LUKE 22:44 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground — being in anguish (en agōnia, in agony): the intensity of the Gethsemane prayer. Prayed more earnestly (ektenesteron proseucheto, prayed with greater intensity). His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground: the extreme physical stress of the prayer — a rare medical phenomenon (hematidrosis) under extreme emotional distress.
Church Fathers on Luke 22:44
To make known to us the power of prayer that we may exercise it in adversity, our Lord when praying is comforted by an Angel.
In another place we read that Angels came and ministered to Him. In testimony then of each nature, Angels are said both to have ministered to Him and comforted Him. For the Creator needed not the protection of His creature, but being made man as for our sakes He is sad, so for our sakes He is comforted.
And because not in appearance but in reality He took upon Himself our flesh, in order to confirm the truth of the dispensation He submits to bear human suffering; for it follows, And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly.
Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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