In illud Simile est regnum caelorum patri familias

A catechetical discourse on the saying of the Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard," and so forth. 1. I see among the flock of the pious some strange sheep mingled, bearing upon their foreheads the fresh seal of the heavenly shepherd; and I wish to find a pasture of teaching suitable both for those who have already tasted of grace, and for those who are about to judge the grass of the Spirit; so that the grazing of this same catechesis may become for the enlightened a reminder of the gifts of God, and for those who are to be enlightened a greater encouragement toward baptism. For the word must be blended for both, because the God-loving people is blended from both initiated and those being initiated. I have found, then, from where I may feast both you, all the ancient home-born of Christ, and how I may urge our newly-purchased slaves toward the freedom of the calling; I will proclaim to my brothers the Lord's sayings, which are able both to make those who long ago entered the royal vineyard more eager in their work, and to rouse those who have just now peeped into it to similar zeal. "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." The Master calls himself a householder; and he calls all the pious, who are called around the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours, laborers—those who have received baptism at different ages; he calls the vineyard the saving commandments, which have little toil but much profit.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Having agreed with them, that is, with the laborers, for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. I am the householder; for just as the householder builds a house as he wishes, so I arrange the whole world as I desire. I, the sun of righteousness, having put on the cloud of humanity, descended to humanity, and go about seeking laborers for my vineyard. I have no need of human vinedressers; for I have angels and archangels doing what I wish; but I long to see my earthly slaves dwelling in my possessions. I run about and look everywhere to find whom I may hire, not that I may grow rich by the toils of others, but that I may enrich those who obey me. I gathered Peter and John and the other disciples, the tireless planters of the inhabited world; I agreed with them for a denarius a day; I hired their entire life, and promised to give them as wages for all their labor together the kingdom of heaven; but these alone are not enough to satisfy my soul. I cannot bear to see only a few farmers tilling my field; my eyes are cramped seeing only so many; I thirst for yet other husbandmen, I long for yet other hired workers, I seek yet other initiates. The paradise of my commandments is spacious and great; it contains all who have believed in me.

all who love virtue, receiving them, he becomes even more spacious. What then shall I do? From where shall I fill my enclosures? From where shall I urge on more registrants? Let me go out again to their crossroads, let me go out to those who wander in voluntary error, let me go out to the idle, let me go out to the needy, I who am well-off, so that I may make the needy well-off; let me go out again to the gathering of laborers? I will do what is owed: I will call again the poor. It is mine to urge, theirs to be persuaded; it is mine to wish to give a wage, theirs to wish to receive it; if they obey me, they will gratify both me and themselves; but if they disobey me, they will harm themselves; for I will not lack farmers able to dig around, trench around, and prune the branches; my vineyard cannot remain fallow or unfruitful. And going out about the third hour, he saw others idle in the marketplace, and said to them: Go also you into my vineyard.

And where were you in the morning? Where were you on the preceding days? How did you not seek me, who came in search of you? How did you not rise early for your own benefit? Are you so ignorant of the rays of piety that you consider day to be night? And while the light of truth is shining, why do you hang your heads and doze? Now at least wake up, now at least keep watch, now at least turn back, now at least come to your senses. Go also into my vineyard. See how I love you: I did not confine the proclamation to the early morning, I did not wall off access for those who come later, I did not close your return to the first call; I have granted you every hour for repentance; I embrace every age. Even if infants are brought to me, I welcome them gladly, for I am the creator of infants, and father and mother, and nurturer and nourishment; even if children lisping take refuge with me, I am delighted; even if younger ones join me, I rejoice all the more; even if full-grown men run to me, I receive them; I embrace all who approach with faith as my own brothers. Go also into the vineyard. I do not count the loss of the past hours, if I see zeal weighing against indolence; I do not diminish the wages of the day, if you hasten to overtake those who preceded you. Leave the vineyard of the Jews, the ungrateful, the thankless, the one that knows only how to cultivate vinegar.

you abandon the vine that was transplanted from Egypt, which still bears the bitterness of Egyptian idolatry, and has learned to sprout a bitter cluster for the planter, and move to my vineyard. And whatever is just, I will give you. I am not unjust; I am by nature just. I am not covetous; I am the one who laid down laws against covetousness. I am not ungrateful toward grateful servants; I am not petty or mean-spirited toward those who are magnanimous toward me. I will give you wages that surpass your labors; I will supply gifts that exceed your toils. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. I leave no occasion unused; I net those who are willing, and I do not weary those who labor in sins, calling them to righteousness. I went out once, and having caught prey, I returned; I went out a second time, and having taken them alive, I came back; I went out a third time, and having grown rich, I have come back; I went out a fourth time about the ninth hour, and having taken some, I have come. The more continuous I make my course, the more hotly I kindle my desire; however many I bring in, I yearn for that many others; and having found those, I seek still others. For I wish all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. 2. About the eleventh hour, going out, he found others standing idle. I do not cease to strip the devil until this life passes away; I will not cease to plunder death, the terrible thief of humanity; I cannot endure that those who have become mortal by their own choice should not change to immortality, until their very last breath.

This is why I do not disregard even the eleventh hour. This is why I sit by the gates of Hades, so that I may be able to transfer some before death to life. And going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idle, and says to them: Why do you stand here idle the whole day? Do you not have a church? Do you not have prophets? Do you not have apostles? Do you not have martyrs? Do you not have divine Scriptures? Do you not have any spiritual work? Why then do you stand here idle the whole day? Do you not see the sun completing its appointed course? Do you not see the moon serving the Creator? Do you not see creation serving the Maker? Do you not see each of the elements performing the work for which it was made? Why then do you alone insult nature with idleness? Why do you imitate dead pillars? Do you not have eyes, so that seeing the beauty of the world, you may praise the world-maker? Do you not have a mouth, so that you may move your tongues to hymns? Do you not have hands, so that you may perform almsgiving? Do you not have feet, so that you may run soul-beneficial courses?

Why are you standing here idle all day long? How long will you evade my authority? Why are you standing here idle all day long?” And they say to him, “No one hired us.” Such are those who invent excuses in their sins, those who put off the present for the future, those who say, “Let it go for now, and when God commands me, then I will be baptized; grant me this Easter, and I will be enlightened in the future.” Such are those who say, “No one hired us.” But what does he, who overcomes the delays of those who postpone grace by his kindness, say to them? “Go also you into the vineyard.” He did not refute their falsehood, he did not denounce the irony of their misguided ways, he did not say to the indolent, “What do you mean by saying, ‘No one hired us’? Why do you stitch together idleness and falsehood? Did no one hire you? Did not the prophets summon you? Did not the apostles exhort you? Did I not come to you in person? Did I not call you many times, and you did not obey? Did you not see me hiring your companions and making agreements with them? Why then did you not choose to imitate those who were persuaded by me, but remained spies until old age?” The Savior said none of these things, but “Go also you into my vineyard. I accept even old men who wish to work; I accept gray hairs brightened by piety; I accept trembling limbs strengthened by faith; I gladly see old men holding staffs and crosses together. Go also you into my vineyard. You offered your youth to the devil; at least lend me your old age.

You gave all your strength to the enemy; to me, at least, grant your useless age. You served the tyrant the whole time, as he wished; to me, the lawful king, devote the remaining time. Become faithful before you become dead; take the garment of immortality before death; bury yourselves before your end in the incorruptible burial clothes of grace. Run, hasten to be found inside the vineyard before evening; strive, so that the setting sun may leave you within. If before the setting of the sun you number yourselves among my lovers, you will see the glory of my divinity, as lovers of light; if you come out of the vineyard with those who have been called, and I will reward you, though not weary, as if you were weary; if the night of death overtakes you standing outside the court, I no longer endure to have you as friends; for a dead man does not believe, a dead man does not confess, a dead man does not work and is entrusted with a mystery, a dead man does not practice temperance, a dead man cannot demand a reward, a dead man is unsealed and is condemned even before the judgment; the living and healthy will praise the Lord; such a dead man lives even after death, such a dead man blooms again after burial. Go, you also, into the vineyard.

While you still have a small reprieve of life, do business; do not wait for the necessity of sickness to receive the crown of your resolve. Do not wish to change the provisions of immortality at the time of death; in life, trade for life; in health and sobriety, receive the talent, so that you may also gain the profit. Go also you into the vineyard; and whatever is just, you will receive, and even beyond what is just, you will receive; only repent, only approach, only be with me. You will not blame my exhortation; for no one who trusted in me has gone away ungrateful, nor has anyone who served me remained still poor. Thus the master of this house filled this vineyard. And when evening came. Already the present life having flowed away like a day, already the long night of death having arrived, already the resurrection of the dead having dawned, like a kind of morning that has no successor to evening, the lord of the vineyard says to his steward: Call the workers. Call all those from Adam; call Abel, who was sacrificed; call Enoch, who pleased God and was translated; call Noah, the good helmsman of the shipwrecked nature; call the most faithful Abraham, who loved God more than his child, who campaigned against his own bowels, who kept the faith; call Joseph, the worker of temperance; call the patriarchs; call the prophets; call Elijah, who drove well and became a charioteer of fiery chariots.

Call the apostles, the luminaries of the New Covenant; call the martyrs, and those who imitated my death for their sake; call Stephen, who was stoned for my sake; call Barlaam, whose right hand was burned for guarding the vineyard; call all who have labored well; call those who have cultivated my possessions well, and pay them their wages. Open my treasuries, open my storehouses, open the bright palaces of my kingdom; bring forth the royal crowns, bring forth the divine prizes; spare none of my treasures. For these did not spare their own souls for my sake. Crown the heads of those who have contended, as I wished; place the prizes in the hands that have toiled. Let no one depart from here uncrowned, let no one return unrewarded, let no one be deprived of the recompense; let all become wealthy, let all dance, and let them see for what I hired them; let them see what good things those who obey me obtain; let them see what gifts those who are called and do not wish to come deprive themselves of. Pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first, gladdening the last first with gifts; for these have the greatest need of my goodness. Those others, indeed, from the very beginning, as soon as the day of labors started, have the day itself and the hours and the virtues and the contests and the agreements as their advocates; but these last, standing bereft of all these, look only to my philanthropy.

To these last ones, then, who are first, give the gifts, and then you will give the rewards to the first ones. And those who came around the eleventh hour received one denarius. And turning this over joyfully in their own hands, they said: We were in danger of disbelieving in good things; for they knew they had done nothing worthy of what they received. Seeing the gift with their eyes, and holding the grace in their palms, they danced, they celebrated over the unexpected good things. And when the first ones came, they thought they would receive more, and they too received one denarius. But upon receiving it, they grumbled against the master of the house, saying: These are the last ones. The master brought this about by his word, not so that those honored would be envied (for the holy ones rejoice, not become indignant, when all are saved), but to show that his own philanthropy is such that it would, if possible, produce envy even in the unenvious. 3. And upon receiving it, they grumbled against the master of the house, saying: These are the last ones, these are the ones who have grown old, these are the ones who have barely acknowledged your mastery, who have barely bent their knees in worship to you, who have barely traced the sign of your saving cross on their foreheads with trembling fingers, who have not carried baskets of trials, who have not held mattocks of misfortunes. These last ones worked for one hour. They only saw your vineyard, they shared in the work with their eyes alone, they showed their faces, they accomplished no deeds; they have become witnesses of the labors, not partakers.

And have you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat? We were scorched by pleasures, but not quenched by virtues; we were persecuted for your sake, we endured countless labors to extend your kingdom; and we depart from here having received wages equal to those who did not toil as we did: the labor is unequal, and the profit is similar; the effort is uneven, and the glory is comparable. These last ones spent one hour. That a harlot woman might weep near you for one hour, and loose the hair which she had previously wickedly braided, and kiss your immaculate feet with chaste lips, and offer you, the heavenly one, earthly myrrh, you gave her the privileges of a daughter and a virgin. That a crucified robber, for one hour on the cross, might flee to you and cry out, "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom," for this single utterance you opened paradise to him. That Paul the persecutor, the enemy, might repent for one hour, and he is proclaimed an Evangelist. These last ones spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat. What then does the philanthropic Lord say to those who are so disposed? Answering one of them, he said: "Friend, I do not wrong you." O unsurpassable philanthropy! The Master pleads with a slave on behalf of slaves; the judge defends himself to the accuser on behalf of the accused. "Friend, I do not wrong you.

Judge me fairly, comrade, and do not grieve unjustly; converse with me lawfully, and do not be vexed unlawfully. Tell me, what wrong did you suffer yourself when your fellow servant was honored? Tell me, what harm came to you yourself while your brother still reigned with you? Did you not receive what you worked for? Did you not accept the full wage for the entire day? Did you not obtain what you desired? What more, then, do you seek? Did we not agree on a denarius? Remind yourself of my promises, on the basis of which I hired you in the beginning. If I did something contrary to our agreements, you are right to be indignant; but if I fulfilled the covenants, you accuse the blameless one in vain. Did we not agree on a denarius? Did I diminish any of your gifts? Did I take what was yours and give it to others? Did I assign your glory to others? Did I not distribute my own property to whomever I wished? Why, then, do you grumble, harmed as a slave, honored as a free man? Why, then, do you grumble, having benefited so much? Why do you begrudge your own brothers, when you have a master who is not begrudging? Take what is yours and go. Be content with what is present; do not wish to reign alone when you have been called together with many. The kingdom of heaven is sufficient both for you and for all who are worthy of it. I wish to give to this last one as I did to you. Who will oppose my will? God is the one who justifies, and who is the one who condemns? God is the one who provides, who is the one who audits? God is the one who enriches, who is the one who can strip bare? The judge is the advocate, who is the accuser? The judge is the defender, who will be found the opponent? I wish to give to this last one as I did to you. I cannot bear to leave my statues bare of glory; I cannot bear my image

to overlook the one who is impoverished; I cannot bear that you do not reign with me and with these, for whose sake I came down from the heavens. I wish to give to this last one as I gave to you. He came last, I know that too; but he brought me a faith that pleaded in defense of the delay that had occurred; he came last, but he displayed a longing such as I desire; he wandered in the past time like a sheep, but the sheep recognized the shepherd. This one was mine even when he was straying. He came last, but he passed through my baptismal font, just as you did. He came last, but he partook of my table, just as you did; he came last, but he saw all the beauty of my vineyard; he saw the plant of the tree of life; he kissed the thorns which I wore as a crown for his sake; he embraced the cross which I endured for his sake. Therefore I cannot fail to honor with all zeal and honor the one who so longed for me, the one who so trusted me. As you believed, so he believed; as you prospered, so he prospered; as you worshipped, so he worshipped; as you reigned, so he reigned; as you labored, he did not labor, but I filled the deficiency with grace. Or is it not within my power to do what I wish with my own? Do I not spend my own? I provide what is mine. Do I not show generosity with my own? I exercise authority over my own. Did I appoint you steward of my will? I took you as a hireling from the beginning. Did I ordain you master of my authority? I made you a partner in my own possessions as a philanthropist. If your eye is evil, it cannot see what no eye has seen and no ear has heard. An unclouded gaze is needed for the contemplation of the mysteries.

A pure soul is needed for the contemplation of pure things. Do you see how good our Master is? Do you see how he has deemed worthy of equal honors and gifts those who approach at different times but display one faith, one zeal, and one manner of life? Do you see how he has made even the last equal to the first because of the abyss of his compassion? You have therefore been drawn to such a philanthropic one; he himself has now hired you; he himself says also to you: "Go you also into the vineyard." The one who hires is God, the wage is heavenly, the work is salvific, the vineyard is well-prepared, and the door of the vineyard is the baptismal font. Divine grace, standing at the door of the font like a bright gatekeeper, cries out to all who enter through it: "This is the gate of the Lord; the newly enlightened will pass through it." We do not begrudge you, who have come last and share in the same glory as we; but we join in the dance with you as brothers, and we rejoice together, considering your salvation our own glory. Therefore, love the one who called you; take faith as an unerring guide for the prosperity of entering the vineyard. For faith is a good guide for the path to the font, faith is an anchor for a storm-tossed nature, faith is a calm harbor for humanity, faith is a clear mirror of invisible things, faith is an exact teacher of the consubstantial Trinity. Faith has prepared us to speak those salvific words: "I believe in one God, Father Almighty." I believe, I do not investigate; I believe, I do not pursue the incomprehensible; I believe, I do not measure the immeasurable. If I believe, I am illuminated in my soul.

If I am overly curious, I darken my thoughts; if I believe rightly, I am raised up to heaven; if I seek with excessive curiosity, I am cast down into the abyss. I believe in one and only true God and Father Almighty. I deny the false gods of the Greeks; for polytheism does not dwell in heaven. I hymn one and only God; I hate Arianism; I do not say, "There was once when the Father was not"; but I always proclaim God as God, always the same as Father, being Father as He Himself knows. I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, born of Him before all ages, as only the one born knows; born, not made; born, not created; born, not fashioned; shining forth timelessly from the Father's substance, not entering from somewhere outside, not a supposititious or illegitimate son, but a genuine radiance of the genuine Father, an unvarying character of an invisible form. I know Christ as Son of God the Father as God; I know Christ as son of His handmaid and mother, appearing as a man; I know Christ as consubstantial with men, as a man from a man; I know Christ as invisible and visible; I know Christ as intangible, and touched by Thomas; I know Christ feeding thousands with a word, and walking on the waves, and commanding demons, and raising the dead, and performing countless miracles by the power of His own divinity; I know Christ hungering, and thirsting, and laboring, and struggling, and sweating by the nature of His humanity.

I know Christ as God, impassible; I know Christ as having died, and having received suffering in the flesh; I know Christ as having endured death to the extent possible; I know Christ as having raised the temple of his body. I recognize the difference of his two natures; I do not divide the one Son into two sons. I believe also in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, that which proceeds from the Father, that which completes the Trinity; in it I trust for my sanctification, in it I trust for the resurrection from the dead. 4. Meditate on these things continually in your soul and tongue; proclaim these things perpetually in your mind and mouth. Hold the apostolic definition of faith and of godly conduct; for without faith, works are dead. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as weapons of injustice to sin, so now present your members as weapons of righteousness to God. Let the fornicator become chaste, the unjust become just, the rapist become generous, the greedy become a lover of the poor, the inhuman and lover of gold before this, now appear as a lover of Christ, the blasphemer a hymnographer, the one running to theaters, let him now run to the courts of God, the one mad for horse races, let him devote himself to the apostles, whose course is salvific for those who imitate them. As those about to be betrothed as brides of Christ, so adorn your souls and bodies. Let your glances be images of inner tranquility; let your faces be clear characters of inner reverence.

Let your mouths send forth the fragrance of psalms and hymns, modest, temperate, becoming to a virgin about to be wed. Let your souls be pure, white, that they may receive the genuine dye of the royal purple. When you reach the bridal chamber of the Spirit, when you rush into the nuptial bower of grace, when you draw near the awesome and yet longed-for font, fall prostrate before the King as captives. All alike fall upon your knees, and stretching your hands toward heaven, where our King of all sits royally, and directing your eyes toward the sleepless Eye, use such words to the Lover of mankind: "Open your vineyard to us, Lord, even if we have arrived around the eleventh hour. Do not be angry with us as though we were late, Master, nor close the doors of your loving-kindness to our sight. We have condemned our past idleness, we have condemned the negligence of the day that preceded, we have been harmed by disobeying, we have been damaged by sleeping, we have been shipwrecked while taking pleasure, we have been stripped while playing and being played with, we have perished while being entertained by vanities. Only with difficulty have we awakened, only with difficulty have we come to our senses, only with difficulty have we found what is beneficial, only with difficulty have we escaped the war. We have utterly renounced the evil one, we have renounced spending time with the pernicious evils and pleasures. Henceforth we align ourselves with the Savior, with the one God. Receive

the bond of our covenant, so that, fearing the penalty, we may abide by what we have agreed. Receive the symbol of our compacts with you, so that, ashamed of the symbol, we may establish our conduct unshaken. Have pity on your servants, the captives, the naked, and the dead; restore to us our ancient kinship; clothe those whom the devil has stripped; anoint us with the oil of your holy chrism, that we may not be harmed if we are again bitten by the serpent. We wish to fulfill your commandments, we wish to be found within the vineyard, we wish to be called workers as we draw near to you; we have lived all our days badly. We wish to live the remainder well. You wish to forgive as for fornicators. Forgive. You wish to show consideration as for tax collectors; you wish to show humanity as for robbers; you wish to save as for persecutors; save, as you wish. Have mercy on those who repent, whom you endured patiently when they sinned; have mercy on those who fall at your feet, whom you pitied even when they kicked; have mercy on those who supplicate, whom you bore when they insulted. Open to us, who are storm-tossed, the harbor of the font; open to us, who are wounded, the painless infirmary; open to those who have grown old, the sorrowless crucible; open to those who owe death, the safe tomb; open to us the life-giving image of your three-day burial; open to us the virgin womb of regeneration; open to us the incorruptible mother of adoption; open to us the gate of immortality; open to us the door of the heavens; for you said, "Knock, and it will be opened to you." What you said, fulfill in truth.

Fulfill what you have spoken, as one who cannot lie. We believe that you can do all things; we believe that you can wash away the filth of our sins; we believe that you can, through Spirit and water, regenerate those who have grown old in sins; we believe that you can accomplish the strange childbirth; we believe that you can bring forth women and infants and youths and men and elders from the waters as newly formed, like newborn infants; we believe that you can drown our sins in the waters, just as you overwhelmed Pharaoh and all his host; we believe that you can find a way of salvation, as once you created a way for the Israelites in the midst of the sea; we believe that you can do as many things as you wish. While saying these things to the Lord, persist, so that the Savior may also say to you: Do you believe that I can do this? According to your faith, let it be done for you. Glory to him for ever and ever. Amen.