Abstract
The study examines the role of rhetoric and orality in the ancient world and analyzes selected texts of John's Gospel from this perspective. The analysis' focus is the dialogue of Jesus with those who go through anagnórisis, which applies, for example, to the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42).
The text of the dialogue fits well into the late antiquity milieu, where revelation, oracular, peripathetic and temple dialogues were well known. Irony is a key concept of Jesus' dialogues, which increases dramatic tension, creates a second plan, adds existential meaning, shapes the psychodynamics of the reading process, and allows the anagnórisis of the characters.
The argumentation is supported by a symmetrically structured dispositio of the unit, which begins with the dialogue of two characters who should not be talking to each other and end (surprisingly) with a collective confession. The study also deals with narrative tools within the rhetorical persuasion strategy.