Living water disclosed; harvest; Bethesda (John 4:25–5:4)
understanding she said this; for being a Samaritan she did not know the Christ.
What he did not say to Jews who asked with guile—"I am he" (John 4:26)—he said to the woman, who was simpler; and he did not set before her anything from Moses to establish what concerned him, since she was unused to Scripture, but from her own conscience alone he persuaded her.
Yet no one said anything; for they knew that he does everything with measured understanding and reverence. They wondered that he spoke with a foreign and poor Samaritan woman, and they also wondered at his lack of pride.
It is among the most absurd things not to publish what benefits the common good.
As teachers of the inhabited world he teaches the disciples to prefer God's will to any food whatever. As one desires food, so I desire the salvation of human beings.
The spiritual harvest—that is, godly work—has its storing and treasure in heaven, and in the age to come unending enjoyment; for that is the time of repayment.
The sower is Christ, sowing saving doctrines even when speaking through prophets; the reapers are the apostles. The prophets are the sowers, even if they had much toil as the first to cast piety's seeds into human souls; for the disciples did not have so much labor when persuading people from the Scriptures.
As the seed being mine even if spoken through prophets, I send you to reap. The disciples cut Greeks away from earthly things and Jews from the fleshly worships of the law and set them on the threshing floor—that is, the church—where the ear, threshed, becomes wheat that gives life to the faithful.
Samaritans ask Christ to stay with them—they who are foreigners—while his kin according to the flesh, the Jews, persecuted him, because "a person's enemies are those of his own household" (Matthew 10:36).
"This is the Savior" (John 4:42) stands for the Christ, as one who is going to save the whole inhabited world; he said this continually.
He did not leave as one seeking honor, but sparing the citizens; for when they saw him they were angry. He who was in divine honor took flesh and underwent the most dishonorable death for our salvation.
Here he calls himself the prophet proclaimed beforehand by Moses, who was also called prophet by economy though he himself, as God, is the Spirit's supplier, through whom prophets prophesied.
A sign differs from a wonder: a wonder is what happens contrary to nature—opening blind eyes and raising the dead—while a sign is what is not outside nature, such as healing a sick person and the like.
The day before he believed, and on the next he also heard in deed that what he believed would happen had happened; for faith is strong when it has God as fellow-worker and perfecter.
It was called "Sheep Gate" because there the sheep to be slaughtered for the feast were gathered and their entrails were washed there.
Here the mystery of baptism was prefigured, in which every kind of sin was healed. An angel coming down into the water and stirring it put healing power into them. It is unclear on what day and hour the angel came down. We say
Greek
συνέσεως τοῦτο εἶπεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ᾔδει τὸν Χριστὸν Σαμαρεῖτις οὖσα. 135 {3Jο 4, 26}3Ὅπερ οὐκ εἶπεν Ἰουδαίοις ἐγώ εἰμι ἐρωτῶσι μετὰ δόλου, τοῦτο εἶπε τῇ γυναικὶ ἁπλουστέρᾳ οὔσῃ καὶ οὐδὲ ἀπὸ Μωυσέως εἶπε τι αὐτῇ συνιστῶν τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπείρῳ οὔσῃ γραφῆς, ἀλλ' ἐκ μόνης τῆς συνειδήσεως αὐτῆς μετέπεισεν αὐτήν. 136 {3Jο 4, 27}3Οὐδεὶς μέντοι εἶπεν· ᾔδεισαν γάρ, ὅτι πάντα ποιεῖ μετὰ κεκριμένης συνέσεως καὶ εὐλαβείας. 137 {3Jο 4, 27}3Ἐθαύμαζον, ὅτι μετὰ ἀλλοφύλου ἐλάλει καὶ πενιχρᾶς Σαμαρείτιδος, ἐθαύμαζον δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄτυφον αὐτοῦ. 138 {3Jο 4, 28}3Τῶν ἄγαν ἐστὶν ἀτόπων μὴ δημοσιεύειν τὰ κοινωφελῆ. 141 {3Jο 4, 34}3Ὡς διδασκάλους τῆς οἰκουμένης διδάσκει τοὺς μαθητὰς προτιμᾶν τῆς οἱασδηποτοῦν βρώσεως τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ. ὡς ἐπιθυμεῖ τις τροφῆς, οὕτω κἀγὼ τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων. 142 {3Jο 4, 35}3Ὁ πνευματικὸς θερισμός, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ θεοσεβὴς ἐργασία, τὴν μὲν ἀπόθεσιν καὶ τὸν ἀποθησαυρισμὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἔχει, ἐν δὲ τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι ἀπόλαυσιν ἀτελεύτητον· οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως. 143 {3Jο 4, 37}3Ὁ σπείρων ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστὸς τὰ σωτηριώδη δόγματα κἂν διὰ προφητῶν εἰπών, θερισταὶ δὲ οἱ ἀπόστολοι. 144 {3Jο 4, 37}3Οἱ προφῆταί εἰσιν οἱ σπείροντες, εἰ καὶ πολὺν ἔσχον κόπον ὡς πρῶτοι τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπέρματα ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς καταβαλλόμενοι· οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ οὐ τοσοῦτον ἔσχον κάματον ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν πείθοντες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. 145 {3Jο 4, 38}3Ὡς ἐμοῦ ὄντος τοῦ σπόρου κἂν διὰ προφητῶν ἐλαλήθη πέμπω ὑμᾶς θερίσαι. οἱ μαθηταὶ καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας τῶν γηίνων καὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους τῶν σαρκικῶν τοῦ νόμου λατρειῶν ἀποτέμνουσι καὶ εἰς τὴν ἅλω ἀποτίθενται, ὅ ἐστι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ὅπου στάχυς τριβόμενος γίνεται σῖτος ὁ ζωοποιῶν τοὺς πιστούς. 146 {3Jο 4, 40}3Σαμαρεῖται αἰτοῦσι τὸν Χριστὸν μεῖναι πρὸς αὐτούς, οἵτινές εἰσιν ἀλλογενεῖς, καὶ οἱ συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ τὸ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰουδαῖοι ἐδίωκον αὐτὸν ὅτι «ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκειακοὶ αὐτοῦ» 147 {3Jο 4, 42}3Τὸ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ σωτὴρ ἀντὶ τοῦ ὁ Χριστὸς ὡς πᾶσαν μέλλων σώζειν τὴν οἰκουμένην διηνεκῶς εἶπεν τοῦτο. 148 {3Jο 4, 43}3Οὐχ ὡς τιμῆς ἀντιποιούμενος ἐξῆλθεν, ἀλλὰ τῶν πολιτῶν φειδόμενος· ὅτι γὰρ ἑώρων αὐτόν, ἐθυμοῦντο. ὃς ἐν τιμῇ ὢν τῇ θείᾳ ἐσαρκώθη καὶ τὸν ἀτιμότατον ὑπέστη θάνατον διὰ τὴν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν. 149 {3Jο 4, 44}3Ὧδε ἑαυτὸν καλεῖ τὸν προφήτην τὸν ὑπὸ Μωυσέως προανακηρυχθέντα, ὃς καὶ προφήτης οἰκονομικῶς ἐκλήθη αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ τοῦ πνεύματος χορηγὸς ὡς θεός, δι' οὗ προφῆται ἐπροφήτευον. 150 {3Jο 4, 48}3Σημεῖον τέρατος διαφέρει· τέρας γάρ ἐστι τὸ παρὰ φύσιν γενόμενον, οἷον τὸ ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν καὶ ἐγεῖραι νεκρούς, σημεῖον δὲ τὸ οὐκ ἔξω τῆς φύσεως ὂν οἷον τὸ ἰάσασθαι ἄρρωστον καὶ τὰ ὅμοια. 151 {3Jο 4, 50}3Πρὸ μιᾶς ἐπίστευσεν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἑξῆς καὶ ἔργῳ ἤκουσεν, ὅτι γέγονεν ὃ ἐπίστευσεν ἔσεσθαι· πολλὰ γὰρ ἰσχύει πίστις συνεργὸν καὶ τελειωτὴν ἔχουσα τὸν θεόν. 152 {3Jο 5, 2}3Προβατικὴ ἐκαλεῖτο, ὅτι ἐκεῖ συνήγετο τὰ πρόβατα τὰ μέλλοντα σφά ζεσθαι εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν καὶ τὰ ἔγκατα αὐτῶν ἐπλύνοντο ἐκεῖ. 154 {3Jο 5, 3}3Ὧδε προδιεγράφετο τὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος μυστήριον, ἐν ᾧ πᾶν εἶδος ἁμαρ τημάτων ἐθεραπεύετο. 155 {3Jο 5, 4}3Ἄγγελος κατιὼν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ ταράσσων αὐτὸ ἰατικὴν ἐνετίθει αὐτοῖς δύναμιν. ἄδηλον δὲ ἐν ποίᾳ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ κατῄει ὁ ἄγγελος. φαμὲν
About this text
Ammonius of Alexandria, Fragmenta in Joannem (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 85 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.