Fathers

John 17

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Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed. I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word. Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you, for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

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What the Fathers say

John 17:9

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"I pray for them." "What sayest Thou?" "Dost Thou teach the Father, as though He were ignorant? Dost Thou speak to Him as to a man who knoweth not?" "What then meaneth this distinction?" Seest thou that the prayer is for nothing else than that they may understand the love which He hath towards them? For He who not only giveth what He hath of His own, but also calleth on Another to do the same, showeth greater love. What then is, "I pray for them"? …

Homily on the Gospel of John 81 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

CHAPTER VIII. That nothing which is spoken of as belonging to the Father will be excluded from the kingdom of the Son, for Both alike rule over all. He once more mediates as Man, the Reconciler and Mediator of God and men; and being our truly great and all-holy High Priest, by His own prayers He appeases the anger of His Father, sacrificing Himself for us. For He is the Sacrifice, and is Himself our Priest, Himself our Mediator, Himself a blameless Victim, the true Lamb Which taketh away the sin of the world. …

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Showing that He says this to the Father for no other reason than only for their sake, so that they might know that He loves them and cares for them, He says: "I pray and ask for them, and not for the world." For by this I undoubtedly prove that I love them, when I not only give what is My own, but also ask You to keep them. Therefore, I pray to You not for wicked people who think in worldly terms, "but for those whom You have given Me, because they are Yours."

Commentary on John ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

When the Lord was speaking to the Father of those whom He already had as disciples, He said this also among other things: "I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given me." By the world, He now wishes to be understood those who live according to the lust of the word, and stand not in the gracious lot of such as were to be chosen by Him out of the world. …

Tractates on John 107 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Now we see the reasons, founded on himself, why Christ prayed for his disciples. He mentions three reasons. One is based on the authority he had received over them. In reference to this he says, I am praying for them, that is, the disciples. First we see the reason; secondly, its explanation, for they are yours. The reason why a person's prayer should be heard and why he should pray for others is that they belong to him in a special way; for general prayers are less likely to be heard. …

Commentary on John ↗

Bonaventure

And I pray for them. Here is touched upon the second reason for being heard on behalf of the Apostles, namely the divine election itself: because our Lord himself was praying for the elect, not for the reprobate. Therefore he says: I pray for them, because, namely, they are elect: therefore he says: I do not pray for the world, "that is, for those devoted to the world," whom you have blinded; but for those whom you have given me, that is, whom you have saved through me; in Acts twenty-seven it was pointedly said to Paul: "Behold, God …

Commentary on John, Chapter 17 ↗