On the Gospel According to John Two ExcerptsΠερὶ τοῦ Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Εὐαγγελίου Δύο Ἐξαίρετα
John of Caesarea in Palestine On the Gospel According to John Two Excerpts PDF
The treatise On the Gospel According to John Two Excerpts is a grammatical work attributed to John of Caesarea in Palestine, a Christian scholar of the sixth century. As its title indicates, the text consists of two exegetical selections concerning passages from the Gospel of John. The extant fragments demonstrate that the work provides commentary on specific verses, interpreting them through grammatical and rhetorical analysis. In one excerpt, the author explicates John 8:44, drawing a typological parallel between Cain, called a devil and a murderer, and the Jews who sought to kill Christ, both motivated by envy. Another excerpt addresses John 10:18, where Christ speaks of having received the commandment from his Father to lay down his life and take it up again. The author clarifies that this statement is directed against Jewish accusations of Christ being opposed to God, and he connects it to the prophecy in Deuteronomy concerning a prophet like Moses.
The manuscript tradition and preservation status of this specific treatise are not well documented, and the work remains obscure, lacking references in major encyclopedic sources. Nevertheless, it represents a clear example of how the classical traditions of grammatical and rhetorical education were applied to biblical exegesis by Christian scholars in late antiquity. The treatise situates the scholarly activity of John of Caesarea within the broader intellectual context of sixth-century Palestinian Christian paideia, where the tools of secular learning were employed to elucidate sacred texts.
| 1 | In Ioh. 8, 44 Ἰωάννου γραμματικοῦ· Ὥσπερ ὁ Κάϊν φθόνῳ τηκόμενος φόνου πρωτουργὸς γέγονεν, οὕτως καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι φθόνῳ φερόμενοι τὸν Χριστὸν ἀνελεῖν ἐπιθυμοῦσιν. Διάβολον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὸν Κάϊν ἐκάλεσεν, ὃν καὶ πατέρα αὐτῶν ὠνόμασεν ὡς εἰς τύπον αὐτῶν ὄντα. Καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐχ ἕστηκεν. Ἐρωτώμενος γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ· Ποῦ Ἄβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου; ψευδοεπεῖ ὁ δείλαιος, οἰόμενος ἀποκρούσασθαι τὸν πάντα γινώσκοντα. |
| 2 | In Ioh. 10, 18 Ἰω〈άννου〉 γραμματικοῦ· Ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου, τοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων προβάτων ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν τιθέναι τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ πάλιν λαμβάνειν αὐτήν, ἐπεί με ὁ πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ· τοῦτο δὲ ἀναγκαστικῶς πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων εἴρηται ἀπείθειαν, λεγόντων αὐτὸν ἀντίθεον καὶ ὡς οὐκ ὄντα ἐξ αὐτοῦ· ἀναμιμνήσκεται δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκείνην τὴν ἐντολὴν πληροῦν, ἣν ὁ πατήρ φησι τῷ Μωσῇ· Προφήτην ἀναστήσω αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν ὥσπερ σε καὶ δώσω τὸ ῥῆμά μου ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ καὶ λαλήσει αὐτοῖς καθότι ἂν ἐντείλωμαι αὐτῷ. |