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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"And the light shineth in darkness." He calls death and error, "darkness." For the light which is the object of our senses does not shine in darkness, but apart from it; but the preaching of Christ hath shone forth in the midst of prevailing error, and made it to disappear. And He by enduring death hath so overcome death, that He hath recovered those already held by it. …
Cyril of Alexandria
Darkness he calls the nature that lacks illumination, i. e. the whole originate nature. For since he calls Him the Light, to show that the rational creation which lacks and is imparticipate thereof is other than It, he turns the force of the epithet used to the very contrary, doing this also, after my judgment, not without an aim, but considering in himself this above all, that the nature of things originate, producing nothing whatever from its own self, but receiving its whole being and well-being such as it is from its Creator, has …
Theophylact of Ohrid
"The Light," that is, the Word of God, shines "in the darkness," that is, in death and error. For He, even having submitted to death, so overcame it that He compelled it to vomit up even those whom it had previously swallowed. And in pagan error the preaching shines. Neither death overcame Him, nor error. For this light, that is, the Word of God, is unconquerable. Some considered "darkness" to be the flesh and earthly life. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Whereas that life is the light of men, but foolish hearts cannot receive that light, being so incumbered with sins that they cannot see it; for this cause lest any should think there is no light near them, because they cannot see it, he continues: And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. For suppose a blind man standing in the sun, the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun. …
Ambrose of Milan
The person who supposes that he is protected by the darkness is vain, since he cannot escape the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not. Accordingly, he is discovered like a fugitive and a wicked hireling and is recognized before he can conceal himself. For all things are known to the Lord before he seeks them out, not only past events but also those that are to come.
Thomas Aquinas
Having introduced a certain light, the Evangelist now considers its irradiation, saying, And the light shines in the darkness. This can be explained in two ways, according to the two meanings of "darkness." First, we might take "darkness" as a natural defect, that of the created mind. For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun; because, although air is receptive of the light of the sun, considered in itself it is a darkness. …
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