返回Preface
Preface
Предисловие
The power of the Holy Spirit, as it is written (2 Cor. 12:9) and as we believe, is made perfect in weakness—weakness not of body alone, but also of mind and eloquence. This is evident from many other things, but especially from what grace showed in the great theologian and brother of Christ. His father was a fisherman; John himself was engaged in the same trade as his father. Not only did he not receive a Greek or Jewish education, but he was entirely unlearned, as the divine Luke notes about him in the Acts (Acts 4:13). And his homeland was most poor and obscure, being a small town occupied with fishing rather than learning. Bethsaida brought him into the world. Yet see what kind of Spirit this unlearned, obscure, and in no respect remarkable man received. He thundered forth things that none of the other Evangelists taught us. Since they proclaimed the incarnation of Christ but said nothing sufficiently clear and vivid about His pre-eternal existence, there was a danger that people attached to earthly things and unable to conceive of anything lofty would suppose that Christ began His existence only when He was born of Mary, and was not begotten of the Father before the ages. Into such error, as is well known, Paul of Samosata fell. Therefore the great John proclaims the birth from on high, while not neglecting, however, to mention also the incarnation of the Word. For he says: "And the Word became flesh" (John 1:14).
Others say that the Orthodox themselves asked him to write about the heavenly birth, since at that time heretics had appeared who taught that Jesus was a mere man. They also say that Saint John, having read the writings of the other Evangelists, marveled at the truthfulness of their narrative about everything and acknowledged them as sound-minded and as having said nothing to flatter the Apostles. However, what they did not clearly state or passed over in complete silence, he expanded, clarified, and added in his Gospel, which he wrote at the time when he was in exile on the island of Patmos, thirty-two years after the Ascension of Christ.
John was loved by the Lord more than all the other disciples for his simplicity, meekness, good nature, and purity of heart, that is, his virginity. As a result of such a gift, he was also entrusted with theology, the enjoyment of mysteries unseen by many. For "blessed," it is said, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). John was also a kinsman of the Lord. How so? Listen. Joseph, the betrothed of the most pure Mother of God, had from his first wife seven children — four sons and three daughters: Martha, Esther, and Salome. John was the son of this Salome. Thus it turns out that the Lord was his uncle. Since Joseph was father to the Lord, and Salome was a daughter of this Joseph, Salome was a sister of the Lord, and therefore her son John was a nephew of the Lord.
Perhaps it is not inappropriate to examine the names of John's mother and of the evangelist himself. The mother, called Salome, means "peaceful," and John means "her grace." So let every soul know that peace with men and peace from passions in the soul becomes the mother of divine grace and gives birth to it in us. For it is unnatural for a soul that is disturbed and wages war with other people and with itself to be deemed worthy of divine grace.
We are presented with yet another wondrous circumstance regarding this evangelist John. Namely: he is only one, yet he turns out to have three mothers: his natural mother Salome, thunder, for on account of his great voice in the Gospel he is a "son of thunder" (Mk. 3:17), and the Theotokos, for it is said: "Behold, thy mother!" (Jn. 19:27).
Having said this before the explanation, we must now begin the analysis of John's discourses themselves.
The power of the Holy Spirit, as it is written (2 Cor. 12:9) and as we believe, is made perfect in weakness—weakness not of body alone, but also of mind and eloquence. This is evident from many other things, but especially from what grace showed in the great theologian and brother of Christ. His father was a fisherman; John himself was engaged in the same trade as his father. Not only did he not receive a Greek or Jewish education, but he was entirely unlearned, as the divine Luke notes about him in the Acts (Acts 4:13). And his homeland was most poor and obscure, being a small town occupied with fishing rather than learning. Bethsaida brought him into the world. Yet see what kind of Spirit this unlearned, obscure, and in no respect remarkable man received. He thundered forth things that none of the other Evangelists taught us. Since they proclaimed the incarnation of Christ but said nothing sufficiently clear and vivid about His pre-eternal existence, there was a danger that people attached to earthly things and unable to conceive of anything lofty would suppose that Christ began His existence only when He was born of Mary, and was not begotten of the Father before the ages. Into such error, as is well known, Paul of Samosata fell. Therefore the great John proclaims the birth from on high, while not neglecting, however, to mention also the incarnation of the Word. For he says: "And the Word became flesh" (John 1:14).
Others say that the Orthodox themselves asked him to write about the heavenly birth, since at that time heretics had appeared who taught that Jesus was a mere man. They also say that Saint John, having read the writings of the other Evangelists, marveled at the truthfulness of their narrative about everything and acknowledged them as sound-minded and as having said nothing to flatter the Apostles. However, what they did not clearly state or passed over in complete silence, he expanded, clarified, and added in his Gospel, which he wrote at the time when he was in exile on the island of Patmos, thirty-two years after the Ascension of Christ.
John was loved by the Lord more than all the other disciples for his simplicity, meekness, good nature, and purity of heart, that is, his virginity. As a result of such a gift, he was also entrusted with theology, the enjoyment of mysteries unseen by many. For "blessed," it is said, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). John was also a kinsman of the Lord. How so? Listen. Joseph, the betrothed of the most pure Mother of God, had from his first wife seven children — four sons and three daughters: Martha, Esther, and Salome. John was the son of this Salome. Thus it turns out that the Lord was his uncle. Since Joseph was father to the Lord, and Salome was a daughter of this Joseph, Salome was a sister of the Lord, and therefore her son John was a nephew of the Lord.
Perhaps it is not inappropriate to examine the names of John's mother and of the evangelist himself. The mother, called Salome, means "peaceful," and John means "her grace." So let every soul know that peace with men and peace from passions in the soul becomes the mother of divine grace and gives birth to it in us. For it is unnatural for a soul that is disturbed and wages war with other people and with itself to be deemed worthy of divine grace.
We are presented with yet another wondrous circumstance regarding this evangelist John. Namely: he is only one, yet he turns out to have three mothers: his natural mother Salome, thunder, for on account of his great voice in the Gospel he is a "son of thunder" (Mk. 3:17), and the Theotokos, for it is said: "Behold, thy mother!" (Jn. 19:27).
Having said this before the explanation, we must now begin the analysis of John's discourses themselves.