On the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Of the First Sabbath of the Sixth Week of Lent From the Lord, the Parable of the Ten Virgins Of the First Sabbath of the Sixth Week of Lent A Homily Thanks be to the sinner who brought his friends to repentance and entered the gate of the kingdom of his Lord, my brothers. Fair is the thought of the words of the spirit that is placed in the Scriptures, and good is the interpretation of the writings for him who reflects upon it. Wondrous is the teaching of the preaching of the kingdom of heaven, and it distributes its good blessings to those who love it. A great treasure is hidden in the letters of the alphabet of its words: he who reads with love of soul becomes rich forever. Like the light of the sun are the laws of his writings, and he who looks without dispute sees everything. Like a guide, his name runs before the mind, and he who loves the union of his love reaches heaven. With love he calls a man to approach his side, and he who approaches with love is filled by his love. In the likeness of a great one, a man hastens to his teaching, and he who receives his discipleship becomes a great one for him. I have seen the greatness of the great teacher that is manifest, and I bless my mind that it learned from him, if he wills in me. Will in me, O great one, make a man wise through his greatness, that I may profit my tongue in the discipleship of the alphabet of your words. For the interpretation of your words, my tongue is eager to be taught; write for me the law of the alphabet that I may read in it.

I saw the straight lines inscribed in your writings, and it greatly pleased me to follow the order of their meanings. My desire is good, that it may be filled with all good things, and grant me the ascent of understanding of the words inscribed by you. I was turning over the wonders inscribed for you, and I troubled my thoughts to seek the time of the power in which they are. The kingdom of heaven is like unto the ten virgins, who were preparing to meet the bridegroom with their lamps. Five of them were wise, and took oil, but the foolish ones did not take care to take oil. The time of the wedding passed, and the bridegroom delayed his coming, and sleep overcame the six and their ten. At midnight it was said that the sound of the trumpet would cry out, which would announce the coming of the bridegroom of heaven. They arose to light their lamps and the torches, and the bridegroom received the bright ones who dwelt in the light. In one equality stood the foolish and the wise, while they were equal and not equal in one equality. The oil was consumed in the lamps of the simple ones, and they began to ask from their companions righteousness with grace. Why did it not suffice you, the lamp and the wicks of the torches, but you went to those who sell, if it is sold? They heard and went to buy oil that is not sold, and the bridegroom came and entered the torches, and they did not enter.

Outside the door, he remained upon what was written from the obligation, and he began to place questions upon the conclusions of their behaviors. Open for us, my Lord, the door of the treasure-house of your kingdom, that I may enter and receive the reward of the labors of your virginity. The sinner does not know his voice, to whom he speaks, and the virgins of his guarding do not give me passage from any place. Now that the living word has completed the utterance of his mouth, approach and seek with a petition the hidden one within his words. With a full petition, the word that rides upon the image of women, as if he had set aside the order of men and spoken of women. And if at the end of his word he laments that not even one, when he has virgins who are equal, is not equal to all. Why by name did he call them virgins, and by actions he divided them into two parties? Why, when they are pure from the stains of frivolity, does he limit them that they have no hope in the greatness of his love? Why are six of them lacking and remain toiling, and it is bestiality again when it is in one image? Why, when all their lamps are held, does oil remain only for the wise? If the behaviors of virginity are performed equally, why the change of wisdom and foolishness?

If they were one in nature, one in body and soul, why did not one righteous one ask for grace from her companion? Why did the wise ones drag the undisciplined ones, when they knew that oil is not sold for prices? And if it were true that oil is sold for prices, why did not the buyer sell oil and take the prices? And if the rich did not buy, would he take from his own means and give to others? And if, then, the poor went to buy oil, why is the sin of the entrants not equal in one equality? Why do you make them out not to know your deeds, when he knew that they were pure from defilement? And if they did not work according to the will that he willed in them, why did he not say, "Go to the mountain and to darkness"? A change of voice that he made heard, they questioned much, why the thread of the confessors was not equal, without equality of the decree that cut them; their thought wondered how the poor one did not fall into the pit with the rich one. And if with the evil ones he remained on the earth in the weight of them, how can he not be silenced in their streets? And if it were that they did not enter the place of the poor and see, what profit from the price of the virginity of them?

Why did body and soul suffer pains together, and on the day of judgment did the crown take the place of the wreath? Why did he contend with the sisters of the form in which he was, and when he was victorious did he fall into pursuit with the guilty? A great pain filled the end of their actions, that as they began they did not succeed in completing the beautiful things. He wishes to interpret something in the passage concerning their labor, according to which even the pain of the order of the inscribed ones in it is weak. He wishes that as it is written, the kingdom was compared to them, for behold, they were not sufficient for comparison in a likeness that is hers. Why does he not say concerning them that they are like the glorious one, for behold, she is more venerable in her glory than all that is created? The kingdom of heaven was compared to the virgins; a great wonder is compared to something that is inferior. It is fitting that the one who compares compares in glory with his glorifications, for he is able to compare, but the matter is not able to be compared. In the kingdom of heaven and in ineffable delight, she indeed is compared in a small way to them for the sake of her delight. In this thought she was compared to you for the earthly ones, that through her likeness he seeks the likeness of the glorious ones. The likeness of the one who compares greatly resembles, teaching the truth, and there is no painter who can paint his likeness exactly. It is fitting that the image that bears his sign and places it in his gospel, and exactly it is right that one look at the beauty of his splendor.

Come, O beholders, look intently at the word of the Lord, how he depicted the image of the contest and the kingdom of the height in the likeness of struggles. The struggles of the image he depicted in his proclamation, renewing the image, and he placed the crown of women in the likeness of a form before the beholders. He called his proclamation the kingdom that resembles women, because it proclaims the kingdom of the height to the sons of the image. In its proximity the image learns to seek the above, and in its revelation it sees the beauty of the mysteries. Concerning it he spoke that which was entrusted to the virgins, in a single parable that shows the conduct of a life without marriage. By the name of virgins he called the chastity that believes in him, while he teaches us that purity follows from his servants. In the likeness of women he depicted the struggle of the desire of his love, because in women the likeness of chastity is victorious. Men and women he gathered in the types of his spoken word, which teaches that both sexes are able to attain purity. If he had depicted the likeness of his word in the likeness of men, it would have been thought that he was rejecting the sex of women. Wisely he depicted the types in the form of his word, so that the common nature would not be divided among the sexes. He made the whole nature show us in the nature that it is easy for us to understand clearly in all that we read. Your beauties and your bounties he revealed in his parables, and the blessings and the glories that are prepared for you he showed us.

He divided the race of the contest of life into two paths, and for one he set the name "wise" and for the other "foolish." With the wise he seasons the race of perfection, and with the foolish, who are like toils, he depicts the image of love. He called the toils "lamps" that were kindled, because they toiled, but not with equal toil. The inequality of the toils caused the oil to be lacking, for if they had been equal, nothing that was equal would have been lacking. By the oil that was lacking, through the poverty of the toils, he shows us that they were lovers, not givers, in love and mercy. He points to mercy by the name "oil," Christ who is merciful, for as he is merciful, so he anoints our limbs. By the oil that is like the mercy that anoints his limbs, in the likeness of oil, he soothes thoughts as if they were senses. Without oil, he makes the yoke of the bridles bitter, but the hardness of their words does not soften the deceit of iniquity. By oil he purifies the conduct of life of the wise, that they live, are merciful, and give, body and soul together. By the oil of mercy they were givers, their conduct was established upon that, and they were not troubled by the filth of lust. From now on, the painters also come to perform this: by means of oil they preserve images without damage. Oil mixes with pigments and makes images that by this means his image endures without confusion.

And if the sculptors knew that the images they carve are empty, how fitting it would be for a person to carve the image of their forms! In their vanity, their forms enter into the flesh of the Savior under the name of the foolishnesses that did not take oil in their provisions. He praises and commends the simplicity of the good will in the wise women who mixed oil in their actions. Within the measure of their ten, he gathered all that was done. A great trembling that receives him on the day of his revelation. He calls the day of his revelation the coming of the bridegroom who is to come, and the virgins who go out to meet him, all of them complete. The hour of which he said that all of them sleep in one equality, death that equalizes the good and the evil in one destruction. The cry that was at midnight and the voice of the sleepers is the voice of the summons that calls at the end and warms all. At midnight he said that the bridegroom who weds comes, because also bridegrooms take their brides at night. That these might stand equally, as he wrote upon their labors, the resurrection of everyone will show to everyone that everyone stands. With one lamp of five that shines for the bridal chambers, if they do not live, they are not troubled in the judgment that is prepared. For the wise women do not sacrifice the simple ones. The book has revealed to you that there is no place to ask for mercy. For he said, "The blood did not suffice for us and for you," he made known that your labor is small compared to your reward.

that he might send a merchant to buy oil from the place where it is sold, if he were alive. But when the hours passed by as he went, the bridegroom came. Ignorance is that which does not perceive when he comes. For with the bridegroom the wise ones entered, and the door was closed. The chaste ones entered, that they might go in and live in the bridal chamber. The foolish ones remained outside the door of the bridal chamber. The evil ones remained on the earth to be desolate. It is written that the irrational ones cried out, "Lord, Lord!" It is hope that the merciful one will have compassion on the wretched. For their labors, which are without profit, are revealed, that the good one might not be unjust to their conduct. He called them and answered them, that he does not know a love that is not mixed with the mercy of his companions; he did not wish to know. He who does not know said to the irrational ones, "Your ignorance does not allow my will to be accomplished through a helper." The door was closed in the face of the one outside, and not with him. The latch above, when the good ones entered, a sign seized it. The sign becomes a test for the good and the evil, and separates the chaste from the wicked by the opening of its love. A great distinction is there between one and another, and the distance of height and depth cannot be measured.

The height of the just is raised above all heights, and the depth of the good is deeper than all depths. The beauty of the face of the friends of love is fairer than all faces, and the image of the form of the chaste is more beautiful than all images. There is no measure for the praise of the sons of light, nor again any likeness for the beauty of the sons of darkness. Clarity and darkness show everyone that by their labors each one builds his own dwelling in the house of error. The beauty of the body becomes a witness to the mind, and it mocks him by the things he does deceitfully. From the body, both glory and shame are sought, and it is he who distributes goods and arranges the threads. That man reveals himself by the things that are hidden, and like a judge he examines the form of his images. Every man sees the blemishes of himself and his companions, and no man hides from himself or from his fellows. In the whole nature of rationality, a man looks, and in it he looks at that same figure of his own face. Everything is revealed in a man clearly, and that man extends his form toward all who see him. There are no veils that hide the twin from her partner, nor again can her sister and her companion be hidden from him. For forty days the beauty runs swiftly, and it enters into them from the face that is within the body.

O the wonder that is in man from his Creator, who mingles height and depth in his mixture. He mingles the whole body and soul in one place, and is far from all and near to all like a neighbor. In every place he is, while he is in one place, and this is the wonder that he is against all and is not against all. In divinity he resembles the order that is before him, which is in every place and is not apprehended where it is. By means of actions he completes before him, the daughter of voice gives testimony that man is an image whose constitution is varied and very similar. He is similar in this, that he is in every place while he is not, and he seeks the hidden ones within his own thought and that of all. Like a creator he chooses the evil that is hidden in the soul, and by his choices he separates the foul from the fair. How much is it fitting that he be amazed at the great words of his rank, that the son of the living one rules his sign with all and in all. How much does he know that with his greatness there is also his lowliness, that while there is from him that rules over all, there is that which is scattered from all. From not being astonished at a single distinction that is before him, from him in height and from him in depth, in glory and in shame. From not rejoicing and from not being saddened over both, when he is revealed in the goodness of the good and the deeds of the evil. How can it not be said that man is great and man is scattered, when he sees him in the kingdom of height and in Gehenna.

I saw his glory and his smallness when he was painted on the page of books, and I rejoiced and was amazed at his lowliness and at his exaltation. With two forms he paints the likeness of his image, and he teaches his course through his praises and his reproaches. Through the parable he reveals to us the distinction that will be at the end, for he who runs to distinguish well before that day. Through the virgins he teaches the course of righteousness, for he who works purity of soul without blemish. Through the parable which he set as a path of glorious labors, for he who runs well to the promise of life towards the end. Through the wise ones he gladdens his heart with the hope of the high kingdom, and through the foolish ones he afflicts him with harsh hearing. Through their virginity he proclaims that he is able to live in purity, and through their labors he shows that freedom of the soul is acquired. Through the one who takes oil he shows that he has a nature that can live, and through the one who does not take oil he reveals that his barrenness is not bound. Over his freedom he reveals the lamps that were lit and extinguished, for if he had wished he could have lit the ten of them. That will which lit five with the oil of mercy was night for him to light five like the five. One is the nature of the wise and the foolish, and if he had wished, all of him in all would have been wise.

He justified his soul without loss concerning his near ones, showing that he has two in one, good and evil. He asked for oil from the wise women from the stores, for it was fitting for him to seek from his companions. The wise women did not wish to ask the unworthy, for the sake of the soul's shame, without mercy, openly. They said to the foolish, "You have bought from those who sell," the whole matter is about what did not work in the passing sale. Every human could work well as on earth, but it is lowly for him to reach the grade of perfection. He did not work here lovingly as he should, the lamps of the bright ones were darkened on the day of the wedding feast. They did not stray from their labors to where it was difficult, all the wise women also from them, the justice of the oil. He did not heed the voice of those who rested on forgiveness, the daughter heard a voice that does not know the labors of those who weep. He held the door of the word of the mouth before the learners, the door of the house of the kingdom was closed before their questions. He remembered their love from the abundance of the sign of the finger, the king did not wish to equate their sign with the abundance of his love. The destructions of the reward he cast upon them, also grief, and in them the measure of their deeds took its recompense.

He condemned his companions before the judge and cut off their thoughts from their labors. The judge did not oppress their labors for the sake of reward. He did not wish to repay his debt wisely. Shame closed the door before their faces. He held them in contempt; he opened their debt to others. If they had opened the door of their will before the needy, no fault would have stood for them outside the door. If they had anointed the wounds of iniquity with the oil of the Word, the oil of mercy would not have been lacking in their lamps. If the love within them had overflowed upon the distressed, their companions also would have been poured out to receive from them. They closed the path of mercy before their faces and did not suffice to walk in their deeds with the trumpets. From them, learn about the conduct of the life of the righteous and, in their reward, fashion the reward of the judge of the hereafter. Because of their deeds, he wrote the parable of their conduct, and for our instruction, the course runs in verses as it is. It is not that it is not said as it is, but that it is not in deeds as it is written. It was not to be in deed according to what was spoken, but it was destined to be without division.

It is a wonder, for it has the likeness of truth, and it depicts the actions after the sacrifice by its likeness. It resembles a shadow in the swiftness of its running, and like a body it shows the reality of the actions. Before the actions it runs ahead of its writings, and before something that is destined to be at the end. It shows distant things as near, and when they are distant they are recounted as if they were near. Like a painter it paints words without actions, and depicts them in the form of an image and a type. The wonder resembles the image that is painted in the virgins, and like a man of pure life and conduct, his life is examined in it. In it the greatness of the love of the pure in soul is proclaimed, and in it the shamefulness of the merciless is announced. To the pure in soul it calls them wise and buyers of oil, and to the shameful it calls them foolish and sellers of oil. Oil is the mercy that those full of mercy offer, and he who does not offer a sacrifice shows that he does not sacrifice. A known sacrifice reveals that he too has a sacrifice, for without his sacrifice no sacrifice is made by one to another. In the troubled world there is a sacrifice to be made, but in that which is destined, the sacrifice ceases along with the offering. In this form the wise virgins do not offer, so that the great order of that type may not be disturbed.

By the ordinance it orders both worlds, even that one, and wisely it governs the orders in their ordinances. The world of the sacrifice goes to the sacrifice and to the offering, and that one to rest, peace, and delight. Come, buyers and sellers, buy and also sell in the world that is given for buying a sacrifice and for selling it. Let not the great ordinance of the two worlds be dissolved, and let it remain here from that which is for buying and selling there. Into the house of the kingdom, no ruler may enter who brings a sacrifice, and if he extends his authority over it, it is overturned. And if the steward of the kingdom receives a sacrifice of his own, how much more fitting is it for his own sake, that he who is sent to the high kingdom? That kingdom is high, which is not to be dissolved, and there is no place in it for being overturned in an earthly manner. Earthly ones are not permitted to enter there, when they have with them the pledge and the parable of earthly ones. Through the five virgins, a pure one from those who enter, determine and complete all that is hidden from loss. That it does not give reward to the hidden labors of their virginity, shows that it rejects every conduct that is not from love. They were virgins and their conduct was true, and without profit from their labors they were lacking. The conducts were without profit for their ends, for they neither gave nor received from them the reward of their purpose.

By the ordinance of the reward, the order of the ranks proceeds, and the beautiful ones do not go to that sign of the Lord of the reward. The beloved sign shows the time of those who are like him, and of those who are not like him, all of them to the crown from their heads. The crown of victory is sought to be taken from him, and their time is like the time of the angels and the righteous. O how evil is the evil of the pitiless nature, which makes labors as if without labors on the day of judgment. O how foolish is the man who does not share in the blessedness of another man, for even when he has blessings, his own self is hidden from blessings. O how senseless is the man who benefits his own standing alone, for the whole world, if it stood, would not stand anything. Nothing stands for the one who stands alone, for his standing is not established without the many. Without members, the soul is not established in the body, and the reward for its labors is not received apart from them. The soul is necessary for the members, just as the soul is, and how much more necessary is a human being for a human being. A human being completes with another human being the course of his righteousness, and if he is justified apart from a human being, he is not a human being. A human being cannot become a human being apart from a human being, and even his priesthood apart from a human being is not a priesthood. Do you wish to be a priest and good, O human being? Act towards your fellow that which you are destined to be towards you.

You desire to take the reward that is upon you on the day of judgment. Pay your debts, the debt of love, and behold, it is paid. You are eager to enter the gate of the height with the brides of light. Show your face to your companion, and behold, you have received them. You desire to enter with the wise into that delight. Make the foolish wise, and behold, you enter at the head of the wise. No one enters until he brings in with him the last one. For thus that sign follows the one who enters it. There is a man with you who asks the door by which to enter. And whether there is one who enters or not, he remains outside the door. Come, you who are eager for the entrance, hear from the sign to which it desires to enter and see it. Come, wise ones, see the wisdoms of the wise women, who distinguish and know how to take with them provisions of mercy. Virgins, come, hear that daughter of the voice that hunts the foolish women, and deny from you the name of foolishness, lest you hear it. Lovers of thought and investigators of the mysteries of secrets, complete in deed the thought that gave birth to your thoughts. Interpreters of the power of the parables before the disciples, do that thing which befits you in your assemblies. You who are zealous for the gate and keepers of the promise of this kingdom, be watchful from the sleep of ignorance, the cry. Glory to your mercies, O Lord of all, who grants mercy to sinners.