For, we have not here a lasting city: but we seek one that is to come.
ου γαρ εχομεν ωδε μενουσαν πολιν αλλα την μελλουσαν επιζητουμεν
8 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Thus the churches, like ships, sail in their own way upon this spiritual sea. They receive the faithful and carry them to another land or country: the Kingdom of Heaven, hope in Christ, sanctification from the Holy Spirit, and the virtue that is the homeland of the saints. Being sojourners, as it is written, and strangers upon this earth (Heb 11:13), they have here no abiding city. They seek the one “whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10, 14).
He proves the necessity of going outside the gate, that is, out of the world. For we have no share in this world, since it too will not exist forever. Therefore we must flee from this world and hasten toward the city to come, that is, toward heaven.
Therefore let us despise present goods and await those goods which are firm and abiding.
“We have here no abiding city,” no city that abides forever. For all cities here on earth perish, since they are subject to corruption. “But we seek the one to come.” That is, the abiding and incorruptible city, the Jerusalem above, of which he spoke earlier. Therefore let us go with complete readiness to meet Him outside the city that lies below, as has just been said.
For Christ, our Pascha, has been sacrificed for us (1 Cor 5:7), as the apostle says. God the Son was crucified as the new and true redeeming sacrifice to the Father, but not within the Temple, whose worship had already come to an end. Nor was Christ crucified within the walls of the city, which awaited destruction for its crimes, but outside the camp. Thus, when the mystery of the old sacrifices was exhausted, a new sacrifice was offered upon a new altar. The Cross of Christ is the altar not of the Church alone, but now of the whole world.
This is said for those who ask in perplexity, “How do you say that you have an altar? What was offered on it?” This is Christ Himself, whom you despise from top to bottom and do not see that He was offered as a sacrifice. He is the Sacrifice accomplished for the whole world, and the offering, although He was not offered on your altar. For it is evident that He suffered outside the city of Jerusalem (Heb 13:12). Therefore Paul says to them: “Yes, He suffered outside. Yet precisely through this it came about that we have an altar. For among you also the bodies of sacrificial animals are not burned on the altars themselves, but outside the camp. For this further reason Jesus suffered outside the gates of Jerusalem, that all, and not only the priests, might be sanctified.
And if the sacrifice was for all, how can this not be an altar?” Yet another interpretation is also given to the expression “that He might sanctify the people.” Consider: Paul says that those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat from our altar. This is not because it is impossible for them, but because, according to their own judgment, they show themselves unworthy. For by the love for mankind of Christ, eating from the altar is not only not forbidden. Rather, He suffered precisely for this, that He might sanctify, as Paul said, not only these or those, but all the people, and give them authority to eat from this altar.
Whoever has departed from his own house and fatherland and lives in a foreign land is there a newcomer and stranger. A Russian who is in Italy or in some other land is there a newcomer and stranger.
So also the Christian, removed from the heavenly fatherland and living in this world full of many sorrows, is a newcomer and stranger. Concerning this the holy Apostle says with the faithful: "Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one to come" (Heb 13:14).
Saint David also confesses this: "I am a stranger with You and a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Ps 38:13). Again he prays: "I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me" (Ps 118:19).
A stranger living in a foreign land applies all his care to doing and accomplishing that for which he came to the foreign land.
So also the Christian, called by the word of God and renewed by holy Baptism for eternal life, strives not to be deprived of eternal life, which here in this world is either gained or lost.
A stranger in a foreign land lives with no small caution, because he is among unfamiliar people. So also the Christian, living in this world as in a foreign land, fears and guards against everything.
He guards against spirits of malice, demons, sin, the delusion of the world, and evil and godless people.
Everyone avoids and withdraws from a stranger as from one who is not their own and is a foreigner. So also all lovers of the world and sons of this age avoid, withdraw from, and hate the true Christian.
They do this as though he were not their own, and were contrary to them. The Lord says of this: "If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
But because you are not of the world, and I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (Jn 15:19).
The sea, they say, does not keep a dead body in itself, but casts it out. So also the inconstant world, like the sea, casts out a pious soul as one dead to the world.
A lover of the world is a dear child to the world, while one who despises the world and its deceitful lusts is an enemy.
A stranger acquires nothing immovable in a foreign land, neither houses, nor gardens, nor anything else of the kind, except what is necessary, without which he cannot live.
So also for the true Christian everything in this world is immovable only in appearance. He will leave everything in this world, even the body itself.
The holy Apostle says of this: "For we brought nothing into the world; it is clear that we can carry nothing out of it" (1 Tim 6:7).
Therefore the true Christian seeks nothing in this world except what is necessary, saying with the Apostle: "Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content" (1 Tim 6:8).
A stranger sends or carries movable things, such as money and goods, to his fatherland. So also for the true Christian the movable things in this world, which he can take with himself and transfer to that age, are good works.
He strives to gather them here while living in the world, like a spiritual merchant gathering spiritual goods. He seeks to bring them to his heavenly fatherland, and with them to appear and stand before the heavenly Father.
The Lord exhorts us about this, Christians: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Mt 6:20).
The sons of this age care for the mortal body, but pious souls care for the immortal soul. The sons of this age seek their temporal and earthly treasures, but pious souls strive toward eternal and heavenly things.
They desire such good things as "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man" (1 Cor 2:9). By faith they look upon this invisible and incomprehensible treasure, and they disdain every earthly thing.
The sons of this age strive to be glorified on earth. True Christians seek glory in heaven, where their fatherland is. The sons of this age adorn the body with various garments.
The sons of the Kingdom of God adorn the immortal soul and clothe themselves, according to the Apostle’s exhortation, "with mercy, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, and long-suffering" (Col 3:12).
Therefore the sons of this age are senseless and foolish, for they seek what in itself is nothing. But the sons of the Kingdom of God are reasonable and wise, because they care for what contains eternal blessedness within itself.
For a stranger it is dreary to live in a foreign land. So also for the true Christian it is dreary and sorrowful to live in this world.
For him, everywhere in this world is exile, prison, and a place of banishment, because he is removed from the heavenly fatherland. "Woe is me," says Saint David, "that my sojourn has been prolonged" (Ps 119:5).
So also the other saints lament and sigh over this.
Although it is dreary for a stranger to live in a foreign land, he nevertheless lives there because of the need for which he departed from his fatherland. So also the true Christian, though it is sorrowful for him to live in this world, nevertheless lives while God commands it.
He endures this sojourn. A stranger always has his fatherland and his house in mind and memory, and he longs to return to his fatherland.
The Jews, while in Babylon, always had their fatherland, Jerusalem, in thought and memory, and earnestly desired to return to their fatherland.
So also true Christians in this world sit as by the rivers of Babylon and weep, remembering the Jerusalem above, the heavenly fatherland. With sighing and tears they lift up their eyes to it and desire to come there.
"For in this we groan, desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven," Saint Paul groans with the faithful (2 Cor 5:2).
For the sons of this age, who are attached to the world, the world is like a fatherland and paradise, and therefore they do not wish to depart from it.
But the sons of the Kingdom of God, who have departed from the world in heart and endure every sorrow in the world, desire to come to that fatherland.
For the true Christian, life in this world is nothing other than constant suffering and a cross. When a stranger returns to his fatherland and his house, his household, neighbors, and friends rejoice over him and greet his safe arrival.
So, when a Christian has ended his sojourn in the world and comes to the heavenly fatherland, all the angels and all the holy inhabitants of heaven rejoice over him.
A stranger who has come to his fatherland and his house lives in safety and rests. So also the Christian who has entered the heavenly fatherland rests, lives in safety, and fears nothing.
He rejoices and is glad in his blessedness.
From this you see, Christian: 1. Our life in this world is nothing other than a sojourn and migration, as the Lord says: "You are strangers and sojourners before Me" (Lev 25:23).
2. Our true fatherland is not here, but in heaven. For it we were created, renewed by Baptism, and called by the word of God.
3. Since we are called to heavenly blessings, we must not seek earthly things or cling to them, except what is necessary, such as food, clothing, a house, and the rest.
4. A Christian man living in the world has nothing more to desire than eternal life, "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt 6:21).
5. Whoever wishes to be saved must depart from the world in heart before he departs from the world in soul.
6. Whoever seeks in this world how to grow rich and be glorified thereby shows that he has the world, and not heaven, as his fatherland. He goes astray in such a way that he will understand it on the day of his death.
Since Christ suffered outside the city, that is, outside the Jewish society that expelled Him from its midst, the readers also must leave that society (v. 13). This is all the more so because here on earth there is no city that could be a firm and permanent refuge for us. Therefore we strive toward the city to come, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem (v. 14).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 10 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS