In parabolam vineae HOMILY 17. ON THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD.

The kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. You have heard, beloved, the Lord's gospel parable; hear also the interpretation, which we shall speak according to our ability. The householder of the great house, 77.1097 that is, the Lord God; for the house is the world; and its Master, the God who created it; his vineyard, human nature; the laborers of the vineyard, as many saints as are ministering to the salvation of men; the first hour is the time of those godly ones around Abel and Enoch and Noah; for these were the first godly ones, these were the first laborers of the vineyard. For Noah planted a vineyard, understand it spiritually; for the words are spiritual; these worked until the third hour; after the third hour is the time of those around Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; for these too were laborers of our salvation, three in number; for this reason they also worked until the sixth hour; from the sixth hour, the middle of the day, when the sun shines more intensely upon the inhabited world, is the time of the law; because in truth our God, the true light, illumined humanity through the commandments of the law. For the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes. And again, that Your ordinances are a light. From the sixth hour, the half of the day; for when the times from the beginning of creation to the consummation reached their middle, then at midday Moses and Aaron were sent. For the worship according to the law was until the eighth; but the ninth hour is the time of the Spirit-bearing prophets; for they also, as good laborers, were sent by the householder to work the vineyard of our soul until the tenth. The eleventh hour, the advent of the Only-Begotten; for in the last of the times, at the consummation of the ages, the Son of God, the Word of God, came to us; for just as from the eleventh to the twelfth is one other hour, the last, so from the advent of Christ to the consummation is one other hour. Hear John saying: 'Little children, it is the last hour.' You see that at the eleventh hour the master of the vineyard went out, and finding them idle, he hired them. Who are these idle ones? We who are from the Gentiles; for we were idle from the knowledge of God, idle from good works. And he says to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?' ‘All the day’ signified the time from the beginning of the creation of the world until his advent; for until then the Gentiles were idle, not knowing God; ‘For no one,’ they say, ‘has hired us.’ The Gentiles are honest; for no one hired them, not the laws, not the prophets; they were sent to Israel, not to the Gentiles; wherefore they speak well, that ‘No one has hired us.’ But the householder is good, for he says, ‘You go also to work in the vineyard, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ The idle then have become laborers; for this once idle Church now works; the choir of the apostles works, of the martyrs, of the ascetics, of the monastics, of the holy virgins, of the continent, of those in a venerable marriage; for this Church has received the one denarius worthily. For one working quickly can, in one hour, bring forth a work as if working from the morning; the thief 77.1100 in one hour heard, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’

But hear what those say: ‘We who have borne the burden and the heat of the day;’ They speak the truth; for did they not under the law bear the burden of the yoke of the law, but these also were made equal to them through the work; ‘Friend,’ for he says, ‘I am not wronging you.’ The judge of righteousness does no wrong; but I wish to grant to this one as

In parabolam vineae ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΙΖʹ. ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΑΒΟΛΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΜΠΕΛΩΝΟΣ.

Ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ, ὅστις ἐξῆλθεν

ἅμα πρωῒ μισθώσασθαι ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ. Ἤκουσας, ἀγαπητὲ, τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς τοῦ Κυρίου παραβολῆς· ἄκουε καὶ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, ἣν κατὰ δύναμιν ἐροῦμεν. Οἰκοδεσπότης τοῦ μεγάλου οἴκου, 77.1097 τουτέστιν ὁ δεσπότης Θεός· οἶκος γὰρ, ὁ κόσμος· ∆εσπότης δὲ αὐτοῦ, ὁ κτίσας αὐτὸν Θεός· ἀμπελὼν αὐτοῦ, ἡ ἀνθρωπεία φύσις· ἐργάται τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, ὅσοι διακονούμενοι τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἅγιοι· πρώτη ὥρα ὁ καιρὸς τῶν θεοσεβῶν ἐκείνων τῶν περὶ Ἄβελ καὶ Ἐνὼχ καὶ Νῶε· πρῶτοι γὰρ οὗτοι θεοσεβεῖς, πρῶτοι οὗτοι ἐργάται τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος. Νῶε γὰρ ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα, νοητῶς νόει· πνευματικοὶ γὰρ οἱ λόγοι· ἕως τρίτης ὥρας οὗτοι εἰργάζοντο· μετὰ τρίτην ὥραν ὁ καιρὸς τῶν περὶ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ· καὶ οὗτοι γὰρ ἐργάται τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, τρεῖς τὸν ἀριθμόν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἕως ἕκτης ὥρας εἰργάσαντο· ἀπὸ ἕκτης ὥρας τὸ μεσαίτατον τῆς ἡμέρας, ὅτε ὁ ἥλιος σφοδρότερον καταλάμπει τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὁ χρόνος τοῦ νόμου· ὅτι τῷ ὄντι ἐφώτισεν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα διὰ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ νόμου τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν.

Ἡ ἐντολὴ γὰρ Κυρίου τηλαυγὴς φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς. Καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι Φῶς τὰ προστάγματά σου. Ἀπὸ ἕκτης ὥρας, τὸ ἥμισυ τῆς ἡμέρας· ὅτε γὰρ ἐμέσασαν οἱ χρόνοι οἱ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κτίσεως, καὶ ἕως συντελείας, τότε μεσημβρινὸν ἀπεστάλη Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἀαρών. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ κατὰ νόμον λατρεία, ἕως ὀγδόης· ἐννάτη δὲ ὥρα, καιρὸς τῶν πνευματοφόρων προφητῶν· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ὡς καλοὶ ἐργάται ἀπεστάλησαν παρὰ τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου ἐργάσασθαι τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν ἕως δεκάτης. Ἑνδεκάτη ὥρα, ἐπιδημία τοῦ Μονογενοῦς· ἐπ' ἐσχάτων γὰρ τῶν χρόνων ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων ἐπεδήμησεν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, Θεοῦ Λόγος· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπὸ ἑνδεκάτης εἰς δωδεκάτην ἄλλη μία ὥρα ἐστὶν ἡ ἐσχάτη, οὕτως ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας Χριστοῦ ἕως τῆς συντελείας, ἄλλη μία ὥρα ἐστίν. Ἄκουσον τοῦ Ἰωάννου λέγοντος· Τεκνία, ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ ἐξελθὼν ὁ τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος δεσπότης, εὑρὼν ἀργοὺς ἐμισθώσατο. Τίνες οὗτοι οἱ ἀργοί; Ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν· ἀργοὶ γὰρ ἦμεν ἀπὸ θεογνωσίας, ἀργοὶ ἀπὸ ἔργων ἀγαθῶν. Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τί ἑστήκατε ὧδε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀργοί· Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κτίσεως κόσμου, ἕως τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ χρόνον ἐσήμανεν· ἕως γὰρ τότε ἀργὰ ἦν τὰ ἔθνη, Θεὸν μὴ εἰδότα· Οὐδεὶς γὰρ, φασὶν, ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο. Εὐγνώμονα τὰ ἔθνη· τῷ γὰρ οὐδεὶς αὐτὰ ἐμισθώσατο, οὐ νόμοι, οὐ προφῆται· τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐκεῖνοι ἀπεστάλησαν, οὐ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· διὸ καλῶς λέγουσιν, ὅτι Οὐδεὶς ἡμᾶς ἐμισθώσατο. Ἀλλὰ ἀγαθὸς ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης, Ὑπάγετε γὰρ καὶ ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, ἐργάσασθαι ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνι, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ᾗ δίκαιον, δώσω ὑμῖν. Οἱ ἀργοὶ, τότε ἐργάται γεγόνασιν· ἐργάζεται γὰρ νῦν ἥ ποτε ἀργὴ αὔτη Ἐκκλησία· ἐργάζεται ὁ χορὸς τῶν ἀποστόλων, τῶν μαρτύρων, τῶν ἀσκητῶν, τῶν μοναζόντων, τῶν ἁγίων παρθένων, τῶν ἐγκρατῶν, τῶν ἐν γάμῳ σεμνῷ· ἔλαβεν γὰρ αὔτη ἡ Ἐκκλησία τὸ ἒν δηνάριον ἀξίως. ∆ύναται γάρ τις ὀξέως ἐργαζόμενος, ἐν μιᾷ ὥρᾳ ἐνέγκαι ἔργον ὡς ἀπὸ πρωΐθεν ἐργαζόμενος· ὁ λῃστὴς 77.1100 εἰς μίαν ὥραν ἤκουσεν τὸ, Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ.

Ἀλλ' ἄκουσον τί φασιν ἐκεῖνοι· Ἡμεῖς οἱ βαστάσαντες τὸ βάρος καὶ τὸν καύσωνα τῆς ἡμέρας· Ἀληθεύουσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἐν νόμῳ ἐβάστασαν τὸ βάρος τοῦ ζυγοῦ τοῦ νόμου, ἀλλ' ἐγένοντο καὶ οὗτοι ἴσοι τούτων διὰ τὸ ἔργον· Ἑταῖρε, γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἀδικῶ σε. Οὐκ ἀδικεῖ ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης κριτής· τὸ δὲ θέλω τούτῳ χαρίσασθαι ὡς