ACC ~ John 17 v11d

THE MEANINGS OF “ONE

” ORIGEN: “One” has many meanings, including that of likeness. It is used both of harmony [1] and likeness. [2] “All the believers were of one heart and mind,” [3] and in the same way, “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” [4] According to likeness of nature and having Adam as the natural origin and head of our birth, we are all said to have one body. So also we are inscribed as having Christ as head through our new birth, which has become to us a figure of the death and resurrection of him who rose as the firstborn from the dead. We inscribe him as head according to the prefiguring of his resurrection, of whom we are individually members and a body, through the Spirit, begotten unto incorruption. [5] FRAGMENT 140 ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. [6]

[1] Gk symphōnian; see 1 Cor 7:5; 2 Cor 6:15; Lk 5:36.

[2] Gk homoiotēta; see Heb 4:15; 7:15.

[3] Acts 4:32.

[4] 1 Cor 12:13.

[5] See 1 Cor 15:49-54.

[6] AEG 5:315**; GCS 10(4):574.

THE BOND OF CHRISTIAN UNITY IN LOVE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Christ wishes the disciples to be kept in a state of unity by maintaining a like-mindedness and an identity of will, being mingled together as it were in soul and spirit and in the law of peace and love for one another. He wishes them to be bound together tightly with an unbreakable bond of love, that they may advance to such a degree of unity that their freely chosen association might even become an image of the natural unity that is conceived to exist between the Father and the Son. That is to say, he wishes them to enjoy a unity that is inseparable and indestructible, which may not be enticed away into a dissimilarity of wills by anything at all that exists in the world or any pursuit of pleasure, but rather reserves the power of love in the unity of devotion and holiness. And this is what happened. For as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul,” [1] that is, in the unity of the Spirit. This is also what Paul himself meant when he said “one body and one Spirit.” [2] “We who are many are one body in Christ for we all partake of the one bread,” [3] and we have all been anointed in the one Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. [4] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.9. [5]

[1] Acts 4:32.

[2] Eph 4:4.

[3] 1 Cor 10:17; see Rom 12:5.

[4] See 1 Cor 12:13.

[5] COA 128.

LOVE IS A MULTIPLIER

CHRYSOSTOM: “For the will of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one.” This is what he wants us to be as well when he says, “That they may be one, as you and I are one.” There is nothing that can equal unanimity and concord, for this is how one becomes many. If two or ten are of one mind, the one is no longer one, but each one is multiplied tenfold, and you will find the one in the ten and the ten in the one. And if they have an enemy, he who attacks the one (as having attacked the ten) is defeated, for he is the target of ten opponents instead of one. Is someone in need? No, he is not in need, for he is wealthy in his greater part, that is, in the nine. And the needy part, the lesser, is concealed by the wealthy part, the greater. Each of these has twenty hands, twenty eyes and as many feet. For he does not see with his own eyes alone but with those of the others as well. He does not walk with his own feet alone but with those of the others. He does not work with his own hands alone but with theirs. He has ten souls, for not only does he think about himself, but those souls also think about him. And if they are made into a hundred, it will still be the same, and their power will be extended even more. Don’t you see how the excess of love makes the one both irresistible and multiplied? See how one can even be in many places, the same both in Persia and in Rome? Don’t you see that what nature cannot do, love can? … See what a multiplier love is when it can even make one a thousand. Why then do we not acquire this power and place ourselves in safety? This is better than all power or riches. This is more than health, than light itself. It is the groundwork for courage. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 78.3-4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:289-90**.

ARIAN MISUNDERSTANDING OF “ONE

” ATHANASIUS: The Arians, however, reply … the Son and the Father are one as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father—just as we too may become one in him. For this is written in the Gospel according to John. [1] … Then, as having found an evasion, these crafty ones add [to John’s Gospel], “If, as we become one in the Father, so also the Son and the Father are one, and thus the Son too is in the Father, how do you pretend that ‘I and the Father are One,’ and ‘I in the Father and the Father in Me,’ mean that the Son is proper and like the Father’s essence? For it follows either that we too are proper to the Father’s essence or the Son is foreign to it as we are foreign.” This is how they idly babble. But they are, in fact, devilishly reckless. … For what is given to humankind by grace is what they would make equal to the Godhead of the giver. And so, hearing that human beings are called sons, they considered themselves equal to the true Son who is by nature [a Son of God]. And now again hearing from the Savior, “that they may be one as we are,” they deceive themselves and are arrogant enough to think that they may be such as the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son—not considering the fall of their father the devil who thought the same thing. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 3.25.17. [2]

[1] Athanasius quotes the Arian usage of Jn 17:11, 20-23.

[2] NPNF 2 4:403**.

A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF “ONE

” ATHANASIUS: For it is as “sons” [that we become one with God], not as the Son. We become as “gods”—we do not become God himself. We are not as the Father but “merciful as the Father.” And, as has been said, by becoming one in this way, that is, as the Father and the Son are one, we shall be one. We shall be so, however, not as the Father is by nature in the Son and the Son in the Father, but according to our own nature. And in this way it is possible for us then to be molded and to learn how we ought to be one, just as we learned also to be merciful. For similar things are naturally one with other similar things. And so, all flesh is ranked together in kind. [1] But the Word is unlike us, although it is like the Father. And therefore, while the Son is in nature and truth one with his own Father, we—as being of one kind with each other (for from one were all made, and one is the nature of all men and women)—become one in our good disposition toward each other. [2] We have as our copy the Son’s natural unity with the Father. For he taught us meekness from himself, saying, “Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” [3] He taught us this not so that we may become equal to him (which is impossible) but so that when we look toward his [example], we may continually remain meek. So also here he desires that our good disposition toward each other should be true and firm and indissoluble, taking himself as the pattern. And so he says, “that they may be one as we are,” whose oneness is indivisible. And so, when they learn from us of that indivisible nature, they may preserve agreement with each other in a similar way. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 3.25.20. [4]

[1] See Against the Arians 2.23, 42.

[2] Gk diathesei. See also Hippolytus Against Noetus 7 on this point.

[3] Mt 11:29.

[4] NPNF 2 4:405**.

Jn