And after the morsel Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him,
What you do, do quickly.
All Commentaries on John 13:27 Go To John 13
Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
Most distinct was the token to mark the traitor that the Saviour showed to His own disciples. For when He had dipped the sop He gave it to him, thereby making clearly evident who it was that did eat of His bread, and was now about to lift up his heel against Him. Nevertheless the very wise Evangelist tells us that the guide and instigator of his impiety and accursed cruelty to Christ, and the deviser of the whole scheme, had rushed into the heart of the traitor, even that Satan in all his evil power had taken up his abode within him after the giving of the sop. And let no one suppose on the contrary that the sop was to the traitor the cause of his being possessed by Satan. For we shall not have so nearly reached the verge of madness, nor shall we even prove ourselves so bereft of proper intelligence, as to suppose that such a gift could have afforded the evil one any pretext for an entrance; but we will rather say this, keeping our statement about the traitor well within the limits of the truth:----Seeing that, although perfect love had been shown towards him, and nothing was in any way lacking of the things that are generally reckoned to imply a disposition to confer honour, he still clung fast to the same evil endeavours, never correcting by repentance his wicked thoughts, never turning his heart away from its ungodly designs, never weeping in bitter sorrow for the wickedness he had so much as dared to conceive; but still thirsting more and more to accomplish to the full his impious purpose, and so to be finally ruined by his own evil recklessness: Satan consequently entered into him, finding his heart ready and open like a gate to receive him, unprotected by sobriety; and seeing that his mind was not locked against him, but rather already inflamed with a willingness to do whatsoever he might wish and suggest.
And by searching thoroughly the inspired Scripture we shall find this to be an accustomed habit, as we may say, of the evil one. He at the beginning opens his attack by trying the hearts of those who worship God, first of all sowing the seed of evil questionings, and inciting us with the bait of paltry pleasures to false steps of various kinds. And he above all most violently assaults us at any point where he sees we have already suffered and been vanquished before. For he always uses somehow our own weakness as an auxiliary to his wicked devices, and employs again the passion which previously injured our soul. Thus, for example, he harasses one man perhaps with violent assaults through the senses which become the most depraved incentives to fleshly pleasures; whereas in the case of another who is overcome by base gains, to make a profit of unholy wealth seems somehow held up to honour as the best thing possible. Whenever therefore he makes war against us, he uses as an auxiliary force the passion that has before held sway in warring against us, and by its agency he ever devises the scheme of our perdition. For just as a commander, skilled in generalship, when laying siege to a city, hastens with all speed and by every device to attack the weakened parts of the wall, thither ordering his battering-engines to be brought into action, well knowing that in those quarters the capture will be easy; even so methinks Satan, when intending to lay siege to a human soul, sets to work at its weakest part, thinking that he will by this means bring it into easy subjection, especially when he sees it receiving no assistance from those helps by which it is likely the passion would be defeated, such as noble emotions, provocations to manly courage, suggestions to devotion, and the mystic Eucharist. For this most of all is effective as an antidote to the murderous poison of the devil.
Therefore it happened that the traitor was not dismayed at rebukes uttered as yet quietly and secretly, nor did he even regard the invincible might of love, nor honour and glory and grace, nor the gift that he received from Christ. But hurrying on, without pausing to reflect or checking himself for a moment, his eyes fixed on that, and that alone, which had proved too strong for him once before, I mean the curse of avarice, he was now finally ensnared, and fell to utter ruin. For no longer has he Satan merely as a counsellor, but he takes him now to be master of his whole heart and absolute dominator of his thoughts, who was at first merely an adviser who whispered suggestions. For Satan entered into him, according to the language of the gospel.
We must therefore be on our guard against, and very carefully avoid, the harm that may result from the first approaches of evil; and we ought as a duty to remember him who said: If the spirit of the powerful one rise up against thee, leave not thy place, for a remedy will keep in check great sins. For necessity would compel us again to grant authority over our thoughts to the spirit of the powerful one. If there is 2 not in us the power to resist altogether, still we are at any rate able to check a growing impulse at the outset, and not to allow it to take deep root by lazily yielding and giving way to it: rather we should hasten to extirpate it, as the germ of bitterness, desiring that our minds should be free from its vexations. Else we must surely know that Satan will prevail little by little through continual flattery, and we shall probably experience something like what the Psalmist did, who says: Before I was humbled, I went wrong. For before we suffer the full effect of the sin, we go astray in yielding assent to evil thoughts, cherishing them with approval, and so by this means giving Satan a place of access. And the case of the traitor will be to us a type and example of the whole matter.
