Jesus before Annas (John 18:13–14, 19–24)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, Homily 83 (on John 18:13–24) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114/npnf114.iv.lxxxv.html

On why they led Him first to Annas:

In their pleasure they made a show of what had been done, as though forsooth they had set up a trophy.

On the high priest's questioning Him of His doctrine:

O the wickedness! Though he had continually heard Him speaking in the temple and teaching openly, he now desires to be informed.

On "Why askest thou Me? Ask them which heard Me":

These are not the words of one speaking arrogantly, but of one confiding in the truth of what He had said. ... This is an unquestionable proof of truth, when one calls his enemies to be witnesses to what he saith.

On the officer who smote Him, and the long-suffering of the Lord:

What could be more audacious than this? Shudder, O heaven, be astounded, O earth, at the long-suffering of the Lord, and the senselessness of the servants!

On His answer, though He had power to do otherwise:

being upon this buffeted, though He was able to shake, to annihilate, or to remove all things, He doth not any one of these, but speaketh words able to relax any brutality.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11 (on John 18:13–23) Source: trans. T. Randell, Library of Fathers, 1885. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_john_11_book11.htm

On the binding of Christ, Who came to loose our chains:

They took the Lord, Who gave Himself up wholly to their will, and put fetters upon Him, though He came to us to release us from the bondage of the devil, and to loose us from the chains of sin.

On "I have spoken openly to the world ... and in secret spake I nothing":

It were fruitless labour, Christ says, to search out as obscure what is universally known; and how can it be seemly, where full knowledge is present, to set up a pretence of ignorance?

On the pattern of long-suffering that Christ sets before us:

For He That, by one single word, might have brought utter ruin on the Jews, endures to be smitten as a slave. He offers no resistance, and does not requite His persecutors with instant chastisement ... but He gently puts His adversary to shame, and tells him, that he did not right to strike One Who answered courteously, and in the hour of His imminent peril forgets not the virtues He continually practised.

Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)

Explanation of the Gospel of John (on John 18:13–23) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on John. Public domain. Full text: https://www.isidore.co/aquinas/CAJohn.htm

On the Lord's willing surrender after every warning was spurned:

Every thing having been done that could be to dissuade the Jews, and they refusing to take warning, He suffered Himself to be delivered into their hands.

On "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?":

As if to say, If thou hast any fault to find with what I have said, shew it; if thou hast not, why ragest thou?

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 113 (on John 18:13–27) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107/npnf107.iii.cxiv.html

On "I spake openly to the world ... in secret have I said nothing":

It was openly, because many heard Him; and again it was not openly, because they did not understand Him.

On why nothing He taught could be turned into a charge:

Howbeit the very things which they had heard without understanding, were such as could not with justice or truth be turned into a criminal charge against Him.

On the Lord's answer to the officer who struck Him:

What could be truer, meeker, juster, than such an answer?

On the power He held back, that He might teach us patience:

For what one of all these could not He, who made the world, have commanded by His power, had He not wished rather to teach us the patience that overcometh the world?

On these precepts being fulfilled in the heart, not by outward show:

those great precepts of His are to be fulfilled not by bodily ostentation, but by the preparation of the heart.

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)

Commentary on the Gospel of John (on John 18:13) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on John. Public domain. Full text: https://www.isidore.co/aquinas/CAJohn.htm

On why Christ was led first to Annas, guilt joined to guilt:

In order that, while our Lord was condemned by his colleague, he might not be guiltless, though his crime was less. Or perhaps his house lay in the way, and they were obliged to pass by it. Or it was the design of Providence, that they who were allied in blood, should be associated in guilt.