Farewell conversation of Jesus Christ with his disciples. Dispute between students about seniority
(John 13.31-17.26)
Preparing the apostles for the upcoming separation, the Lord told them: “ Children! I won't be with you for long..."(John 13.33). Comforting them, Christ said that He must leave so that the apostles would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit - something that would happen on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit comes to them, He will remind them of everything that Christ said, and will give them the strength to testify about Christ even to the ends of the earth, without fear of any earthly torment.
Afraid to think that Christ was talking about death, the alarmed Peter asked: “ Lord, where are you going?» « Where I'm going you can't go now..." (John 13.36) - Christ answered him. But zealous Peter wanted to immediately follow Christ, realizing that “to follow Christ” means “to die”: “ I will lay down my soul for You"- Peter said to the Teacher (John 13.37). " Will you lay down your soul for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times."(John 13.38). Christ knew Peter’s character, but foresaw that in the terrible hour his heart would tremble. But He also knew that Peter would repent and subsequently be able to confirm the other apostles in the faith.
Leaving the apostles, the Lord gave them a new commandment - about love, the image of which He Himself became: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; how I have loved you... By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another... Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you"(John 13.34-35; 15.13-14).
The Lord warned the apostles that many sufferings awaited them. The hatred of the world, which lies in evil, will fall upon His disciples after the departure of Christ. But future suffering is nothing, because real victory, victory over death and sin, will always remain with Christ: “ In the world you will have tribulation; but take heart: I have overcome the world"(John 16.33).
Gethsemane Prayer
(Matthew 26.36-46; Mark 14.32-42; Luke 22.39-46)
Leaving the upper room, Christ and the apostles crossed the Kidron stream and headed to Gethsemane, a large garden on the slope of the Mount of Olives. The tired disciples settled down for the night, and Christ, taking Peter, James and John with Him, retired deep into the garden. " My soul grieves unto death, - He said to the three disciples, - stay here and watch with me. Pray not to fall into temptation"(Matthew 26.38).
Moving away from them a little, He fell to the ground and began to pray: “ Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! however, not my will, but yours be done"(Luke 22.42). The sinless human nature of Christ resisted the death that was alien to it. Returning to the three apostles, the Lord found them sleeping and, turning to Simon-Peter, who had recently shown his readiness to go with Him to the end, reproached him: “ Simon! are you sleeping? couldn't you stay awake for one hour? Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."(Mk.14.37-38). He left them three times and returned, but the tired apostles did not have the strength to fulfill the Teacher’s request and they continued to sleep.
The only one who consoled Christ was the angel of the Lord. The spiritual suffering of Christ in Gethsemane was so strong that His sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.
Taking into custody
(Matthew 26.45-56; Mark 14.41-52; Luke 22.45-52; John 18.2-12)
Having finished the prayer, Christ approached the sleeping disciples. " You are all sleeping and resting! It is over, the hour has come: behold, the Son of Man is given over into the hands of sinners. Get up, let's go; Behold, he who betrays Me has drawn near"(Mk.14.41).
Suddenly the garden was illuminated by lanterns and torches, and the tramp of an approaching crowd was heard. The people were armed: some of them held sticks and stakes, others held swords and spears; Among the people were warriors from the temple guard. Judas walked ahead of everyone, revealing the whereabouts of Jesus to the elders.
The Savior went to meet the crowd. Judas, pretending that he was returning from the city and had nothing in common with the crowd that had come, quickly approached the Savior to greet Him and thereby indicate to the soldiers who exactly needed to be captured so that no mistake would happen in the darkness. The Lord meekly asked him: “ Friend, what did you come for?? (Matthew 26.50). Judas leaned towards Jesus and said: “ Rejoice, Rabbi! and kissed Him. Christ, showing Judas that he knew the value of this kiss, asked: “ Judas! Will you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?(Luke 22.48).
Meanwhile, the guards surrounded Jesus. Looking at the armed men, the Savior said: “ It’s as if you came out against a robber with swords and staves to take Me. Every day I was with you in the temple and taught, and you did not take Me, but now is your time and the power of darkness"(Luke 22.52-53). The impetuous Peter took out his sword and wanted to protect the Teacher, but Christ, accustoming the apostle to the gospel life, forbade him to do this: “ Return your sword to its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."(Matthew 26.52). The path of Christ is the path of voluntary suffering, and on this path He did not need the protection of either disciples or angels (see Matt. 26.53). The Savior’s words also contain a reminder of the well-known Old Testament norm: “ Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man was created in the image of God"(Gen.9.6). The Jews, who desired the death of Christ and betrayed Him into the hands of the Romans, were soon themselves exterminated by the sword of the Romans - during the Jewish War in 66-71. AD, when Palestinian Jews rebelled, which was brutally suppressed by the Romans.
The guards tied up Christ. The students, fearing for their lives, fled. Christ was taken out of the Garden of Gethsemane and taken to Jerusalem. Only the apostles Peter and John followed the Teacher at a distance.
During interrogation by the high priest Annas. Abdication of the Ap. Petra
(Matthew 26.58,69-75; Mark 14.54,66-72; Luke 22.54-62; John 18.13-14,19-27)
The guards did not immediately take Jesus to the palace of the high priest Caiaphas, where the Sanhedrin usually met. First they brought Him to the former high priest Annas. The leader of the Sadducees and the head of a noble family from which a large number of high priests emerged at that time, Annas remained an influential person in Judea even after the Roman authorities removed him from his position as high priest. This man had especially great influence at the time when his son-in-law Caiaphas, a cruel but weak-willed man, became high priest.
Anna, anticipating the trial of Christ, began to ask about His teaching and disciples. The Lord answered him: “ I spoke clearly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where Jews always meet, and I did not say anything secretly. Why are you asking Me? ask those who heard what I said to them; behold, they know what I said"(John 18.20-21). This answer infuriated the high priest, and his servant hit Christ on the cheek, angrily saying: “ This is your answer to the high priest? (John 18.22). Jesus answered the servant meekly: “ If I said something bad, show what is bad; What if it’s good that you beat Me?”(John 18.23). At this point, Anna stopped his interrogation and ordered the Prisoner to be taken to Caiaphas for trial.
At this time, the servants were sitting in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, warming themselves by the fire. The Apostle Peter, who had come here together with the Apostle John, sat between them. Peter's Galilean speech and behavior betrayed him, and the servants turned their attention to him, questioning whether he was a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. Peter began to swear that he did not know This Man. At that moment he raised his head and saw the Savior standing on an elevated part of the courtyard. And then Simon heard a rooster crow. He remembered the Savior’s prediction, and, going out, wept bitterly.
Sanhedrin Court
(Matthew 26.57-66; Mark 14.53-64; Luke 22.54)
When Christ was brought to the meeting of the Sanhedrin, false witnesses spoke out against Him, accusing Jesus of planning to destroy the Temple of Jerusalem. They misrepresented the words of Christ: “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"(John 2.19), spoken by Him at the beginning of His ministry about the temple of His Body.
In a fit of indignation, Caiaphas tore his clothes and exclaimed, addressing the court: “ He is blaspheming! What more need do we need witnesses? Behold, now you have heard His blasphemy! what do you think? (Matthew 26.65-66). The Sanhedrin replied that Christ was guilty of death; This is exactly how, according to the Law of Moses, blasphemy was punished.
But the Sanhedrin itself did not have the right to execute criminals; this right was taken away from it by the Roman authorities. The sentence passed on Christ had to be approved by the representative of Rome in Judea, the procurator Pontius Pilate.
Bound Christ taken to the yard. For the rest of the night, Jesus meekly endured bullying from the servants of the high priest: they spat in His face, hit Him on the cheeks and mockingly asked: “ Prophesy to us, Christ, who struck You? (Matthew 26.68).
Good Friday
Death of Judas the Traitor
Since, according to the Law, the decision on the death of a criminal could not be made at night, early on the morning of Good Friday, members of the Sanhedrin repeated the lawless sentence passed on Christ at night (Matt. 27.1). After this, they took Him to the Roman procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, because... The right to death penalty was taken away from the Jews by the Roman authorities.
When Judas Iscariot saw Jesus, beaten and condemned to death, being taken out of the high priest’s house, he realized to what extent his love of money had brought him. Tormented by his conscience, he hurried to the elders: “ I sinned by betraying innocent blood" But the elders and high priests, who had already received what they wanted, ignored his grief: “ What do we care about that? take a look yourself"(Matthew 27.4). Then Judas threw thirty pieces of silver at the feet of the high priests, ran out and, out of despair and disbelief in God’s mercy, hanged himself (Matthew 27.3-10).
The high priests, not wanting to give the money thrown by Judas to the temple, since it was “ price of blood", they bought a plot of land from a potter for the burial of wanderers.
At Pilate's trial
(Matthew 27.1-31; Mark 15.1-15; Luke 23.1-25; John 18.28-19.16)
Pontius Pilate hated Jerusalem and the Jews, his reign was accompanied by numerous bloody clashes with Jews and Samaritans.
In order to get Pilate to approve the death sentence for Christ, members of the Sanhedrin conspired to bring Christ to Him as a political criminal, since blasphemy might seem to the Roman ruler an insufficient reason for execution. In the face of Pilate, the Jews accused the Savior of disturbing the people, forbidding them to give taxes to Caesar, and proclaiming Himself king. All this was of a political nature, so Pilate ordered the Accused to be brought into the trial chamber and asked Him in private: “ You are the King of the Jews? (Mark 15.20).
« Are you saying this on your own behalf, or have others told you about Me?? (John 18.34) - Christ asked him. To this Pilate, with the disdainful pride of a Roman citizen, remarked: “ Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what did you do? (John 18.35). Then Christ told Pilate that He is indeed a King, but His Kingdom is not of this world, but that He came to testify to the truth.
Seeing that Christ was only a religious preacher and harmless to Rome, Pilate skeptically asked: “ What is truth? (John 18.38). Without waiting for an answer from the One Who Himself is the Truth, Pilate went out to the people and said that he found no guilt in this Man. Pilate did not want to continue the trial, because he realized that the Jews betrayed Christ out of envy (Matthew 27.18). Having learned that Christ was from Galilee, Pilate ordered the soldiers to take Jesus to trial in the palace of Herod Antipas, the ruler of the Galilee region, so that he, as a person more knowledgeable in religious matters, would understand the case of Christ.
Herod was glad to see Jesus before him, about whom he had heard a lot and even at one time considered Him to be the risen John the Baptist. A weak and vicious man, Herod willingly listened to the speeches of preachers and prophets. He also hoped to hear something interesting from Jesus or see some miracle. But Christ stood before Herod and was silent. Herod Antipas was disappointed, but without losing his festive complacency, he decided, like Pilate, to evade trial. He ordered Jesus to be dressed in light clothes as a sign of innocence, and, seeing Him off with ridicule and mockery, sent Him back to Pilate. From that day on, notes the Evangelist Luke, Pilate and Herod became friends (Luke 23.12).
Since Herod Antipas did not find anything worthy of death in the Accused, Pilate wanted to release Him, but the high priests continued to insist on the execution of Jesus. Then Pilate turned to the common people, thinking to find support there. Recalling the custom of releasing one of the prisoners for the sake of Easter, he said: “ Whom do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?”(Matthew 27.17). Barabbas was put in prison for the disturbance and murder he had caused in the city. But Pilate was wrong in his calculations. The crowd, inspired by the leaders, demanded that the robber Barabbas be released and Jesus crucified: “ Crucify Him, crucify Him! - shouted the maddened people, incited by the Pharisees (Luke 23.21).
« What evil did He do?? (Matthew 27.23) - Pilate asked the angry people in surprise. The ruler decided that corporal punishment could avoid a death sentence, therefore, partly to meet the Sanhedrin and the fury of the crowd, he handed Christ over to the soldiers for scourging. The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the praetorium and tied the Savior to a pillar. They scourged Him, leaving deep wounds on His back (Roman soldiers usually beat Him with belt whips, inside of which sharp pieces of metal were sewn). After the scourging, the person was usually in a faint state and was on the verge of death due to loss of blood. Having finished the scourging, the soldiers put a scarlet robe on Christ, placed a crown of thorns on His head and, mockingly, began to fall on their knees before Him and greeted with the words: “ Hail, King of the Jews"(Matthew 27.29). Then they took a cane and beat it on Jesus' head so that the thorns would pierce deeper.
Hoping that the scourging would be enough to satisfy the hatred of the Jews, Pilate ordered that Jesus dressed in purple with a crown of thorns on his head be shown to the crowd. Wanting to arouse compassion for Christ and show the groundlessness of the accusations of the Galilean teacher’s claims to royal power, the ruler exclaimed: “ Xie, Man! (John 19.5). But the high priests and elders of the Jews again shouted and demanded the execution of Jesus. Annoyed by their stubbornness, Pilate sharply replied: “ Take Him and crucify Him; for I find no fault in Him"(John 19.6), knowing that they would not dare to do this.
Out of powerlessness, the high priests began to accuse Christ of violating religious laws: “ We have a law, and according to our law He must die, because He made Himself the Son of God"(John 19.7). Pilate was a skeptic, but religious feelings were not alien to him. The new accusation against Christ instilled in him fear of the Defendant. Pilate's attitude was strengthened by his wife, who during the trial sent a servant to her husband, asking him not to do harm to this Man, because she had suffered a lot for Him in a dream. Alarmed Pilate privately asked Christ: “ Where are you from? (John 19.9). But Christ was silent. Then Pilate reminded the Prisoner of his powers: “ Aren't you answering me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify You and the power to release You?? (John 19.10). With these words, Pilate condemns himself, because... testifies that he had freedom of choice and had the power and ability to release the Innocent. To Pilate’s question, Christ answered that the ruler would not have had power over Him if it had not been allowed from above, but more sin on those who delivered Christ into the hands of Pilate (John 19.11). Thus, the Savior points out both the guilt of Pilate and the deeper, more serious guilt of the Jews.
When the high priests realized that Pilate intended to release Christ after all, they decided to achieve His execution with the help of threats. As soon as Pilate emerged from the praetorium building and again asked the Jews: “ Shall I crucify your king??”, they, as if forgetting that they hated the pagans and the Roman power, shouted: “ If you let Him go, you are no friend of Caesar; Anyone who makes himself a king is an opponent of Caesar"(John 19.12). The threat of the Jews to write a denunciation to the emperor influenced Pilate and he yielded to their wishes. The robber Barabbas received freedom, and Christ was sentenced to crucifixion. Pilate demonstratively washed his hands of the people, saying: “ I am innocent of the blood of this Righteous One; look you"(Matthew 27.24). The crowd reacted to this attempt at self-justification by shouting: “ His blood be on us and on our children"(Matthew 27.25) – i.e. the Jews accepted responsibility for the death of Christ. The true meaning of these crazy words was soon revealed when the Romans drowned Jerusalem in blood and destroyed it, and also in subsequent history Jewish people, full of bloody persecution and persecution.
Way of the Cross to Calvary
(Matthew 27.31-34; Mark 15.20-23; Luke 23.26-33; John 19.16-17)
After the trial, Christ was again handed over to the soldiers to carry out the sentence. The soldiers took off Jesus' scarlet robe, dressed Him in His own clothes and laid a cross on Him - two logs nailed together in the shape of the letter "T". According to cruel custom, those sentenced to death had to carry their cross themselves to the place of execution. Together with Christ, two villains were led to execution.
Exhausted by the cruel scourging, Christ was exhausted and fell under the weight of the cross. To speed up the advance, the soldiers detained one peasant coming from the field - Simon of Cyrene and forced him to carry the cross of the Savior. The procession was accompanied by a large crowd of people. Turning to the women crying in the crowd, Christ said: “ Daughters of Jerusalem! Do not cry for Me, but cry for yourself and for your children! Because the days will soon come when they will say: Blessed are the barren and the wombs that have not given birth...." (Luke 23.28-29). The Lord told them about the sad fate of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, who rejected the Messiah.
Finally, the accused were taken to a place outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, which was a smooth hill that resembled a human skull.
(Matt. 26, 30-35; Mark 14, 26-31; Luke 22, 31-39; John 13, 31-16, 33)
All four evangelists narrate about it, and the first three convey only the prediction about the denial of the Apostle Peter and the dispersion of the apostles, and Saint John sets out this conversation in detail.
The Savior began his farewell conversation with a prediction about His imminent departure. "God! Where are you going?"¾ asks His apostle Peter. Jesus answered him: “Where I am going, you cannot go with Me now, but later you will follow Me.”(John 13:36). This answer aroused Peter's curiosity even more: "God! Why can’t I follow You now?” In response, the Savior predicts that a little time will pass and the disciples will scatter in fear, and Peter will deny Him. The disciples and the Apostle Peter in particular tried to convince Him of the opposite. Then Jesus Christ said to him: “The rooster will not crow today before you deny three times...”(Luke 22:34).
The further account of the Last Supper is given only by the Evangelist John. " Now, ¾ we read in chapter 13, ¾ The Son of Man was glorified, and God was glorified in Him" These tins mean that the Lord, through His suffering, death and resurrection, defeated evil, gained glory Himself and glorified His Father.
Preparing for his imminent departure, He gives His followers a new commandment - the commandment of love. The Savior calls this commandment new not because it was not known in Old Testament, but because love in the Old Testament was not compassionate and self-sacrificing, as was the love of Jesus Christ Himself for people.
Hearing about the upcoming separation from their beloved Teacher, the disciples were very sad, but the Lord reassured them, saying: “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God and believe in Me,” for faith should be a consolation for them in sorrow. The Lord reveals to the disciples that He is going to the Heavenly Father in order to prepare monasteries for them in His house, which until now have been closed by the Fall. But I, He says, go for this purpose, to open them for you, My followers: “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself... And where I am going, you know and you know the way.”
« God! We don’t know where you are going: and how can we know the way?? The Apostle Thomas asks in bewilderment, to which the Lord answers: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Encouraging His disciples, the Lord promises to send them the Comforter ¾ of the Holy Spirit, who will guide them into all truth. At the end of the conversation, the Savior tells them that this is why He predicted His suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, so that they would not be embarrassed, but would be strengthened by faith in Him.
The path to the Mount of Olives lay between vineyards. Just as grape branches grow on a vine, receive juice from it and, thanks to it, bear fruit, Christ’s disciples live spiritually and bear fruit for eternal life only when they are in grace-filled communion with the Lord. If this connection is broken, the branches dry up and are thrown into the fire.
To preserve fruit-bearing branches, the winegrower must prune them in time and clear them of thin growths, of everything that impedes the development of vitality in them. Likewise, the disciples, who are in direct communion with Christ and who are participants in His Divine life, need to be cleansed of everything alien that remains in them from their previous life, previous concepts, from everything that hinders the revelation of spiritual perfection in them. The evidence of their constant fellowship with Christ should be the keeping of His commandments, and above all the commandment of their love for a friend, which should be the same as His love for them, which prompts Him to lay down His life. " There is no more love than ifwho lays down his life for his friends“Christ teaches them.
Ahead of them await suffering and persecution for His name, for they are not of this world. If they were “of the world,” whose deeds are evil, then the world would love its own, but since the Lord chose them, the world will hate them.
This was Christ's last instruction to His disciples. Leaving them, He said: “ But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you."(John 14:26).
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(Matt. 5:13-16; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34-35; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16, 11, 33) Jesus Christ compares the apostles, closest disciples and all Christians with salt. "IN
The attitude of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament
(Matthew 5:17-20; Luke 16-17) Jesus Christ did not come to take away the power of the law, but to fulfill all its requirements, to put into practice what the prophets predicted
Alms
“Be careful not to do your alms before people,” says Christ. It does not follow from this, however, that He forbids doing alms and other good deeds in the presence of people. Refusal
About prayer
Vanity and pride surround us even when we pray, especially if we are in church. This does not mean, however, that prayer meetings should be avoided: Christ forbids such prayer.
About the post
During the days of fasting, the Pharisees did not wash, comb or oil their hair; they put on old clothes and sprinkled themselves with ashes; in a word, they did everything to give the appearance of fasting. The people believed them
Don't judge
Reproach and condemnation of one's neighbors is a very common sin. A person infected with this sin takes pleasure in reviewing all the actions of his acquaintances, seeing in them the slightest sins or
Healing of the centurion's servant. Miracles in Capernaum and Nain
(Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10) Soon after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ entered Capernaum. Here He was met by an embassy from the centurion in charge of
Resurrection of the son of the Nain widow
(Luke 7:11-18) “After this (that is, after the healing of the centurion’s servant), ¾ says the Evangelist, ¾ Jesus went to a city called Nain, and
And the testimony of the Lord about John
(Matthew 11:2-19; Luke 7:18-35) The resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain, as the Evangelist Luke testifies, became the reason for John the Baptist to send to Jesus
Supper in the house of Simon the Pharisee
(Luke 7:36-50) Around the same time as the Baptist’s embassy to Christ, one of the Pharisees named Simon invited
Healing the demon-possessed blind and dumb
(Matthew 12:22-50; Mark 3:20-35; Luke 11:14-36; 8:19-21) The miracles performed by the Lord increasingly turned the hearts of ordinary people to Him. This worried the Pharisee
Teaching in Parables
(Matthew 13:1-52; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:4-18) After His travels through Galilee, Jesus Christ returned each time to Capernaum, located on the northern coast of
Parable of the Sower
(Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:5-15) Sailing from the shore, Christ taught the people, telling them the parable of the sower. “Behold, a sower went out to sow.” The seed here means
Parable of the Wheat and Tares
(Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43) The Kingdom of God is spreading throughout the world, it is growing like wheat sown in a field. Each member of this Kingdom is like an ear of corn
Mustard seed1
It is likened to a mustard seed, which, although small, if it falls into good soil, grows to a huge size. So the word of God about the Kingdom of Heaven, sown in the hearts of people
A treasure hidden in a field. Pearl of Great Price
The meaning of these parables is this: the Kingdom of God is the highest and most precious gift for a person, for the acquisition of which a person should not spare anything.
Miraculous cessation of a storm at sea
(Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25) Soon after leaving Capernaum, tired from the day's labors, Jesus fell asleep at the stern of the ship. And at this time
Healing of the Gadarene demoniacs
(Matt. 8, 28-34; Mark 5, 1-20; Luke 8, 26-40) In the land of Gadarene or Gergesin (interpreters believe that the latter name was included in the manuscripts of Origen
Resurrection of the Synagogue Leader's Daughter
(Matt. 9, 26 - 36; Mark 5, 22; Luke 8, 41 - 56) The Lord performed these two miracles, which the weather forecasters talk about, upon his return to Capernaum. The beginning of a miracle
Healing in Galilee
(Matthew 9: 27 - 38) Jesus Christ had just left Jairus’s house when two blind men followed Him, asking to heal them. In response to their request, Christ asks:
Apostleship
(Luke 9, 1 - 6; Mark 6, 7 - 13; Matt. 9, 35 - 38; 10, 1 - 42) Before sending his disciples to preach the Gospel, Christ gave them the power to heal
In this miracle, as in all miracles, God's mercy towards people was demonstrated
Having performed this miracle before His disciples, Christ not only showed His mercy and saved them from death, revealed to them His omnipotence, but also showed that by faith in the God-man and Ruler of the world and to them
Discourse on the Bread of Life
In the morning, the people who remained in the place where the blessing, breaking and multiplication of bread had taken place the day before found neither Jesus nor His disciples there. Taking advantage of the boat that came from Tiberias
Reply to the Pharisees
(Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23; John 7:1) The miraculous feeding of the people, according to the testimony of the Evangelist John, took place shortly before Easter. "After this Jesus moved
Healing the demon-possessed daughter of a Canaanite woman
(Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30) Christ was forced to leave Capernaum and retire from Galilee to the borders of Tire and Sidon in order to stop the indignation and murmur that
Healing the deaf and tongue-tied
(Mark 7:31-35) “Coming out of the borders of Tire and Sidon, Jesus again went to the Sea of Galilee through the borders of the Decapolis. A deaf and tongue-tied man was brought to Him
Response to the Pharisees and Sadducees to the demand for a sign
(Matthew 15:9-16; Mark 8:10-12) After the miraculous feeding of 4000 men, which took place on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus Christ crosses to
Healing of the blind man in Bethsaida
(Mark 8:22-26) While in Bethsaida - Julia, Christ healed a blind man. After the first laying of the hands of the Savior on him, the blind man, who was not born as such,
Confession of Peter
(Matt. 16, 13-28; Mark 8, 27-38; 9.1; Luke 9, 18-27) Evangelists Matthew and Mark agree in the description of this event, which took place in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi (so he
His suffering, death and resurrection
(Matt. 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:22) From that time on, Jesus spoke openly to His disciples, explaining by what kind of death He must die. He still
Doctrine of the Way of the Cross
(Matt. 16:24-28; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 9:23-26) After these words, the Lord called the people to Himself, and to all those gathered He said: “Whoever wants to come after Me has opened
Transfiguration of the Lord
(Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36) Evangelists testify that this event occurred six days after the confession of the Apostle Peter. Preobra
Conversation with students during the descent from the Mount of Transfiguration
(Matthew 17:9-13; Mark 9:9-13; Luke 9:36) Morning has come next day, and the Lord, together with his disciples, eyewitnesses of His glorious Transfiguration, returned to the village where they were
Healing a demon-possessed lunatic youth
(Matthew 17, 14-21; Mark 9, 14-29; Luke 9, 37-42) Evangelist Matthew describes this event as follows: “When they (that is, Christ and those who accompanied Him to Tabor Pet
About humility, love and mercy
(Matt. 18, 1-35; Mark 9, 33-50; Luke 9, 46-50) Earthly life Jesus Christ was nearing its end. In a manifestation of spirit and power, His Kingdom was soon to be revealed.
Instructions to the Seventy Apostles
(Luke 10:2-16; Matthew 11:20-24) The instructions given to the Seventy Apostles are very similar to the instructions given to the Twelve Apostles, which is explained
Return of the Seventy Apostles
(Luke 10:17-24) Returning from the sermon, the apostles rushed to the Teacher, to whom they hastened to inform about its successful completion, and also that the demons were obeying them.
Jesus Christ's answers to the lawyer who tempted Him
(Luke 10:25-37) A certain lawyer came to Jesus Christ, having heard the Lord’s conversation about the saving burden. He tried to find out if Jesus X was in this teaching
Jesus Christ in Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha
(Luke 10:38-42) From the narrative of the Evangelist John we learn that the village in which Martha and Mary lived and where Jesus came
Sample prayer and teaching about its power
(Luke 11:1-13; Matt. 6:9-13; 7:7-11) At the request of the disciples, Jesus Christ gives them a second example of prayer (the “Our Father” prayer). Persistent prayer
Refutation of the Pharisees and lawyers at a dinner with a Pharisee
(Luke 11:37-54) A certain Pharisee invited Jesus Christ to his place for dinner. According to Eastern custom, sanctified by legend, one had to wash oneself before and after eating.
Teaching about covetousness and wealth
(Luke 12:13-59) Someone from the crowd of people surrounding Jesus Christ, listening to his denunciation of the Pharisees, turned to Him with a question about how he could share with his brother what he had inherited.
Stay of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem
(John 7:10-53) Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem “not openly, but as if secretly,” that is, not in a solemn atmosphere. If only He had listened to the advice brother
Sinner before the Judgment of Christ
(John 8:1−11) After spending the night in prayer on the Mount of Olives, in the morning the Lord again came to the temple and taught. The scribes and Pharisees, wanting to find a reason to accuse Him, brought women
Conversation of Jesus Christ with the Jews in the Temple
(John 8:12-59) The Savior begins this conversation with the words: “I am the light of the world.” Just as the pillar of fire in the Old Testament showed the Jews the way from Egypt to a better place.
Jesus Christ healing a man born blind on Saturday
(John 9:1-41) Coming out of the temple, Jesus Christ saw a man blind from birth. The disciples asked him about the reason for this man's blindness: were it his personal sins or
Conversation on the Good Shepherd
(John 10:1-21) Palestine has been a land of cattle breeders since ancient times. The entire way of life of the Jewish people was connected with shepherd life. It is no coincidence that the Lord chooses for
Healing a woman in the synagogue on Saturday
(Luke 13:1-17) One day they told the Lord about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. Jews often opposed Roman rule and it was probably
Conversation on the holiday of Renewal
(John 10:22-42) This holiday was established by Judas Maccabee 160 years before the Nativity of Christ in memory of the renewal, cleansing and consecration of the Jerusalem Temple, desecrated
And the teaching of Christ in the house of the Pharisee
(Luke 14:1-35) At a dinner with one of the leaders of the Pharisees, a man suffering from water sickness approached Jesus. Then Christ asked the Pharisees if it was possible to heal in dry
About the small number of those being saved
(Luke 13:23-30) On the way back from the Trans-Jordan country to Jerusalem, someone asked Jesus: “Are there really few who are being saved?” He replied: “Strive to enter through the narrow
Trial of the Pharisees
(Luke 13:31-35) When the dinner at the Pharisee's house was drawing to a close, those present reported that Herod Antipas, who reigned in this area, intended to kill Him. But even here from the State
Parables of the Pharisees
(Luke 15:1-32) Among the crowd that followed Jesus Christ were publicans and sinners. The fact that the Lord entered into communication with them tempted the Pharisees, for whom even touching
Advice to Students
(Luke 16:1-13) Having denounced the Pharisees, Christ turns to His followers with the parable of the steward. A certain gentleman had a housekeeper to whom everything was entrusted
Healing of ten lepers
(Luke 17:11-19) The days of the taking of the Son of God from the world were approaching. “He wanted to go to Jerusalem,” says the Evangelist Luke. His path lay through the villages that were found
Answer to the Pharisees about the time of the coming of the Kingdom of God
(Luke 17:20-21) During one of the rest stops, the Pharisees approached Jesus Christ and asked Him when the Kingdom of God would come? According to their concepts, the coming of this kingdom
Marriage and the high dignity of virginity
(Matt. 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12) Apparently, the teaching of Jesus Christ on marriage, which He sets out as an answer to the tempting question of the Pharisee, should also be attributed to this journey
Blessing of children
(Matt. 19, 13-16; Mark 10, 13-16; Luke 18, 15-17) Believing that God fulfills the prayers of holy people, many mothers brought their children to Jesus Christ so that He would pray for them
Reply to the rich young man
(Matt. 19, 16-26; Mark 10, 17-27; Luke 18-27) On the way to Jerusalem, a rich young man approached Jesus, who led a pious life, fulfilled the commandments of Moses, but did so outwardly
Answer of the Apostle Peter
(Matthew 19:27-20; Mark 10:29-30; Luke 18:28-30) Hearing these words, the disciples were greatly amazed and said: “So who can be saved?” This is impossible for a person, answer
Raising Lazarus
(John 11:1-44) While Jesus was in the Trans-Jordan country, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, who lived in Bethany, fell ill. Saddened, they sent to Christ so that
Removal of Jesus Christ to Ephraim
(John 11:45-57) The resurrection of Lazarus had such a strong impact, since many eyewitnesses of this miracle spread the news of it to all ends of Judea, that, having learned about it,
Prediction of Jesus Christ about His death and resurrection
(Matthew 20:17-28; Mark 10:32-45; Luke 18:31-34) Jesus Christ walked ahead, but the disciples followed Him in fear and trembling. Having recalled the apostles, He told them that in Jerusalem
Healing two blind men
(Matt. 20, 29-34; Mark 10, 46-52; Luke 18, 35-43) This miracle, according to the testimony of the evangelists Matthew and Mark, took place when leaving the city of Jericho, and, according to the testimony of the Gospel
Visit to Zacchaeus' house
(Luke 19:1-10) Zacchaeus was the chief of the publicans of the Jericho district and had great wealth, acquired by unrighteous means; The Jews hated tax collectors, including Zacchaeus.
The Parable of the Mines
(Luke 19:11-28) Jesus Christ was approaching Jerusalem. Those who accompanied Him expected that in Jerusalem He would declare Himself the King of Israel, and that what the Jews had expected would finally come
Supper at the House of Simon the Leper
(John 12:1-11; Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9) Six days before Easter, Jesus Christ arrived in Bethany. Here in the house of Simon the leper a supper was prepared for Him, at which
Path to Jerusalem
(Matt. 21, 1-9; Mark 11, 1-10; Luke 12, 29-44; John 12, 12-19) The next day after the supper in the house of Simon the leper, Jesus Christ went from Bethany to Jerusalem. Settlement,
Entrance to the Jerusalem Temple
(Matthew 21:10-11; 14-17; Mark 11:11) The Lord’s entry into Jerusalem was accompanied by great celebration. Having entered the city, He goes to the temple and here heals the sick. Frightened Pharisee
The Greeks' Desire to See Jesus
(John 12:20-22) Among those who came to the holiday in Jerusalem were Hellenes (i.e. Greeks). They turned to the disciples of Jesus Christ, expressing a desire to see Him. To faith in Him they would
Barren fig tree. Expulsion of merchants from the temple
(Mark 11:12-29; Matt. 21:12-13; 18-19; Luke 19:45-48) The next morning, Jesus Christ was walking to Jerusalem and got hungry along the way. Not far away He saw fig trees
Disciple about the withered fig tree
(Mark 11:20-26; Matt. 21:20-22) On the third day, Jesus went to Jerusalem with his disciples. And so the disciples, passing by the fig tree cursed by Him, saw that
About His power to do what He does
(Matt. 21, 23-22; Mark 11, 27-12; Luke 20, 1-19) The next day, Tuesday, Jesus Christ was again in the temple, and while He was teaching the people, people came to Him
Parable of the obedient and disobedient son
(Matthew 21:28-32) In it, Jesus Christ condemns the unbelief of the scribes and high priests. The parable is about a man who had two sons. One of them boldly opens
Parable of the Evil Vinegrowers
(Matt. 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19) In this parable, the Lord shows even more clearly the unbelief of the scribes and high priests. From the first parable it follows,
Parable about the marriage of the king's son
(Matthew 22:1-14) In terms of content and edifying thought, this parable is similar to the parable of those invited to the supper and stands in direct connection with the parable of the evil grapes
Reply to the Pharisees and Herodians
(Mark 12:14; 18-21) The high priests and Pharisees were only looking for an excuse to seize and kill Jesus Christ. This time they asked the Savior this question:
Reply to the Sadducees
(Matt. 22, 23-33; Mark 12, 18-27; Luke 20, 27-40) After the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection of the dead, approached Jesus Christ. Based on
Reply to the lawyer
(Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34) After this, the Pharisees again tried to tempt Jesus Christ, and asked Him the following question through a lawyer: “what is the most
Defeat of the Pharisees
(Matt. 22, 41-46; 22, 1-39; Mark 12, 35-40; Luke 20, 40-47) Despite three unsuccessful attempts to catch Jesus Christ at his word, the Pharisees did not leave Him. Then
Praise for the Widow's Diligence
(Mark 12:4-44; Luke 21:1-4) After an accusatory speech against the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus Christ left the temple and, stopping at the door of the so-called two
And about the second coming
(Matthew 24:1-25; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-38) The prophecy of Jesus Christ about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple was incomprehensible to the disciples of the Lord, for they could not
About being awake
(Matt. 24, 42-25, 46; Mark 13, 34; Luke 21, 34-38) Jesus Christ calls His followers to constant vigilance. On this occasion He says three
Last Supper
(Matt. 26, 17-29; Mark 14, 12-25; Luke 22, 7-30; John 13, 1-30) All four evangelists tell about the last Easter Supper of the Lord with His disciples on the eve of His Cross
High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ
(John 17:1-26) Having finished his farewell conversation with his disciples, Jesus Christ approached the stream of Kidron. To cross this stream ¾ meant to betray oneself into the hands of
Betrayal of Judas
The Lord and his disciples returned to the place where they had left the other disciples. At this time, Judas the traitor entered the garden with soldiers and servants of the Sanhedrin, who walked, lighting the way with lanterns and
Taking Jesus Christ into custody
The unexpectedness of such an answer and the power of the Spirit of the Savior struck the warriors, they retreated and fell to the ground. At this time, students approached the crowd and wanted to protect their Teacher. Someone even asked:
Jesus Christ before the court of the Sanhedrin
(Matt. 26:59-75; Mark 14:53-72; Luke 22:54-71; John 18:13-27) Under guard, Jesus was taken to Jerusalem to the retired high priest Annas, Caiaphas’ father-in-law. From afar
Jesus Christ at the trial of Pilate and Herod
(Matt. 27, 1-2; 11-30; Mark 15, 1-19; Luke 23, 1-25; John 18, 28-19, 16) 1) The first trial of Pilate From the time
Second trial before Pilate
Referring to the fact that Herod did not find anything in Jesus worthy of death, Pilate invites the high priests, scribes and people to release Him after punishment. So he will calculate
Suffering on the cross and death of Jesus Christ
(Matt. 27, 31-56; Mark 15, 20-41; Luke 23, 26-49; John 19, 16-37) “And when they mocked him, they took off the scarlet robe from him and clothed him in his garments , and they led Him
Attaching guards to the tomb
(Matthew 27:62-66) On Friday, the day of the Lord’s death, His enemies could not take care to assign a guard to the tomb, for the burial was too late
Morning of the first Sunday
(Matt. 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18) After the Sabbath, on the morning of the first day of the week, the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from
First Sunday evening
(Luke 24, 12-49; Mark 16, 12-18; John 20, 19-25) That same day in the evening, two disciples (one of whom was Cleopas), not included in the group
Second appearance of the risen Christ to the apostles and Thomas
(John 20:24-29) During the first appearance of the Lord to the disciples, the Apostle Thomas, who was more worried than the other apostles, was not among them. death on the cross Teachers. The decline of his spirit
The appearance of the risen Lord to the disciples in Galilee
(Matt. 28, 16-20; Mark 16, 15-18; Luke 24, 46-49) “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus commanded them, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, and And
Ascension of the Lord
(Luke 24, 49-53 Mark 16, 19-20) The last appearance of the risen Christ the Savior, which ended with His ascension into heaven, is described in more detail by the Evangelist Luke. This is JAV
About the eternal birth and incarnation of the Son of God. Prophecies about the birth of the Messiah: prophets Micah, Isaiah
3. 1.A brief history of the text of the New Testament books. Ancient manuscripts. 2. Events leading up to the Nativity of Christ; Annunciation of Elizabeth, Nativity of John the Baptist. Etc
When he went out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” 32. If God was glorified in Him, then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will soon glorify Him. 33. Children! I won't be with you for long. You will seek Me, and just as I told the Jews that where I go you cannot come, so I tell you now. 34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another. 35. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. 36. Simon Peter said to Him: Lord! where are you going? Jesus answered him: Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me. 37. Peter said to Him: Lord! Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You. 38. Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times. “But Peter is so irresistible in his striving that he even contradicts Christ. He is dissatisfied with the fact that he received good hope of following Christ later, but he insists on his own and speaks self-confidently.” Blzh. Theophylact: “Peter, having become bold from great ardor, when he heard that the Lord said: “Where I am going, you cannot go there,” asks: “Where are you going?” He seems to be saying to Christ: what is this path that I cannot follow? He asks about this, not so much wanting to know where He is going, but secretly expressing the thought that even though You have taken the most difficult path of all, I will follow You. So he loved to always be with Christ!” Zigaben: “Since a true student imitates the teacher, then truly distinctive, characteristic“The surest sign of a Christian is the presence of true love, which is the foundation of all virtue.” Zigaben: “The ancient commandment commanded to love your neighbor as yourself, but this commandment commands you to love more than yourself, because Jesus Christ loved us so much that He did not spare Himself, but died for us. Some explain this differently: the ancient commandment said: having loved your sincere, you will hate your enemy (Matthew 5:43), and now the Savior commands to love everyone, even your enemies.” Blzh. Theophylact: “another could ask: Lord! Why do You present love as a new commandment, when we know that love is also commanded in the Old Testament? He adds: “As I have loved you, so you also love one another.” Just as, he says, I loved you freely, without preliminary merits, even when human nature was in enmity with God and separation, I nevertheless took it upon myself and sanctified it: so you love each other freely; and if your brother insults you, do not remember this. You see, the new commandment is to love your neighbor freely, even if you don’t owe him anything.” St. John Chrysostom: “shows that His death is repose and a transition to a place where bodies subject to corruption are not allowed. He says this in order to arouse in them love for Himself, and to make it more ardent.” Blzh. Theophylact: “He became famous through the miracles that took place on the Cross, namely: when the sun darkened, the stones disintegrated, the curtain fell apart, and all other signs were accomplished.” St. John Chrysostom: “With this He encourages the souls of the disciples cast into despondency and convinces them not only not to complain, but even to rejoice. To be put to death and to conquer death is indeed great glory.” Instruction of disciples in the Zion Upper Room by St. John Chrysostom: “What are you saying, Peter? (Christ) said: You cannot, and you say: I can? So, you will learn from experience that your love, without help from above, is nothing. From here it is clear that Christ allowed Peter’s fall for his own good. And by his previous actions He wanted to bring him to reason; but since Peter remained in his ardor, although He did not bring him and did not prompt him to renounce, he nevertheless left him without help, so that he would recognize his weakness.”
Prediction of the renunciation of St. Petra Mf. 26, 31-35 Mk. 14, 27-31Lk. 22 Then Jesus said to them, You will all be offended because of Me this night, for it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered; 32. After My resurrection I will go before you to Galilee. 33. Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are offended because of You, I will never be offended.” 34. Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” 35. Peter said to Him: Even though I had to die with You, I will not deny You. All the disciples said the same thing. 27 And Jesus said to them, You will all be offended because of Me this night; for it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. 28. After My resurrection, I will go before you to Galilee. 29. Peter said to Him, “Even if everyone is offended, yet not I.” 30. And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today, this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” 31. But he said with even greater effort: even though I had to die with You, I will not deny You. Everyone said the same thing. 31. And the Lord said: Simon! Simon! Behold, Satan asked to sow you like wheat, 32. but I prayed for you, so that your faith would not fail; and you, having once turned, strengthen your brothers. 33. He answered Him: Lord! I am ready to go with You to prison and to death. 34. But He said, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you do not know Me.” 35. And he said to them, “When I sent you out without sack, and without scrip, and without sandals, did you lack anything? They answered: nothing. 36. Then He said to them: but now, whoever has a bag, take it, and also the scrip; and whoever does not have it, sell his clothes and buy a sword; 37. For I tell you that this which is written must also be fulfilled in Me: I am numbered with the evildoers. For what is about Me comes to an end. 38. They said: Lord! here are the two swords. He said to them: enough. Blzh. Theophylact: “Satan asked to “sow” you, that is, to confuse, spoil, tempt; but “I prayed.” Don’t think, he says, that all this perfection is from yourself. For the devil is straining all his might to tear you away from My love and make you traitors. The Lord addresses this speech to Peter, because he was more daring than others, and was probably proud of the promises of Christ. Therefore, humbling him, the Lord says that Satan was greatly strengthened against them. "But I prayed for you." Although you will waver a little, the seeds of faith will remain in you, and although the spirit of the tempter will shake the leaves, the root lives, and your faith will not fail. “And once you have returned, strengthen your brothers.” It is convenient to understand this, namely: since I addressed you first with My word, then, after you have mourned your denial of Me and come to repentance, strengthen others. For this is fitting for you, who first confessed Me as the rock and foundation of the Church.” “All further speech of the Lord about taking the vagina and fur and buying a knife (or sword), of course, must be understood not in a literal sense, but in a symbolic one. The Lord simply warns them that an extremely difficult period of life is coming for them, and they must prepare for it themselves, that hunger, thirst, disasters, and enmity from people await them; if their Teacher Himself is considered a villain in the eyes of these people, then what good can they expect? The apostles, out of naivety, understood everything that the Lord said literally, and said: “Behold, there are two knives.” Seeing that they did not understand Him, the Lord stopped this conversation with the words: “There is enough.” “According to all four Evangelists, Christ predicts to Peter that he will deny Him on the coming night three times before the rooster crows, and according to Mark, before the rooster crows twice. This great accuracy of St. Mark is explained, of course, by the fact that he wrote his Gospel under the leadership of St. Apex himself. Petra. The first rooster crow occurs around midnight, the second - before morning; next, the meaning of this is that even before morning comes, Peter will deny his Teacher and Lord three times. Apparently, the Lord predicted Peter’s denial twice: the first time at the evening, as St. Luke and St. John, and the second time - after leaving the supper, on the road to Gethsemane, as reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark".
In. 16. Chapter 1. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, and believe in Me. 2. In My Father's house are many mansions. But if it were not so, I would have told you: I am going to prepare a place for you. 3. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that you also may be where I am. 4. And where I am going, you know, and you know the way. 5. Thomas said to Him: Lord! we don’t know where you’re going; and how can we know the way? 6. Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. 7. If you knew Me, you would also know My Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him. 8. Philip said to Him: Lord! show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 9. Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father? 10. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; The Father abiding in Me, He does the works. 11. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; but if not so, then believe Me by the very works. 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do will he also do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father. 13. And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15. If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, 17. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; and you know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. “The “world” as the totality of those who do not believe in the Lord and people hostile to Him, alien in everything and contrary to the Comforter Spirit, cannot accept Him, but He remained with the Apostles thanks to their communication with the Lord during His earthly life, and in them it will be that to remain with them forever, when it comes upon them on the day of Pentecost.” “Provided that the disciples, loving the Lord, will keep His commandments, the Lord promises to send them a Comforter who will abide with them forever, the Spirit of Truth, who will, as it were, replace the name of Christ and thanks to whom they will have constant mysterious communication with Christ.” “Yet He says this to the disciples to console them and to confirm that after death He will not perish, will not be destroyed, but will again remain in His dignity and will be in heaven. For I, he says, go to the Father; I will not be destroyed, but I will go to where life is most blissful. Although I die, I will not appear at all powerless; on the contrary, I will also invest others with the power to do great things. And whatever you want, I will give it to you.” “Do you see how great is the power of the Only Begotten? He also gives others the power to do things greater than those He Himself did. Because I am going to My Father, that is, now you will work miracles, for I am already leaving. - Explaining to us how someone who believes in Him can do great and wonderful things, he says: “If you ask anything in My name,” Here he shows us the method of working miracles: anyone can work miracles through petition and prayer and calling on His name. So the apostles said to the lame man: “In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Therefore, he did not say: whatever you ask, I will ask the Father, and he will do it, but: “I will do it,” showing His own power. “Let the Father be glorified in the Son.” (Acts 3:6) “Do you see how great is the power of the Only Begotten? He also gives others the power to do things greater than those He Himself did. Because I am going to My Father, that is, now you will work miracles, for I am already leaving. - Explaining to us how someone who believes in Him can do great and wonderful things, he says: “If you ask anything in My name,” Here he shows us the method of working miracles: anyone can work miracles through petition and prayer and calling on His name. So the apostles said to the lame man: “In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Therefore, he did not say: whatever you ask, I will ask the Father, and he will do it, but: “I will do it,” showing His own power. “Let the Father be glorified in the Son.” (Acts 3:6) “The Lord promises to endow them with the power of working miracles, fulfilling everything that they ask of Him in prayer: prayer in the Name of the Lord the Redeemer will work miracles.” “The Lord expresses, as it were, regret for Philip’s lack of understanding and inspires in him the uselessness of his request, since in Him - through His works, through His teaching, through His very God-human personality - they should have known the Father long ago. " Blzh. Theophylact: “Philip!” you want to see the Father with your bodily eye and think that you have already seen Me. But I tell you that if you saw Me, you would see Him too. And since you did not see Him now, you did not see Me as you should look at Me: you saw Me bodily, since I also have a body, but you did not see the Divine being; therefore, you cannot see the Father’s being bodily and being. Neither Me nor the Father can be seen physically. For he who has seen Me has seen the Father also. You can understand more clearly this way: I am consubstantial with the Father. So, whoever saw Me, that is, knew Me, knew the Father. For when being and nature are one, then knowledge is one.” “In Christ is the complete revelation of God, just as He previously said to the Jews: “I and the Father are one” (John. 10:30). And the disciples of the Lord, knowing Christ, should also know the Father. True, they did not know Christ well, but they gradually approached this knowledge, which the Lord gave them especially at the Last Supper. Similar in character to Thomas and also distinguished by his rationality, Philip then said to the Lord: “Show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us,” meaning, of course, by this the sensory vision that, for example, the prophets were awarded.” Blzh. Theophylact: “The Lord sees what is on their minds - to ask and find out where He is going. Therefore, it gives them a reason to ask about it. You, he says, know where I am going, and you know the path, and thus leads them to the question. That’s why Thomas says: “Lord! we do not know where You are going; and how can we know the way? Thomas says this out of great fear, and not from a desire to follow the Lord, like Peter. Therefore, Christ, wanting to show that it is convenient and pleasant for them to follow Him, announces where He is going and what the path is. He goes to the Father, and the “way” is He Himself - Christ. If I am the way, then through Me you will, without a doubt, ascend to the Father. I am not only the way, but “and the truth”; therefore you need to be cheerful, because you will not be deceived by Me. I am also “life”; therefore, even if you die, death will not prevent you from coming to the Father. Therefore, watch, for everyone comes to the Father through Me. And since it is in My power to lead you to the Father, you will, without a doubt, come to Him.” Zigaben: “I, says Jesus Christ, will go to prepare a place for you, i.e. to renew the ascent to heaven, where no man has ever ascended, - however, I will come again at My second coming and I will take you, raised from the dead, to Me to reign with Me forever.” “The Lord said to Peter: Afterwards you will follow Me. So that others do not think that this promise was given only to Peter, but not to them, the Lord says that the same country that will accept Peter will accept you too. Therefore, there is no need to be embarrassed about the place. For there are many mansions “in My Father’s house,” that is, under the authority of the Father. By “house” we mean power and superiors. If there were no monasteries, then I would go and cook for you.” Blzh. Theophylact: “When the apostles heard about Supreme Peter that he would renounce, naturally they were overcome with confusion. Therefore, the Lord comforts them and calms the confusion of their hearts. Then, the disciples seemed to say; How can we not be embarrassed when such difficulties arise for us? He answers: “believe in God, and believe in Me,” and all your difficulties will be resolved, and confusion will be calmed through faith in God and in Me.” “I will pray the Father and give you a Comforter, that is, I will propitiate the Father for you and reconcile Him with you who are hostile to Him because of sin, and He, propitiated by My death for you and reconciled to you, will send you the Spirit.”
18. I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you. 19. A little more and the world will no longer see Me; and you will see Me, for I live, and you will live. 20. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him Myself. 22. Judas, not Iscariot, says to Him: Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? 23. Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him. 24. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; The word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me. 25. I told you these things while I was with you. 26. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you. 27. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28. You heard that I said to you: I am going away from you and will come to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I said: I am going to the Father; for My Father is greater than Me. 29. And behold, I told you these things before they happened, so that you might believe when they happen. 30. It’s already a little time for me to talk to you; For the prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me. 31. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do: get up, let us go from here. “The Lord with His spiritual gaze sees the approach of His enemy “the prince of this world” - Satan in the person of Judas with the spira and in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the devil attacked the Lord, tempting Him with the fear of torment and the hour of death - the last attempt to deviate the Lord from committing redemptive feat for the salvation of humanity. The Lord says at the same time that the devil “has nothing in Him,” that is, due to the sinlessness of Christ, he cannot find anything in Him that he could dominate.” “Ending the Easter supper, the head of the family said to those present: “Peace be with you,” and then the supper concluded with the singing of psalms. The Lord, following custom, also teaches them peace, but upper world , in comparison with what the world usually gives, lying in evil: “my peace I give to you” - this is a peace that perfectly balances all the forces of the human spirit, brings complete harmony to the inner mood of a person, calms all confusion and indignation, this is the one precisely the peace that the Angels sang about on Christmas night. Therefore, the Apostles should not be embarrassed or frightened by anything.” “Since the Lord saw that the apostles did not fully hope for His resurrection, did not even know what it was, and therefore greatly grieved and were embarrassed at the thought of separation from Him, He condescended to their weakness and said: I told you that I I will go and come again; and yet you still grieve, because you do not trust Me, that although I die, I will not leave you in your sorrows. Now, having heard that I am going to My Father, whom you consider great and greater than Me, you should rejoice that I am going to Him, greater than Me and able to destroy all disasters.” “Peace I leave with you,” saying to them, as it were: What harm will come to you from the turmoil of the world, as long as you are at peace with Me? For My peace is not like that of the world. This peace is often harmful and useless, but I give such peace that you will be at peace with each other and will form one body. And this will make you stronger than everyone else. Although many will rebel against you, with unanimity and mutual peace you will not suffer at all.” Zigaben: “Other people, when they die, leave money and property to their relatives, but Jesus Christ left peace to His disciples: peace, He says, I leave with you, so that you may be at peace with each other and with Me, and so that you will not be hindered in the least. and the indignation of the world did no harm.” “All this may now be unclear to the disciples, but when the Comforter comes, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in the name of Christ, He will instruct the Apostles - He will teach them everything and remind them of everything that Christ taught them: He will reveal to them the secret of spiritual life, life in Christ " Zigaben: “It is obvious that the Lord comes into the heart of the follower of the commandments, makes the heart the temple and dwelling of God, is seen in this temple, is seen not with bodily eyes, but with the mind, is seen spiritually. The image of vision is incomprehensible to the beginner and inexplicable to him in words. Accept the promise by faith: in due time you will know it by blessed experience.” “The Lord explains that He speaks about His mysterious spiritual manifestation to His followers, repeating the previous thought about the need for this to love Him and fulfill His commandments. The world, which does not love Him and does not fulfill His commandments, is incapable of such spiritual communication with the Lord.” “Judas thought that just as we see the dead in dreams, so He will appear to them; That’s why he says: “Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” He says this out of great amazement and horror.” “He says to them something like this: you think that out of love you grieve over My death, but I, on the contrary, give a sign of love that you should not grieve. So, whoever loves Me has My commandments, and not only has them, but also keeps them, so that the thief - the devil - does not come and steal this treasure, for careful caution is needed so as not to lose them. What reward will he who loves Me receive? “He will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will appear to him.” “Do not think that you will no longer see Me. For I will not go away from you forever. I will come and will not leave you orphans. And so that they do not think that He will still appear to them and to everyone with a body, He says: “The world will no longer see Me.” You will be the only one who will see Me after the resurrection. "For I live"; although I will suffer death, I will rise again. “And you will live,” that is, having seen Me, you will rejoice and, as if after death, will come to life from My appearance. Or this: just as My death served to bring life: so you too, although you die, will live. So, do not grieve either for Me, who is dying, or for yourselves.” "I will come to you" and visibly after the resurrection and mysteriously through spiritual communication in the sacrament of communion, through the mediation of the Holy Spirit.”
In. Chapter 15 1. I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2. Every branch of Me that does not bear fruit He cuts off; and every one that bears fruit he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit. 3. You have already been purified through the word that I preached to you. 4. Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in Me. 5. I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6. Whoever does not abide in Me will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn. 7. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8. By this will My Father be glorified, if you bear much fruit and become My disciples. 9. As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love. 10. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12. This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. “He who keeps His commandments loves Him. By all this He shows that they will be safe when they lead a pure life.” “The glory of God and the Father is the dignity of the disciples of His Son. For when the light of the apostles shone before people, then they glorified the Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:14-16). The fruit of the apostles are also those peoples who, through their teaching, were brought to faith and began to glorify God.” “The Lord promises the disciples that if they remain in constant spiritual communion with Him, all their prayers, of course, in accordance with the will of God, will be fulfilled. But for this they need to constantly abide in the love of Christ and fulfill His commandments. The expression of the disciples’ stay in the love of Christ is their mutual love for each other, which should extend to the readiness to give their lives for their neighbor.” “The branches that do not bear fruit are “gathered and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.” The time when the Lord said this was the time of clearing the vineyards and, perhaps, before the eyes of the Lord and the disciples there were fires on which dry branches were burning grape vines. It was an expressive image of spiritually withered people, for whom the fire of Gehenna is destined for them in the future life.” “Every person who, through faith, has become part of the root, united with the Lord and became a steward of Him, must also bear fruit, that is, lead a virtuous life, so if someone has only an unfounded confession of faith, and does not bear fruit through keeping the commandments, he becomes a dead branch; for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:29). So, everyone who believes is in Christ as long as he believes; for, he says, every branch that is in Me, if it does not bear fruit, the Father “cuts off,” that is, deprives him of fellowship with the Son, and “cleanses” the one that bears fruit.” “The apostles of Christ have already purified themselves by listening to the teaching of the Lord, but in order to maintain and perfect this purity, they must constantly take care to be one with Christ. Only those who are in constant spiritual communion with Christ can bear the fruits of Christian perfection. “Without Me you cannot do anything.” “The Father is a vinedresser, as the owner of the grapes, cultivating them himself and through others: He sent down His Son to the earth, planting Him like a fruitful Vine, so that the wild and barren branches of humanity, merging with this Vine, would receive new juices from Him and themselves become fruitful." “Branches that do not bear fruit are cut off: those who do not prove faith by their deeds are cast out from the community of believers, sometimes even in this life, but finally on the day of Judgment; those who believe and bear fruit are cleansed by the power and action of the Holy Spirit, through temptations of various kinds and suffering, in order to be even more perfect in their moral life.” Christ’s conversation with his disciples on the way to Gethsemane “He wants us to love each other not just as it happened, but in the way He loved us. At the same time, he shows us the way to keep the commandments, namely, through keeping one commandment - the commandment of love. As he says: love one another, you too, just as I loved you, then this indicates the measure and perfection of love. For there is no greater love than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. Therefore you also lay down your lives for one another, just as I am dying for you.”
14. You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15. I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have told you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you. 17. This I command you, that you love one another. 18. If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; If they have kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21. But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23. He who hates Me also hates my Father. 24. If I had not done among them works that no one else had done, they would not have had sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. 25. But let the word that is written in their law be fulfilled: They have hated Me without cause. 26. When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me; 27. And you also will testify, because you were with Me from the beginning. “If I had not come, if I had not spoken, they could have said: we did not hear. And now their anger is unpardonable. I not only taught doctrine, but also performed deeds that no one else had done, for example, a miracle over the blind man, over Lazarus and other similar things. What is their excuse? And Moses (Deut. 18:18-21) commands to obey the one who works miracles and teaches piety. And now they saw such things, and yet they hated both Me and My Father. Their hatred was born from malice alone, and not from any other reason.” “Next is the Lord in verses and 1-3 v. Chapter 16 warns the disciples at length about the persecution that awaits them from a world hostile to Christ. They should not be embarrassed by this hatred of the world, knowing that their Divine Teacher was the first to be subjected to this hatred: this hatred is understandable, because the Lord singled out disciples from a world that loves only what belongs to it, which corresponds to its spirit of all sin, malice and wickedness . When persecuted by the world, disciples must console themselves with the thought that they are no greater than their Lord and Teacher.” “I, he says, love you so much that I revealed untold secrets to you. For I have told you everything that I heard from My Father. Having said that the proof of My love for you is the communication of secrets to you, he adds another sign of love. “I have chosen you,” he says, that is, it was not you who were drawn to My friendship, but I to you, and I was the first to love you. How then will I leave you for the next time? “And I planted you,” that is, I planted you, “that you might go,” that is, that you might grow, multiply, expand, spread, and bear fruit.” “Mutual love between students makes them friends with each other, and since the union of this mutual love them in Christ, who loved them with the same love, then, by becoming friends of one another, they become friends of Christ.” “If they hate you, this is not at all new, for they hated Me before you. Therefore, you should find great consolation in the fact that you become My companions in enduring hatred. You, he says, on the contrary, would need to grieve if the world, that is, evil people, loved you. For if they loved you, it would be a sign that you yourself have fellowship with them in the same malice and deceit. And now, when the evil ones hate you, rejoice. For they hate you for your virtue.” “Encouraging the disciples in the sorrows awaiting them, the Lord again reminds them of the upcoming sending down to them of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, who through the Apostles will testify to the world about Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will send the Comforter, according to the right of His redemptive merits, but He will send not from Himself, but from the Father, for the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is not from the Son, but from the Father: “who comes from the Father.”
In. Chapter 16 1. I told you these things so that you would not be tempted. 2. They will drive you out of the synagogues; the time even comes when everyone who kills you will think that he is serving God. 3. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or Me. 4. But I told you this so that when that time comes, you will remember what I told you about this; I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you. 5. And now I go to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me: Where are you going? 6. But because I told you this, your heart was filled with sorrow. 7. But I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; and if I go, I will send Him to you, 8. and He, having come, will convict the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment: 9. about sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10. about the truth, that I go to My Father, and you will no longer see Me; 11. About judgment, that the prince of this world is condemned. 12. I still have much to tell you; but now you cannot contain it. 13. When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak what He hears, and He will tell you the future. 14. He will glorify Me, because He will take of Mine and proclaim it to you. 15. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that he will take from Mine and tell it to you. 16. Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, for I go to the Father. 17. Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What is it that He says to us: Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, and: I am going to the Father?” 18. So they said, “What is it that He says, “soon”? We don't know what he says. “The Lord tells the disciples that until they are illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they are unable to properly understand and assimilate everything that He has to tell them, but the Holy Spirit, when he comes, will “guide them into all truth,” i.e. will guide them into areas of Christian truth that are difficult for them to comprehend now. All these revelations of the Holy Spirit will be drawn from the same source of Divine wisdom as the teaching of Jesus Christ: He will speak, like Christ, what he “heard from the Father,” as from the Primary Source of Divine truth. By these actions of the Holy Spirit Christ will be glorified, because He will teach the same things that Christ taught.” “Thus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles will win a great moral victory over this world lying in evil, although it will persecute and persecute them. This prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled when the formerly timid and fearful disciples, who fled in different directions when the Lord was taken and then sat “for the fear of the Jews” in a locked upper room, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, courageously and undauntedly preached about Christ in front of thousands of crowds of people, testified about Him all over the world and they were no longer afraid of anything, even being “known before the kings and rulers of the world.” “It will denounce “about the judgment that the prince of this world is condemned” by the fact that the prince of this world is condemned and defeated by Me... the devil is condemned and it is proven to everyone that he is defeated by Me. For I could not have done this if I had not been stronger than him, and had I not been free from all sin. How is this proven? Because with the coming of the Spirit, all those who believed in Christ trampled upon the prince of the world and laughed at him. And from this it is clear that he was condemned by Christ much earlier.” “He will also denounce the truth that I am going to My Father,” that is, he will prove to them that I, being righteous and blameless in life, was killed by them unjustly, and the proof of this is that I am going to the Father. Since they will kill Me as an atheist and a lawless one, the Spirit will prove to them that I am not like that; for if I were an opponent of God and a transgressor of the Law, I would not have received honor from God and the Lawgiver, and, moreover, honor not temporary, but eternal.” “He will “convict the world of sin” and show that they sin without believing. For when they see that the Spirit, through the hands of the disciples, performs special signs and wonders, and after that they do not believe: how will they not be worthy of condemnation and not be guilty of the greatest sin? Now they can say that I am the son of a carpenter, the son of a poor mother, although I perform miracles. And then, when the Spirit does such things in My name, their unbelief will be inexcusable.” “The Lord, to console them, began to explain to them how important His departure was for them and for the whole world, for only in this case would the Comforter come to them, who would convict the world about sin, about righteousness and about judgment. “Convict” is used somewhere in the sense: “will bring to light”, “will bring to consciousness a wrong, a crime, a sin.” “All this is “I tell you not to be offended,” that is, so that your faith will not be shaken in the persecution that awaits you. These persecutions will go so far that you will be excommunicated from the synagogues and even considered godly deed kill you. Jewish fanaticism has indeed reached such a degree of blindness. The Jews were convinced that “he who sheds the blood of the wicked does the same as he who makes a sacrifice.” So St. fell victim to this fanaticism. First Martyr Stephen. The persecutor Saul, who later became ap. Paul, also thought that by participating in the murder of Christians, he was doing what was pleasing to God.”
19. Jesus, realizing that they wanted to ask Him, said to them: Are you asking one another about this, which I said: A little while later you will not see Me, and again a short time later you will see Me? 20. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will mourn and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21. When a woman gives birth, she suffers sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to a baby, she no longer remembers the sorrow for joy, because a man was born into the world. 22. So now you also have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you; 23 And on that day you will not ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 25 Hitherto I have spoken to you in parables; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but will tell you directly about the Father. 26. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you: 27. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and believed that I came from God. 28. I came from the Father and came into the world; and again I leave the world and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said to Him: Behold, now You speak plainly, and speak no parables. 30. Now we see that You know everything and have no need for anyone to question You. Therefore we believe that You came from God. 31 Jesus answered them, Do you believe now? 32. Behold, the hour is coming, and has already come, that you will scatter, each in his own direction, and leave Me alone; but I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. 33. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but take heart: I have overcome the world. “For Christ to go to the Father means to return to the state in which He was before the incarnation, as the Hypostatic Word. These words struck the disciples with their clarity; They noted with particular satisfaction that the Lord was now speaking to them directly, without using hidden, indirect speech, and expressed their ardent faith in Him as the true Messiah. It was sincere and deep faith, but the gaze of the Lord saw the imperfection of this faith, not yet illuminated by the Holy Spirit. “Do you believe now?” - He asks: “no, your present faith is still imperfect, it will not withstand the first test, which soon, in just a few hours, it will have to be subjected to, when you “dissolve each into your own, and leave Me alone.” “I told you all this,” the Lord ends His farewell conversation, so that you “have peace in Me,” so that you do not lose heart in the hours of trials ahead of you, remembering that I warned you about all this in advance. In spiritual communication with Me you will find the necessary peace of Spirit." Zigaben: “On that day, i.e. when the Comforter comes, don’t ask Me any of the things you’re asking now, namely, where are you going? show us the Father, etc., because you will learn all this from the Comforter, but by calling on My name, you will receive everything you ask for.” “to show that after sadness there is joy, and that sadness gives birth to joy, and that sadness is short-lived, but joy is endless, he turns to an example from ordinary life and says: a wife, when she gives birth, has sorrow.” ““On that day,” i.e. the descent of the Holy Spirit, from which day the Apostles will enter into constant spiritual communion with Christ, all Divine mysteries will become clear to them, and every prayer will be fulfilled, to complete the fullness of their joy.” “The Lord saw that the disciples, burdened with sorrow, did not fully understand His words; therefore He offers them the clearest teaching about His death. “You,” he says, “will weep and lament” that I will die on the Cross, “and the world will rejoice,” that is, the Jews, worldly minded, will rejoice that they destroyed Me, their enemy; but “your sorrow will be turned into joy,” and the joy of the Jews, on the contrary, will turn into sorrow for them when, after the resurrection, My name is glorified. You will be sad, but these sufferings of Mine, about which you are sad, will be the joy of the whole world and salvation.” “How did He overcome the world? Having deposed the chief of worldly passions. For everything submitted and yielded to Him. Just as with the defeat of Adam all nature was condemned, so with the victory of Christ victory extended to all nature, and in Christ Jesus we were given the power to tread on snakes and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy.”
(Matt. 26, 30-35; Mark 14, 26-31; Luke 22, 31-39; John 13, 31-16, 33)
All four evangelists narrate about it, and the first three convey only the prediction about the denial of the Apostle Peter and the dispersion of the apostles, and Saint John sets out this conversation in detail.
The Savior began his farewell conversation with a prediction about His imminent departure. "God! Where are you going?" ¾ asks His apostle Peter. Jesus answered him: “Where I go, you cannot go with Me now, but later you will follow Me” (John 13:36). This answer aroused Peter’s even greater curiosity: “Lord! Why can’t I follow You now?” In response, the Savior predicts that a little time will pass and the disciples will scatter in fear, and Peter will deny Him. The disciples and the Apostle Peter in particular tried to convince Him of the opposite. Then Jesus Christ said to him: “The rooster will not crow today until you deny three times...” (Luke 22:34).
The further account of the Last Supper is given only by the Evangelist John. “Now, ¾ we read in chapter 13, ¾ the Son of Man was glorified, and God was glorified in Him.” These tins mean that the Lord, through His suffering, death and resurrection, defeated evil, gained glory Himself and glorified His Father.
Preparing for his imminent departure, He gives His followers a new commandment - the commandment of love. The Savior calls this commandment new not because it was not known in the Old Testament, but because love in the Old Testament was not compassionate and self-sacrificing, as was the love of Jesus Christ Himself for people.
Hearing about the upcoming separation from their beloved Teacher, the disciples were very sad, but the Lord reassured them, saying: “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God and believe in Me,” for faith should be a consolation for them in sorrow. The Lord reveals to the disciples that He is going to the Heavenly Father in order to prepare monasteries for them in His house, which until now have been closed by the Fall. But I, He says, am going for this purpose, to open them for you, My followers: “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself... And where I am going, you know and you know the way.” .
"God! We don’t know where you are going: how can we know the way?” ¾ the Apostle Thomas asks in bewilderment, to which the Lord replies: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Encouraging His disciples, the Lord promises to send them the Comforter ¾ of the Holy Spirit, who will guide them into all truth. At the end of the conversation, the Savior tells them that this is why He predicted His suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, so that they would not be embarrassed, but would be strengthened by faith in Him.
The path to the Mount of Olives lay between vineyards. Just as grape branches grow on a vine, receive juice from it and, thanks to it, bear fruit, Christ’s disciples live spiritually and bear fruit for eternal life only when they are in grace-filled communion with the Lord. If this connection is broken, the branches dry up and are thrown into the fire.
To preserve fruit-bearing branches, the winegrower must prune them in time and clear them of thin growths, of everything that impedes the development of vitality in them. Likewise, the disciples, who are in direct communion with Christ and who are participants in His Divine life, need to be cleansed of everything alien that remains in them from their previous life, previous concepts, from everything that hinders the revelation of spiritual perfection in them. The evidence of their constant fellowship with Christ should be the keeping of His commandments, and above all the commandment of their love for a friend, which should be the same as His love for them, which prompts Him to lay down His life. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” Christ teaches them.
Ahead of them await suffering and persecution for His name, for they are not of this world. If they were “of the world,” whose deeds are evil, then the world would love its own, but since the Lord chose them, the world will hate them.
This was Christ's last instruction to His disciples. Leaving them, He said: “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you” (John 14:26).
When the Apostles silently accepted the Body and Blood of Christ, He said: now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God was glorified in Him, then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will soon glorify Him. In this prophetic speech, Jesus speaks of the near future as if it had already happened. Speaking to the Apostles about His impending death, pointing out to them His betrayer, and finally offering them His Body and Blood, Jesus wanted to lead His disciples out of that depressed state of spirit into which what had just happened should have led them. Therefore, He immediately attracts their attention to the thought of His glory. “To be put to death (says John Chrysostom) and to conquer death, and after death to appear more powerful than before, is truly great glory.” If God was glorified in this way in the person of the Son of Man, then He will soon glorify Him by accepting Him (in the Ascension) into unity with Himself.
Speaking about His death, which, however, would constitute His glory, Jesus involuntarily turned to the thought of the upcoming separation from those who remained faithful to Him to the end. Addressing them now with a farewell speech, He called them as He had never called them before. " Children! - he said, - I won't be with you for long(John 13:33). Just as before, when talking with the Jews, I said that they cannot follow Me to where I go, so I say to you that you cannot follow Me. You must stay and continue My work. And so that you can continue it as I began, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). Out of love for humanity, I give My life for them, and you should show the same selfless love for people; such love will serve as a mark that distinguishes My followers.”
Love for neighbors is the law of God, absolutely obligatory for all those entering the Kingdom of God; Jesus spoke about this law more than once to His disciples; therefore, the commandment about love could not have been for the Apostles at all new; and if Jesus called her new commandment, then only because now He commanded them not only to love everyone, even their enemies, and to do good to them, as was said in the Sermon on the Mount, but even to sacrifice their lives, if this is necessary for the salvation of others, to lay down their souls for them.
In an ardent and loving heart Peter was painfully aware of the thought of the impending separation. “Why separate? - he thought, “if He needs to leave this world, then I will follow Him.” " God! - he said, - where are you going?“Jesus understood where this question was going and answered Peter: where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me(John 13:36).
To what had been said before that the Apostles could not follow Him, Jesus now added: and then you will follow me. This addition means that the time will come when he, Peter, will suffer the same martyrdom, which is waiting for Jesus; at the present time, such a death would be premature for him: he must fulfill the high mission of a preacher of a new teaching; Moreover, now he is also incapable of voluntarily suffering for this teaching.
The strong desire to follow Jesus at all costs wherever He went gave Peter the courage to tell Him about it now. God! - he objected, - Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You(John 13:37).
Knowing that the Apostles’ love for Him, unfortunately, had not yet reached the degree that could move them to lay down their souls for Him, Jesus sadly said to Peter: “Will you lay down your life for Me? This very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times! Simon! Simon! If you knew what kind of struggle lies ahead of you with temptations and trials, you would not say this so arrogantly. Satan wanted to control you, to sow you like wheat; but I prayed that at least your faith would not weaken and that you, having repented after your fall, would strengthen your brothers.”
Peter could not admit the possibility of his own, even temporary, falling away from Christ, and therefore, with the same arrogance, he answered: God! with You I am ready to go to prison and to death(Luke 22, 33). But Jesus again warns him against overconfidence: I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you do not know Me.(Luke 22:34).
Sending His Apostles to preach and knowing with what malice the pagan world would react to the new teaching of love and mercy, Jesus had to warn them about the dangers ahead. Their quiet, calm life ends with His removal from them. When they went, on His instructions, to preach in Galilee and Judea, nothing prevented them from fulfilling their purpose; They did not need anything, although they did not take with them a bag of money, a bag of bread, or spare shoes. Now, when they have to go to the pagans, they must be especially caring, prudent and courageous, especially since then their Teacher will no longer be there. And if the prophecy is fulfilled over Him, and, by crucifying Him, He is counted among the villains, then what should they, His disciples, expect? Instability in convictions, lack of faith and weakness of character must now be replaced by such a strength of deeply convinced faith, which even the gates of hell cannot overcome, and such courage in defending this faith amid all trials and persecutions, which can only be compared With sword strength 70.
The apostles did not understand these words; They thought that Jesus was commanding them to arm themselves with swords, and they naively said to Him: God! Here, there are two swords(Luke 22:38).
Seeing that the Apostles did not understand Him, and intending to explain the same idea to them more clearly in the subsequent conversation, Jesus stopped this conversation, saying to them with a meek smile: enough.
Turning again to the question of His departure from this world and wanting the Apostles to finally guess where He was going, Jesus said to them: “Where Peter eventually follows Me, you all will also go; there will be a place for all of you in my Father's house, for in My Father's house are many mansions(John 14:2).”
It would seem that the Apostles should have understood that Jesus Christ goes to His Father, that is, to God, and that the path of this ascension to God is the path of suffering, death and His Resurrection. But they were still so confused by false Jewish concepts about the Kingdom of the Messiah that they could not guess what Christ was talking about. And one of them, Thomas, said to Him: God! we don’t know where you’re going; and how can we know the way? (John 14:5).
The path leading Christ to God is His suffering, death and Resurrection; the path leading people to God is Christ Himself, who revealed to people the truth of God and the path to Eternal Life. Believing that Thomas was more interested in the path that people should take to God, Jesus said to him: “ No one comes to the Father except through Me, for I am the way to him both truth and life(John 14:6). If you understood who I am, you would know My Father, and if you say that you know Me, then, therefore, you know My Father too.”
Despite such explanations, lack of faith still confused the Apostles; and behold, Philip says: “ God! show us the Father(John 14:8), and this will be enough for us to believe in everything that You say.”
“I have been with you for so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? The works that I do, I do not of Myself: the Father who abides in Me does them. The words that I speak to you, I also do not speak from Myself: it is the Father who speaks in Me. It is time for you not only to believe My words, but even to be convinced by My works that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. Therefore, he who has seen Me has also seen the Father. And you ask to show you the Father.”
Christ told the Apostles that if they do not believe His words that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, then by His very works they must believe this. If He was forced to refer to His works, then this proves that the faith of the Apostles was still too weak. That is why He reminded them of what was said before about the power of faith, about the need for them to have this power. Before, He told them that strong, unshakable faith can work extraordinary miracles, it can even move mountains; and now he said that he who truly believes in Him can perform even greater miracles than He did; but at the same time he added, as if to clarify, that believers can perform these miracles not independently, not by their own power or authority, but that everything they do will be done through them by He, Christ: whatever you ask the Father in My name, that I will do(John 14:14).
In further conversation with the Apostles, Jesus persuades them to love Him, since love for Him will prompt them to strictly keep all His commandments, and whoever keeps the commandments and loves Him will be loved by the Father. And I will love Him and appear to him Myself. I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you(John 14, 21, 18).
The apostles still expected Jesus to reveal Himself to the world in the greatness that the imagination of the Jews ascribed to their expected Messiah. Therefore, one of the Apostles, Judas (not Iscariot), asked: God! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?(John 14:22). Answering this question, Jesus, in development of the expressed thought, added that if they, that is, the Apostles, love Him and fulfill His commandments, then He will appear to them not alone, but together with the Father: and We will come to him and make our abode with him(John 14:23). To the question of how God the Father and the Son of God will come and dwell in the souls of the Apostles, the answer is contained in the words of Jesus just spoken: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit truth, which the world cannot accept (John 14:16-17). This means that, after the departure of Jesus Christ from this world, that is, after His Resurrection and Ascension, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in Him and the Father, will be sent down to the Apostles, will make His abode in their souls and will remain with them until the end their lives. The Holy Spirit will be their Comforter and will teach them everything that they need to know for their preaching work, and will remind them of everything that Christ told them and which they could not understand at one time. From the book of the Acts of the Apostles it is known that ten days after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, giving them knowledge of everything they needed, knowledge of the languages of those peoples to whom they were supposed to go to preach, as well as an understanding of everything that they heard and saw when they followed Christ, and what they did not understand then 71.
Thus, this entire speech of Jesus contains a promise to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and in His Person to appear to them with the Father. But since this speech is intermittent and contains repetitions of what was said (which is partly explained by the state of mind of Jesus Himself), then from individual words, for example: I will come to you, you will see Me, we can conclude that Jesus spoke to the Apostles about His upcoming appearances to them after His Resurrection.
The end of the last supper
The Easter evening has come to an end. According to custom, at the end of this evening the head of the family said to those present: Peace to you! The same words were said when meeting someone, when leaving, and generally served as a common greeting. After the head of the family said “peace be with you” at the Easter evening, the singing of psalms began, and then everyone dispersed.
Observing this custom, Jesus, at the end of the evening, said to the Apostles: “ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give you peace so that your heart is not troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).
The usual wish for peace, expressed by people on certain occasions, remains just one wish, powerless to bring it into reality. Christ is not limited to the desire for peace alone, He gives his Apostles, leaves Him to them, and, moreover, gives them the peace that fills His own soul. This is that peace of the soul, that balance of all spiritual forces, that peace of spirit that the angels sang about on the night of the birth of Jesus Christ. It was this peace that Christ brought to earth and gave it to all His true followers, members of the Kingdom of God founded by Him on earth.
Continuing His speech, Jesus said: “I leave My peace with you because I am leaving you; parting with Me, you should rejoice, since I have already told you that I am going to the Father, who is greater than Me.”
In divinity, Christ is equal to the Father, but in humanity he cannot be equal with Him; That is why, speaking about the glory of the Father, to whom He goes, Christ said that this glory is greater than the glory of His as the God-man seen by the Apostles.
Leaving Jerusalem
“I purposely tell you now that I am going to the Father, so that you will remember My words and believe them when they come true. There is little time left for Me to speak to you, for the prince of this world is coming in the person of My betrayer, although there is nothing in Me that would give him the right to do this to Me. But so that the world may know that I go voluntarily, doing the will of My Father out of love for Him, I say to you now: Arise! Let us go from here to meet those who are coming to take Me!”
Everyone got up, sang psalms (115-118) and walked towards the Mount of Olives.