is the Lord God; for the house is the world; the householder of it is God who created it; the vineyard is human nature; the laborers of the vineyard are all those holy men who serve the salvation of mankind. The first hour is the season of those devout men around Abel, Enoch, and Noah; for these were the first to be devout, the first laborers of A the vineyard. For Noah planted a vineyard—understand this in the intellectual sense, for spiritual are the words—and they labored until the third hour. After the third hour is the season of those around Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for these too were laborers of our salvation, three in number, and for this reason they labored until the sixth hour. From the sixth hour is the middle of the day, when the sun shines more strongly upon the world; this is the time of the Law, because in truth our God, the true light, enlightened humanity through the commandments of the law. "For the commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening B the eyes" [Ps. XVIII, 9]. And again, "For thy commandments are a light" [Isa. XXVI, 9].
From the sixth hour is the half of the day; for when the times from the beginning of creation until the end had reached their middle, then Moses and Aaron were sent at noon. For the worship according to the law lasted until the eighth hour; but the ninth hour is the season of the spirit-bearing prophets; for they too were sent as good laborers by the householder to cultivate our vineyard of the soul until the tenth. The eleventh hour is the advent of the Only-Begotten; for in the last times, at the consummation of the ages, the Son of God, the Word of God, came to us; for just as from the eleventh to the twelfth there is one other hour, the final one, so from the advent of Christ until the consummation, there C is another, single hour. Hearken to John saying: "Little children, it is the last hour" [I Joan. II, 18].
Do you see that the householder of the vineyard, going out at the eleventh hour, found idlers and hired them? Who are these idlers? We who are from the Gentiles; for we were idle from the knowledge of God, idle from good works. And he says to them: "Why stand you here all the day idle?" [Matt. XX, 6]. By "all the day," he signifies the time from the foundation of the world until his advent; for until that time the nations were idle, not knowing God. "For no one," they say, "hired us" [ibid. 7]. The nations are grateful; for no one hired them, neither the law nor the prophets; those were sent to Israel, not to the nations. Therefore, they D rightly say: "No one hired us."
But the good householder says: "Go you also to work in the vineyard, and whatsoever shall be just, I will give you" [ibid. 4]. Those who were idle have then become laborers; for now the Church, which was previously idle, labors. The chorus of the apostles, of the martyrs, of the ascetics, of the monks, of the holy virgins, of those who practice continence, and of those in honorable marriage, labors; for this Church has received the one denarius worthily. For someone may work quickly, and in one hour perform as much work as one who has been laboring since morning; the thief
too, within a single hour heard, "Today A you will be with me in Paradise."
Now hear what the others say: "We have borne the burden and the heat of the day." They speak the truth, for they did not bear the heavy yoke of the law, yet nonetheless they performed a work equal to theirs. "Friend," He says, "I am not unjust to you." And indeed, the Judge of justice is not unjust. As for the words, "I wish to bestow on this man as much as upon you," do not believe it to be favoritism, nor that the reward is given as a mere act of grace; rather, consider it thus: since, however much we may perform, and however much we may labor, we present nothing worthy, for any human justice is like a menstruous rag. He called the whole thing grace, as Paul says, "Being justified freely by His grace, and not of works, lest any man should boast." It is a gift of God—not that we do not work at all, but that we do nothing B worthy of the reward. For when, He says, you have done all these things, say: "We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to have done." Surely, therefore, when you offer bread to the poor and gain the kingdom of heaven, you see what that is: "I wish to bestow."
And what follows: "Is your eye evil because I am good?" He does not say that the saints are evil, but rather, "Are you perhaps evil because I am good?" For He is truly good, from the Good One. Furthermore, the reward is not according to the work; for indeed the work is small, but the reward is great. You give a cup of water to one who is thirsty, and you receive "what eye has not seen, nor ear heard." C You see that He is good. Finally, He begins from the last and goes to the first, because the last shall be first who are now first. "I will call my people, my people in reality." And again, "When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then also all Israel shall be saved," in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
XVIII. THREE SHORT SPEECHES ON THE TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS OF THE HOLY MARTYRS CYRUS AND JOHN.
1. Theclamation of blessed Cyril to the Tabennesiote monks who are in Canopus, in what is called the Penance, concerning the holy martyrs Cyrus and John, on the 11th of Epiphi, which is the eighth day before the Kalends of August.
Fortitude and patience, a good and most visible duality of virtues, fittingly adorn the saints most highly; to whom the blessed David exclaims: "Act manfully, and be D