ACC ~ John 17 v13

THEIR JOY IS THEIR UNITY

AUGUSTINE: But he tells what this joy is when he says, “That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” This has already been elucidated above where he says, “That they may be one, even as we are.” This joy of his that is bestowed on them by him was to be fulfilled, he says, in them. And for that very end he declared that he had spoken in the world. This is that peace and blessedness in the world to come. If we want to attain it, we must live temperately and righteously and godly in the present. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 107.8. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:404**; CCL 36:616.

CHRIST WORKS IN THEM

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Showing himself to them simultaneously as God and man, Christ induces his disciples to reflect that he would work to accomplish their salvation in God whether present or absent. And that as he had them in his keeping while he was with them on the earth in the form of man, so also would he keep them while absent from them as God. … For that which is divine is not bounded by space and is not far from anything that exists but fills and pervades the universe. And though it is present in all things, it is contained by none. When addressing his own Father, Christ says, “Holy Father, keep them,” referring … to the universal working of the power of the Father. And at the same time showing that he does not stand apart from the nature of the Father but being in it and proceeding from it, Christ is indivisibly united with it, though he is conceived of as independently existing. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.9. [1]

[1] LF 48:521*.