Dionysius the Great on the Passion of the Christ

“…John, who has given us the record of the sublimest and divinest of the Savior’s words and deeds, heard Him speak thus: ‘And the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?’ Now to drink the cup was to discharge the ministry and the whole economy of trial with fortitude, to follow and fulfil the Father’s determination, and to surmount all apprehensions.  And the exclamation, ‘Why hast Thou forsaken me?’ was in due accordance with the requests He had previously made: Why is it that death has been in conjunction with me all along up till now, and that I bear not yet the cup? This I judge to have been the Savior’s meaning in this concise utterance.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6.  Eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, 2004.  Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. pg. 115.