Homilies on the Gospel of John

“I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you.”

2. “Fear not,” He says, “I said not that I would send you another Comforter, as though I were Myself withdrawing from you for ever; I said not that He remains with you, as though I should see you no more. For I also Myself will come to you, I will not leave you orphans.” Because when commencing He said, “Little children,” therefore He says also here, “I will not leave you orphans.” At first then He told them, “You shall come whither I go”; and, “In My Father's house there are many mansions”; but here, since that time was long, He gives them the Spirit; and when, not knowing what it could be of which He spoke, they were not sufficiently comforted, “I will not leave you orphans,” He says; for this they chiefly required. But since the, “I will come to you,” was the saying of one declaring a “presence,” observe how in order that they might not again seek for the same kind of presence as before, He did not clearly tell them this thing, but hinted at it; for having said,