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one to his own field, and another to his business; and the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them." What servants does he mean? His apostles. And what is the feast? The kingdom of heaven, which he prepared for those called according to his purpose from the foundation of the world. And what bulls and fatted calves does he mean? The Son of the Virgin and God Himself, who is the calf fattened in his divinity; for he is also a bull, truly invincible in power, and he called himself "bulls" in the plural because his holy flesh is divided into many parts, and each single part from him is that whole one again, being so powerful that he wards off all the enemies of those who receive him and gives them power to overcome the world and to be able to become sons of God. He is also called a lamb, the all-blameless lamb of God, as of one year old, and a ram, as bearing the cross from above in the manner of horns, by which he also gave a fatal blow to the adversary and in which they, having crucified him, killed him. And by "other servants" he means his holy apostles, whom he also sent, commanding them not to go into the way of the Gentiles and not to enter a city of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but they did not receive even these, but some they mistreated and beat, and others they even killed, among whom is also Stephen, the first of the martyrs. "But when the king heard of it, he was enraged, and sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city." (94) He means the impious Hebrews, whom he also slaughtered, working their complete desolation through the assault of the Romans. For the wicked are also called the armies of God, sent out for the punishment of other wicked people, as God says through Moses: "I will send upon them anger and wrath, a mission by evil angels."

"Then therefore he says to his servants: The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find." Do you see the sequence of events? Do you see the precision of the parable? For it says "then." Then? When? When the Jews, that is, having been called to the kingdom of heaven by the apostles, not only did not endure to hear them, but also mistreated and killed them, then he sent them into the entire world and to all the nations. "And those servants," it says, "went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding feast was filled with guests." For the apostles, having gone about the whole inhabited world, preached the word of God and gathered all who obeyed into one faith of the knowledge of God, both those wicked in their ways and the good, who were being changed, that is, and led back to virtue. For this is what "gathered" signifies; but indeed, from what follows we are taught this very thing again. For he says: "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in a wedding garment, and he says to him: Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants: Bind his hands and feet, take him away, and cast him into the outer darkness; for many are called, but few are chosen." You see how he says that those who change their (95) ways are gathered to the wedding feast, but that those with any wickedness or evil, even if they enter, are again cast out with shame by the angels, whom he also calls attendants. Therefore, those who recline at the wedding feast are the saints. As for him who did not have a wedding garment, I know that some consider these to be only those who have defiled their own bodies with fornication and adultery and murders. But this is not so, it is not so; for he means everyone who is defiled by any passion or evil whatsoever. And that this is true, hear Paul saying: "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, who are also idolaters

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μέν εἰς τόν ἴδιον ἀγρόν, ὁ δέ εἰς τήν ἐμπορίαν αὐτοῦ· οἱ δέ λοιποί κρατήσαντες τούς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὕβρισαν καί ἀπέκτειναν". Ποίους λέγει δούλους; Τούς ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ. Τί δέ ἐστι τό ἄριστον; Ἡ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεία, ἥν προητοίμασε τοῖς κατά πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν ἀπό καταβολῆς κόσμου. Ταύρους δέ τίνας λέγει καί σιτιστά; Αὐτόν τόν τῆς Παρθένου Υἱόν καί Θεόν, τόν μόσχον ὄντα τῇ θεότητι σιτευτόν· οὗτος γάρ καί ταῦρός ἐστι τῇ δυνάμει ὄντως ἀήττητος, πληθυντικῶς δέ ταύρους ἑαυτόν ἐκάλεσεν, ὅτι εἰς πολλά μερίζεται ἡ ἁγία αὐτοῦ σάρξ καί μία ἑκάστη μερίς ἡ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὅλος ἐκεῖνος πάλιν ἐστί, τοσοῦτον ὤν δυνατός, ὅτι καί τούς ἐχθρούς τῶν λαμβανόντων αὐτόν ἀποτρέπεται ἅπαντας κἀκείνοις δύναμιν δίδωσιν, ὥστε νικῆσαι τόν κόσμον καί δυνηθῆναι γενέσθαι αὐτούς υἱούς Θεοῦ. Ἀμνός δέ λέγεται ὁ πανάμωμος ἀμνός τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς ἐνιαύσιος, κριός δέ ὡς κεράτων δίκην τόν σταυρόν ἐπιφερόμενος ἄνωθεν, δι᾿ οὗ καί τήν πληγήν καιρίαν τῷ ἀντιπάλῳ δέδωκε καί εἰς ὅν ἐκεῖνοι τοῦτον σταυρώσαντες ἀπέκτειναν. Ἄλλους δέ δούλους φησί τούς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ, οὕς καί ἀπέστειλε παραγγείλας αὐτοῖς εἰς ὁδόν ἐθνῶν μή ἀπελθεῖν καί εἰς πόλιν Σαμαρειτῶν μή εἰσελθεῖν, πορευθῆναι δέ μᾶλλον πρός τά ἀπολωλότα πρόβατα τοῦ οἴκου Ἰσραήλ· οἱ δέ οὐδέ τούτους ἐδέξαντο, ἀλλά τούς μέν ὕβρισαν καί ἔτυψαν, τούς δέ καί ἀπέκτειναν, ἐξ ὧν καί Στέφανος ὁ πρῶτος τῶν μαρτύρων ὑπάρχει. "Ἀκούσας δέ ὁ βασιλεύς ὠργίσθη και πέμψας τά στρατεύματα αὐτοῦ ἀπώλεσε τούς φονεῖς ἐκείνους καί τήν πόλιν αὐτῶν ἐνέπρησε". (94) Τούς ἀσεβεῖς Ἑβραίους φησίν, οὕς καί κατέσφαξε, διά τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐφόδου τήν παντελῆ ἐρήμωσιν αὐτῶν ἐργασάμενος. Στρατεύματα δέ Θεοῦ καί οἱ πονηροί λέγονται, εἰς τιμωρίαν ἑτέρων πονηρῶν ἐκπεμπόμενοι, καθώς φησι διά Μωϋσέως ὁ Θεός· "Ἐπαποστελῶ εἰς αὐτούς θυμόν καί ὀργήν, ἀποστολήν δι᾿ ἀγγέλων πονηρῶν".

"Τότε τοίνυν λέγει τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ· Ὁ μέν γάμος ἕτοιμός ἐστιν, οἱ δέ κεκλημένοι οὐκ ἦσαν ἄξιοι· πορεύεσθε οὖν ἐπί τάς διεξόδους τῶν ὁδῶν καί ὅσους ἄν εὕρητε καλέσατε εἰς τούς γάμους". Εἶδες ἀκολουθίαν πραγμάτων; Εἶδες παραβολῆς ἀκρίβειαν; "Τότε" γάρ φησι. Τότε; πότε; Ὅτε οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι δηλονότι, κληθέντες εἰς τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ὑπό τῶν ἀποστόλων, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο ἀκοῦσαι αὐτῶν, ἀλλά καί ὑβρίσαντες αὐτούς ἀπέκτειναν, τότε ἀπέστειλεν αὐτούς εἰς τόν σύμπαντα κόσμον καί εἰς πάντα τά ἔθνη. "Καί ἐξελθόντες, φησίν, οἱ δοῦλοι ἐκεῖνοι εἰς τάς ὁδούς, συνήγαγον πάντας ὅσους εὗρον πονηρούς τε καί ἀγαθούς καί ἐπλήσθη ὁ γάμος ἀνακειμένων". Τήν γάρ οἰκουμένην περιελθόντες οἱ ἀπόστολοι πᾶσαν, ἐκήρυξαν τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον καί τούς ὑπακούσαντας πάντας εἰς μίαν συνήγαγον θεογνωσίας πίστιν πονηρούς τε ἅμα τοῖς τρόποις καί ἀγαθούς, μεταβαλλομένους δηλονότι καί πρός ἀρετήν ἐπαναγομένους. Τοῦτο γάρ δηλοῖ τό "συνήγαγον"· ἀλλά γάρ καί ἀπό τῶν ἑξῆς τό αὐτό τοῦτο πάλιν διδασκόμεθα. Φησί γάρ· "Εἰσελθών δέ ὁ βασιλεύς θεάσασθαι τούς ἀνακειμένους, εἶδεν ἐκεῖ ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἐνδεδυμένον ἔνδυμα γάμου καί λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἑταῖρε, πῶς εἰσῆλθενς ὦδε μή ἔχων ἔνδυμα γάμου; Ὁ δέ ἐφιμώθη. Τότε εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεύς τοῖς διακόνοις· ∆ήσαντες αὐτοῦ χεῖρας καί πόδας, ἄρατε αὐτόν καί ἐκβάλετε εἰς τό σκότος τό ἐξώτερον· πολλοί γάρ εἰσι κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δέ ἐκλεκτοί". Ὁρᾷς ὅπως τούς μεταβαλλομένους τόν (95) τρόπον συνάγεσθαι εἰς τούς γάμους λέγει, τούς δέ μετά πονηρίας ἤ κακίας τινός, κἄν εἰσέλθωσι, πάλιν μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης ὑπό τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐκβάλλεσθαι, οὔς καί διακόνους καλεῖ. Οἱ οὖν ἀνακείμενοι ἐν τοῖς γάμοις οἱ ἅγιοί εἰσιν. Αὐτόν δέ τόν μή ἔχοντα ἔνδυμα γάμου, οἶδα ὅτι τινές τούς ἐν πορνείᾳ μόνον καί μοιχείᾳ καί φόνοις τά ἑαυτῶν καταρρυπώσαντας σώματα λογίζονται εἶναι. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο, οὐκ ἔστι· πάντα γάρ τόν ὑπό οἱουδηποτοῦν πάθους ἤ κακίας λέγει ῥερυπωμένον. Καί ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθές, ἄκουε Παύλου λέγοντος· "Μή πλανᾶσθε· οὔτε πόρνοι, οὔτε μοιχοί, οὔτε μαλακοί, οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται, οὔτε κλέπται, οὔτε πλεονέκται, οἱ καί εἰδωλολάτραι