On the Workers in the Vineyard

On the Parable of the Workers in His Vineyard, Which Is His Own. A Memra of Six Hundred and Seventy Verses, Which Was Composed on That Parable of the Man Who Went Out in the Morning to Hire Workers for His Vineyard. The sound of the spades of his vineyard cried out in the earth, and the world awoke as if from the sleep of ignorance. In the ignorance of the mind, the dead were as in a dream, and the voice of the Lord stirred and cried out, though they were unwilling. They were unwilling that the sons of iniquity should bear iniquity, and they were not able to see the sun of righteousness. The night of error was beloved to them, the sons of error, and they were not eager to hear the voice of the cry of truth. In the bonds of the darkness of ignorance they were bound, and they rejoiced in the prison of drunkenness. An evil custom, ancient, hunted them, the sons of Adam, and they loved and cherished drunkenness as a delight. Deception turned their face in the silence of error, and they did not hasten to acquire the wealth of virtues. For without the labor of virtues, they were as if they were without the toil of the love of truth, and they pursued creation. Deceitfully they were turned about in their deeds, and they were needy and stripped of all goods. There was no care for good or for good order in their dwelling place. And the more they sinned, again they sinned without satiety. Iniquity was mixed with iniquity in the dwelling of their transformations, and there was no place that was empty of faults.

As if they were not men, they were being governed by their ways, until a man came and made them wise. A man rose up from among men, the sick ones of the flock, and he healed them from the illness of ignorance. With the sweetness of his words, he warmed them from their debts, and showed them the path of the way of the good ones. With the good ones, he made them accustomed to discourse, so that they would no longer turn back to the thought of evil in it. From the side of evil, he set a limit for the evil ones, and on the side of truth, he urged them to draw near. With good thought, he made them love the good friend, and like workers, he hired them for good labor. For the work of men, a man came who was from humanity, and he raised his voice and made them hear the seeds of his work. With a parable, he mounted the work of the labor of his proclamation, and mysteriously he called the words to the calling of his love. The voice of his calling, which called to men: "Hear, my thoughts, and rejoice from the silence in which they were lying, as if from sleep." With the swiftness of [...] they were stirred, the movements of my shepherds, and they rose to listen to the voice that proclaimed a good wage. At the threshold of the wage, the poor one of my thoughts was awakened, the peoples of the flock, and he began to compose a poem of words of the seeds of success. As if in a dream, he saw the truth while it was being interpreted, so that he thought he could perform the labors in the order of words. Words he heard from that mouth that interprets life, and he brought near to listen to the sound of the words of the work of the labors. For the work of the peoples, he called the assembly of the lover of the race, and he sent toward them one from the race that he called toward him.

In parables he hunted, as if hunting for the catch of the rock, and he brought in the catch within from the words of his proclamation. He cast the catch of a hundred into the earth before the shepherds, and he broke the cord as if for a trap near the food. The snare of the parable flew to the heart that loves the simple, so that the simple would no longer be deceived as before. He knew that we were caught by the simplicity of their error, and he brought us within from the branches of his teaching. Artfully he hunted his love as if for hunting, and he seized by the face the gate of teaching from the fullness of his mouth. At dawn he went out to hunt the hunt of his teaching, as a hunter goes out into the land after workers. In the morning he hired all who were hired in the house of the earth, and in it, by the feast, he also called the lord to the work of his love. The morning set the beginning of the parable of his proclamation, and as in the morning he called the servants to the work of his vineyard. The night set the first sacrifice of his own, and as the day to the time of the parable of his teaching. As one day he set the course of this conduct, night and day as Moses called them in Genesis. To the two ends he set the sacrifice of all generations, and to one he gave the hours of the night and one of the day. To the end of his length he set the night because of their shadow, that as in darkness men were placed from goodness. To the sacrifice that is his, he called it day because of the truth, that as in light men saw in it the clear truth. The clear truth he proclaimed with his voice in the ears of men, and men listened to him as to a man who proclaims the truth.

In the name of the man he called his people, the people of his covenant, and his proclamation called the kingdom hidden in height. He spoke a parable of a kingdom of height, a king of likeness, to the man who went out at the time of morning to hire workers. He went out with the workers from the monastery for the day's labor, and sent them to work the vineyard of truth. He went out again at the third, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh hours, and hired them at the rate of hire as before. At the eleventh hour he hired them as in the morning, and to them again he set the hire equally. At the time of evening he called the steward who gave the hire, and gave to the last ones a denarius each, as he was commanded. The first workers saw the gift he gave to the last ones, and thought that to them he would give more according to the time. They also took each a denarius like their companions, and began to complain, small [...] anger in their minds. They begot murmuring while they were astonished at the gift, because why did he make equality in the payment of hire? They bore the burden and heat of the whole day, and these who were hired for one hour took likewise. The hire is not just if it is changed with the labor, and the toil of one hour is not equal to the whole day. The whole day they were in labor without rest, and what is this that much toil and equal hire? The master of the house saw the workers who begot murmuring, and called one of them and appeased him in the presence of his companions. "My companion," he said to him, and called him his companion sweetly, and showed him the sign of the greatness of his love towards humanity.

He did not delay the reward of wages as he had promised, nor did he wrong the sign of the workers of the debt. In one monastery he cut off with you, and you are, you are the one who cries out, take your monastery and be free from the words full of error. The words of the translation are completed, the Lord interprets mysteriously, seeking interpretation in the prayer of the hidden one in their translations. Prayer seeks every translation that is in parables, that the prayer of the one not hastening to hundreds not hastening. The light of the two in the prayer of the seeking of words, and as in the light it shows the light of the meaning of words. There are no watchers greater than the light of the fullness of the spirit, nor wisdoms of the holy ones as strong as their wisdom. They are not weighed with the scales and measures, nor are they compared with everything that is heavy in its weight. Everything is small when it is compared with the beauty of them. And as if there is no beauty, everything beautiful that resembles their desire. Desires are many more than all the ranks in the house of the earths, and the desire of them ceased the world towards their desire. The deceit of them ceased the earths and the heavens, they cast away everything, they loved and they loved the thought of them. The thought of them loved even man when he did not love, in hundreds he loved when man was far from the deeds. The desire I desired that I might desire hundreds without deeds, that my thought might cease from words and fly towards deeds. As for the child, I am stirred towards teaching, that from teaching I might learn the power that is in teaching. To the house of teaching of the great teacher I sought to approach, because I saw that the speech of his word is more skilled than all teaching.

The good saying I heard which was spoken in the ears of men, and I sought for myself to know and make known the saying which I heard. The good of the wage which he gave to the workers came to my ears. And I desired to hire even a little at the end of the day. In the morning I heard that he hired workers for the cultivation of his vineyard, and he cut off the day's work to one hour and to one tenth. In the equality of the wage, the thoughts of the feeble-minded are troubled: what is this, that the wage is not equal to the labor? From the morning until the cutting off of the day's work to twelve hours, and woe to the worker who is not thus and takes thus. There is no rich man who hires workers for all the hours, nor a hirer who hires every hour at midday. The name of this labor is a memorial for all labors, and it has no equal among all the labors of the house of the earth. Not like it is the labor of the mourners in the season of his world, because why are his comparisons disturbed from all comparisons? His comparison is the drawing of a form of his likeness in the color of words, that by words he revealed to small men his likenesses. The likeness of his labors I saw which is depicted in the scriptures, and from the scriptures I sought answers for the unwritten. In the scriptures I saw when the name of the kingdom ran, and with it the names of the man who hired workers for his vineyard. The wage of the workers which was given to the man who proclaims the truth. And his proclamation called the kingdom which is in Rome. The kingdom of Rome called the gospel which he proclaimed in the land, by which it shows the way of the kingdom to those who seek it.

The path of the teaching which was planted in the earth, the word of the Lord, and it taught men who toil with it where it is. A high sign was destined to be revealed to the workers, and the form of his death among the workers without it being. With the eyes of the spirit it was placed for him to show to men, and he showed the face of the body before the deeds. Bodily he went before the bodies, and he showed men the way to the spiritual realms. The eye of the spirit marked the vision of the bodily senses, and men began to seek the hidden thing which is concealed in the height. O the wonder that happened in the earth among the workers, that when the workers loved the work without workers. A new voice the workers heard from the ear, which proclaimed in the earth a new gospel that had not been proclaimed. At the promise of the wage, the face went down to the sons of the earth, and they ran after him and received the face lovingly. His love bound him to the work of the sons of his kind, that the face might hire them for the work of spiritual life. The sons of spiritual work the face taught, that from their labors they might gain life without death. In this the face went out from the morning of the beginning of his life, when he went to his work, the morning and the beginning of the day were hidden. The man was hidden for his standing in that which also the man was, and his teaching called the kingdom full of life. Until the morning was the beginning of his proclamation, and the workers of the morning, the twelve apostles, who hired themselves with him. They hired themselves in the morning of the proclamations, and they were the ones who bore the burden of the whole day.

A great burden the heralds of the word of life bore, for the beginning of the sowing of the proclamation was difficult. Difficult was the sowing, for the chosen apostles endured toils, and the battle against the pagans and the Jews was very fierce. Judaism was strong in its fortresses, and paganism was also fervent in the love of demons. In the love of demons the pagan peoples were bound, and the love of demons was called their kinship. The athletes of righteousness made two contests against paganism and lofty Judaism. At a high place the head of Judaism was set, and like a serpent paganism was hidden. They denied the name of gods that are not gods, and the apostles cast down their idols in the earth by the name of one Power. The name of one Power they proclaimed in the earth of the pagans, and all the names of the gods that are not gods they shook and confounded. The gods that are not gods they uprooted from the earth of the pagans, and like seed they sowed the name of one God. Like a plough they turned over the soil of error, so that the seed of life might not be hindered from its growth. For the growth of the seed the good workers were diligent, and in the likeness of the death of a child they watered it with spiritual waters. With spiritual waters they labored for the vineyard of the Lord, and they hoped that it would yield spiritual fruits. With zeal and love they approached his work, so that they might not be cut off from the Lord who hired them. Like reapers they cut off from him the evil shoots, so that the root of his faith might be firm.

In faith they were sustained for his faith, without his toil, the planting and the shoot of the vines. Great were the labors of his apostles from the pagans. And they were diligent that the wine of the spirit should not be lacking. And the peoples cultivated him, and with words they supported his branches, and they put forth leaves and bore fruits of purity of soul. Pure fruits the vineyard bore, hidden from the fruits, and men and heavens marveled at the goodness of his fruits. A great marvel at the change of the season of the vineyard of the peoples, which gave good things in place of the thorns it used to produce. The shoots of thorns it bore in the season of paganism, and when it gave itself to the labor of the spirit, it bore blessings. Spiritually his laborers, the vines of apostleship, and they drove from it thorns and briars and evil shoots. Evil shoots were trampling it like beasts, and the shoots of good things increased on their faces, which are not to be counted. A high fence they made for the divine vine, so that his toil might not be harmed by raging demons in their paganism. A tower of glory they built in its midst for the praiseworthy one, and it guards the fruits of glory that are borne in it. Also the press of baptism they made for the initiates, that in it the blemishes of the body and of the thoughts might be cleansed. Sublimely they planted, they placed in it shoots of good things, so that not one of the blessings might be lacking for him who labors in it.

The power of the Spirit made the apostles wise to perform these labors, and he gave strength to their minds to work the trees. To work in his vineyard the master of the vineyard sent the apostles, and according to his will they fulfilled his will through the labor of his vineyard. All the planting of the master of the vineyard the workers completed, and they began and finished with one will without interruption. Their minds were not cut off in their labors, for they were expecting that the reward would be great beyond the toils. Small was the toil when compared with the reward, and the twelve hours were not equal to one denarius. One denarius was a good wage for good workers, and they were well joined together to work the vineyard of eloquence. How eloquently the workers of righteousness labored, and they preserved its fruits without being spoiled by the clouds. Three names they made for it, a wall for the fence of its life, that it might be firm in the search for the life of its mortality. They knew the rider of his body, that he was to be drunk, and upon that they placed three names when they fled from death. By the wings of the Spirit they flew among the seekers of the search for men, and they established his foundations, the name of the substance that is not to be drunk. The name of substance they placed first as a foundation, and upon it they completed the whole height of the confession of man. One confession of one creator among creation, and one name they proclaimed in the land to their hearers.

In this manner they taught, instructed, and baptized men, and they subjected the whole earth beneath the authority of the Ruler over all. From every authority they turned peoples divided, and they taught them to honor one authority. With one authority they subdued every authority of height and depth, and within it they gathered all rational and irrational creatures. Within the sound of their word they gathered everything, earthly and heavenly, without mixture. Or to the deadly ones, evil of body, destructible, who gathered the world within the words of the Word that was in them. Or to the erring earth-dwellers, heavy with mortality, who ascended and stripped the thorns of height beneath their word. Or to the hunters, hunters of food for the mouth of the body, who hunted the rational and ate, but they ate food, the food of the spirit. Or to the simple and the brutish from every kind in all their generations, who ran the world with haste that did not see it. Or to those who were built with one foundation and one meditation, who interpreted with all according to the meditation of their tongues. In all tongues they loosened the knots, brief of word, and for all peoples they opened the power that was in their words. By the power of their words they astonished, and to the peoples, brief of word, how great is the power that was in them from all powers. Every people was bound by the power that was in the fishermen, and no people remained that did not give a hand to the power that was in them.

The wise were silent, the learned were still, the eloquent ceased, and the voice of the simple thundered in the land like a trumpet. Humility fled, pride vanished, boasting was abolished, and meekness took up its praise in every tongue. It was as if all their teachings had never been, which the demons had sown, and one teaching stood forth, which the pure had sown. The sophists of paganism and of error fled, and they were not able to utter the word of truth before the hunters. The shoots of the philosophers, who were proud in name, withered, and the glory of their words, which were empty of everything, was extinguished. From everything they taught something greater than everything, and they raised up the finger of the priests and kings and their authorities. They established one authority like a foundation before all peoples, that they might live, all tongues, for the appointment of his name. The name of the essence, which is and is, they proclaimed in the land, and they taught and instructed the Trinity, which is not divided. Three names they placed for the hypostases, as they were commanded, and they bound and joined them to one authority of the name of the essence. With the essence they also brought the mystery of incarnation, so that it might not have a Trinity and a Quaternity. With one name they limited and confined the name of humanity, the Son of God and humanity, one person. One person they wrote, the economy of the name of the Son, the Word of the heart, which is from nothing, and humanity, which is from her.

Two natures in the one person of the Son are not to be mingled, and one person like a nature that is not changed. The nature of the Father and the Son and the Spirit is not changed, and the nature of the divine essence is not mingled with the nature of humanity. By itself the nature of the divine essence abides with humanity, and humanity also [...] with the essence. The natures that exist in the Son are not mixed, and especially the nature of the worker with the works. The nature of the worker mixed the workers with the works, and many times I have changed the course of the words of the discourse of man. The discourse of man refused that I change the course of the words, and I left my word and rejoiced in the path of the Word and the Body. The Word and the Body mixed the workers without confusion, and I sought that my word might separate the words that are not mixed. Now this seeking has happened to my thought in all my interpretations, and it does not allow me to walk in the path of its meaning. The path of the parable of the workers that the Lord set before me, and it compelled me to the path of mixture, a path deviating from my word. I left my word to take the word of the words of the Lord, and I labored to walk in the path of the word that came from it. Come, then, with me upon the word that was set for you, and walk in the path that the workers trod in the work of the vineyard. With the workers who labored well, the Lord was pleased to go. For the sake of the reward of the wages of their labor, he added.

Their labors were like the wheels of a wagon, along with their toils, so that the fullness of words for the cause of life might be mine. For life is not in the work of the master of the vineyard, and they bore the burden of heavy peoples all day long. In the morning they harnessed, as it were, what the order of wages requires, and with him of the course of the hours of the day they completed their labors. All day long they were diligent in their works, and at evening they rested from labor and received their wage. And because of wages they endured all their toil, the laborers who toiled. And one after another they saw the first and those after them. One after another they sharpened themselves for the work that they had learned, and with one accord they performed the work that makes life grow. The apostles harnessed themselves at the morning time of the day of the Lord, and they bore the burden of the hard persecution of the people and the nations. For three hours of the first part of the day that came after them, and they set out on the path of the despised peoples of the apostolate. For six hours these who harnessed themselves after the time, and they formed the likeness of that conduct in their own conduct. For nine hours the weary ones who were in the generations of the ages, and they received the burden of the lesser ones like the first. For eleven hours these who came at the end of the times, and they stand in the love that is not to be broken before his ordinances. The grace of love mingled with the first, and they received their wage along with the good things of their shepherd.

Their labors were like the wheels of a wagon, along with their toils, so that the fullness of words for the cause of life might be mine. For life is not in the work of the master of the vineyard, and they bore the burden Their toils were many, to labor much, and for that they received a wage greater than the work. The master of the house gave a reward because of their love: by their love he incited men to love love. Men are incited by the good wage of one hour, so that they do not weary even a little of the time of their lives. Love seeks in small and many lives, and according to love he gives a wage to the friends of love. Because love is heavy, it appeared to the last workers, and he gave a reward and did not demand the labors of deeds. The labor of one hour was much less, when it was weighed with the measure of twelve. Woe to you, love, how heavy you are in lovers, that you give a wage to small peoples as to many. Small is the labor of the workers who toiled in one hour, and love placed it with the weight of twelve. Never has a scale weighed thus in one balance, and the pan of twelve and of one hour rose up. In one balance the measure of much and little rose up, and this is a wonder that does not pass away: the scales weigh stones. Here a wonder is amazed, which knows how to judge well, how great is the greatness of love above everything. The greatness of love cut off the measure of much and little, and equaled the course of the whole day and of one hour. The likeness of the image of love in this action is like that action which Moses performed with the rod of the staff.

of the vineyard. He commanded the head to gather the measure, and the multitude of the belly to gather much from the vine. He measured in his freedom the fruit of the vine like a firstborn, and he spread out and revealed the hidden essence that was in it. When the hidden essence was revealed and much was gathered, it reached the measure, and its labor became as if no labor. Or like a garment that was woven without satiety, and when one ate of it, it was both much and little. Or like a command that runs with all and makes all wise, and brings to equality both much and little. Much was the great labor of the whole day, and little was the small labor that saw the hour. That command examines the peoples, looks after them, and weighs their ways in the same measure as the measure of the master. By the measure of the master, the wage of much and little was measured, not that it might measure, but that it might be equal according to the proportion of the addition. Not like a fool who gathers fruits for the worthy, nor like a negligent one who for the gathering of tithes labored in vain. They labored with the love of the belly for the sustenance of the body, and thus they went forth in hard labor in the hope of wages. In the hope of wages, for the first and those after them, and according to love, they received the rewards of their wills. By the will, the master of the vineyard also looked and saw, and to the will he gave the reward of the name of the dwelling. By the name of the dwelling, he set their ways free from their labors.

and woe to the one who from the shortness of the pains he endured. At evening he called the worker of the living from the dead, because they were wearied from the labors of mortality. By night the labor of the earthly world ceased for him, and again in it he renewed the conduct of life not mortal. In that conduct he gave wages to the workers, the weary, and he weighed the measures according to the will of those who labored. According to the will, the reward ruled for the many and the few, and he gave to the few as to the many, as the day of the vintage they had. The day of the vintage they took, the later ones before the first, lest they be hindered because of the measure of one hour. Small is the labor of one hour compared to that wage, and they were not astonished at the greatness of his love who gave the wage. At the greatness of his love who gave the wage, the first were astonished, and they [...] that there might be more given according to the present exertion. According to the present, the workers were being nourished, the blind, and they were receiving more than the agreement. According to the agreement, also the later ones took the day of the vintage, and they increased much, so that hope did not ascend to the reward. Foolish running gave birth to a thought of envy, because how was there equality in the reward of the wage? Concerning equality, they began to complain to the master of the house, that he had not made equal the blind with the many. Why did you not make equal the later workers of one hour with those who bore his weight and heat the whole day? Why did you give wages to those who did not labor in the toil of the day, and you made equal the running of the whole day with one hour.

and woe to the one who from the shortness of the pains he endured. At evening he called the worker of the living from the dead, because they were wearied from the labors of mortality. By night the labor of the earthly world is finished, and the reward is given according to the toil. The master saw the wage that was prepared before him for his love, and he was pleased that the laborer was content to toil. The laborer rejoiced that his toil was sweet for the work, and his companion stood with him, equal to this contest. His companion said to him, the master said to his servant, "Do not deceive, do not lie in the matter of the wage that I cut with you. With one measure I cut with you, and you yourself are witness. Take what is yours and do not toil in the abundance of my mercies. If I am good and my will is lowly to give much, what is it to you, and you toil outside the order?" It was not that the worker toiled for the master of the wage, nor again did the master wrong the hired workers as it is written. Not as it was written and the story of the words was spoken, nor as if they translated the words of their authors. According to the thoughts of mortality they translated them, so that the lack of the workers who did not toil would be complete. All the workers are in the form that he placed upon the words, that if there is one who toils, he hears words that do not toil. In this sign he placed the form of the disputes of complaint, not that they complained, but that no man should produce complaint. Men learned in the signs of complaint and the voice of authority, that they would not toil when men are revealed in goodness. In goodness the master of the house made equal the members of his household, and he did not consider when he gave the wage in one equality. In equality he gave the wage of the workers, it was not a fraud, but in seeing the equality of the heart that is pure and clean.

He saw the equality of the debt, the seer of mysteries, and he gave a reward [...] for the small labor along with the great. Small was the hire of the workers who toiled for one hour, and great was the wage according to the will of him who was good. They did not forget the wage, for they received the word when they were questioned, like a man who says, "We were not present at the time of labor." And they were saying to the master of the house, "If only it had been that we were at the beginning of the day, we would have toiled much." For this goodness, for this will, he gave a wage, and he showed that the good debt is equal to the full wage. The full wage the later ones received along with the first ones, one portion of the fullness of life that is indestructible. For the fullness of immortal life, the portion calls, which becomes for them a possession in place of a wage for their labors. In place of their labors, they received a wage in possession, and upon each one of them his reward is full according to his will. According to their will, the later and the first received their reward, and they learned the order that the master fittingly apportions to his servants. A great order all generations learned in this order, that they not be disturbed by what is hired for the fear of truth. For the generations to come, hope was fixed in the equality of the wage, and more so in that the later ones received before the earlier. It is said that the later ones received the wage before the first ones, not that they received it, but because of the increase of smallness of heart. One is the sign that gives the wage to all with all, and there is no confusion between the gift and the giver.

There is no before and after in the time of judgment, for the judgment is one, and the recompense is one, and the distinction is one. At a sign, all things that are to be given on that day are given, and there is no regard for the smallness of that command. One command commanded from the beginning to those who are to be commanded, and everything stood as it was commanded from the start. Again, then, hearken to that command whose command is great, and keep the order before that day which orders all. Again, then, traffic with the hired workers of good works, and labor with your soul as the vines labored for men. The vines labored for men purely as for a vineyard; count, then, and labor also with your soul in good things. In good things, labor with your soul with your members, and do not weary it from the labor of good things. In body and soul, labor every labor of life, with manifest senses and hidden movements of a single person. A single person is the soul with its members; with one will, it produces goodness for the one who is to be benefited.