ACC ~ John 13 v1a

BEGINNING OF THE PASSION NARRATIVE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: From here the Evangelist passes to the story of the passion. Here also, insofar as is possible, he is careful in saying nothing that has already been related by the other [Evangelists], unless the course of the narrative obliges him [to do so], and it is impossible to construct an accurate order of events without reporting part of the facts already related by his colleagues. When he reports those things done and said by our Lord to his disciples, which we do not find to be mentioned by the others in their books, he wants to show that our Savior did not undergo his passion outside his knowledge and expectation but by his free will. Only when he wanted to did he taste death. … In the same way here, by writing, “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father,” he means that he knew exactly the time of his passion and everything that would happen to him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.13.1. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:252-53.

THE TRUE PASSOVER COMES

AUGUSTINE: Pascha (Passover) is not, as some think, a Greek noun, but it is Hebrew, although there is a remarkable amount of agreement between the two languages over this noun. For inasmuch as the Greek word paschein means “to suffer,” Pascha has been supposed to mean suffering, as if the noun derived its name from Christ’s passion. But in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, Pascha means “Passover,” [1] because the Pascha was then celebrated for the first time by God’s people when, in their flight from Egypt, they passed over the Red Sea. [2] And now, that prophetic emblem is fulfilled in truth when Christ is led as a sheep to the slaughter, [3] that by his blood sprinkled on our doorposts, that is, by the sign of his cross marked on our foreheads, we may be delivered from the perdition awaiting this world, just as Israel was delivered from the bondage and destruction of the Egyptians. We perform a most salutary journey when we pass over from the devil to Christ and from this unstable world to his well-established kingdom. … This name, then, of pascha, which, as I have said, is in Latin called transitus (“pass over”), is interpreted, as it were, for us by the blessed Evangelist when he says, “Before the feast of pascha, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world to the Father.” Here you see we have both pascha and passover. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 55.1. [4]

[1] Lat transitus.

[2] From what follows, Augustine surely meant to emphasize the angel of the Lord passing over the houses of the Israelites when killing the firstborn for Egypt. Perhaps we get a glimpse here of a preacher preaching without his notes.

[3] Is 53:7.

[4] ESUS IS INFORMED THAT LAZARUS IS SICK | JOHN 11:1-5

A MYSTICAL PASSOVER

LEO THE GREAT: The very feast that by us is named Pascha among the Hebrews is called Phase, [1] that is, Passover, as the Evangelist attests, saying, “Before the feast of Pascha, Jesus, knowing that his hour was come when he should pass [2] out of this world unto the Father.” But what kind of nature was it that he passed out of unless it was ours, since the Father was in the Son and the Son in the Father inseparably? But because the Word and the Flesh is one person, the assumed is not separated from the assuming nature, and the honor of being promoted is spoken of as accruing to him that promotes. This is what the apostle says in a passage we have already quoted, “Wherefore also God exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name.” [3] Here, the exaltation of his assumed manhood is no doubt spoken of so that he (in whose sufferings the Godhead remains indivisible) is similarly coeternal in the glory of the Godhead. And to share in this unspeakable gift, the Lord himself was preparing a blessed “passing over” for his faithful ones, when on the very threshold of his passion he interceded not only for his apostles and disciples but also for the whole church, saying, “But not for these only I pray, but for those also who shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as you also, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.” [4] SERMON 72.6. [5]

[1] Lat Phase id transitus dicitur. See the Vulgate, Ex 12:11, est enim Phase (id est transitus) Domini. The form of the word is due to defective transliteration, the correct Hebrew form being Pesach, which is derived from a root that means to pass over or to overleap, and thus points back to the historical origin of the festival.

[2] Gk metabē; Lat transeat.

[3] Phil 2:9.

[4] Jn 17:20-21.

[5] NPNF 2 12:186**; CCL 138A: 447-48.

LEAVING HIS EMPTINESS BEHIND

ORIGEN: Surely this statement does not refer to the idea of a change of place with respect to the Father and the Son toward the one who loves Jesus’ word, nor can it be understood in a spatial sense. Rather, the Word of God, by condescending to us and by being humbled, as it were, in regard to his own worth, when he is present with human beings, is said to change places from this world to the Father. The result is that we also see him in his perfection, returning from the emptying with which he emptied himself [1] alongside us, to his own fullness. [2] ON PRAYER 23.2. [3]

[1] Phil 2:7.

[2] Col 1:19, 2:9; Eph 1:23.

[3] OSW 126*; GCS 3(2):350.

Jn