John 19:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Nor is the expression "woven from above" without meaning (v. 23). Some say that it has an allegorical sense and means that the Crucified One was not a mere man, but also had the Godhead from above.

Others maintain that the Evangelist is here describing the very form of the tunic. Since in Palestine garments are woven by folding two pieces of fabric together, John says "woven from above" to show that the tunic was precisely of this kind. It seems to me that he says this to indicate the poverty of the garments and that Christ, as in everything else, observed simplicity also in clothing.

Others say that the Evangelist describes the very form of the tunic. In Palestine, by joining two pieces of fabric, that is, two cloths, they weave garments, using weaving in place of a seam. Therefore John, to show that the tunic was precisely of this kind, said that it was "wholly woven from above," that is, woven from the beginning and from top to bottom.

By this remark he indicates the poverty of Christ's garments. Others say that in Palestine cloth is woven otherwise than among us. Among us the warp and weft are above, and the cloth is woven from below and thus goes upward. There, by contrast, the warp is below, and the fabric is woven from above. Such, they say, was the Lord's tunic.

Without doubt, a mystery appears here also. The Lord's body was woven from above, for the Holy Spirit came, and the power of the Most High overshadowed the Virgin (Lk 1:35). Although He assumed the human nature that is below and fallen, the divine Flesh was formed and woven by the grace from above of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore the holy Body of Christ, divided and distributed in the four parts of the world, remains undivided. For although He is apportioned to each individually and sanctifies each by His body, the Only-begotten dwells wholly and indivisibly in all through His flesh. Since He is everywhere, He is in no way divided, as the Apostle Paul cries out (1 Cor 1:13).

Since everything is composed of the four elements, by the garment of Jesus one may understand this visible and created nature, which the demons divide when they slay the Word of God within us. They try to draw us to their side through attachment to worldly goods, but they cannot tear the tunic, that is, the Word present in all things, by whom all things exist (Ps 32:5).

For however many times I am deceived by passing goods, I still know that they are passing. I know both the quality and the substance of deceitful and transitory things.

So they left its possession to the lot, because falsehood cannot belong to Christ, who says in the words of the Psalmist: “They divided My garments among themselves, and for My clothing they cast lots” (Ps 21:19).

All this was foretold for our spiritual profit. By comparing the words with the events that came to pass, we may see that He is the One foretold.

He was foretold as the One who would come for us in our likeness, and whose death was expected for the life of all.

No one with understanding will think that the Savior Himself, like the senseless Jews, allowed Himself to strain out a gnat (Mt 23:24).

That would mean foretelling small and slight sufferings, such as mentioning the division of the garments, while swallowing a camel.

That would mean not giving special attention to the great and excessive crimes against religion. Rather, He foretold these things together with those greater matters.

He did this first so that we might know that, being God by nature, He knew all things to come.

Then also He did it so that we might believe that He truly is the One foretold. Through the many prophecies fulfilled in Him, we are guided to the knowledge of the truth.

But if, after careful consideration, we can say something more about the division of the garment, something that will certainly do no harm and may benefit readers, I shall say it.

When they divided the Savior’s garments into four parts and preserved one, the ineffable wisdom of the Only-begotten gave a sign of mystical providence.

Through this providence, the four parts of the world were to receive salvation.

Indeed, the four parts of the world have, as it were, divided among themselves and yet indivisibly possess the truly holy garment of the Word, that is, His body.

Though distributed into separate portions, the Only-begotten sanctifies each one’s soul and body through His flesh.

Yet He remains wholly and indivisibly one in all, being everywhere. For He is not divided at all, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor 1:13).

The shadow of the Law also depicts this meaning of His mystery for us. It commands that the lamb be taken at its appointed time.

It is not to be taken so that each person separately has one lamb. Rather, it is to be taken by houses and communities.

It says that each man shall take his neighbor and his near one (Ex 12:4). Thus He commanded that one lamb be divided among many people.

Yet lest, when its flesh passed from one house to another, it should again seem to be divided by this, He adds another command.

Namely: “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not carry any of its flesh outside” (Ex 12:46).

Notice how, according to what I have just said, Scripture preserved this for Him even in types and shadows.

On the one hand, it preserved division among the many who could be in each house.

On the other hand, it takes great care that He should not appear divided, but should be shown completely and wholly as one in all, distinct and yet indivisible.

Understand something similar concerning His garments. They were divided into four parts, while the tunic remained undivided.

There is no harm in adding this also. If anyone wishes, in a contemplative sense, to take the “tunic woven from above and without seam” as a sign of Christ’s Holy Body, let him receive this interpretation.

For His body came into being without intercourse, and without, as it were, the sewing together of man and woman.

Rather, by the action of the Holy Spirit and the Power of the Most High, it was woven into the form fitting for it.

Indeed, would it be unreasonable not merely to refrain from rejecting such thoughts? Should they not rather be approved as inventions of a subtle mind?

They do no harm to what is chief and necessary in the faith. On the contrary, they contain thoughts that may be useful.

What happened at the Lord's cross, when He had already been crucified, we shall consider with His help in this discourse. "The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was not sewn, but woven from above throughout. Therefore they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: They divided My garments among themselves, and for My clothing they cast lots."

What the Jews wanted was carried out, but not by them personally. The soldiers under Pilate's authority crucified Jesus by his command. Yet if we consider the desire of those Jews, their schemes, their deeds, their betrayal, and finally the cries they tore from themselves, then they above all crucified Jesus.

But the division of His garments and the lot concerning it should not be mentioned in passing. Although all four Evangelists mention this, the others do so more briefly than John. They also recount it rather generally, while he does so with the greatest clarity.

Matthew says, "And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots" (Mt 27:35). Mark says, "Those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take" (Mk 15:24). Luke says, "They divided His garments, casting lots" (Lk 23:34).

John also said into how many parts they divided His garments, namely four, so that each might take one. From this it is clear that there were four soldiers who carried out the governor's order to crucify Him. For he says quite definitely: "The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, and also the tunic."

The Savior's tunic, woven completely from above, which the crucifiers did not tear, although they were permitted to do so, is the mutual and non-spatial bond and interweaving of the virtues. It is that fitting covering for the Logos, woven together by all of us. Or it is the grace of the new man in Christ, woven from above by the Spirit.

The outer garment is the sensible world, divided by the four elements. Those who spiritually crucify the Lord in us divide this world, as though it were four garments.

Thus the demons divide among themselves the visible creation, composed of the four elements. They prepare us to behold it only by sense, for the stirring of passion, without knowing the divine logoi contained within it.

As for the tunic of the virtues, although the demons strip it from us because we do not practice the good, they cannot persuade us that virtue is evil.

Therefore let us not make the Savior's five garments an occasion for our greed. Rather, let us understand what the intention of Scripture is in this place. Let us know how the Lord is crucified in us through our negligence toward the good. Let us know how He is stripped through our failure to do good, and how the demons, to make us serve the passions, divide His creation as though it were His garments.

Having understood all this, let us become steadfast guardians of the good things given us by God. With inward nobility, let us contemplate creation only for His glorification. Through diligence in good works, let us preserve inviolate the tunic of the Logos of knowledge, by which I mean the virtues.

If, besides what has been said, you wish to understand by the tunic woven from above the world of bodiless and intelligible beings, and by the outer garment, which Scripture divided into four parts as into elements, nature, then you will not sin against the truth.

Of these two worlds, the demons destroyed the body by corruption, having gained power against us through transgression of the law of the commandment. But they did not tear the soul, since it is akin to the world above.

The God-bearing Maximus, explaining the Lord's garments figuratively, says that the seamless tunic from above signifies the unbroken weaving of the virtues and the bond woven by the grace of God, which inwardly covers our understanding. The murderous demons often deprive us of it through negligence and sloth, yet they are not permitted to divide it so that we no longer understand what virtue is.

Thus we always understand virtue, even though we do not use its covering. The divided garments signify the outer clothing, composed of sensible wealth and divided into the four worldly elements, to which these murderous mockers persuade us to be attached.

According to another reckoning, the tunic woven from above may also be understood as the soul of each person, inspired from above. It is not stitched, since it is simple and uncompounded. It is not torn, since it is immortal. The divided garments signify the body, because through corruption it is dissolved into the four elements.

Therefore he who tears the Church of Christ cannot possess the garment of Christ. On the contrary, when after Solomon's death his kingdom and people were to be divided, the prophet Ahijah met Jeroboam the king in the field. He tore his garment into twelve pieces and said: "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord: Behold, I am tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. Two tribes shall be his, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to set My name there" (3 Kgs 11:31-32, 36).

Therefore, when the twelve tribes of Israel were to be divided, the prophet Ahijah tears his garment. But since the people of Christ must not be divided, Christ's tunic, woven throughout as one piece, was not torn by those who obtained it. By the indivisible strength of its bond, it points to the indivisible concord of all of us who have put on Christ. Thus by the mystical sign of His garment, the Lord prefigured the unity of the Church.

In this the prophecy of David was fulfilled: "They divide My garments among themselves, and for My clothing they cast lots" (Ps 21:19). Having divided the garments of Jesus, the soldiers sat down by the cross and, sitting there, guarded Him.

They divided them into four parts: head covering, belt, sandals, and outer garment. The tunic, or inner garment, remained. An item left after division would be torn into pieces, and those pieces divided among the soldiers. They could have done this with the tunic too, but they spared it and cast lots for it, to see whose it would be whole, in its intact form.

They spared the tunic from being torn because it was not sewn, but whole, woven from above throughout. According to tradition, it was the gift and handiwork of His most pure Mother, a precious thing that would have lost its value if torn.

The soldiers decided to cast lots for it, to determine to whom it would belong. Saint Justin wrote to the Emperor: "After His crucifixion, those who crucified Him cast lots for His garment and divided it among themselves. That this truly happened you may learn from the acts composed under Pontius Pilate."