When it is said
The Church reads the whole chapter at Matins of Great Friday, in the first of the Twelve Gospels of Christ’s Passion.
It reads John 17:1-13 on the seventh Sunday of Pascha, the Easter season, when it remembers the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
Anyone may pray these verses for the Church and its unity.
Where it comes from
Author known
The night He was arrested
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed for His disciples and for everyone who would believe through their message (John 17:1-21). When He had finished, He went out with them across the Kidron Valley to a garden. Judas came there with soldiers and officers, who arrested Jesus and bound Him (John 18:1-12).
The King James Version, John 17; The King James Version, John 18
Nothing offends like division
The preacher St John Chrysostom gave a sermon on these verses. He said that nothing offends people so much as divisions, which is why Christ asked that His followers be one. He also warned that if Christians quarrel, people will not believe they are disciples of a God of peace.
St John Chrysostom, Homily 82 on John, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series
What the words mean
What “keep them” means
Christ does not ask the Father to take His followers out of the world, only to keep them. Chrysostom took “keep them” to mean more than keeping them out of danger. It also means keeping them in the faith.
St John Chrysostom, Homily 82 on John, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series
Two readings in verse 11
Printed Greek texts of John differ in verse 11. The Greek on this page, like the King James Version and the Greek Orthodox Church’s text of 1904, asks the Father to keep “those You have given Me.” Many other editions read “the name You gave Me” instead. The Berean Standard Bible in the verse bubbles follows them and reads “protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me.”
Bible Hub, Greek Texts, nine printed editions of the verse side by side
The Scripture in it
I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one.
I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Πάτερ ἅγιε, τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου οὓς δέδωκάς μοι, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς.
οὐκ ἐρωτῶ ἵνα ἄρῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλ’ ἵνα τηρήσῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
Οὐ περὶ τούτων δὲ ἐρωτῶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν πιστευόντων διὰ τοῦ λόγου αὐτῶν εἰς ἐμέ, ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν, καθὼς σύ, πάτερ, ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν σοί, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν, ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύσῃ ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας.