ACC ~ John 17 v1a
HE TEACHES HOW TO RELY ON THE FATHER IN TRIALS
CHRYSOSTOM: Christ not only speaks about the endurance of evil but puts himself forward as an example. After his admonition that “in the world you will have tribulation,” he himself turns to prayer in order to teach us that in our testing we are to leave everything behind and flee to God. He had shaken their souls in his admonition but raised them up again by this prayer. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.1. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:296**. Theodore of Mopsuestia believes this chapter is not a prayer but only in the form of a prayer.
HOW WE SHOULD PRAY
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: When an occasion calls us to prayer, it is fitting for us to pray for that which increases God’s glory before we pray for that which concerns ourselves. … The Savior indeed spoke these words to show how very necessary his own glory was to the Father so that he might be known to be consubstantial with him … for the Father is glorified in the glory of his offspring. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.3. [1]
[1] LF 48:479, 481*.
PRAYER TEACHES AS WELL AS DISCOURSE
AUGUSTINE: Our Lord, the only begotten who is co-eternal with the Father but who also took the form of a servant, could have prayed in silence if need be. But by praying out loud he wanted to show himself as one who prayed to the Father; he remembered that he not only had to pray but to teach. And so, the prayer that he offered for us, he also made known to us. For it was not only his discourse but also his prayers that were a source of edification for his disciples—and for us who read it today. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.2. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 7:394**; CCL 36:602.
CHRIST SELECTED THE TIME TO BE BORN AND DIE
AUGUSTINE: In saying, “Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son,” he showed that all time, and every occasion when he did anything or suffered anything to be done, was arranged by him who was subject to no time … Let no one think that this hour came through any urgency of fate but rather by divine appointment. It was no necessary law of the heavenly bodies that tied the passion of Christ to its timetable. How could anyone think that the stars compelled their own maker to die? It was not the time, therefore, that drove Christ to his death, but Christ who selected the time to die. He also fixed the time when he was born of the Virgin, with the Father, of whom he was born independently of time. … He then may say, “Father, the hour is come,” who has arranged every hour with the Father saying, as it were, “Father, the hour,” which we fixed together for the sake of humanity and of my glorification among them, “is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.2. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 7:394**; CCL 36:602.
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