father, the other the son, and the father speaking to the son; as any one of you may do, when you say something to your son, admonishing and instructing him how to speak, to charge his memory with what you have told him, and, having done so, to express it in words, to enunciate distinctly, and convey to the ears of others what he has apprehended with his own.

Think not thus, lest you be fabricating idols in your heart. The human shape, the outlines of human limbs, the form of human flesh, the outward senses, stature and motions of the body, the functions of the tongue, the distinctions of sounds,-think not of such as existing in that Trinity, save as they pertain to the servant-form, which the only-begotten Son assumed, when the Word was made flesh to dwell among us. Thereof I forbid thee not, human weakness, to think according to thy knowledge: nay, rather I require thee. If the faith that is in thee be true, think of Christ as such; but as such of the Virgin Mary, not of God the Father. He was an infant, He grew as a man, He walked as a man, He hungered, He thirsted as a man, He slept as a man; at last He suffered as a man, hung on the tree, was slain and buried as a man. In the same form He rose again; in the same, before the eyes of His disciples, He ascended into heaven; in the same will He yet come to judgment. For angel lips have declared in the Gospel, "He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."

When then you think of the servant-form in Christ, think of a human likeness, if you have faith; but when you think, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," away with all human fashioning from your heart. Banish from your thoughts everything bounded by corporeal limits, included in local measurement, or spread out in a mass, how great soever its size. Perish utterly such a figment from your heart. Think, if you can, on the beauty of wisdom, picture to yourself the beauty of righteousness. Has that a shape? a size? a color? It has none of these, and yet it is; for if it were not, it would neither be loved nor worthy of praise, nor be cherished in our heart and life as an object of honor and affection. But men here become wise; and whence would they so, had wisdom no existence? And further, O man, if thou canst not see thine own wisdom with the eyes of the flesh, nor think of it by the same mental imagery as thou canst of bodily things, wilt thou dare to thrust the shape of a human body on the wisdom of God?

What shall we say then, brethren? How spake the Father to the Son, seeing that the Son says, "As the Father taught me, I speak these things"? Did He speak to Him? When the Father taught the Son, did He use words, as you do when you teach your son? How could He use words to the Word! What words, many in number, could be used to the one Word? Did the Word of the Father approach His ears to the Father's mouth? Such things are carnal: banish them from your hearts. For this I say, if only you have understood my words, I certainly have spoken and my words have sounded, and by their sound have reached your ears, and through your sense of hearing have carried their meaning to your mind, if so be you have understood.

But some one has spoken also to your heart, but you do not see him. If, brethren, you have understood, your heart also has been spoken to. Some one has spoken also to your heart, but He to whom the Psalm says, "Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments?" If we may compare small things with great (for what are we to Him?), something, I know not what, of an incorporeal and spiritual kind God works in us, which is neither sound to strike the ear, nor color to be discerned by the eyes, nor smell to enter the nostrils, nor taste to be judged of by the mouth, nor anything hard or soft to be sensible to the touch; yet something there is which it is easy to feel,-impossible to explain. If then God, as I was saying, speaks in our hearts without sound, how speaks He to His Son? Thus then, brethren, think thus as much as you can, if, as I have said, we may in some measure compare small things with great: think thus. In an incorporeal way the Father spoke to the Son, because in an incorporeal way the Father begot the Son. Nor did He so teach Him as if He had begotten Him untaught; but to have taught Him is the same as to have begotten Him full of knowledge; and this, "The Father hath taught me," is the same as, The Father hath begotten me already knowing. For if, as few understand, the nature of the Truth is simple, to be is to the Son the same as to know. From Him therefore He has knowledge, from whom He has being. Not that from Him He had first being, and afterwards knowledge; but as in begetting He gave Him to be, so in begetting He gave Him to know; for, as was said, to the simple nature of the Truth, being is not one thing and knowing another, but one and the same.

(Tract. xl. 2) When our Lord said, He is true that sent Me, the Jews did not understand that He spake to them of the Father. But He saw some there, who, He knew, would believe on Him after His passion. Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I am. (Exod. 3:14) Recollect the words, I am that I am, and ye will know why I say, I am. I pass over your knowledge, in order that I may fulfil My passion. In your appointed time ye will know who I am; when ye have lifted up the Son of man. He means the lifting up of the cross; for He was lifted up on the cross, when He hung thereon. This was to be accomplished by the hands of those who should afterwards believe, whom He is now speaking to; with what intent, but that no one, however great his wickedness and consciousness of guilt might despair, seeing even the murderers of our Lord forgiven.

(Tr. xl. s. 3. et seq.) Or thus: Having said, Then shall ye know that I am, and in this, I am, implied the whole Trinity: lest the Sabellian error should creep in, He immediately adds, And I do nothing of Myself; as if to say, I am not of Myself; the Son is God from the Father. Let not what follows, as the Father hath taught Me, I speak these things, suggest a carnal thought to any of you. Do not place as it were two men before your eyes, a Father speaking to his son, as you do when you speak to your sons. For what words could be spoken to the only Word? If the Father speaks in your hearts without sound, how does He speak to the Son? The Father speaks to the Son incorporeally, because He begat the Son incorporeally: nor did He teach Him, as having begotten Him untaught; rather the teaching Him, was the begetting Him knowing. For if the nature of truth be simple, to be, in the Son, is the same as to know. As then the Father gave the Son existence by begetting, so He gave Him knowledge also.

"Jesus therefore said to them: When you shall have lifted up the Son of man," namely on the cross: below in the twelfth chapter: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself"; "then you will know that I am," namely a distinct person in the Trinity; behold, the personal distinction; Exodus 3: "I am who am." "And I do nothing of myself," namely this you will know; "but as the Father has taught me, these things I speak," that is, as I have received from the Father, because the Father gives all things to the Son. And in this is shown the emanation of generation from the Father; above in the fifth chapter: "The Son cannot do anything of himself, except what he has seen the Father doing." Not only will you know the personal distinction, but also the indivision of essence.

And of Myself I do nothing, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these words.

CHAPTER V. That not inferior in Might and Wisdom to God the Father is the Son, yea rather His very Wisdom and Might.

He speaketh in more human wise, in that the Jews could not otherwise understand, nor endure to hear from Him unvailed things God-befitting. For on these matters are they found hurling stones at Him, and setting it down as blasphemy, that being Man, He made Himself God. Withdrawing therefore the surpassingness of God-befitting glory and having much bereft His language of its splendour, He condescends most excellently to the infirmities of the hearers, and since searching into their mind within He finds that they know Him not to be God, He fashions His Discourse in human wise, that their dispositions may not be again kindled unto anger and they foolishly dart away from cleaving to Him even a little. Ye shall know therefore (He says) when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, that I am, ye shall know again in like manner that of Myself I do nothing, but as My Father taught Me, so I speak.

And what need of these words (tell me) may some one haply say, and what does Christ teach us herein? Therefore we will say, piously and with fair distinction expanding each of the things said; Ye have never ceased (He saith) falling upon My Deeds, as though wrought madly and un-holily, ye condemned Me oft as not refusing to transgress, as wont to act contrary to the Lawgiver. For I loosed the paralytic from his so great infirmity, I compassionated a man on the sabbath. But seeing (He saith) you who ought to have wondered at it, finding fault thereat and missing much of what befit Me, yea even just now I explaining to you what belongs to salvation was persuading you to advance to the desire of sharing in light. Then did I show you the Very Light, for declaring to you Mine own Nature, I said, I am the light of the world, and YE acting and counselling most unadvisedly, rose up against My words and dared unrestrainedly to say, Thy record is not true. When then ye have lifted up the Son of man, that is, when ye compass Him about with death and behold Him superior to the bonds of death (for I shall rise from the dead, since I am God by Nature) then ye shall know (He says) that I do nothing of Myself but as My Father taught Me so I speak. For ye will learn when ye see that the Son too is God by Nature, that I am by no means self-opiniate, but ever of one Will with God the Father, and whatsoever He doth, these things I too do not shrink from doing and whatever I know that He speaks, I again speak. For I am of the Same Essence as He That begat Me. For I healed the palsied on the sabbath day, YE again were bitterly disposed thereat, yet showed I you My Father working on the sabbath also: for I said, My Father worketh hitherto and I work: therefore of Myself I do nothing. Again I said, I am the Light of the world, but ye imagined that I was saying something discordant from the Father and in this too did I again shame you, showing that He said of Me, Behold I have set Thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the nations. In vain therefore (He saith) do ye accuse Him Who ever hath One Will with the Father and doth nought dissonant to Him nor endureth to say ought which is not His. For this is the meaning I think that we should fit on to the words.

But the bitter wild beast will haply leap upon us, the fighter against Christ, I mean Arius, and will cry out upon us (as is likely) and will come and say, "When the discourse, sir, was proceeding all right, what made you pressing forward thrust it aside to your own mere pleasure and do you not blush at secretly stealing away the force of the truth? Lo clearly the Son affirms that He does nought of Himself, but that what He learns of God the Father, this He also speaks, and so is conscious that His Father is in superior position to Himself."

What then, most excellent sir (will such an one hear in return), is the Son supplied with might and understanding from the Father, that He may be able to do and to speak without blame? how then is He any longer God by Nature, who borrows from another power and wisdom, just as the nature of the creature too has it? for to those who from not being obtain being, every thing that accrues to them is also surely God-given. But not so is it in the Son; for Him the Divine Scripture knows and proclaims as Very God and I think that to Him Who is by Nature God do all good things in perfect degree belong, and that which possesses not perfection in every single thing that ought to be admired, how will it be by Nature God? For as incorruption and immortality must surely belong to it naturally and not from without or imported, so too the all-perfection and lacking nought in all good things. But if according, sir, to thy unhallowed and unlearned argument the Son be imperfect in regard of being able to do things God-befitting and to speak what is right, and yet He is the Power and Wisdom of the Father according to the Divine Scripture, to the Father rather and not to Him will so great an accusal belong. For thus defining these things you will say that in potential no longer is God the Father Perfect, nor yet is He wholly Wise. You see then whither the daring of thine unlearning sinks down. And I marvel how this too has escaped thy acumen.: how (tell me) will God the Father supply might to His own Might, or how will He render His own Wisdom wiser? For either one must needs say that it ever advances to something greater and goes forward by little and little to being capable of somewhat more than its existing strength (which is both foolish and utterly impossible), or must impiously suppose that He is strengthened by another. How then will the Son be any more called Lord of Hosts or how will He be any longer conceived of as Wisdom and Might, strengthened (according to you) and made wise by another? Away with the blasphemy and absurdity of reasoning. For either grant outright that the Son is a creature that ye may have the whole of Divinely-inspired Scripture crying out against you, or if ye believe that He is by Nature God, grant, grant that the Properties of Godhead pertain to Him in Perfect degree. For it is the property of the Natural Being [of God 22] neither to be impotent about anything, nor to come short of supreme Wisdom, yea rather to be Wisdom and Power's very self; but in wisdom nought is through teaching, nor yet in the Chief and truly conceived-of Power do we see imported power.

But that by examining also the very nature of things, we may more accurately test what are said by Christ, we will add this too to what has been said. What so great deed hath the Only-Begotten made Man wrought, that will surpass His inherent Power? For it was like I suppose that some would say that it then resulted that He should fitly say, as having borrowed the Power from God the Father, Of Myself I do nothing, because He drove out the evil spirit, let go the palsied from his infirmity, freed the leper from his suffering, gave the blind to see, sated a no easily reckoned multitude of men with five loaves, appeased the raging sea with a word, raised Lazarus from the dead: shall we say that the manifestation herein is superior to His innate Power? Then how (tell me) did He stablish the so great Heaven and spread it out as a tent to dwell in, how founded He the earth, how became He Artificer of sun and moon and what pertains to the firmament? how created He angels and Archangels Thrones and Lordships and yet besides, the Seraphim? He Who was in so vast and supernatural position, lacking neither Might nor Wisdom from another, how could He be powerless in matters so small, or how should He Who by the holy Prophets is glorified as Wisdom need one who must teach Him what to say to the Jews? For I hear a certain one say, The Lord who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His Wisdom, and stretched out the heavens in His discretion, and besides, the Divine Daniel too says. Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and understanding and might are His. But if His, according to the Prophet's voice, are both might and wisdom, who will any more endure the wordiness of the heterodox, saying that the Wisdom and Power of the Father is supplied with both power and wisdom from another?

"But if we said (says he) that there were some other to supply to the Son what He lacked of power, or to teach Him, reasonably could ye attack us with words, knowing that ye were on the side of Him as insulted: but since we say that God the Father gives this, what plea for aggrievance any longer appears to you from thence?"

Therefore if ye think that ye will in nothing wrong the Son, in respect of His being by Nature unlike Him Who begat Him, even though He be said to be supplied by Him, remember, man, your late words, and be taught thereby not to be offended: grant Him to be in all things Equal to His Progenitor, and in no way or respect whatever inferior to Him. But if it draw thee aside from the reasonings of orthodoxy, and persuade thee to deem of Him what is not lawful, why dost thou vainly attempt to beguile us with so rotten words? for it will make no difference at all, whether God the Father Himself, or any other than He, be said to give ought to the Son. For having once fallen under the charge of receiving ought, what gain will He derive, though the Person of the Giver were exceeding illustrious? For what difference (tell me) will it make to a person who refuses a blow to be struck with a wooden rod or a gilt one? for it is not the suffering in this way that is good but the not suffering at all. The Son therefore being proved to be lacking in both power and wisdom, if He be shown to receive ought from Him, and having herein complete accusal, how is it not utterly foolish that we should smite our hearers with stale words, and by inventions of deceit smear over the charge by deeming that no one else but the Father Alone is admitted as supplying Him? But I marvel how though they think they are wise, and in no slight degree practised in the art of making subtle distinctions with words foreign to the subject, that this escaped them, viz., that by disparaging the Impress of God the Father, i. e., the Son, ye do not so much accuse Himself as Him Whose Impress He is, since He must of necessity so be as He is seen to be in the Son.

"But," says he, "the Son's own voice will compel thee even against thy will to consent to what He did not disdain to utter: for Himself hath confessed that He doth nothing of Himself but that whatever He was taught of God the Father these things He speaks."

Well then to thee, good sir, let the things even that are well said seem to be not well, seeing that thou deniedst the light of truth: but WE again will go our own way, and will deem of the Only-Begotten as is customary and wonted, with becoming piety comparing them with what is before us. For if the Only-Begotten had said, I do nothing of Myself but receiving power from God the Father, I both work wonders and am marvelled at, it would be even thus a speech showing that He nowise ought to be accused therefore, yet would our opponent have seemed to oppose us with greater show of reason. But since He says simply and absolutely without any addition, I do nothing of Myself, we will not surely say that He is blaming His own Nature as infirm for ought, but that He means something else that is true and incapable of being found fault with. In order that transforming the force of the expression to man, we may see accurately what He says, let there be two men having the same nature, equal in strength and likeminded one with another, and let one of them say, Of myself I do nothing, will he say this as powerless and able to do nothing at all of himself, or as having the other co-approver and co-minded and co-joined with him? thus conceive I pray of the Son too, yea rather much more than this. For since the Jews were foolishly springing upon Him as He was working marvels, even accusing the breach of the sabbath, and imputing to Him transgression of the law, He at length showed God the Father in all things Co-minded and Co-approver, skillfully shaming the unbridled mind of them who believe Him not. For it was like that some would now shrink from any inclination to blame Him when He said that He did all things according to the Will of the Father and pointed out His own Will in His. For that the Son does all things according to the Will of the Father will show that He is not less and an under-worker, but of Him and in Him and Consubstantial. For since He is the Very Wisdom of the Father and His Living Counsel, He confesses that He does not do ought else than what the Father wills, Whose both Wisdom and Counsel He is, seeing that the understanding too that is in us does not ought of itself, but accomplishes all that seems good to us. And little is the example to the verity, but it hath an image not obscure of the truth. And as the understanding that is in us is accounted nought else than we ourselves, in the same way I deem the Wisdom of God the Father, i. e., the Son, is nought other than He in regard to sameness of Essence and exact Likeness of Nature: for the Father is Father and the Son Son in Their own Person.

But because to this He adds, As the Father taught Me, I speak these things, let no one think that the Son is in need of teaching for any thing whatsoever (for great is the absurdity of reasoning herein): but the force of what is said has this meaning. For the Jews who were not able to understand ought that was good, were not only offended at what were marvellously wrought, but also when ought God-befitting was uttered one may see them in the same case, and specially when He truly says, I am the Light of the world, they were both cut to the heart and counselled all-daring deeds. But the Lord Jesus Christ that He might convict them of vainly raging about this says that His own Words are God the Father's, saying Taught in more human wise. Yet we shall find the force of the speech not without a subtle inner-thought, and if the enemy of the truth will not admit what is human, he very greatly wrongs the plan of the economy with Flesh (for the Only-Begotten humbled Himself being made Man, and for this reason ofttimes He speaketh as Man): but let him know again that the saying, As the Father taught Me, so I speak, will no way injure the Son in respect of God-befitting Dignity, for we will show that this saying of His too is on all sides sound and right. But let yon accuser of the doctrines of piety answer us who ask, Who (tell me) teaches the new-born babe to use human voice? why does he not roar as a lion or imitate some other of the irrational creation? But nature its teacher fashioning after the property of the sower that which is of him must needs surely and will proceed to that common sound used by all. It is then possible without being taught to learn of nature which infuseth so to say the whole property of the sower into tho offspring. Thus therefore does tho Only-Begotten Himself here too affirm that He learned of the Father. For what nature is to us, that full surely may God the Father be reasonably conceived of to Him; and as WE since we are men and of men, learning untaught from nature speak as befits men, so He too, since He is God of God by Nature, learnt as of His Own Nature to speak as God and to say things befitting God, as is I am the Light of the world. For what He knows that He is because of the Father from Whom He is (for He is Light of Light), this He said that He learnt of Him, having a sort of untaught learning of God-befitting works and words from the own Nature of Him Who begat Him, mounting up as by necessary laws to sameness in all things of will and of word with God the Father. For how must not sameness of Will and Equality and Likeness in Words needs be without contradiction inexistent in Those Who have the Same Nature? Of God altogether are we speaking, not of us; for us divergences of manners and differences of wills and tyrannies of passions drag aside from the limits of what befits: but the Divine and Inconceivable Nature being the Same always and fixed immoveably in Its own Goods, what divergences unto ought else can It have? or how will It not altogether advance the straight course of Its own Purpose and both speak and accomplish what belongs to It? The Only-Begotten then being of the Same Essence with Him Who begat Him and pre-eminent in the Dignities of the One Godhead, will (I suppose) surely and of necessity work whatever |614 the Father Himself too works (for this is the meaning of doing nothing of Himself); and will surely speak what belongs to Him Who begat Him, not as a minister or bidden or as a disciple, but possessing as the fruit of His Own Nature, to use the words also of God the Father. For herein shines forth clearly and apart from all railing this, viz. that nothing is said by Him [as from Himself].

Since looking only (He says) to the flesh, ye believe that I am mere Man, and deem that I am one like yourselves, but the Dignity of the Godhead and the Glory from thence, do not so much as enter your mind:----a most evident token to you of My being God of Truly God and Light of Light, shall be your all-dread and most lawless deed of daring, the Cross that is and the Death of the Flesh thereupon. For when ye see the issue of your mad folly frustrate of its purpose and the snare of death crushed in pieces (for I shall surely rise from the dead): then shall ye even against your will and of necessity at length assent to what I said to you and shall confess that I am by Nature God. For I shall be superior to death and decay, I being by Nature Life shall raise again My Temple. But if to overmaster death and to triumph over the meshes of corruption belong to Him Who is by Nature God and to no other being, how shall I not (all contradiction and all doubt being removed) be shown thereby to overcome all things mightily and without trouble? therefore does the Saviour say that His Cross shall be a sign to the Jews and a most evident demonstration of His being by Nature God.

And this you may see Him elsewhere too, clearly saying: for when many and unnumbered prodigies had been shown forth by Him, the Pharisees once came to Him tempting Him and saying, Master, we would see a sign from Thee. But He since He saw the imaginations which were going on in them, and was not ignorant that they were bitterly minded, says, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas; for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man too be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Hearest thou how to the Jews asking a sign as a proof that He is God by Nature, even though they said it tempting Him, He says that no other shall be shown to them save the sign of the prophet Jonas, i. e. the three days death and the coming to life again from the dead? For what token of God-befitting authority so great and manifest, as to undo death and overthrow decay, albeit by Divine sentence having the mastery over human nature? For in Adam it heard, Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return; but it was in the power of Christ the Saviour both to end His Anger, and by blessings to overthrow the death which from His curse prevailed. But that the Jews exceedingly feared the sign of the resurrection as mighty to convince that Christ is by Nature God, their final deed will clearly tell us, for when they heard of the Resurrection of the Saviour, and that He was not found in the tomb, terrified and exceeding fearful thereat, they planned to buy off the informations of the soldiers by large money. For they gave them money to say, His disciples came by night and stole Him while we slept. Mighty therefore is the sign of the Resurrection, having undoubted demonstration that Jesus is God, whereat the hard and unbending heart of the Jews was sore troubled.

Christ spent long time dwelling with the Jews, and speaking in every synagogue, so to say, and addressing them every sabbath-day and, setting before them often and ungrudgingly profitable teaching, was continually inviting them to the illumination through the Spirit, and verily He saith, in that He is God by Nature and Very, I am the light of the world; but they thinking most foolishly were ever gainsaying Him who said these things, for (says he) THOU bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is not true. And not at contradictions in words did the daring of the Jews stay, nor only in love of reviling was their untamed audacity consummated, but going without stint through all savageness, they at last betrayed Him both to Cross and Death. But since He was by Nature Life, having burst the bonds of death, He arose from the dead and (as was reasonable) departs from Jewish defilement and hasted away from Israel and that with justice, and betaking Himself to the Gentiles, He invited all to the Light, and to the blind He freely bestowed recovery of sight. It befell then that after the Death on the Cross of our Saviour Christ, the understandings of the Jews were darkened, in that the Light had departed forth from them, and that the hearts of the Gentiles were enlightened, in that the Very Light beamed upon them. When then, He says, ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am, instead of, I will await the consummation of your impiety, I will not bring upon you wrath before its time, I will accept the Passion and Death, I will endure along with the rest this too. But when ye shall betray to the Cross the Son of Man deemed by you to be bare man, then shall ye know, even against your will, that not falsely have I said that I am the Light of the world. For when ye see yourselves darkened, the innumerable multitude of the Gentiles enlightened by having Me with them, how will ye not even against your will agree that I am of a truth the light of the world? For that the Saviour was going to depart from the Synagogue of the Jews after His coming to Life again from the dead, is doubtful to none (for it has been accomplished and done): yet may one see it somehow (yea even clearly) from His words, While ye have the Light walk in the Light, lest darkness come upon you. For the repression and withdrawal of light generates darkness, and again the presence of light causes darkness to vanish. Therefore is Christ shown as being of a truth Light, Who darkened the Jews through His Departure from them, and enlightened the Gentiles through His Presence with them: and a bitter lesson to the Jews was their experience of dread things.

Having with many and good words bathed the wrath of the Jews, He sees it not a whit the less swelling. For they cease not heedlessly blaspheming, yea at one time they set aside His Speech and impiously call Him a liar: for to say Thy record is not true, what else is it than this? at another time again, to Him out of love declaring the things that belong to salvation and on this account saying, If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins, they began hotly to oppose Him and arraying against those utterances of love their words of madness said, Who art THOU? For them therefore who thus unmitigatedly wallowed in unreasoning audacity there was need of a word that should sober them and persuade them to be more gently disposed and put a bridle on their tongue even against its will. Therefore was He threatening them telling them most clearly that they shall not escape punishment for their impiety, but even though they see Him for the present forbearing, yet when their impiety towards Him has gone forth to its dread consummation, I mean Death and the Cross, they shall undergo all-dread justice and shall receive in return intolerable lot, that of the war with the Romans, which after the Saviour's Cross befell them from the wrath above from God. And that they should suffer all-terrible things, the Saviour again signified more clearly to them saying, at one time to the weeping women, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me but weep for yourselves and for your children, at another again, When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then shall ye say to the mountains, Cover us and to the hills, Fall on us. For to such an extent do the sufferings of the war overcome the Jews, that every kind of death was to them pleasanter and rather to be chosen than the trial of them: their removal from their country, the enslavements of those who inhabit it and their most savage slaughter and the famines in every city and their child-devourings therein Josephus too relates in his history.

When then (He says) ye having betrayed to the cross the Son of man endure your retributive punishment, and pay penalties correspondent to your daring deeds against Me, then shall ye weeping know that I am the All-Powerful, that is God. For if one sparrow enter not the snare of the fowler without the will of God, how shall a whole country, (He saith) and the beloved 21 nation go on to destruction so complete, except God supreme over all had surely permitted that so it should be? Evil therefore and all-dread is the contempt of God which bringeth to the consummation of things to be deprecated. Wherefore Paul too rebuketh some, saying of God, Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God is leading thee to repentance, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath in the Day of wrath?

Imitating the most excellent physicians, He lays bare the cause of their soul's infirmity and clearly opens what it was that hinders their going with resolution to understanding and faith towards Him. For since looking at the Flesh and its family, they were induced to think slightingly of Him and, having this vail over the eyes of their understanding, they would not know that He is God even though He is seen as Man, needs did He address them saying, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am, i. e., when ye cease from your slight and grovelling conception of Me, when ye have some lofty and super-mundane thought of Me, and believe that I am God of God, even though for your sakes I am become Man as you, then shall ye know clearly that I am the Light of the world (for this I just now told you): for what would any longer hinder (He says) Him Who is wholly admitted to be Very God, from being also Light of the world? For not to so great depth of madness and daring will any go as then too to venture to say, Thy record is not true, for he will in no wise accuse what God by Nature and Very shall say.

It is then most evident from the words too of the Saviour, that if we have a mean opinion of Him and consider Him to be bare Man and bereft of the Godhead by Nature, we shall surely both disbelieve Him and not admit Him as Saviour and Redeemer. And what is the result? we have fallen from our hope. For if salvation is through faith and faith be gone, what will yet save us? But if we believe and lift up to God-befitting height the Only-Begotten even though He hath become Man, advancing as with a fair wind and speeding across the all-troublous sea of life, we shall safe moor in the city that is above, there to receive the rewards of believing.

Here Jesus is saying, "Since you are looking only to the flesh, you believe that I am merely a man, and you suppose that I am just like you. But the dignity and the glory of the Godhead does not even enter your mind. However, you shall know that I am God of true God and Light of light through your dreadful and lawless act—my death on the cross. For when you see your mad foolishness come to nothing and the snare of death crushed in pieces—for I shall surely rise from the dead—ultimately you will be forced, even against your will, to agree with what I said, and you shall confess that I am God by nature.

Then when after working many signs, and teaching them, He drew them not to Himself, He next speaketh to them of the Cross, saying,

"When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then ye shall know that I am, and that I speak not of Myself, and that He that sent Me is with Me. And the Father hath not left Me alone."

He showeth that He rightly said, "the same that I said unto you from the beginning." So little heed they gave to His words. "When ye have lifted up the Son of Man." "Do ye not expect that ye then shall certainly rid yourselves of Me, and slay Me? But I tell you that then ye shall most know that I Am, by reason of the miracles, the resurrection, and the destruction (of Jerusalem)." For all these things were sufficient to manifest His power. He said not, "Then ye shall know who I am"; for, "when ye shall see," He saith, "that I suffer nothing from death, then ye shall know that I Am, that is, the Christ, the Son of God, who govern all things, and am not opposed to Him." For which cause He addeth, "and of Myself I speak nothing." For ye shall know both My power and My unanimity with the Father. Because the, "of Myself I speak nothing," showeth that His Substance differeth not (from that of the Father), and that He uttereth nothing save that which is in the mind of the Father. "For when ye have been driven away from your place of worship, and it is not allowed you even to serve Him as hitherto, then ye shall know that He doth this to avenge Me, and because He is wroth with those who would not hear Me." As though He had said, "Had I been an enemy and a stranger to God, He would not have stirred up such wrath against you." This also Esaias declareth, "He shall give the wicked in return for His burial"; and David, "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath"; and Christ Himself, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." And His parables declare the same thing when He saith, "What shall the Lord of that vineyard do to those husbandmen? He shall miserably destroy those wicked men." Seest thou that everywhere He speaketh thus, because He is not yet believed? But if He will destroy them, as He will, (for, "Bring hither," It saith, "those which would not that I should reign over them, and slay them,") wherefore saith He that the deed is not His, but His Father's? He addresseth Himself to their weakness, and at the same time honoreth Him that begat Him. Wherefore He said not, "I leave your house desolate," but, it "is left"; He hath put it impersonally. But by saying, "How often would I have gathered your children together-and ye would not," and then adding, "is left," He showeth that He wrought the desolation. "For since," He telleth them, "when ye were benefited and healed of your infirmities, ye would not know Me, ye shall know by being punished who I am."

This is the sign which before He had promised to give them when they asked it, saying, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas;" meaning His cross, and His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And again, declaring in another way the virtue of the cross, He said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He." And what He saith is to this purport: "When ye have crucified me, and think ye have overcome me, then, above all, shall ye know my might."

For after the crucifixion, the city was destroyed, and the Jewish state came to an end, they fell away from their polity and their freedom, the gospel flourished, the word was spread abroad to the ends of the world; both sea and land, both the inhabited earth and the desert perpetually proclaim its power.

In accordance with which, Christ Himself says: "Then shall ye know that I am He and that I am saying nothing of my own self; but that, as my Father hath taught me, so I speak, because He that sent me is with me." This also amounts to a proof that they were Two, (although) undivided.

Jesus performed many miracles, and yet did not attract the Jews to Himself. Now He speaks to them about the Cross. "You," He says, "think that when you crucify Me, you will be free from all concern and will be rid of Me. But I say that you will know that it is I, that is, Christ, the Son of God, who upholds and sustains all things (Heb. 1:3), and that I am not opposed to the Father, nor do I act or speak of Myself, for I do not have a will of My own, distinct from the will of the Father." How then will they recognize Him on the cross? From the signs of that time, from His resurrection and their captivity. For all of this could reveal His power. So when you crucify Me, you will know both My power and My unity of mind with the Father. For the Father would not have delivered your city to the Romans in vengeance for Me, nor would He have performed signs on the cross, if I were not His Son and of one mind with Him, rather than opposed to God. Then you will know that whatever I teach and whatever I say is from Him, is undoubtedly divine, and is not Mine, but of Him who sent Me.

Here, for the first time, Christ foretells how they are to come to the faith, which is the remedy for death. He does two things: first: he shows what will lead them to the faith; and secondly, he teaches what must be believed about himself (v 28).

He says, first, that they ought to come to the faith by means of his passion: So Jesus said to them: When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will understand. He is saying in effect: You do not know now that God is my Father, but when you have lifted up the Son of Man, that is, when you have nailed me to the wood of the cross, then you will understand, that is, some of you will understand by faith. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself" (12:32). And so, as Augustine says, he recalls the sufferings of his cross to give hope to sinners, so that no one will despair, no matter what his crime, or think that he is too evil, since the very people who crucified Christ are freed from their sins by Christ's blood. For there is no sinner so great that he cannot be freed by the blood of Christ.

Chrysostom's explanation is this: When you have lifted up the Son of Man, on the cross, then you will understand, that is, you will be able to understand what I am, not only by the glory of my resurrection, but also by the punishment of your captivity and destruction.

With respect to the second, he teaches three things that must be believed about himself: first, the greatness or grandeur of his divinity; secondly, his origin from the Father; thirdly, his inseparability from the Father.

He mentions the greatness of his divinity when he says, that I am, that is, that I have in me the nature of God, and that it is I who spoke to Moses, saying: "I am who am" (Ex 3:14). But because the entire Trinity pertains to existence itself, and so that we do not overlook the distinction between the Persons, he teaches that his origin from the Father must be believed, saying, I do nothing of myself; but as the Father taught me, so I speak. Because Jesus began both to do and to teach, he indicates his origin from the Father in these two respects. As regards those things he does, he says, I do nothing of myself: "The Son cannot do anything of himself" (5:19). And as regards what he teaches, he says, as the Father taught me, that is to say, he gave me knowledge by generating me as one who knows. Since he is the simple nature of truth, for the Son to exist is for him to know. And so, just as the Father, by generating, gave existence to the Son, so he also, by generating, gave him knowledge: "My doctrine is not mine" (7:16).

Thus then He spoke to the Jews, and added, "And He that sent me is with me." He had already said this also before, but of this important point He is constantly reminding them,-"He sent me," and "He is with me." If then, O Lord, He is with Thee, not so much hath the One been sent by the other, but ye Both have come. And yet, while Both are together, One was sent, the Other was the sender; for incarnation is a sending, and the incarnation itself belongs only to the Son and not to the Father. The Father therefore sent the Son, but did not withdraw from the Son. For it was not that the Father was absent from the place to which He sent the Son. For where is not the Maker of all things? Where is He not, who said, "I fill heaven and earth"? But perhaps the Father is everywhere, and the Son not so? Listen to the evangelist: "He was in this world, and the world was made by Him." Therefore said He, "He that sent me," by whose power as Father I am incarnate, "is with me,-hath not left me."

Why hath He not left me? "He hath not left me," He says, "alone; for I do always those things that please Him." That equality exists always; not from a certain beginning, and then onwards; but without beginning, without end. For Divine generation has no beginning in time, since time itself was created by the Only-begotten.

(Tr xl. 6) And though both are together, yet one is sent, the other sends. For the mission is the incarnation; and the incarnation is of the Son only, not of the Father. He says then, He that sent Me, meaning, By whose Fatherly authority I am made incarnate. The Father however, though He sent the Son, did not withdraw from Him, as He proceeds to say: The Father hath not left Me alone. For it could not be that where He sent the Son, there the Father was not; He who says, I fill heaven and earth. (Jer. 33) And He adds the reason why He did not leave Him: For I do always those things that please Him; always, i. e. not from any particular beginning, but without beginning and without end. For the generation from the Father hath no beginning in time.

"And he who sent me is with me," on account of the unity of essence, in which there is no division; below in the fourteenth chapter: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?" "And he has not left me alone," through a discordant will: "because I always do the things that are pleasing to him." Whence the Son cannot be left by the Father, because he can neither disagree with him nor displease him; Matthew 3: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." On the contrary, sinners are left by the Lord, because they displease him through sins: 2 Chronicles 12: "You have left me, and I have left you."

Furthermore it is asked concerning what He says, that "He has not left me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to Him."

On the contrary: In Matthew twenty-seven the Son said in His passion: "God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I respond: It must be said that there is an abandonment of dispensation, of testing, of permission, and of eternal damnation. The first, of dispensation, was to expose the Son to suffering for the salvation of the human race. The second, of testing, is in the just, as the Lord left Job in the hand of Satan. The third is in those sinning in the present life. The fourth is in those eternally damned, which is abandonment without any visitation. The word of the Lord here is therefore understood concerning the abandonment of wrath, not concerning the dispensation of divine wisdom.

Herein He shows clearly that He interprets the Counsel of God the Father, Himself having none other than is in Him (how could He? for He is Himself the Living and Hypostatic Counsel and Will of Him Who begat Him, as is said in the Book of the Psalms by one of the Saints, In Thy Counsel Thou guidedst me, and again, Lord by Thy Will Thou gavest might to my beauty : for in Christ are all good things to them that love Him) but as bringing forth unto our knowledge the things that are in God the Father. For as this word of ours uttered externally and poured forth through the tongue makes known what is in the deep of our understanding, both receiving, as some learning, the will that is in our mind in respect of anything, and impelled by it to utter it in such manner: so again we will piously conceive that the Son (surpassing the force of the example in that He is Himself both Word and Wisdom of God the Father) uttered what exists in Him. And since He is not impersonal as is man's, but inbeing and Living as having His own Being in the Father and with the Father, He says here that He is not Alone, but that with Him is Him also That sent Him. But when He says, With Me, He indicates again something God-befitting and Mystic. For we do not think that He saith thus, viz. that as God may be (for instance) with a Prophet, guarding him, that is, with His own Might and aiding him by His favour or by the enlightenment through the Spirit stirring him up to prophecy:----that so is He That begat Him with Him. But here too He puts with Me in another sense: |615 for He That sent Me (He says) i. e., God the Father, is in the same Nature as I.

After this sort will you understand that too which is in Isaiah the Prophet about Christ, Know ye people and he ye worsted for with us is God. For our discourse hereon will befit those who have set on Him their hope of being saved. And these too say With us is God, not as though any should imagine that God will be our co-worker and co-assistant, but that He will be with us, that is, of us. For the Word of God hath become Man, and in Him we all have been saved and burst the bonds of death, and put off the corruption of sin, since God the Word being in the Form of God hath come down to us and become with us. As then we here understand With us is God, for, The Word of God the Father hath become of the same nature with us: so here too preserving the same analogy in our thoughts, when Christ says, He that sent Me is with Me and hath not left Me alone, we shall clearly understand Him to indicate mystically that (as we said before) God the Father is of the Same Nature as I and hath not left Me alone : for it were altogether impossible not to have wholly with Me God the Father of Whom I am begotten.

And perhaps some one will say and will ask more thoughtfully, Why does the Saviour say such things or what was it induced Him to come to this explanation ?

To this WE will reply, showing that profitably and of necessity did He add this too to what He had already said. For since He said that as the Father taught Me, I speak these things, needs does He show that the Father is now co-with Him and consubstantial with Him, that He may be believed to speak what is His, as God the things of God, and urged on by the Natural Property of Him That begat Him to say what is God-befitting, just as the children of men having of their nature some untaught learning, as we said above, know truly the properties of human nature. We must not therefore be offended, when the Son says that He learnt ought from the Father; for not for this reason will He be found less than He nor yet alien according to them. And let us consider the matter thus. Not in knowing any thing or in not knowing it, is the matter of essence tested, but in what each by nature is. As for example suppose Paul and Silvanus; and let Paul know and be instructed perfectly in the mystery as to Christ, Silvanus somewhat less than Paul. Are they then not alike in nature or will Paul surpass Silvanus in respect of essence, because he knows the depth of the mystery more than the other? But I suppose that no one will be foolish to such an extent as ever to suppose that their nature is severed by reason of superiority or inferiority in knowledge. When then the condition of essence is (as we have said) accurately proved not to lie in learning or teaching ought, it will no wise injure the Son in regard of His being by Nature God, if He say that He learns ought of His own Father. For not on this account will He go forth from Consubstantiality with Him, but abideth wholly what He is, God of God, Light of Light.

But you will perhaps say, How then? the Father is greater in knowledge, for therefore doth He teach the Son. But we again will say that we have entirely shown through many words that the Wisdom of the Father is without any need of learning and instruction and having joined together many arguments thereto, we proved that their speech has its exit in boundless blasphemy. Next, it is necessary to tell thee besides that the Son's aim and special care is ever to abate His own Dignity and not to speak much in God-befitting manner, because of the Form of the servant and of the abasement thence for our sakes undertaken. For whither hath He descended, and whence unto what removed, if He say nothing inferior and not wholly worthy of God-befitting glory? For for these reasons He often takes the form of not knowing as Man what as God He knows. You will see this clearly in the history of Lazarus of Bethany, whom when now of four days and stinking, He with wonder-working might and most God-befitting voice caused to return to life. Look at the economy fashioned herein. For knowing that Lazarus was dead and having fore-announced this, as God, to His disciples, in human wise Ho asked, saying, Where have ye laid him? O wondrous deed! He Who was living far away from Bethany and was not ignorant as God, that Lazarus is dead, how sought He to learn where the tomb was? But you will say (thinking most rightly) that He made feint of the question, arranging something profitable. Receive therefore in this case too that He economically says that what He knows as God, this He learnt of the Father; not permitting the mad folly of the Jews to be further excited, and punishing the wrath of the more unlearned, He does not introduce God-befitting language to them unsoftened, although it rather befitted Him so to do.

But since they were surmising that He is yet mere man, He mingling as it were the Dignity of Godhead with man-befitting words speaks economically more lowly than Ho is, For I do always the things that please Him. Receive (I pray) herein too the solution of what seem hard and observe clearly that He rightly interprets. Of Myself I do nothing. For for this reason (He says) testified I that I do nothing of Myself, when I but now addressed you, because it is My habit and practice to do nothing discordant to God the Father, nor to be able to do anything save what pleaseth My Progenitor. It is then very clear that in this alone will it be understood that the Son doth nothing of Himself, viz. in His ever doing what pleases God the Father, so that except He had thus wrought, He would have done somewhat of Himself, i.e., contrary to the Will of Him That begat Him. It is not then because He comes short of the Paternal Goodness, nor because of being able to achieve nought of His own Strength, that He here affirms that He does nothing of Himself, but because He is Co-minded and Co-willer ever with His Progenitor in every thing, and has no thought of ever accomplishing any thing as it were separately. And we do not, going off into extravagant notions, think that the Son is here displaying in Himself any virtue proceeding of choice and habit, but rather the Fruit of Nature That knows no turning, Which needs not the Divine [help] in counselling to do anything. For as to the creatures, inasmuch as they are capable of turning to the worse, and of giving way to changes from better to worse, good will be fruit of the pious and virtuous disposition: but as to the Divine and All-Surpassing Nature it is not so. For since all change and turn is removed and has no place, good will be the fruit of the unalterable Nature, just as heat in fire or cold in snow. For fire has obviously its proper action, not of voluntary notion, but natural and essential, without the power of being otherwise except it be driven away from its action by the will of its Maker. Therefore not as WE, or ought other of the rational creation, mastered by our free will to press forward to do what pleases God the Father; not so does the Only-Begotten say thus, but as following the laws of His own Nature and able to think and do nought save according to the Will of Him Who begat Him. For how could the Consubstantial and One Godhead ever be at variance with Itself? or how could It do what liketh It not, as though any had power to turn it aside unto ought else? For though God the Father exist properly and by Himself, likewise both the Son and the Spirit, yet is the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity not riven asunder unto complete severance, but the whole Fulness thereof mounteth up unto One Nature of Godhead.

We must besides consider this too, that no argument can reasonably pull down the Son from His sameness of Nature with the Father, seeing that He affirmed that He always doth what pleaseth Him, but rather being Consubstantial with Him will He be thereby acknowledged to be God of God by Nature and Very. For who (tell me) will savour the things of God after a God-befitting and exact manner, except Himself too be by Nature God? or who will perform always what is pleasing to Him, if he have not a nature beyond the reach of the worse, and have for his share the choice Dignity of the Divine Nature, I mean being unable to sin? For of the creature it has been said, Who will boast that he has his heart clean, or who will be confident that he is pure from sins, and elsewhere the Divine Scripture extending its utterance even to the very utmost bound says, The stars are not pure in His Sight. For angels, albeit far removed from our condition, and having a firmer status as to virtue, have not kept their own princedom. For by reason of some being altogether torn thence and falling into sin, the whole nature of the rational creation lies under the charge of being recipient of sin, and powerless to be imparticipate of change for the worse: and the reasonable and godlike living creature upon the earth hath fallen, not after any long period, but in the first man Adam. Wholly therefore refused to the creature is unchangeability and un-turning and being able to be of nature the same; to God Alone That is in truth will it belong. But this shines forth full well in the Son, for He did no sin, as Paul saith, neither was guile found in His Mouth. God therefore is the Son, and by Nature of God who cannot sin, nor over overstep what befits His Nature. When then He confesses that He does always those things that please the Father, let no one be offended, nor deem that in lesser rank than the Father is He who is of Him, but let him rather think piously that as God of God by Nature He ascendeth unto the sameness of counsel and (so to speak) sameness of work with Him Who begat Him.

I do not issue orders to you, as if I were some great person. For though I am bound for His name, I am not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For now I begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as my fellow-servants. For it was needful for me to have been admonished by you in faith, exhortation, patience, and long-suffering. But inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that ye would run together in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ does all things according to the will of the Father, as He Himself declares in a certain place, "I do always those things that please Him." Wherefore it behoves us also to live according to the will of God in Christ, and to imitate Him as Paul did. For, says he, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."

"And the Father is with Me." That they may not deem the "who sent Me" to be a mark of inferiority, He saith, "is with Me"; the first belongeth to the Dispensation, the second to the Godhead.

"And He hath not left Me alone," for I do always those things that please Him.

Again He hath brought down His discourse to a humbler strain, continually setting Himself against that which they asserted, that He was not of God, and that He kept not the Sabbath. To this He replieth, "I do always those things that are pleasing unto Him"; showing that it was pleasing unto Him even that the Sabbath should be broken. So, for instance, just before the Crucifixion He said, "Think ye that I cannot call upon My Father?" And yet by merely saying, "Whom seek ye?" He cast them down backwards. Why then saith He not, "Think ye that I cannot destroy you," when He had proved this by deed? He condescendeth to their infirmity. For He took great pains to show that He did nothing contrary to the Father. Thus He speaketh rather after the manner of a man; and as "He hath not left Me alone," was spoken, so also was the, "I do always those things that are pleasing unto Him."

Then, lest they think that the sending and the embassy imply subordination, He says that My Father is "with Me." Although He sent Me as a Man, I am inseparable from Him, and He is with Me, as God with God. After this He again descends to humble speech and says: "He has not left Me alone," because I do what is pleasing to Him. He speaks so humbly for the sake of the Jews. They said that He was not from God because He did not keep the Sabbath. But He says: "I do what is pleasing to Him," so that even if I break the Sabbath, I do what is pleasing to Him. However, by such humble speech He in no way harms His own glory, but brought benefit to the listeners, and through this also strengthened His own glory. For the listeners, hearing that He refers everything to the Father, more readily attached themselves to Him and believed in Him, so that humility exalted Him all the more. Do you see the worth of blessed humility? And that this is so, listen to what follows.

So that we do not think that the Son was sent by the Father in such a way as to be separated from the Father, he teaches, thirdly, that they must believe that he is inseparable from the Father when he says, he who sent me, the Father, is with me, by a unity of essence: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (14:10). And the Father is also with me by a union of love, "The Father loves the Son, and shows him everything that he does" (5:20). And so the Father sent the Son in such a way that the Father did not separate himself from the Son; and so the text continues, he has not deserted me, because I am the object of his love. For although both are together, one sends and the other is sent: for the sending is the incarnation, and this pertains only to the Son, and not to the Father. That he has not deserted me is clear from this sign: because I always do what is pleasing to him. We should not understand this to indicate a meritorious cause, but a sign; it is the same as saying: The fact that I always do, without beginning and without end, what is pleasing to him, is a sign that he is always with me and has not deserted me, "I was with him forming all things" (Prv 8:30).

Another interpretation would be this: he has not deserted me, that is, as man, protecting me, because I always do what is pleasing to him. In this interpretation it does indicate a meritorious cause.

Our Lord's discourse to the Jews began in connection with the man who was born blind and was restored to sight. Your Charity therefore ought to know and be advised that today's lesson is interwoven with that one. For when the Lord had said, "For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not might see, and they who see might be made blind,"-which, on the occasion of its reading, we expounded according to our ability,-some of the Pharisees said, "Are we blind also?" To whom He replied. "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; [therefore] your sin remaineth." To these words He added what we have been hearing today when the lesson was read.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." For they declared that they were not blind; yet could they see only by being the sheep of Christ. Whence claimed they possession of the light, who were acting as thieves against the day? Because, then, of their vain and proud and incurable arrogance, did the Lord Jesus subjoin these words, wherein He has given us also salutary lessons, if we lay them to heart. For there are many who, according to a custom of this life, are called good people,-good men, good women, innocent, and observers as it were of what is commanded in the law; paying respect to their parents, abstaining from adultery, doing no murder, committing no theft, giving no false witness against any one, and observing all else that the law requires-yet are not Christians; and for the most part ask boastfully, like these men. "Are we blind also?" But just because all these things that they do, and know not to what end they should have reference, they do to no purpose.

Such, accordingly, for the most part seek to persuade men to live well, and yet not to be Christians. By another way they wish to climb up, to steal and to kill, not as the shepherd, to preserve and to save. And thus there have been certain philosophers, holding many subtle discussions about the virtues and the vices, dividing, defining, drawing out to their close the most acute processes of reasoning, filling books, brandishing their wisdom with rattling jaws; who would even dare to say to people, Follow us, keep to our sect, if you would live happily. But they had not entered by the door: they wished to destroy, to slay, and to murder.

For there are countless numbers who not only boast that they see, but would have it appear that they are enlightened by Christ; yet are they heretics. Have even they somehow entered by the gate? Surely not. Sabellius says, He who is the Son is Himself the Father; but if the Son, then is there no Father. He enters not by the door, who asserts that the Son is the Father. Arius says, The Father is one thing, the Son is another thing. He would say rightly if he said, Another person; but not another thing. For when he says, Another thing, he contradicts Him who says in his hearing, "I and my Father are One." Neither does he therefore enter by the door; for he preaches a Christ such as he fabricates for himself, not such as the truth declares Him.

Keep hold of this, that Christ's sheepfold is the Catholic Church. Whoever would enter the sheepfold, let him enter by the door, let him preach the true Christ. Not only let him preach the true Christ, but seek Christ's glory, not his own; for many, by seeking their own glory, have scattered Christ's sheep, instead of gathering them. For Christ the Lord is a low gateway: he who enters by this gateway must humble himself, that he may be able to enter with head unharmed. But he that humbleth not, but exalteth himself, wishes to climb over the wall; and he that climbeth over the wall, is exalted only to fall.

(Tr. xlv. 2. et sq.) Or thus: Many go under the name of good men according to the standard of the world, and observe in some sort the commandments of the Law, who yet are not Christians. And these generally boast of themselves, as the Pharisees did; Are we blind also? But inasmuch as all that they do they do foolishly, without knowing to what end it tends, our Lord saith of them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, hut climbeth up some other way, the name is a thief and a robber. Let the Pagans then, the Jews, the Heretics, say, "We lead a good life;" if they enter not by the door, what availeth it? A good life only profiteth, as leading to life eternal. Indeed those cannot be said to lead a good life, who are either blindly ignorant of, or wilfully despise, the end of good living. No one can hope for eternal life, who knows not Christ, who is the life, and by that door enters into the fold. Whoso wisheth to enter into the sheepfold, let him enter by the door; let him preach Christ; let him seek Christ's glory, not his own. Christ is a lowly door, and he who enters by this door must be lowly, if he would enter with his head whole. He that doth not humble, but exalt himself, who wishes to climb up over the wall, is exalted that he may fall. Such men generally try to persuade others that they may live well, and not be Christians. Thus they climb up by some other way, that they may rob and kill. They are thieves, because they call that their own, which is not; robbers, because that which they have stolen, they kill.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix) He enters by the door, who enters by Christ, who imitates the suffering of Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ, so as to feel and know, that if God became man for us, man should not think himself God, but man. He who being man wishes to appear God, does not imitate Him, who being God, became man. Thou art bid to think less of thyself than thou art, but to know what thou art.

The Son of God shows himself as light and guide by the example of a good life. The Lord manifested above that he is a guide by the word of wisdom and by the miracle of power; here he manifests it by the example of a good life. For by the first two modes he directed as a teacher, but here in the third he directs as a pastor. In this chapter, therefore, the Lord intends to show himself as the true and good shepherd: and it is divided into two parts: because first the Lord demonstrates the good shepherd in a proverb and parable; second, he expounds the proverb and applies it to himself, so that through this he may show himself the true shepherd, at the passage: "Jesus therefore said to them again."

The first part demonstrates the good shepherd in a parable. He therefore describes the good shepherd in the proverb in this order: for first he determines the entrance of the good and true shepherd; second, the sign; third, the office of the good shepherd; fourth, he says that this proverb was hidden from the Jews.

He determines the entrance of the good and true shepherd by comparison with its opposite, because "opposites placed next to each other shine forth more clearly"; and the entrance of the shepherd is through the door, but that of the thief through another place. Therefore he says: "Amen, amen, I say to you" — the Lord continues his discourse, speaking to the Pharisees — "He who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold," that is, into the Church of God, in which the Lord's flock is contained, "but climbs up from elsewhere," as one proud and ambitious; "he is a thief and a robber: a thief," because he claims what belongs to another as his own; "a robber," because he destroys and kills the goods of another. Concerning this ascent of the bad shepherd, Jerome says: "We rejoice at the ascent; let us fear the descent: the joy of having held the heights is not so great as the sorrow of having fallen from the heights." Thus ascended that prince of robbers and the ambitious, of whom it is said in Isaiah fourteen: "I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven." He who thus enters in a disordered manner is a thief and not a shepherd.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

I cannot help admiring in every particular that divine utterance: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth." Then the Lord says in explanation, "I am the door of the sheep." Men must then be saved by learning the truth through Christ, even if they attain philosophy.

Those, then, who follow impious words and dictate them to others, inasmuch as they pervert the divine words instead of using them rightly, neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor do they permit those whom they have deluded to attain the truth. They do not have the key for the entrance but a false key. Using this counterfeit key, they do not enter in as we enter in, that is, through the tradition of the Lord by drawing aside the curtain. Instead they burst through the side door and dig clandestinely through the wall of the church. They step over the truth and constitute themselves the Mystagogues of the soul of the impious.

Very probably it may seem to those who listen carelessly that the language of the parable before us is not introduced very appositely: because after a discussion on blindness and recovery of sight, we straightway come upon statements about sheep, and a fold, and a door. But he in whom dwells a wise mind, which hastens more diligently to compare the ideas, will perceive here also that the argument proceeds so to speak straight forward, and swerves not at all from what is right and fitting. And here I will once more repeat what I have said many times before. It was the custom of the Saviour Christ, when any came unto Him, to reply not merely to the words which they expressed through their voice, but to speak with reference to their inward thoughts also, since He sees both heart and reins; for to Him all things are naked and laid open, and there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. Wherefore also He saith to one of the saints: Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, and hath words in his heart, and thinketh to conceal them from Me? When therefore the unholy company of Pharisees craftily asked, as we said just now, if they were blind also, in order that if he said truly what they were, namely blind, he might again be accused as one who reviled the magistrates and spoke evil of those whose lot it was to rule the people, (for they prided themselves inordinately upon this); Our Lord Jesus Christ, fighting in this case again with their inward thought, necessarily and profitably introduces the parable, implying (somewhat obscurely and as it were in riddles) that on account of their arrogant selfishness they would not be firmly maintained in the leadership, and that the dignity would not be confirmed to such as insulted in their pride God the Giver of it; and teaching that this dignity would only belong to those who should be called by Him to the leadership of the people. Therefore He says that Himself is the Door introducing of His own will to the leadership of His rational flocks the man who is prudent and God-loving. But him who thinks himself able to take by violence and tyranny the honour that is not given to him, He calls a thief and a robber, climbing up some other way. Such were some concerning whom He speaks perhaps by one of the Prophets; They reigned as kings, and not by Me; they ruled, and not by My Spirit. And He intimates by the words before us, that if they would take pleasure in being rulers of the people they must believe and must receive through Him the Divine call to undertake this dignity, in order that they might have their rule unshaken and well established; which of course was the case with the holy Apostles, and with the Teachers of the holy Churches after them; to whom also the porter openeth. That is, either the Angel who is appointed to preside over the churches and to assist those whose lot is to minister in holy things for the good of the people, or else the Saviour Himself, Who is at the same time both the Door and the Lord of the Door. At all events, He very well asserts that the flock of sheep rightly obey and yield to the voice of the shepherd, but very quickly turn away from the voice of strangers; so that thou mayest understand a true matter by extending the application of the argument to something more general. For in the churches we teach by bringing forward our doctrines from the inspired Scripture, and setting forth the Evangelic and Apostolic Word as a sort of spiritual nourishment. And they who believe in Christ and are conspicuous for unperverted faith, are obedient listeners to such teaching; but they turn away from the voices of falsifiers, and avoid them as a deadly evil. But then, some one will say, what is herein intimated to the Pharisees? Gathering it up into a short and summary explanation I will tell thee this again. He shows Himself therefore as Lord of the fold, and Door and Porter, that they may accurately learn that they will not have their position of leadership confirmed to them, unless they come to it through Him and thus possess the God-given honour. And by adding that the sheep obey their own shepherds, but run away from strangers, He again skilfully hints that the Pharisees would never be leaders of those that should become believers in Him, but that His sheep would refuse their instruction and attach themselves to the shepherds appointed by Him.

And not without a cause hath the Evangelist mentioned, that they of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said, "Are we blind also?" but to remind thee that these were the men who first withdrew from and then stoned Him, for they were persons who followed Him superficially, and who easily changed to the contrary opinion. How then doth He prove that He is not a deceiver, but a Shepherd? By laying down the distinguishing marks both of the shepherd, and of him who is a deceiver and a spoiler, and from these affording them opportunity of searching into the truth of the matter. And first He showeth who is a deceiver and a spoiler, calling him so from the Scriptures, and saying,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."

Observe the marks of a robber; first, that he doth not enter openly; secondly, not according to the Scriptures, for this is the, "not by the door." Here also He referreth to those who had been before, and to those who should be after Him, Antichrist and the false Christs, Judas and Theudas, and whatever others there have been of the same kind. And with good cause He calleth the Scriptures "a door," for they bring us to God, and open to us the knowledge of God, they make the sheep, they guard them, and suffer not the wolves to come in after them. For Scripture, like some sure door, barreth the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire, and not allowing us to wander; and if we undo it not, we shall not easily be conquered by our foes. By it we can know all, both those who are, and those who are not, shepherds. But what is "into the fold"? It refers to the sheep, and the care of them. For he that useth not the Scriptures, but "climbeth up some other way," that is, who cutteth out for himself another and an unusual way, "the same is a thief." Seest thou from this too that Christ agreeth with the Father, in that He bringeth forward the Scriptures? On which account also He said to the Jews, "Search the Scriptures" (c. v. 39); and brought forward Moses, and called him and all the Prophets witnesses, for "all," saith He, "who hear the Prophets shall come to Me"; and, "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me." But here He hath put the same thing metaphorically. And by saying, "climbeth up some other way," He alluded to the Scribes, because they taught for commandments the doctrines of men, and transgressed the Law (Matt. xv. 9); with which He reproached them, and said, "None of you doeth the Law." (c. vii. 19.) Well did He say, "climbeth up," not "entereth in," since to climb is the act of a thief intending to overleap a wall, and who doeth all with danger. Hast thou seen how He hath sketched the robber? now observe the character of the shepherd. What then is it?

"He that entereth in by the door, the same is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the doorkeeper openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own by name. And when he hath brought them out, he goeth before them."

He hath set down the marks of the shepherd, and of the evil doer; let us now see how He hath fitted to them what followeth. "To him," He saith, "the doorkeeper openeth"; He continueth in the metaphor to make the discourse more emphatic. But if thou shouldest be minded to examine the parable word by word, there is nothing to hinder thee from supposing Moses to be the doorkeeper, for to him were entrusted the oracles of God. "Whose voice the sheep hear, and he calleth his own by name." Because they everywhere said that He was a deceiver, and confirmed this by their own unbelief, saying, "Which of the rulers hath believed on him?" (c. vii. 48.) He showeth that they ought not on account of the unbelief of those persons to call Him a spoiler and deceiver, but that they, because they gave no heed to Him were consequently even excluded from the rank of sheep. For if a shepherd's part is to enter through the usual door, and if He entered through this, all they who followed Him might be sheep, but they who rent themselves away, hurt not the reputation of the Shepherd, but cast themselves out from the kindred of the sheep. And if farther on He saith that He is "the door," we must not again be disturbed, for He also calleth Himself "Shepherd," and "Sheep," and in different ways proclaimeth His dispensations. Thus, when He bringeth us to the Father, He calleth Himself "a Door," when He taketh care of us, "a Shepherd"; and it is that thou mayest not suppose, that to bring us to the Father is His only office, that He calleth Himself a Shepherd. "And the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep, and leadeth them out, and goeth before them." Shepherds indeed do the contrary, for they follow after them; but He to show that He will lead all men to the truth, doeth differently; as also when He sent the sheep, He sent them, not out of the way of wolves, but "in the midst of wolves." (Matt. x. 16.) For far more wonderful is this manner of keeping sheep than ours. He seemeth to me also to allude to the blind man, for him too, having "called," He "led out" from the midst of the Jews, and the man heard "His voice," and "knew" it.

"And a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers."

Certainly here He speaketh of Theudas and Judas, (for "all, as many as believed on them, were scattered" [Acts v. 36], It saith,) or of the false Christs who after that time should deceive. For lest any should say that He was one of these, He in many ways separateth Himself from them. And the first difference He setteth down is His teaching from the Scriptures; for He by means of these led men to Him, but the others did not from these draw men after them. The second is, the obedience of the sheep; for on Him they all believed, not only while He lived, but when He had died; the others they straightway left. With these we may mention a third difference, no trifling one. They did all as rebels, and to cause revolts, but He placed Himself so far from such suspicion, that when they would have made Him a king, He fled; and when they asked, "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar?" He bade them pay it, and Himself gave the two drachm piece. (Matt. xvii. 27.) Besides this, He indeed came for the saving of the sheep, "That they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly" (ver. 10), but the others deprived them even of this present life. They betrayed those who were entrusted to them and fled, but He withstood so nobly as even to give up His life. They unwillingly, and by compulsion, and desiring to escape, suffered what they suffered, but He willingly and by choice endured all.

(Hom. lix. 2) Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid Thee as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that useth not the Scriptures, but climbeth up some other way, i. e. some self-chosen1, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbeth up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of the Law. When our Lord further on calls Himself the Door, we need not be surprised. According to the office which He bears, He is in one place the Shepherd, in another the Sheep. In that He introduces us to the Father, He is the Door; in that He takes care of us, He is the Shepherd.

Each year, when spring with its breezes begins to usher in the birth of so many sheep and to deposit the numerous young of the fruitful flock about the fields, the meadows and the paths, a good shepherd puts aside his songs and leisure. He anxiously searches for the tender little sheep, picks them up and gathers them together. Happy to carry them, he places them about his neck, on his shoulders and in his arms. He wants them to be safe as he carries or leads them to the protecting sheepfolds.That is the case with ourselves, too. When we see our ecclesiastical flock gaining rich increase under the favoring smile of the spring of Lent, we put aside the resonant tones of our treatise and the customary fare of our discourse. Concerned about our very heavy labor, we give all our concern to gathering and carrying in the heavenly [lambs].

Our current circumstance is a lot like the sheepfold: the thief comes from wherever it is possible for him to hide. His desire is to steal. But the shepherd who has authority to use the entrance leads the sheep out to pasture, and they follow him, knowing their own shepherd, while they avoid the others whose voice they do not know.

The Lord, with the words that you are truly blind in soul through the ailment of unbelief, rebuked the Pharisees for their unbelief. So that they could not say, "We turn away from You not out of our blindness, but to avoid deception," He delivers a lengthy discourse on this matter. What kind exactly? He sets forth the marks of both the true shepherd and the wolf—the destroyer—and thus shows concerning Himself that He is good, appealing to His works as testimony. First He sets forth the distinctive characteristics of the destroyer. "He," He says, "does not enter by the door, that is, by the Scriptures, for he is not witnessed to by either the Scriptures or the prophets." The Scriptures are truly the door, for through them we draw near to God. They do not allow wolves to enter, for they cut off heretics, placing us in safety and imparting to us knowledge about everything we might wish to know. So then, a thief is one who does not enter through the Scriptures "into the sheepfold" to care for the sheep, but climbs up "some other way," that is, carves out for himself another and unusual path, such as Theudas and Judas. They, before the coming of Christ, deceived the people, destroyed them, and perished themselves (Acts 5:36–37). Such also will be the abominable antichrist. For their testimony is not from the Scriptures. He also hints at the scribes, who did not fulfill a single word of the commandments of the law, yet taught the commandments and traditions of men. He fittingly said "climbs up." This refers to the thief, who jumps over the fence and does everything at great risk. These are the signs of a robber.

After our Lord showed that his teaching had power to enlighten, he here shows that he has power to give life. First, he shows this by word; secondly, by a miracle (chap 11). Concerning the first he does three things. First, he shows that he has life-giving power; secondly, his manner of giving life (v 11); thirdly, he explains his power to give life (v 19). The first part is divided into three parts. First, our Lord relates a parable; secondly, the Evangelist mentions the necessity for explaining it (v 6); thirdly, our Lord explains the parable (v 7).

He relates the parable to them, saying, Truly, truly, I say to you. It concerns two things, a thief and the shepherd of the sheep. Thus he does three things. First, he mentions the mark of a thief and robber; secondly, a characteristic of the shepherd (v 2); thirdly, the effect each of these has (v 4).

To understand this parable we must consider who the sheep are, namely, that they are the faithful of Christ and those in the grace of God: "We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand" (Ps 95:7); "You, the people, are the sheep of my pasture" (Ez 34:31). And so the sheepfold is the multitude of the faithful: "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold" (Mic 2:12). The door of the sheepfold is explained in different ways by Chrysostom and by Augustine.

According to Chrysostom, Christ calls Sacred Scripture the door, according to "Pray for us also that God may open to us a door for the word" (Col 4:3). Sacred Scripture is called a door, as Chrysostom says, first of all, because through it we have access to the knowledge of God: "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures" (Rom 1:2). Secondly, for just as the door guards the sheep, so Sacred Scripture preserves the life of the faithful: "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life" (5:39). Thirdly, because the door keeps the wolf from entering; so Sacred Scripture keeps heretics from harming the faithful: "Every scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction" (2 Tim 3:16). So, the one who does not enter by the door is the one who does not enter by Sacred Scripture to teach the people. Our Lord says of such: "In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men" (Matt 15:9); "You have made void the word of God" (Matt 15:6). This, then, is the mark of the thief: he does not enter by the door, but in some other way.

He adds that the thief climbs, and this is appropriate to this parable because thieves climb the walls, instead of entering by the door, and drop into the sheepfold. It also corresponds to the truth, because the reason why some teach what conflicts with Sacred Scripture is due to pride: "If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing" (1 Tim 6:3). Referring to this he says that such a person climbs, that is, through pride. The one who climbs in by another way, that man is a thief, because he snatches what is not his, and a robber, because he kills what he snatches: "If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night - how you have been destroyed" (Obad v 5).

According to this explanation, the relation with what preceded is made in this way: Since our Lord had said, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt," the Jews might have answered: "We do not believe you, but this is not due to our blindness. It is because of your own error that we have turned away from you." And so our Lord rejects this, and wishes to show that he is not in error because he enters by the door, by Sacred Scripture, that is, he teaches what is contained in Sacred Scripture.

Against this interpretation is the fact that when our Lord explains this further on, he says, I am the door. So it seems that we should understand the door to be Christ. In answer to this, Chrysostom says that in this parable our Lord refers to himself both as the door and the shepherd; but this is from different points of view, because a door and a shepherd are different. Now aside from Christ nothing is more fittingly called a door than Sacred Scripture, for the reasons given above. Therefore, Sacred Scripture is fittingly called a door.

According to Augustine, the door is Christ, because one enters through him: "After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door!" (Rev 4:1). Therefore, any one who enters the sheepfold should enter by the door, that is, by Christ, and not by another way.

Note that both the sheep and their shepherd enter into the sheepfold: the sheep in order to be secure there, and the shepherd in order to guard the sheep. And so, if you wish to enter as a sheep to be kept safe there, or as a shepherd to keep the people safe, you must enter the sheepfold through Christ. You must not enter by any other way, as did the philosophers who treated the principle virtues, and the Pharisees who established the ceremonial traditions. These are neither sheep nor shepherds because, as our Lord says, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, i.e., does not enter by Christ, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber, because he destroys both himself and others. For Christ and no one else is the door into the sheepfold, that is, the multitude of the faithful: "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1); "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

According to this exposition, the connection with what went before is made in this way: Because they said that they could see without Christ - "now that you say, 'We see'" - our Lord shows that this is not true, because they do not enter by the door. Thus he says, Truly, truly, I say to you.

It should be noted that just as one who does not enter by the door as a sheep cannot be kept safe, so one who enters as a shepherd cannot guard the sheep unless he enters by the door, namely, by Christ. This is the door through which the true shepherds have entered: "And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was" (Heb 5:4). Evil shepherds do not enter by the door, but by ambition and secular power and simony; and these are thieves and robbers: "They set up princes, but without my knowledge," that is, without my approval (Hos 8:5). Further, he says such a person climbs in by another way, because the door, namely, Christ, since it is small through humility - "Learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matt 11:29) - can be entered only by those who imitate the humility of Christ. Therefore, those who do not enter by the door but climb in by another way are the proud. They do not imitate him who, although he was God, became man; and they do not recognize his lowering of himself.

Who is he who enters by the door? It is he who enters in by Christ. Who is he? He is the one who imitates the suffering of Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ, so as to feel and know that if God became man for us, [a] man should not think himself God but man [humankind]. He who being man wishes to appear God does not imitate him who, being God, became man. You are not asked to think less of yourself than you are but to know what you are.

"But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep:" he enters through the door who enters through truth. Concerning this entrance, First Thessalonians two: "You yourselves know, brethren, our entrance to you"; and it is added there: "For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as you know, nor seeking an occasion of avarice, nor seeking glory from men."

(Hom. lix. 2) You have seen His description of a robber, now see that of the Shepherd: But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

The shepherd of the sheep is the one who is worthily endowed with the gift of teaching. He is the one who uses the lawful entrance, that is, who lives with all his heart according to the doctrine of the law and so enters into the sheepfold, as is only right. Then he leads all the others, like sheep, to the pastures of doctrine by showing them the food of the Word with which they must nourish themselves first and continually afterwards. He also leads them by showing them the power of the Word, how Scripture must be understood and from which doctrine they must abstain—doctrine that others may deceitfully propose to them for the slaughter of the sheep.… The thief and bandit is the exact opposite. He neither uses the lawful entrance, nor does he show respect for the precepts of the law. This is how he teaches the people given to him. In vain he tries to take hold of the entrance and of the dignity of the teacher, even though he does nothing that is required for such an honor. He is inconsiderate and does everything without regard to how it may harm the sheep. Indeed how can he be useful to others when he does not exercise himself in the precepts of the law? Take a look if you want, our Lord says, and discern between me and you as to who uses the lawful entrance. See who diligently follows the precepts of the law. See to whom Moses, the gatekeeper of the sheepfold, opens the gate and whom he praises for finishing his work. See whose works themselves testify to his worthiness to be called the Shepherd.

Here are the signs of the Shepherd. The Shepherd enters through the Scriptures. The Pharisees often called the Lord a deceiver and proved this by their own unbelief, saying, "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" (John 7:48). Therefore the Lord shows that it is not He who should be considered a destroyer because they do not believe, but rather they should be excluded from the number of the sheep. "I," He says, "enter by the door." Clearly, I am truly the Shepherd. You did not follow Me and thereby showed about yourselves that you are not sheep.

Now he considers the shepherd. First, he mentions the mark of the shepherd; secondly, he shows through signs that he is the shepherd (v 3).

The mark of the true shepherd is to enter by the door, that is, by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. Thus Christ said: "Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled" (Lk 24:44). He is called a shepherd: "I am not troubled when I follow you as my shepherd" (Jer 17:16); "He rebukes and trains and teaches them, and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock" (Sir 18:13).

But if the door is Christ, as Augustine explains it, then in entering by the door, he enters by himself. And this is special to Christ: for no one can enter the door, i.e., to beatitude, except by the truth, because beatitude is nothing else than joy in the truth. But Christ, as God, is the truth; therefore, as man, he enters by himself, that is, by the truth, which he is as God. We, however, are not the truth, but children of the light, by participating in the true and uncreated light. Consequently, we have to enter by the truth which is Christ: "Sanctify them in the truth" (17:17); "If any one enters by me, he will be saved" (10:9). If one wishes to enter even as a shepherd, he must enter by the door, that is, Christ, according to his truth, will and consent. Thus we read in Ezekiel (24:23): "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them." This is like saying: They must be given by me, and not by others or themselves.

To Him the porter openeth.

(Tr. xlvi. 2) Or, the porter is our Lord Himself; for there is much less difference between a door and a porter, than between a door and a shepherd. And He has called Himself both the door and the shepherd. Why then not the door and the porter? He opens Himself, i. e. reveals Himself. If thou seek another person for porter, take the Holy Spirit, of whom our Lord below saith, He will guide you into all truth. (c. 16:13) The door is Christ, the Truth; who openeth the door, but He that will guide you into all Truth? Whomsoever thou understand here, beware that thou esteem not the porter greater than the door; for in our houses the porter ranks above the door, not the door above the porter.

(Tr. xlv. 12) He knew the names of the predestinated; as He saith to His disciples, Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 19:14) And leadeth them out.

(Tr. xlv. 14) And who is He who leads them out, but the Same who loosens the chain of their sins, that they may follow Him with free unfettered step?

(Tr. xlv. c. 14) And who is this that goeth before the sheep, but He who being raised from the dead, dieth no more; (Rom. 6:9) and who said, Father, I will also that they, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am? (Infra 17:24)

"To him the doorkeeper opens." Here the sign of the true pastor is touched upon, in this, that he is recognized by the doorkeeper and the flock. Therefore he says: "To him the doorkeeper opens," knowing him to be the pastor. This doorkeeper is Christ, who holds the key: whence Isaiah twenty-two: "I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." "And the sheep hear his voice," because they willingly obey the good pastor; Hebrews, last chapter: "Obey your leaders and submit to them: for they watch over you, as those who must render an account for your souls."

"And he calls his own sheep by name." Here the good pastor's office is touched upon, which is threefold: to call, to lead out, and to direct: he calls by name through knowing; he leads out to pastures through instructing; but he goes before them through providing good example. This belongs to Christ the pastor through excellence, to others through imitation. Whence first he says: "And he calls his own sheep by name," namely Christ; Second Timothy two: "The Lord knows those who are his," and concerning imitation of him: Proverbs twelve: "The just man knows the souls of his beasts." "And he leads them out," to pastures, namely Christ: Ezekiel thirty-four: "I will lead them out from the peoples and gather them from the lands and bring them into their own land," which was flowing with milk. So also the imitator of Christ, as Moses and Aaron; the Psalm: "You led your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron."

The gatekeeper is either the angel who is appointed to preside over the churches and to assist those whose lot is to minister in holy things for the good of the people, or else [the gatekeeper is] the Savior himself, who is at the same time both the Door and the Lord of the door.

These I call by name … and they follow me, for I herd them up beside the waters of rest. They follow every shepherd whose voice they love to hear.… But they will not follow a stranger. Instead, they will flee from him because they have a habit of distinguishing the voice of their own from that of strangers.

(Hom. xlix. 2) The porter perhaps is Moses; for to him the oracles of God were committed.

(Hom. lix. 3. c. 7, 48.) As they had called Him a deceiver, and appealed to their own unbelief as the proof of it; (Which of the rulers believeth on Him?) He shows here that it was because they refused to hear Him, that they were put out of His flock. The sheep hear His voice. The Shepherd enters by the lawful door; and they who follow Him are His sheep; they who do not, voluntarily put themselves out of His flock. And He calleth His own sheep by name.

(Hom. lix. 2) He led out the sheep, when He sent them not out of the reach of, but into the midst of, the wolves. There seems to be a secret allusion to the blind man. He called him out of the midst of the Jews; and he heard His voice.

My child, diligently apply yourself to the reading of the sacred Scriptures. Apply yourself, I say. For we who read the things of God need to do so often, otherwise we might say or think something too rashly about them. And applying yourself in this way to the study of the things of God, with faithful preconceptions that are well pleasing to God, knock at its locked door, and it will be opened to you by the gatekeeper, of whom Jesus says, "To him the gatekeeper opens." And applying yourself in this way to the divine study, seek the meaning of the holy Scriptures that so many have missed, but do so in the right way and with unwavering trust in God. Do not be satisfied with knocking and seeking; for prayer is, of all things, indispensable to the knowledge of the things of God. This is what the Savior encourages us to do, saying not only, "Knock, and it shall be opened to you; and seek, and you shall find," but also, "Ask, and it shall be given to you."

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

"The doorkeeper opens to Him." By the doorkeeper, understand perhaps Moses as well, for to him were entrusted the words of God. Moses opened the door to the Lord, without doubt, by speaking about Him. The Lord Himself said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me also" (John 5:46). Or the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit. Since the Scriptures, understood through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, point us to Christ, it is rightly said that the Holy Spirit is the doorkeeper. By Him, as the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the Scriptures are opened, through which the Lord enters into His care for us and through which He is shown to be the Shepherd. And the sheep listen to the voice of the Shepherd.

Or, the Holy Spirit is the porter, by whom the Scriptures are unlocked, and reveal the truth to us.

Now he mentions the signs of a good shepherd; and there are three. The first relates to the gatekeeper, and is that the good shepherd is let in by him. As to this he says, to him the gatekeeper opens. This gatekeeper, according to Chrysostom, is the one who opens the way to a knowledge of Sacred Scripture. The first one to do this was Moses, who first received and established Sacred Scripture. And Moses opened to Christ, because as was said above: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me" (5:46).

Or, according to Augustine, the gatekeeper is Christ himself, because he brings us himself. He says, "He opens himself who reveals himself, and we enter only by his grace." "For by grace you have been saved" (Eph 2:8). It does not matter if Christ, who is the door, is also the gatekeeper; for certain things are compatible in spiritual matters that cannot occur in physical reality. Now there seems to be a greater difference between a shepherd and a door than between a door and a gatekeeper. Therefore, since Christ can be called both a shepherd and a door, as was said, much more so can he be called a door and a gatekeeper. But if you prefer that someone other than Moses or Christ be the gatekeeper, then consider the Holy Spirit the gatekeeper, as Augustine says. For it is the office of a gatekeeper to open the door, and it says below of the Holy Spirit that "He will guide you into all the truth" (16:13). And Christ is the door insofar as he is the Truth.

The second sign relates to the sheep, and it is that they obey the shepherd. This is what he says, the sheep hear his voice. This is reasonable if the resemblance to a natural shepherd is considered: because just as sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd due to familiar experience, so righteous believers hear the voice of Christ: "O that today you would harken to his voice" (Ps 95:7).

But what of the fact that many who are Christ's sheep did not hear his voice, as Paul; or that some who were not his sheep did hear it, as Judas? One might reply that Judas was Christ's sheep for that time as to his present righteousness. And Paul, when he did not hear the voice of Christ, was not a sheep but a wolf; but when the voice of Christ came it changed the wolf into a sheep. This reply could be accepted if it were not contrary to a statement in Ezekiel (34:4): "The crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back." It seems from this that even when they were crippled and strayed they were sheep. Therefore, one must say that here our Lord is speaking of his sheep not only according to their present righteousness but even according to their eternal predestination. For there is a certain voice of Christ that only the predestined can hear, i.e., "He who endures to the end" (Matt 10:22).

Again, he says, the sheep hear his voice, because they might offer as an excuse for their unbelief the fact that not only they, but none of the leaders believed in him. So he says in answer to this, the sheep hear his voice, as if saying: They do not believe because they are not my sheep.

The third sign is taken from the actions of the shepherd. Here he mentions four actions of a good shepherd: the first being that he knows his sheep. He says, he calls his own sheep by name, which shows his knowledge of and familiarity with his sheep, for we call by name those whom we know familiarly: "I know you by name" (Ex 33:17). This is part of the office of a shepherd according to: "Be diligent to know the countenance of your flock" (Prv 27:23). This applies to Christ according to his present knowledge, but even more so considering eternal predestination, by which he knew them by name from eternity: "He determined the number of the stars, he gives to all of them their names" (Ps 147:4); "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim 2:19).

The second action of a good shepherd is that he leads them out, i.e., he separates them from the society of those who are evil: "He brought them out of darkness and gloom" (Ps 107:14).

And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.

(Tr. xlv. 10. ct seq.) But here is a difficulty. Sometimes they who are not sheep hear Christ's voice; for Judas heard, who was a wolf. And sometimes the sheep hear Him not; for they who crucified Christ heard not; yet some of them were His sheep. You will say, While they did not hear, they were not sheep; the voice, when they heard it, changed them from wolves to sheep. Still I am disturbed by the Lord's rebuke to the shepherds in Ezekiel, Neither have ye brought again that which strayed. (Ezek. 34:4) He calls it a stray sheep, but yet a sheep all the while; though, if it strayed, it could not have heard the voice of the Shepherd, but the voice of a stranger. What I say then is this; The Lord knoweth them that are His. (2 Tim. 2:19) He knoweth the foreknown, he knoweth the predestinated. They are the sheep: for a time they know not themselves, but the Shepherd knows them; for many sheep are without the fold, many wolves within. He speaks then of the predestinated. And now the difficulty is solved. The sheep do hear the Shepherd's voice, and they only. When is that? It is when that voice saith, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Mat. 10:32) This speech His own hear, the alien hear not.

"And when he has sent forth his own sheep, he goes before them," he leads the way by showing good example, as Christ; Micah two: "He ascends, opening the way before them." Whence he said below in the thirteenth chapter: "I have given you an example, that just as I have done to you, so you also should do." So also the imitator of Christ: whence First Corinthians eleven: "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." But few are such: whence Isaiah twenty-four: "As the people, so shall be the priest." This threefold office of the good pastor has a great effect upon the sheep, which is the direction of the sheep through imitation: on account of which he says: "The sheep follow him," namely the true pastor. The sheep are simple and humble, of whom Hugh says: "The humility of a sheep is that you do not desire to be in charge and that you love to be subject. Many, fleeing labor, wish to be in charge and disdain to be subject: these are not sheep, because they do not follow." Therefore the sheep follow, because "they know his voice," namely that it is a voice of consolation, according to that passage of Matthew eleven: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." The good pastor calls to refreshment.

And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, He leadeth them out from the darkness of ignorance into light, while He goeth before in the pillar of cloud, and fire.

(Hom. lix. 2) Shepherds always go behind their sheep; but He, on the contrary, goes before, to show that He would lead all to the truth.

From where then does He lead out His own sheep? From the midst of the unbelievers, just as, for example, He led the blind man out from the midst of the Jews, who both heard Him and recognized Him. And He goes before the sheep, although with bodily shepherds it is the opposite, for they walk behind the sheep. By this He shows that He will lead all to the truth. And He sends the disciples "as sheep into the midst of wolves" (Matt. 10:16). Thus, truly, the pastoral ministry of Christ is extraordinary.

The third action of a good shepherd is that having separated them from evil and having brought them into the sheepfold, he has brought out all his own, from the sheepfold. He does this, first, for the salvation of others: "I will send survivors to the nations" (Is 66:19); "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt 10:16), so that they can make sheep out of the wolves. Secondly, they are to show the direction and way to eternal life: "To guide our feet into the way of peace" (Lk 1:79).

Fourthly, the good shepherd goes before his sheep by the example of a good life; so he says, he goes before them, although this is not what the literal shepherd does, for he follows, as in "I took him from following the ewes" (Ps 78:70). But the good shepherd goes before them by example, "not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet 5:3). And Christ does go before them: for he was the first to die for the teaching of the truth - "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt 16:24); and he went before all into everlasting life - "He who opens the breach will go up before them" (Mic 2:13).

Now he considers the effect that both the thief and the shepherd have upon the sheep. First, he mentions the effect of the good shepherd; secondly, the effect of the wolf and the thief (v 5).

He says, first, that the sheep follow him who goes before them. This is easy to see, because subjects follow in the steps of their leaders, as is stated: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (1 Pet 2:21); "My foot has held fast to his steps" (Job 23:11). The sheep follow for they know his voice, i.e., they know it and take delight in it: "Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet" (Song 2:14).

"But they do not follow a stranger, but flee from him," that is, an evil shepherd or a wolf, because they do not know the voice of strangers, that is, they do not approve of it. These strangers are false christs and false prophets and false apostles, of whom it is said in Second Corinthians eleven, that "they are deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." These they do not follow: for they have been warned by their own shepherd; Matthew seven: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

(Hom. xlix. 3) The strangers are Theudas, and Judas, and the false apostles who came after Christ. That He might not appear one of this number, He gives many marks of difference between Him and them. First, Christ brought men to Him by teaching them out of the Scriptures; they drew men from the Scriptures. Secondly, the obedience of the sheep; for men believed on Him, not only during His life, but after death: their followers ceased, as soon as they were gone.

"A stranger they will not follow," because they do not know the voice of a stranger. And here, without a doubt, He hints at Theudas and Judas, whom the sheep did not follow, for few were deceived, and even those, after their death, fell away. But Christ, both during His life, and especially after His death, "the whole world went after Him" (John 12:19). He also hints at the antichrist, for he too will deceive only a few, and after his destruction will have no followers. The words "they do not go" show that after the death of the deceivers, no one will heed or follow them. So then, the Scriptures are the door. Through this door the Lord leads the sheep out to pasture. And what is the pasture? The future enjoyment and repose into which the Lord leads us. If in other places He also calls Himself the door, one should not marvel at this. For when He wishes to depict His care for us, He calls Himself the shepherd, and when He wishes to show that He leads us to the Father, then He calls Himself the door, just as He Himself in different senses is both Sheep and Shepherd. Furthermore, by the door are understood the words of the divine Scriptures; and the Lord Himself is and is called the Word; consequently, He may also be called the Door.

He alludes to Antichrist, who shall deceive for a time, but lose all his followers when he dies.

The effect that the thief has is that the sheep do not follow him for very long, but only for a time; so he says, a stranger they will not follow, i.e., they do not follow a false and heretical teacher: "The children who are strangers have lied to me" (Ps 17:46). Thus Paul did not follow false teachers for long. But they will flee from him, because "Bad company ruins good morals" (1 Cor 15:33). They flee for they do not know, that is, do not approve of, the voice of strangers, meaning their teaching, which spreads stealthily like a cancer.

Return then with me to what I was saying, in case it is so to be understood that we may both escape from the question. For I see how I, according to the catholic faith, may escape without tripping or stumbling; whilst thou, on the other hand, shut in on every side, art seeking a way of escape. See by what way thou hast entered. Perhaps thou hast not understood this that I said, See by what way thou hast entered: hear Himself saying, "I am the door." Not without cause, then, art thou seeking how thou mayest get out; and this only thou findest, that thou hast not entered by the door, but fell in over the wall. Therefore raise thyself up from thy fall how thou canst, and enter by the door, that thou mayest go in without stumbling, and go out without straying. Come by Christ, not bringing forward of thy own heart what thou mayest say; but what He shows, that speak.

(ut sup.) Our Lord feedeth by plain words, exerciseth by obscure. For when two persons, one godly, the other ungodly, hear the words of the Gospel, and they happen to be such that neither can understand them; one says, What He saith is true and good, but we do not understand it: the other says, It is not worth attending to. The former, in faith, knocks, yea, and, if he continue to knock, it shall be opened unto him. The latter shall hear the words in Isaiah, If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. (Isa. 7:9)

(Tr. xlv. 8) Lo, the very door which He had shut up, He openeth; He is the Door: let us enter, and let us enter with joy.

The second part expounds the parable and applies it to Christ.

"Jesus therefore said to them again." This is the second part of the chapter, in which the Lord explains the proverb set forth by applying it to himself, showing himself to be the true shepherd with respect to those three things which were stated above in the proverb: first, with respect to the true shepherd's entrance; second, with respect to the true shepherd's affection, at the passage: "I am the good shepherd"; third, with respect to the shepherd's sign, at the passage: "The feast of the Dedication took place."

First, therefore, he shows himself to be the true shepherd with respect to his entrance, in this order: first, that no one enters rightly except through him; second, that whoever enters through him enters rightly; third, that he himself is not only the way of entering, but also enters rightly himself.

He shows, therefore, first that no one enters rightly into the sheepfold except through him; on account of which he says: "Amen, amen I say to you: I am the door of the sheep; I" distinctively, and no other, because there is no entrance except through me.

It is asked here concerning this, that the Lord compares himself here to a door, because above he compared himself to a doorkeeper: how is the same one the door and the doorkeeper and the shepherd?

It must be said that, as is said below in the fourteenth chapter, Christ is the way, the truth, and the life: because he is the way to the Father, therefore the door; because he is truly the truth, which teaches the way, therefore the doorkeeper; because he is the life, therefore the shepherd, who feeds and preserves life.

He most thoroughly knew, being by nature God, and beholding that which lies in the depth, that the Pharisees understood none of His sayings, although accustomed to pride themselves greatly on their learning in the Law, and excessively supercilious in thinking themselves wise. Therefore He gives them a very clear explanation, and winding up as it were the long thread of the argument, He tells them in few words the main scope of the parable. For being naturally good, He leads on towards a clear comprehension those even who do not deserve it, that perhaps by some method the light may reach them. And He distinctly says that Himself is the Door of the sheep, teaching something which is generally acknowledged; for only through faith in Him are we admitted into relationship with God, and He Himself is a witness to this, saying: No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me. Either therefore He wishes to signify something of this sort, or, as is more suitable to the questions we are considering He once more makes it clear that we come to the rule and leadership of rational flocks through Him, according to what is said by Paul: For no man taketh the honour unto himself, but he that is called of God. For instance, no one of the holy Prophets consecrated himself; no, nor even will the great and shining company of the Apostles be found to have been self-called to this office. For they were consecrated through the will of Christ, Who called them to the apostleship by name, and individually, as He says in the parable before us. For we know how in the Gospel according to Matthew the names of the Apostles are set down in order, and immediately following is the manner of their public proclamation: for. These twelve, he says, the Saviour consecrated; whom also He named Apostles. Seeing therefore that the foolish Pharisees wished to be rulers, and were immoderately boastful of the name and character of leadership, He profitably teaches that Himself is the bestower of leadership upon men and mighty to conduct them to it without difficulty. For being the Door of the sacred and Divine fold, He both will admit him who is fit, and also will block the entrance against him who is not.

Jesus sees that the foolish Pharisees wanted to be rulers and that they were unwisely boastful of the name and character of leadership. And so it is good that he teaches them that he himself is the one who confers leadership in the church. And he bestows this authority without difficulty. For since Jesus is "the door" of the sacred and divine fold, he will both admit the one who is fit for leadership but also will block the entrance to the one who is unfit to lead the flock.

No one, then, he says, can be saved or return (into heaven) without the Son, and the Son is the Serpent. For as he brought down from above the paternal marks, so again he carries up from thence those marks roused from a dormant condition and rendered paternal characteristics, substantial ones from the unsubstantial Being, transferring them hither from thence. This, he says, is what is spoken: "I am the door." And he transfers (those marks), he says, to those who close the eyelid, as the naphtha drawing the fire in every direction towards itself; nay rather, as the magnet (attracting) the iron and not anything else, or just as the backbone of the sea falcon, the gold and nothing else, or as the chaff is led by the amber. In this manner, he says, is the portrayed, perfect, and con-substantial genus drawn again from the world by the Serpent; nor does he (attract) anything else, as it has been sent down by him. For a proof of this, they adduce the anatomy of the brain, assimilating, from the fact of its immobility, the brain itself to the Father, and the cerebellum to the Son, because of its being moved and being of the form of (the head of) a serpent. And they allege that this (cerebellum), by an ineffable and inscrutable process, attracts through the pineal gland the spiritual and life-giving substance emanating from the vaulted chamber (in which the brain is embedded). And on receiving this, the cerebellum in an ineffable manner imparts the ideas, just as the Son does, to matter; or, in other words, the seeds and the genera of the things produced according to the flesh flow along into the spinal marrow. Employing this exemplar, (the heretics) seem to adroitly introduce their secret mysteries, which are delivered in silence. Now it would be impious for us to declare these; yet it is easy to form an idea of them, by reason of the many statements that have been made.

(Hom. lix. 3) Our Lord, to waken the attention of the Jews, unfolds the meaning of what He has said; Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

He says that he is the door of the sheep because he is the principal access to truth for everyone. His doctrine that he has uniquely established calls everyone that is summoned by it. He established laws, as was his prerogative, so that we might live through them according to his will. And he was the Word through which all might know the Father. Therefore let us abandon the works of the law and apply ourselves to obey the precepts of Christ. Let us devote our entire being to the principles of the gospel and employ all diligence in fulfilling his laws. Thus, he very appropriately called himself the door of the sheep, since there is no other way to seek out the truth except by believing first of all in our Lord, and by drawing near to the entrance of truth through his commandments, finding pleasure in the good things we possess because of our nearness to God the Father.

Jesus told them in these words a parable, or comparison, and used obscure speech in order to make them more attentive. When He has achieved this, He resolves the obscurity and says: "I am the Door."

Now our Lord explains the similitude. If the above similitude is examined correctly, it contains two principal clauses, followed by others. The first is: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door…is a thief and a robber." The second is: "He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." Accordingly, this section is divided into two parts. First, he explains the first clause; then the second clause (v 11). Concerning the first he does two things: first, he explains the first clause; secondly, he proves it (v 7). The first clause mentions a door, a thief and a robber; so first he explains the door, then the thief and then the robber (v 8).

Concerning the first he says, So Jesus again said to them, to gain their attention and have them understand the similitude: "The man of understanding may acquire skill to understand a proverb and a figure" (Prv 1:6). Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door. Now the purpose of a door is to conduct one into the inner rooms of a house; and this is fitting to Christ, for one must enter into the secrets of God through him: "This is the gate of the Lord," that is, Christ, "the righteous shall enter through it" (Ps 118:20). He says, I am the door of the sheep, because through Christ not only the shepherds are brought into the present Church or enter into everlasting happiness, but the sheep also. Thus he says below: "My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me; and I give them eternal life" (10:27).

"All that ever came are thieves and robbers." What is this, Lord, "All that ever came"? How so hast Thou not come? But understand; I said, "All that ever came," meaning, of course, exclusive of myself. Let us recollect then. Before His coming came the prophets: were they thieves and robbers? God forbid. They did not come apart from Him, for they came with Him. When about to come, He sent heralds, but retained possession of the hearts of His messengers. Do you wish to know that they came with Him, who is Himself ever existent? Certainly He assumed human flesh at the time appointed. But what means that "ever"? "In the beginning was the Word." With Him, therefore, came those who came with the word of God. "I am," said He, "the way, and the truth, and the life." If He is the truth, with Him came those who were truthful. As many, therefore, as were apart from Him, were "thieves and robbers," that is, had come to steal and to destroy.

(Tr. xlv. 8) All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers. Understand, All that ever came at variance with Me. The Prophets were not at variance with Him. They came with Him, who came with the Word of God, who spake the truth. He, the Word, the Truth, sent heralds before Him, but the hearts of those whom He sent were His own. They came with Him, inasmuch as He is always, though He assumed the flesh in time: In the beginning was the Word. His humble advent in the flesh was preceded by just men, who believed on Him as about to come, as we believe on Him come. The times are different, the faith is the same. Our faith knitteth together both those who believed that He was about to come, and those who believe that He has come. All that ever came at variance with Him were thieves and robbers; i. e. they came to steal and to kill; but the sheep did not hear them. They had not Christ's voice; but were wanderers, dreamers, deceivers. Why He is the Door, He next explains, I am the Door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved.

"All, as many as came, are thieves and robbers," because, namely, they had not entered through me; and the sign of this he adds: "But the sheep did not hear them." This door was closed for a long time, but in the Passion it was opened, so that "the fullness of the Gentiles might enter." Concerning this door, Revelation 4: "After this I looked; and behold, a door opened in heaven"; truly opened, because, as is said above in chapter 6, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

It is asked concerning what he says: "All who came are thieves."

Against this: The Prophets and Patriarchs and John the Baptist came; therefore according to this all were evil, as the heretics say.

It is answered to this that the emphasis should be placed on what is said, "came," namely by their own authority, not by divine authority, as the false prophets, of whom Jeremiah twenty-three says: "I did not send them, and they ran"; but the good ones did not come, but were sent. Whence Augustine says: "They did not come apart from him, but they came with him." For he himself is the truth; and therefore all who preached the truth came with him.

The devil is called "thief and robber;" having mixed false prophets with the prophets, as tares with the wheat. "All, then, that came before the Lord, were thieves and robbers;" not absolutely all men, but all the false prophets, and all who were not properly sent by Him. For the false prophets possessed the prophetic name dishonestly, being prophets, but prophets of the liar. For the Lord says, "Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it."

Practising all kinds of enchantment upon the obstinate mind of the Pharisees, and trying to turn them to sound reason, He attempts to show them that it is a bootless and perilous thing to dare to act as leaders, without the election from above or the Divine counsel, but thinking that rule may be obtained by human folly, although the Bestower of it may be unwilling. Wherefore, having plainly said that Himself is the Door, which signifies the only means of admitting such as are fit to the leadership, He straightway brings forward the attempts of those who lived in earlier times, so that, beholding delineated as in a picture the result to which such action leads, they might then clearly understand that the ability to govern and lead flocks of people comes only through grace given from above, and not from ambitious endeavours. Therefore here also his speech is profitable, bringing to mind the history of those who lived in earlier times: All that came are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. For certain men came forward publicly, pretending to have the office of good shepherds; but since there was none who committed the leadership unto them, and who |68 could persuade those whom they ought to have ruled to obey them, the multitude of the sheep ran away from them.

But by no means must we suspect, because He said: All, that the apostleship of the holy Prophets is set at naught by Our Saviour Christ; for the saying is not against them, but against others. For since His object was to speak about false shepherds and such as climbed up some other way into the fold of the sheep, of necessity the language was used with respect to those who had been clearly signified beforehand: He says: All, but we will in no wise think that the persons of the holy Prophets are hereby renounced; for how could they be renounced by Him Who established the truth of their plain declarations regarding His own coming; "Who saith: I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets; Who consecrated Moses, and said unto Jeremiah: Say not, I am too young: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak; and to the blessed Ezekiel: Son of man, I will send thee to the house of Israel, who are provoking Me bitterly? The scope of the language therefore is not directed against the company of the holy Prophets, but looks rather to such as at any time pretended to prophesy in Judaea, stating falsely that they came from God, and persuading the people not to obey those who were in truth God's prophets, but to join in undertakings and opinions devised by themselves; concerning whom the Lord God, the Sovereign of all, Himself somewhere says again: I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. And unto the blessed Jeremiah: The prophets prophesy lies in My name: I sent them not, neither did I speak unto them, neither did I command them: for they prophesy unto you visions and divinations and prophecies out of their own hearts. If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them come before Me. What hath the chaff to do with the wheat? For the word that truly is from God has the power of nourishing greatly, and strengthens man's heart, as it is written, but that of the unholy false prophets and false teachers, being thoroughly clean-threshed and chaff-like, conveys no profit to the hearers. When therefore He names those who preceded His coming thieves and robbers, He signifies either the lying and deceiving multitude of whom we have just spoken, or thou mayest apply the force of the words to those also who are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. For the rulers of the Jews having on one occasion gathered the holy Apostles together, and brought them into their own most lawless council-chamber, were taking counsel to banish them from Jerusalem, and to force them to be continually facing extreme dangers; but Gamaliel reminded them of certain false teachers in the following words:----Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves as touching these men, what ye are about to do. For before these days rose up Theudas, giving himself out to be some great one; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment, and drew away some of the people after him: he also perished; and all who obeyed him were scattered abroad. From these considerations then thou seest clearly and indisputably that Christ's words do not refer to the holy Prophets, but to those of the opposite description, in order that even against their will He might persuade the Pharisees not to seek in their own foolish notions a pretext for rashly making themselves guides, when God was not willing for them to be at the head of the people, but in all things to subject their authority to the Divine approbation; and to hasten to enter by the real Door rather than to endeavour to climb up by some other way into the sheepfold after the manner of plunderers.

All the prophets, therefore, and the law spoke by means of the Demiurge,-a silly god, he says, (and themselves) fools, who knew nothing. On account of this, he says, the Saviour observes: "All that came before me are thieves and robbers." And the apostle (uses these words) "The mystery which was not made known to former generations." For none of the prophets, he says, said anything concerning the things of which we speak; for (a prophet) could not but be ignorant of all (these) things, inasmuch as they certainly had been uttered by the Demiurge only. When, therefore, the creation received completion, and when after (this) there ought to have been the revelation of the sons of God-that is, of the Demiurge, which up to this had been concealed, and in which obscurity the natural man was hid, and had a veil upon the heart;-when (it was time), then, that the veil should be taken away, and that these mysteries should be seen, Jesus was born of Mary the virgin, according to the declaration (in Scripture), "The Holy Ghost will come upon thee"-Sophia is the Spirit-" and the power of the Highest will overshadow thee"-the Highest is the Demiurge,-"wherefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy." For he has been generated not from the highest alone, as those created in (the likeness of) Adam have been created from the highest alone-that is, (from) Sophia and the Demiurge. Jesus, however, the new man, (has been generated) from the Holy Spirit-that is, Sophia and the Demiurge-in order that the Demiurge may complete the conformation and constitution of his body, and that the Holy Spirit may supply his essence, and that a celestial Logos may proceed from the Ogdoad being born of Mary.

(Hom. lix. 3) He saith not this of the Prophets, as the heretics think, but of Theudas, and Judas, and other agitators. So he adds in praise of the sheep, The sheep heard them not; but he no where praises those who disobeyed the prophets, but condemns them severely.

Those who teach with a dishonest and defiled soul steal. Of them it might be said, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers." Such people use the gospel without being affected by it in faith or in living. Instead, they use the good news of the word in a way in which it was not intended. Such a person is a thief, and it will be said of him, "you who preach not to steal—you still steal."

"All that ever came before Me." He said this not about the prophets, as the Manichaeans madly claim. They use this saying to prove that the Old Testament is not from God and that the prophets were not sent by God. "Behold," they say, "the Lord said that all who ever came are thieves and robbers." But He said this not about the prophets, but about Theudas and Judas and the other seditious men. And that He spoke about them is evident from what He added: "the sheep did not listen to them." For the sheep did not listen to these seditious men, but they did listen to the prophets, and as many as believed in Christ all believed through them. And in another sense: "the sheep did not listen to them." He said this as a commendation. But nowhere is it seen that He commended those who did not listen to the prophets; on the contrary, He strongly condemns and reproaches them. Then, pay attention to the precision of the expression "as many as came," and He does not say "as many as were sent." For the prophets came because they were sent, but the false prophets, like the aforementioned rebels, set about corrupting those they deceived when no one had sent them. Thus God also says: "I did not send them, yet they ran" (Jer. 23:21).

Then when he says, All who came before me are thieves and robbers, he explains what he had said about thieves and robbers. First, he shows who the thieves and robbers are; secondly, their sign.

In regard to the first, we should avoid the error of the Manicheans, who rejected the Old Testament on the ground that it says here that all who came before me are thieves. They maintained that the fathers of the Old Testament, who came before Christ, were evil and have been damned.

The falsity of this view is clear from three things. First, from what this parable says. For the statement, all who came before me, is intended as a description of the previous statement, which mentioned those who do not enter by the door. Therefore, all who came before me, but not through me, that is, not entering by the door, are thieves and robbers. It is clear that all the patriarchs and prophets, whom the Christ-to-come had sent forerunners, entered by the door, i.e., Christ. For although he took flesh and became man in time, he was the Word of God from all eternity: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever" (Heb 13:8). Indeed, the prophets were sent by the Word and Wisdom of God: "In every generation she," the Wisdom of God, "passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets" (Wis 7:27). Accordingly, we expressly read in the prophets that the word of God came to this or that prophet, who prophesied by participating in the Word of God.

Secondly, the falsity of the teaching of the Manicheans is seen when our Lord says, all who came before me, implying that they were thrusting themselves forward on their own authority and were not sent by God: "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran" (Jer 23:21). Indeed, such prophets have not come from the Word of God: "Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing" (Ez 13:3). But the fathers of the Old Testament were not of this type, as has been said.

Thirdly, this falsity is seen from the fact that he shows what effect their words had, for we read, but the sheep did not heed them. Therefore, those whom the sheep did heed were not thieves and robbers. Now the people of Israel did listen to the prophets, and those who did not heed them were rebuked in Sacred Scripture: "Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?" (Acts 7:52); "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you!" (Matt 23:37).

Having excluded this error, it must be said that all who came before me, that is, independently of me, without divine inspiration and authority, and not with the intention of seeking the glory of God but acquiring their own, are thieves, insofar as they take for themselves what is not theirs, that is, the authority to teach - "Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves" (Is 1:23) - and robbers, because they kill with their corrupt doctrine - "You make it a den of robbers" (Matt 21:13); "As robbers lie in wait for a man…they murder on the way" (Hos 6:9). But the sheep, that is, the predestined, did not heed them, the thieves and robbers, otherwise they would not have been Christ's sheep, because, as was said before, "A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him." Furthermore, this is commanded in Deuteronomy: "You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams" (13:3).

As if to say, The sheep hear not them, but Me they hear; for I am the Door, and whoever entereth by Me not falsely but in sincerity, shall by perseverance be saved.

For if you believe that father Bacchus can give a good vintage, but cannot give relief from sickness; if you believe that Ceres can give good crops, Aesculapius health, Neptune one thing, Juno another, that Fortune, Mercury, Vulcan, are each the giver of a fixed and particular thing,-this, too, you must needs receive from us, that souls can receive from no one life and salvation, except from Him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has determined that this should be the way of salvation,-this the door, so to say, of life; by Him alone is there access to the light: nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all other ways being shut up and secured by an impenetrable barrier.

By this, then, which the Lord hath explained, that He Himself is the door, let us find entrance to what He has set forth, but not explained. And indeed who it is that is the Shepherd, although He hath not told us in the lesson we have read to-day, yet in that which follows He very plainly tells us: "I am the good Shepherd." And although He had not said so, whom else but Himself ought we to have understood in those words where He saith, "He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."

But what is this, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture"? To enter indeed into the Church by Christ the door, is eminently good; but to go out of the Church, is certainly otherwise than good. Such a going out could not then be commended by the good Shepherd, when He said, "And he shall go in and out, and find pasture." There is therefore not only some sort of entrance, but some outgoing also that is good, by the good door, which is Christ. But I am better pleased that the Truth Himself, like a good Shepherd, and therefore a good Teacher, hath in a certain measure reminded us how we ought to understand His words, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture," when He added in the sequel, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." For He seems to me to have meant, That they may have life in coming in, and have it more abundantly at their departure. For no one can pass out by the door-that is, by Christ-to that eternal life which shall be open to the sight, unless by the same door-that is, by the same Christ-he has entered His church, which is His fold, to the temporal life, which is lived in faith.

(Tr. xlv. c. 15) What is this, shall go in and out? To enter into the Church by Christ the Door, is a very good thing, but to go out of the Church is not. Going in must refer to inward cogitation; going out to outward action; as in the Psalm, Man goeth forth to his work. (Ps. 103:23)

"I am the door." Here it is noted that whoever enters through him enters unto salvation. Therefore he says: "I am the door," through which, namely, one enters unto salvation; and the reason is added: "If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved"; concerning which entrance, Matthew 7: "Enter ye in at the strait gate. How strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life!" because Christ was poor and lowly. Through this small door the rich, full of riches, do not enter; on account of which it is said in Matthew 19: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." This entrance is through faith and the Sacrament of Baptism; since the former is the gate of the virtues, and the latter of the Sacraments. He who enters in this way shall be saved; Mark, last chapter: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "And he shall go in and go out and find pasture; he shall go in" through contemplation, which calls back to interior things; "and he shall go out" through action; Numbers 27: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, provide a man who may go in and go out before them." Or, as Augustine explains, "he shall go in" to the contemplation of the Divinity, "he shall go out" to the sight of the humanity, "and shall find pasture," because he is nourished in all things: the intellect in the contemplation of the Divinity, and the senses in the contemplation of the humanity; concerning which pastures, Ezekiel 34: "I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel; in the most fertile pastures I will feed them."

It is asked concerning what he says, that "he will go out and will find pasture."

Against this: "No one putting his hand to the plow should look back"; therefore no one who enters will go out.

It must be said that there is a twofold going out: one contrary to entering, and this is a going out from the Church through unbelief; and concerning this the objection is raised, and concerning this Augustine says: "To enter the Church is good, but to go out is the worst"; and concerning this, First John two says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us." The other is from contemplation to action; and this is not of regression, but of exercise. Concerning this the Psalm says: "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening."

Therefore, however much one may be illuminated by the light of nature and acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into oneself so as within oneself to delight in the Lord, except through the mediation of Christ, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures. But to this door we do not draw near unless we believe in him, hope in him, and love him. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish to re-enter into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, that we enter through faith, hope, and charity in the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of life in the midst of paradise.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

These six considerations having therefore been traversed, as if they were the six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace, where the true peaceful one rests in a peaceful mind as in an interior Jerusalem; and as if also the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true contemplative, filled with the illumination of supernal wisdom, may be borne upward; and as if also the first six days, in which the mind must be exercised, so that it may at last arrive at the sabbath of rest; after our mind has contemplated God outside itself through vestiges and in the vestiges, within itself through the image and in the image, above itself through the similitude of the divine light shining upon us and in that light itself, insofar as is possible according to the state of wayfaring and the exercise of our mind; when at last in the sixth step it has arrived at this point, that it contemplates in the first and highest principle and the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, those things whose likenesses can in no way be found in creatures, and which exceed all keenness of the human intellect: it remains that, in contemplating these things, it should transcend and pass beyond not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, as it were the mercy seat placed upon the ark of God and the mystery hidden from the ages.

That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh to the Father but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved." Also in the same place: "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Also in the same place: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life; but the wrath of God shall abide upon him." Also Paul to the Ephesians: "And when He had come, He preached peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those which are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." Also to the Romans: "For all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God; but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God." Also in the same place: "For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again." Also in the Epistle of John: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father."

That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel according to John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

After His usual manner, He moulds the form of His speech to a spiritual application as though it arose naturally from the course of His story, and seems to treat things which are simple to look at and contain nothing difficult of comprehension, as images of things more obscure. For the thieves, He saith, and robbers, violently breaking into the enclosures of the sheep, do not enter by the door, but leap in by some other way, and by getting over the wall of the fold put themselves in danger. For perhaps, or rather very probably, one who is robbing in this way and rashly practising villainy may be detected and caught; but they who enter by the door itself, effect an entrance without risk, being manifestly not mean in conduct, nor yet unknown to the lord of the sheep. For he who standeth at the doors openeth to them and they run in: moreover, saith He, such as these shall be together with the sheep in great security, having effected an entrance very lawfully as it were and without guile, and without incurring any suspicion of being robbers. This therefore is the part of the story which is typical; and passing over to what is thereby intimated for our spiritual profit, we say this, that they who without the Divine sanction and will proceed to take the leadership of the people, as though altogether refusing the entrance by the Door, will perhaps also perish, doing violence to the Divine decree, at least by the motive of their endeavours. But they who are allotted a God-given leadership, and come to it by Christ, with great security and grace they will govern the most sacred fold, escaping so entirely from the anger which falls on the others that they even receive honour for their work: they will obtain crowns from above such as they do not yet dare to hope for; because their aim is not at all in any way to grieve their flocks, but rather to benefit them: they will do things well-pleasing to the Lord of the flock, and love by all means to keep safe those who belong to Him. By these words also the Lord greatly troubles the obstinate Pharisees, saying that they will certainly not be kept safe, but will utterly fall from the leadership in which they now are; and very justly, since they suppose they will possess it firmly, not by God's approval, but by their own folly. Bat herein I cannot help admiring the incomparable love for men shown by the Saviour. For the Lord is really compassionate and merciful, offering to all a way of salvation, and in divers manners inviting to it even the very obstinate and hardened. And I will take the proof of my assertion once more from the thing itself. For when He fails, either by marvellous deeds or by the longing which yearns and hopes for the glory which shall be hereafter, to persuade the Pharisees to receive His teaching; He sternly proceeds to that, by which it was likely they would be especially troubled, so that henceforth they might look upon obedience as an inevitable necessity. For knowing them to be attached to the glory of being leaders, and to eagerly reckon upon no ordinary gain from thence, He says they will be deprived of it, and will be utterly despoiled of that which was so highly valued, and which was then in their possession; unless they will yield themselves to willingly listen to Him, and seek pardon at His hands.

We are Christians and Catholics not because we worship a key, but because we have passed a door; and felt the wind that is the trumpet of liberty blow over the land of the living.

He is the Way, because he leads us through himself. He is the Door who lets us in, the Shepherd who makes us dwell in green pastures, bringing us up by waters of rest and leading us there. He protects us from wild beasts, converts the erring, brings back what was lost and binds up what was broken. He guards the strong and brings them together into the fold beyond with words of pastoral knowledge.

Where do you pasture your sheep, O good Shepherd who carries all your flock on your shoulders? For the one lamb that you took up is the entire human race, which you raised on your shoulders. Show me then the place of pasture, make known to me the waters of rest, lead me out to the good grass, call me by name that I, your sheep, may listen to your voice and may your call be the gift of eternal life.… "Show me, then," she says, "where you feed," so that I may find the pasture of salvation and be filled with the food of heaven which all people must eat if they would enter into life.

"If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pastures." For he will go in to faith, but will go out from faith to sight, from belief to contemplation, and will find pastures in eternal refreshment. His sheep therefore find pastures, because whoever follows him with a simple heart is nourished by the food of eternal greenness. But what are the pastures of these sheep, if not the inner joys of ever-verdant paradise? For the pastures of the elect are the present countenance of God, which when it is beheld without failing, the mind is satisfied without end by the food of life. In these pastures those have rejoiced in the fullness of eternity who have already escaped the snares of pleasurable temporality. There are the hymn-singing choirs of angels, there is the fellowship of the heavenly citizens. There is the sweet solemnity of those returning from the sad labor of this pilgrimage. There are the foreseeing choirs of prophets, there is the judging number of apostles, there is the victorious army of innumerable martyrs, the more joyful there as they were more harshly afflicted here; there is the constancy of confessors, consoled by the reception of their reward; there are faithful men whom the pleasure of the world could not soften from the strength of their manliness; there are holy women who conquered both the world and their sex; there are children who here transcended their years by their conduct; there are the elderly whom age rendered weak here, yet the power of good works did not abandon.

(super Ezek. Hom. xiii.) Shall go in, i. e. to faith: shall go out, i. e. to sight: and find pasture, i. e. in eternal fulness.

And by war he means the war that is in the body, because its frame has been made out of hostile elements; as it has been written, he says, "Remember the conflict that exists in the body." Jacob, he says, saw this entrance and this gate in his journey into Mesopotamia, that is, when from a child he was now becoming a youth and a man; that is, (the entrance and gate) were made known unto him as he journeyed into Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia, he says, is the current of the great ocean flowing from the midst of the Perfect Man; and he was astonished at the celestial gate, exclaiming, "How terrible is this place! it is nought else than the house of God, and this (is) the gate of heaven." On account of this, he says, Jesus uses the words, "I am the true gate." Now he who makes these statements is, he says, the Perfect Man that is imaged from the unportrayable one from above. The Perfect Man therefore cannot, he says, be saved, unless, entering in through this gate, he be born again. But this very one the Phrygians, he says, call also Papa, because he tranquillized all things which, prior to his manifestation, were confusedly and dissonantly moved. For the name, he says, of Papa belongs simultaneously to all creatures -celestial, and terrestrial, and infernal-who exclaim, Cause to cease, cause to cease the discord of the world, and make "peace for those that are afar off," that is, for material and earthly beings; and "peace for those that are near," that is, for perfect men that are spiritual and endued with reason. But the Phrygians denominate this same also "corpse"-buried in the body, as it were, in a mausoleum and tomb. This, he says, is what has been declared, "Ye are whited sepulchres, full," he says, "of dead men's bones within," because there is not in you the living man. And again he exclaims, "The dead shall start forth from the graves," that is, from the earthly bodies, being born again spiritual, not carnal. For this, he says, is the Resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, through which, he says, all those that do not enter remain dead. These same Phrygians, however, he says, affirm again that this very (man), as a consequence of the change, (becomes) a god. For, he says, he becomes a god when, having risen from the dead, he will enter into heaven through a gate of this kind. Paul the apostle, he says, knew of this gate, partially opening it in a mystery, and stating "that he was caught up by an angel, and ascended as far as the second and third heaven into paradise itself; and that he beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare."

The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz., the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection. For the beloved prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality. All these things are good together, if ye believe in love.

(Hom. lix. 3) Or, He refers to the Apostles who went in and out boldly; for they became the masters of the world, none could turn them out of their kingdom, and they found pasture.

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

Whoever enters through Me, the door, and is brought to the Father, and becomes His sheep, that one will be saved, and not only will be saved, but will also receive great fearlessness, like both Lord and Master. For this is what is meant by the words "and will go in and go out." So too the apostles boldly went in and came out before rulers, and came out joyful and unconquerable (Acts 5:41). "And shall find pasture," that is, abundant food. And in another way: since our man is twofold, according to the expression of the Apostle Paul, "the inner and the outer" (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16), it can be said that he enters who cares for the inner man, and he again goes out who "puts to death the members which are on the earth" and "the deeds of the flesh" in Christ (Rom. 8:13). Such a one shall find pasture both in the age to come, according to what is said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall not want" (Ps. 22:1).

The door admits the sheep into the pasture; And shall go in and out, and find pasture. What is this pasture, but the happiness to come, the rest to which our Lord brings us?

Or, to go in is to watch over the inner man; to go out, (Colos. 3) to mortify the outward man, i. e. our members which are upon the earth. He that doth this shall find pasture in the life to come.

I am the door. Here he clarifies his explanation: first, of the door; secondly, of the thief (v 10). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he repeats what he intends to explain; and secondly, he gives the explanation (v 9).

He repeats what he had already said, namely, I am the door: "If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar" (Song 8:9), that is, let us grant her an incorruptible power.

He explains this when he says, if any one enters by me, he will be saved. First, he shows that the purpose of a door, which is to keep the sheep safe, applies to himself; secondly, he mentions the manner in which they are kept safe (v 9b).

The door safeguards the sheep by keeping those within from going out, and by protecting them from strangers who want to come in. And this applies to Christ, for he is our safeguard and protection. And this is what he says: if any one, not with insincerity, enters, into the fellowship of the Church and of the faithful, by me, the door, he will be saved, i.e., if he perseveres: "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12); "We shall be saved by his life" (Rom 5:10).

The way the sheep are safeguarded is set forth when he says that he will go in and out and find pasture. This statement can be explained in four ways. First of all, according to Chrysostom, it simply affirms the security and freedom of those who cling to Christ. For one who enters some other way than by the door does not have free entry and exit; but one who does enter by the door has free exit, because he can leave freely. Therefore, when he says, he will go in and out, the meaning is that the Apostles adhering to Christ enter with security by living with the faithful, who are within the Church, and with unbelievers who are outside, when they became masters of the whole world and no one wished to cast them out: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out before them and come in before them…that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd" (Num 27:16). And find pasture, find delight in converting others, and find joy even when persecuted by unbelievers for the name of Christ: "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name," as we read in Acts (5:41).

Secondly, this can be explained as Augustine does in his Commentary on John. Two things are incumbent upon anyone who acts well, namely to be well-ordered to the things that are within him, and to those that are without. Within a person is the spirit, and without is the body: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day" (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, a person who clings to Christ will go in through contemplation, to protect his conscience - "When I enter my house," i.e., my conscience, "I shall find rest with her," i.e., with wisdom (Wis 8:16) - and out, namely, by good actions, to tame the body - "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening" (Ps 104:23) - and find pasture, in a clean and sincere conscience - "I will appear before your sight: I will be satisfied when your glory appears" (Ps 16:15). Again, by his actions he will find pasture, i.e., fruit - "He shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps 126:6).

The third explanation is also Augustine's as well as that given by Gregory in his Commentary on Ezekiel. The meaning, then, is this. Such a one will go in, i.e., into the Church, by believing - "I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle" (Ps 41:5), and this is to enter the Church Militant; and out, from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant - "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of the wedding" (Song 3:11); and find pasture, that is, the pastures of doctrine and grace in the Church Militant - "He makes me lie down in green pastures"; and the pastures of glory in the Church Triumphant: "I will feed them with good pasture" (Ez 34:14).

Fourthly, there is an explanation found in the work, On the Spirit and the Soul, which has been incorrectly attributed to Augustine. Here it is said that such a one will go in, that is, the saints will go in to contemplate the divinity of Christ, and out, to consider his humanity; and they will find pasture in both, because in both they will taste the joys of contemplation: "Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Is 33:17).