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hired us.” But he rebukes the gentiles, saying: “Why have you been standing here idle all day?”, so that having accepted their most ready and suitable defense as work, he might reveal the voluntary and genuine justification of their obedience. And what does he say? “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive. But when evening had come,” the consummation of the world, “the lord of the vineyard says to his steward ...” Who is the steward? The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who distributes the master's gifts. Do you have the unconfused treasure of the faith? Secure it. Do not be deceived like many, and ever confess the steward to be the master of the house. “The lord of the vineyard says to his steward: Call the laborers and pay them their wages.” O, the wonder! He agreed on the wage by himself, by himself he sent the laborers into the vineyard, and he commands the steward to pay the wages to the laborers, so that he might both reveal his own preeminence and show the unconfused order of the Spirit. “Pay them their wages,” the one which I agreed upon, “beginning from the last to the first,” so that they might not, even in the payment itself, being last, be about to be disheartened and waver in their thoughts.

Will he then also give to us, the last, the wage agreed upon with the first? “And when the last came, they each received a denarius. And when the first came also, they supposed that they would receive more; and they also each received a denarius, and they grumbled against the master of the house.” Not against the steward. For they knew precisely that the steward does not have authority to make either an addition or a reduction to the agreed-upon wage. “They grumbled against the master of the house: For these last have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” By 'burden of the day' they mean the very heavy conduct in the law, and by 'the scorching heat' the legal austerity. “But he says to one of the grumblers: Friend, I am not wronging you” (I call you friend because of the fellowship of the body). “Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I wish to give to this one as also to you.” I pay you because I owe you a wage. But to this one I give; for he is saved by grace and not by wage. He goes out even now through the prophetic and apostolic and evangelic preachings, hiring all for the spiritual vineyard. “He goes out early in the morning,” in the age of infancy. “He goes out about the third hour,” in the prime of each one's youth. “He goes out about the sixth and ninth hour,” in the midst and decline of age. “He goes out about the eleventh hour,” in the very old age and at the end of each one's life. He urges you to work even for one hour in the vineyard, so that he may grant you an eternal kingdom and much rest.

Therefore, take up your zeal and eagerness late as it may be, so that you may cast off through baptism or through repentance the old, much-patched, and filthy, and very heavy tunic of your sins, and like an eagle having had your youth renewed, seize the master's exhortation before you are seized by angels into Hades. With tears and groans and alms, bend the judge of all to pity, the one who cries out and says: “If you turn and groan, you will be saved.” I do not delay, I do not hesitate, I do not postpone. “While you are still speaking, I will say: Behold, I am here.” To him be the glory for ever and ever. AMEN.

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ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο». Τοῖς δὲ ἐθνικοῖς ἐγκαλεῖ λέγων· «Τί ἑστήκατε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀργοί;», ἵνα τὴν ἑτοιμοτάτην καὶ εὐάρμοστον αὐτῶν ἀπολογίαν ὡς ἐργασίαν δεξάμενος, τὸ αὐθαίρετον καὶ γνήσιον τῆς ὑπακοῆς αὐτῶν φανερώσῃ δικαίωμα. Καὶ τί φησίν; «Ὑπάγετε καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ᾖ δίκαιον λήψεσθε. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης», τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συντελείας, «λέγει ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ αὐτοῦ ...» Τίς ὁ ἐπίτροπος; Ὁ παράκλητος, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὁ τὰ δεσποτικὰ διανέμων χαρίσματα. Ἔχεις ἀσύγχυτον τὸν τῆς πίστεως θησαυρόν; Ἀσφαλίζου αὐτόν. Μὴ πλανηθῇς ὡς πολλοί, καὶ τὸν ἐπίτροπον οἰκοδεσπότην ὁμολογήσῃς ποτέ. «Λέγει ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ αὐτοῦ· Κάλεσον τοὺς ἐργάτας καὶ ἀπόδος αὐτοῖς τὸν μισθόν». Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! ∆ι' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν μισθὸν συνεφώνησεν, δι' ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἀπέστειλεν, καὶ τὸν μισθὸν τοῖς ἐργάταις ἀποδοῦναι τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ παρακελεύεται, ἵνα καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φανερώσῃ ὑπεροχὴν καὶ τὴν ἀσύγχυτον τάξιν δείξῃ τοῦ πνεύματος. «Ἀπόδος αὐτοῖς τὸν μισθόν», ἐκεῖνον ὃν ἐγὼ συνεφώνησα, «ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἕως τῶν πρώτων», ἵνα μήτε ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἀποδόσει ὡς ἔσχατοι μέλλωσιν ἀθυμεῖν καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς ταλαντεύεσθαι.

Ἆρα καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τὸν συμφωνηθέντα τοῖς πρώτοις δώσει μισθόν; «Καὶ ἐλθόντες οἱ ἔσχατοι ἔλαβον ἀνὰ δηνάριον. Ἐλθόντες δὲ καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι, ἐνόμισαν ὅτι πλείονα λήψονται· καὶ ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀνὰ δηνάριον, καὶ ἐγόγγυζον κατὰ τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου». Οὐ κατὰ τοῦ ἐπιτρόπου. Ἀκριβῶς γὰρ ἠπίσταντο ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν ὁ ἐπίτροπος ἢ προσθήκην ἢ μείωσιν ποιῆσαι τῷ συμφωνηθέντι μισθῷ. «Ἐγόγγυζον κατὰ τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου· Ὅτι αὐτοὶ οἱ ἔσχατοι μίαν ὥραν εἰργάσαντο, καὶ ἴσους ἡμῖν αὐτοὺς ἐποίησας τοῖς βαστάσασι τὸ βάρος τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τὸν καύσωνα». Βάρος τῆς ἡμέρας λέγουσιν τὴν βαρυτάτην ἐν τῷ νόμῳ διαγωγήν, καὶ τὸν καύσωνα τὴν αὐστηρίαν τὴν νομικήν. «Ὁ δὲ πρὸς ἕνα τῶν γογγυζόντων φησίν· Ἑταῖρε, οὐκ ἀδικῶ σε» (Ἑταῖρόν σε φημὶ διὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν τοῦ σώματος). «Οὐχὶ δηναρίου συνεφώνησάς μοι; Ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε. Θέλω δὲ τούτῳ δοῦναι ὡς καὶ σοί». Σοὶ ἀποδίδωμι ἐπειδὴ χρεωστῶ σοι μισθόν. Τούτῳ δὲ δίδωμι· χάριτι γάρ ἐστιν σεσωσμένος καὶ οὐ μισθῷ. Ἐξέρχεται καὶ νῦν διὰ τῶν προφητικῶν καὶ ἀποστολικῶν καὶ εὐαγγελικῶν κηρυγμάτων πάντας εἰς τὸν πνευματικὸν ἀμπελῶνα μισθούμενος. «Ἐξέρχεται ἅμα πρωΐ», ἐν τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τῆς νηπιότητος. «Ἐξέρχεται περὶ τὴν ὥραν τὴν τρίτην», ἐν τῇ ἀκμῇ τῆς ἑκάστου νεότητος. «Ἐξέρχεται περὶ ὥραν ἕκτην καὶ ἐννάτην», ἐν τῇ μεσότητι καὶ παρακμῇ τῆς ἡλικίας. «Ἐξέρχεται περὶ τὴν ἑνδεκάτην ὥραν», ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ γήρει καὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς ἑκάστου ζωῆς. Προτρέπεταί σε κἂν τὴν μίαν ὥραν εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐργάσασθαι, ἵνα αἰώνιόν σοι βασιλείαν χαρίσηται καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν πολλήν.

Τοιγαροῦν τὴν σπ[ουδὴν] καὶ τὴν προθυμίαν ὀψέποτε ἀνάλαβε, ὥ[στε] τὸν πεπαλαιωμένον σὸ[ν] μυριορράφον καὶ κατά[ρρυ]πον καὶ βαρύτατον χιτῶνα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἢ διὰ τῆς μετανοίας ἀπόρριψον, καὶ ὡς ἀετὸς [ἀνακαι]νισθεὶς τὴν νεότητα, [ἅρ]πασον τὴν δεσποτικὴν προτροπὴν πρὶν ἁρπαγῇς παρὰ ἀγγέλων εἰς ᾅδην. ∆άκρυσι καὶ στεναγμοῖς καὶ ἐλεημοσύναις τὸν κριτὴν τῶν ἁπάντων πρὸς οἶκτον ἐπίκαμψον, τὸν βοῶντα καὶ λέγοντα· «Ἐὰν ἐπιστραφεὶς στενάξῃς, σωθήσῃ». Οὐ βραδύνω, οὐ μέλλω, οὐχ ὑπερτίθημι. «Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου ἐρῶ· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ πάρειμι». Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ΑΜΗΝ.