On the Gospel of Luke, about the drachma, and on the words: “A certain man had two sons” (Luke 15:11)

Again the bosom of Christ flows with an inexhaustible sweet stream of love; again the bright wisdom of Christ, having lit a lamp and placed it on the candlestick of the cross, illuminates the entire universe for the purpose of piety. Divine wisdom, using this lamp, found one lost drachma and added it to the nine angelic drachmas. It is necessary, beloved, to say who this wife is who has ten drachmas. This is the wisdom of God, which has ten drachmas. Which? Count: angels, archangels, principalities, authorities, powers, thrones, dominions, cherubim, seraphim and the primeval Adam. This drachma, Adam, rejected by the devil’s malice, drawn into this abyss of life and immersed in various sinful pleasures, was acquired by the coming wisdom of God. How did you find it, beloved? She, coming from heaven, takes the meager lamp of the body, lights it with the light of the deity, places it on the candlestick of the cross, looks for a drachma, brings it into the courtyard and pasture of the angels. But perhaps some of those standing here who sinned after baptism will ask: “What does it matter to us if Adam was saved? How will we be pardoned? How can we be saved if we broke the law after baptism?” To them we say: “You people like that, don’t be afraid, don’t fuss, don’t be embarrassed, don’t be faint-hearted! It’s not that God cared about Adam and neglected you; but if for him He became a wife having ten drachmas, then for you He is a merciful father, having two sons and again accepting the lost one into his arms. He became all things to all, that He might win all to Himself.” We have now heard the words of the evangelist: “A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them came and said to his father: Father! give me property." He “And the father divided the estate for them. After a few days, the younger son, having collected everything, went to a far side and there squandered his estate, living dissolutely. When he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country.” And he came to one of the citizens, and the citizen sent him “to his fields to graze pigs; and he was glad to fill his belly with the horns that the pigs ate, but no one gave it to him. Having come to his senses, he said: How many of my father’s hired servants now have an abundance of bread, and here I am dying of hunger; I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:11–19). The meaning of this must be sought not outside, but within ourselves. This parable is told for us, and is read for us, so that no one will despair if he turns out to be very sinful; but to approach God with repentance and asking Him for propitiation, especially if any of you has become a son of God by faith in the Lord. “And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God” (“The little ones... received Him, and gave them the power to become children of God”) (John 1:12). If any of you, by faith in our Lord, became His son, and moved away from Him, not by place, but by way of life; if someone is hungry, not of ordinary bread, but of heavenly bread: “He gave them heavenly bread. man ate the bread of angels" ("the bread of heaven was given to them. The bread of angels was eaten by man") (Ps. 77:24-25), then let him leave the pleasures of lust, like pigs, and let him no longer desire to eat the pods. What are pods? Fruit of the tree. The pods are like sin: just as the pods delight the throat at the beginning of eating, but irritate the throat after eating, so sin is sweet at the beginning of eating, but irritates after eating. The wise Solomon speaks about this: “My son! listen to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my understanding, so that you may maintain prudence and your mouth may retain knowledge. For the mouth of another man's wife drips honey, and her speech is sweeter than oil; but the consequences from it turn out to be bitter, like wormwood, sharp, like a two-edged sword" ("Do not be so evil to a woman: for honey drips from the lips of a harlot's wife, even as your throat delights for a while: watch out for bitterness of gall... and the subtlest is sharper than a two-edged sword") (Prov. 5:2-4). If someone is hungry for heavenly bread, then let him come, let him seek: “for everyone... who seeks finds, and he who asks receives, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (“and to him who knocks it will be opened”) (Matthew 7:8). Knock on the door of repentance with your unspeakable lamentation; don't be afraid of her; she is not alien to you: she died for you. And if you say to yourself: “Who is this?” - Christ answers you and says: “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7). Say also: “I have sinned against heaven and before you” (“I have sinned against heaven and before you”). If anyone sinned by receiving heavenly baptism, he sinned against heaven. He who sins before baptism sins against the earth: “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (“as you are earth, and to earth you went”) (Gen. 3:19), - it is said to Adam. If someone has put on Christ in baptism, he is no longer earth, but heaven: “As is the earthly, so are the earthy; and as is the heavenly, so are those who are heavenly” ( “as you are of the earth, so are you also of the rings: and like those who are in heaven, you are also in heaven” (1 Cor. 15:48); “all of you who were baptized in Christ have put on Christ” (“as many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ”) (Gal. 3:27). If anyone has sinned after baptism, he has sinned against heaven; “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son” (“Father, I have sinned in heaven and before you: and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”) Why? Speak to guilt. “I have defiled my heart, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, blooming like a rose: “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” angered, grieved Your Holy Spirit, polluted the shining robe of faith with sin: “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” I enslaved my soul, liberated by baptism and whitened like snow by enlightenment, darkened by sin: “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired servants." My bodily feelings, aggravated by drunkenness, like mad servants, betrayed my soul, my own mistress, to debauchery; and now, having raised them with abstinence, I will make my soul wise: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” I know the wanderings of the enemy, I know his stumblings against me, I know the arrows of his gluttony; I will avoid drunkenness, which destroys the power of chastity, and I will keep a fast that brought me sobriety: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” And I will work in Your vineyard, and I will cut off with the knife of the Spirit the excessive shoots of my inner spiritual vine, or better, vices: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” And I will cultivate the sweetest vine of love, and I will set up, as it were, supports for my soul, the commandments of the Lord, so that when it is drawn to the earth, it is not stolen by the serpent: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” I will try to make her look at the sky, stretch out her arms of philanthropy, so that she carries in her arms the wretched who are drawn to the earth: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” Give me again, Father, the plow of the cross on my shoulders; I will till the furrow of my soul, I will pull out thorns and the harmful grass of the evil one, I will sow heavenly seed in it. When You rain down mercy from above, the furrow of my soul will bear fruit thirty, sixty and a hundred: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” Don't push me away, Father! The enemy, having weakened me, had not yet completely taken off the robe of faith. If he polluted the beauty of my chastity, then (however) he never persuaded him to serve idols; I have not rejected You, my Lord! Although I sinned in the flower of my youth, I trampled on the fat of idols, overthrew the images of demons, disgraced the idols of idols, blew on the devil, spat on the demons. Now I fall at Your feet, my Lord and my God: “Take me as one of your hired servants.” If you repent like this, if you confess like this, then the heavenly Father hurries to you, when you are still far from Him, falls in spirit to the neck of your soul, places the yoke of grace on you, and ties the yoke of truth around the neck of your heart, with a kiss puts an end to hostility towards you, and says to His servants, the priests: “...Carry the first garment” (Luke 15:22). He did not say: “carry only the clothes,” but: “carry the first clothes,” to show that you are given the first dignity of baptism. “...Bring him the first garment”, “and put on him, and give him a ring”, a sign of wealth, a guardian of treasure, a pledge of grace, a seal of the Spirit.” “And sandals on his feet” (“and boots on his nose”), i.e., “bind the feet of his soul with the word of the Gospel, so that again the serpent, having bitten him in the heel, will not carry him away to his former wandering of sin.” “And bring a fatted calf" ("And the fatted calf knows") (Luke 15:23). Who is this if not Christ, Who is given to those worthy after baptism, as the apostle says: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (“in him dwells all the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily”) (Col. 2:9). “Carry it; We’ll have fun while we eat.” Who between Jews and Greeks believes that the calf was slain and peace was established? O calf of the virgin heifer, holy child of the uncultivated womb! Oh, calf slain and alive, always poisoned by us and not dependent on us! Therefore, beloved, having lowered the anchor of our word in a safe and quiet harbor, we entrust you to the intercession of the Holy Spirit; and He, cutting through the sea of ​​divine Scripture with His harmonious tongue, will lead you into the heavenly city, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion, with the Father, and with the Holy and worshiped Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria. You might be interested in: