Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” (John 10:22–30)

A willing readiness to obey characterizes the sheep of Christ, as disobedience marks those that are not His. For thus we understand the word “hear,” as equivalent to “obey,” namely, the words that are spoken: and they who thus hear God are known by Him, and “known” signifies “brought into friendly relationship:” for no one is altogether unknown by God. When therefore He says: I know Mine, He says this: “I will receive them and bring them into friendly relationship both mystically and firmly. And anyone might say that, inasmuch as He has become Man, He brought all men into friendly relationship by being of the same race; so that we are all united to Christ in a mystical relationship, inasmuch as He has become Man.… And He says: And My sheep follow Me; for they who are obedient and follow, by a certain God-given grace, in the footsteps of Christ, no longer serving the shadows of the Law, but the commandments of Christ, and giving heed to His words, through grace shall rise to His honorable Name, and be called sons of God. For when Christ ascends into the heavens, they also shall follow Him. And He says that He gives to those that follow Him as a recompense and reward, eternal life and exemption from death, or corruption, and from the torments that will be brought upon the transgressors by the Judge. And by the fact of His giving life, He shows that He is in His Nature Life, and that He furnishes this from Himself and not as receiving it from another. And we understand by eternal life, not [only] the length of days which all, both good and bad, are going to enjoy after the resurrection, but also the spending it in bliss.

It is possible also to understand by “life” the mystical blessing by which Christ implants in us His own life through the participation of His own Flesh by the faithful, according to that which is written: He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 7.1.