Interpretation of the gospel of the Samaritan woman. Conversation with a Samaritan woman. The departure of the Samaritan woman and the return of the disciples

Jesus answered and spoke to her(to the Samaritan woman) : If you knew the gift of God, and Who is, say to you: give Me to drink, you would ask Him, and give you water to live.

(Compare: John 4:10)

Today, during the Liturgy, the Holy Gospel was read about the conversation of the Lord Jesus Christ with a Samaritan woman from the city of Sychar about living water, or about the grace of the Holy Spirit, necessary for every person, - also about worshiping God in spirit and truth, and after the removal of the woman - about the Lord's conversation with His disciples about spiritual food, spiritual fields and spiritual harvest. Thus, today's Gospel speaks of many spiritual subjects that are very important and instructive for each of us. Let's talk this time, with God's help, although about the first two for our edification and salvation, that is, about living water and worship of God in spirit and truth. For greater clarity and intelligibility of the conversation, let us repeat part of the Gospel we have read.

Comes[Lord], says the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, - to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired of the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock(on our, twelfth to noon) ... A woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her: give me a drink. For His disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman says to Him: How, being a Jew, do you ask me, Samaritan women, to drink? for the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered her: if you knew the gift of God and who says to you: give me a drink, you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water. The woman says to him: Master! you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; Where did you get living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst. but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water flowing into eternal life. The woman says to him: Master! give me this water so that I do not have thirst and do not come here to draw. Jesus says to her: go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus says to her: It is true that you said that you have no husband; for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; you said it rightly. The woman says to him: Lord! I see that you are a prophet(John 4: 5-19).

Here we will interrupt the reading of the Gospel and talk about what we have read. In what simplicity we see here the God-man, the Creator of heaven and earth, containing all creation with a hand, the King of Angels and men! Tired, like a man, by traveling on stony ground under a sultry, burning sun, He sits at the well and talks like a simple traveler with a woman, moreover - a Samaritan woman, by the current name - a schismatic, moreover - with a sinner who had an illegitimate roommate. Having come into the world to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance, the Lord wants to convert this sinner to repentance, and through her - and many of her compatriots - and what does the all-wise Creator and Savior of men do for this, who has become like us in everything except sin? Regarding water bearing, He begins with a woman a speech about living water, or about the grace of the Holy Spirit, cleansing sins, quenching the thirst of an immortal soul, burned by sins, extinguishing the fire of passions and the fire of hell, reconciling the soul with God. And how wisely and together He simply brings her to the consciousness of sins, the need for repentance and renewal of life; how wisely he leads her to faith in Him as the true Messiah! As a seer of the heart, knowing all her past life full of sins, the Lord carefully, gradually awakens her conscience and makes her confess her sins herself and, thus, to feel with all her heart her spiritual poverty and misfortune, the need for faith in the Messiah - the Deliverer, the thirst for mercy God, the justification of God, thirst for purity and chastity, thirst for life everlasting, eternal.

And now the Samaritan woman is caught in the saving faith. She believed in Jesus Christ and drew her fellow citizens to the faith; repented of her former deeds, began a virtuous life and had such a fiery, holy love for the Lord that, as the sacred tradition tells us, she was not afraid afterwards to confess His name before the Jews and pagans and endure many sufferings for His sake, and received a martyr's crown under the persecutor of Christians , the Roman emperor Nero. Her name was Fotina. So, the Samaritan woman actually deserved to receive from the Lord living water, flowing into an eternal belly, or the grace of the Holy Spirit, which cleansed her of sins, quenched the thirst of her immortal soul, created in the image of God, and poured out her living faith and fiery love for To the Lord, who strengthened her in the confession of the name of His holy one and in the terrible torments endured for Him and made her a partaker of eternal life.

Is it clear now, after all that has been said, that there is living water, about which the Lord talked at the well with the Samaritan woman, and what saving actions it produced in us, sinners? Living water, or the grace of God, is the saving power of God, acting in a person for salvation through faith in Christ, - disposes him to repentance and tenderness; the power that opposes sin and conquers sin, is a merciful power, healing, cleansing, sanctifying, reconciling and uniting a person with God, arousing and kindling a person's heart with love for God and neighbor; an enlightening power, comforting and spiritually nourishing, re-creating and renewing, perfecting the whole person, in others - wonderworking and discerning the hidden and secret. A person who has acquired grace from God manifests it in himself with various virtues: living faith, hope and love, sincere, everlasting repentance, deep humility, quietness and meekness to everyone, innocence, temperance, purity, righteousness, thoughtfulness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, obedience , patience, holy boldness and zeal for all virtue.

The Holy Apostle Paul writes about grace to his disciple Titus, bishop of the Church of Crete: the grace of God appeared, saving for all people, teaching us that, rejecting wickedness and worldly lusts, we live chastely, righteously and piously in this age, waiting for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to deliver us from all iniquity and to cleanse for Himself a special people, zealous for good deeds(Titus 2: 11-14). This grace, saving all people, is needed by all of us, my brothers. The source of this grace, the storehouse of this living water is our Lord Jesus Christ or the Holy Orthodox Church, on which He poured abundantly the Holy Spirit. In her, streams of life constantly flow out in the Word of God, in the Holy Sacraments, in Divine services, especially during the celebration of the Liturgy. Come all to draw here the water of life eternal gift. Let us all seek grace more than all the treasures of the earth, as the saints sought for it, who, in order to receive grace, despised the world lying in evil with all its lovely transitory blessings, despised and exhausted our multi-passionate flesh in order to cleanse, sanctify, strengthen and raise the grief of the soul, suppressed and darkened by fleshly addictions, in order to triumph over passions and lusts, to love God with all my heart, righteousness and holiness and eternal life; for it is impossible for two masters to work.

The Lord calls His grace living water, in contrast to dead water, with which he diligently tries to poison all people and very many are poisoned by the culprit of death and all evil - the devil. This dead water, which many people greedily drink, who are seduced by its seeming sweetness or who regard it as sweetness, is sin in all its countless generations: pride, unbelief, heresy, schism, superstition, deceit, hypocrisy, anger, rancor, irritability, vengefulness , malevolence, ill will, envy, gloating, blasphemy, sedition, disobedience to the authorities, condemnation, gluttony, delicacy, delight, especially - drunkenness, fornication, impurity, impudence, disobedience, blasphemy, avarice, avarice, avarice, covetousness, cruelty deceit, deceit, idleness with idle pursuits, laziness, carelessness for the soul, impenitence, cowardice, despondency, demonic fear, despair, and so on. These are springs of dead water, flowing together with those in whom they flow - into eternal destruction. From this dead water there is cure - repentance and humble faith combined with fervent prayer - domestic and church prayer and with fasting; - Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, an all-powerful, constant struggle with one's passions and vicious inclinations, diligent reading of the Word of God, stories about the life of the saints and their soul-saving writings; - the remembrance of death and of the Judgment and of one's own curse and insignificance.

But let us continue reading the Gospel about the Lord's conversation with the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman says: our fathers worshiped on this mountain(meaning by the fathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and you say that the place to be worshiped is in Jerusalem. Jesus says to her: believe me that the time is coming when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You do not know what we bow down to, but we know what we bow down to, for salvation is from the Jews. But the time will come, and has already come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman says to him: I know that the Messiah, that is, Christ, is coming; when He comes, He will tell us everything. Jesus says to her: it is I who speak to you(John 4: 20-26). After that, the woman left her waterpot by the well, hurriedly went into the city and announced to everyone about the wonderful seer - and many of the Samaritans, seeing Him and hearing His word, believed in Him.

What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? - So, to believe that God in every place and in every place sees and hears those praying to Him, sighing to Him, repenting to Him, thanking and praising Him - and not in a known only place, for example, on some mountain, as I thought Samaritan woman, or only in the temple, although, without a doubt, God is closer to us in the temple, according to His own promise: where more than two or three gather together in my name, that I am in the midst of them(Matthew 18:20), and especially - because of His Holy Mysteries celebrated here: bow down in spirit and truth(John 4:23) means to pray to God in communion with the Church with all your heart, with all your thoughts, with all diligence and reverence, with living faith, with firm hope, and not just speaking words without meaning and feeling or nodding your head and hand moving without living thought and living feeling. This latter is not prayer, but only the lifeless shadow of prayer; it does not propitiate, but anger God. May God deliver all of us from such a prayer. - Let us all learn to worship God in spirit and in truth: by praying, let us bear the fruits of prayer to God: repentance is unhypocritical, correction of the heart and all life, let us be zealous for every virtue. This will be the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Amen.

See: Synaxarium on the 6th song of the canon // Tsvetnaya Triod, Matins on Week 5 after Easter. Memorial Day Fotina (Svetlana) March 20 / April 2.

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First Easter

Conversation with the Samaritan woman
(Matt. 4:12; Mark. 1:14; Luke 4:14; John 4: 1-42)

All four Gospels speak of the Lord's departure to Galilee. St. Matthew and St. Mark note that this happened after John was imprisoned, and St. John adds that the reason for this was the rumor that Jesus, more than John the Baptist, makes disciples and baptizes them, although the Evangelist explains that it was not Him who baptized, but His disciples. After John was imprisoned in prison, all the enmity of the Pharisees rushed to Jesus, who began to seem to them more dangerous than the Baptist himself, and since the hour of His suffering had not yet come, Jesus leaves Judea and goes to Galilee to evade the persecution of His envious enemies. Only one Evangelist, St. John.

The path of the Lord lay through Samaria - an area located to the north of Judea and formerly belonging to the three tribes of Israel: Dan, Ephraim and Manasseh. In this area was the city of Samaria, the former capital of the state of Israel. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser subdued the Israelites and took them into captivity, and in their place he settled pagans from Babylon and other places. From the mixing of these settlers with the remaining Jews, the Samaritans arose. The Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch of Moses, worshiped Jehovah, but did not forget their gods either. When the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, the Samaritans also wanted to take part in this, but the Jews did not allow them, and therefore they built a separate temple for themselves on Mount Gerizim. Having accepted the books of Moses, the Samaritans, however, rejected the writings of the prophets and all the traditions, and for this the Jews treated them worse than the pagans, in every possible way avoided any communication with them, abhorring and despising them.

Passing through Samaria, the Lord with His disciples stopped to rest near the well, which, according to legend, was dug by Jacob, near the city of Shechem, which St. John is named Sychar. Perhaps the Evangelist used this name as a mockery, having altered it from the word "shikar" - "made him drink wine", or "sheker" - "lie." St. John points out that "It was about six o'clock"(in our opinion - noon), the time of the greatest heat, which, most likely, caused the need for rest. "A woman comes from Samaria to draw water... Jesus' disciples went to the city to buy food, and He turned to the Samaritan woman with a request: "Give me a drink"... Having learned, perhaps by her dress or by the manner of speech, that the person addressing her was a Jew, the Samaritan woman expressed her surprise that He, being a Jew, asked her, Samaritan women, to drink, referring to the hatred and contempt that the Jews had for the Samaritans. ... But Jesus, who came into the world to save everyone, not just the Jews, explains to the woman that she would not ask such a question, knowing Who is talking to her and what happiness ( "God's gift") God sent her in this meeting. If she knew Who asks her to drink, then she herself would ask Him to quench her spiritual thirst, to reveal to her the truth that all people strive to know; and He would give her "Living water", by which is meant the grace of the Holy Spirit (see John 7: 38-39)

The Samaritan woman did not understand the Lord: under living water she understood the key, which is at the bottom of the well, and therefore asked Jesus where He could get living water from, if He had nothing to draw with, and the well was deep. "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle?"(John 4:12). She recalls with pride and love the patriarch Jacob, who left this well for the use of his descendants. Then the Lord raises her mind to the highest understanding of His words: “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water flowing into eternal life. "(John 4: 13-14). In spiritual life, blessed water has a different effect than physical water in bodily life. One who is filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit will never feel spiritual thirst, since all his spiritual needs are already fully satisfied; while a drinker of physical water, as well as satisfying any of his earthly needs, quenches his thirst only for a while, and soon "will be thirsty again."

Moreover, the blessed water will abide in a person, forming in him a source that gushes (literally from Greek - galloping) into eternal life, that is, making a person a partaker of eternal life. Still not understanding the Lord, and thinking that He is talking about ordinary water, only some special one that quenches thirst forever, she asks the Lord to give her this water in order to get rid of the need to come to the well for water. So that she finally understands that she is not talking to an ordinary person, the Lord first orders her to call her husband, and then directly denounces her that she, having already had five husbands, is now living in an adulterous relationship.

Seeing that before her is a prophet who knows the secret, the Samaritan woman turns to Him for a solution to the problem that most tormented the Samaritans in their relationship with the Jews: who is right in the dispute about the place of worship of God? Are the Samaritans, who, following their fathers who built a temple on Mount Gerizim, brought worship to God on this mountain, or the Jews, who argued that God can only be worshiped in Jerusalem? The Samaritans chose Mount Gerizim to worship, based on the command of Moses to pronounce the blessing on this mountain (Deut 11:29). And although their temple, erected there, was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 130 BC, they continued to make sacrifices on the site of the destroyed temple. The Lord answers the woman's question, explaining that it would be a mistake to think that God can only be worshiped in one specific place and the controversial issue between the Samaritans and the Jews will soon lose its meaning by itself, because both types of worship - both Jewish and Samaritan - will stop in the near future. This prediction came true when the Samaritans, being exterminated by wars, dissuaded the meaning of their mountain, and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and the temple was burned in 70 AD.

Nevertheless, the Lord gives preference to Jewish worship, bearing in mind, of course, the fact that the Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses and rejected the prophetic scriptures that detailed the doctrine of the Person and Kingdom of the Messiah. And itself "The rescue[will come] from the Jews " because the Redeemer of humanity comes from the Jewish people. Further, the Lord, developing the thought already expressed by Him, points out that "The time will come, and it has already come"(after all, the Messiah has already appeared) the time of a new, higher worship of God, which will not be limited to any one place, but will be ubiquitous, since it will be in spirit and truth. Only such worship is true, as it is in the nature of God Himself, who is Spirit. To worship God in spirit and in truth means to strive to please God not only outwardly, but through a true and sincere striving towards God as a Spirit, with all the forces of your spiritual being; that is, not by sacrifices, as did both the Jews and the Samaritans, who believed that worship of God was reduced only to this, but to know and love God, unfeignedly and unfeignedly wanting to please Him by fulfilling His commandments. Worship god "In spirit and in truth" by no means excludes the external, ritual side of worship of God, as some false teachers and sectarians try to assert, but the main force is not contained in this external side of worship. In the ritual worship of God itself, one should not see anything reprehensible: it is both necessary and inevitable, since a person consists not only of a soul, but also of a body. Jesus Christ Himself worshiped God the Father bodily, kneeling and falling face down on the ground, not rejecting the same worship of Himself from others during His earthly life (see for example: Matt. 2:11, 14:33, 15:25 ; John 11:32, 12: 3; as well as many other passages in the Gospels)

The Samaritan woman, as it were, begins to understand the meaning of Jesus' words and in thought says: “I know that the Messiah is coming, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything "... The Samaritans were also expecting the Messiah, calling Him in their own way - Hashshageb, basing this expectation on the words of Genesis 49:10 and especially on the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18). The Samaritans' notions of the Messiah were not as corrupted as those of the Jews, since they were waiting in His person for a prophet, and not a political leader. Therefore, Jesus, who for a long time did not call himself the Messiah under the Jews, directly says to this simple Samaritan woman that He is the Messiah-Christ promised by Moses: "[Messiah is] I who speak to you"... Delighted with the happiness that she sees the Messiah, the Samaritan woman throws her water-pot at the well and hurries to the city to announce to everyone about the coming of the Messiah, Who, as a Heart-Seeker, told her everything that she had done. His disciples who came at this time were surprised that their Teacher was talking with a woman, since this was condemned by the rules of the Jewish rabbis, which instructed: "Don't talk to a woman for a long time" and “no one should talk to a woman on the road, even to a lawful wife,” as well as: "It is better to burn the words of the law than to teach them to a woman."... However, in awe of their Master, the disciples did not express their surprise in any way and only asked Him to taste the food they brought.

But the natural hunger in Jesus the Man was drowned out by the joy of the people of the Samaritan people turning to Him and the concern for their salvation. He rejoiced that the seed He had thrown had already begun to bear fruit. Therefore, He refused to satisfy His hunger and answered His disciples that the true food for Him is the fulfillment of the work of saving people entrusted to Him by God the Father. The Samaritans coming to Him appear to Jesus as a field ripe for the harvest, while in the fields the harvest will take place only four months later. Usually sowing grain and harvesting; when sowing words into souls, the spiritual harvest often goes to others, but at the same time he who sowed rejoices with the reaping, since he sowed not for himself, but for others. Therefore, Christ says that He sends the Apostles to reap the harvest in the spiritual field, which was originally cultivated and sown not by them, but by others - the Old Testament prophets and Himself. During these explanations, the Samaritans approached the Lord. Many believed in Him already “according to the word of the woman,” but they believed even more “according to His word,” when, at their invitation, He stayed with them in the city for two days. Listening to the teachings of the Lord, they, by their own admission, became convinced that "He is truly the Savior of the world, Christ."

Jesus comes to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired of the journey, sat down by the well. It was about six o'clock. A woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her: give me a drink. For His disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman says to Him: How do you, being a Jew, ask me, Samaritan women, to drink? for the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered her: if you knew the gift of God and who says to you: give me a drink, you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water. The woman says to him: Master! you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; Where did you get living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst. but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water flowing into eternal life.

The woman says to him: Master! give me this water so that I do not have thirst and do not come here to draw. Jesus says to her: go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus says to her: It is true that you said that you have no husband, for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; you said it rightly.

The woman says to him: Lord! I see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you say that the place to be worshiped is in Jerusalem. Jesus says to her: Believe Me, that the time is coming when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You do not know what we bow down to, but we know what we bow down to, for salvation is from the Jews. But the time will come, and has already come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman says to him: I know that the Messiah, that is, Christ, is coming; when He comes, He will tell us everything. Jesus says to her: It is I who speak to you.

At this time His disciples came and were surprised that He was talking with a woman; however, not one said: what do you demand? or: what are you talking about with her? Then the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and said to the people: go and see the Man who told me everything that I had done: Isn't He the Christ? They left the city and went to Him.

Meanwhile, the disciples asked Him, saying: Rabbi! eat. But He said to them: I have food that you do not know. Therefore, the disciples said among themselves, Has anyone brought him food? Jesus says to them: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to do His work. Do you not say that there are still four months and the harvest will come? But I say to you: lift up your eyes and look at the fields, how they turned white and ripened for the harvest. The one who reaps receives a reward and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that both the sower and the reaper will rejoice together, for in this case the saying is true: one sows and the other reaps. I sent you to reap what you did not work on: others worked, and you entered their work.

And many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman, who testified that He had told her everything that she had done. And therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed at His word. And they said to that woman: no longer according to your words we believe, for we ourselves have heard and learned that He is truly the Savior of the world, Christ.

In today's Gospel, we hear how the Savior came to Jacob's well to meet the Samaritan woman there. He walked for a long time to this woman, to one person, making His way under the scorching sun. It was six o'clock, that is, noon according to the then reckoning - the very peak of the heat - and He was exhausted from fatigue and thirsty.

Why, the holy fathers ask, did He not walk at night, when it is cooler and much easier to walk? Because, as we know, He devoted the whole night to prayer, and the day, without wasting an hour, to serving people. And we see that it is our Lord - God who became man. He who cries when he sees the deceased. He who is on the Cross will suffer. And now He is thirsty. Why then, being God, cannot overcome this thirst with His Divine power? Of course, everything is in His power. But then He would not be a real person. And the victory that He will win would not be the victory in which we can be involved.

Did He not nourish five thousand people with five loaves of bread? Wasn't He walking on the water? What does it cost Him to command in one word, with one thought, that a spring should be poured out of a rock or out of sand and quenched His thirst? But it is here that the most important thing is revealed to us. Never, not once in His life did He perform a single miracle for His own sake: in order to feed Himself, quench His thirst, relieve His pain.

From the very beginning, from Christmas, He partakes of all our weakness. As a child, He flees from the sword of Herod as a common man. And He also does this for our sake, and not for His own sake, because His hour has not yet come. But when the time comes for Him to fight death, He will come out to meet it in order to save everyone and so that the death of each of us turns into eternal life.

Everything in Him is filled with infinite Divine love for the entire human race and for each individual person. Everything is weighed for every hour and in every place. The Lord contains everything and the whole world bears like a Cross, on which He will say His holy words: I’m thirsty.

And now the Samaritan woman comes to the well where Christ is sitting - a simple woman who does not have a servant to bring water. And we see how Divine Providence achieves great goals through events that seem to be insignificant. The Savior's disciples went to the city to buy food, but Christ did not go with them. Not because He abhorred eating in the Samaritan city, but because He had an important task to accomplish.

We know that He often preached to many people, but here He gently bows to one soul - one woman, a simple poor stranger, in order to teach His apostles, His Church to do the same, so that they know that the joy for the Lord is to save only one soul. from death.

The Lord begins the conversation with a request to give Him a drink. Give me a drink- He says to the woman. He, Who holds in His hands the sources of all waters, the Creator of the world, has become impoverished to the end and asks for His creation. He asks this woman because he wants to enter into genuine fellowship with her. He still asks of us through all the hungry and thirsty, and says: Whoever serves only one cup of cold water in His name will not lose his reward(Matthew 10:42).

The woman is amazed because there is a deadly religious enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, and they do not communicate with each other. For the pride of the Jews was to endure any hardship, so long as not to accept anything from the Samaritans. And Christ takes the opportunity to lead the soul of this woman to great depths. He does not seem to notice her words about the enmity of the Jews and the Samaritans. There are differences between people that should not be treated as something secondary, but sometimes these differences are better treated when we deliberately avoid the occasion to enter into disputes about these differences. And in the same way, we will see further that the Lord, in a conversation with a Samaritan woman, will bypass the question of where is the best place to worship God, for the time is coming when you will worship the Father, not on this mountain, not in Jerusalem,- He says.

The Lord, talking with a woman, leads her to the idea that she needs a Savior. She really begins to understand that now she can receive through the Lord what will be the most precious thing in her life. If you knew the gift of God- says Christ, - "and who is the one who asks you to drink." Before that, she thought that before her was just a Jew, just a poor tortured wanderer, and before her was the gift of God, the ultimate manifestation of God's love for man — God Himself.

How can this gift of God be offered to people? God asks a person: give me a drink. And the Lord says to this woman, thO she would have done if she had known him: You would ask. Whoever needs any gift, let him ask Him.

And then the Lord reveals to us the whole mystery of prayer, the whole mystery of our communication with God. Those who once got to know Christ will always seek Him. And nothing else in the world will ever be sweet to them, can never quench their thirst. He will give living water, and this living water is the Holy Spirit, which cannot be compared with water at the bottom of a well, even a holy well, but which He compares with living (that is, flowing) water. The grace of the Holy Spirit is like this water.

Christ can give, and He wants to give this living water to all who ask Him. And the Samaritan woman looks at the Lord with amazement and disbelief. You have nothing to draw with, but the well is deep,- she says to Him. Where did you get living water? And then Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well?

Like Nicodemus, who secretly came to Christ at night to talk with Him about the Kingdom of God and does not understand how a person should be born again, so this woman understands all the words of Christ literally. And the Lord supports her, strengthens her, leads her further, shows that the water from Jacob's well gave only a temporary quenching of thirst, both bodily and spiritual. And whoever drinks the water that He gives will never be thirsty.

A person does not need to turn to anyone for comfort in sorrow. Whoever believes in Christ will have in himself a fountain of living water that flows forever. And this water is always in motion, because the grace of the Holy Spirit gives newness to life, continuous, constantly wonderful. Everything in this world is already old, no matter how new it may seem. And what the Lord gives is absolutely new, and it becomes continuously new, it is in the continuous movement of life.

At the same time, the Lord warns that if the great truths that He reveals to us become in our souls like standing water, this means that we do not live by these truths, that we have not yet accepted them as we need to accept. God,- says the woman to Him, both believing and not believing, - give me water so that I do not have thirst and do not come here to draw. Perhaps a vague insight is already being born in her that something extraordinary is happening here, the most important thing.

Suddenly, the Lord connects the conversation about living water with her personal life, with the depths of her conscience. And this is what each of us should think carefully about, to see this inextricable connection of the deepest secrets of life with our destiny. Go- says the Lord, - call your husband and come here. Call your husband to help you understand everything. Call him so that he can learn with you, and both of you become heirs of a blessed life. Maybe he told her more than what is written in the Gospel, because it says that He told her everything that she did in life. As if he had given a description of her entire past.

“You had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband,” that is, she lived in fornication, in adultery. But how carefully and at the same time firmly the Lord treats her soul! How skillful is His reproof, how filled with love for this soul! The one you now have is not your husband,- with sorrow, with sorrow says the Lord and leaves her conscience to finish the rest. But even in this, He offers an explanation of her words, better than she herself was able to immediately bear. You said the truth that you have no husband. And again he says: you rightly said. What she said at the beginning was simply a denial of the fact that she does not have a husband, and the Lord is helping to turn this into a confession of her sins. And this is how the Lord deals with every human soul. In this way, He gradually leads to true deepest repentance, without which we cannot taste the water that He offers us.

Let each of us understand what this is about. These words were spoken not only to a harlot woman, but to every human soul. Because every human soul had “five husbands,” say the holy fathers, that is, five senses that are given to a person and with which he lives in this world. And it seems to a person that it is possible to live like this - with these five senses that determine his natural life. But, being unable to provide life on his own, a person departs from these alliances with natural life and finds a "lawless husband" - sin.

The Lord wants to say that natural life - even in goodness and in truth - sooner or later inevitably becomes subnatural, sinful, where there is no grace. Until a person acquires grace - a new life for the sake of which Christ goes to the Cross - the best, purest, noblest of people, all the more so all of humanity, as we see, follows this very path. From its five natural senses, from its natural gifts, it falls into an inferior state, so that sin becomes the norm of life for everyone. Only the grace of God, only this living water, of which Christ speaks, can save a person.

And only after this does the Lord speak about the true worship of God. The time is coming, and has already come, when it will not matter where the worship of God is performed, because worship in spirit and in truth is essential. It all depends on the state of our spirit in which we worship the Lord.

We must worship God in spirit, trusting that God the Holy Spirit will strengthen us and help us achieve true life. We must worship Him with faithfulness to truth and fiery love. We must worship Him in truth and truth with all sincerity, treasured the content infinitely more than the form. We did not draw only through which precious water is given to us, but more water itself, because if we do not taste this living water, then, no matter how golden everything else, there is no benefit to us in this. The Father seeks only such worshipers. Because the path to true spiritual worship is narrow, but necessary. And the Lord insists on this, and He says that there is no other way.

The more we feel the imminent coming of Christ, the more the Church cries out: "He who thirsts, let him come, and whoever wants, let him take the water of life for free!" It becomes all the more obvious that a person who is spiritually thirsty cannot continue his sinful life. Look at the fields, Christ tells us today, how they have turned white for the harvest! But how our fields are trampled and burned! The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; the Lord grieves. Can't we reap what the Lord has sown by His death and Resurrection? Will the blood of the countless new martyrs of Russia, the seed of the Church, be in vain? Have we not learned anything from the experience of past years? Weren't they overlooked quite recently, when our people at the turn of history were so receptive to God, Christ's harvest? How did it happen that the enemy drove us back and occupied all the frontiers, and instead of living water they gave our people a drink, every day they continue to drink wine for fornication?

Let the realization of our powerlessness to change anything become a deep repentance and an appeal to the Lord with the determination never to depart from Him, and then the power of Christ's Resurrection will open the way for us. With Him, only with Him, can we overcome those who have dominated us for so long. The mournful time has come, but those who sow in tears will reap joy(Ps. 125: 5).

The fact that the Lord seeks those who worship Him in spirit and truth means that He Himself creates such worshipers. And the woman becomes such a fan. Many Samaritans believed in Christ before they saw Him, according to the word of this woman. She did not perform any miracle, she did not have the gift of speech, she was a simple woman. She was in grave sins all her life, but what a harvest her word brings, because she really met Christ!

We remember how the inhabitants of the country of Gadarene begged Christ to move away from their borders after He performed a miracle, one might say from an almost dead resurrection, a possessed man. And these implore that He be with them. And the Lord obeys both. Oh, if the inhabitants of our country would become like the Samaritans, not the Gadarinians! But for this we need to become like a Samaritan woman. So that we also know and taste how good the Lord is. And living water has become in us a source of life for other people.

The Samaritans said to this woman: we no longer believe according to your words, but we ourselves have heard from Him and we know that He is truly Christ the Savior. We do not know what Christ spoke about with the Samaritans, but it is clear to us that they drank that very living water, having tasted which a person no longer thirsts. And to this day, Christ stands in the midst of all our holidays and all our everyday life and calls out loudly, as it is said in the Gospel, so that everyone would hear: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink(John 7:37). Only He, and no one else can give life in the middle of the red-hot desert of the world to exhausted people dying of thirst.

get acquainted with the conversation of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman

Tasks:

• understand the reason why the Jews did not communicate with the Samaritans
• find out the circumstances and the course of the conversation of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman
• understand the meaning of this conversation
• understand what it means to worship God "in spirit and in truth"

References:

1. The Law of God: In 5 Books. - M .: Knigovek, 2010. - Vol. 3.
2. Slobodskoy S., prot. God's law for families and schools. - SPb., 2006.

Additional literature:

1. Bible retold to older children. - SPb .: Printing House, 1991.
2. Averky (Taushev), archbishop. The Four Gospels. Apostle. A Guide to Studying the New Testament Scriptures. - M .: Publishing house PSTGU, 2005.

Key concepts:

• Messiah
• Spiritual thirst

Lesson vocabulary:

• Repentance
• Living water
• Samaritan woman

Lesson content (open)

Illustrations:

Test questions:

During the classes. Option 1:

The teacher's retelling of the relevant Gospel passages.

Supporting the story with illustrations.

Viewing video materials.

Anchoring the topic with test questions.

During the classes. Option 2:

Collective reading by children aloud of relevant passages from the Gospel.

An explanation by the teacher of incomprehensible expressions or circumstances.

Discussion of the read.

Moral conclusions.

Writing keywords in a notebook.

Videos:

1. TV project "God's Law". Part 187. "Conversation of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman":

1. TV project "Reading the Gospel with the Church." May 10, 2015:

1. Multicalender. April 2. Holy Martyr Photina the Samaritan:

1) The position of Samaria

Traveling from Judea to Galilee, Christ passed through Samaria. Samaria is an area located south of Galilee. This is a flatter part of Palestine, very convenient for settlement. Many events in Jewish history took place here. However, since ancient times Samaria became hostile to the Jewish people. The enmity began in 975 BC, immediately after the death of King Solomon, when his kingdom was divided into two unequal parts - Judah and Israel. Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, and Shechem and Samaria became the center of Israel. The first king of Israel, Jeroboam, wishing to distract his people from visiting the Jerusalem temple, changed the religions of monotheism and introduced idolatry in Samaria (see 1 Kings 12: 25-33 and 13: 33-34). In the future, the kings of Israel either returned to monotheism, or again tended to idolatry. The kings of Judah and Israel waged constant wars between themselves and thus deepened the spiritual and political divide between Judea and Samaria.

In 772 BC, after the conquest of Palestine by the Assyrians, the conquerors took ten Jewish tribes (tribes), mostly from Samaria, into captivity, and instead of them they settled other peoples, who, mingling with the remaining local residents, adopted their faith, preserving at the same time, some of their pagan customs. They began to be called Samaritans.

One of the most troubling questions for the Samaritans in their relationship with the Jews was the dispute about the place of worship of God: are the Samaritans right, who, following their fathers who built a temple on Mount Gerizim, brought worship to God on this mountain, or the Jews, who claimed to worship God is possible only in Jerusalem. Choosing Mount Gerizim to worship God, the Samaritans based on the command of Moses (Deut. 11) to pronounce a blessing on this mountain. And although their temple, erected on this mountain, was destroyed by John Hyrcanus as early as 130 BC, they continued to make sacrifices there.

The Jews despised the Samaritans. The enmity between them was so great that even at the time of Christ, the Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem preferred to cross Jordan twice, just to bypass Samaria. That is why it was said: “ Jews do not communicate with Samaritans"(John 4: 9).

2) The beginning of the conversation of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well

There, in Samaria, tired from the journey, in the midday heat, Jesus Christ stopped near the city of Sychar at the ancient well of Jacob. The disciples went to the city to buy food, and the Lord sat alone. He was thirsty, but there was nothing to draw water with.

At this time, a woman came from the city for water, and Christ asked her to give Him something to drink. The woman was surprised that the Jew, as if completely forgetting the age-old enmity, asked her, the Samaritan woman, to drink.

Then Christ, who came into the world to save everyone, not just the Jews, said to her: “ If you knew the gift of God and who tells you: give me a drink, then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water"(John 4:10). The woman says to Him: “ Master! you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; Where did you get living water?"(John 4:11)

The Samaritan woman thought that the unknown was telling her about ordinary water, which is necessary for the life of nature and man. And Christ spoke of the grace of the Holy Spirit, that He Himself and His teaching about the Kingdom of God is "living water" flowing into eternity. " And whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst."(John 4:14), said the Savior.

Not fully understanding the allegorical words of Christ, the woman nevertheless felt that He was promising to give her some special water, and asked: “ Master! give me this water so that I do not have thirst and do not come here to draw"(John 4:15).

3) The Samaritan woman's confession of the Messiah in Jesus Christ

But spiritual life requires cleansing of conscience and repentance of sins. And the Lord awakened the soul of the Samaritan woman to repentance. He told her: “ Go call your husband and come here"(John 4:16). The woman shyly replied that she had no husband. The Lord, having heard her sincere confession, said: “ You said the truth that you have no husband, for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband."(John 4: 17-18). These words struck the Samaritan woman like thunder. Surprised that the unknown traveler sees right through her soul, the woman admitted herself a sinner and exclaimed: “ God! I see that you are a prophet"(John 4:19). Only now her consciousness has awakened from spiritual slumber. She began to ask Jesus Christ about spiritual life, about what constituted the “holy of holies” of her soul, Who is God and where to pray to Him: on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem? Whose faith is correct - Jewish or Samaritan?

« Trust me- Christ answered her, - that the time is coming when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem ... God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth"(John 4: 21-24).

These words shook the heart of the Samaritan woman even more, and she confidently confessed her faith in the imminent coming of the Messiah. " I know that the Messiah is coming, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything"(John 4:25).

Here it was revealed that, despite all her sinfulness and ordinary everyday life, the Samaritan woman, nevertheless, in the depths of her soul, always expected the revelation of the Truth of God and the appearance of Christ on earth. And as soon as repentance came in her, the revelation of the Messiah also appeared.

Jesus told her: “ It is I who speak to you"(John 4:26).

4) The departure of the Samaritan woman and the return of the disciples

Then the Samaritan woman was completely transformed in soul and went to the city, carrying to people the living water of the gospel of Christ. Admitting herself a sinner, she called all the inhabitants of the city to come to Christ.

Meanwhile, the disciples asked the Savior, saying: “ Rabbi! eat". But the Savior, refusing, told them: “ I have food that you don't know". The disciples began to speak among themselves: “ Who brought Him food?"Then the Savior, explaining to them, said:" My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me (the Father) and to do His work. Do you not say that there are still four months and the harvest will come? And I tell you: lift up (lift up) your eyes and look at the fields (and the Lord pointed out to them the Samaritans - the inhabitants of the city, who at that time were going to Him), how they turned white and ripen to the harvest, ( that is, how these people want to see the Savior Christ, with what eagerness they are ready to listen to Him and accept Him ). He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that he who sows and who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case you will rightly say: one sows, and the other reaps. I sent you to reap what you did not work on: others worked, and you entered their work"(John 4: 34-38). Christ means that He sends the Apostles to reap the harvest in the spiritual field, which was originally cultivated and sown not by them, but by others: - by the Old Testament prophets and by Himself.

The Samaritans came to Jacob's well and, seeing the Savior there, listened to His speech. They called Him to them in the city of Sychar. And He agreed to come and stayed with them for two days.

Many believed in Him. And that woman was told: “ We no longer believe according to your words, for we ourselves have heard and learned that He is truly the Savior of the world, Christ"(John 4:42). Church Tradition says that this Samaritan woman later became the holy martyr Photinia.

Test questions:

1. Why did the Jews not communicate with the Samaritans?
2. What kind of water does Christ offer to the Samaritan woman?
3. How does the Samaritan woman first understand this offer of water?
4. Why, after talking about her husband, does a woman start asking Jesus Christ questions about the correctness of the Samaritans' worship of God?
5. Why does the Samaritan woman forget about why she came to the well and runs back to the city?
6. Do you think that Jesus Christ wanted to show people by talking to the Samaritan woman?
7. Does a person change after meeting God?

Art. 16-19 Jesus said to her: go, invite your husband and come this. The wife answered and the speech (to Him): not the imam of the husband. Jesus said to her: good advertisements, as if you were not an imam: you had five husbands, and now, you are also your husband: behold, you truly advertise. His wife said to him: Lord, I see that thou art a prophet:

That is why He reveals power to her through his insight; however, he does not immediately denounce her, but what does he say? Go, invite your husband and come semo. The wife answered and spoke to Him: not the imam of the husband. Jesus said to her: good advertise that you are not an imam, you have had five husbands, and now you are also your husband; Thou truly advertise this. His wife said to Him: Lord, I see that Thou art a Prophet (vv. 16-18).

What, however, is an absurdity in this wife! With what meekness she accepts reproof! Why shouldn't she accept it, you say? But tell me: did He not often and even more strongly denounce the Jews? It is not the same thing - to open secret thoughts and discover secret affairs. The first is characteristic of God alone: ​​no one knows thoughts except the one who has them; and deeds are known to all accomplices in them. But the Jews did not tolerate reproofs with meekness, but when Christ said: what are you seeking to kill me?(7, 19), - they not only were not surprised, like a wife, but still blaspheme and curse Him; they had proofs in other signs, and the wife only heard this one; but they not only did not marvel, but also reviled Him, saying: Are Imashi the devil? Who is looking for you to kill?(7, 20). She not only does not reproach Him, but is surprised, amazed and concludes that He is the Prophet, although the reproof of his wife was stronger than their reproof. The sin convicted in her was her sin alone, and in them common sins were convicted; but we are not so tormented by the conviction of common sins as we are of our private ones. Moreover, the Jews thought that they would do a great deed if they killed Christ; and everyone recognized his wife's business as bad. Despite all this, she is not annoyed, but amazed and surprised. Christ did the same with Nathanael; did not suddenly show his insight, did not immediately say: being under the fig tree videh Tya, but then already when he asked: what do you know me?(1, 48). Christ wished that both His sayings and miracles would receive their origin from those who come to Him, both in order to bring them closer to Himself, and in order to avoid suspicion of vanity Himself. This is what He does here. To warn a wife by reproofing that she does not have a husband might seem burdensome and inappropriate; but to make a reproof, having received an occasion from her herself, this was very appropriate, and prompted her herself to listen to the reproof with greater meekness. But what, you say, is the sequence in the words: go invite your husband? It was about the gift of grace that transcends human nature, the wife strongly desired to receive this gift; so He says: go invite your husband, as if showing by this that the husband should also have a share in the gift. The wife, hurrying to receive and hiding her shameful deeds, while thinking that she is talking with a common man, says: not the imam of the husband. Hearing this, Christ now in good time introduces reproof into His conversation, expressing both with precision: He lists all the former husbands, and reveals the one whom she was hiding at that time. What about the wife? He does not get annoyed, does not flee from Him and does not consider this circumstance a reason for indignation at Him, but is even more surprised at Him, even more firm. I see, is talking, as the Prophet Thou art. Notice her discretion. And after that she does not immediately submit to Him, but still reflects and wonders. Her word - see means: it seems to me that you are a prophet. But as soon as she got such a concept about Him, she no longer asks Him about anything of everyday life: neither about bodily health, nor about possessions or wealth, but immediately - about dogmas.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

"Jesus said to her: go, invite your husband and come semo." In all fairness, we can say that the thoughts of the female sex are, as it were, feminine and the mind dwells in women, weak, completely incapable of deep understanding of anything. And the nature of men is more inclined to learning and much more capable of reasoning, since it has a spirit striving for research, so to speak, ardent and courageous. For this, I believe, the reason and commanded the woman "Call my husband", secretly denouncing her that she has a coarse heart, incapable of assimilating wisdom, and at the same time building up something else very beautiful.

Interpretation of the Gospel of John. Book II.

Blessed. Theophylact Bulgarian

Art. 16-22 Jesus says to her: Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus says to her: It is true that you said that you have no husband; for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; you said it rightly. The woman says to him: Lord! I see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that the place to be worshiped is in Jerusalem. Jesus says to her: Believe Me, that the time is coming when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You do not know what you are bowing to; and we know what we bow down to, for salvation is from the Jews

"Go, call your husband." Seeing that she insists on receiving, and encourages Him to give, he says: "Call your husband" as if showing that he too must participate with you in this gift of mine. She, in order to quickly hide and get together, says: I have no husband. Now the Lord, through prophetic knowledge, reveals His power, lists her former husbands and reveals the one whom she now hides. Was she annoyed at hearing this? Did she not leave Him and run away? No, she was even more surprised, even more strengthened and says: Lord! I see that You are a prophet; and asks Him about divine things, and not about everyday things, for example, about the health of the body or about property. So chaste and benevolent to virtue is her soul! What is he asking about? "Our Fathers Worshiped on This Mountain"... He says this about Abraham and his successors. For here, they say, Isaac was sacrificed to them. How, he says, do you say that one should worship in Jerusalem? Do you see how she got taller? Not long before this, she was concerned about not being tormented by thirst, and now she asks about the doctrine (dogmas). Therefore, Christ, seeing her intelligence, although he does not resolve this bewilderment of her (for it was not of particular importance), but reveals another, more important, truth, which He did not reveal to either Nicodemus or Nathanael. The time is coming, he says, when God will be worshiped neither in Jerusalem nor here. You, he says, are trying to prove that the customs of the Samaritans are more worthy than the customs of the Jews. And I tell you that neither one nor the other has dignity, but some other order will come, which is better than both of these. But even so, I declare that the Jews are worthier than the Samaritans. You, he says, bow to what you do not know; but we Jews bow down to what we know. He reckons Himself among the Jews, because He speaks in relation to the concept of a woman, and she understood Him as a Jewish prophet. That is why He says: "we" bow down. - How did the Samaritans not know what they were bowing to? They thought God was limited to a place. Therefore, when the lions devoured them, as was said above, they conveyed to the Assyrian king through the messengers that the God of this place does not tolerate them. However, even after that, they continued to serve idols for a long time, and not God Himself. And the Jews were free from such a concept and, although not all, recognized Him as the God of all. "For salvation is from the Jews"... These words give us a twofold thought. Or the one that the good for the universe came from the Jews, for the knowledge of God and the rejection of idols from them has a beginning, and all other teachings (dogmas), and this very kind of your Samaritan worship, although incorrect, received its origin from the Jews. Or He "Salvation" calls His coming, which was from the Jews. It is possible under "Salvation" understand the Lord Himself, who was of the flesh of the Jews.

Euthymius Zigaben

Jesus said to her: go, invite your husband and come semo

When the Samaritan woman persistently asked and desired to receive living water, Jesus Christ said to her: go invite your husband and come semo, showing that he also needs to communicate this gift. As an omniscient one, He knew that she did not have a legitimate husband, but wanted her to say that she didn’t have, so that, taking advantage of this opportunity, to reveal the circumstances of her life and act on her correction. The reason for prophecies and miracles Jesus Christ always deigned to borrow from those who came themselves, in order to avoid suspicion of vanity, and to bring them even closer to Himself. To say earlier: you had many husbands and now you have an illegitimate husband would seem superfluous and untimely, but to say this when she herself gave the occasion was very consistent and timely.

Venerable Maxim the Confessor

Art. 16-18 Jesus says to her: Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus says to her: It is true that you said that you have no husband, for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; that's right you said

Question: What do the five husbands of the Samaritan woman and the sixth, who is not her husband, mean?

Answer: The Samaritan woman and the woman, according to [the words] of the Sadducees, who entered into marriage with seven brothers (Matt. 22:25 -28), bleeding (Matt. 9:20), and also twisted (Luke 13:11), the daughter of Jairus (Mk 5:22 ff) and the Syrophenician woman (Mk. 7:25 ff) - [all of them] represent both the nature of men and the soul of an individual person, denoting each, according to the available passionate disposition, this [common] nature and [separate] soul. For example, the wife of the Sadducees is a nature or soul that fruitlessly coexists with all divine laws given from the ages, but does not perceive the aspirations of the future [good]. Likewise, the bleeding one is the nature or the soul pouring out the power given to them for the birth of righteous deeds and utterances in a passionate devotion to the substance. The Syrophenician woman is the same nature or soul of an individual [person], having, like a daughter, a thought that, in the despair of an epileptic seizure, is painfully torn apart by love for matter. Likewise, the daughter of Jairus is a nature or soul, depending on the law, but completely dead due to non-fulfillment of its commandments and inaction in the implementation of divine commands. And a crooked woman is a nature or a soul who, through the deceptions of the devil, incline to matter all the power of spiritual work. The Samaritan woman, like these listed women, represents the nature or soul of every person, without the prophetic charisma cohabiting, as if with husbands, with all the laws given to nature; of these, five are already dead, and the sixth, although alive, was not a man of nature or soul, since he does not give birth to righteousness from her, which is the guarantee of complete salvation.

The first law that nature possessed was the law [given] in paradise; the second is the law after paradise; the third is the law given to Noah during the flood; fourth, the law of circumcision given to Abraham; the fifth is the law of the sacrifice of Isaac. Nature, having received them, rejected all, and they perished in sterility in relation to works of virtue. Having the sixth law, [given] through Moses, [nature] was, as it were, not having it, either because it did not fulfill the righteous deeds prescribed by it, or because it had to pass, as a husband, to another law - the Gospel, which it was not given, like the [previous] law, to the nature of people through this age], but, according to the House-building [of God], it was given for the education of a better and more mysterious one. For this reason, I believe, the Lord says to the Samaritan woman: And the one you now have is not your husband... For He saw that [human] nature had to go over to the Gospel. Therefore, about the sixth hour, when the soul is especially illuminated from all sides by the rays of knowledge due to the coming of the Word to it, and when the shadow of the law disappears [in these rays, the Lord] spoke to her, standing together with the Word at the well of Jacob, that is, at the source of speculation, relating to the Holy Scriptures. Let it be said about it for now.

Question answers to Falassius.

A.P. Lopukhin

Jesus says to her: go, call your husband and come here

Since the Samaritan woman turns out to be unable to understand the speech of Christ, He commands her to call her husband here to talk with Him, who, it is supposed, will explain to her afterwards, which she herself is not able to understand.