In parabolam de filio prodigo

On the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 1. Always, brothers, we ought to proclaim the love of God for humanity (for through it we live and move and exist); but especially at this time we owe it to do so, for the common benefit and the benefaction of the stars about to rise from the font. For these will shine through it, and we through it have been saved and are being saved; it was given to us as an inheritance from the Creator God and our Father. Let us then speak concerning it, as the Lord Christ, the philanthropic Son of the philanthropic Father, the only one worthy to be the interpreter of the paternal substance, spoke; let us unfold the entire parable of the prodigal, that we may learn from it how to approach the unapproachable and to ask forgiveness for our faults. A certain man, he says, had two sons. The Savior speaks parabolically, not dogmatically. For this reason he speaks of his own Father as of a certain man, and speaks of the servants as of children, to show God's affection for humanity. A certain man, he says, had two sons. Who is this man? The Father of mercies and God of all consolation. And whom did he have as these two sons? The righteous and the sinners; those abiding by his divine ordinances and those transgressing the Lord's commandments. And the younger of them said to the Father. And who is this younger son? He who possesses an unstable mind and is fanned by the breezes of youth.

Nature recognized the Creator as Father, even if choice did not honor the Maker. "Father, give me the portion of the estate that falls to me." He asked rightly for what belongs to God from God; but he spent badly what he received. And the father divided his livelihood among them. He gave them, as his own household, the whole world; he gave them, as creator, the whole creation; he provided them with bodies and rational souls, so that, guided by reason in a reasonable manner, they might do nothing irrational; he set over them his own law, both natural and written, as a divine tutor, so that, tutored by it, they might fulfill the lawgiver's will. And after not many days, the younger son, gathering everything together (as a younger son does), journeyed to a far country. He departed from God, and God departed from him; for He does not compel the unwilling to serve Him. For all virtues are of choice, not of necessity. There he squandered his substance, living dissolutely. There he lost all the wealth of his soul; there, delighting and being delighted, he was shipwrecked; there, playing and being played with, he became poor; there, buying soul-destroying pleasures and purchasing laughter, he received tears from fathers; and he cast off the virtues he had, and took on the vices he did not have. When he had spent everything (for the wealth of grace does not naturally remain with those who live shamefully), a severe famine arose in that country.

Where the grain of temperance is not cultivated, there is a severe famine; where the vine of self-control is not planted, there is a severe famine; where the grape of chastity is not trodden in the winepress, there is a severe famine; where the celestial must does not flow, there is a severe famine; where there is an abundance of evils, there is certainly a scarcity of goods; where there is a plenty of wicked deeds, there is certainly a dearth of virtues; where the oil of philanthropy does not spring forth, there is a severe famine. Then, therefore, he himself began to be in want. For nothing remained to him except only the evils of intemperance, since he had done the deeds of disorder. And having gone, he attached himself to one of the citizens of that country. The citizens of that country were the demons, in which he happened to be a sojourner. And that citizen sent him to his field to feed swine. For thus the demons honor those who honor them; thus they love those who love them; such gifts they bestow on those who obey them. And he desired to fill his belly with the carob pods, which the swine ate. What is this, "From the carob pods"? The taste of the carob pods is sweet, but nevertheless it is also hard and rough in itself.

Such is the nature of sin: it delights briefly and punishes greatly; it pleases for a time and scourges eternally. Coming to himself, then, and reflecting on his former blessedness and his later misery, and considering in his mind who he was when he was stationed with God and father, and who he has become, subject to demons. Coming to himself, then, he said: How many of my father's hired servants abound in bread, while I perish here from hunger? How many catechumens now revel in the holy Scriptures, while I am constrained by hunger for divine words? Oh, of how many good things have I deprived myself! Oh, with how many evils have I surrounded myself! Why did I depart from that blessed way of life? Why did I enter into this death-dealing existence? I have learned from what I suffered not to abandon God; I have learned to hold fast to the one who always preserves those who hold him; I have learned not to trust the unclean demons, who teach every impurity and corruption. What then does he say? Rising up, I will go to my father. I will return well from where I departed badly; let me go to my father, and maker, and master, and guardian, and provider; let me reach the one who has long been waiting and anticipating those who turn back to him. Rising up, I will go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants. These words are sufficient for my salvation; the name of my father is sufficient for my intercession.

My father, having been called father by me, cannot fail to show himself a father in deeds; he cannot fail to be moved in his bowels, being compassionate; he cannot, having heard "I have sinned," fail to grant forgiveness for my slips; he cannot, having heard my voice, fail to forget his righteous anger. I know how much repentance can do with him; I know how tears prevail with him; I know how each sinner, turning back to him and weeping hotly, like Peter, receives remission of sins; I know the goodness of my God; I know the gentleness of my father. He will have mercy on me repenting, whom he did not punish when I sinned. 2. And rising up, he went to his father. He added to the good resolve the good action. For we must not only deliberate on what is beneficial, but also show our good impulses by deeds. While he was still far from the place, but near in manner, and constantly wringing his hands and beating his own breast, as being the workshop of evil thoughts, and fixing his face to the ground, and demanding that his eyes give the drops of tears as fellow ambassadors, and rehearsing his defense, he arrived and cried out with a loud voice, saying with tears: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I have sinned, I know, Christ Master and God; you alone know my sins; I have sinned, have mercy as God and Master. I am not worthy to look at heaven and to entreat you, my good Master, being full of the greatest and most grievous charges; there is no number of my sins.

Have mercy, as you are always a good God. Because I am not worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired servants. Thus supplicating from the depths of his heart, the one who sees those who err and overlooks those who sin, and awaits their repentance, saw him; his father saw him, and was moved with compassion. For he was a father in kindness, even if he was God by nature. And running, he fell upon his neck and kissed him. He did not wait for the one who had offended to come near, but he himself eagerly went to meet him. And he did not abhor his neck, as though it were stained and defiled by the marks of profligacy; but embracing him with his pure hands, he insatiably kissed the one he had long yearned for. O the ineffable and awesome compassion! O the extraordinary benevolence! O the strange reconciliation! He immediately persuaded God, in a single moment, to yield to tears and to pass over such a multitude of sins. Did you marvel, seeing God flattering a sinner? O the affection of paternal bowels! A sinner wept on earth, and the only sinless one from heaven inclined himself to benevolence. Who ever saw a sinner flattered by God? Who ever saw the judge courting a condemned man? Who ever saw a convict flattered? Yet nevertheless God entreats, as once with Israel. "My people," he says, "how have I wronged you, or how have I troubled you?" And now the same things happen, and have happened, because the Father of mercies and God of all consolation is accustomed to be overcome by himself. This prodigal son was not content with these things.

But even in the goods of repentance he was prodigal, and he did not consider that such great benevolence sufficed for his complete salvation in view of the multitude of his sins; but what he had planned to say to his father, these things he also spoke while present with fitting demeanor: "Father, if indeed it is at all possible for me to call you father—unless even this, along with my other faults, I commit a sin by calling you father; unless I insult the blameless name by the title; unless my conscience closes my lips; unless the manner of my deed binds my tongue; unless my life hinders my speech—receive, holy father, a filthy petition from a filthy mouth. Father by grace, and creator by nature, 'I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son.' I have sinned, I confess my transgressions, I do not hide what you see, I do not deny what you know; as one liable I lie before you, as a lawbreaker I am condemned; as a judge, have mercy on me. I have sinned against heaven and before you. I fear to lift my eyes to heaven; for I dread the form of the firmament as the voice of an accuser; I shrink from gazing at the light of divinity, having the eyes of my mind defiled. I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son. Behold, I proclaim myself, I condemn myself, I pronounce judgment against myself.

I do not need a judge for a verdict, I do not need accusers for a conviction, I do not need witnesses for written records; I have within me the conscience sitting in judgment, I carry in my soul the inexorable judge, the terrible tribunal; I bear about in my conscience the witnesses, bringing the accusers before my own eyes; my theaters accuse me, my horse races cry out against me, the spectacles of beast-fighters shout against me; my profligacy triumphs over me, my deeds brand me, my present nakedness reveals me, even the rags of shame which I have put on put me to shame, and I am not worthy to be called your son; Make me as one of your hired servants. Do not send me away from your court, Master, lest the enemy, finding me wandering again, carry me off as a captive; neither draw me near to your fearful and mystical table; for I dare not look with polluted eyes upon the holy of holies. Let me stand with the catechumens, within the doors of the church, so that beholding the mysteries celebrated therein, I may desire little by little

to take these up again, so that, being drenched by the divine streams, I may wash away the shame of the shameful songs, the filth lying in my ears, so that, seeing your pearls being snatched away by pious men, I may also desire to acquire hands worthy of receiving them. When the prodigal had stumbled and cried out with tears, the father said to his servants. To which servants? Listen: to the priests and ministers of his commandments. Bring out the first robe, and clothe him; bring out the robe woven from above, the one fashioned from the spiritual fire; bring out the robe woven in the waters of the baptismal font. Bring out the robe prepared from the spiritual fire, and clothe him. Clothe the one who has stripped himself, clothe the new Adam, whom the devil has laid bare; clothe the king of creation; adorn this one, for whose sake I adorned the world; beautify the dearest limbs of my son; for I cannot bear to see him unadorned; I cannot bear to leave my own image naked; I consider the shame of my child my own shame, I consider his glory my own glory. 3. Give also a ring for his hand, so that he may wear the pledge of the Spirit, and, wearing it, be guarded by the Spirit itself; so that, bearing my seal, he may be fearsome to all enemies and adversaries; so that from afar it may be seen whose son this is. Give also sandals for his feet.

so that the serpent may not again find his heel bare and strike him with its fang; but rather that he himself may trample the dragon's head, to crush the enemy's stings, and to run the path according to God. And bring the fatted calf, sacrifice it. What fatted calf does he mean? What? The one that the heifer Mary the virgin bore. Bring the untamed calf, the one that has not received the yoke of sin, the virgin, and from a virgin, the one that follows those who follow him, not from necessity but willingly; the one that does not use its strength nor its horns, but readily bends its own neck to those who wish to slaughter. Sacrifice, then, the one that is willingly sacrificed, sacrifice the one that gives life to those who sacrifice, sacrifice the one that is sacrificed and not dead; sacrifice the one that is divided, and sanctifies those who divide it; sacrifice the one that is eaten by those who know it, and is never consumed; sacrifice the one that makes those who eat it blessed. And having all eaten, let us rejoice, because this son of mine was dead and came back to life; he was lost and was found. And they began to rejoice. You know the spiritual joy, those of you who have tasted and remembered the awe-inspiring mysteries, the ministers of the divine liturgy, those who imitate the wings of angels with the fine linens placed on the left shoulders, and who run about in the church and cry out.

Let none of the catechumens, none of those who do not eat, none of the spies, none of those unable to behold the calf being eaten, none of those unable to behold the heavenly blood poured out for the remission of sins, none unworthy of the living sacrifice, none uninitiated, none unable with impure lips to touch the awe-inspiring mysteries; and also of the angels acclaiming from heaven and saying: Holy is the Father, who willed that the fatted calf be sacrificed, the calf that knew no sin, as the prophet Isaiah says: He who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth; holy is the Son, who is also the calf always sacrificed willingly and always living; holy is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who perfected the sacrifice. While these things are being accomplished within, the elder son, arriving from afar, heard harmony and choruses; and summoning one of the servants, he inquired what this might be: Some sound was dinning in my ears.

He says: David the prophet sings within: "Then they will bring calves to your altar." The same one again urges those present to the feast, and says: "Taste, and see that the Lord is good." Paul, the interpreter of the divine mysteries, cries out and says: "Our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us." The Church celebrates, rejoicing, and dances. And he says to the servant: "Yes, and in my absence, others are sharing my mysteries in my court, without my being present." "Yes," he says, "because your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fatted calf, since he received him back in good health." The righteous man was angered at these things, and did not wish to enter. The righteous man was angered, and became a slave to envy; he who had trampled upon the pleasant things of life was overcome by envy. And how does Paul say: "I would myself wish to be an anathema from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen by blood"? Not that he might show the righteous man to be spiteful, but because of the excess, the Savior shaped the discourse in this way, so as to proclaim the surpassing wealth of his Father's goodness. And this he makes clear through what follows. For his father, it says, came out and besought him. O ineffable wisdom, O godly providence: he pitied the sinner, and flattered the righteous man; he did not let the one standing fall, and raised up the one who had fallen; he made the poor man rich, and did not allow the rich man to become poor through envy. And he answered and said to his father: "Behold, I have been serving you for so many years, and I have never transgressed your command.

And you never gave me a kid goat, so that I might rejoice with my friends; but I go about in sheepskins, in goatskins, lacking, oppressed, ill-treated. But when this son of yours came, the one who scorned you and devoured your substance with prostitutes, you immediately slaughtered the fatted calf for him; and you neither reproached him with a word, nor turned your face away from him in demeanor; but you immediately received him as a guest, and adorned him with all your raiment, and flashed him around with the gold ring, and shod him with sandals, and opened the church, and decorated the table, and filled the mixing bowls, and slaughtered the fatted calf, and summoned the faithful to the feast, and made the angels dance, and assembled a symposium strange to heaven and earth; and you gave such gifts to the one who scorned your goodness and insulted your nobility. What shall I say about the depth and sea of your mercies? How shall I marvel at the ocean of your serenity? You pity all, Lord, because you can do all things, and you overlook the sins of men for the sake of repentance. And his Father said to him: Child, you are always with me. You have never been separated from my bosom. You have not leaped away from my Church. You have always attended to psalms and hymns. You converse with the angels continually. Standing by the altar, you cry out with boldness, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

This one came to me condemned, ashamed, pressing his face to the ground, and with a broken and gloomy voice he cried out: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants." What was I to do in response to these words? Could I fail to pity my own son when he came to me? You, who are angry, judge. But I am not by nature, being a lover of humanity, able to do something inhuman; I cannot fail to pity the one whom I made; I cannot fail to have compassion on the one whom I begot from my own bowels. Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours: the heaven is yours, the firmament is yours, the sun is your torchbearer, the moon is your handmaid, the stars are your lamps, the air is your nourisher, and all things in the air are yours; the earth and what is in it are yours, the sea and what is in it are yours, the cosmos is yours, the Church is yours, the altar is yours, the fatted calf is yours, the sacrifice is yours, the angels are yours, the apostles are yours, the martyrs are yours; the present things are yours, the future things are yours, the resurrection is yours, the immortality is yours, the incorruption is yours, the kingdom of heaven is yours, all visible and intelligible things are yours. Did I not take away your things and bring them to him? Did I not strip you and clothe him? Did I not bestow mercy from my own possessions? Am I not the father of both you and him? And I honor you for your virtue, and I pity him for his most excellent conversion; and I long for you for your life, and for him for his change; and I love you for your conduct, and him for his repentance; and I love you for your patience, and him for his turning back to me.

You should have rejoiced and been glad, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and has been found. Who seeing a dead man rise does not rejoice? And who finding what they lost does not exult? Come now, my son, rejoice with us, and leap for joy with the angels, and embrace your brother with us, and sing with David that spiritual song fitting for this present festival: "Blessed are those whose transgressions have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over; blessed is the man for whom the Lord will not count a sin." You have heard the divine parable, and you have understood its purpose, and you have seen its power; you have learned how philanthropic our Lord is, how forbearing. Let us then flee to Him with a pure heart. Come, let us cry out to Him with one voice: "Master, philanthropic Lord, only-begotten Son of God, we have sinned against heaven and before you, and we are not worthy to be called your sons; but we take courage in your compassion; we have as pledges of your philanthropy the precious cross, which you endured for us; we have as guarantors of your mercy the former harlot and the former thief. For through these, we and all sinners are encouraged to run to your philanthropy. As you showed those to be renowned and blessed, Lord, so have mercy on us who fall before you; as you raised the dead by being crucified, so raise us who have been deadened by sin, through your great philanthropy, that we may enjoy your resurrection together with those who have been redeemed.

Let us persist in saying these things, so that our Master Christ may also say to us: "Let it be done for you according to your faith." And you who are about to enjoy the gift of baptism, having cast away every alien thought and directed your souls toward the heavenly bridegroom, enjoy the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is near; be anxious about nothing. The Redeemer stands at the doors; the physician is present for those who believe; the surgery is open; the medicines are laid out; the font welcomes all; grace is spread abroad; the spiritual garment is being woven by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Blessed are those deemed worthy to wear the garment. Only you, kindle the lamps of faith and abundantly pour in the oil of piety, so that at night, when a voice says, "Behold, the bridegroom comes," you may go out to meet him with bright lamps, dancing and leaping, and crying out, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; to him be glory and power, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.