John 21:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Although the disciples were two hundred cubits away, Peter still did not wish to wait until the boat came, but hastened by swimming. Christ rose, and He lays aside the garments with which Adam had clothed himself. He was naked, and did not appear naked. Notice the difference: after the Resurrection Christ appeared naked, and Peter was naked. But the one possessed immortality, while the other was still mortal. John recognizes the Lord and says to Peter, “It is the Lord.” O wonder! They did not recognize Him by His voice, but they recognized Him by His works. It is said that Peter took a garment, “for he was naked.” The mortal body is ashamed. The immortal is not ashamed. Let us fall down before Him who clothed us with glory, before Him who clothed the universe with immortality. Let us entreat Him to clothe us with faith, with the hope of salvation, and with the glory of Christ. For to the Father belongs glory, with the Only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Everywhere we see Peter more zealous than the others and anticipating the others in dangers. Thus, when the Lord appeared to the disciples on the shore, the others were hastening to shore in the boat. But Peter could not wait until the boat came to shore.

Ependytes, Slavonic ependit and Russian “garment,” is a linen garment with which Phoenician and Syrian fishermen gird themselves, either over the naked body or over clothing. Simply put, it is as painters depict the apostles girded over their garments. Since Peter was naked while fishing, he girded himself with the ependytes out of reverence, for this is what the girding signifies. He hastened first to the Lord. The present event is not small, but important, because many fish were caught, and the net did not break.

In the first case, when the Lord passed by the fishermen whom He had not seen before, they too had caught nothing by night. They had labored earnestly, but in vain. He ordered them to cast the nets, saying neither “on the right” nor “on the left.” He said, “Launch out your nets for a catch” (Lk 5:4).

Thus, before the Resurrection, the nets are simply cast. After the Resurrection, they are cast on the right side. Further, in the first catch the boats were overloaded and the nets were breaking; see Lk 5:6.

Now, in the catch after the Resurrection, neither is the boat overloaded nor is the net torn. When they fished the first time, the number of fish caught was not mentioned. Now, when they fish after the Resurrection, the exact number of fish is given; compare Lk 5:6 and Jn 21:11.

Let us consider the first catch, so that we may come to the second. In the first case we have nets, the nets of the word, the nets of preaching. Nets, then. Let the Psalm say: “I would declare and speak of them, but they are more than can be numbered” (Ps 39:6).

What happens is clear as day. The Gospel is preached, and the number of Christians exceeds measure. If they all lived uprightly, the boat would not be overloaded. If they were not divided by heresies and schisms, the net would not have been torn.

The last catch pertains to the holy Church, which now exists as a small number of strugglers amid a multitude of wicked men. It will remain within a fixed and limited number, where there will be no place for a sinner.

They will be great fish; see Jn 21:11. All will become immortal, appointed for life without end. What can be greater than that which has no end?

The Evangelist wished that first catch of fish to remain in your memory. Otherwise, why did he add after everything: “And although there were so many, the net was not torn” (Jn 21:11)? It is as though he said, “Remember that first catch, when the net was torn.”

Such will be the Kingdom of Heaven. No heretic will bark there, and no schismatic will depart. All will be together, and all will have peace.

Yet that was a parable in word, not in deed. Here, however, through a deed, the Lord indicated how it will be at the end of the age. So too, in that other catch of fish, He indicated what the Church is like now.

What He did there at the beginning of His preaching, He did here after His Resurrection. There He showed that the catch of fish signifies the good and the evil, whom the Church now has. This catch signifies only the good, whom she will possess forever.

This will be after the resurrection of the dead has taken place at the end of this age. Finally, there Jesus did not stand on the shore, as He does here, when He called them to fish.

Instead, He entered one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Sitting down, He taught the people from the boat. When He had finished teaching, He said to Simon: “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch” (Lk 5:3-4).

There the fish that were caught lay in the boats, and the net was not drawn to land as it is here. These signs, and others if they can be found, there prefigure the Church in this age. Here they prefigure the Church at the end of the age.

That took place before, and this after the Lord’s Resurrection, because there Christ indicated us as called, and here as raised. There the nets were not cast only on the right side, which would have signified only the good.

Nor were they cast only on the left side, which would have signified only the evil. They were cast on different sides. “Let down,” He said, “your nets for a catch,” so that we might understand good and evil mingled together.

Here, however, He said: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat.” By this He indicated those who will stand at the right hand, that is, only the good.

There the net was torn, to indicate schisms. Here, since in that higher world of the saints there will no longer be any schisms, He allowed the Evangelist to say: “And with such fish, that is, with such great ones, the net was not torn.”

It is as though He indicated that the net had been torn then, and here established the good in opposition to that evil.

Blessed Augustine is referring to Roman finger-counting. The Romans counted units and tens on the fingers of the left hand, and hundreds on the fingers of the right hand. In the Latin text of the Gospel, the pronoun tanti can express both quantity, “so many,” and quality, “so great.”

When Blessed Augustine adds the explanation cum tanti essent, id est tam magni, he shows that both senses are joined in this pronoun. This is fitting, since the Evangelist had already said that the fish were large and that their number was one hundred fifty-three.

The sea and the lake are adorned by you and by your Lord. The diver came up from the sea and put on a garment. Likewise Simon Peter came up from the lake, putting on his garments. Both of them, as if clothed in garments, were clothed in love for both of you.

The ependytes was a linen garment without sleeves, covering the body down to the knees. Fishermen commonly used it for convenience and propriety. Peter was naked, that is, he had no other garment on him, but only the ependytes, and even that was ungirded. To be completely naked would have been entirely improper. Now, by girding himself, he expressed his reverence for Jesus Christ.

Sometimes it is wrapped directly on the naked body. So the young man who followed the Lord when He was arrested by the Jews was wearing a linen cloth directly on his naked body. Leaving it in the hands of the soldiers who seized him, he fled naked (Mk 14:51-52). Peter, being naked, did not put on this ependyma. Instead, he folded it and girded himself with it, although he was about to swim, for he was two hundred cubits from land.

They remembered how their nets had been filled with a multitude of fish. John looked at the Man standing on the shore, recognized Jesus in Him, and immediately said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Peter looked toward the shore and saw that it was indeed He. Beside himself with joy, he seized the first garment at hand, girded his naked body with it, and threw himself into the water, so that he might swim to the shore more quickly.

“He girded himself with his garment,” the ependytes, “for he was naked.” “By girding himself, Peter expressed reverence toward Jesus; by throwing himself into the sea, he showed his love. The ependytes is a linen garment with which Phoenician and Syrian fishermen gird themselves, either on the naked body or over clothing” (Theophylact).

This fiery nature, great in its love, once fell. By the grace of God, which restored him, that fall became the spur of his whole life. Peter never forgot his denial, and at every moment of his later life he strove to make amends for it. Therefore he is so bold, great, and full of faith, as we see in his actions after the Ascension of the Lord, Acts 1:2, 3, 4, 5, and many other places. Peter may also have cast himself into the sea because he understood that the sign of the multitude of fish caught was shown by the Lord especially for Peter. To him it had been said, "From now on you will be catching men" (Lk 5:10). Moreover, all the subsequent events chiefly concern Peter and his restoration from sin. John, as usual, speaks of himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." There is profound feeling in this title, everywhere put in place of his name. What need had anyone of his name, which John, according to Chrysostom, in humility considered unnecessary to mention? Instead of his name, the Evangelist, probably with tears, recalls that paternal mercy with which the Lord in the flesh treated him. In this loving relation of the God-man to a meek and loving man such as John, perhaps the general law of God's relations to man on earth is also expressed. The human soul, in all the manifold shades of its personhood, is called to God and to His Christ. Yet on earth it is easiest for the meek, kindhearted, gentle, and calm, for they rely least on their own strength and abilities, and more than others give themselves over to the will of God. Later, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" became, by God's will, the preacher especially of Christian love. "God is love," John cried out (1 Jn 4:8, 16). "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (1 Jn 4:7). "If we love one another, God abides in us" (1 Jn 4:12). "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 Jn 4:18). We also refer to the introduction which we placed before the Gospel according to John, to complete the portrayal of his loving soul.