Holy Father, keep them in thy name. St John Chapter xvii. 6-12

St John Chapter xvii : Verses 6-12

Contents

• St John Chapter xvii : Verses 6-12
   Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xvii : Verses 6-12

Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

6 I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were, and to me thou gavest them; and they have kept thy word.  

7 Now they have known, that all things which thou hast given me, are from thee:  

8 Because the words which thou gavest me, I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.  

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they are thine:  

10 And all my things are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

11 And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are.  

12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled.

6 Ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὓς ⸀ἔδωκάς μοι ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου. σοὶ ἦσαν κἀμοὶ αὐτοὺς ⸁ἔδωκας, καὶ τὸν λόγον σου τετήρηκαν.

6 Manifestavi nomen tuum hominibus, quos dedisti mihi de mundo : tui erant, et mihi eos dedisti : et sermonem tuum servaverunt.  

7 νῦν ἔγνωκαν ὅτι πάντα ὅσα ⸀δέδωκάς μοι παρὰ σοῦ ⸀εἰσιν·

7 Nunc cognoverunt quia omnia quae dedisti mihi, abs te sunt :  

8 ὅτι τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ⸀ἔδωκάς μοι δέδωκα αὐτοῖς, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔλαβον καὶ ἔγνωσαν ἀληθῶς ὅτι παρὰ σοῦ ἐξῆλθον, καὶ ἐπίστευσαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας.

8 quia verba quae dedisti mihi, dedi eis : et ipsi acceperunt, et cognoverunt vere quia a te exivi, et crediderunt quia tu me misisti.  

9 ἐγὼ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐρωτῶ· οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ ἀλλὰ περὶ ὧν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι σοί εἰσιν,

9 Ego pro eis rogo; non pro mundo rogo, sed pro his quos dedisti mihi : quia tui sunt :  

10 καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα σά ἐστιν καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐμά, καὶ δεδόξασμαι ἐν αὐτοῖς.

10 et mea omnia tua sunt, et tua mea sunt : et clarificatus sum in eis.

11 καὶ οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ ⸀αὐτοὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰσίν, κἀγὼ πρὸς σὲ ἔρχομαι. πάτερ ἅγιε, τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν ⸀καθὼς ἡμεῖς.

11 Et jam non sum in mundo, et hi in mundo sunt, et ego ad te venio. Pater sancte, serva eos in nomine tuo, quos dedisti mihi : ut sint unum, sicut et nos.  

12 ὅτε ἤμην μετ’ ⸀αὐτῶν ἐγὼ ἐτήρουν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ⸀ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, ⸀καὶ ἐφύλαξα, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετο εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ.

12 Cum essem cum eis, ego servabam eos in nomine tuo. Quos dedisti mihi, custodivi : et nemo ex eis periit, nisi filius perditionis, ut Scriptura impleatur.

Annotations

 

    6. I have manifested thy name to the men. “This was the duty committed to Him by the Father.” So S. Chrysostom. “Thy name, not as God, but as the Father,” says S. Cyril. The Interlin. Gloss says the same; and S. Augustine (in loc.), “For the Name of God was not unknown to the Gentiles. In respect that He made the world, God was known to all men. In that He was not to be worshipped together with false gods He was known in Jewry. But in that He is the Father of Christ, He is now manifested through Christ.” And S. Chrysostom, “He had already manifested Himself as the Son of God in words and in deeds.”

    whom thou hast given me out of the world. By calling, and, not merely sufficient, but by effectual, grace poured on those whom Thou hast given Me perfectly and completely, that is, as concerns Myself, even those who were called by such preventing grace, as was in accordance with their free wills, persuading them to believe, love, and follow Thee, and who on their part obeyed My call, and separated themselves from the world, its desires and vanities. As S. Cecilia said, She wished to have no friendship with the world.

    He speaks more particularly of the Apostles; and He signifies by the expression “Thou hast given Me,” (1.) That the power and authority He had over His disciples and other men was derived from His Godhead. (2.) That God the Father by His preventing grace had moved them to believe in Christ, and follow Him. (3.) That the Father had separated them from the world, and consigned them to Christ. (4.) That His human will was in conformity with the will of the Father. (5.) That God the Father chose those whom He wished to consign to Christ as His apostles, and that Christ accepted those whom He had chosen.

    Thine they were, and to me thou gavest them; and they have kept thy word. Christ gives His parting blessing to His disciples, and commends them in prayer to God. He prays Him to protect them as His own, for the Father had given them to Him.

    7. Now they have known, that all things which thou hast given me, are from thee. All that I have said or done originally came from Thee, My teaching and My law.

    8. Because the words which thou gavest me, I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Have a care for them, because I cared for and taught them, and they have accepted My doctrine, and believed Me to be the Messiah.

    9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they are thine. And hence heretics in the time of S. Augustine (making a wrong use of his writings) taught that Christ prayed only for the predestinate; and that therefore whatever sins they committed could not hurt them, and that no good works could be of avail for the reprobate. This heresy was renewed by John Huss and Martin Luther. But Scripture teaches us that Christ was born and died for all men, even the reprobate, or rather for those who would be reprobated on account of their sins. See Luke xxiii. 34; 2 Cor. v. 14–15; John i. 9; 1 Tim. ii. 4. Because Christ, for His part, provides all men with the necessary means for salvation. His sacraments are constituted for all. His Apostles He sent to all nations. He offers His teaching and His grace to all. He has sufficiently done His part for their salvation. But He here specially prays for His faithful ones, and with effectual prayer, for God to keep them in the faith and grace which have been given them. So S. Augustine, who elsewhere says, I pray not for those who are likely to the end of their lives to remain (in) the world, that is, to continue unbelieving and ungodly. (2.) It is better, and more to the point, to suppose that Christ here prayed for the Apostles only. For after He had prayed for them, He prayed for those who would afterwards believe through their preaching (verse 20). He therefore did not pray for them. Nor did He here pray for the world, though He prayed afterwards for His murderers. And by the power of that prayer many of them were converted at the preaching of S. Peter. But in this place He did not pray for them, but, as I said, only for the Apostles, the future propagators of the Gospel, and for the heads of the Church.

    10. And all my things are thine, and thine are mine. I am about to depart, and I commend My disciples to Thee; because they are Thine, and elected by Thee to eternal life and committed to My care. But they are still Thine, though given to Me. And though, as I say, they were given to Me, yet they were ever Mine; for all Thou hast are Mine, by reason of our unity of Essence. So SS. Cyril and Chrysostom.

     and I am glorified in them. Because they believe in Me, love Me, worship, adore, and preach Me as the Messiah and the Son of God. So Cyril and Chrysostom.

    Morally. Learn hence that God and Christ are glorified in us, when we do what is right, and especially when we preach His faith, and convert unbelievers and ungodly men. S. Augustine (in loc.) takes it otherwise, putting the matter as past, instead of its being yet to come. For what is past is a matter of greater certainty. I pray for the Apostles, for I am about to be glorified by them, when they preach My Godhead in all the world.

    11. And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,  I am leaving the world, but they remain in it, to preach the gospel, and therefore will be exposed to the hatred of both Jews and Gentiles, and countless perils. Keep them, then, O Father, for there is no one else who can do so, in My absence.

    Holy Father. He terms the Father “Holy,” because He is speaking of holiness, and He prays the Father to keep and advance the Apostles in holiness. And in ver. 25 He terms Him “righteous” for withholding from the unrighteous and proud world the mysteries of My humiliation in redeeming man. And when consoling S. Paul in tribulation, He is called “The Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation” (2 Cor. i. 3). And when He strengthened David in battle, and made him victorious, He was thus addressed, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:” (Ps. xvii. 2).

    keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; by Thy might and omnipotence, that they may ever be in Me, and abide in My love. It is plain then that the Apostles had not lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. For this prayer of Christ’s was fully heard by the Father.

    that they may be one, as we also are, i.e. in consent and will: just as We are One in Nature, and the same Essential Godhead. That being joined together by one spirit of charity, they may ever follow Me, and not be rent asunder by discord, and thus may have the unity of spirit in agreement, which we have by means of the same Essence. So S. Augustine (in loc.) and S. Ambrose (de Fide, iv. 2). Whence S. Cyril notes here, and S. Athanasius (contr. Arian) that the word “like” signifies only a kind of resemblance, but not identity; which means that they, by the consent of their minds, may imitate that unity which We possess, in having the same numerical essence and will.

    S. Cyril and S. Hilary (de Trinit. lib. viii.) refer these words to the Holy Eucharist, as though Christ wished that the Apostles, by partaking of His Body therein, might become one with Him and amongst themselves. And this truly and substantially, as He is truly one in substance with the Father. For just as the Father is united to the Son in the same Essential Godhead, so are the Apostles and all the faithful united one with another in the same substance of the manhood and Godhead of Christ, which they receive in the Eucharist.

    12. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, i.e. “by Thy power, by Thy authority, as Thy messenger to them.” So S. Cyril. For they, knowing that I was sent by Thee, willingly and boldly cleaved to Me, as knowing that through Me they were cleaving to God, and were blessed and protected by Him. For those whom the Son guards, the Father guards also. Others explain “Thy Name” as meaning, for the sake of Thee and Thy boundless goodness.

    Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition. The word “son” means here, worthy of, guilty of. And hence it is plain that Christ here did not pray for Judas, who had withdrawn from the company of the Apostles in order to betray Christ. He had not been given to Christ by the Father, but had destroyed himself by his covetousness in betraying Me, and therefore passed away into the number of the reprobate.

    that the scripture may be fulfilled. This signifies, not the end and intent of Scripture, but merely that it so came to pass in order that the Scripture, which cannot lie, should be fulfilled. See Ps. cix, and Acts i. 20.

            

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.