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The elder son, arriving from a distance, heard music and dancing; and calling one of the servants, he asked what this might be; A certain sound was ringing in my ears.

And he says, David the prophet is singing within: Then they shall offer bullocks upon your altar. The same one again urges those present to the feast, and says: Taste and see that the Lord is good. Paul, the interpreter of the divine mysteries, cries out and says: Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. The Church celebrates, rejoicing, and dances. And he says to the servant: Yes, and though I am not present, others divide my mysteries in my absence in my own court. Yes, he says; because your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him back in good health. But the righteous one was angry at these things, and was unwilling to enter. The righteous one was angry, and became a slave of envy; he who had trampled on the pleasures of life, is overcome by envy. And how does Paul say, saying: I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh? Not to show the righteous one as envious, but on account of the exaggeration, the Savior thus framed the discourse; so that He might proclaim the surpassing riches of His Father’s goodness.

And this he makes clear through what follows. For his father, he says, coming out, pleaded with him. O unspeakable wisdom, O God-loving providence; He both pitied the sinner, and coaxed the righteous one; and He did not allow the one standing to fall, and He raised up the one who had fallen; and He showed the poor man to be rich, and did not permit the rich man to become poor through envy. And he answering said to his father: Behold, I have been serving you for so many years, and I have never transgressed your command; and you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but I go about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. But when this son of yours came, who scorned you, and devoured your living with harlots, you immediately killed the fatted calf for him; and you neither reproached him with a word, nor did you turn your face away from him in expression; but immediately 59.521 you received him as a guest, and adorned him with your entire robe, and made him shine with the gold ring, and enclosed him with shoes, and opened the church, and beautified the table, and filled the bowls, and slaughtered the fatted calf, and summoned the faithful to the banquet, and made the angels dance, and you convened a strange banquet of heaven and earth; and such gifts you have provided for the one who scorned your goodness, and insulted your noble birth. What shall I say to the depth and the sea of your compassions? how shall I admire the sea of your serenity? You have mercy on all, Lord, because you can do all things, and you overlook the sins of men for repentance. And his Father said to him: Child, you are always with me. You were never separated from my bosom; you have not leapt away from my Church; you have always attended to psalms and hymns; you converse with the angels continually; you, standing at the altar, cry out with boldness, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. But this one came to me condemned, ashamed, thrusting his face to the ground, and with a contrite and sad voice he cried out: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants. What was I to do at these words? Could I fail to pity my son who came to me? You judge, you who are angry. But it is not my nature, being a lover of mankind, to do anything inhuman; I cannot fail to pity him whom I made; I cannot fail to have compassion on him whom I begot from my own bowels. Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; heaven

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πρεσβύτερος υἱὸς μακρόθεν παραγενόμενος ἤκουσε συμφωνίας καὶ χορῶν· καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος ἕνα τῶν παίδων, ἐπυνθάνετο τί ἂν εἴη τοῦτο· Ἦχός τις περιεκτύπει μου τὰ ὦτα.

Ὁ δέ φησι, ∆αυῒδ ὁ προφήτης ἔνδον μελῳδεῖ· Τότε ἀνοίσουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριόν σου μόσχους. Ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν προτρέπεται τοὺς παρόντας πρὸς τὴν ἑστίασιν, καὶ λέγει· Γεύσασθε, καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι χρηστὸς ὁ Κύριος. Παῦλος ὁ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἐξηγητὴς ἀναβοᾷ καὶ λέγει· Τὸ πάσχα ἡμῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός. Ἡ Ἐκκλησία πανηγυρίζει εὐφραινομένη, καὶ χορεύει. Ὁ δέ φησι πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον· Ναὶ, καὶ μὴ παρόντος ἐμοῦ ἄλλοι τὰ ἐμὰ μυστήρια παρὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀπουσίαν ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ αὐλῇ μερίζονται. Ναὶ, φησίν· ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἥκει, καὶ ἔθυσεν ὁ πατήρ σου τὸν μόσχον τὸν σιτευτὸν, ὅτι ὑγιαίνοντα αὐτὸν ἀπέλαβεν. Ὠργίσθη δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ δίκαιος, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν εἰσελθεῖν. Ὠργίσθη ὁ δίκαιος, καὶ τοῦ φθόνου ἐγένετο δοῦλος· ὁ καταπατήσας τοῦ βίου τὰ τερπνὰ, φθόνῳ κεκράτηται. Καὶ πῶς φησιν ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· Ἐβουλόμην αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατὰ σάρκα; Οὐχ ἵνα βάσκανον δείξῃ τὸν δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν οὕτω τὸν λόγον ἐσχημάτισεν ὁ Σωτήρ· ἵνα κηρύξῃ τὸν ὑπερβάλλοντα πλοῦτον τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτοῦ.

Καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῖ διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς. Ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, φησὶν, ἐξελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτόν. Ὢ σοφίας ἀῤῥήτου, ὢ προνοίας θεοφιλοῦς· καὶ τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ἠλέησε, καὶ τὸν δίκαιον ἐκολάκευσε· καὶ τὸν ἱστάμενον οὐκ ἀφῆκε πεσεῖν, καὶ τὸν πεσόντα ἤγειρε· καὶ τὸν πένητα πλούσιον ἀπέδειξε, καὶ τὸν πλούσιον οὐ συνεχώρησε τῷ φθόνῳ γενέσθαι πτωχόν. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπε τῷ πατρί· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ τοσαῦτα ἔτη ἔχω δουλεύων σοι, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἐντολήν σου παρῆλθον· καὶ ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔδωκάς ποτε ἔριφον, ἵνα μετὰ τῶν φίλων μου εὐφρανθῶ· ἀλλὰ περιέρχομαι ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενος, θλιβόμενος, κακουχούμενος. Ὅταν δὲ ὁ υἱός σου οὗτος ἦλθεν, ὁ καταφρονήσας σου, καὶ καταφαγών σου τὸν βίον μετὰ πορνῶν, εὐθέως ἔθυσας αὐτῷ τὸν μόσχον τὸν σιτευτόν· καὶ οὔτε ῥήματι ἐνεκάλεσας αὐτῷ, οὔτε σχήματι τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπέστρεψας ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· ἀλλ' εὐθέως 59.521 ἐξενοδόχησας αὐτὸν, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ στολῇ σου κατεκόσμησας, καὶ τῷ χρυσῷ δακτυλίῳ περιήστραψας, καὶ τοῖς ὑποδήμασι περιέφραξας, καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἠνέῳξας, καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν ἐκαλλώπισας, καὶ τοὺς κρατῆρας ἐπλήρωσας, καὶ τὸν μόσχον τὸν σιτευτὸν κατέσφαξας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν εὐωχίαν τοὺς πιστοὺς προσεκάλεσας, καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους χορεύειν ἐποίησας, καὶ ξένον οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς συμπόσιον συνεκρότησας· καὶ τοιαύτας δωρεὰς παρέσχες τῷ καταφρονήσαντι τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότητος, καὶ τὴν εὐγένειαν καθυβρίσαντι. Τί εἴπω πρὸς τὸ βάθος καὶ τὸ πέλαγος τῶν σῶν οἰκτιρμῶν; πῶς θαυμάσω τὴν θάλατταν τῆς σῆς γαληνότητος; Ἐλεεῖς, Κύριε, πάντας, ὅτι πάντα δύνασαι, καὶ παρορᾷς ἁμαρτήματα ἀνθρώπων εἰς μετάνοιαν. Ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Τέκνον, σὺ πάντοτε μετ' ἐμοῦ εἶ. Σὺ τῶν ἐμῶν κόλπων οὐκ ἐχωρίσθης ποτέ· σὺ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐμῆς οὐκ ἀπεσκίρτησας· σὺ ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις προσέσχες ἀεί· σὺ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐντυγχάνεις διαπαντός· σὺ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ παριστάμενος, μετὰ παῤῥησίας βοᾷς, Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου. Οὗτος δὲ προσῆλθέ μοι κατακεκριμένος, κατῃσχυμμένος, τὸ πρόσωπον ὠθῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ μετὰ συντετριμμένης καὶ στυγνῆς φωνῆς ἀνεβόησε· Πάτερ, ἥμαρτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐνώπιόν σου, καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἄξιος κληθῆναι υἱός σου· ποίησόν με ὡς ἕνα τῶν μισθίων σου. Τί εἶχον ποιῆσαι πρὸς τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα; ἠδυνάμην μὴ ἐλεῆσαι τὸν ἐμὸν υἱὸν προσελθόντα μοι; Σὺ δίκασον ὁ θυμούμενος. Ἀλλ' οὐ πέφυκα, φιλάνθρωπος ὢν, ἀπάνθρωπόν τι διαπράξασθαι· οὐ δύναμαι μὴ ἐλεῆσαι, ὃν ἐγὼ ἐποίησα· οὐ δύναμαι μὴ οἰκτείρειν, ὃν ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν σπλάγχνων ἐγέννησα. Τέκνον, σὺ πάντοτε μετ' ἐμοῦ εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα, σά ἐστιν· ὁ οὐρανὸς