Омилия XXXVI 168 .

On the 11th Sunday of the Gospel readings according to Matthew, having as its theme the parable: “The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who desires to quarrel over words with his servants”; it also talks about long-suffering and compassion God, creating man endowed with free will, honored him with great care, so that, making excellent use of this freedom, he would have an inclination not for evil, but for good. So, while creating him, he at the same time creates him in His image and likeness, so that he, looking at the good Prototype, would not fall away from the good state, and God would again in relation to him, as in relation to His image more than in relation to everything else created by Him, would tell him subsequently, as is right, His rich mercy. And again, on the basis of this, through imitation, he would attract him to a good commensurate with him and corresponding to him; for a person can be good, in the image of Him who created him, on the basis of imitation of Him; but for any person to be as and invariably good as God is completely impossible. Consider, behold, the multitude of God’s mercies to us and their greatness, and how He presented Himself to us as an example of good deeds. And I will not talk now about those blessings inherent in our nature, which He gave us to possess, to which David alone, looking at Him, said to Him: “Your mind was amazed at Me: strengthen yourself, I will not be able to do it” (Ps. 139:6) 169.; but now I will briefly talk about what is outside and around us. Because He made everything visible and invisible for the sake of man: for not only heaven and earth, and water, and air, and fire, and everything contained in these elements, and all kinds of species of animals and plants, which we cannot even enumerate individually, but He also made the most diverse and numerous multitude of Angels for the sake of man: some, as the ranks that rule the world and princes of the nations, as God’s Prophets, taught by Him, teach us: others and as servants having to inherit salvation, as the great Paul, himself taught by God, revealed to us. And what do I say: everything created by Him? For for our sake He made Himself Man. And what word will express the words that He spoke with His lips for our sake, the way of life, the virtues that He showed us through His example, the greatness of the miracles that He Himself performed for us? But oh the miracle that surpasses all miracles! - And He gave Himself to death for our sake, and He rose again and for our sake He ascended, always alive, like God and existing in heaven, or better yet, existing everywhere and above everything, existing before the ages and forever and ever. Everything He did for us was fulfilled - mercy; and what else was the driving principle for such and such good deeds, if not philanthropy and love and mercy? But this mercy is revealed in two ways: on the one hand, before we sinned in His attitude, which was expressed in those greatest benefits with which, by mercy, He replenished the deficiency of our nature; after we had sinned against Him, He, by mercy, remained magnanimous, and not only that, but also moved by great compassion, and always increasing talents for the best and bringing them to increase, not only not returning evil for evil, but not simply returning good for evil, but also showed the highest maximum good, above which or better than which there is nothing, for then He gave Himself for us - Who is the First and greatest and maximum of all goods, or better to say - a single and incomparable Good. So, since the benefit of mercy is twofold, one is manifested in helping those in need of shelter, food and providing protection in need; the other is in generosity and forbearance and compassion for those who sin. The Son of God, having become Man for our sake and deigning us to be our Teacher, prompting us to this type of mercy, which consists in giving (to those in need) fellowship in our property, says: “Give to everyone who asks you; and do not turn away anyone who wants to borrow from You” (Matthew 5:42); and: “Hide for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither worm nor aphid corrupts, and where things are not broken into or stolen” (Matthew 6:20). And again in another place: “Give alms from those who are (you), and all of it will be pure for you” (Luke 11:41). But not only with these words, but also with parables, urging us to show mercy, He, as it were, presents before our eyes this future terrible Coming, and reveals Himself as a King seated on the throne of glory: and He places those who show good at His right hand, as doers of righteous deeds; and not such as those - he, condemning them as those who did not give the needy fellowship in their property, and as those who showed callousness towards Himself in that they did not help those in need, sends them into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; Having highly praised the good givers and showing that a benefit done to those in need is a benefit to Himself, He testifies that they are blessed by His Father, and makes them heirs of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Now, this is what the Lord says in the Gospels, exhorting and encouraging us to this first type of mercy, expressed in giving those in need a share in their property. Regarding the second type of showing mercy, which is expressed in kindness and a merciful attitude towards those who have offended us, what is said? – “Do not repay evil for evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:17, 12:21); and: “Judge not, and you will not be judged” (Luke 6:37). And: “If you forgive a person their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, your Father will not forgive you your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). And just as in relation to this first type of mercy, He used words and the very objects to encourage for the purpose of exhortation, presenting Himself in the form of a Shepherd and a King, so in relation to kindness and a merciful attitude towards offenders, He not only uttered the words that we presented above, but also added and proposed a parable that was read to you today in the Gospel: “Be like”, - saying, - “The kingdom of heaven belongs to a king who wants to quarrel over words with his servants. I will begin to sue him by bringing him one talent who owes me talent” (Matthew 18:23–24) 170. Here He calls His Father “King Man,” as if with these words including Himself among the debtors. Even if He says that He “became like” a man, this is said in the form of a parable. He Himself (our Lord Jesus Christ) “became like a man” not in the form of a parable, but truly this is how He became a Man, just like us. There is truly one throne and one kingdom with the Son and the Father, but since, exhorting to do good in relation to one’s neighbor, He said in those words: “I was hungry,” “I was thirsty,” etc., and called those in need “brothers,” and also presented other things that are characteristic of His Incarnation, therefore He says there that He will sit as a King. And there, behold, he mentioned “sheep” and “goats”, presented Himself in the form of a King and Shepherd, and here, because he mentioned slaves and accounting and money, as if inherent in the royal treasury, he says that His Father sits like a King, calling for accounting and demanding debts. Why does He say there: “he will sit” and “they will gather” and “he will separate” and “the King will say,” and all in the meaning of the future; and here: “it became like” and “wanted to settle accounts” and “the debtor was brought” and “the Master commanded”, and everything is said in the meaning of the past tense? - Because everything said in the first case belongs to the future tense; while most of what is said in the parable now offered to us mainly takes place here (in our present life). For when he was brought, it is said, a debtor who owed 10,000 talents, and how he had nothing to pay, “the Lord commanded him to sell, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and to repay (the debt)” (Matthew 18:25); when he fell at his feet, asked him to be patient and promised to pay, the Lord, having mercy, let him go and forgave him the debt; None of this applies to the future age: neither the postponement of the payment of the debt, nor the promise on the part of the debtor to pay, nor the permission, nor the remission of the debt in any way on the part of the One who gave everything and then demanded that everything be reckoned with. And the fact that the debtor who owed 10,000 talents was brought in when the king began to be counted does not refer to the future century; because there is an end to everything that has its beginning here. And what follows in the parable belongs to the present age. For, “having gone out,” it is said, “that servant found one thing from his slander, who owed him a hundred fines, and he ate it under pressure, saying, “Give it back to what you owe me” (Matthew 18:28). And he did not at all have mercy on the one who fell at his feet and begged and promised (to pay the debt), but went and threw him into prison until he paid him the entire debt. What an act when the time of responsibility has come (for him too!)! What a duty then (would have been for him) towards his fellow slave! What a (cruel) demand (for debt payment)! What aggressiveness! But “fall,” they say, “slanders him on his nose, pleading with him saying, “Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.” He didn’t want to, but put him in prison until he repays his due” (Matthew 18:29-30). But in the next century we will not tolerate violence from each other, nor will we fall at each other’s feet and beg: for then there will be One, before Whom every knee of heaven and earth and hell will bow. - But because of such cruelty towards his fellow slave, other fellow slaves were very upset, they say, and reported to the Master everything that had happened; He, angry and rejecting the heartless slave, gave him to the torturers until he paid off the entire debt. The latter, one could say, is happening in the present century, but especially applies to the future 171; because there is an obvious test and an merciless sentence and endless torment. “Dondezhe,” they say, “will repay all his debt” (Matthew 18:34). But it is impossible for us to be able to give God a reward equal to our debt to Him; so the expression: “Until he pays off all the debt” means eternal torment. But how does everything said in the parable (as we said and) have its fulfillment here, such as the royal court, the interrogation of debtors, the request following the test, and everything else? - This church of God stands, as if another heaven, behind a sacred curtain, as if in the heavenly tabernacles, having a Sovereign throne on which the King of the universe sits, invisibly reckoning with His servants - with all of us standing here and praying. Many, including myself, are put to shame and reproached by those words that are sung and read out loud here in a sacred manner, as people who do not use those 10,000 talents according to God, i.e. a multitude of goods, each of which is a talent, as it carries with it a heavy and numerous responsibility; because so is Cain, who seems to have committed only one sin - fratricide, but contained seven within himself, i.e. There are many reasons for punishment, as it is written. Not only are we convicted of debts and from divine words we learn about the torment intended for the guilty; and learning that while we are in the church, we repent, fall down, beg, make vows, then to live a godly lifestyle, but also, staying here to the end and praying warmly, we receive forgiveness; for it is said: “Return to Me, says the Lord, and I will return to you, and I will not remember your iniquities to anyone” (Zech. 1 and Heb. 8:12, 10:17). Then, leaving the church and meeting those who have sinned against us, even if they fall down and beg, we are heavy and unmerciful and inexorable towards them, although their sins against us do not have the value of a denarius in comparison with our talented, or better yet, multi-talented duty towards God. Therefore, God, who sympathized with us when we repented and forgave us such a great debt, seeing our heartlessness and callousness towards our fellow tribesmen, is righteously angry with us and betrays us to unbearable torments, present temptations and future endless torments, according to the word of the Truth itself read today: “So,” he says, “and My Heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not let go every one of them to his brother from your hearts their sins” (Matthew 18:35). And what’s even more terrible is that the true servants of God, i.e. Holy Angels and holy men, whom we ask here, we hope to have there as prayer books for us to God, against us, alas, we find God moving against us, if we do not show here a merciful attitude towards those who are guilty of us; because they, as we learned above, are those who with great sadness announce to God about the severity and callousness of our spiritual disposition. So, rightly at the beginning we said that here in the parable the Lord presented His Father in the form of a King and Judge; because He did not say here: I will hand over the implacable one to the torturers, but - “My Heavenly Father.” So, let us be afraid, brethren, of such indignation against us Saints; let us tremble before the divine verdict; Let us honor the previous generosity of God towards us; Let us take into account the magnitude of our debt to God and how great it is in comparison with the debts that others have towards us. “Kolkraty,” Peter asked the Lord, “if my brother sins against me, will I repay him sevenfold?” And I heard: “I will not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22); although it is almost impossible for a brother to commit offenses against us so many times. The sins of each of us in relation to God even exceed this number; and if you weigh the severity of each sin, and imagine in relation to Who(!) it happens, you will find that it is incomparable with all those offenses that people commit towards us, even if it happened 70 times 7. So, if, by owing such and such talents to God and begging Him for the very generosity towards you, you, behold, received from Him complete forgiveness of the debt, then is it really possible that regarding the small debt of the silver coins - because these are the denarii that your fellow servant, asking for your generosity, owes you, you will not cordially show this to him? So then, rightly, the entire debt will be demanded from you; because wouldn't it be fair for you to lose everything? and be subject to the sentence of inexorability? Therefore, one of the Prophets says: “As you have done, your reward will be upon your head” (Abd.1:15). But let us not expect reproach, not anger, not judgment, brethren, but let us be clothed, as the Apostle says, in mercy, and showing compassion in words, in thoughts and in deeds, let us be towards each other, as he again teaches, - merciful, gracious, forbearing with one another, if anyone has a complaint against anyone, just as Christ forgave us (Col. 3:12-13); because in this way the grace of Christ itself will be closely associated with us; I will say that it will be instead of a pledge for us of future ineffable promises. Behold, the culprit of such benefits is, if we wish, our offender; I imagine it like a merchant ship, loaded with countless wealth, on the basis of which we can easily pay off our debt of 10,000 talents and acquire a pledge of wealth for future benefits, and I mentally imagine this ship in relation to the soul, as recently such a ship was visible with our eyes in relation to this city. The barbarians attacked, besieged this city, blocked our supply of means of life (edible products) delivered from the land, threatened us with the greatest danger, in order, due to a lack of necessary products, to force the city to surrender; but, behold, a merchant ship appeared and moored to our shores, loaded with 1000 medimna 172 grains, negated the harm caused by the barbarians, provided the necessary products at a cheap price and continues to supply us with the means necessary for life. So the spiritual and more ferocious enemy of any barbarians invisibly attacks the entire Christian race, blocks the soul from any access to salvation, exposes it to the hunger of virtues, and, as one who does not produce any good, brings it into despair, in order to thereby capture it and subjugate it; but He who appeared, according to the providence of the One who in every possible way desires the salvation of sinners, and who wants the one who is guilty in relation to us to use our mercy, and finding it with us, makes all the devilish evil directed against us ineffective; makes the Divine merciful to us; gives us abundant reasons for acquiring mercy (of God towards us) and salvation and betroths us to eternal life, which may we all receive through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom befits all glory, power, honor and worship, with His Beginning Father, and the Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. PG.151:449–460. Homilia XXXVI. In Evangelium undecimae Dominicae Matthaei evangelistae, materiam habens parabolm dicentem: "Simile est regnum coelorum homini regi qui voluit rationem ponere"; in qua insuper de patientia et misericordja. “Your knowledge is wonderful to me, high, I cannot comprehend it”: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to reckon, someone was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents": Medimn is an Attic measure of granular solids. You might be interested in: