THE CONTINUATION OF THE COMMENTARIES OF SAINT CYRIL ON JOHN. FRAGMENTS OF BOOKS VII AND VIII.
TO THE READER. Books VII and VIII have nowhere been able to be found thus far. The fragments which you have here are from them, taken from the catena on John of the most illustrious and most reverend D. de Harlay, Bishop of Saint-Malo, with the translation of the renowned Nicolaus Borbonius, which you may use in the meantime, while the complete books may hopefully emerge from somewhere.
A 18. "I have power," he says, "to lay down my soul." A In this place, he teaches not only that he was a good shepherd risking himself for the flock, but also that he is God by nature. Therefore, he would never have endured death unless willingly and of his own accord, having, as is fitting for God, the authority for this whole dispensation, which contains within itself a great utility for us. The sequence and context of the discourse also teaches the Jews themselves that they were never going to prevail over him had he not willed it. And not only in regard to laying down his soul did he say, "I have power," but he applied it to both, that is, to death and to the resurrection: "I have power," he set down, so that the achievement might not appear to be of the power and operation of another, granted to him by commission as if to a subordinate and a minister; but rather so that he might demonstrate the fruit of his own nature, B that he himself is able to have power over the bonds of death, and to change the natures of things as easily as he might wish, to whatever he chooses. Which is, in reality,