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The High Priestly Prayer

John 17 · Passion week in Jerusalem

Scripture

John 17:1–11

hese words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

King James Version · public domain

Joani 17:1–11

ëto foli Jisuj; pastaj ngriti syt’ e ti ndë qiellt, e tha, Atë, erdhi ora, lavduro t’ët Bir, që të të lavduronjë edhe yt Bir; 2Sikundrë i dhe pushtet mbë çdo mish, që t’u apë jetë të-përjetëshme gjith’ atyreve që j’a ke dhënë. 3Edhe këjo është jet’ e-përjetëshme, të njohënë ty të-vetëminë e të-vërtetëtinë Perëndi; Edhe Jisu Krishtinë që dërgove. 4Unë të lavdurova mbi dhet; atë punë që më dhe të bënj e mbarova. 5Edhe ndashti lavduro-më ti, o Atë, përanë teje, me lavdinë që pata përanë teje para se të bënej bota. 6Emërinë t’ënt u’a dëfteva njerëzet që më dhe prej botësë. Të-tutë ishinë, edhe m’i dhe, edhe fjalënë t’ënde e ruajtnë. 7Ndashti e njohnë se gjithë sa më ke dhënë janë prej teje; 8Sepse fjalëtë që më dhe, u’a dhashë atyre; edhe ata i muarnë, edhe e njohnë me të-vërtetë se prej teje dolla; edhe besuanë se ti më dërgove. 9Unë lutem për ata; nukë lutem për botënë, po për ata që më dhe; sepse janë të-tutë. 10Edhe gjithë të-mijatë janë të-tuatë, edhe të-tuatë janë të-mijatë; edhe ulavdëruashë nd’ato. 11Edhe nukë jam më ndë botët, po këta janë ndë botët, edhe unë po vinj te ti. At’ i-shënjtëruarë, ruaj-i mb’emërit t’ënt ata që më dhe, që të jenë një sikundrë neve.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

In their own words

For they are in us, as God in His temple; but we are in them, as the creature in its Creator.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 110 (on John 17:21–23)

The High Priestly Prayer (John 17)

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

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies 80 and 82 (on John 17:1–23) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.lxxxii.html

On "the only true God," and that this word "only" does not shut the Son out of true Godhead:

The only true God, He saith, by way of distinction from those which are not gods ... But if the Son be God, and the Son of the Father who is called the Only God, it is clear that He also is true, and the Son of Him who is called the Only true God.

On "that they all may be one," and the measure of that likeness:

That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee. Here again the "as" doth not denote exact similarity in their case, (for it was not possible for them in so great a degree,) but only as far as was possible for men. ... Because nothing so offends all men as divisions, He provideth that they should be one.

On the unity of the faithful, which is a glory greater even than miracles:

that they should be of one soul; for this is glory, that they should be one, and greater even than miracles.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book XI (on John 17:3–21) 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 only true God," that the Son is not thereby excluded from being true God:

When, then, He said that the Father was the true God, He did not exclude Himself. For being in Him, and of Him, by Nature, He will be also Himself the true God and the only God, as He is the only God: for beside Him, there is none other god who is the only true God.

On "the glory which I had with Thee before the world was," and the eternal reign of the Son:

the Son has never been excluded from the honour of the Father, but ever reigneth with Him, and with Him is adored and worshipped by us and by the holy angels as God, and of God, and in God, and with God. And this is, I think, what the inspired Evangelist John means to teach us, when He says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

On "that they may be one," the disciples' unity patterned upon the unity of Father and Son:

He wishes indeed the disciples to be kept in unity of mind and purpose, being blended, as it were, with one another in soul and spirit and the bond of brotherly love; and to be linked together in an unbroken chain of affection, so that their unity may be so far perfected as that their elective affinity may resemble the natural unity which exists between the Father and the Son

Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)

Explanation of the Gospel of John (on John 17:25) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on John. Public domain. Full text: https://isidore.co/aquinas/english/CAJohn.htm

On "O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee," the last petition of the prayer:

After then that He had prayed for believers, and promised them so many good things, another prayer follows worthy of His mercy and benignity: O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee; as if to say, I would wish that all men obtained these good things, which I have asked for the believing. But inasmuch as they have not known Thee, they shall not obtain the glory and crown.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 110 (on John 17:21–23) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.cxi.html

On "that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, in me, and I in Thee," and how our oneness differs from theirs:

The Father, therefore, is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, in such a way as to be one, because they are of one substance; but while we may indeed be in them, we cannot be one with them; for they and we are not of one substance

On the two ways we are made one, in Their nature and in ours:

For they are in us, as God in His temple; but we are in them, as the creature in its Creator.

On "that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me," and which world is meant:

For this world it is that He prayeth, in saying, "That the world may believe that Thou hast sent me."

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

On the Trinity (on John 17:1–23) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on John. Public domain. Full text: https://isidore.co/aquinas/english/CAJohn.htm

On "glorify Thy Son," that He is Son not in name but by nature:

Thy Son, He saith. Many of us are sons of God; but not such is the Son. For He is the proper, true Son by nature, not by adoption, in truth, not in name, by birth, not by creation.

On "that Thy Son also may glorify Thee," that this exchange of glory shows one Godhead in both:

So then the Son is not weak, inasmuch as He gives back in His turn glory for the glory which He receives. This petition for glory to be given and repaid, shews the same divinity to be in both.

On "that they all may be one," against those who reduce the oneness of Father and Son to mere agreement of will:

Heretics endeavouring to get over the words, I and My Father are one, as a proving unity of nature, and to reduce them to mean a unity simply of natural love, and agreement of will, bring forwards these words of our Lord's as an example of this kind of unity: That they may be all one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee. But though impiety can cheat its own understanding, it cannot alter the meaning of the words themselves. For they who are born again of a nature that gives unity in life eternal, they cease to be one in will merely, acquiring the same nature by their regeneration: but the Father and Son alone are properly one, because God, only-begotten of God, can only exist in that nature from which He is derived.

Patristic sources

Read the sources: Chrysostom on John, Homilies 80 and 82 (CCEL) · Cyril of Alexandria on John, Book XI (tertullian.org) · Augustine, Tractate 110 on John (CCEL) · Catena Aurea on John (isidore.co)