JOHN 17:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one — The imminent departure ("no longer in the world") and return to the Father create the disciples' vulnerable position. The invocation "Holy Father" (Pater hagie) appears only here, emphasizing divine transcendence and sanctity. The prayer for unity (hina hōsin hen) mirrors the Father-Son unity, establishing love and oneness as the disciples' essential witness to the world.
Church Fathers on John 17:11
As the disciples were still sad in spite of all our Lord’s consolations, henceforth He addresses Himself to the Father to show the love which He had for them; I pray for them; He not only gives them what He has of His own, but entreats another for them, as a still further proof of His love.
When He adds, I pray not for the world, by the world He means those who live according to the lust of the world, and have not the lot to be chosen by grace out of the world, as those had for whom He prayed: But for them which you have given Me. It was because the Father had given Him them, that they did not belong to the world. Nor yet had the Father, in giving them to the Son, lost what He had given: For they are Yours.
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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