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You seek forgiveness of sins, I do not pursue it, awaiting gratitude. I do not investigate what has been done, but I cover it with a hand of amnesty. Only show genuine repentance, and receive the rich enjoyment of my mercies. Only do not stand idle in the marketplace of evils for the whole day of your life; but come, having repented of your works, into the vineyard of my commandments, and you will receive from me the reward of righteousness.’” For the word hastens to pay back the debt which it formerly wrote down with the pen of the tongue, when the Savior said to the disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with them for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them: You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you. And he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and says to them: Why have you been standing here idle all day? They say: Because no one has hired us.

He says to them: Go to work in the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive. And when evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: Call the laborers and pay them their wages.” This, then, is the Savior's parable. But we shall wisely investigate what is said, that we may both find the unconfused treasure of faith, and learn who is its householder, and what is the vineyard and what the wage, and what are the hours and the day, and who are the laborers and who is the steward. The house, then, is the world. And the householder is Christ himself, who made the world and all things in it. His vineyard is laws, commandments, ordinances, judgments. “Going out early in the morning,” at the beginning of the world, he hired for his vineyard Abel the pious, Enoch the well-pleasing, Noah the just, and all who lived piously until the flood. “Having agreed with them for a denarius a day.” A denarius is the kingdom of heaven, which has the royal characters of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And by day he means the life of each person in this world. “Going out about the third hour” he hired Abraham the most faithful, Lot the hospitable, Isaac the continent, Jacob the patient-souled, the twelve patriarchs, and all who worshipped God until Moses. “Going out about the sixth and ninth hour” he sent into the vineyard Moses, Aaron, Joshua the son of Nun, Samuel, David, the rest of the prophets, and all who were well-pleasing until the dispensation.

“And going out about the eleventh hour” and coming to the world in the flesh and saying: “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world,” he saw all the Gentiles “standing idle.” By the eleventh hour he means the end of this age and of the times, concerning which John says: “Little children, it is the last hour.” About this hour “he saw them,” as I said, “standing idle, and says to them: Why have you been standing here idle all day? And they say: Because no one has hired us,” not the fathers, not the patriarchs, not Moses the lawgiver, not Isaiah the theologian, not Jeremiah the compassionate, none of the other prophets hired us, no one showed us the vineyard of your ordinances. Oh, the divine love for humanity and goodness! For to those standing idle in the marketplace about the third and the sixth hour and the ninth he does not make the accusation: “Why are you standing idle?” Why? Because having fathers, patriarchs, prophets, guides, teachers for the work of the Lord's commandments, they could not say: “Because no one

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συγχώρησιν πλημμελημάτων ζητεῖς, οὐκ ἐπεξέρχομαι τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην ἀπεκδεχόμενος. Οὐ τὰ πεπραγμένα διερευνῶ, ἀλλὰ ἀμνηστίας καλύπτω χειρί. Μόνον γνησίαν ἐπίδειξαι τὴν μετάνοιαν, καὶ πλουσίαν δέξαι μου τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Μόνον μὴ στῆκε ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ τῶν κακῶν ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ζωῆς σου ἀργός· ἀλλὰ δεῦρο μετανοήσας τὰ ἔργα σου, εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τῶν προσταγμάτων μου, καὶ λήψῃ παρ' ἐμοῦ τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης μισθόν». Σπεύδει γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἀποδοῦναι τὸ δάνειον ὃ πρώην καλάμῳ γλώσσης ἐχειρογράφησεν, εἰπόντος τοῦ σωτῆρος τοῖς μαθηταῖς· «Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ, ὅστις ἐξῆλθεν ἅμα πρωῒ μισθώσασθαι ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ. Συμφωνήσας δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐκ δηναρίου τὴν ἡμέραν, ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ. Ἐξελθὼν δὲ περὶ τρίτην ὥραν εἶδεν ἄλλους ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἑστῶτας ἀργούς, καὶ ἐκείνοις εἶπεν· Ὑπάγετε καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ᾖ δίκαιον δώσω ὑμῖν. Ἐξελθὼν δὲ περὶ τὴν ἕκτην καὶ τὴν ἐννάτην ὥραν ἐποίησεν ὡσαύτως. Περὶ δὲ τὴν ἑνδεκάτην ὥραν ἐξελθὼν εὗρεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἀργούς, καί φησιν πρὸς αὐτούς· Τί ὧδε ἑστήκατε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀργοί; Λέγουσιν· Ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο.

Λέγει αὐτοῖς· Ὑπάγετε ἐργάζεσθαι εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ᾖ δίκαιον λήψεσθε. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ αὐτοῦ· Κάλεσον τοὺς ἐργάτας καὶ ἀπόδος αὐτοῖς τὸν μισθόν». Αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος παραβολή. Ἡμεῖς δὲ συνετῶς τὰ λεγόμενα ἐρευνήσομεν, ἵνα καὶ τὸν ἀσύγχυτον τῆς πίστεως εὕρωμεν θησαυρόν, καὶ μάθωμεν τίς μὲν ὁ τούτου οἰκοδεσπότης, τίς δὲ ὁ ἀμπελὼν καὶ τίς ὁ μισθός, καὶ τίνες αἱ ὧραι καὶ <ἡ> ἡμέρα, καὶ τίνες οἱ ἐργάται καὶ τίς ὁ ἐπίτροπος. Οἶκος μὲν οὖν ὁ κόσμος ἐστίν. Ὁ δὲ οἰκοδεσπότης αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἀμπελὼν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν νόμοι, προστάγματα, δικαιώματα, κρίματα. «Ἐξελθὼν ἅμα πρωΐ», ἐν τῇ τοῦ κόσμου ἀρχῇ, ἐμισθώσατο εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ Ἄβελ τὸν εὐσεβῆ, Ἑνὼχ τὸν εὐάρεστον, Νῶε τὸν δίκαιον καὶ πάντας τοὺς μέχρι τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ζήσαντας εὐσεβῶς. «Συμφωνήσας αὐτοῖς ἐκ δηναρίου τὴν ἡμέραν». ∆ηνάριόν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἡ τοὺς βασιλικοὺς χαρακτῆρας ἔχουσα πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος. Ἡμέραν δὲ λέγει τὴν ἑκάστου ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ ζωήν. «Ἐξελθὼν περὶ τὴν τρίτην ὥραν» ἐμισθώσατο Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πιστότατον, Λὼτ τὸν φιλόξενον, Ἰσαὰκ τὸν ἐγκρατῆ, Ἰακὼβ τὸν καρτερόψυχον, τοὺς δώδεκα πατριάρχας καὶ πάντας τοὺς μέχρι Μωϋσέως θεοσεβήσαντας. «Ἐξελθὼν περὶ τὴν ἕκτην καὶ ἐννάτην ὥραν» ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τὸν Μωϋσῆν, τὸν Ἀαρών, τὸν τοῦ Ναυὴ Ἰησοῦν, τὸν Σαμουήλ, τὸν ∆αυίδ, τοὺς λοιποὺς προφήτας καὶ πάντας τοὺς μέχρι τῆς οἰκονομίας εὐαρεστήσαντας.

«Περὶ δὲ τὴν ἑνδεκάτην ὥραν ἐξελθὼν» καὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἐπιδημήσας μετὰ σαρκὸς καὶ λέγων· «Ἐγὼ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον», εἶδεν πάντας τοὺς ἐθνικοὺς «ἑστῶτας ἀργούς». Ἑνδεκάτην ὥραν λέγει τὸ τέλος τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου καὶ τῶν καιρῶν, περὶ ἧς Ἰωάννης φησίν· «Παιδία, ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν». Περὶ ταύτην τὴν ὥραν «εἶδεν αὐτούς», ὡς ἔφην, «ἀργοὺς ἑστῶτας, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τί ὧδε ἑστήκατε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀργοί; Οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν· Ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο», οὐ πατέρες, οὐ πατριάρχαι, οὐ Μωϋσῆς ὁ νομοθέτης, οὐκ Ἠσαΐας ὁ θεολόγος, οὐκ Ἰερεμίας ὁ συμπαθής, οὐδεὶς τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο, οὐδεὶς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τῶν σῶν δικαιωμάτων ὑπέδειξεν. Ὢ τῆς θεϊκῆς φιλανθρωπίας καὶ ἀγαθότητος! Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὴν τρίτην καὶ τὴν ἕκτην ὥραν καὶ τὴν ἐννάτην ἑστῶσιν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργοῖς οὐκ ἐγκαλεῖ· «Τί ἑστήκατε ἀργοί;» ∆ιὰ τί; Ἐπεὶ ἔχοντες πατέρας, πατριάρχας, προφήτας, ὁδηγούς, διδασκάλους πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν τῶν δεσποτικῶν ἐντολῶν, οὐκ ἠδύναντο λέγειν· «Ὅτι οὐδεὶς