John 16:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, to show that by speaking in this way He had not yet given them perfect knowledge, but had spoken so that they would not be troubled in their thoughts, He says: These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. They might naturally think something merely human, and imagine that they would receive no help from Him. Therefore He says this, meaning: Do not remove Me from your thoughts, but always keep Me in your heart.

Therefore let no one make a dogma from these words. They were spoken for our consolation and out of love. He says: You are not suffering such things only now, and your troubles will not end with this. As long as you are in the world, you will have tribulation. Not only now, when they betray Me, but afterward also.

But be of good cheer. You will suffer no harm. When the Teacher has conquered the enemies, the disciples should no longer grieve. But tell me, how have You conquered the world? I have said that I have cast down its prince. You will know this later as well, when all things yield and obey you.

We too, if we wish, can conquer by looking to the Author of our faith and walking the path He opened for us. In this case, even death will not overcome us. What then, you will say, shall we not die? It would indeed be evident from this that it does not overcome us.

But a combatant is not glorious when he does not enter the struggle with the enemy. He is glorious when, after fighting, he remains unconquered. So we are not mortal because we enter the contest, but immortal because we conquer it. We would be mortal if we remained forever in its power.

Therefore, just as I cannot call the longest-lived animals immortal, though they do not die for a long time, so I cannot call mortal the man who, after being struck by death, rises after death.

Tell me, if someone blushed for a short time, would we therefore always call him red? No, because this is not his usual state. If someone turned pale, would we say he had jaundice? No, because that state is momentary.

So do not call mortal the man who is subjected to death for a short time. Otherwise we would have to say the same about those who sleep, because they also, so to speak, die and become inactive.

But death dissolves bodies. What of it? It dissolves them, not so that they may remain in corruption, but so that they may be made better. Let us then conquer the world. Let us strive for immortality. Let us follow the King, set up the trophy, and despise worldly pleasures.

No labors are needed. Let us transfer the soul to heaven, and the whole world is conquered. If you are not attached to it, it is conquered. If you laugh at it, it is put to shame.

We are strangers and pilgrims. Let us not be distressed by anything sorrowful. If you came from a glorious homeland and noble ancestors to a distant land, where no one knew you, and had neither servants nor wealth, and someone there wronged you, you would not grieve as if you had suffered this at home.

The clear awareness that you were not in your own land, but in a foreign country, would help you bear everything easily: contempt, hunger, thirst, and whatever might happen.

Think in this way now. You are a stranger and a pilgrim. Let nothing trouble you in this foreign land. You have a city whose Maker and Builder is God, and your stay here is brief and short-lived.

Let anyone who wishes strike, wrong, and revile. We are in a foreign land and live in poverty. It is grievous to suffer this in one's homeland, among fellow citizens. Then it is the greatest dishonor and misfortune. But if someone is where he has not a single acquaintance, everything is easy for him to bear.

An insult is especially bitter when it is given intentionally. For example, if someone insults a ruler, knowing that he is a ruler, then the insult is bitter. But if he insults him, taking him for a simple man, the insult cannot even touch the one subjected to it.

Let us reason in the same way. Those who insult us do not know at all who we are, that we are citizens of heaven, enrolled in the homeland above, and belong to the choir of the Cherubim. Let us not grieve, then, and let us not regard insult as insult. If they knew us, they would not insult us.

But they consider us poor and insignificant. Let us not regard even this as an insult. Tell me: if a traveler, having gone a little ahead of his servants, stopped at an inn to wait for them, and the innkeeper or one of the travelers, not knowing who he was, began to be annoyed with him and revile him, would he not laugh at such ignorance?

Would this mistake not rather give him pleasure? Would he not be amused by it, as though someone else were being insulted? Let us do the same. We too are sitting in an inn, waiting for our companions who are traveling the same road.

When we are all together, then they will know whom they insulted. Then they will bow their heads and say: This is the one whom we once had in derision, fools that we were (Wis 5:3).

Let us comfort ourselves with two thoughts. First, we are not insulted, because those who insult us do not know who we are. Second, if we wish to demand satisfaction, they will be subjected to the heaviest punishment. But may God forbid that anyone have such a cruel and inhuman soul.

What then, if our own kin insult us? Is that not grievous? On the contrary, this is easy. Why? Because we do not bear injuries from those we love in the same way as from those we do not know.

Therefore, when comforting the injured, we often say such words: Your brother has wronged you; bear it nobly. Your father has wronged you, or your uncle has wronged you. If the name of brother and father has such force, what if I name something still more intimate?

We are not only brothers to one another, but members and one body. If we value the name of brother, much more should we value the name of member. Have you not heard the worldly proverb which says that one must endure even faults in friends?

Have you not heard Paul saying: Bear one another's burdens (Gal 6:2)? Do you not see lovers? Among you I cannot find another example, so I am forced to turn my speech to this subject.

Paul also does the same, saying: Moreover, if we were corrected by our fathers according to the flesh and gave them reverence (Heb 12:9). Especially fitting here is what he writes to the Romans: As you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness unto lawless deeds, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness (Rom 6:19).

Therefore we too shall boldly keep to this example. Do you not see lovers? How many troubles they endure, burning with passion for immoral women. They are slapped, beaten, and laughed at. They endure a corrupt harlot who turns away from them and inflicts a thousand insults on them.

Yet despite all this, if only once they see something pleasant and gentle, all seems well to them. Everything before disappears, and they bear everything lightly, whether poverty, illness, or anything similar. They consider their life miserable or blessed according to the disposition of their mistress toward them.

They know neither human glory nor dishonor. Even if someone insults them, they bear all easily because of their great pleasure and because of her favor. If she herself reviles them or spits in their face, they endure it and think that roses are being thrown at them.

Why is it surprising that they are so disposed toward her? They consider her house more magnificent than all houses, even if it is made of clay and about to collapse. And why do I speak of walls? They are stirred even by seeing the places where they are in the evening.

But here at last allow me to speak the apostolic word. As Paul said, As you presented your members as slaves to impurity, so present your members to righteousness, so I also say: As you loved these women, so love one another, and nothing will seem hard to you.

And why do I say, one another? Let us love God in this way. You shuddered when you heard that I require the same measure of love for God that some show toward the instruments of their passions. But I shudder that we do not show even such love.

If you wish, let us examine this more closely, though it is very painful to speak about. A mistress promises her lover nothing good, but dishonor, shame, and reproach. Association with a harlot produces exactly this. It makes a man ridiculous, disgraceful, and dishonored.

But God promises us heaven and the heavenly blessings. He has made us His sons, brothers of the Only-begotten. In this life He has presented you with countless blessings, and after death He promises to grant resurrection and as many blessings as cannot even be imagined. He makes us worthy of honor and respect.

Again, she makes one squander all his property into an abyss and to destruction. But God commands us to sow for heaven, repays a hundredfold, and grants eternal life. She treats her lover like a slave, ruling more harshly than any tyrant. But God says: I no longer call you servants, but friends (Jn 15:15).

Have you seen how many evils are there, and how many blessings are here? And what happens after this? For the mistress, many spend sleepless nights and perform with zeal whatever she commands. They abandon house, father, mother, friends, wealth, and honors, and throw all their possessions into disorder and ruin.

But for God, or rather for ourselves, we do not wish to spend even a third part of our property. Seeing a hungry man, we turn our gaze away. We pass by the naked and do not deem him worthy even of a word.

But lovers, if they see even the maidservant of their mistress, a crude woman, stop with her in the middle of the marketplace. As though displaying themselves and taking pride in this, they converse with her and pour out long speeches.

For the mistress they count life, rulers, and the kingdom as nothing, as those know who have experienced this disease. They are more grateful to her for her commands than to others for their services. After this, is Gehenna not just? Are countless punishments not just?

Let us sober up, then, and devote to God's service at least as much as others give to a harlot. Let us give even half, or even a third part. Perhaps you shudder again. Yes, I also shudder.

But I would wish you to shudder not only at the words, but at the deed itself. Meanwhile, here our heart is constricted, but as soon as we go out, we cast everything aside. What profit is there in that?

There, if money must be spent, no one complains of poverty. Often, being enslaved, they even borrow and give. But here, if we remember almsgiving, children, wives, house, public office, and a thousand excuses are presented to us.

But there, you say, there is much pleasure. This is exactly why I weep and lament. What if I show that here there is greater pleasure? There, shame, reproach, the spending of money, and finally quarrels and enmity take away no small part of the pleasure. Here there is nothing of the kind.

Tell me, what can compare with this pleasure: to live in expectation of heaven and the heavenly kingdom, the splendor of the saints, and unending life? But this, you say, is in expectation, while that is in reality.

In what reality? Do you wish me to say that here also it is in reality? Consider what freedom you enjoy. Living virtuously, you fear and dread no one: neither enemy, nor plotter, nor slanderer, nor rival, nor competitor in love, nor envious man, nor poverty, nor sickness, nor anything else human.

There, on the contrary, even if much goes according to desire, and even if wealth flows in as from a spring, quarrels with rivals, slanders, and plots make the life of one bound to them most miserable.

Because of pleasing that contemptible, corrupt, and pleasure-loving woman, quarrels inevitably arise. This is worse than a thousand deaths and more unbearable than any punishment. Here there is nothing of the kind. The fruit of the Spirit, says the Apostle, is love, joy, peace (Gal 5:22).

“These things,” He says, “I have spoken to you,” so that you may not remove Me from your thoughts, nor waver, nor be troubled in continuing steadfast love for Me. Rather, “that you may have peace in Me,” that is, that you may remain unbending, accepting as certain everything I have told you. Let Arius also hear that all these humble things, seemingly unworthy of the Son’s glory, were said for the sake of the hearers. They were not said so that we might use these words in defining dogmas. They were spoken for the consolation of the apostles, since they show His love for them. “In the world you will have tribulation.” Your temptations will not stop with these fearful words.

In these words Christ beautifully and profitably gathers up, one may say, the whole discourse He had addressed to them. He concentrates the meaning of what was said into a few words and offers them the briefest knowledge of His will.

I am now speaking these things to you, He says, urging you to have "peace" in Me. I also want you to know clearly that troubles will befall you "in this world," and that for My sake you will undergo many afflictions. Yet do not yield to these terrors, for "I have overcome the world."

But to make this saying completely clear to you, let us first speak about what it means to have "peace" in Christ. The world, or lovers of worldly things, sometimes also keep peace with one another, but by no means in Christ.

On the words spoken by the Lord, "In the world you will have tribulation," and on the fact that a man must be perfect.

Our Master and Lord Jesus Christ desired that the human race be saved and delivered from the dominion of the devil. He desired that we be freed from every worldly bond, escape Gehenna, and attain the Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore He Himself, and through His holy apostles and prophets, forewarns us of afflictions and sorrows in this age. He teaches us not to seek rest for ourselves in the present life, saying, "In the world you will have tribulation."

Likewise the apostles say that "through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).

For this reason He set down in writing the sorrows and sufferings of all the saints, and also His own sufferings in the divine economy of the Incarnation. He endured them for us sinners, to teach us that one who wishes to be saved cannot pass through this present life in repose.

Nor can he be in this world without temptations and afflictions. No one can escape punishment, attain the Kingdom, and enjoy eternal blessings without temptations and afflictions.

Consider, beloved. No one can reap in summer unless he has sown in winter. No one can gather clusters from the vine and gladden himself with wine from the grapes unless he has first labored much, planted vines, and awaited their fruit in due season.

So it will be with us in this world if we have not renounced fleshly passions, fleshly ways of thinking, and all earthly things. We must humble, mortify, and enslave ourselves together with the world.

We must walk according to the apostle's teaching, as he says, "in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses," "in labors and struggles," "in watchings," "in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor 6:4-5; 2 Cor 11:27).

I now mention all this only in part. Time would fail if anyone wished to describe all the apostle's sufferings and afflictions, his sea voyages, shipwrecks, difficult and dangerous journeys, attacks by robbers, plots by kinsmen, uprisings of false brethren, and how he daily was weak with the weak and "died daily" (1 Cor 15:31).

He described all this as if speaking of others, yet he was depicting his own sufferings for us. He was exhorting all to attain eternal life with patience, making clear that one who wishes to be saved cannot travel by another path.

The apostle passed almost all his time in afflictions and temptations. But we wretched ones cannot endure even a little affliction. We spend life in ease and luxury, yet hope to acquire eternal blessings.

How is this possible? If those who wish to acquire earthly wealth endure every danger and assault, how much more must we, who wish to acquire heavenly wealth and enjoy ever-abiding consolations, count every hardship and danger as nothing.

We must venture upon temptations. If we do not willingly and with heartfelt desire endure every labor, and if we do not sow tears with compunction and a contrite heart, how shall we reap there without having wept here?

How shall we find in joy the sheaves of the virtues? The prophet did not say simply of anyone that he will take up his sheaves with joy. He said this only of those who sow "with tears" (Ps 125:5-6).

This means those who humble themselves in the present life. With compunction, tears, and a contrite heart, they implore the Lord and bear every affliction and distress with thanksgiving. They will enjoy eternal life and rest in joy unto the ages of ages.

God has not prepared so many blessings simply for everyone, but for those who keep His commandments and walk in His ordinances. Nor does He threaten Gehenna and the other torments in vain.

He threatens them only for those who transgress His commandments, have become enslaved to fleshly passions, and do every work of the devil. They have cast off the fear of God and have no expectation whatever of what is to come. Such people will be delivered over to torments.

How then shall we escape eternal fire, outer darkness, gnashing of teeth, the sleepless worm, and all the other torments proclaimed to us, if we spend our days in ease, luxury, idleness, slackness, and negligence?

How shall we escape if we consent to unseemly, vain, unclean, and foul thoughts? How shall we escape eternal weeping if we spend all the time of our life in constant laughter and indifference?

The Lord called those who laugh miserable and blessed those who weep, saying, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep" (Lk 6:25). And, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Mt 5:4).

Therefore, while there is still time, let us turn to God with our whole heart. With weeping, compunction, and a contrite heart, let us implore the Lord, as the prophet says.

"Come, let us worship and fall down before Him, and let us weep before the Lord who made us" (Ps 94:6). Let us ask Him to deliver us from all these evils and make us worthy of His heavenly Kingdom.

Yes, beloved, let us fall down before Him with tears, unceasingly asking for the salvation of our souls. Tears are useful here. They quench the flame of sin.

While we are still here and turn to Him, He receives us, admits us to Himself, saves us, and makes us worthy of His eternal blessings. But there He no longer receives. There are justice and repayment according to deeds.

Only now are the waters of tears effective. Then fire will test the works of men. Here it is beneficial to humble oneself and weep. There, after we have departed from here, tears will be useless.

We shall groan bitterly and gnash our teeth, and there will be no one to have mercy on us.

What then shall I do, negligent, slack, and lazy as I am? I say these things, hear them, and try to instill them in others, yet I myself follow every fleshly mind and am enslaved to evil thoughts.

Alas, alas, my soul, why are you negligent about your salvation? Why have you delivered yourself to vanity and bound yourself to earthly affairs, not considering that you must stand before the dread Judgment?

Bring to mind the dread coming of the Lord, the tribunal that makes one tremble, and the river of fire. For it is said, "A river of fire flowed, coming forth before Him. Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousands of ten thousands stood before Him" (Dan 7:10).

There we shall be examined not only for deeds, but also "for the thoughts and imaginations of the heart" (Gen 6:5). There all things are naked and exposed. There it is impossible either to find an advocate or to offer gifts.

Tell me, where then shall we hide our thoughts, words, and deeds, when the saints are crowned? They were afflicted and persecuted in this age. They endured every labor, fasts, vigils, cold, nakedness, and immersion in waters.

They endured thousands of afflictions and necessities. They wandered in deserts, mountains, caves, and chasms of the earth. They were deprived of every temporal thing and endured oppression.

Once for all they denied themselves, took up their cross, and followed the Lord, thinking nothing of earthly things. Living on earth, they acquired for themselves a citizenship in heaven. All day long they were put to death for Christ.

They will enjoy eternal life and be made worthy of the crown of incorruption. But I, and those who live as I do in this age, will be condemned and sent to all these torments.

Why then are we negligent? Why are we lazy and bind ourselves with vain and temporal affairs? What benefit will possession of anything in this age bring us? Will it not rather serve for our condemnation?

What will human glory give us? Has it not been promised that it will burn like hay? The prophet clearly cries, "All human glory is like the flower of grass" (Is 40:6).

Why then do we follow deceptive thoughts? Why do we not free ourselves from worldly bonds and deceitful imaginations? And if only the evil went no further than this!

For this already is transgression. It is an obstacle to fulfilling the commandments of God and a sign of unbelief, as the Lord says, "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Mk 8:36).

Elsewhere He says, "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" (Jn 5:44).

Again, prescribing non-possession to us and wishing to free us from material things, He said, "Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on."

He then gave the proof, saying, "Is not the life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Mt 6:25).

Again, pointing us to the clear example of birds and grass, He said, "Look at the birds of heaven. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Mt 6:26).

And again, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Mt 6:28-30).

Therefore, as I said, binding oneself to these earthly things is a sign of unbelief. And if only our guilt went no further than this!

But now we surround ourselves with terrible disasters. We strive to commit transgressions, invent thousands of evil deeds and various forms of malice, and spend life in spite, hatred, hypocrisy, cunning, vainglory, and pride.

We slander, hate, and do much else of the same kind, biting and devouring our own members. Still worse, though we have these vices in ourselves, we often become judges of others.

Instead of weeping over our own sins, we inquire curiously into the sins of others. We leave whole beams in ourselves unnoticed and are blind to our own vices, yet see even the smallest splinter in the brethren.

We do not set before our eyes either the fear of God or the threat announced against those who condemn. For the Lord said, "Judge not, that you be not judged.

"For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you" (Mt 7:1-2).

Let us sober up, beloved. Let us not make ourselves liable to the judgment and condemnation which the Lord has laid upon those who judge prematurely and condemn unrighteously.

Since the Lord also commands, "Love your enemies" (Mt 5:44), we must weep because we have so far departed from God's commandments. Yet we boast as though we had advanced in the greater things.

We are very far from the disposition of loving enemies. We even turn away from and hate those who love us. When we speak evil of those who have done us no wrong, and search for something in them to harm their reputation, all this shows that we are deeply hateful and hostile.

Consider what savagery it proves when one speaks evil not only of him who has done no wrong, but even of him who has done good. What ground for justification will we have when we act altogether contrary to the Lord's commandments?

The Lord everywhere establishes love as law, for He says, "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34). Yet we are filled with hatred.

The deceit of the world brings us to this, because the root of the passions has grown strong in us, that is, the love of money. Love cannot exist together with covetousness.

How could it? He who clings to money hates his brother and seeks to take something from him. He seizes his field, or tries to take his neighbor's house, his oxen, his livestock, or everything he has.

Sometimes he often even attempts to take his very life. Therefore, brethren, let us destroy in ourselves the love of money, the root of all evils, and plant in ourselves love, the mother of all virtues.

The apostle, enumerating the spiritual fruits and wishing to show that the greatest gift is love, said, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control" (Gal 5:22).

While we are on earth, we cannot remain anywhere without tribulation. Even if we climbed up onto the clouds, we would not escape tribulations there, according to the testimony of the Lord Himself: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage,” said the Lord, “I have overcome the world.” These words show that we must not despair in tribulations, but must hope in God’s help. We must always call upon it, or rather ask it from the Lord. In your last letter you explain your constrained situation because of various circumstances, especially because of the intrigues of Father P., who boasted that he would drive you out, while he himself was driven out. Therefore one may hope that both oral rumors and written statements may fall upon his own head.

He who has been able, through spiritual practice, to put to death his earthly members, Col 3:5, and through fulfilling the commandments of the Word to overcome the world of passions within himself, will suffer no tribulations. He has already left the world and found himself in Christ, the Conqueror of the world of passions and the Giver of every peace. For one who has not renounced attachment to material things will always be possessed by sorrows. His consciousness changes together with these things, which by nature are subject to change. But for those who are in Christ, there will be no causes for sensing any material change. Therefore the Lord says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.” I have said this to you, not in order to give you perfect knowledge, but so that you may not be scandalized by Me or troubled when they seize Me, bind Me, and lead Me away. Nor should you be troubled when I endure many other things as man. “In the world you will have tribulation,” not only at the time when I suffer, but generally as long as you live in this world. The present life is a kind of arena, a place for the training of those who contend for God and for the testing of those who love Me. Earlier Jesus Christ said, “Narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life” (Mt 7:14).

Christ says, “Take courage; I have overcome the world,” not referring to a divine battle, but pointing to His own flesh, which overcame suffering, death, and corruption.

On the saying, “In the world you will have tribulation.” You know that labors and struggles beget ineffable and unceasing joy. You also know that, compared with the greatness of the glory bestowed by virtue, these labors are nothing. Since you know this, why did you seek to learn the meaning of the words, “You will have tribulation in this world”? For it is known that the present life is a field of struggles and contests, while crowns and rewards are reserved for the life to come. Arm yourself with hope that future blessings will be given to those who have raised glorious trophies over vice. Guard yourself well on every side, and by prayers build this firm wall. Repel the assault of faintheartedness.

Some reasons why the pious endure tribulations in this world. First, Satan raises warfare against them and tempts them, wishing thereby to lead them away from Christ. When he cannot do this, he causes them evil through evil men. Second, Satan, being unable to do anything to Christ, who destroyed his kingdom, rushes upon His servants who keep His commandments. “The devil,” says Basil the Great, “being unable to do injury to God Himself, turned his hatred against His image, that is, against man.” Third, Satan envies the eternal blessedness of God’s servants and strives to lead them away from it by every calamity. Fourth, when Satan is unable to harm the soul of the pious by temptation, he strives at least to cause suffering to their body through evil men.

“In the world you will have tribulation,” the Savior foretold to His disciples, “but take courage, for I have overcome the world.” And behold, this prediction of the Savior has been fulfilled among His followers for one thousand eight hundred fifty-two and a half years. Yet the tribulations that befell Christ’s little flock over this span of time have been very different. At first there was open persecution of Christians. All twelve chief apostles of Christ, except John the Theologian, ended their earthly pilgrimage by violent death. Later this open persecution changed into a subtler form, imperceptible to each person but entirely clear to purified minds.

“These things I have spoken to you,” the Lord concludes His great farewell discourse with the disciples, “that in Me you may have peace.” Everything the Lord set before them in this discourse had as its chief purpose to plant peace in the disciples’ hearts. It was meant to give calmness of spirit in view of the events before them: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,” Jn 14:1, 27. This peace, this calmness of spirit, they must find in Him, in communion with Him, Jn 14:27, and in spiritual union with Him. In the world, that is, in the society of men hostile to Me and My work, you will have tribulation. This will happen when you continue My work among them, spreading My teaching and establishing My Kingdom on earth.

With the same thing by which He began His discourse with the disciples, He also ends it: an exhortation not to be disturbed by sorrows, but to believe firmly in Him. Everything He had said to them until now had been said with this one purpose, that they might believe in Him. However maliciously the world may rise against them, let them be at peace. He has overcome that world which has no divine principle of life within itself, Jn 1:10. Therefore it rises maliciously, but powerlessly, against everything holy. His victory over death and His victory over the malice of the world still lie ahead, 1 Cor 15:57. Yet for Him it is as certain as if it were already finished. Before His gaze there is no future, but all is present.