Tractates on the Gospel of John

⁵ “I know whence I came and whither I go.” He who speaks to you in person has what He has not left, and yet He came; for by coming He departed not thence, nor has He forsaken us by returning there. Why marvel ye? It is God: this cannot be done by man; it cannot be done even by the sun. When it goes to the west it leaves the east, and until it returns to the east, when about to rise, it is not in the east; but our Lord Jesus Christ both comes and is there, both returns and is here. Hear the evangelist himself speaking in another place, and, if you can, understand it; if not, believe it: “God,” says he, “no man has ever seen, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” He said not was in the bosom of the Father, as if by coming He had quitted the Father's bosom. Here He was speaking, and yet He declared that He was there; and when about to depart hence, what said He? “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”