Saint Symeon The New Theologian

‎For those of you who believe that the Apostolic Tradition of the Orthodox Catholic Church is hopelessly locked into a stodgy clericalism, ruled by little potentates devoid of the Holy Spirit, read the words of Saint Symeon The New Theologian. The True Church hangs together upon another power and process completely. 

Saint Symeon is one of only three men the Orthodox Church as allowed the name "theologian." (John the Theologian, Gregory the Theologian and Symeon the New Theologian) The Church has countless saints and Holy Fathers who have written tomes amounting to many thousands of books, and she has many Sacred and Secular historians and theologians, teachers, archeologists, anthropologists and the rest - truly tens of thousands of wonderful teachers and writers, but only THREE men are crowned with the title "Theologian." 

For Protestants, Catholics and many Orthodox Christians the words of Saint Symeon the Theologian have to be "shocking."  Don't confuse Saint Symeon's words with the heresy of Donatism, which claims that for the sacraments of the Church to be empowered the priest has to be without sin.  This is not what Saint Symeon is saying, but he is talking about the extreme spiritual power of those ALIVE in Christ, imbued with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  He is speaking of THAT Holy Spirit present in those alive who are the true power and authority, and ministry of the Church.

"Bishops had in the early church been given the authority to bind and loose which they received as successors to the Apostles, but when time had passed, the Bishops became useless and the authority was passed on to priests of blameless life and worthy of Divine Grace.

When they became polluted also, …it was transferred to monks. It was not that it was taken away from the Priests and Bishops, but rather that they had made themselves strangers to it (by means of their lives)…Someone is NOT Orthodox (Christian) just because he does not slip some new dogma into the Church of God, but rather by whether he possesses a life which is in harmony with true doctrine…

However, the devil remained busy with his goal and when the monks had multiplied, he brought false brethren among them also and monks also were rendered useless…

“Therefore, it is neither in the habit of monks, nor to those ordained and enrolled in ranks of priesthood, not even to those who are honored with dignity of episcopate_I mean Patriarchs, Metropolitans and Bishops_ that God has given the Grace of forgiving sins merely by virtue of their having been ordained.

PERISH THE THOUGHT!

For these are allowed ONLY to celebrate the sacraments, although I think even this is not to be done by many of those who are burning up entirely by their service when they are themselves but straw.

Rather this GRACE is given ONLY to those as many are there are among the priests, Bishops and monks, who have been numbered with Christ’s disciples ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR PURITY OF LIFE! “

"Shocking" words by The Theologian Saint Symeon in letter that denounced the hierarchical thought process that had entered the Orthodox Church in his day and continues in so many places even today. This message among many built up the reason why so many monks, Patriarchs and Priests were so angry with his call to holy life and persecuted him while he was alive.

Vol 3, p.186-203, “Letter on confession” by St. Symeon the New Theologian, SVS Press. Translated by Alexander Golitzin.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Mystical-Life-Ethical-Discourses/dp/0881411442

Book Description

St Symeon the New Theologian was abbot of the monastery of St Mamas in Constantinople at the turn of the eleventh century. He was also perhaps the most remarkable and certainly the most forceful advocate of the mystical experience of God in the history of the Byzantine Church. Though they were on occasion suppressed by ecclesiastical authorities wary of his fierce enthusiasm, as well as his claims to charismatic authority, St Symeon's writings survived in the Orthodox Church and continued to play a vital role in the several renewals of spiritual life and prayer which has sustained the Church in its often difficult history over the past millennium.

This is the third of a three-volume series. The first two volumes translated St Symeon's Ethical Discourses, while this book seeks to place the teaching of the discourses in their proper context, both among Symeon's other writings and with regard to his sources in the Tradition. Included thus is a sketch of Symeon's life and times, together with an extensive discussion of his thought, particularly against the background in the ascetical, mystical, and theological literature of the Christian East prior to the tenth century. Just as he always insisted he was, the New Theologian emerges as a thoroughly traditional representative of central themes in Greek patristic thought, in particular of the doctrine of deification (theosis) as summing up the Christian hope. Even his claims to charismatic authority emerge as fully within monastic tradition dating back at least to the fourth century. These claims appear most clearly in his Letter on Confession which is appended to the present work.
Fr Alexander Golitzin is Associate Professor of Theology at Marquette University. He is author of Et introibo ad altare Dei: The Mystagogy of Dionysius Areopagita, The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain, and co-author of The Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church.

On the Mystical Life is part of the POPULAR PATRISTIC SERIES.

The Ecumenical Councils - Lecture Series

Very interesting lecture on the Early Church's Methods of Solving Problems, by the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing Company, the biggest printer of Bibles and Christian books in the world.

Most of my friends and relatives are Protestants. Some object to being called that and prefer to be called, Evangelical, or Baptist, or Charismatic, or just "Bible Believing."  Most have no clue why I would become Orthodox. Many of these same people claim to want to get "down to foundational things." Some say that all that matters is "belief in Jesus." The trouble starts when I ask them to explain who Jesus is, and why they believe that mere "belief in Jesus" will save them. Some have become angry with me when I quote the following, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" - Jas 2:18ff

What is the major "work of faith"? Few realize that the "salvation prayer", which usually goes something like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Come into my heart and save my soul" is just the very first baby step in the synergistic work of faith. It only represents the tiniest baby step toward the process of healing/salvation. We see sadly the deformity where people gain great knowledge of the Bible, where they are able to quote proof texts to supposedly prove their salvation, when rather they have not progressed one step towards true salvation.

There is no separation between salvation and healing, they are one and the same. Salvation is the Healing of the whole person. What salvation brings us, is our true humanity, rescue from sin, but more importantly the healing of the wounds, damage and deformities of sin: the inappropriate emotions, the phobias, the bigotry, the hate, the envy, the lust, the religious sickness, the false theologies, the false philosophies, the illusions, the delusion, the lies we have believed to be truth, and all the other things that deform our humanity. AS we are being healed and in fact when we are healed we are not to become "super spiritual" wherein is religious sickness, but rather totally natural. Jesus is the example of that totally natural human being in his post resurrection appearances. That is where we are headed, to be like him. That is the power that the Gospel has, to produce people who have been "sanctified," that is people who have grown to the fullness of the statue of the truly natural human, Jesus Christ, undistorted by sin.

For all those caught in the illusion of "instant salvation" who refuse to accept the clear teaching of the Bible and the Church's Tradition that healing/salvation is taught in three tenses:
Past Tense - We were healed, completely and whole by Jesus' suffering on the Cross.
Present Tense - We are being healed presently in this life as we take advantage of Jesus' work on The Cross, and with the power he gives us through the Holy Spirit, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phillipians 2:12
Future Tense - We will be saved/healed wholly and completely in the fulness of the statue of that natural man, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:13.

What this world, culture and society see as the "natural human" is a being distorted by sin and the damage of sin; an unnatural man. Indeed the world, cultures and societies, comprised of sinful unnatural men are themselves distortions and unnatural. If in an instant you removed all sin, one is left with the wounds of sin, the damage and distortions of sin.

The idea that salvation is a process is hard to swallow, especially to those clinging to an idea of salvation that is gnostic at its core, that mental assent to a set of simplistic theological principles represents and produces salvation. They say, "I was saved in 1990", claiming Christ's work on the Cross without taking responsibility for the process of realizing that salvation here and now.  What they describe as "salvation" is merely "conversion." Which means "turning around." I was facing away from God, and I've turned to Him." "I was walking away from God, now I'm upon The Way walking toward Him."

The Orthodox early church, that is the Apostles and Holy Fathers, and countless ordinary Christians, those who truly held the Healing Apostolic Tradition, knew that what they were protecting from the assault of false teachers, was The Way, the reality of this very process of healing. Each error taught diluted the strength and reality of the process, some errors destroyed it altogether. This is an elementary recounting of the early Church preserving and protecting that synergistic process of healing/salvation, so that it could and would be passed to generations next, undistorted by human philosophy or the deformities created by ambitious men. Bluntly stated, this is an introduction to the Healing Truth of Salvation, Satan and his minions have been trying to destroy by any means possible for two thousand years. Despite the gates of hell squalling with noisy anger and confusion, (inside and outside of the Church) and the slaughter of Christians in the hundreds of million at this point in history, (over one hundred million in the 20th century alone) nothing will destroy this truth.

 - Archpriest Symeon Elias.

Tape One - The Ecumenical Councils - Part 1 http://audio.ancientfaith.com/eastwest/iew_2008-11-21.mp3

Tape Two - The Ecumenical Councils - Part 2 http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/podup/eastwest/the_ecumenical_councils_-_part_2

Tape Three - The Council of Nicaea - 1: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Four - The Council of Nicaea - 2: (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Five - Post Nicaea:  (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Six - Constantinople - 1:  (Dn. Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Seven - Ephesus (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Eight - Chalcedon (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Nine - Constantinople 2 (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Ten - Constantinople 3 (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Tape Eleven - The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Dn Michael Hyatt)
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Ecumenical Councils 1-7

This is by Dr. Jeffrey Macdonald (from his website OrthodoxChurchHistory.com)
 


1st Ecumenical Council-Nicea 325 AD 
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2nd Ecumenical Council-Constantinople 381 AD 
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3rd Ecumenical Council-431 AD 
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4th Ecumenical Council-450 AD 
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5th Ecumenical Council-553 AD 
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6th Ecumenical Council-681 AD 
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Iconoclasm and 7th Ecumenical Council 787 AD Part 1
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Iconoclasm and 7th Ecumenical Council 787 AD Part 2 
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Some of the Canons by Fr. Thomas Hopko:

4th Century canons 
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Other 4th century canons
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3rd Ecumenical council canons
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4th Ecumenical council canons
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Quinisext Canons Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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For the other 4 to 5 more parts please go to his podcast.


7th Ecumenical council canons
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What About That Rapture Thing?

The different views of Protestant Eschatology

This is a roundtable discussion with Authors and Professors, Piper, Hamilton, Wilson, and Storms, where they talk about their views on Eschatology (the study of end time things) and their differences.  One believes in Premillennialism (which the Church calls "Chiliasm "), another in  Postmillennialism, and the third in Amillennialism.  A lot of money and fear has been spread in books and movies like "Left Behind" which depicts "the Rapture" in Chiliasm terms. Yet the majority of convert to Christianity in the last 20 years have been into movements that stress "Premillennial Rapture."  In other words they believe that before things get really bad here on earth they will escape, they will be caught away and not face Tribulation.

Some evangelicals and some protestants influenced by Premillennial pop-culture like to take pot shots at me because of the Church's suspicion of their teaching, which it has called a speculation and not a true teaching of the church. This discussion clearly shows that Protestants too see the same as "speculation" and not a cardinal doctrine of the faith. The largest percentage of Evangelicals are "Premillennialist" but more and more the movement is split along these lines, and in the extremes separation has been ugly.

While there are those who assail Dr Gingrich and call him arrogant and egotistical for refusing to bow to party elitists and capitulate to Mitt Romney . . . in his determination I see a humility they cannot comprehend.

I see the qualities of this prayer having become a part of Dr Newt Gingrich's soul. I honestly believe this prayer resides at the core of his being, whether or not he has ever articulated it or even heard it articulated. This is the formation of Character that makes men/women unconquerable by Satan and all his minions.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear us.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being falsely accused, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver us, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver us, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others my become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it. - Amen.

(NOTE** Please don't confuse this with any position of surrender. It is only by this massive and true humility that we may find Victory in HIM,[Christ] and His Mercy in the world. NOTHING is more powerful in God's eyes than a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.)

In The Lamp Light In The Garden

"On my last night, before I face judgment and death - can't you please stay awake with me while "I" pray. I don't even ask you to pray, just be awake, keep me company, but you can't do even that." +++

Lord, so very special is the heartbreak of this night. This night more than the public spectacle of your arrest, your trial, your physical tortures, your physical humiliation - - no, this night is the hardest and most blessed for me. The day remaining represents courage and heroism, but this dark night of the soul, represents the state of human pathos. We all die, inside our own skin, isolated even if surrounded by those who love us. We die alone. Yet, the decisions made by a human (not made by a God) but a human, who could have saved his own skin, yet he remained in the Garden, knowing the Temple Guard was headed his way and torture and death was the ONLY possible outcome.

This night, did you hate Judas? No you didn't. You grieved more for Judas than for the eleven sleeping a hundred feet away from you. You laughed and joke with Judas, you traveled together for three years. You saw his passion and his nationalistic pride, burning to throw off the Romans yoke. No you loved Judas, like you love every person in all of time that has, like me, betrayed you. I can't imagine the human psychic weight of that supper. The banter, the food, and Judas' eyes dancing, while Your heart was breaking.
This night, this supper, you are speaking to your closest friends and they are listening with near total non-comprehension. (As so many still can't hear it.) “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. This cup is the new testament in my blood: ( IN MY BLOOD) this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Oh Precious ONE, the being by whom all things were made; Who came to his own but his own did not recognize Him. He, who places life in every cell, and truth be told, life in every atom; Who places the light in every man's eye coming into this world . . . That light a living soul, created in a mystery we cannot comprehend, in YOUR image and likeness - though sin has stolen the likeness, still that soul filled with cognition (self awareness) is by YOUR power, and YOUR power alone, conscious. 

Oh Precious ONE, through the immense power of love we cannot define, though we experience, IF we are truly blessed, tiny sparks of it which almost destroy us, which always fundamentally change us, yet, those sparks, so painful and so wonderful, may be contained in our hearts of flesh - but would shatter and destroy a heart of stone. “one of Thy deep, piercing rays shone into my heart; it became luminous, full of light like iron glowing in the furnace . . .”

So here I sit on this night, that spark aglow, would that we were able, would that we could reach through time and touch the humanity you took to yourself, which in such TRUTH of human nature recoiled in fear in the wee hours of THIS night. Oh IKON of humility, and eternal LOVE, who weeping tears and sweating blood, took control of that human self, steadied your nerves, and from your gut came the words, "Nevertheless, Father, Not MY will, but Thy Will Be Done."

I just took a breath, and without YOU even that simple act would be impossible. I glance at the olive oil lamp I am burning as I sit up with YOU this night, and that act would be impossible without YOU. I am sometimes so weak that if I eat lunch, I cannot manage the leisurely afternoon without a nap. I put on a video, intending to listen to a lecture and awaken realizing that I missed the last thirty minutes. 

Precious ONE, why would YOU choose to take upon yourself the weak human flesh bound by death, certain to die? Why Lord?  I am without a clue.

I know you, because you have lived in my heart and endured my sorted and sinful life, via the presence of Your Holy Spirit from a very, very young age. Yet, the more I Know you, the greater mystery you become. For the turtle, the horizon is across the pond, his “universe is simple.” And that is what the babe is Christ sees, merely the pond where it sits and muddies the waters. Sadly, many Christians remain infants, as you well know. But grace and communion cause the soul to climb out of the mud, and YOU, Precious ONE, who is always speaking just over the horizon recede into the distance, the higher we climb, the farther the horizon. Upon the mountain YOU are hundreds of miles away. Every step up the mountain is intimacy with YOU. Yet, in a mystery incomprehensible the more I KNOW YOU, the greater mystery shrouds YOU.

I see your Might. (Hard to imagine that the concept of the power of the Universe could be symbolized in a single syllable "might.")  I see the universe and know it is a mere single thought, expressed in WORD, and BREATH, that courses through my body. So removed from my existence is such a being, I cannot comprehend why You condescended to take upon yourself human nature like mine? Does a KING burrow in the earth like a worm, more as a worm, more as an actual worm, with the nature of a worm? Yet, that is the message. THAT is the point - YOU created us higher than the angels. Something in us is valuable. What? We Do Not KNOW! But, something in us is worth healing and restoring, rescuing, saving!  

I know YOU, and I know just the thought of my favorite elder brother languishing in the garden alone, not a single faithful friend capable of sharing the fear you experience this night to the point of sweating blood, offends me. Yet, what a hypocrite am I!

How silly my efforts at discipline are by comparison! Skip a couple meals. So what! Would I stand in Truth, in LIFE, were the prospects so fearful that the discipline needed to harness my weak humanity caused me to SWEAT BLOOD? I can't even stay awake for more than three chapters of reading, or forty minutes of a lecture. Like Peter I say, in my weakness and failure, “Yes, Lord, you know my heart. You know I love you.” But like Peter, this night, I'm sleeping.

I have slept most of my life! Lord, Awaken ME! Lord, Awaken ME!

I remember when I first ran across that line, “I have seen my brother in his coffin without grace or beauty, what more can I expect.” I've seen two brothers, both precious, precious people resting with the theatrical pretense in which we cosmetically cover death in money, and even then the grief of it was too much to bear. Yet, the dates of their deaths pass and I remember with fondness all the things I miss without them. But this night Lord, THIS night I grieve. I read those words again, “And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if You will, remove this cup from Me--nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony . . .” 

There that is the line – And being in agony . . . . . How could the heart and soul of all that IS chose to suffer agony? Why? If I say . . .listen carefully . . . If I say, “I am not worth it.” I make of my Savior a mere fool, passionately seeking the restoration of something whose value is a fantasy. I make of my Savior a deluded creature, living out some drama for fools. 

But here is the truth of it and what Christianity teaches. If I, or you, just YOU, were the only person on earth, doomed to death via sin, HE would have come and suffered all the same, JUST FOR YOU. And for YOU, just YOU, “He prayed more fervently. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down onto the ground.”

And so sealed his isolated struggle, “And rising up from prayer, coming to the disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise up and pray, lest you enter into temptation." And while He was still speaking, behold, a crowd; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was going before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

Do I Lord, betray the Son of Man with these tears? A language quakes in my bones unutterable by human tongue, a thankfulness so profound no words can speak it, no act purchase it, no mere human intellect understand it. So, once again, on Maundy Thursday I am done in! I know my flesh rests in the cold courtyard huddled by the fire with Simon Peter, surrounded by murderous pagans, quaking in fear and shivering in discomfort.

“I was born a weak, defenseless child, but Thine angel spread his wings over my cradle to defend me.” The first time I sang that sentence it crushed my heart, thinking about the reality of it. But on this night I considered that YOU O Precious ONE, YOU were born a weak, defenseless child!!! YOU were born a weak defenseless child. YOU CHOSE to be born a weak defenseless child. And on this night you chose to be a defenseless lover of all mankind, so that when Simon chopped off the ear of the soldier you stopped him and healed Malchus' ear. You Lord, chose to be defenseless, and it took discipline strong enough to over come fear that sweat blood!

Everything that happened after THIS night was created and sustained by THIS night. Lord, strengthen us all for the dark night of the soul, send us your ministering angels.

Jesus' Prayer In the Garden:

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.  Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."