Commentary on John, Book 13
Why the Samaritan discourse spans two books; ask and you receive§1
1Perhaps, Ambrose — most God-loving and most devout — you would have preferred that the discourse on the Samaritan woman not be broken, so that part of it stood in the twelfth book and the sequel in the thirteenth. But when we saw that the twelfth book of the commentary had already taken a sufficient compass, we judged it right to end at her words about the well — how Jacob gave it, and drank from it himself, with his sons and his flocks — and to open the thirteenth from our Lord’s reply to her.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” (In our lemma the clause “will never thirst forever, but the water that I will give him” has dropped out; Preuschen marks the gap.)
This is Jesus’ second answer to the Samaritan woman. First he had said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Now, as if coaxing her to ask for that living water, he speaks the words before us. To the first speech she gave no assent; she only raised a difficulty about comparing the two waters. After the Lord’s second answer she receives what was said and replies, “Give me this water.”
Perhaps it is a standing rule that no one receives a divine gift who does not ask for it. Even the Father, through the psalm, urges the Savior himself to ask so that the gift may be granted him — as the Son teaches us: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.’” And the Savior says, “Ask, and it will be given you”; “for everyone who asks receives.”
So the Samaritan woman is persuaded to ask Jesus for water. As we said before, she is a figure of the heterodox who busy themselves with the divine Scriptures: once she hears the comparison of the two waters, look how she had been drinking from a well she thought deep, yet found no rest and was not rid of thirst.
Greek · §1
Ἴσως μὲν ἂν ἔδοξέ σοι, φιλοθεώτατε καὶ εὐσεβέστατε Ἀμβρόσιε, τὸν περὶ τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος λόγον μὴ διακοπῆναι, ὥστε μέρος μέν τι αὐτοῦ εἶναι ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ τόμῳ, τὰ δὲ ἑξῆς ἐν τῷ τρισκαιδεκάτῳ. ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ ἑωρῶμεν αὐτάρκη περιγραφὴν εἰληφέναι τὸν δωδέκατον τῶν ἐξηγητικῶν, ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν καταλῆξαι εἰς τὸν τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος λόγον περὶ τοῦ λεγομένου ὑπ’ αὐτῆς φρέατος, ὡς ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιεν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ἀρξώμεθα τοῦ τρισκαιδεκάτου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν πρὸς αὐτήν.
Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν· ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, * * * γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
Δεύτερον τοῦτο ἀποκρίνεται πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, πρότερον μὲν λέγων· Εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι· Δός μοι πιεῖν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν· καὶ νῦν ὡς προτρέπων αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὸ αἰτῆσαι τὸ ζῶν ὕδωρ λέγει τὰ ἐκκείμενα. καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ προτέρῳ οὐκ εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ ἐπαπορεῖ περὶ τῆς συγκρίσεως τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις· μετὰ δὲ τὴν δευτέραν ἀπόκρισιν τοῦ κυρίου παραδεξαμένη τὰ εἰρημένα φησί· Δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ.
Τάχα γὰρ δόγμα τί ἐστι μηδένα λαμβάνειν θείαν δωρεὰν τῶν μὴ αἰτούντων αὐτήν. καὶ αὐτὸν γοῦν τὸν σωτῆρα διὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ προτρέπει αἰτεῖν ὁ πατήρ, ἵνα αὐτῷ δωρήσηται, ὡς αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς διδάσκει ὁ υἱὸς λέγων· Κύριος εἶπεν πρὸς μέ· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ· αἴτησαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· καὶ ὁ σωτήρ φησιν· Αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει.
Πείθεται μέντοι γε ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις αἰτῆσαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὕδωρ, εἰκών, ὡς προείπομεν, τυγχάνουσα γνώμης ἑτεροδοξούντων περὶ τὰς θείας ἀσχολουμένων γραφάς, ὅτε ἀκούει περὶ τῆς συγκρίσεως ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ὑδάτων. καὶ ὅρα ἐξ ὧν ἐπεπόνθει πῶς πίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ νομιζομένου αὐτῇ βαθέος εἶναι φρέατος οὐκ ἀνεπαύετο οὐδὲ τῆς δίψης ἀπηλλάττετο.
Two senses of thirst and hunger: emptiness-need and chronic want§2
2Let us see what is meant by “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.” In bodily speech, “to thirst” and “to hunger” each carry two senses. One is the need we feel when emptied and drawn toward food or drink because moisture has run short. The other is the way the poor, short of necessities, keep saying they hunger or thirst even when they have just taken something.
The first sense is plain in Exodus: when they lacked food they murmured; when they lacked water and thirsted they murmured against Moses, “What shall we drink?” And at Rephidim the people thirsted for water and murmured against Moses.
The second sense has a clear parallel in Paul: “To the present hour we hunger and thirst and are poorly clothed.” The first sort of hunger and thirst necessarily visits healthy bodies; the second visits those already worn down by want.
Greek · §2
Ἴδωμεν οὖν τί σημαίνεται ἐκ τοῦ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν. ἔστι δὲ ἐκ τῆς διψῆν φωνῆς καὶ ἐκ τῆς πεινῆν κατὰ τὸ σωματικὸν δύο σημαινόμενα· ἓν μὲν καθ’ ὃ δεόμεθα τροφῆς κενωθέντες καὶ ὀρεγόμενοι αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑγροῦ ἡμῖν ἐπιλείποντος· ἕτερον δὲ καθ’ ὃ πολλάκις οἱ πένητες καὶ ἐν ἀπορίᾳ ὄντες τῶν ἐπιτηδείων φασὶ κεκορεσμένοι τὸ πεινῆν ἢ διψῆν.
καὶ μαρτύριόν γε τοῦ μὲν πρώτου ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, ὅτε ἀποροῦντες τροφῶν διεγόγγυζον, καὶ ὕδατος ἀποροῦντες καὶ διψῶντες διεγόγγυζον κατὰ Μωϋσέως λέγοντες· Τί πιόμεθα; καὶ ἐν Ῥαφιδεὶν ἐδίψησεν ὁ λαὸς ὕδατι καὶ ἐγόγγυζεν ἐπὶ Μωϋσῆν.
δόξει δὲ τοῦ δευτέρου τῶν σημαινομένων εἶναι παρὰ Παύλῳ παράδειγμα λέγοντι· Ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν καὶ γυμνιτεύομεν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον, πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν, ἀναγκαίως γίνεται τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσιν σώμασιν· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον τοῖς πεπονημένοις συμβαίνει.
Which thirst Jesus means; deep words that leave the same aporia§3
3We must also ask, in “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,” which thirst is meant. Taken bodily, the point is likely this: even if a drink fills you for the moment, as soon as it settles the same feeling returns — you thirst again, back where you began.
He adds, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will have in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” Who can still thirst while a spring is within him?
But the leading sense is this: the person who takes a share in deep words may rest for a little, accepting the deepest thoughts he draws up and thinks he has found; yet when he looks again he will raise fresh difficulties about the very points on which he rested, because the “depth” he supposed cannot give a clear, sharp grasp of what he seeks.
So even if someone is swept along and assents to the persuasiveness of what is said, later he finds in himself the same perplexity he had before he learned these things. My word, by contrast, is such that the spring of the life-giving drink arises in the one who receives what I announce; and the one who takes my water is helped so far that a spring welling up within him finds out everything sought.
Greek · §3
Ζητητέον οὖν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τούτου τοῦ ὕδατος διψήσει πάλιν· ποῖον διψήσει λέγεται. πρῶτον ὡς ἐπὶ σωματικοῦ τάχα τὸ δηλούμενόν ἐστιν ὅτι κἂν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν κορεσθῇ, ἀλλ’ εὐθέως ὑποβιβασθέντος τοῦ ποτοῦ τὸ αὐτὸ πάθος πείσεται ὁ πιὼν, τουτέστι διψήσει πάλιν, εἰς ὅμοιον τῷ ἀρχῆθεν ἀποκαταστάς.
ἐπιφέρει δὲ τό· Ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, γενήσεται πηγὴ ἐν αὐτῷ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. τίς δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων πηγὴν διψῆσαι οἷός τε ἔσται;
τὸ μέντοι προηγουμένως δηλούμενον τοιοῦτον ἂν εἴη· ὁ μεταλαμβάνων, φησί, βάθους λόγων, κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀναπαύσηται παραδεξάμενος τὰ βαθύτατα τὰ ἀνιμώμενα καὶ εὑρίσκεσθαι δοκοῦντα νοήματα, ἀλλά γε πάλιν δεύτερον ἐπιστήσας ἐπαπορήσει περὶ τούτων ὅσοις ἐπανεπαύσατο, ἐπεὶ τρανὴν καὶ ἔκτυπον περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων κατάληψιν οὐ δύναται τὸ νομιζόμενον ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ βάθος παρασχεῖν.
διόπερ κἂν συναρπασθεὶς συγκαταθῆταί τις τῇ πιθανότητι τῶν λεγομένων, ἀλλά γε ὕστερον εὑρήσει τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπορίαν τυγχάνουσαν ἐν αὐτῷ, ἥνπερ εἶχεν πρὶν τάδε τινὰ μαθεῖν. ἐγὼ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἔχω λόγον, ὥστε τὴν πηγὴν τοῦ ζωτικοῦ πόματος γενέσθαι ἐν τῷ παραδεξαμένῳ τὰ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ ἀπαγγελλόμενα· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὁ λαβὼν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὕδατος εὐεργετηθήσεται, ὥστε πηγὴν εὑρετικὴν πάντων τῶν ζητουμένων ἀναβλύζειν ἐν αὐτῷ.
The spring within fulfills hunger and thirst for righteousness§4
4The one who drinks the water Jesus will give will have within him that spring of water leaping up to eternal life when the promise spoken over those who hunger and thirst for righteousness is filled out. For the Word says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
And perhaps, because one must hunger and thirst for righteousness before being filled, we have to let hunger and thirst be formed in us if we are to be satisfied — so that we may say, “As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.”
Greek · §4
Τότε δὲ ὁ πιὼν ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ δώσει ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἕξει τὴν γενομένην ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴν ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ὅτε πληροῦται τοῦ μακαριζομένου ἐπὶ τῷ πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἡ ἐπαγγελία. φησὶ γὰρ ὁ λόγος· Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται.
καὶ τάχα ἐπεὶ πεινῆσαι καὶ διψῆσαι δεήσει τὴν δικαιοσύνην πρὸ τοῦ χορτασθῆναι, ὑπὲρ τοῦ κορεσθῆναι ἐμποιητέον τὸ πεινῆν καὶ τὸ διψῆν, ἵνα εἴπωμεν· Ὃν τρόπον ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός.
Scripture’s well versus the leap of the water Jesus gives§5
5We should also ask whether another kind of help — the help of those who have kept company with the truth itself — can be set apart from the help we think we get from the Scriptures even when they are read accurately. The sign is this: whoever drinks from Jacob’s spring thirsts again; whoever drinks the water Jesus gives has within him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.
Those who handle the Scriptures carefully and gather sound teaching from them drink from Jacob’s spring, as Jacob himself did, with his sons and his flocks. Those who twist the Scriptures and prop up ugly doctrines under the pretext of having understood them drink as the Samaritan woman drank before she believed in Jesus.
Greek · §5
Ἔτι δὲ ἐπιστήσομεν εἰ δύναται δηλοῦσθαι τὸ ἑτερογενὲς τῆς τῶν αὐτῇ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὁμιλησάντων ὠφελείας παρὰ τὴν νομιζομένην ὠφέλειαν γίνεσθαι ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν, κἂν νοηθῶσιν ἀκριβῶς, ἐκ τοῦ τὸν μὲν πιόντα ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ διψῆν πάλιν, τὸν δὲ πιόντα ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ δίδωσιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πηγὴν ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀκριβοῦντες τὰς γραφὰς καὶ ὑγιαίνοντα δόγματα συνάγοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν πίνουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ πηγῆς, ὥσπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰακὼβ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ· οἱ δὲ παρεκδεχόμενοι τὰς γραφὰς καὶ δύσφημά τινα συνιστάντες προφάσει τοῦ νενοηκέναι αὐτὰς πίνουσιν ὡς ἡ πρὸ τοῦ πιστεῦσαι εἰς Ἰησοῦν Σαμαρεῖτις ἔπινεν.
Things beyond what is written; thunder-words and unspeakable words§6
6If we say there are things beyond what is written, we do not mean that the many can know them. We mean what John heard and was not allowed to write — the words of the thunders — learning them yet sparing the world by not writing them, because he judged that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
So too with what Paul learned: unspeakable words beyond what is written — if humans have in fact spoken what stands written. What eye has not seen is beyond the written; what ear has not heard cannot be written down. And what has never risen upon a human heart is greater than Jacob’s spring: it is shown from the spring of water leaping up to eternal life to those who no longer have only a human heart, but can say, “We have the mind of Christ.”
Greek · §6
Ἐὰν δὲ λέγωμεν τὸ ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται εἶναί τινα, οὐ τοῦτό φαμεν ὅτι γνωστὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς εἶναι δύναται, ἀλλὰ Ἰωάννῃ ἀκούοντι καὶ γράφειν αὐτὰ μὴ ἐπιτρεπομένῳ, ὁποῖα ἦν τὰ τῶν βροντῶν ῥήματα, καὶ μανθάνοντι καὶ διὰ τὸ φείδεσθαι τοῦ κόσμου οὐ γράφοντι αὐτά· ᾤετο γὰρ μηδὲ αὐτὸν τὸν κόσμον χωρεῖν τὰ γραφόμενα βιβλία.
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἅπερ ὁ Παῦλος μεμάθηκεν ἄρρητα ῥήματα ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται, εἴ γε τὰ γεγραμμένα ἄνθρωποι λελαλήκασι· καὶ ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τὰ γεγραμμένα, καὶ ἃ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν γραφῆναι οὐ δύναται. καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου μὴ ἀναβεβηκότα μείζονά ἐστι τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ πηγῆς, ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φανερούμενα τοῖς οὐκέτι καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ δυναμένοις λέγειν· Ἡμεῖς δὲ νοῦν Χριστοῦ ἔχομεν.
“Give me this water”: she names him Lord a second time and receives§7
7The woman says to him, “Lord, give me this water, so that I may not thirst or keep coming here to draw.” This is already the second time the Samaritan woman names the Savior “Lord.” First it was, “Lord, you have no bucket, and the well is deep” — when she also longed to know where he got living water, and whether he was greater than Jacob, whom she counted her father. Now she asks for the water that becomes, in the one who drinks, a spring leaping up to eternal life.
And if it is true that “If you asked him, he would have given you living water,” then when she said, “Give me this water,” she received living water — so that she need no longer be at a loss in thirst, or keep going to Jacob’s spring to draw, but may behold the truth in an angelic way, beyond the human, even without Jacob’s water. For angels do not need Jacob’s spring in order to drink; each has within himself a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.
Greek · §7
Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἵνα μὴ διψῶ μηδὲ διέρχωμαι ἐνθάδε ἀντλεῖν. ἤδη δεύτερον κύριον ἀναγορεύει τὸν σωτῆρα ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις, πρότερον μὲν ὅτε φησί· Κύριε, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις καὶ τὸ φρέαρ ἐστὶ βαθύ — ὅτε καὶ ἐπιποθεῖ πόθεν ἔχει τὸ ζῶν ὕδωρ, καὶ εἰ μείζων εἴη τοῦ νομιζομένου πατρὸς αὐτῆς Ἰακώβ — νῦν δὲ ὅτε καὶ αἰτεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ γινομένου πηγῆς ἐν τῷ πίνοντι ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
καὶ εἴπερ ἀληθὲς τό· Εἰ ᾔτεις αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν, δῆλον ὅτι εἰποῦσα· Δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ ἔλαβε τὸ ζῶν ὕδωρ, ἵνα μηκέτι ἀπορῇ διψῶσα μηδὲ διέρχηται ἐπὶ τὴν πηγὴν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ διὰ τὸ ἀντλεῖν, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ Ἰακὼβ θεωρῆσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀγγελικῶς καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον δυνηθῇ. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ ἄγγελοι δέονται τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ πηγῆς ἵνα πίωσιν, ἀλλ’ ἕκαστος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει πηγὴν ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
“Go call your husband”: the rebuke that opens her confession§8
8Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus says to her, “You have said well, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
Through this, it seems to me, the Savior convicts her as caught in adultery, so that once she comes to awareness of her sins she may ask for release and receive cleansing from the living water.
Greek · §8
Λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὕπαγε φώνησον τὸν ἄνδρα σου καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐνθάδε. ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι Ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω· πέντε γὰρ ἄνδρας ἔσχες, καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις οὐκ ἔστιν σου ἀνήρ· τοῦτο ἀληθὲς εἴρηκας.
δοκεῖ μοι διὰ τούτων ὁ σωτὴρ ἐλέγχειν αὐτὴν ὡς ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ ἁλισκομένην, ἵνα εἰς συναίσθησιν ἐλθοῦσα τῶν ἡμαρτημένων αἰτήσῃ τὴν ἄφεσιν καὶ δέξηται τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῶντος ὕδατος καθαρισμόν.
Five husbands as the senses; a sixth, unsound “spiritual” partner§9
9I take it that every soul being led into devotion to God in Christ through the Scriptures begins from what is said about sense and body, and so has five husbands — one answering to each of the senses.
But when, after keeping company with sense-things, someone wants to lift up his head and is urged toward the intelligibles, yet meets a word that is not sound though it claims a “spiritual” allegory, that person leaves the five and takes another — giving, so to speak, a bill of divorce to the first five and choosing to live with a sixth.
And until Jesus comes and brings us to awareness of that kind of husband, we stay with him. When the Lord has come and spoken with us, we deny that husband and say, “I have no husband.”
Greek · §9
Οἶμαι πᾶσαν τὴν εἰσαγομένην ψυχὴν εἰς τὴν διὰ τῶν γραφῶν ἐν Χριστῷ θεοσέβειαν ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ σωματικῶν λεγομένων ἀρχομένην τοὺς πέντε ἄνδρας καθ’ ἑκάστην τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀνδρός τινος γινομένου ἴσχειν.
ἐπὰν δὲ μετὰ τὸ ὡμιληκέναι τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἀνακῦψαί τις θέλων καὶ προτραπεὶς ἐπὶ τὰ νοητὰ περιτύχῃ λόγῳ προφάσει ἀλληγορίας πνευματικῶν οὐχ ὑγιαίνοντι, οὗτος μετὰ τοὺς πέντε ἄνδρας ἑτέρῳ προσέρχεται, δούς, ἵν’ οὕτως εἴπω, τὸ ἀποστάσιον τοῖς προτέροις πέντε καὶ κρίνων συνοικεῖν τῷ ἕκτῳ.
καὶ ἕως γε ἐλθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς συναίσθησιν ἡμᾶς ἀγάγῃ τοῦ τοιούτου ἀνδρός, ἐκείνῳ σύνεσμεν· ἐλθόντος δὲ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ διαλεχθέντος ἡμῖν, ἀρνούμενοι ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνδρα φαμέν· Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα.
Heracleon on Jacob’s water as weak, temporary, worldly§10
10Let us also look at Heracleon on the passage. He says that that life, and the opinion that went with it, had become weak, temporary, and failing; for it was worldly, he claims, and he thinks he proves its worldliness from the fact that Jacob’s flocks drank from it.
If by “weak, temporary, and failing” he meant knowledge in part — either knowledge from the Scriptures set beside the unspeakable words a human may not utter, or all the knowledge that now comes through a mirror and in a riddle, to be abolished when the perfect comes — we would not charge him. But if he says this to slander the ancient Scriptures, he is to be blamed.
He is not wrong when he says the water the Savior gives is from his Spirit and power. He goes astray, though, when he takes “will never thirst forever” as a lesson pointing only to life supplied from above, and cites as proof “Lord, give me this water, so that I may not thirst or keep coming here to draw,” as though the Samaritan woman had understood the saying in a merely bodily way and had simply voiced her own feeling.
Greek · §10
Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἡρακλέωνος εἰς τοὺς τόπους, ὅστις φησὶν ἄτονον καὶ πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἐπιλείπουσαν ἐκείνην γεγονέναι τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὴν κατ’ αὐτὴν δόξαν· κοσμικὴ γάρ, φησίν, ἦν· καὶ οἴεται τοῦ κοσμικὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι ἀπόδειξιν φέρειν ἐκ τοῦ τὰ θρέμματα τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐξ αὐτῆς πεπωκέναι.
καὶ εἰ μὲν ἄτονον καὶ πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἐπιλείπουσαν ἐλάμβανεν τὴν ἐκ μέρους γνῶσιν, ἤτοι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν συγκρίσει τῶν ἀρρήτων ῥημάτων ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι, ἢ πᾶσαν τὴν νῦν δι’ ἐσόπτρου καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι γινομένην γνῶσιν καταργουμένην ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ ἐνεκαλέσαμεν· εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαβάλλειν τὰ παλαιὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, ἐγκλητέος ἂν εἴη.
ὃ δὲ δίδωσιν ὕδωρ ὁ σωτήρ φησιν εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, οὐ ψευδόμενος. πλανᾶται δὲ ἐκλαμβάνων τό· Οὐ μὴ διψήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὡς διδασκαλικὸν καὶ μηνυτικὸν τῆς ἄνωθεν χορηγουμένης ζωῆς, δεῖγμα φέρων τό· Ἡ γυνὴ λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἵνα μὴ διψῶ μηδὲ διέρχωμαι ἐνθάδε ἀντλεῖν — ὡς δῆθεν σωματικῶς νοησάσης τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος καὶ τὸ ἴδιον πάθος ἐκφηνάσης.
Heracleon on “Go call your husband”: pleroma consort forced onto the text§11
11Heracleon also takes “He says to her” this way: Jesus means, in effect, “If you want this water, go call your husband.” Heracleon thinks the “husband” the Savior names is the Samaritan woman’s pleroma, so that once she comes with that consort to the Savior she may receive power, union, and blending with the pleroma.
As for a worldly husband, Heracleon says, Jesus told her to call one because he knew the man she had was not her lawful husband. But that reading plainly forces the text. If “Call your husband and come here” meant the consort from the pleroma, Jesus would also have had to say how she was to call him so that she might come with him to the Savior.
Heracleon himself says that in the deeper sense she did not know her own husband, while in the plain sense she was ashamed to admit she had an adulterer rather than a husband. How, then, is it not empty for the Savior to tell her, “Call your husband”?
Greek · §11
Ἔτι δὲ ὁ Ἡρακλέων πρὸς τὸ · Λέγει αὐτῇ · φησί · δῆλον ὅτι τοιοῦτό τι λέγων, εἰ θέλεις λαβεῖν τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ὕπαγε φώνησον τὸν ἄνδρα σου. οἴεται τὸν λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἄνδρα τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος τὸ πλήρωμα εἶναι αὐτῆς, ἵνα σὺν ἐκείνῳ γενομένη πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα κομίσασθαι τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν καὶ τὴν ἀνάκρασιν τὴν πρὸς τὸ πλήρωμα δυνηθῇ.
περὶ δὲ κοσμικοῦ ἀνδρὸς, φησίν, ἔλεγεν αὐτῇ ἵνα καλέσῃ, ἐπείπερ οὐκ ἠγνόει ὅτι ὃν ἔχει οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῆς νόμιμος ἀνήρ. προδήλως δὲ ἐνταῦθα βιάζεται, λέγων τὸν σωτῆρα εἰρηκέναι · Φώνησόν σου τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐνθάδε · δηλοῦντα τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ πληρώματος σύζυγον. εἰ γὰρ τοῦθ’ οὕτως εἶχεν, ἐχρῆν καὶ τίνα τρόπον φωνητέον ἔσται αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν, ἵνα σὺν αὐτῷ γένηται πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα.
ἀλλ’ ἐπεί, ὡς Ἡρακλέων φησί, κατὰ μὲν τὸ νοούμενον ἠγνόει τὸν ἴδιον ἄνδρα, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἠσχύνετο εἰπεῖν ὅτι μοιχὸν οὐχὶ δὲ ἄνδρα εἶχεν, πῶς οὐχὶ μάτην αὐτῇ ὁ σωτὴρ ἔλεγεν · Φώνησον τὸν ἄνδρα σου;
Third “Lord”; “I see you are a prophet”; five husbands versus Heracleon’s six§12
12The woman says to him, “Lord, I see that you are a prophet.” This is already the third time the Samaritan woman names the Savior “Lord”: first, “Lord, you have no bucket”; again, “Lord, give me this water”; and now when she also calls him a prophet.
We read, “You have had five husbands.” Beside Heracleon we found, “You have had six husbands,” and he takes the six to mean the whole of material evil.
She does not yet think him greater than the prophets, nor the one the prophets foretold, but only a prophet. So too the heterodox mind: once her five earlier husbands and the later seeming-husband have been exposed, she calls the Word that exposed them a prophet — someone divine, better than a mere human.
Greek · §12
Λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή · Κύριε, θεωρῶ ὅτι προφήτης εἶ σύ. τρίτον ἤδη ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις κύριον ἀναγορεύει τὸν σωτῆρα, πρότερον μὲν ὅτε · Κύριε, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις · καὶ πάλιν · Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ · νῦν δὲ ὅτε καὶ προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶναί φησιν.
ἡμεῖς μὲν ἀνέγνωμεν · Πέντε ἄνδρας ἔσχες · παρὰ δὲ τῷ Ἡρακλέωνι εὕρομεν · Ἓξ ἄνδρας ἔσχες. καὶ ἑρμηνεύει γε τὴν ὑλικὴν πᾶσαν κακίαν διὰ τῶν ἓξ ἀνδρῶν δηλοῦσθαι.
πλὴν οὐδέπω οἴεται εἶναι τῶν προφητῶν κρείττονα οὐδὲ τὸν προφητευθέντα, ἀλλά τινα προφήτην. καὶ ἡ ἑτερόδοξος δὲ γνώμη, διελεγχθέντων αὐτῆς τῶν τε προτέρων πέντε ἀνδρῶν καὶ τοῦ μετ’ ἐκείνους δόξαντος εἶναι ἀνδρός, τὸν ἐλέγξαντα λόγον προφήτην εἶναί φησιν, θεῖόν τινα ἔχοντα ἀνθρώπου κρεῖττον.
Gerizim and Zion: Samaritans as figure of the heterodox§13
13Even now, if Samaritans and Jews enter debate, each will press the other. The Samaritan will use this woman’s words: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain” — pointing to Gerizim — “but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.”
Jews — for salvation is from them — figure those who hold sound teaching; Samaritans figure the heterodox. So they treat Gerizim as divine. The name means Cutting-apart or Division, matching the historical split of the ten tribes from the two in Jeroboam’s days — and Jeroboam’s own name means Splitting of a people. Jews, by contrast, hold to Zion, which means Watchtower.
Greek · §13
Καὶ εἴ ποτε δὲ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο συγκαταβαίνοιεν ἀλλήλοις εἰς λόγον Σαμαρεῖται καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἑκάτερος πρὸς τὸν λοιπὸν ἐπαπορήσει. ἐρεῖ ὁ Σαμαρεὺς τῷ Ἰουδαίῳ τὸν τῆς ἐνθάδε γυναικὸς λόγον · Οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν, δεικνὺς τὸ Γαριζείν · ὑμεῖς δὲ λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐστὶν ὁ τόπος ὅπου προσκυνεῖν δεῖ.
ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν — ἀπ’ αὐτῶν γὰρ ἡ σωτηρία — εἰκόνες εἰσὶ τῶν τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας λόγους φρονούντων, Σαμαρεῖται δὲ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων, ἀκολούθως τὸ μὲν Γαριζεὶν θεοποιοῦσιν, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται Διατομὴ ἢ Διαίρεσις, τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν διατομῆς τῶν δέκα φυλῶν ἀπὸ τῶν δύο γεγενημένης κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ Ἱεροβοὰμ χρόνους, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς ἑρμηνεύεται Διχασμὸς λαοῦ · Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ τὸ Σιών, ὅπερ ἐστὶ Σκοπευτήριον.
Two “hours are coming”: perfection beyond bodies, and progress already now§14
14“An hour is coming” is written twice. The first time “and now is” is not added; the second time it is. I take the first to mark worship beyond bodies that will stand in at perfection; the second to mark the progress of those being perfected in this life as far as human nature allows.
So one may already worship the Father in spirit and truth when the hour is not only coming but also now is. When Scripture says, “An hour is coming, and now is,” it no longer adds, “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem,” — the clause that stands where “an hour is coming” is written without “now is.”
Greek · §14
Δὶς δὲ τὸ · Ἔρχεται ὥρα · γέγραπται, καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὸ πρῶτον οὐ πρόσκειται · Καὶ νῦν ἐστίν · κατὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον πρόσκειται. οἶμαι τὸ μὲν πρότερον δηλοῦν τὴν ἔξω σωμάτων προσκύνησιν ἐνστησομένην κατὰ τὴν τελειότητα · τὸ δὲ δεύτερον τὴν τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ ὡς ἐνδέχεται κατὰ ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν προκοπὴν τελειουμένων.
ἔξεστιν οὖν καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ προσκυνεῖν τῷ πατρὶ ὅτε οὐ μόνον ἔρχεται ὥρα ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν ἐστίν. ὅτε γοῦν γέγραπται · Ἔρχεται ὥρα καὶ νῦν ἐστίν · οὐκέτι λέγεται τό · Οὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις · ὥσπερ εἴρηται ὅπου τό · Ἔρχεται ὥρα · χωρὶς τοῦ · Νῦν ἐστίν · ἀναγέγραπται.
Heracleon on the prophet and the woman’s question about worship§15
15On the same words Heracleon says the Samaritan woman has fittingly confessed what Jesus said. A prophet, he claims, is only one who knows all things — which not everyone knows — and yet “the prophet does not know all things.”
By “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain” he wants the pre-law worship of the nations; by “You say that in Jerusalem” the Jews’ worship under the law. He casts the Samaritan woman as having left the city of God’s will through ignorance and neglect, and so fallen into fornication.
These claims are easy to overturn. Where has he shown that only the all-knowing one is a prophet, or that a prophet does not know all things?
Greek · §15
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ ῥήματα λέγει εὐσχημόνως ὡμολογηκέναι τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν τὰ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ εἰρημένα · προφήτης γάρ, φησίν, ἐστὶν μόνος ὁ τὰ πάντα εἰδώς, ἅπερ οὐ πάντες ἴσασιν · ὁ δὲ προφήτης οὐ πάντα οἶδεν.
βούλεται δὲ διὰ τοῦ · Οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν · δηλοῦσθαι τὴν πρὸ τοῦ νόμου τῶν ἐθνῶν λατρείαν · διὰ δὲ τοῦ · Ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις · τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατὰ τὸν νόμον · καὶ τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἔξω τοῦ θελήματος τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένην δι’ ἄγνοιαν καὶ ἀμέλειαν τῶν ἀναγκαίων πορνεῦσαι.
σφόδρα δέ ἐστιν εὐέλεγκτα τὰ εἰρημένα · πόθεν γὰρ δείκνυσιν ὅτι μόνος ὁ τὰ πάντα εἰδὼς προφήτης, καὶ ὅτι ὁ προφήτης οὐ πάντα οἶδεν;
Heracleon on “Believe me, woman”: creation as desert of beasts§16
16Heracleon thought he had spotted something clever: earlier Jesus had not said, “Believe me, woman,” but now he commands it. That observation muddies his own case.
He says creation is a desert haunt of beasts, which all worshiped before the law; Jerusalem stands for the creator, whom the Jews worshiped. “You,” he says, “will worship neither creation nor the demiurge, but the Father of truth.” He even counts the woman already among the true worshipers.
But if angels do not worship the Father in Jerusalem, how can those greater than Jerusalem’s worshipers fail to worship the Father?
Greek · §16
Ὅτε ἔδοξεν πιθανώτατα τετηρηκέναι ὁ Ἡρακλέων ἐν τούτοις τὸ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν προτέρων μὴ εἰρῆσθαι αὐτῇ · Πίστευέ μοι, γύναι · νῦν δὲ τοῦτο αὐτῇ προστετάχθαι, τότε ἐπεθόλωσεν ἑαυτοῦ τὸν λόγον.
φησὶ γὰρ τὴν κτίσιν εἶναι ἔρημον οἰκητήριον θηρίων, ᾧ προσεκύνουν πάντες οἱ πρὸ τοῦ νόμου · Ἱεροσόλυμα δὲ τὸν κτίστην, ᾧ προσεκύνουν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. ὑμεῖς οὖν, φησίν, οὔτε τῇ κτίσει οὔτε τῷ δημιουργῷ προσκυνήσετε, ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρὶ τῆς ἀληθείας.
καὶ συμπαραλαμβάνει γε αὐτήν, φησίν, ὡς ἤδη πιστὴν καὶ συναριθμουμένην τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς προσκυνηταῖς. ἀλλ’ εἰ οἱ ἄγγελοι οὐκ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις προσκυνοῦσιν τῷ πατρί, πῶς οἱ κρείττονες τῶν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις οὐ προσκυνήσουσιν τῷ πατρί;
“You worship what you do not know”: heterodox guesswork versus Jewish revelation§17
17“You”, on the surface, means Samaritans; by ascent, those who hold heterodox views of the Scriptures. “We”, on the surface, means Jews; by allegory, I the Word and those shaped after me, who have salvation from the Jewish oracles.
What the heterodox worship is invention, not truth — myth, not mystery. The one who worships the Creator, especially as the Jew in secret and by the prophets’ spiritual words, knows what he worships.
I cannot see how, when the Savior says outright that “salvation is from the Jews,” the heterodox still deny the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Greek · §17
Τὸ · Ὑμεῖς · ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ λέξει, Σαμαρεῖται · ὅσον δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναγωγῇ, οἱ περὶ τὰς γραφὰς ἑτερόδοξοι. τὸ δὲ · Ἡμεῖς · ὅσον τῷ ῥητῷ, οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι · ὅσον δὲ ἐπὶ ἀλληγορίᾳ, ἐγὼ ὁ λόγος καὶ οἱ κατ’ ἐμὲ μεμορφωμένοι, τὴν σωτηρίαν ἔχοντες ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν λόγων.
ὃ δὲ προσκυνοῦσιν οἱ ἑτερόδοξοι, πλάσμα ἐστὶ καὶ οὐκ ἀλήθεια, μῦθος καὶ οὐ μυστήρια. ὁ δὲ προσκυνῶν τὸν δημιουργόν, μάλιστα κατὰ τὸν ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖον καὶ τοὺς λόγους τοὺς πνευματικοὺς τῶν προφητῶν, οἶδεν ὃ προσκυνεῖ.
οὐκ οἶδα δὲ πῶς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἄντικρυς φάσκοντος ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν, ἑτερόδοξοι ἀρνοῦνται τὸν θεὸν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ.
True worshipers walk in the Spirit; not every claim to worship counts§18
18Those who do not even claim to worship the Father should not be called worshipers of God at all. Among all who do claim to worship the Creator, some are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit — they walk by the Spirit and do not carry out the flesh’s desire — while others are not in the Spirit but in the flesh and wage war according to the flesh. Then we must call true worshipers those who worship in the Spirit, and not true those who remain in the flesh.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” I still cannot see how the heterodox deny Abraham’s God when the Savior says salvation is from the Jews.
Greek · §18
Τοὺς μηδ’ ὅλως ἐπαγγελλομένους προσκυνεῖν τῷ πατρὶ οὐδὲ ὀνομάζεσθαι δεῖ προσκυνητὰς τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ πάντων τῶν ἐπαγγελλομένων προσκυνεῖν τῷ κτίσαντι, ἐὰν οἱ μὲν μηκέτι ὦσιν ἐν σαρκὶ ἀλλ’ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι περιπατῶσιν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς μὴ ἐπιτελῶσιν, οἱ δὲ μὴ ὦσιν ἐν πνεύματι ἀλλ’ ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ κατὰ σάρκα στρατεύωνται, τότε λεκτέον ἀληθινοὺς μὲν προσκυνητὰς τοὺς ἐν πνεύματι προσκυνοῦντας, οὐκ ἀληθινοὺς δὲ τοὺς ἐν σαρκί.
ἀλλ’ ἔρχεται ὥρα καὶ νῦν ἐστίν, ὅτε οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταὶ προσκυνήσουσιν τῷ πατρὶ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ. οὐκ οἶδα δὲ πῶς ἑτερόδοξοι τὸν θεὸν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἀρνοῦνται τοῦ σωτῆρος φάσκοντος τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων εἶναι.
Heracleon on “We worship”: aeon-companions and salvation from Judea§19
19Heracleon takes “We worship” to mean those in an aeon and those who came with him: they, he says, knew whom they worshiped, and worshiped in truth.
On “salvation is from the Jews,” he says Christ was born in Judea, and from that nation salvation and the Word went out into the world. In the deeper sense he tells the story as if the Jews were images of those in the pleroma.
He ought, then, to show for each act of worship how it images what is in the pleroma — if they mean this not only in words but in truth.
Greek · §19
Τὸ μέντοι γε · Ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν · ὁ Ἡρακλέων οἴεται εἶναι τοὺς ἐν αἰῶνι καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἐλθόντας · οὗτοι, φησίν, ᾔδεσαν τίνι προσκυνοῦσιν, κατὰ ἀλήθειαν προσκυνοῦντες.
ἀλλὰ καὶ τό · Ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν · ἐπεὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, φησίν, ἐγενήθη, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου τοῦ ἔθνους ἐξῆλθεν ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ὁ λόγος εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην · κατὰ δὲ τὸ νοούμενον ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων σωτηρίαν διηγεῖται γεγονέναι ἐπείπερ εἰκόνες οὗτοι τῶν ἐν τῷ πληρώματι εἶναι νομίζονται.
ἐχρῆν δὲ αὐτὸν ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν τῇ λατρείᾳ δεικνύναι πῶς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τῶν ἐν πληρώματι, εἴγε μὴ μόνον φωνῇ τοῦτο λέγουσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ φρονοῦσιν αὐτό.
The Father seeks true worshipers; Heracleon’s “lost in deep matter” myth§20
20For the Father seeks such as these to worship him. If the Father seeks, he seeks through the Son who came to seek and save the lost — cleansing them and training them by the Word and by sound teaching until he makes them true worshipers.
Heracleon says what belongs to the Father has been lost in the deep matter of error, and is sought so that the Father may be worshiped by his own. If he meant the story of the lost sheep or of the Father’s son who fell away, we might have accepted the telling.
But his school spins myths and never states clearly what this lost spiritual nature is, or what times or ages preceded its loss. So we gladly leave them aside.
Greek · §20
Καὶ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τοιούτους ζητεῖ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν. εἰ ζητεῖ ὁ πατήρ, διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ζητεῖ τοῦ ἐληλυθότος ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός, οὕστινας καθαίρων καὶ παιδεύων τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τοῖς ὑγιέσι δόγμασιν κατασκευάζει ἀληθινοὺς προσκυνητάς.
ἀπολωλέναι δέ φησιν ὁ Ἡρακλέων ἐν τῇ βαθείᾳ ὕλῃ τῆς πλάνης τὸ οἰκεῖον τῷ πατρί, ὅπερ ζητεῖται ἵνα ὁ πατὴρ ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων προσκυνῆται. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἑώρα τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀπωλείας τῶν προβάτων λόγον καὶ τοῦ ἀποπεσόντος τῶν τοῦ πατρὸς υἱοῦ, κἂν ἀπεδεξάμεθα αὐτοῦ τὴν διήγησιν.
ἐπεὶ δὲ μυθοποιοῦντες οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς γνώμης αὐτοῦ οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅ τί ποτε τρανῶς παριστᾶσιν περὶ τῆς ἀπολωλυίας πνευματικῆς φύσεως, οὐδὲν σαφὲς διδάσκοντες περὶ τῶν πρὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας αὐτῆς χρόνων ἢ αἰώνων, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς ἑκόντες παραπεμψόμεθα.
“God is spirit”: not a bodily substance but the giver of true life§21
21Many have said many things about God and his substance — some that he is a fine bodily and ethereal nature, others that he is incorporeal and of a substance beyond these. We should ask whether the divine Scriptures give us any start for speaking of God’s substance.
Here it is said, in a manner of speaking, that spirit is his substance. The apostle says, “And the Lord is the Spirit.” John says, “God is light.” The law says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”
So I take “God is spirit” this way: just as we are kept alive in ordinary life by the breath around us, God is called spirit because he leads us into true life. For the Spirit gives life.
Greek · §21
Πολλῶν πολλὰ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποφηναμένων καὶ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ, ὥστε τινὰς μὲν εἰρηκέναι αὐτὸν σωματικῆς φύσεως λεπτομεροῦς καὶ αἰθερώδους, τινὰς δὲ ἀσωμάτου καὶ ἄλλης ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνα οὐσίας, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν εἰ ἔχομεν ἀφορμὰς ἀπὸ τῶν θείων γραφῶν πρὸς τὸ εἰπεῖν τι περὶ οὐσίας θεοῦ.
ἐνθάδε μὲν οὖν λέγεται οἱονεὶ οὐσία εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα · ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ · Καὶ ὁ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν · καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης · Ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστίν · καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ · Ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον.
τοιοῦτόν τί μοι φαίνεται καὶ περὶ τό · Πνεῦμα ὁ θεός · ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὴν μέσην ζωὴν φυσῶντος τοῦ περὶ ἡμᾶς πνεύματος ζωοποιούμεθα, ὑπολαμβάνω ἀπ’ ἐκείνου εἰλῆφθαι τὸ πνεῦμα λέγεσθαι τὸν θεὸν πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν ζωὴν ἡμᾶς ἄγοντα · τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ.
Bodily names for God are figurative, as with eyes and hands§22
22First: when Scripture gives God eyes, ears, hands, and feet, we read those words figuratively and refuse those who wrap a human shape around God. We should treat the other names the same way.
That is already clear from what is plain: “God is light,” says John, “and in him is no darkness at all.” How can one take him as light except tropically?
Greek · §22
Καὶ πρῶτον λεκτέον ὅτι ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ὦτα καὶ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας εὑρίσκοντες γεγραμμένα τοῦ θεοῦ μεταλαμβάνομεν εἰς ἀλληγορίαν τὰ γεγραμμένα, καταφρονοῦντες τῶν μορφὴν ἀνθρώπων παραπλησίαν περιτιθέντων τῷ θεῷ, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ὀνομάτων τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἡμῖν ποιητέον.
δῆλον δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ φαινομένου · φῶς ἐστιν ὁ θεός, κατὰ τὸν Ἰωάννην, καὶ σκοτία οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδεμία. πῶς δὴ φῶς αὐτὸν νοητέον, εἰ μὴ τροπικῶς;
God as light lights the mind, not the body’s sun-work§23
23That settled, what should we think of God called light, in whom is no darkness? Does he light bodily eyes, or the mind’s eyes of which the prophet says, “Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep in death”?
It is obvious we should not make God do the sun’s job while leaving another to light the eyes of those who will not sleep unto death. God lights the mind of those he judges worthy of his own illumination.
Greek · §23
Τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων ἄξιον ἰδεῖν τί ἁρμόζει νοεῖν περὶ θεοῦ λεγομένου φῶς, ἐν ᾧ οὐδεμία ἐστὶ σκοτία. σωματικοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ θεὸς φωτίζων φῶς ἐστιν ἢ τοὺς νοητούς, περὶ ὧν ὁ προφήτης φησί · Φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, μήποτε ὑπνώσω εἰς θάνατον;
νομίζω δὲ πρόδηλον εἶναι ὅτι οὐκ ἂν τοῦ ἡλίου ἔργον ποιεῖν λέγοιμεν τὸν θεόν, ἑτέρῳ παραχωροῦντα φωτίζειν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῶν μὴ ὑπνωσόντων εἰς θάνατον. οὐκοῦν φωτίζει ὁ θεὸς τὸν νοῦν ὧν κρίνει ἀξίους εἶναι τοῦ οἰκείου φωτισμοῦ.
Spirit given and withdrawn: dust without it, renewal with it§24
24So too with “You take away their spirit, and they fail” and “You send forth your spirit, and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Better to hear “spirit” of the divine Spirit: stripped of it, a person becomes dust; made ready to receive it and receiving it, he is re-created and renewed.
That is of a piece with “He breathed into his face the breath of life, and the human became a living soul.”
Greek · §24
Μήποτε δὲ καὶ τό · Ἀντανελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκλείψουσι · καί · Ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμά σου καὶ κτισθήσονται καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς · βέλτιον ἐκληψόμεθα ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ ὑπολαμβάνοιμεν ὅτι ὁ στερισκόμενος θείου πνεύματος χοϊκὸς γίνεται, ἐπιτήδειόν τε ἑαυτὸν ποιήσας πρὸς παραδοχὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ λαβὼν αὐτὸ ἀνακτισθήσεται καὶ ἀνακαινισθήσεται.
τοιοῦτον δ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ τό · Ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.
Heracleon on “God is spirit”: unclean claim that worshipers are homoousios§25
25On “God is spirit” Heracleon says God’s divine nature is undefiled, pure, and invisible. I do not see how that explains how God is spirit.
Worse: he calls those who worship in spirit homoousios with the unbegotten and all-blessed nature. That is impious. Only a little earlier Heracleon himself said they had fallen — that the Samaritan woman, though of a spiritual nature, had gone out into fornication.
They do not see that what is homoousios is also capable of the same things. If she fornicated, she was no longer homoousios with God.
Greek · §25
Εἰς μέντοι γε τό · Πνεῦμα ὁ θεός · ὁ Ἡρακλέων φησίν · ἄχραντος καὶ καθαρὰ καὶ ἀόρατος ἡ θεία φύσις αὐτοῦ. οὐκ οἶδα εἰ ἐδίδαξεν ἡμᾶς ταῦτα ἐπειπὼν πῶς ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμά ἐστιν.
τὸ δὲ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ἐν πνεύματι ὁμοούσιον τῇ ἀγεννήτῳ φύσει καὶ παμμακαρίᾳ λέγειν εἶναι τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ἐν πνεύματι τῷ θεῷ ἀσεβές ἐστιν · οἷς πρὸ βραχέος αὐτὸς ὁ Ἡρακλέων ἐκπεπτωκότας ἔλεγεν, τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν λέγων πνευματικῆς φύσεως οὖσαν ἐκπεπορνευκέναι.
ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὁρῶσιν οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες ὅτι πᾶν ὁμοούσιον καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν δεκτικόν. εἰ δὲ ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις ἐκπεπόρνευκεν, οὐκέτι ὁμοούσιος ἦν τῷ θεῷ.
The Samaritan woman expects Christ from the Mosaic books alone§26
26The woman says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ; when he comes, he will tell us all things.” Notice: the Samaritan woman receives nothing beyond Moses’ Pentateuch, yet she expects Christ’s coming as something the law alone proclaims.
They likely draw that hope from Jacob’s blessing on Judah: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things stored up for him come.”
Greek · §26
Λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή · Οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται, ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός · ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν ἅπαντα. ἄξιον ἰδεῖν πῶς ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις, πλεῖον τῆς Πεντατεύχου Μωϋσέως μηδὲν προσιεμένη, τὴν παρουσίαν Χριστοῦ ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου μόνου κηρυσσομένην προσδοκᾷ.
καὶ εἰκὸς γε ἐκ τῆς εὐλογίας τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἰούδαν ἐλπίζειν αὐτούς · Οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα καὶ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ.
“When he comes he will tell us all things”: Mosaic blessing read of Christ§27
27Attend also to “When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Does the Samaritan woman, from tradition, already take Moses’ blessing on Judah as speaking of Christ?
That blessing says, “Lying down he rested as a lion and as a cub; who will raise him up?” and what follows points to the nations’ hope in him.
Greek · §27
Θεωρητέον καὶ τό · Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν ἅπαντα · πότερον ἀπὸ παραδόσεως ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις τὴν Μωϋσέως πρὸς Ἰούδαν εὐλογίαν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀναφέρει.
ἔχει γοῦν ἡ εὐλογία · Κατακλιθεὶς ἀνεπαύσατο ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος · τίς ἀναστήσει αὐτόν; καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς δηλοῦται ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐλπὶς ἐπ’ αὐτόν.
“I who speak to you am he”: lowly self-disclosure, compared with other “I am” words§28
28Jesus says to her, “I am, the one speaking to you.” We should ask where else he proclaims himself the Christ, and set those sayings side by side — for example “I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me” and “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.”
From the wording here we also learn that he is humble in heart: he does not boast great things about himself to the Samaritan woman.
Greek · §28
Λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς · Ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ λαλῶν σοι. ζητητέον μετὰ τούτου καὶ εἴ που εὐηγγελίσατο ἑαυτὸν εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν, καὶ συγκριτέον ἀλλήλοις τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὥσπερ · Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ μαρτυρῶν περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, καὶ μαρτυρεῖ περὶ ἐμοῦ ὁ πέμψας με πατήρ · καί · Εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί · περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν.
πλὴν ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ῥητῷ μανθάνομεν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ὅτι ἐστὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, μὴ ὑπερηφανῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ μέγαλα λέγειν πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν.
She leaves the water-jar: zeal for the city’s good over the bodily errand§29
29So the woman left her water-jar and went away into the city and says to the people, “Come, see a human who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
The evangelist did not record the leaving of the jar for nothing. On the surface it shows the Samaritan woman’s greater zeal: she leaves the jar behind, caring less for the bodily, lesser duty than for the many’s benefit. She is moved with deep love of neighbor, wanting to announce the Christ to her city.
Greek · §29
Ἀφῆκεν οὖν τὴν ὑδρίαν αὐτῆς ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ λέγει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις · Δεῦτε ἴδετε ἄνθρωπον ὃς εἶπέν μοι πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησα · μήτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός;
οὐ μάτην οἶμαι ἀναγεγραφέναι τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀφέσεως τῆς ὑδρίας. κατὰ μὲν τὴν λέξιν σπουδὴν ἐμφαίνει πλείονα τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος, καταλειπούσης τὴν ὑδρίαν καὶ οὐ τοσοῦτον πεφροντικυίας τοῦ σωματικοῦ καὶ ταπεινοτέρου καθήκοντος ὅσον τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ὠφελείας · φιλανθρωπότατα γὰρ κεκίνηται βουληθεῖσα τοῖς πολίταις εὐαγγελίσασθαι τὸν Χριστόν.
A woman evangelizes Christ first here; later a woman announces the resurrection§30
30Here a woman announces the Christ; at the end of the Gospels a woman who saw him before all the others tells the apostles of the Savior’s resurrection.
Those from the city went out and were coming to him — going out, as it were, to do good. Such readings ask for a careful ascent into what is written about the water-jar.
Greek · §30
Καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν γυνὴ εὐαγγελίζεται τὸν Χριστόν, ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ τῶν εὐαγγελίων καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ σωτῆρος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἡ πρὸ πάντων αὐτὸν θεασαμένη γυνὴ διηγεῖται.
οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐπείπερ αὐτοὶ ἐξῆλθον εὐποιοῦντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. καὶ ὅτι τοιαῦτά τινα δηλοῦται, ἀκριβέστατα εἰς τὰς ἀναγωγὰς τῶν γεγραμμένων περὶ τῆς ὑδρίας θεωρητέον.
Heracleon on the water-jar as capacity for life from the Savior§31
31Heracleon says the water-jar is the capacity that receives life — standing for the Samaritan woman’s choice and disposition once she has received power from the Savior.
We need not force that sense onto the jar. The plain wording already shows her zeal: she leaves bodily concerns behind and runs to benefit her fellow citizens.
Greek · §31
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων τὴν ὑδρίαν τὴν δεκτικὴν τῆς ζωῆς εἶναι λέγει, καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῦν τὴν προαίρεσιν καὶ τὴν διάθεσιν τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος λαβοῦσαν.
ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον εἰς τὴν ὑδρίαν ταῦτα βιάζεσθαι· ἱκανὸν γὰρ τὸ ῥητὸν τὴν σπουδὴν αὐτῆς ἐμφαίνειν καταλιπούσης τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ δραμούσης ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν πολιτῶν ὠφέλειαν.
Heracleon: she leaves the jar to the world and goes to spiritual things§32
32Heracleon also takes “She left the water-jar” as her leaving the temporary world and going, through the Word, toward spiritual things.
We take it more simply: she leaves the jar so she is not pulled aside by drawing water, and hurries to announce the good news.
Greek · §32
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων καὶ τό· Ἀφῆκεν τὴν ὑδρίαν· οὕτως ἐκδέχεται, ὡς τὸν πρόσκαιρον κόσμον καταλιποῦσαν καὶ διὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀπερχομένην ἐπὶ τὰ πνευματικά.
ἡμεῖς δὲ ἁπλούστερον ἐκδεξόμεθα τὴν καταλιποῦσαν τὴν ὑδρίαν διὰ τὸ μὴ περισπᾶσθαι περὶ τὸ ἀντλεῖν, ἀλλὰ σπεύδειν ἐπὶ τὸ εὐαγγελίσασθαι.
I have food to eat that you do not know§33
33Meanwhile the disciples were asking him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said, “I have food to eat that you do not know.”
To hear that clearly, we must ask what this food is — better than the disciples’ food, and unknown to them.
Greek · §33
Ἐν δὲ τούτοις οἱ μαθηταὶ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν λέγοντες· Ῥαββί, φάγε. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐγὼ βρῶσιν ἔχω φαγεῖν ἣν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε.
ἵνα δὲ τρανότερον νοηθῇ τὸ ῥητόν, σκεπτέον τίς ἡ βρῶσις αὕτη ἡ κρείττων τῆς τῶν μαθητῶν, ἣν οὐκ ᾔδεισαν.
That food is doing the Father’s will and finishing his work§34
34Return now to the word about food. Jesus says to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
That is the food the disciples did not know: doing the Father’s will and finishing his work.
Greek · §34
Ἀλλ’ ἤδη ἐπὶ τὸν προκείμενον λόγον τὸν περὶ τῆς βρώσεως ἐπανίωμεν. λέγει γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν ἵνα ποιήσω τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με καὶ τελειώσω αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔργον.
αὕτη οὖν ἡ βρῶσίς ἐστιν, ἣν οἱ μαθηταὶ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, τὸ ποιεῖν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τελειοῦν τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ.
The disciples wonder whether someone brought him food§35
35So the disciples were saying to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” They still hear “food” in a bodily way and miss the Word’s allegory.
The same risk often meets us whenever we hear spiritual things in a bodily way.
Greek · §35
Ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους· Μή τις ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν; ἔτι γὰρ σωματικώτερον νοοῦσι περὶ τῆς βρώσεως, οὐ συνιέντες τὴν ἀλληγορίαν τοῦ λόγου.
καὶ ἡμῖν δὲ κινδυνεύει πολλάκις τὸ αὐτὸ συμβαίνειν, ὅταν τὰ πνευματικὰ σωματικῶς ἀκούωμεν.
My food is the Father’s will: nourishment of the Son’s work§36
36Jesus says to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” As bodily food feeds us and holds life together, so for the Son doing the Father’s will is nourishment.
Greek · §36
Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν ἵνα ποιήσω τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με καὶ τελειώσω αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔργον. ὡς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἡ σωματικὴ βρῶσις τρέφει καὶ συνέχει τὴν ζωήν, οὕτως τῷ υἱῷ τὸ ποιεῖν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς τροφή ἐστιν.
Finishing the work: from the Samaritan beginning toward the cross§37
37Finishing the Father’s work points to the whole economy — of which this talk with the Samaritan woman and the calling of those from the city who believed are a part.
That finishing reaches as far as “It is finished” on the cross.
Greek · §37
Τὸ δὲ τελειῶσαι τὸ ἔργον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ τὴν ὅλην οἰκονομίαν ἀναφέρεται, ἧς μέρος καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ὁμιλία καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πιστευσάντων κλῆσις.
μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ· Τετέλεσται· ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ φθάνει τὸ τελειῶσαι τὸ ἔργον.
Heracleon on My food: those saved as food for the Savior§38
38Heracleon takes “My food is” to mean that those the Savior saves are his food — they are his nourishment, he says.
We will beware of the absurdity that the Savior needs food. Better to hear that doing the Father’s will is food for him.
Greek · §38
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων διὰ τοῦ· Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν· τοὺς σωζομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος βρῶσιν αὐτοῦ εἶναι λέγει· οὗτοι γάρ, φησίν, τροφὴ αὐτοῦ.
ἡμεῖς δὲ φυλαξόμεθα μὴ εἰς ἀτοπίαν ἐκπεσεῖν, ὡς τοῦ σωτῆρος δεομένου τροφῆς· βέλτιον γὰρ ἀκούειν ὅτι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς ποιεῖν αὐτῷ τροφή ἐστιν.
Yet four months and the harvest comes: seasons of souls§39
39“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and the harvest comes’? Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.”
Ask whether he speaks literally of farming’s harvest, or tropically of the harvest of those who believe.
Greek · §39
Οὐχ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἔτι τετράμηνός ἐστι καὶ ὁ θερισμὸς ἔρχεται; ἐπάρατε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ θεάσασθε τὰς χώρας ὅτι λευκαί εἰσιν πρὸς θερισμόν.
ζητητέον πότερον κυριολεκτικῶς περὶ τοῦ κατὰ γεωργίαν θερισμοῦ λέγει ἢ τροπικῶς περὶ τοῦ τῶν πιστευόντων θερισμοῦ.
The white fields: Samaritans already ripe for gathering§40
40Looked at more closely, those coming out of the city to Jesus are fields white for harvest.
For many from that city already believed in him because of the woman’s word.
Greek · §40
Τούτων δὴ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐξεταζομένων ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν ἰδεῖν ὅτι οἱ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξερχόμενοι πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν λευκαί εἰσιν χῶραι πρὸς θερισμόν.
ἤδη γὰρ πολλοὶ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν διὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς γυναικός.
Already the reaper receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life§41
41“The reaper receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together.”
Ask what the reaper’s wage is, and what fruit is gathered for eternal life.
Greek · §41
Ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ συνάγει καρπὸν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων.
ζητητέον τίς ὁ μισθὸς τοῦ θερίζοντος καὶ τίς ὁ καρπὸς ὁ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον συναγόμενος.
Sowing to flesh and spirit: harvest matches the seed§42
42Set beside it also “Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap: the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
And the prophet: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.”
Greek · §42
Παραϑετέον καὶ τό· Ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει· ὅτι ὁ σπείρων εἰς τὴν σάρκα ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς θερίσει φθοράν, ὁ δὲ σπείρων εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος θερίσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
καὶ ὁ προφήτης· Οἱ σπείροντες ἐν δάκρυσιν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει θεριοῦσιν.
In one sense the same person sows and reaps; in another, another sows and another reaps§43
43In one register the same person both sows and reaps, as in the psalm we set beside. In the present saying, though, “one sows and another reaps” — when the prophets sow and the apostles reap.
Greek · §43
Ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ παρόντι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων· ὁ αὐτὸς μὲν σπείρει καὶ θερίζει καθ’ ὃ παρεθέμεθα ἐν ψαλμοῖς.
ἄλλος δέ ἐστιν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων ἐν τῇ προκειμένῃ λέξει, ὅταν οἱ προφῆται σπείρωσιν καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι θερίζωσιν.
Heracleon on the saying “one sows and another reaps”§44
44Heracleon will say — and on the wording he may agree — that one is the sower and another the reaper.
We do not deny the verse; we also keep the psalm’s harmony in which the same person both sows and reaps.
Greek · §44
Καὶ ἐρεῖ γε ὁ Ἡρακλέων, τάχα δὲ τούτῳ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν συμφέρεται, ἄλλον μὲν εἶναι τὸν σπείροντα ἄλλον δὲ τὸν θερίζοντα.
ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα τὸ ῥητόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ψαλμοῖς συμφωνίαν τοῦ αὐτοῦ σπείροντος καὶ θερίζοντος τηροῦμεν.
That the sower and the reaper may rejoice together§45
45Next examine “so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together.”
The sower rejoices that his seeds have grown; the reaper rejoices that he gathers the fruit.
Greek · §45
Ἀκολούθως τούτοις ἐξεταστέον τί τό· Ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων.
χαίρει μὲν ὁ σπείρων ὅτι τὰ σπέρματα αὐτοῦ ηὔξηται, χαίρει δὲ ὁ θερίζων ὅτι συνάγει τὸν καρπόν.
Heracleon on the reaper’s wage: because the Savior calls himself reaper§46
46Heracleon thinks “The reaper receives wages” is said because the Savior calls himself a reaper.
We also call the apostles reapers, to whom he said, “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.”
Greek · §46
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων τό· Ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει· εἰρῆσθαι νομίζει ἐπεὶ θεριστὴν ἑαυτὸν λέγει ὁ σωτήρ.
ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους θεριστὰς εἶναι φαμέν, οἷς εἶπεν· Ἐγὼ ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς θερίζειν ὃ οὐχ ὑμεῖς κεκοπιάκατε.
I sent you to reap what others labored§47
47“I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
The prophets labored in the sowing; the apostles have entered that labor as reapers.
Greek · §47
Ἐγὼ ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς θερίζειν ὃ οὐχ ὑμεῖς κεκοπιάκατε· ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασιν, καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε.
οἱ μὲν προφῆται κεκοπιάκασιν ἐν τῷ σπόρῳ, οἱ δὲ ἀπόστολοι εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθασιν θερίζοντες.
The true word: one sows and another reaps§48
48For here the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’
So it is clear: after the prophetic sowing comes the apostolic harvest — one sows, another reaps.
Greek · §48
Ἦν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀληθινὸς ὅτι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων.
οὕτω δῆλον πῶς ἄλλος ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων ἐν τῇ ἀποστολικῇ θερισμῷ μετὰ τὸν προφητικὸν σπόρον.
Heracleon on joint joy of sower and reaper§49
49Heracleon explains “so that sower and reaper may rejoice together” this way: the sower rejoices that he sows and that some of his seed is already gathered; the reaper rejoices that he reaps.
Yet both could not start at once: first must come sowing, then harvest.
Greek · §49
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων τό· Ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων· οὕτω διηγήσατο· χαίρει μὲν γάρ, φησίν, ὁ σπείρων ὅτι σπείρει, καὶ ὅτι ἤδη τινὰ τῶν σπερμάτων αὐτοῦ συνάγεται· χαίρει δὲ καὶ ὁ θερίζων ὅτι θερίζει.
ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐδύναντο ἀμφότεροι ἅμα ἄρξασθαι· ἔδει γὰρ πρῶτον σπαρῆναι, εἶθ’ ὕστερον θερισθῆναι.
Prophetic labor and apostolic entry into that labor§50
50“Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” The prophets labored by sowing the law and the prophecies; the disciples have entered that labor.
So even now those from Samaria who believe are fruit of the prophetic sowing, harvested by the disciples.
Greek · §50
Ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασιν, καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε· οἱ προφῆται τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰς προφητείας σπείραντες κεκοπιάκασιν, οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ εἰς τὸν κόπον ἐκεῖνον εἰσεληλύθασιν.
διὸ καὶ νῦν οἱ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας πιστεύοντες καρπός εἰσιν τοῦ προφητικοῦ σπόρου θεριζόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν μαθητῶν.
Beginning and growth of Samaritan faith; Heracleon on “with them”§51
51The beginning of the many from Samaria who believed was the woman’s word of testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” The increase and multiplication of the many more who believed was no longer through the woman’s word but through his own Word.
Heracleon says on the place: he remained “with them” and not “in them,” and “two days” mean either the present age and the coming one (the one in the wedding), or the time before the passion and after it. Reply: “with them” is like “Behold, I am with you all the days.” — he did not say “in you.” For he is always with the disciples, so that they say, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Greek · §51
Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Σαμαρείας πιστευόντων πολλῶν ἦν ὁ λόγος τῆς γυναικὸς μαρτυρούσης ὅτι Εἶπέν μοι πάντα ἃ ἐποίησα· ἡ δὲ αὔξησις καὶ πληθυσμὸς τῶν πολλῷ πλειόνων πιστευόντων οὐκέτι διὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς γυναικὸς ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτόν.
Ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλέων εἰς τοὺς τόπους ταῦτά φησιν· Παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἔμεινεν καὶ οὐκ ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ δύο ἡμέρας, ἤτοι τὸν ἐνεστῶτα αἰῶνα καὶ τὸν μέλλοντα τὸν ἐν γάμῳ, ἢ τὸν πρὸ τοῦ πάθους καὶ τὸν μετὰ τὸ πάθος. λεκτέον δὲ ὅτι ὅμοιον τῷ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐστὶ τὸ Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν Ἐν ὑμῖν εἰμί· ἀεὶ γὰρ μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν ἐστιν, ὥστε καὶ λέγειν· Ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός.
No longer because of your speech: eyewitness of the Word§52
52They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
They renounce faith that rests only on the woman’s speech, having found something better: hearing the Savior himself. It is better to become an eyewitness of the Word and hear him teaching without instruments than, not seeing him, to hear the word about him through ministers. And it is better to walk by sight than by faith.
Greek · §52
Τῇ δὲ γυναικὶ ἔλεγον· Οὐκέτι διὰ τὴν λαλιάν σου πιστεύομεν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκηκόαμεν, καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθῶς οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου.
Ἀρνοῦνται τὴν διὰ τὴν λαλιὰν τῆς γυναικὸς πίστιν, κρεῖττον ἐκείνης εὑρόντες τὸ ἀκηκοέναι αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος. καὶ βέλτιόν γέ ἐστιν αὐτόπτην γενέσθαι τοῦ λόγου καὶ χωρὶς ὀργάνων διδάσκοντος ἀκούειν αὐτοῦ ἤπερ μὴ ὁρῶντα αὐτὸν διὰ διακόνων ἀκούειν τὸν περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγον· καὶ κρεῖττόν γε διὰ εἴδους περιπατεῖν ἢ διὰ πίστεως.
In the flesh versus at home in the body; faith and sight§53
53Examine when and how Paul says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” See whether “to be in the flesh” and “to be at home in the body” are not the same: those who are in the flesh cannot please God; those at home in the body are away from the Lord, yet they walk by faith.
I think those who campaign according to the flesh are “in the flesh,” while those at home in the body are those who do not know the spiritual things of Scripture but cling wholly to its body.
Greek · §53
Ἐξεταστέον δὲ πότε καὶ πῶς λέγει Παῦλος· Διὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους. καὶ ὅρα εἰ δύναται μὴ ταὐτὸν φάσκειν ἐν σαρκὶ εἶναι καὶ ἐνδημεῖν σώματι· οἱ μὲν ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται· οἱ δὲ ἐνδημοῦντες τῷ σώματι ἐκδημοῦσιν μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, πλὴν διὰ τῆς πίστεως περιπατοῦσιν.
Καὶ οἶμαι ὅτι ἐν σαρκὶ μέν εἰσιν οἱ κατὰ σάρκα στρατευόμενοι, ἐνδημοῦσι δὲ τῷ σώματι οἱ τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς γραφῆς μὴ γνοοῦντες ἀλλ᾽ ὅλοι προσκείμενοι αὐτῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι.
After two days he left; a prophet has no honor in his homeland§54
54After the two days he went out from there to Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own homeland.
Ask what Jesus’ homeland is, and how his testimony is true: in Nazareth he did not do many mighty works, yet in Capernaum and Galilee many believed in him.
Greek · §54
Μετὰ δὲ τὰς δύο ἡμέρας ἐξῆλθεν ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν. αὐτὸς γὰρ Ἰησοῦς ἐμαρτύρησεν ὅτι προφήτης ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ πατρίδι τιμὴν οὐκ ἔχει.
Ζητητέον τίς ἡ πατρὶς τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ πῶς ἀληθὲς τὸ μαρτυρούμενον ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἐπεὶ ἐν μὲν τῇ Ναζαρὲτ οὐκ ἐποίησεν δυνάμεις πολλάς, ἐν δὲ τῇ Καφαρναοὺμ καὶ τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτόν.
When he came into Galilee they received him§55
55So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they too had gone to the feast.
The Galileans who receive Jesus do not slander him as the Jerusalemites do; remembering the signs at the feast, they welcome him kindly.
Greek · §55
Ὅτε οὖν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, ἐδέξαντο αὐτὸν οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι, πάντα ἑωρακότες ὅσα ἐποίησεν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ· καὶ αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν.
Οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι δεξάμενοι τὸν Ἰησοῦν οὐχ ὡς οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται διαβάλλουσιν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ μεμνημένοι τῶν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ σημείων φιλοφρόνως αὐτὸν ὑποδέχονται.
He came again to Cana of Galilee§56
56So he came again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine.
Jesus arrives a second time at Cana, where he had done the first of the signs. It fits that after the teaching in Samaria he should again be in Cana, where he changed the water into wine.
Greek · §56
Ἦλθεν οὖν πάλιν εἰς τὴν Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ὅπου ἐποίησεν τὸ ὕδωρ οἶνον.
Δεύτερον εἰς Κανὰ παραγίνεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἔνθα τὸ πρῶτον τῶν σημείων πεποίηκεν· ἁρμόζει δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ διδασκαλίαν πάλιν ἐν Κανὰ γενέσθαι, ὅπου τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς οἶνον μετέβαλεν.
There was a royal official whose son was ill§57
57And there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. Hearing that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went and asked him to come down and heal his son.
We suspect the royal official may figure Abraham, and the son who fell ill in Capernaum the people from his seed. Still one must also ask, as history, who this royal official was.
Greek · §57
Καὶ ἦν τις βασιλικὸς οὗ ὁ υἱὸς ἠσθένει ἐν Καφαρναούμ. οὗτος ἀκούσας ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἥκει ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἠρώτα ἵνα καταβῇ καὶ ἰάσηται αὐτοῦ τὸν υιόν.
Ὑπονοοῦμεν τὸν μὲν βασιλικὸν εἶναι τὸν Ἀβραάμ, τὸν δὲ ἀσθενήσαντα αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ· ζητητέον δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἱστορίας, τίς ἦν οὗτος ὁ βασιλικός.
Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe§58
58Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said, “Lord, come down before my child dies.”
The official had not only a son but also servants. The fevered son in Capernaum is an image of those who are weak and need the Word’s healing.
Greek · §58
Εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐὰν μὴ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἴδητε, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσητε. λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλικός· Κύριε, κατάβηθι πρὶν ἀποθανεῖν τὸ παιδίον μου.
Οὐ μόνον υἱὸν ἀλλὰ καὶ δούλους εἶχεν ὁ βασιλικός· ὁ ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ υἱὸς πυρέσσων εἰκὼν ἐστὶν τῶν ἀσθενούντων λόγου δεομένων ἰάσεως.
Heracleon on the royal official§59
59Heracleon seems to take the royal official as the demiurge, since he too ruled those under him; therefore, he says, he was called βασιλικός — as it were a little king.
He takes the son in Capernaum as the one in the material realm, and the official’s servants as the demiurge’s angels.
Greek · §59
Ἔοικε δὲ βασιλικὸν ὁ Ἡρακλέων λέγειν τὸν δημιουργόν, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐβασίλευεν τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτόν· διὸ καί, φησί, βασιλικὸς ὠνομάσθη, οἱονεὶ μικρός τις βασιλεύς.
Τὸν δὲ ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ υἱὸν αὐτοῦ διηγεῖται τὸν ἐν τῷ ὑλικῷ εἶναι· τοὺς δὲ δούλους τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ἐξείληφε τοὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ δημιουργοῦ.
Against Heracleon’s reading of the royal official§60
60So much for Heracleon’s remarks, which are spoken more boldly than truly. There is no necessity that the royal official be the demiurge, nor his servants that one’s angels.
Better to hold to the history and to sound elevations than to invent myths about demiurge and matter after Heracleon’s reading.
Greek · §60
Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ Ἡρακλέωνος, ἅπερ τολμηρότερον ἢ ἀληθέστερον εἴρηται. οὐ γὰρ ἀνάγκη τὸν βασιλικὸν δημιουργὸν εἶναι, οὐδὲ τοὺς δούλους ἀγγέλους ἐκείνου.
Κρεῖττον δὲ ἔχεσθαι τῆς ἱστορίας καὶ τῶν ὑγιῶν ἀναγωγῶν ἢ μυθοποιεῖν περὶ δημιουργοῦ καὶ ὑλικοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ἡρακλέωνος ἐκδοχήν.
This again the second sign Jesus did§61
61This again was the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea into Galilee.
He has done two signs in Galilee, of which the one concerning the royal official’s son is second: in Cana water into wine; in Capernaum healing the sick by a word.
Greek · §61
Τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν δεύτερον σημεῖον ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλθὼν ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν.
Δύο σημεῖα πεποίηκεν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, ὧν τὸ περὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ δεύτερόν ἐστιν· τὸ μὲν ἐν Κανὰ ὕδωρ οἶνον, τὸ δὲ ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ τὸν νοσοῦντα λόγῳ ἰασάμενος.
Capernaum: where the sick are, the Word goes down§62
62We have also noted that in Capernaum both took place: the royal official’s son and Peter’s mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
It fits that where Jesus goes down, there the sick are. The official’s ailing son was not where Jesus was, but in Capernaum he was healed by a word.
Greek · §62
Τετηρήκαμεν δὲ καὶ ὅτι ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ ἀμφότερα γεγένηται, ὅ τε τοῦ βασιλικοῦ υἱὸς καὶ ἡ πενθερὰ Πέτρου βεβλημένη πυρέσσουσα.
Ἁρμόζει γάρ, ὅπου καταβαίνει ὁ Ἰησοῦς, εἶναι τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ὅπου Ἰησοῦς ὁ νοσῶν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ υἱός, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν Καφαρναοὺμ λόγῳ ἐθεραπεύθη.
Further on the second sign and Capernaum§63
63Further on “This again was the second sign Jesus did”: when the official is rebuked as one who would not believe without seeing marvels, it is not said only “unless you see signs,” but “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
You believe because of the marvel; we, beyond that, also because of what the sign is of — as we perform it.
Greek · §63
Ἔτι πρὸς τό· Τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν δεύτερον σημεῖον ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ὅτε δὲ ὁ βασιλικὸς ὀνειδίζεται ὡς οὐχ ἂν πιστεύσων χωρὶς τῆς θέας τῶν παραδόξων, οὐκέτι λέγεται μόνον Ἐὰν μὴ σημεῖα ἴδητε, ἀλλὰ Ἐὰν μὴ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἴδητε.
Ὑμῶν μὲν πιστευόντων διὰ τὸ παράδοξον, ἡμῶν δὲ πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ διὰ τὸ οὗ ἐστι σημεῖον ἐπιτελούντων αὐτό.
Signs and wonders; seven sojourns; close of Book 13§64
64You will also inquire into “How he set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.” — whether signs and wonders differ in underlying subject, or are the same things under two names.
Let us bring even the thirteenth tome to a close: it has contained the account of Jesus’ sojourns from the beginning through the seventh — first at Bethabara, second at Cana, third down to Capernaum, fourth up to Jerusalem, fifth in the Judean land, sixth in Samaria by Jacob’s spring, seventh again at Cana of Galilee. In the next, God granting, we will take up what he did and said at the Jews’ feast in Jerusalem.
Greek · §64
Ζητήσεις δὲ τὸ ἐν ἑβδομηκοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ ψαλμῷ· Ὡς ἔθετο ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τὰ σημεῖα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ τέρατα αὐτοῦ ἐν πεδίῳ Τάνεως· πότερον τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ διαφέρει τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα, ἢ τὰ αὐτά.
Ἄστοιχε δὲ καταπαύοντες καὶ τὸν τρισκαιδέκατον τόμον, περιέχοντα διήγησιν τῶν μέχρι τῆς ἑβδόμης ἀρχῆθεν ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Ἰησοῦ· πρῶτον ἐν Βηθαβαρᾷ, δεύτερον ἐν Κανᾷ, τρίτον εἰς Καφαρναούμ, τέταρτον εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, πέμπτον εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, ἕκτον ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ, ἕβδομον ἐν Κανᾷ δεύτερον.