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On the Theophania

Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. Lee, 1843

How Simon the chief of the Disciples, should, like his Master, be given up to…

“My children, a little while I am with you; and ye shall seek me: even as I said to the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come; and thus also I say again unto you. Simon Peter said unto Him, Whither goest Thou? And Jesus answered him: Whither I go, thou canst not now come; but, after a time, thou shalt come.” And again, in the latter part of the book, Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead, said to Peter: “I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thy loins, and wentest whither thou wouldest; but, when thou shalt have become old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thy loins for thee, and shall lead thee whither thou shalt not be willing. And these things which He said (were) to shew, by what death he should glorify God. And, when He had said this, He said to him, Follow me.” And, Who is not astonished, that, when He said these things to His Disciples, they should be prepared and ready to adhere to Him even to death? For He did not deceive them by intimating, or promising to them, the things considered good in this life; nor did He by any such means, allure them to give their adhesion to Him; but, He simply foretold those obvious tortures which should, on His account, befall them. And (so) He previously shewed to Simon the mode of crucifixion, by which he afterwards closed his life in the city of Rome, in this which He said, “When thou shalt have become old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thy loins for thee.” And similarly, He also shewed mystically in this which He said, “Whither I go, thou canst not now come; but, after a time, thou shalt come.” Now, these things were not said to them all, but only to Peter; because it is he alone, who, in the Scripture, (is said) should end his life after the manner of the suffering of our Saviour.